Yea, hopefully the Beavers can get a recruiting bump out of this. I imagine a FF appearance will do wonders for them.
Maryland was only down 9 going into the 4th. Same for USF. But I think that's about it.
UConn has had a few relatively lose games. Maryland did best, and was within single digits until late in the game and lost by 12 points. UConn's first half against Maryland was quite bad -- they had an amazing number of turnovers. Notre Dame was down by one point at halftime on UConn's home court due to uncharacteristic defensive lapses, but in the third quarter UConn increased the lead to 20 points before ND narrowed it to within 8 in the 4th quarter (with amazing 3-point shooting) before losing by 10. DePaul kept their game with UConn very close in the first half, also with amazing 3-point shooting (something like 13-17 in the first half). As mentioned above, South Florida (UConn's only serious in-conference foe) played UConn three times and led at halftime in one game before losing by about 20. They had great athletes on the perimeter but no post presence.
I hesitate to remind everyone that is concerned about OSU and their potential of presenting a real and serious threat to the huskies. We (fans) recognize OSU's recent history and success.
We also note that those achievements were not reached against UConn, lest I remind you is the #1 defensive team in the country.
I'm not trying to be cocky or disrespectful of OSU. I'm going to keep it classy. But ALL of you know that NO ONE plays defense like UConn does. A week ago, we were all concerned about Mississippi State, and the problems they presented. Their leading scorer Victoria Vivians who had run rough shod over all of their previous opponents to that point., was only able to muster 6 points. UConn's defense shut her down.
I'm in no way suggesting that we should not be concerned, but OSU did lose 4 games this year. In those losses they scored 50, 61, 51 and 54 points respectively. I think this illustration speaks for itself.
All of their loses were to ranked teams, but only one team, (#3 Notre Dame) was to a top 10 team. I would submit to you that UConn is just slightly more competitive than any of those teams.
Are they on a roll? yes. OSU is currently on an 8 game winning streak.; but so is UConn. The Beaver's last loss was on Feb 26, 2016 to Stanford in Palo Alto. Coincidentally, UConn's last loss was also to Stanford in Palo Alto 2 years ago. The Huskies have been on their our roll just a little bit longer.
Look back over the season and take note of how many super stars were held way below their regular season scoring average. Kelsey Mitchell (8 points), A'ja Wilson (I realize she did not play the entire game due to injury - 13 points), Alaina Coates (2 points), Tiffany Mitchell (12 points), Victoria Vivians (6 points), etc.
UConn does not give teams "open looks" on a consistent basis that other teams do. You just can't do the things against UConn, that you can do against other teams. UConn is the #1 team in scoring defense in the country, and they live up to that ranking every game. Its all going to come down to scoring. You've got to figure that UConn is going to score at least 70 points (I'm being conservative). Here's the $64,000 question: What is OSU going to do that Mississippi State (28-8) was not able to do?
UConn held to 38 points. MSU scored in double figures only in 4th quarter, after the game had been decided, and Geno emptied his bench. MSU was not chopped liver, and they lost by 60.
Even if OSU is 30 points better than MSU, they still lose by 30. So, the question is can OSU score 70 against UConn? Its possible, but I don't think so. I think UConn can keep OSU under 65.
I'm going to borrow the phrase that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers uttered in response to some of the Packers faithful that had begun to voice their concerns, because the Packers had just lost their second game in a row. Rodgers told them: "R-E-L-A-X".
I think that's an excellent point. Against a team playing man, Tuck typically has a field day drawing the other team's big out to the perimeter and then driving past her to the rim. South Carolina probably sees that happen over and over again in their sleep. She really is a matchup nightmare, not quite as much as Stewie is, but close.
I can't say I particularly like to relive that game in my mind, but I agree with everything you say here. I'll throw in one more thing that is almost always overlooked about that game. That was the first season in quite a while that Stanford did not have an Ogwumike sister on the roster, and Tara, to her credit, adjusted to the change in personnel by completely overhauling her offense in the offseason. Since that was only Stanford's second game of the season as well, I think it's reasonable to believe that Geno and his staff may not yet have known quite what to expect from Stanford offensively or been able to scout them as effectively as usual. Not that I'm making excuses; Stanford was just a little bit better on that night and deserved to win. But I think the newfangledness of the Cardinal offense was a contributing factor.I agree with you Coco. I attended that game. UConn had it in cruise control most of the game. They had just come off of drubbing UC Davis 3 days prior by 59 points (102-43), and were feeling pretty good about themselves. For whatever reason, they were just not ready to play.
They didn't hunker down and get serious until there was 3 minutes left in the game. Remember, they had a 10 point lead at the 6 minute mark, but Stanford had really begun to chip away at the score. That night, almost everything Stanford put up, went in.
Stanford's bench and the crowd were very animated throughout the game. Stanford never took their foot off the gas. The biggest shot of the night was Amber Orrange's 3 pointer from the right corner. That was the dagger. That shot hit an artery.If I remember correctly, that shot (as the clock was winding down) sent the game into overtime. If she misses that shot, we win.
One more basket, or one more made free throw in regulation, and we're not having this conversation. There was a large contingent of UConn fans in attendance that night. We all left the building after the game in shock.
Personnel changes were made, team resolve was heightened, and as they say, the rest is history. I thought at the time (and posted it) that that particular lost during the first week of the season, was the best thing that could have happened to UConn.
As a team, they never forgot that loss, and what it felt like the rest of the season. A record of 38-1 is not bad, as long as that "1" is not the last game of the year.
Funny, I don't remember the Pack winning the Superbowl that year.I'm going to borrow the phrase that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers uttered in response to some of the Packers faithful that had begun to voice their concerns, because the Packers had just lost their second game in a row. Rodgers told them: "R-E-L-A-X".
Funny, I don't remember the Pack winning the Superbowl that year.
Then maybe they shouldn't have relaxed.
