Focus on Duke and the Oregon trip

[HuskyNan]

Freshman Aubrey had 7 rebounds vs So Carolina that season

 

[Carnac]

This little tournament really puts a cap on what Geno has wrought so far. Duke, maybe Iowa, these could be good games and excellent challenges. What an awesome schedule we have. Good for us, good for our opponents.

We’ve exposed a couple teams composed of portal pieces that haven’t gelled yet. Iowa won’t be one of those. They are the same team they’ve been for 3 years. I hope they get to play us.

And December brings even more awesome games — ND, Princeton, MD, and finally Creighton and Marquette.
.

Very true. UConn cannot let their early season success give them a false sense of security to the point of taking any team on their schedule for granted. Each game presents a new challenge to clean up and fix the mistakes and errors in judgment in the last game, and improve and enhance team chemistry.

 

[jabstep]

I like our team with Aubrey on the floor because of her
1. Energy and explosiveness.
2. What she brings to our trapping press. Wes took Diamond Johnson out after a couple of minutes because she couldn't throw the ball over Aubrey.
3. How she gets out on the break. She is faster than any forward. Open court is her game.
4. She is a very good rebounder as Nan proved in the stats against bigger teams. I remember her out jumping Saxton for bounds in that game.
5. Geno likes to know where the points are coming from. So far she has been very consistent and averaging middle teens.
6. She finishes well around the rim.
7. She knows her teamates. The pass she made out to Lou for the 3 pointer from underneath showed maturity and understanding of the game.

 

[SqueaksFan]

I like our team with Aubrey on the floor because of her
1. Energy and explosiveness.
2. What she brings to our trapping press. Wes took Diamond Johnson out after a couple of minutes because she couldn't throw the ball over Aubrey.
3. How she gets out on the break. She is faster than any forward. Open court is her game.
4. She is a very good rebounder as Nan proved in the stats against bigger teams. I remember her out jumping Saxton for bounds in that game.
5. Geno likes to know where the points are coming from. So far she has been very consistent and averaging middle teens.
6. She finishes well around the rim.
7. She knows her teamates. The pass she made out to Lou for the 3 pointer from underneath showed maturity and understanding of the game.

Your post is spot on. Aubrey is the best pure athlete on the team, and this team has plenty of really good athletes on it.

 

[CL82]

Lawson didn’t want to coach there

Do you know why not?

 

[SqueaksFan]

Newfie, I very much want to disagree with your premise that we should not take pleasure in their fan’s current misery and their team’s demise.tant that

It’s hard to have any sympathy or compassion for a fan base that hates everything UConn, and wants your coach’s head on a stick.basketball
t both
But I can’t because you are correct in that one day, Geno will retire and we could very well find ourselves looking that karma right in the face. That’s the only reason. Payback is a dog ~ The Stylistics.

I'm no fan of the Tennessee Lady Vols, but I feel it's good for the game that they field a good team. When they're good and they play UConn, the ratings soar. There's no bigger ratings for a game than when UConn and TN are both playing great basketball.

 

[Bald Husky]

Do you know why not?

I'm sure there are lots of reasons and I think she made the right move.

 

[CL82]

I'm sure there are lots of reasons and I think she made the right move.

I guess. I am just curious about what the poster who mentioned it may have heard.

 

[SqueaksFan]

I’ve gone on VolNation just to see how their board is. They are absolutely losing their minds that they are 2-4, and many are calling for Harper to be fired now. We shouldn’t take too much pleasure in their demise. We have had the good fortune to have Geno here for all these years. At some point, he will retire, and we may find ourselves in the same boat. Very hard to replace a legend. Let’s not invite karma to come smack us in the butt someday.

I actually don't see Geno ever retiring. He loves coaching UConn and I can't imagine him ever stepping down.

 

[DefenseBB]

The interesting thing in reviewing the games is quality of opposition, with 3, 4 and 5 games having been played by everyone, Massey starts to become relevant. Our 3 games are listed as #3 for Strength of Schedule and Duke's 5 games have their SoS at #93 and the eye test confirms that as their only quasi competitive opponent is Texas A&M so any discussion of 18-30 point victory is a fair discussion. I am not saying that will occur but Duke will have a hard time scoring and stopping us.

I would also add that in Season 3, it is still largely unknown what type of a coach Kara really is. She has some really good players this year but she needs to springboard that into ACC success and a good post-season run. I am still not convinced of her as a great coach but also am patient to wait this out after 4 full years of coaching.

UConn by 22.

 

[triaddukefan]

Well, if we just wipe out everything that happened under our last coach, the series record would be 3-3.

@triaddukefan and I will be here all week, unless we decide that we need to hide after Friday. @CamrnCrz1974 and @Ladeeeeda get in here!

 

[Carnac]

I actually don't see Geno ever retiring. He loves coaching UConn and I can't imagine him ever stepping down.

I don’t like to think about Geno retiring. I’m having too much enjoyment watching what we have right now. I’ll deal with the emotional trauma his retirement will bring when it happens. Talk about his retirement is a needless distraction.

Right now, my focus and concern is on the most important game on our schedule, the next one. Duke. Everything else is toxic white noise and a distraction we don’t need.

We enjoyed the victory over NC St. that evening after the game. Now let’s focus and concentrate on defeating Duke.

