DePaul Post-game Thread

[Gus Mahler]

Maybe he will send her our way?

That occurred to me, actually. I dismissed the thought because we need guards. Maybe Lexi Held?

 

[Gus Mahler]

From a most memorable game, the moment I'll remember best: Evina steals the inbound pass, shoots, rebounds, and scores.

A four-stat play!

 

[LarryLegend]

I'm talking 2017-2018 ND title season.

Who is Bruzinski and when did she play for ND? And what big games did she help ND win vs UCONN?

And again she can get as physical as she wants but if UCONN wins - which they usually do, who cares how physical she is? So she disrupts play a bit but in the end if UCONN wins more often- then - advantage UCONN. Not advantage for spot minute "Bruzinski." Generally UCONN's better players with a short bench win over "the Bruzinski's/ that style."

i think Bruzinski played on the same ND team with Bruszewski.
I remember seeing her play at Gambill.

 

[boontonbomber]

Yes, Christyn, perhaps the most under-appreciated player at UConn in the 25+ years that I've followed them. In her career has averaged 34+ minutes, and always plays hard. Out of 116 games, she has played 111, and against the best teams, often has played 40 minutes. Perhaps the one who has valued her contributions most, at both ends of the court , since she arrived at Storrs, doesn't post here- Geno.

Oh, and Christyn has 1660 points, so could move into the top 15 by season's end.

 

[UConnCat]

Who is Bruzinski and when did she play for ND? And what big games did she help ND win vs UCONN?

And again she can get as physical as she wants but if UCONN wins - which they usually do, who cares how physical she is? So she disrupts play a bit but in the end if UCONN wins more often- then - advantage UCONN. Not advantage for spot minute "Bruzinski." Generally UCONN's better players with a short bench win over "the Bruzinski's/ that style."

lol. He must be referring to Becca Bruszewski who played for ND 2007-2011. May have been nicknamed "bruiser" or something like that. Not the most skilled player but physical (as her nickname suggested).

 

[Gus Mahler]

Azzi was second in rebounding, tied with Aaliyah. She is definitely a player.

On one of those she did a textbook job of boxing out Morrow.

 

[Longtime fan]

Nika stood aside and fed DeBerry the ball with the intention of her shooting the outside shot-- the reason being that DeBerry, a freshman big, shoots really well in practice and the entire team is hoping and waiting for her to duplicate her practice shooting on the game floor.

I'm not concerned with the etiquette of taking a shot in a blow-out, at games end. I am concerned that the unchallenged shot was so far off the mark. I could do better.

 

[hookshot]

Didn’t realize that. Good coach & class guy. Will be missed.

Re: SNY HT interview, respectfully disagree. Loved his “gym class offense” quip! Seems to share buddy Geno’s penchant for colorful expression to get his point across.

 

[Mdoggie]

That occurred to me, actually. I dismissed the thought because we need guards. Maybe Lexi Held?

I don’t like her until she is on our squad lol.

 

[hoophuskee]

lol. He must be referring to Becca Bruszewski who played for ND 2007-2011. May have been nicknamed "bruiser" or something like that. Not the most skilled player but physical (as her nickname suggested).

Thank you. I know this was brought up by Alyadar and not you. But I'll just add not sure Becca vs Piath (or DeBerry) can be compared. Becca was a starter in her soph year and started 26 of 34 games her junior year. That's more like "Edwards" than "Piath." Not saying she was "Edwards" but just comparing playing time (which was my discussion with Sun) I don;t believe there are any similarities. As a senior Becca would have been a bit "polished."

And Becca was part of team that I think beat UCONN only once in her four years.

 

[Gus Mahler]

good call there........far more substitutions than average which means Geno knew the bigs were tired......all except CW who seems to play almost every minute of every game and played all 40 last night......

She's been a diesel this year.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Azzi is coachable. An adjustment they clearly made after the Villanova game is for the guards to do a better job rebounding especially after those long shots Villanova kept snagging the rebound for. The guards need to watch for those long rebounds and if you look at their numbers for Depaul it sure appears that they did.

If you remember at the beginning of the year, AE started badly from the get go. Paige was with her for 6 games and it didn't help much. I don't know what the problem has been but she appears to be trying. I'm confident she will work through it.

 

[Alydar]

I'm not concerned with the etiquette of taking a shot in a blow-out, at games end. I am concerned that the unchallenged shot was so far off the mark. I could do better.

With 8000 people watching?

 

[Childhood]

 

[Jingo]

This was an interesting look for our possible starting front-court next year. It was also the first game where Dorka could play most of the time as a C with Liv out. Dorka looks much much better as a C than a PF. It seemed like it worked well for Aaliyah too. We have had to use a three big rotation mostly because of having Aubrey out. If not for that, Dorka could have played almost all of her minutes at C and been more effective, and likewise Aaliyah and Aubrey could have focused just on their more natural PF position.

If Dorka and Aaliyah can play together next year like they combined tonight, then it is much easier to feel good when teamed with the anticipated guard ultimate starters of Paige, Azzi and Caroline. Like much of the season, however, one game does not constitute a trend, particularly when you remember how little we got from Dorka and Aaliyah in the prior game.

I do feel that Dorka at C instead of PF makes a very big difference though.

I can't see Paige, Azzi & Caroline as starters next year; I prefer Nika, Paige and Caroline, with Azzi coming off the bench for spark. Besides, Azzi is not the 'pure' shooter as some claim, she was 0-7 vs DePaul from the arc.
It's unfortunate that Nika has been stereotyped as not being fast enough even though I consider her & Liv to be our best defenders. And the sequence that pleases me the most is when Nika breaks out of the pack with the ball, beats everyone downcourt, and finishes with a 'no look' pass for a score. Paige always goes wild with this sequence, eh?

