Creighton post game (merged thread)

[MilfordHusky]

Just a few thoughts tonight. The first 6-8 minutes were the worst basketball I've ever seen UConn play. Then it leveled out for about 8 minutes. Then we really played great. Truly a microcosm of the season.

Liv kept us in the game early on. She used her size advantage pretty well and made all 5 FTs. However, when she has her back to the basket and is dribbling, she holds the ball too long. Let her practice with a loud buzzer that goes off after 2 seconds, so she can learn timing. Once again, she battled and played very hard. I think she could play just a little smarter to eliminate the TOs.

Azzi got more PT and is getting acclimated. She was beaten badly once on defense. On most of the other defensive possessions, she held her own, keeping her hands up and moving her feet. Two of her three fouls were borderline at best. On offense, I'd like to see her move more (same for her teammates). She still has not taken a bad shot. Tonight she splashed a 3 from deep on the wing during our comeback and one from the corner as part of a press break late in the game. She also took a long jumper off the dribble and back-rimmed it and scored on a layup after a nice ball fake. So, she is showing the defense and the fans some of her repertoire. Of course, she swished 2 FTs. I'd love to see her shoot 4, 6, or 8 FTs in a game. Even when Azzi is not getting shots, she occupies the defense and gives her teammates open shots, just as Kaleena did. When Paige comes back, she will find Azzi in her spots. And Azzi will connect.

 

[npignatjr]

If the posts footwork was better would have had more assists. Also a few good passes resulted in shooting fouls.

 

[STLCardinal]

Should someone point out that Creighton is not even in the top 30 in the AP poll and doesn’t register in the Coaches Poll?

Should someone point out that those who vote in the AP poll have the same type of preconceptions that you do, that someone is not good because they don't have a history of being good. That y'all completely ignore the fact that Creighton beat Arkansas who beat LSU and almost beat Tennessee, who the AP had in the Top 5 and the ESPN guy had as a No. 1 seed. That watching someone acutally play a game makes for a better informed opinion.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The first 6-8 minutes were the worst basketball I've ever seen UConn play.

Tonight was the worst? What about that South Carolina game where UConn only scored 2 points in the first quarter?

 

[hookshot]

I'm rather torn on this and would rather keep things as they are until Paige returns. My reasoning is that this would be the 4th major change of position UCONN would be asking Evina to make in her short 1.5 season at UCONN. She started off playing the 3 (SF) last season and was changed into playing the 4 when Nika was inserted into the starting line up which featured 4 guards. With the arrival of Dorka this season and prior to page getting hurt Evina was returned to starting at the 3. With the injury to Paige she was asked to move into the starting PG role while Nika was injured. With the emergence of Caroline she was removed from the starting lineup. Now we would be asking her to return to the starting line up as a PG. That's too many changes IMO.

Don't be torn. Evina is not suited to be a PG except in desperation - a point guard's job is to keep a pace in advancing the ball to people who can shoot. Nika does a generally good job at that. By contrast, the offense stalls when Evina is at PG. Evina is best suited as a wing and seems to found her mojo which has been missing for some time now

 

[Darnell17]

Don't be torn. Evina is not suited to be a PG except in desperation - a point guard's job is to keep a pace in advancing the ball to people who can shoot. Nika does a generally good job at that. By contrast, the offense stalls when Evina is at PG. Evina is best suited as a wing and seems to found her mojo which has been missing for some time now

Is it possible to get the replay…Please

 

[genzhusk]

Should someone point out that Creighton is not even in the top 30 in the AP poll and doesn’t register in the Coaches Poll?

Creighton is ranked #32 in the NET rankings which is more objective than the AP poll. The first time we played creighton they were ranked #26 NET. Most AP poll voters probably don’t even watch many games. Win over #32 is pretty solid seeing how top teams have lost to lower ranked than that this year.

 

[pvdoggy]

Tonight was the worst? What about that South Carolina game where UConn only scored 2 points in the first quarter?

I thought tonight's first 8min or so was way worse, at least in the SC game they were playing against a tough opponent and they were also playing tough defense against SC who only scored 11 pts themselves in that 1st quarter. In the first 8min of tonight's game, they did not even look like they were there mentally.

