Courtney Williams says that UConn is beatable.

[msf22b]

Kia is so hip

 

[terif831]

These players are being asked point-blank by reporters if they think they can beat UConn. What else are they supposed to say? "Oh no, I know we can't win so I'm just going to go out there and have fun." Again, if that was USF's attitude, they would have never held a lead at halftime in the previous game.

Given my propensity for sarcasm, that's EXACTLY what I would have said! Followed by, "Actually, my hair dryer broke, so I'm just going out on the court to stand near Moriah while she streams by me a few times."

I have no problem with what she said. It wasn't disrespectful at all.

 

[toadfoot]

I don't know why people are taking issue with this. Everybody is beatable. If UConn has a bad game and the other team plays out of its mind, they are beatable. That's how Baylor lost to Louisville in Griner's senior year. That's also how Tennessee lost to Duke in Holdsclaw's senior year. We have every reason to feel confident, but let us not fall into the trap of thinking it's a foregone conclusion.

And even if it UConn were unbeatable, the opponent can't believe it anyway. Anyone who believes they can't win has no business taking the floor.

I have no problem with her comment that "they're beatable". Of course UConn is beatable, ever team is beatable. What I found amusing was some of the follow-up comments. Stuff like "we let up in the third". It's a little disrespectful to UConn to suggest you had them beat and then let up. Or "if we could have went bucket for bucket". And if pigs could fly...
Williams should have just stopped at something like "we think we can beat UConn".

 

[CL82]

I don't have a problem with it either, although it may not have been smart. FWIW USF worries me a bit. I don't look forward to playing them a 4th time.

 

[alexrgct]

I don't have a problem with it either, although it may not have been smart. FWIW USF worries me a bit. I don't look forward to playing them a 4th time.

Reasonable to be uneasy. You would be if you remember Baylor-A&M 2011, Uconn-ND 2011, or ND-UConn 2013. The difference is that Uconn has beaten USF by 15+ each time already, ,whereas the first three contests were much closer in several of the games of the example series I mentioned above. As such, we have a greater margin for error, even in a hypothetical fourth meeting. But yes, I'd still be uneasy too.

 

[UcMiami]

In 32 games 662 shot attempts, next most 312, she had 86 assists, and 84 turnovers, a volume shooter who doesn't make her team better. Geno has said Stewie can get a shot any time she wants to, but she understands others need to shoot for the team to succeed. MJ became great when he became not only a shooter, but a passer.

She plays between five and ten more minutes per game than her teammates so her 'shots per minute played' isn't as disproportional as the raw number suggests, and only one player on the team getting significant minutes per game is shooting a significant percentage higher than her - their 'center' Jenkins who has been injured/playing injured for at least a third of the year. Her three point shooting (.395) is good and second only to the freshman Laksa. She leads the team in blocks, is second in steals, assists, and rebounds and is one of only three players with a greater than 1.0 A/TO ratio. And she scores more than one point per shot.

Yes she is a volume shooter, but she is not an inefficient volume shooter. And she is clearly the most talented player on her team, so the offense runs through her. We really see players like her in their worst possible light because we see them going against the best defense in WCBB that is very good at taking individual players out of their comfort zone. She definitely makes her team better, and as Geno has said, she is one of the hardest players to defense that Uconn has ever faced. She is a very good player making a decent team into a ranked team.

 

[Orangutan]

Danny O'Shea: Well, wait a second, guys. Who said you had to be good to play football? You play football because you want to. You play football because it's fun. You play football so you could pretend you're Joe Montana throwing a touchdown pass, or Emmitt Smith going for a long run. And even if those Cowboys are better than you guys, even if they beat you 99 times out of 100, that still leaves.
Tad: One time.
Rudy Zolteck: One time.
Junior Floyd: [Smiles] Yeah one time!

If Danny O'Shea can beat Kevin O'Shea down Cherry Hill (one time), anything possible.

In all seriousness, this is much ado about nothing. Do you really think Stewart, Tuck, Jefferson, et al needed bulletin board material to get motivated for a conference championship game? I don't think her statement had any effect one way or another.

