Creighton Post Game thread (merged thread) | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Creighton Post Game thread (merged thread)

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Initial Thoughts:

CD surprisingly has been the best player on the team since the Paige injury. When you think about facing SC or other top teams later this season, it's exciting to know we have her in the lineup. Her blocks are great. I love how stoic she is too. She doesn't get too high or too low. And I didn't love the sneaky good talk though I get it. But what I really like about her is she'll put up 13 shots relatively within the flow of the offense.

Dorka, was amazing in the first quarter and really the first half. She had a bunch of nice passes throughout the game as well. When she airballs shots in the post, I scratch my head. I'm not sure if it's a balance or strength issue, but those are the plays that if she could get a handle on, would make her like the best big on the team.

AE was super aggressive and played great. I feel like she's played fine since the Georgia Tech game, but this game she played a lot of minutes and had a lot of opportunities. If she could get her fouling and travels under control, she could probably be the best big on the team.

CW was fine. She hit two big threes and had a couple of nice back door cuts. I think the expectations are pretty high for her, but 5/11 is really not that bad. She also hasn't had that many opportunities in transition this season. Overall, the pace of the game, and the turnovers led to less opportunities for her, so in a half court game to shoot 50% from three, I think she was fine.

Nika was Nika. She was surely missed. At this point I just smile every time she fouls. I'm not sure if there is a box score that includes it but her plus minus must've been great in this game. I just felt like when she was on the floor she made good things happen. She also pushes the ball which is great for early post up opportunities, and open threes. She also looked pretty quick throughout the game, which was cool to see. Hopefully her foot issues are behind her.

ONO- I thought she played well in the second half. I think that's the gift and the curse of having 3 very capable bigs. It was like each of them had their strong moments throughout the game, and each also had their struggle. But the rotation of minutes between them I thought was pretty good in this game.

EW- This was not her best game. She just seems a bit out of rthyme offensively, and does not really know where her shots are going to come from. To shoot 1 shot in 30 plus minutes, and to have 6 turnovers is not great.

Overall, in the middle of the first quarter I thought they were playing the best we've seen offensively in awhile. But after scoring 21 in the first, they scored only 42 in the next 3 quarters.
 
So much pressure on Westbrook. Out of position, bad knees, she is holding tge fort as best she can. Seems afraid to make mistakes which doesn’t work well for athletes. But someone said we will lose a bunch of games. A few maybe. But not too many. Since GTech they adjusted pretty well and then had COVID interrupt the progress. I think they will get better.
 
SLY63 said:
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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Agreed, but I’m not holding my breath.
 
uconnfan68 said:
And nearly zero leadership. They look clueless sometimes. Almost all are very indecisive with the ball. It’s amazing what 1 player was able to bring out of them.
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Season Average With Paige vs Without for our starting 5 (just scoring)

CW- 15.0 - 11.7
EW- 9.5 - 9.0
ONO - 8.3 - 8.5
DJ - 3.0 - 10.8
CD - 3.6 - 14.3

Interesting to see DJ and CD be the two to step up. Granted they are getting a lot more minutes. But our 3 returning seniors have struggled to increase production offensively.
 
Few thoughts:
a. Can someone find Evina's confidence and give it back to her? it seems she is way overthinking every move/shot and that impact she defense where she was not good as well.
b. Caroline is a player! and one of the only ones on this team that can create their own shot because she's got the handles, variety of shots, basketball iq, and body control and all of that on somewhat slow feet which shows that you don't need to be a top athlete to get your shots.
c. it's the end of a game and UConn is down 1, who gets the ball? I'll go with Caroline!
d. DJ had such a good first half. What happened to her in the 2nd half?
e. UConn is lucky that Nika could play in this game. Just imagine if E was the PG the 40 min. today...
 
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topogigio said:
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!
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Again, high school ratings are worthless. They are a sham.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
Again, high school ratings are worthless. They are a sham.
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Not so much a scam but more an indication of what kind of player they are in high school. We see it in all sports - great players at one level move up and become average at the next. So being the best kid out of high school doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be the best kid in college
 
Jordy said:
Have you ever seen seniors dramatically improve during the season? Doesn’t often happen.
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Like it or not, there is nobody on our team, almost any team, who can do what Paige does. Her absence, and to a degree, Muhl‘s, puts the other guards in less than their best situation. Clearly the most pressure is on Westbrook and she just isn’t a ball distributor. It affects Christyn too. I didn’t see her as quite so bad as some. I get that we think a hs POY is expected to take over sometimes, but she isn’t a dud. On top of it all, I thought we played pretty well against LVille and then COVID screwed up our progress I reserve judgement for a few more games until they get the chance to practice regularly. I’d guess DePaul is the biggest league opponent to threaten us. Paige coming back and Azzi being able to contribute are major wild cards later on.
 