 

[JellyBean]

I like our team with Aubrey on the floor because of her
1. Energy and explosiveness.
2. What she brings to our trapping press. Wes took Diamond Johnson out after a couple of minutes because she couldn't throw the ball over Aubrey.
3. How she gets out on the break. She is faster than any forward. Open court is her game.
4. She is a very good rebounder as Nan proved in the stats against bigger teams. I remember her out jumping Saxton for bounds in that game.
5. Geno likes to know where the points are coming from. So far she has been very consistent and averaging middle teens.
6. She finishes well around the rim.
7. She knows her teamates. The pass she made out to Lou for the 3 pointer from underneath showed maturity and understanding of the game.

Awesome post! I was thinking the same thing about Aubrey. She just brings a different level of intensity to the floor, like Nika's intensity. There is an energy about Aubrey. She is a lot more proactive on things vs other players. By design or just her being Aubrey. Whatever it is, she just brings it! She isn't passive on the rebounds, even after coming back from her back injury! She is just very "matter of fact" out there on the floor.

 

[MSGRET]

Duke has played 5 games with none of them being in the Top 50 according to Massey. Their first game was a 77-57 home victory against NC A&T who is currently rated #252. The second was a 111-50 against Charleston Southern currently #356, was also at home. The third game was at Davidson #124, with the Dukies winning 60-37. Their forth game was a home game against Texas A&M currently #60, with a 71-52 victory. Their last game was at Toledo #83, where Duke prevailed with a 58-41 win.

UConn should not have any problems with the Blue Devils as long as they don't overlook them or have anymore injuries during the game. UConn's SOS is rated currently #2 by Massey, while Duke's is rated #91. Duke has yet played a team as quick as UConn is on both ends of the court and it could end up being another rout of an ACC team by UConn.

The Prognosticator's Predictions should be posted later, early evening Eastern, after I get back from my dental appointment

 

[eebmg]

Are we playing on the Ugly OR court?

 

[darrell]

I thought this was funny.

 

[LoTrader]

Are we playing on the Ugly OR court?

No, playing at University of Portland's "Chiles Center" for the first game

 

[eebmg]

I thought this was funny.

Can this be a replay of the last time the men's and women's team flew on the same flight as described by Rebecca Lobo in the 1995 season. Women won, Men lost and the women could not celebrate on the return flight

 

[LoTrader]

Are there any UCONN Boneyard fans coming out for the Nike Legacy Tournament? If you are, I would love to meet you at the game. For the Friday games at University of Portland "Chiles Center", my daughter and I are sitting in SEC 12L, Row 12, seats 10 & 11. And same for any Dukies (@triaddukefan)?

 

[Geew1992]

Do you know why not?

Only what I’ve read on volnation. I don’t know how true it is.

 

[Carnac]

I like our team with Aubrey on the floor because of her
1. Energy and explosiveness.
2. What she brings to our trapping press. Wes took Diamond Johnson out after a couple of minutes because she couldn't throw the ball over Aubrey.
3. How she gets out on the break. She is faster than any forward. Open court is her game.
4. She is a very good rebounder as Nan proved in the stats against bigger teams. I remember her out jumping Saxton for bounds in that game.
5. Geno likes to know where the points are coming from. So far she has been very consistent and averaging middle teens.
6. She finishes well around the rim.
7. She knows her teamates. The pass she made out to Lou for the 3 pointer from underneath showed maturity and understanding of the game.

You just gave us 7 reasons why Dorka may be more valuable coming off the bench. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Dorka is going to get starter’s minutes, so don’t be concerned about that.

This unit is playing well right now. Aubrey is a play maker and needs to be on the floor. Aubrey can do more if given the minutes. Geno has to play the 5 players to begin the game that play best together.

This unit did pretty good the first 5-6 minutes to begin the game against NC St. with a 9-0 run, and we’re never tied or headed. Why not leave that unit intact and see how much success they can achieve?

 

[MSGRET]

You just gave us 7 reasons wby Dorka may be more valuable coming off the bench. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Dorka is going to get starter’s minutes, so don’t be concerned about that.

This unit is playing well right now. Aubrey is a play maker and needs to be on the floor. Aubrey can do more if given the minutes. Geno has to play the 5 player to begin the game that play well together. This unit did pretty good the first 5-6 minutes to begin the game against NC St. with a 9-0 run.

I think that the two will take turns on who starts with it depending on the other teams size and/or speed. If there is a big on the other team Dorka starts, if there is a lot of speed but no size then Aubrey starts. Who knows maybe Geno might start the two of them at the same time and have Lou or Nika come off the bench just to see what happens.

 

[jabstep]

I think that the two will take turns on who starts with it depending on the other teams size and/or speed. If there is a big on the other team Dorka starts, if there is a lot of speed but no size then Aubrey starts. Who knows maybe Geno might start the two of them at the same time and have Lou or Nika come off the bench just to see what happens.

It is nice to have options!!! Can't wait for Caroline to play like we know she can.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Under Gail Goestenkors, Duke and UConn were rivals, with Duke behind UConn and Tennessee in the 1999-2007 period. Goestenkors went 2-2 against UConn with both wins coming in the state of Connecticut (Hartford and Bridgeport).

Under Joanne P. McCallie, that was not a rivalry. That was a misunderstanding. Duke went 0-9 against UConn under McCallie, with an average losing margin of 22 points. Only two games had final margins below twenty points, with five being 30 points or more.