 

[JoePgh]

Did anyone catch the broadcast commentary during the game last night? The announcers referred to an interview with Geno. He apparently follows the NBA a lot more closely than most of us (definitely including me), and he noted that the Golden State Warriors (with a historic win percentage this year) had recently lost a game in which they went 4-30 from the 3-point line. Obviously his point was that such a thing could happen to UConn, and with "win or go home" being the rule in the remainder of this season, it could be fatal if it happens.

No one is unbeatable (particularly in a one-game series). Remember Louisville vs. Baylor a few years ago, or the Miracle On Ice in 1981. (Or the Pirates in 1960, I might add. Or the Immaculate Reception in 1971.)

And no respectable player or team should view their opponent as unbeatable.

 

[johnnyc]

In all seriousness, this is much ado about nothing. Do you really think Stewart, Tuck, Jefferson, et al needed bulletin board material to get motivated for a conference championship game? I don't think her statement had any effect one way or another.

The post game comments say otherwise. I think some are forgetting or not understanding that these are highly competitive people. Understandable, I guess, being so removed from the playing fields and where the only competition is whether they make it to the bathroom on time.

 

[Orangutan]

The post game comments say otherwise. I think some are forgetting or not understanding that these are highly competitive people. Understandable, I guess, being so removed from the playing fields and where the only competition is whether they make it to the bathroom on time.

Yeah, I don't really put much stock in those comments. What do people think Stewart's (or any other UConn player's) thought process was - "Well, I wasn't going to play hard in the conference championship game but now this girl on the other team said we're beatable, so I guess I ought to play hard. Can't mail it like I had planned *now*."

I mean, maybe UConn wanted to beat them more to prove the point. But they were already going to play hard. That extra bit of wanting to win wasn't going to make a difference in how they played because they already wanted to win.

 

[hoophuskee]

Did anyone catch the broadcast commentary during the game last night? The announcers referred to an interview with Geno. He apparently follows the NBA a lot more closely than most of us (definitely including me), and he noted that the Golden State Warriors (with a historic win percentage this year) had recently lost a game in which they went 4-30 from the 3-point line. Obviously his point was that such a thing could happen to UConn, and with "win or go home" being the rule in the remainder of this season, it could be fatal if it happens.

No one is unbeatable (particularly in a one-game series). Remember Louisville vs. Baylor a few years ago, or the Miracle On Ice in 1981. (Or the Pirates in 1960, I might add. Or the Immaculate Reception in 1971.)

And no respectable player or team should view their opponent as unbeatable.

I agree about win or go home. But there are only so many teams that have a shot to beat them. Unless injuries - nobody is going to beat them until the E8. And I can't believe on this thread some are still scared of USF. Across their frontline they pose no defensive problems. Unlike Baylor who only had two offensive players and every second you knew where Griner would be, this UCONN team will always have runs vs a team like USF. USF continually has to hit very tough shots. Anyhow, on a national level - UCONN has way too much versatility to go down before the E8. Hope USF is out of the UCONN region and makes some big noise.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

JoePgh- - -"No one is unbeatable (particularly in a one-game series). Remember Louisville vs. Baylor a few years ago,"

JoePgh, the thing about that game was that Kim Mulkey, totally over-looked L'ville, she had already prepared her team for the FF and Walz's players went nuts and hit something like 15 3's in the first 1/2 and several more in the 2nd 1/2 & smothered Griner with at least 3 girls and played a very physical game especially on Sims & held on to win by 3-5 points, I think. Kim was out-coached big-time!
Not saying it couldn't happen, but the difference with UCONN is Geno and his staff doesn't OVER-LOOK anyone! The present game is all that matters!

 

[JavaMan]

Morgan Tuck: "We know we're not unbeatable, but what we all know is that we are pretty hard to beat. So, we just used her words for a little more motivation and show that, yes, anyone might be able to beat us, but if it's going to happen you are going to need to play pretty much a perfect game to do it."

[LINK]

 

[Striper69]

What was it that Laettner said?



"The best team in the world can be beaten on any given night!"

 

[hoophuskee]

What was it that Laettner said?



"The best team in the world can be beaten on any given night!"

Yes. The entire UCONN team could catch pneumonia and wind up in the hospital in round 1.