 

[Blueballer]

I thought tonight's first 8min or so was way worse, at least in the SC game they were playing against a tough opponent and they were also playing tough defense against SC who only scored 11 pts themselves in that 1st quarter. In the first 8min of tonight's game, they did not even look like they were there mentally.

Just because a team isn't ranked don't think they can't be a "tough" opponent. Creighton played one of the more physical halfs you are going to see in Div. 1 women's basketball. Did UCONN play rotten to start the game? Absolutely, but let's not say Creighton had nothing to do with it. I agree with hoopsfan22 that the SC quarter was worse than tonight.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Tonight was the worst? What about that South Carolina game where UConn only scored 2 points in the first quarter?

This was against a much weaker team than S.C. When it was 18-6, we had 2 buckets and 5 turnovers, mostly or all unforced. Against S.C., we trailed by "only" 11-2 after Q1. Tonight was at least as bad.

 

[Stymie]

I thought tonight's first 8min or so was way worse, at least in the SC game they were playing against a tough opponent and they were also playing tough defense against SC who only scored 11 pts themselves in that 1st quarter. In the first 8min of tonight's game, they did not even look like they were there mentally.

HaHaHaHaHa.
Too funny.

 

[fomalhaut]

I wish that Nika Muhl would shoot a 3 the second she gets the ball and is open. When she hesitates, she almost always misses.

 

[Cuango]

I am not a Nika's defender but she can't win with some of the fans. You complain when she does not even make an attempt of shooting the ball, you complain when she takes wide-open shots and misses (how many times have you heard lately when Geno said if you are open, take the shot instead of passing the ball), you complain that she misses cutter in the lane (I think this whole team is not a great passing instinct, not just Nika, usually a fraction too late to allow the defense to recover instead of anticipating the cut). It's not her fault that she is out there and they have been told to shoot when open, which is what she did. I wish she would find a way to score more but I can't fault her for trying when they leave her wide open.

Sure he wants her to shoot when she’s open but maybe, since there is often no one within 12 ft of her, she should dribble in 8 ft and then shoot. Let’s face it, she is not a good shooter and becomes even more hapless from behind the line! Somehow, I doubt Geno wants her to shoot threes rather than passing to an open Azzi (or Caroline, or E or CW) !! That first quarter was like a nightmare! I was so glad to see them right the ship and (bonus) they actually poured it on in the fourth! That was great to see!

 

[TeamFirst!]

Somehow I can't get excited beating Warren Buffet's grand daughters...

 

[Striper69]

Good game for the Huskies. They faced some adversity (maybe I'm understating that) and still came out on top.

 

[Striper69]

Yeah, I thought Caroline was throwing up at the end also. That happens with concussions sometimes but hopefully it's the same thing Geno has. If that is what happened. I couldn't understand why Nika was getting a lot more PT than Caroline or CW but maybe there was some sickness.

Terrific game by ONO yet again and overall, I like the man to man better than the zone we have been playing. Another solid game by CW and Evina both offensively and defensively. Caroline was solid overall but you could see that defenses are keying on her down low especially.

Someday hopefully someone can explain this to me. Nika gets 7 wide open 3 point shot opportunities and that is like twice as many as anyone else on the team. If she can't knock those down the other team will just continue to sag off of her and clog the middle or key on our scorers. That hurts the team so much. My guess is that Caroline was sick but why does Nika get more PT than ANYONE else on this team today? Was it the defense as I didn't see it overall. Not better than CW or Caroline or Evina. If Paige comes back strong this entire team will be firing on all cylinders again but as long as Nika is playing 38 minutes it's like we are playing 4 on 5. I grant that she had zero turnovers but if you aren't doing anything besides throwing up open 3 pointers it's not going to result in a lot of turnovers. They literally could hide their worst defensive player by putting her on Nika. It's most bad against top teams and I don't get why this isn't obvious to everyone. Hopefully this corrects itself when people are healthy again.

Azzi scored 10 on 5 shots with 1 turnover and her defense was overall pretty good. She's efficient with the ball and doesn't make a lot of mistakes. She complements the others well and opens up the middle with her outside shooting. She needs to play more. Nothing is wrong with this team that getting Paige and Dorka back strong can't fix.

Overall, a solid win on the road mainly with great defense.