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Wow Caroline! This time with Paige being out is really doing her good. Every time we see her I feel like she’s getting better and better. I really like her play. If you watch her on offense she never stops moving and then on defense her hands are always active. She missed a shot or two she could have made, but overall no complains. She doesn’t really seem to turn the ball and is overall a really high IQ player.

If she continues this play and the senior guards continue their lackluster play, if Paige does come back, I can’t imagine her minutes decreasing that drastically. Too early to tell, especially after the Covid break and with Azzi still out but I’m interested to see how that plays out.

Edwards looked a lot like her old self. She had much more aggressive takes and was doing some post moves I hadn’t seen from her since last year. Overall I thought she had a nice game.

EW/CW - Disappointing, not tons to say. CW had a few nice takes but will just never be the player we hoped for.

Dorka - After she got off to a hot start she quieted down, I’d love to see her bring the heat the whole game.

Ono - I thought was fine, made a few good passes, hit the outside shots she needed to.

Nika - Still getting back into the swing of it, love her energy.

Another terrible fourth quarter. Overall I’m okay with the way this game went given the injuries, lack of practice time, Covid break, etc. Hopefully they can all improve a little each game.
 
HuskyNan said:
I agree the seniors need to play better and while I’m still hoping they will, I’m pinning my hopes on the young ‘uns.
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I've been saying that for a couple of months now.
 
It's probably just dumb luck but I thought Caroline would be our 2nd best player from day one. When she started getting shots off, even though she missed, it just confirmed it for me. She's the same player I saw in her high school videos. She's the total package and if we do have any chance to win it all she will be a key. She's a plus defender, plus rebounder, plus scorer and overall she doesn't make a lot of mistakes with the ball even though the refs keep calling that stupid traveling foot shuffle.

There are players who can make plays against top competition, players who can beat up secondary competition and contribute something in March and then reserve depth. We have 2 of the first type, 5 or 6 of the 2nd type and then the rest. Having 5-6 of the 2nd type is important and hopefully they have great careers as coaches and other endeavors later in life, but you really need some of that first grouping to win it all. I think we should be a top 4 team again when Paige gets back even if we don't get much from Azzi. If Azzi can defend, she certainly has the ability to be a player in that first grouping. We have yet to see her pull up jumper with any success yet and even if she can just space the floor and knock down a good percentage of 3 pointers she would help this team a lot. She may well end up our 3rd best player before the year is done.

Which is really good by the way. Evina, CW, Edwards and Dorka are all very solid players. Absolutely will be extremely important going forward.

Call me crazy but I think Dorka is our best draft pick this year. I'd pick her higher than any other draft eligible player on the team.
 
Based on what happened towards the end of the game, Creighton should have pressed UCONN much earlier. UCONN was in total disarray at the end.

When it comes to the seniors, I admit surprise. I thought they were much better. It not rust, conditioning, lack of practice or any other creative excuses. They just don’t have the high quality consistency needed to be a top team. A supporting staff for whoever the star may be. Butler next. They will probably look like All Americans.

In a game like today where they are playing a team consisting of Munchkins, they really didn’t pound the paint like they should have.

Nika is a jolt of positive energy much needed. Glad she’s back. Not sure she will ever be a consistent point producer.

If we ever get to full strength this season and take a run for the NC, AE becomes a very important cog in the wheel. Liked what I saw today. Hopefully, it gets better as the season moves on.

Sweet Caroline!!
 
Jordy said:
So when she comes back, who does she replace in the starting lineup? Conundrum time
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Easy...Evina. She will need the rest and her and Nika can be sparks off of the bench. This is only my thought if 2 of our "bigs" are also starting.
 
Jordy said:
UConn started four seniors and a Freshman was far and away the best player offensively and defensively. What conclusions should one draw from that circumstance?
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UConn has had at least two good freshmen in the last 2 years, maybe UConn has a third AZZI
 
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TeamFirst! said:
It's probably just dumb luck but I thought Caroline would be our 2nd best player from day one. When she started getting shots off, even though she missed, it just confirmed it for me. She's the same player I saw in her high school videos. She's the total package and if we do have any chance to win it all she will be a key. She's a plus defender, plus rebounder, plus scorer and overall she doesn't make a lot of mistakes with the ball even though the refs keep calling that stupid traveling foot shuffle.

There are players who can make plays against top competition, players who can beat up secondary competition and contribute something in March and then reserve depth. We have 2 of the first type, 5 or 6 of the 2nd type and then the rest. Having 5-6 of the 2nd type is important and hopefully they have great careers as coaches and other endeavors later in life, but you really need some of that first grouping to win it all. I think we should be a top 4 team again when Paige gets back even if we don't get much from Azzi. If Azzi can defend, she certainly has the ability to be a player in that first grouping. We have yet to see her pull up jumper with any success yet and even if she can just space the floor and knock down a good percentage of 3 pointers she would help this team a lot. She may well end up our 3rd best player before the year is done.

