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Creighton Post Game thread (merged thread)

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Well we finally had a game to watch....wasn't pretty but I think we all have to acknowledge that it won't be until the team plays more games and we get back some of the firepower on the bench. Some teams are on their 15-16 game today they played their 10th. As long as they get better each game come March they have as good a chance as anyone else.
 
oldude said:
Some thoughts on the Creighton game:
  • For diehard UConn WBB fans, a 21-day absence of games in the middle of the season feels like an eternity. Any game, including this one, is an extremely welcome occasion for Husky players, coaches and fans.
  • I absolutely expected turnovers and some ugly play at times by the Huskies after the long layoff. An ugly win is a still a beautiful thing, and I will take it any day of the week.
  • UConn played 7 players and got contributions from all 7 players. But Caroline is fast becoming the “MONEY” player for this team. With Paige out, Caroline has stepped up as the player who makes big plays in the clutch at both ends of the court. Caroline is also the best shot blocker with her off hand that I've seen at UConn since Pheesa.
  • Evina is struggling with the pg role. She appears to feel more pressure than any other Husky right now. Hoping that Nika can take some of the pressure off her in the near term.
  • Christyn with a decent game. I'm sure it all had to do with the new "do." ;)
  • Good to see Nika back on the court, particularly after she flattened an opposing player trying to set a screen during her first minute in the game, although we really do need her to cut down on fouls in order to actually stay on the court.
  • This season is going to be a real grind. Right now, nobody that UConn plays will be afraid of this team. The Huskies need to get a little better every game and hopefully reap the rewards of their effort in March.
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Agree! Especially about Caroline. This was "The Caroline Game" need a basket, a stop, a block, good defense, 4 blocks, call on Caroline. Geno says he wants more like her. The kid from a small school, small HS conference, she made all of us from those smalls proud. Caroline proves one of my theories---Basktball players know how to play. There are way too many wearing uniforms that don't play or forgot how to play. Gym Rats have it in their blood.
Dorka, It looked like, in the first half, I'd be proven wrong about Dorka. She made some very good moves, hit one 3, made a couple of layup drives. A bad pass or three, Caroline a few inches shorter blocked more, hit more shots, played better post defense. I guess the difference is ENERGY and Geno needs more Energy from the less than wounded 6.5 players he talks about. Nika, is energy without a purpose. Edwards ONO, Dorka, Caroline, played their best games yet.
If you want facts with knowledge, read OLDude.
 
Centerstream said:
I really wanted to be able to post only positive comments about this game, but giving away a 4th quarter 17 point lead is going to prevent that. It just amazed me that the point of the offense was to put the ball in Nika's hands when she continues to dribble into the sidelines and into double and triple teams...again, on the sidelines. It seemed like the other ball handlers didn't give her much help when Nika was getting trapped. And the ball she seemed to heave to the top of the key...luckily Aaliyah got it because if she didn't, the game outcome might have been different. :eek:
Love the game Caroline gave us and at different times, the "bigs" played very well!
Finally, another game where I am looking forward to @MJL243 posting it on YouTube. (I will not watch the replay of any game we didn't win.)
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Agree wholeheartedly on Muhl not keeping the ball in the middle of the court. On the over the head pass, which is highly risky to say the least, I do think she knew Edwards was alone in the middle of the court, but obviously, I could be dead wrong.
Your point on no one helping her out goes even deeper IMO. In general, there is absolutely too much standing around and watching play by this team. Not ready for loose balls, long rebounds, not meeting the ball on passes, I could go on and on. One of the reasons Ducharme is so opportunistic is because she is constantly moving. Muhl is obviously an active player but the other five all spend too much time standing flat footed and “ball watching”, one of the main reasons Creighton got so many loose balls and uncontested layups.
As for the game, a win is a win is a win and I agree with Auriemma, Creighton, with their constant motion offense was a difficult matchup after the long layoff.
 