 

[HopJim]

After watching the game for the third time (yes, it was just as good), a few nits no one else has commented on:
-In the beginning of the year, Dorka had her thumb wrapped and received a lot of criticism for not being able to hold the ball. Surprised that no one has noticed but her advanced play has come exactly at the same time her wrap came off and what seems to be a healed hand/thumb.
-Not sure if its coaching or player-based change, but both Williams and Muhl have spent the past few games charging down the court toward the basketball, rarely dribbling side to side as in the past. Muhl in particular has led a number of fast breaks, driven to the basket and changed the pace of play. Did not feel that the UConn offense bogged down the entire game - have not said that in years.
-Did anyone hear about Morrow before this year? I read the UConn, Notre Dame, and Tenn Boards and can't remember any mention. One of the few players I would want to see even without playing UConn.
-While I have not given up on this year, few teams next year will have two active, experienced bigs (Dorka and Edwards), 3-4 perimeter players who can all shoot and pass (Paige, Fudd, Caroline, and Muhl), and an entire team experienced in moving without the ball and creating its own offense. With some great frosh coming in and 2 6'5" Sophs, doubtful anyone will want to play UConn next year.

 

[JoePgh]

I can't see Paige, Azzi & Caroline as starters next year; I prefer Nika, Paige and Caroline, with Azzi coming off the bench for spark. Besides, Azzi is not the 'pure' shooter as some claim, she was 0-7 vs DePaul from the arc.
It's unfortunate that Nika has been stereotyped as not being fast enough even though I consider her & Liv to be our best defenders. And the sequence that pleases me the most is when Nika breaks out of the pack with the ball, beats everyone downcourt, and finishes with a 'no look' pass for a score. Paige always goes wild with this sequence, eh?

It seems that nearly every one of your recent posts has been to discourage Azzi in some way. In this one, you claim that she is not a pure shooter based on the fact that she was 0-7 in a single game??? What 3-point shooter do you know of who has not had occasional games where he/she couldn't buy a shot?

If you average together her 7-9 against Tennessee with her 0-7 against DePaul, you get 7-for-16, about 45%, which is around what most of us expect her long-term average from the arc will be.

Before she had even returned to playing status, you were saying that she "needs to bring her game, not her name". When she did go 7-for-9 against TN, you said (inaccurately) that it was all in garbage time and should be discounted.

What is your animus against Azzi?

 

[Jingo]

It seems that nearly every one of your recent posts has been to discourage Azzi in some way. In this one, you claim that she is not a pure shooter based on the fact that she was 0-7 in a single game??? What 3-point shooter do you know of who has not had occasional games where he/she couldn't buy a shot?

If you average together her 7-9 against Tennessee with her 0-7 against DePaul, you get 7-for-16, about 45%, which is around what most of us expect her long-term average from the arc will be.

Before she had even returned to playing status, you were saying that she "needs to bring her game, not her name". When she did go 7-for-9 against TN, you said (inaccurately) that it was all in garbage time and should be discounted.

What is your animus against Azzi?

No animus at all .. I LUV her!

 

[Littlemin]

It seems that nearly every one of your recent posts has been to discourage Azzi in some way. In this one, you claim that she is not a pure shooter based on the fact that she was 0-7 in a single game??? What 3-point shooter do you know of who has not had occasional games where he/she couldn't buy a shot?

If you average together her 7-9 against Tennessee with her 0-7 against DePaul, you get 7-for-16, about 45%, which is around what most of us expect her long-term average from the arc will be.

Before she had even returned to playing status, you were saying that she "needs to bring her game, not her name". When she did go 7-for-9 against TN, you said (inaccurately) that it was all in garbage time and should be discounted.

What is your animus against Azzi?

I am not answering for anyone else, just me. Bueckers and Fudd were both fawned about on this board before they ever played a game. People, like me, who commented on what they SAW, if not completely positive and gushing, were reacted to by many as if we had committed a mortal sin.
I think Bueckers is a terrific player, had a great freshman year but I have made no bones about my opinion of her not playing and developing the way the COACH wanted her to play last year and my further opinion that his direction was completely validated by the Arizona loss. That, and her obvious negative body language when taken out of games, has led me to have a somewhat different opinion of her than many. Again, none of that has anything to do with her physical talent.
As for Fudd, she played 4 very uneven (at best) games to start the year, had to be taken out of the SC game because she was such a liability on defense, which had shown up in the previous 3 games. So she sat for two months. Fine, she was hurt and I applaud her for trying to play, that’s what players do. But I and others questioned whether she was going to be quick enough to play at this level; a legitimate question IMO for someone who had only seen her play in college.
So she came back, has played very well and out of the woodwork comes posters (two in particular, who I have now chosen to ignore) with their ”what do you doubters think now” gloating. That “hero worship” attitude for some, certainly me, is a turn off, and IMO prevents real basketball oriented discussions to occur.
I don’t know how good Fudd or Bueckers will eventually be but the penchant for many on the board to blame any mistakes they make on other players or the coaches (run plays for her, they didn’t pass to her when she was open, etc.) or nit pick other players mistakes (see Muhl, Williams, Ono, Juhasz) with no understanding of roles on a team and intangibles is, as I said, very much a turn off.
Anyway, my two opinionated two cents.