Maybe there's a Flu going around on the team.

 

[cwaduke]

Azzi should get more balls.

Hard to believe nobody sets screens for her. With her shooting skills, they should be running picks and double picks for her.

 

[Inthepaint]

Almost turned the game off during the 2nd quarter. Had to get up at 4:00am to go to work this morning and figured, why watch this I'm only going to get aggravated and lose sleep.
Glad I kept watching.
Liv, again, was on a mission. Most dominant player on the floor.
Hope Caroline and Geno are feeling better, and hope Dorka is ready for Tennessee Sunday.
CD is 12-0 as HC. When I first saw her leading the troops, I figured Geno was so disgusted after the Providence game that he decided to take the night off and collect himself. Then I heard that he was sick.

 

[ShmiCO]

Good Chris Dailey post game!

 

[mbr33ct]

I am not a Nika's defender but she can't win with some of the fans. You complain when she does not even make an attempt of shooting the ball, you complain when she takes wide-open shots and misses (how many times have you heard lately when Geno said if you are open, take the shot instead of passing the ball), you complain that she misses cutter in the lane (I think this whole team is not a great passing instinct, not just Nika, usually a fraction too late to allow the defense to recover instead of anticipating the cut). It's not her fault that she is out there and they have been told to shoot when open, which is what she did. I wish she would find a way to score more but I can't fault her for trying when they leave her wide open.

Have to agree here, this "she can't win with some of the fans" is typical on the Boneyard, so happens Nika is the soup du jour for this game.

 

[mbr33ct]

3 days after the UConn game, DePaul nearly lost to a bad St Johns team

No nights off in the BigEast

 

[Carnac]

Good Chris Dailey post game!

I like CD’s post game press conferences. I’d like to see more of them. Of course we hear from Geno 100% of the time because HE is the head coach and the media wants to hear from him as they should.

The chatroom was expressing a different state of mind than she was after the first quarter. She said she thought things weren’t that bad. That was not the sentiment in the chatroom. Several of us were ready to jump off the ledge. However, by halftime, we were all coaxed back inside.

I love the chatroom. You get the real and true thoughts and feelings of posters there. No gloves allowed.

If he was feeling so bad he could not take the bench, he had to be feeling worse after the first quarter. I hope whatever it was that kept Geno in the locker room passes and he returns to his old self before the next game. UConn's play in the first quarter of the game no doubt exacerbated his condition. Get well soon Geno. Thanks for posting this.

 

[mbr33ct]

Creighton is ranked #32 in the NET rankings which is more objective than the AP poll. The first time we played creighton they were ranked #26 NET. Most AP poll voters probably don’t even watch many games. Win over #32 is pretty solid seeing how top teams have lost to lower ranked than that this year.

Just to piggy back on this Creighton's NET rank of #32, this rank is better than some teams in the P5 conferences...

8 of 14 teams from the SEC.
8 of 12 teams from the PAC-12
5 of 10 teams from the BIG 12
9 of 14 teams from the ACC
8 of 14 teams from the BIG 10

As a side note, I realize the AAC is not a "P5" conference but if Creighton would reside in the AAC they would have the highest NET rank in that conference, followed by USF #38 and UCF #40

Slice it how you want it, the NET is supposedly the metric the NCAA goes by these days, just reporting the facts as of this morning.

 

[Rb335]

Nika played at least 11 more minutes than Caroline, CW, Azzi or Evina. I'm dumbfounded.

Why?
CW sat for approx 12 minutes because she got herself into foul trouble, picking up 2 in Q1.

Caroline, for all we may know, may have been playing sick. The lineup on the floor to start Q4 was playing really well, so Caroline stayed on the bench to not break momentum.

It's understood Evina isn't a point guard, and doesn't play her best while running the point. Evina can play a few minutes at pg, but she's proved to be way less effective when playing that role.

Azzi is coming off the bench, and played 26 minutes. This board seems to think, moving Azzi to pg is the miracle solution. Well she has 4 assists in 156 minutes of play. Nika had 5 today.

Nika is our only point guard available, so she is bound to play hefty minutes. That isn't going to change until Paige is fully back, if that happens. If you take minutes away from her in favor of those 4, the fear is that they all become less effective because you are playing someone less effective in an important on the court role.