Which is really good by the way. Evina, CW, Edwards and Dorka are all very solid players. Absolutely will be extremely important going forward.

Call me crazy but I think Dorka is our best draft pick this year. I'd pick her higher than any other draft eligible player on the team.
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Hopefully this won't be a consideration because Dorka comes back next year and gets a full season with Paige on the court.
 
HuskyNan said:
Yes he did. He used a worse word to describe the coaching in the presser
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His negative description of the coaching was oblique to say the least. Basically something is wrong in the coaching if they can't dribble without walking. Safe to say, he remains incredulous at how often we make bonehead plays and shoot ourselves in the foot.

In the presser, we need a calming player in the 4thQ to handle things when it gets bad. And I am glad he is not going to anoint Caroline who already has alot on her table.
 
Player Post Game. Interesting Mix. Caroline, CW, Aaliyah

 
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When Paige returns the starting line up will go back to the way it was last year I think: Nika, Paige, CW, Evina, ONO. The only question is how long do certain starters stay out there, and I say not long when you have Edwards, Dorka, Fudd, and Caroline as your next four.
 
I was at the game. It was fun to be back at Gampel. Overall, it was a much needed win and they shook off some rust. Hopefully, they can get sharper as they start playing a regular schedule of 2/3 games a week.

As I saw UConn warming up, I was wondering if they added a lefthanded walk-on. Then the light went on, new `do.

Happy to see Azzi without a boot on her foot. Paige was there on crutches, and Piath not in uniform. Aubrey was not there. Amari warmed up with the team.

The official attendance number, whatever it is, is not accurate. There were a lot of no shows in the lower levels, due to Covid, some moderately icy roads, or whatever. Only a handful of students, and no band. Maybe 5,000 total? Not a ton of energy, the sixth man that was there at the Notre Dame game was not here today. (Made getting in, parking, and getting out pretty easy.)

They looked good early on offense (esp. Dorka) which surprised me given the layoff. The offense was good in stretches, bad in stretches. Not getting enough easy stuff inside. This team also makes some of the strangest passes I have ever seen at this level. Inexplicable.

The defense was good all day. Maly hit two threes in the first half over ONO that got them close, and Geno took her right out. Some other lapses led to layups, but the intensity was there. And except for those Maly threes we were closing well on the three point shooters all day. (I watched Creighton warming up and they were not missing many.) But we need to work on rebounding - they got a bunch of rebounds off of missed three pointers where the rebound bounced long. Need to "box out" better.

Evina`s body language on offense was strange - almost listless- she was not looking to shoot and turned down decent shots in favor of ill-advised passes that became turnovers. But she played very hard on the defensive end and appeared to me to be moving well there, so that`s good.

We got it to 61-44, with the ball, and at that point I thought we would coast to a 20 point win. If it ended then, we would be feeling better and talking differently now. We did not handle the defensive pressure that came in the fourth quarter at that point well at all.

It was great to see Edwards play well. Also great to see Nika and the energy she brings.

The refs are definitely focused on the traveling call so the players are going to need to adjust.
 
WFFL said:
When Paige returns move Christyn to the 6th man and keep Ducharme in the line up if we want to make the final 4 . Yes it hurts williams
Stock but we need to
Prioritize the team before any individual .
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I'm not sure which one of CW or Evina goes to the bench once Paige is back. But whichever of them keeps their starting job will be subject to a quick hook if they're not playing well, and I'm not sure the other will be first off the bench with Nika and eventually Azzi available. But I don't see Caroline losing her starting spot except for Senior Night (assuming that Paige is back by then, which I fervently hope will be the case.)
 
Unless the team releases details on who had it over the break, we'll never know which players were impacted. Based on reports, Geno was ecstatic when he had 5 players at practice, although not having any of the practice players didn't help.
 
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I just hope Evina steps up. We know what she is capable of doing.
A team is much stronger when they have a guard who can take over, be more dominant, and manage the team on the floor.
 
hoopsdiva said:
I'm not sure which one of CW or Evina goes to the bench once Paige is back. But whichever of them keeps their starting job will be subject to a quick hook if they're not playing well, and I'm not sure the other will be first off the bench with Nika and eventually Azzi available. But I don't see Caroline losing her starting spot except for Senior Night (assuming that Paige is back by then, which I fervently hope will be the case.)
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I tend to agree. The last two games, Ducharme has been the best player on the floor. And today that included being incredibly solid on defense. It's only been two games, but if the trend continues, there's no reason to start EW over her. Ducharme brings length and scoring to the wing position, which would compliment the shooting of Paige at the PG spot.

Also, I like starting DJ and ONO together. It gives us a lot of height, and both players can hit the midrange shot. That opens up the high low options that are more difficult with AE occupying the high post.

CW will start the remainder of her career. We might not always get an A plus performance, but I'd be shocked to see her moved to the bench.
 
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