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Well.....63 points without Paidge. If Paige, then 83.... but had big lead in 3rd quarter and lost the advantage. Really glad to see Dorka, Edwards, and Caroline come to play. CD has her moments. Really good to see Nika. I think Geno knows he has an energy issue with CD and Evina and is glad Nike can come in and play. Like Nika's aggressiveness. We need to give Live and energy drink every quarter but I liked the way she made some outside shots. Can't fall apart and give back this game. Reasonably good defense except when losing the big lead.

At least a W and we have 3 real contributors.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Baby steps, but not to discount the psychology of a win after one thing after another.
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I never played for Uconn, although I have watched mens and women's teams for years--I didn't ever play one on TV. But the guys I played Basketball with and some against, if they were good, they were good years later (age adjusted). Point is Good HS or Great HS players know how to pass, there is only so many kinds of passes,know how to shoot a layup, guarded or unguarded, (smart players know they'll get hit and adjust for it. The Opponent C.U, kids all knew how to get open, shot layups, shot jumpers, defense was ok, not great and often stood under the basket and waited. Swarmed the bigs under the basket (Geno did that with Griner), point is good players don't become mediocre players without reason.
 
This was a solid win marred by long stretches of lack of offense. We are about 4-5 games played behind most women's teams. That hurts. It shows. Several players seem to be playing in a funk. We are not who we will be in one + month.
I wish we could play more reactive basketball. Too much time is spent setting up our offense. Time and again we only seemed to want to play against a fully set defense. Edwards had great inside position early in much of the game but we got away from giving her the ball. The guards need to penetrate much more instead of settling with passing around the top of the key.

We lost nearly every long defensive rebound. UConn was out rebounded by a much smaller team! How does this happen?
 
If you didn't see the stats, and think about who was involved in plays, were the topic of the announcers and stepped up, it felt like 2 groups:

CD, DJ, NM, AE: Brought energy and aggressiveness. Looked like they couldn't wait to play

CW, EW, ONO (Seniors): Low energy, not involved much. Felt more like role players than leaders.

I really think it will be interesting to see the minutes distribution once Azzi and Paige return. I think we will see the seniors minutes drop as we get to March.
 
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Happydad745 said:
I'm really frustrated by EW and CW....for many reasons. The sooner we get PG back, the better. I hope develops as quickly as CD.
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I agree.
It is hard to believe Westbrook and Williams were picked as 1st round draft choices and Liv - 2nd round.
If they cannot score against Creighton, it will be very hard at the next level.
Hope they will turn the corner !!!
 
Even though Nika didn't make her 3 pt shots, just having her out there made a huge difference IMHO. She proved last year that she can run the team, and right now until Paige gets back, she needs to be out there for at least 25 minutes when she gets the ok. Evina is getting worse, her passing is horrible, and it's funny but it looked like she was afraid to take a shot. She had twice as many turnovers as anyone else, and I don't think she has ever connected on the 3/4 court pass, a pass that Paige can consistently complete. I won't comment on the good things about Caroline and Dorka since they have already been posted, but the bottom line is that until Paige is back, Nika is the only one that may be able to organize our offence, and not trying to score herself, can concentrate to get the ball to the right people at the right time. Thats the true definition of a quality point guard.
 
great game, great win, not a single complaint cuz they led wire to wire.
i just realized that i have no idea what 'wire to wire' means, just heard it used a lot. whatever. V for victory! (that's my grade for them today)
 
veryolddog said:
Well.....63 points without Paidge. If Paige, then 83.... but had big lead in 3rd quarter and lost the advantage. Really glad to see Dorka, Edwards, and Caroline come to play. CD has her moments. Really good to see Nika. I think Geno knows he has an energy issue with CD and Evina and is glad Nike can come in and play. Like Nika's aggressiveness. We need to give Live and energy drink every quarter but I liked the way she made some outside shots. Can't fall apart and give back this game. Reasonably good defense except when losing the big lead.

At least a W and we have 3 real contributors.
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Veryolddog: I agree on most of this. If Paige will account for 20 points more --and Geno has more highly ranked players than C.U. . Probably than CU had in their history. If teams like this that are often passed by, by the top 10 players can run a team with more top 10 players than I can count ( limited education). What is the element missing ? By the Ranking number on UCWBB team they should be Number 1 with no losses--something doesn't add up, and I hate stats. Ignoring ONE top player is injured/sidelined!!
 
