Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="tomcat, post: 3442195, member: 961"] It's always a privilege to watch the team in person, which my wife and I did yesterday. But realistically, as someone above said, this is the most flawed team that UConn has fielded in years. The first quarter was what is becoming a habit -- and not a good one -- with this team. Standing around, no playmaking, no flow, no nothing. And mistakes? Sheesh. I know she had a more positive second half, but Christyn has the yips, as bad a case as I have seen in a long time. Usually a player can rely on her defense to steady her while she works on her offense. But in the first half and in other games, mistakes just seemed to find her. Wrong passes. Balls slipping out of her hands. Missed shots. The whole nine yards. I would like to think a steadier second half was a sign she is getting over it, but I have thought that before, and it hasn't. As we all know, she is better than this, and it must be killing her. I guess she just has to play through it, but it really is the most painful part of watching UConn WCBB right now. The really good thing about this game is that I'm pretty sure (maybe my memory is faulty here) this team has not been down at the half against a decent team (and USF is decent) and fought back to win going away. It was a nice feeling to see it happen. Halfway through the third quarter, you could just see that players felt like, "We've got this," and sure enough, they did. How did they do it? Well, in addition to a much better shooting percentage, they decided to add a little energy to a defense that looked pretty anemic in the first quarter. USF also is one of those teams that is susceptible to the phenomenon called Aubrey Griffin, and she showed to good advantage during the game. There are some teams (i.e. the three UConn lost to) that make her look like a lost rookie, but her quickness and athleticism were real assets out there in this game. I think we can conclude absolutely nothing from Olivia's fine performance in this game. She does well beating up against smaller, less experienced or less mobile front lines. She does not have the horsepower, nor the big teammates, to take on the big lines on the elite teams -- Oregon, Baylor, SC and who knows? there may be another one or two. It is completely unfair to blame her for UConn's weaknesses, because it is not her fault that she does not have bulky frontline teammates to help her. But it is a fact that this remains the team's first weakness, and unfortunately for her, the spotlight will always shine in Olivia in those games until and unless recruiting evens the odds. Megan seems to have found her rhythm again, and it couldn't have come at a better time. She's not a team leader, but quietly fills the role of top scorer. Not quite sure what happened to Anna in this game, but she just wasn't much of a factor at all. She started and played while the team was going nowhere, didn't look awful but made a couple of mistakes. I thought Molly's harrassing defense looked pretty good for the time she was in the game. For better or worse, Crystal is the straw that stirs the drink for this team. She almost got herself in a bunch of foul trouble in this game, but she continues to provide a steadying presence in the form of shots made. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,446

Messages: 4,396,600

Members: 10,209

Latest member: gemini*trvl