Early Season Thoughts

[UcMiami]

Yes, their defense is designed to push people (certain people too) certain ways....away from their forte, or into traps, or into certain parts of the floor. You'll notice too that they like to isolate the ball to one side of the floor when possible making it easier to guard and less ground to cover. There's a lot more than just "guarding your man" in UCONN's defensive scheme. I think they usually get a scouting report of who the shooters are, and where they like to shot from. And then they have a scheme to try to disrupt that.

And whenever CD gets the scout (it is rotated between Shea, Marissa, and CD) the player who is shooting under 20% from three for the year, decides to go off against Uconn and ends with a stat line like 4-6 from three! (At least according to CD! )

 

[donalddoowop]

Personally, I'm not seeing the same Kia Nurse who single handedly led Canada to victory over a Stewart/Jefferson led USA team this summer. Not sure why, perhaps Kia is deferring to her teammates. Perhaps she is adjusting from international play to collegiate play.

Kia had the ball in her hands a lot more in the Summer games. She ran the team. That is not happening with UCONN. UCONN does not need her as the main point guard.

 

[Phillyconn]

You may be right that Williams will remain the fifth starter. Your reason for that may be correct as well, but with a few caveats. If Golden State had Abdul-Jabbar, O'Neal, etc, those centers would start. There is more than one way to play championship ball; there is more than one way to play near perfection ball. Perhaps Auriemma thinks we get nearer to perfection with Williams than any alternative; perhaps not. Dolson was not one of the five most effective players as a freshman, yet she started. Auriemma certainly knew the value of a smaller line-up from the infamous 2002 squad, yet went with Dolson. One reason for that may determine whether Butler starts or not.

Our guards in recent years do not feed the posts as well as in the "old days." Hartley hesitated; Jefferson hesitates. Neither Hayes, nor Doty, nor even Faris were like Bird or Taurasi or Ralph. Ah, but we have had posts that feed posts well. I have no idea whether Butler can do this or not, but if she can I suspect she starts. Culmo thinks every post is a great passing post; I disagree. Tuck also hesitates. Dolson got turnovers because she didn't hesitate when perhaps she should have, but I'll still take that. Stewart no longer hesitates, but wouldn't you want her to be on the receiving end of some hi-lo action?

So you may be right, not because it's always best to go with a smaller line-up, and certainly Auriemma did not just discover the virtue of a smaller line-up recently, but because it's the best way for this particular group to run our offense and/or defense. At this point I would love to know how well Butler screens, passes and rotates.

I think it was a little easier to feed the post in the old days. Look at who was getting fed in the post, Tamika and Aisha could carve out a lot of space in the post. They were not the biggest offensive threats, I think opposing teams worried a lot more about DT, than anyone in the post. Whereas, today you have BS and MT as the primary scorers, which results in double and triple team muggings, making the entry pass much more difficult.

 

[UcMiami]

Passing into the post has been a shortcoming of this team for quite a while...we ascribe most of the good habits to coaching...might this be a lack? Interesting to think of the best such service this season...Lou, Pheese, Saniya come to mind. the younger uns. Perhaps the future is brighter in this regard.

I disagree strongly. Passing into the post specifically and passing generically has probably been the biggest strength of ALL the UCONN teams in the current championship run. All five starters last year had over 100 Assists . Gabby had 50, Saniya had 74. When a UCONN player is open in the post as Doris Burke would say "The Ball gets delivered!

I think I side with msf22b on this one, but for reasons other than what he states - I do think the guards are making entry passes into the post less often, and perhaps not as well as ten years ago, but I think it has more to do with personnel on the team and a more risk averse offense being run.

1. Personnel - Stewart and Tuck are our two starting post players and were last year as well, but neither spends a majority of their time actually posting up so the chances of that 'post entry' pass are not as great as in previous years. And going back to Dolson, the same was true - the most effective offense flowed through her spending a lot of her time at the high post with players cutting off of her, and her delivering great passes. Dolson was the first post player I can remember at Uconn since Lobo who came in with confidence to shoot the free throw area jump shot, and her range continued to extend out from their. Tina developed that free throw line area jumper at Uconn, but was still playing much more as a low post power player. If you go back to the 2000 era and further back to Wolters, the post players were much more likely to play within seven feet of the basket. We think of Cash and Jones as professionals with much greater range now, but their college game was much closer to the basket.

2. Scheme - with greater range on their shots and spending more time in the high post area and the ball going through that area much more often, the entry pass from the guards has transferred to which ever post or wing is handling the ball at the FT line, and it is an easier pass because they are often drawing the normal low post/central defender out from under the basket, opening the area for a cutter into the vacated spot.

3. Scheme 2 - Risk aversion - I think with the skill and range on the current team and perhaps with Geno adjusting over time, the team seems to be more patient and to treasure the possession more than in the past - a 75% chance of success on a pass is turned down with the idea that a better option will present itself as the play develops. KML or Moriah shooting a three at close to 50% last year looks more attractive than a 75% pass into the post for a possible 75% shot attempt, should a 90% entry pass not develop.

FYI - Williams showed last year a brilliant touch on entry passes from the FT line and on interior passes, and Kiah was a frequent recipient - of the assists on Kiah's baskets last year I suspect William's record at least half.