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I’m not concerned about Nikas fouls — would rather have someone aggressive. Plus I’m sure she was amped up to play.

And part of the problem with lotsa fouls is they put you on the bench — but that was gonna happen anyway since she could only play 15 minutes.
 
A win is a win, and especially what they've gone through the last 3 weeks, I'm happy for the team and Geno and staff. Creighton is a solid team and I thought we played a great game until the last several minutes where we seemed to slow the game down to our detriment and try to run offense (execution was bad). I think going forward, Geno needs to tell the team to continue playing the way they did for the first 3 1/2 quarters, because this team's lack of proficient and trustworthy guard play is going to cost us.

I am also now firmly in the camp that we need to also acknowledge that this team is not going to be led by the seniors. The seniors will play very important roles, but the team will be led by our freshman and sophomores.

I thought everyone played pretty well. I think Liv could've played better, but will give her a pass. Evina is playing really poorly the last few games. She is hesitant and a turnover machine. I am actually surprised by this, because she is one of my favorite players on the team, but she is hurting the team big time right now. I'm hoping she will snap out of it.

Looking forward to getting Azzi back in a couple of weeks or so. We desperately need another good shooter out there with CD. You can see teams sagging and leaving many of our players with daylight to shoot knowing that we currently do not have the the players to consistently hit the outside shot. Azzi will open up so much for other guards and post players, can't wait to see Geno let her and CD play freely without worrying about being benched.
 
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BostonBay said:
CD continues to impress! If Paige comes back, our backcourt changes 180-degrees, w/Paige controlling the ball movement and CD a scoring option on the wing. CW & EW could go back to their shooting-guard roles that they are more accustomed to. As Geno said, we essentially dont have a good guard play right now, and it shows.
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So when she comes back, who does she replace in the starting lineup? Conundrum time
 
Having a tough time getting used to this "new normal" UConn Women's Basketball. I don't care how long of a layoff, Covid, short bench, no Paige, no Azzi, ad nauseum. The players on the court were top rated players coming out of high school, some are now seniors, having played for 4 seasons. They are playing against competition not nearly as talented. They should look and play better than they are!
 
Bigboote said:
Ducharme is just a joy to watch. Her one-on-one defense isn’t great, but her team defense really is.

Glad to see Edwards getting her groove back.

I too loved Nika barreling through that screen. It might have been a dumb play, but it showed she still has that fire and she’s not giving in because she’s just back from an injury.

I hopeon Evina is able to get it together with Nika taking some of the PG responsibilities.
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All her blocks came on one and one defense.
 
Stymie said:
Starting guards:
9 turnovers
3 assists
And there the problem lies.
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Last year, we were bombarded with content about how aggressive and passionate the freshman class was. Last season, I kept feeling like we were one season away, as we were so young, but somehow got to the Final Four.

This year has obviously not gone according to plan, with transfers, injuries, and covid complications. But what I've noticed is that once again, our younger players are the ones playing with the most passion and energy.

Once again, I feel like we are one year away. A lineup next year with PB, , CD, AE, and DJ will be very solid. 4 players who can shoot from the perimeter, height, passing, scorers from all positions. And you'll have two intriguing new freshman to add to that mix.

It almost feels like we have the potential to experience addition by subtraction next year. This senior class is just missing the it factor. I've enjoyed watching them, and they've certainly contributed to their fair share of uconn wins. But I fear they just aren't the right pieces.

The guard play you mention above was an issue today, but it's been happening all year. It was just masked by the early season brilliance of PB. The season shooting efficiency for both EW and CW is also subpar this year. And although she played fine today, the fact that ONO isn't more of a presence against such a small opponent is just a microcosm of the issue that presents itself against quality bigs.

We have to go with the players we currently have available, and I hope this senior class can find the sense of urgency to accomplish their goals. But for now, I will continue to focus on what the younger players are doing, and daydream about what they will accomplish when they get a bit more experienced.
 
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