Expect No Answers for 22 Days

[psconn]

I haven't read all the post-game comments so excuse any repitition... but here's my take:

1. Highlight: BB looks like a solid, dependable player off the bench against all competition. Much needed.
2. Highlight: KML seem more capable of finding he shots when things are going wrong otherwise (unlike last year). Her defense is solid and she works her @55 off every play.
3. Highlight: Kelly (nuff said)
4. MT and MJ are good and useable in the rotation but are not the world-beaters (yet) that we hyped them to be. BS is a human and a freshman and has a ways to go to be a Maya or a Lobo.
5. There will be no answers to the questions raised on the offense in the last two games until 12/29. Oakland and Hartford should not present the physical disruptive challenge that MD and Penn did. Until the ball goes up against Stanford, the results of 22 days of hard work will not be apparent.
6. 12 days to the next game... UGH!

 

[jplotinus]

Solid assessments, well crafted. The main reason why the overall preseason impression that UCONN would be both unbeatable and unapproachable may be that there are more top notch 18-22 year old female basketball playas than hoop gurlz may tell us about.

Put differently, parity in WCBB may be coming to fruition because there are more good basketball players to go around. Put still another way, the difference in capability between the top 50 players for any of the 5 position categories may be negligible. And, the next 50 may not reflect that much of a drop off, and so on down the line.

Perhaps WCBB is reaching that "any given team on any given Monday night..." level of parity.

 

[UcMiami]

Good stuff - on the offense, anybody else feel that the pressure the last two games has caused our guards to start our offense too far out. We seem to be starting our offensive sets about half way between the half court line and three point line instead of just outside the three. The problem there is that when a player catches the ball that far away, they are not a threat to shoot so the defense has a second to recover and reposition. And it also screws up the high post - Stef and Stew are catching at the top of the key instead of at the free through line so they are less of a threat to turn and put up the J.

 

[UcMiami]

Solid assessments, well crafted. The main reason why the overall preseason impression that UCONN would be both unbeatable and unapproachable may be that there are more top notch 18-22 year old female basketball playas than hoop gurlz may tell us about.

Put differently, parity in WCBB may be coming to fruition because there are more good basketball players to go around. Put still another way, the difference in capability between the top 50 players for any of the 5 position categories may be negligible. And, the next 50 may not reflect that much of a drop off, and so on down the line.

Perhaps WCBB is reaching that "any given team on any given Monday night..." level of parity.

And the coaching quality has improved significantly so they are demanding more of the players they have.

 

[EricLA]

Yep good stuff. Many, if not most, of us bought into the thought that it was Baylor, UCONN, big gap, then everyone else. UCONN and Baylor are not as dominating as we (most of us) thought and the gap between the rest of WCBB and those 2 top teams is not nearly as large as we all thought.

And as much as we say UCONN will be better by the end of the year, so will everyone else. It's not like they all won't be practicing and working on things to improve. Gonna be an interesting rest of the year for sure!

 

[speedoo]

Good stuff - on the offense, anybody else feel that the pressure the last two games has caused our guards to start our offense too far out. We seem to be starting our offensive sets about half way between the half court line and three point line instead of just outside the three. The problem there is that when a player catches the ball that far away, they are not a threat to shoot so the defense has a second to recover and reposition. And it also screws up the high post - Stef and Stew are catching at the top of the key instead of at the free through line so they are less of a threat to turn and put up the J.

Excellent point.