 

[Lynx23]

Kia had the ball in her hands a lot more in the Summer games. She ran the team. That is not happening with UCONN. UCONN does not need her as the main point guard.

I'm quite certain that if Stewie and MoJeff were side-lined for any reason and the game were on the line, we would see Pan Am Kia emerge. She is hustling as hard as she ever has and while the shots might not yet be falling as I'm sure they eventually will, I thought her passing was very good against DePaul (OK, maybe an errant pass or two but she wasn't the only one). She had five assists against DePaul, and at least an additional two or three passes I counted that would have been assists had the "bunnie" been made on the other end. Also, she had no personal fouls against DePaul and only one against Chattanooga so it appears she's adjusting to WCBB once again. Personally, I think the team plays under better control and the defense picks up when she's on the floor and, given her minutes, I expect Geno feels the same way. I see no reason for her to fear that her position as a starter is in jeopardy as someone suggested.

 

[Bronxjeff]

Wow what a terrific post and fabulous following responses!

So far this year's team defense has been remarkable even for the Huskies - elegant.
The thread of conversation, emboldens me though to throw out a controversial defense inspired question: did Geno intentionally throw the Stamford game last year? Was he so frustrated with the cardinal's guards beating us off the dribble that he lost to teach our guards and the team a lesson. It seemed like we had the game in hand and the solution in place with Kia Stokes in the post in the second half and he pulled her despite the success.

I ask as another testa dura Italian boy, and remember another time last year when he said post game that he would rather lose than watch them play he didn't like.

If he did of course it did work out as he hoped...

 

[UcMiami]

1 - when comparing Bird with anyone, it is important to look at the total package. IIRC, Bird was a significant offensive threat when needed, as well as a heck of a point guard.

It is actually an interesting comparison between Mo and Sue in scoring - discounting freshman year (Sue injured, Mo not starting):
Sophomore:
Sue - 10.9 ppg at .502/.497
Mo - 10.0 ppg at .575/.418
Junior:
Sue - 10.9 ppg at .443/.432
Mo - 12.4 ppg at .587/.496
Pretty comparable, though Sue has the signature 'Bird at the Buzzer' moment and might have been a better clutch shooter (hard to quantify that.)
The rest of the stats (using per-game as Sue played 37/34 games and Mo played 40/39)
Sophomore:
Sue - Assists 4.32, TO 2.16, A/TO 2.0, Steals 1.86, Rebounds 2.5
Mo - Assists 4.88, TO 1.65, A/TO 3.0, Steals 2.65, Rebounds 3.4
Junior:
Sue - Assists 4.97, TO 2.59, A/TO 1.9, Steals 1.85, Rebounds 2.6
Mo - Assists 4.90, TO 1.59, A/TO 3.1, Steals 2.56, Rebounds 2.9

The numbers that jump out are the TO, A/TO, and Steals, but of course as any 5'7"ish player will tell you, the really telling stat for Moriah is her cumulative blocks for the two years where she blows little Miss Bird completely away - Moriah block total = 14 vs. also ran Sue's total 5

All in all, two fabulous players that we have been privileged to watch. And two great women off the court as well. Different eras, different teammates, same kind of results!

PS - Moriah's signature moment for me was that SC game last year - a statement game by her, and her ticket to the wall!

 

[UcMiami]

The thread of conversation, emboldens me though to throw out a controversial defense inspired question: did Geno intentionally throw the Stamford game last year? Was he so frustrated with the cardinal's guards beating us off the dribble that he lost to teach our guards and the team a lesson. It seemed like we had the game in hand and the solution in place with Kia Stokes in the post in the second half and he pulled her despite the success.

I ask as another testa dura Italian boy, and remember another time last year when he said post game that he would rather lose than watch them play he didn't like.

If he did of course it did work out as he hoped...

Are you accusing Geno of having a bit of another Italian's bloodlines in his makeup? I refer of course to Signor Niccolò Machiavelli!

In truth, I doubt it. But I certainly don't think he greatly minded. It proved useful. (He too has a learning curve at the start of each season, finding what combinations work and don't and how players have changed and who new players fit in.)

 

[Fightin Choke]

By the way, a shout out to CocoHusky and SLUConn in particular for what they bring to the Boneyard.

Great observations. And I absolutely agree with your praise for Coco and SLU. Very knowledgeable and fair posters. While this site has a large number of posters like that, there is always room for more!

 

[TWG236]

I have to agree with Bronxjeff and repeat this is one of the best post's that I have read in a long time. The Sue vs Mo question will depend on each fan's perception of their individual play. But who ever is the so called "best", the other is a fraction of an inch behind them. It has been a pleasure to witness both careers. As far as Williams vs Butler starting, both have different attributes that would indicate they should be the starter over the other. I love Gabby's speed and athleticism, but as stated earlier you can't teach height. As with Dolson, Butler would allow a rotation of Stewie, Morgan and herself to move to the high post and pass to either of the other two. I wouldn't judge Gabby just on this game, everyone but Stewie played at hyper speed. There are not a lot of teams out there that are going to be able to play like that against us. In closing I would really like to thank Diggerfoot and the rest of you for his insightfully read. No better knowledgeable fans out there then you all.