Fort Hays St @ Connecticut - GAME THREAD

[donalddoowop]

One thing that disappointed me was KLS jacking up a three immediately instead of trying to run the offense for at least a few possessions.

 

[YellwJcket999]

Yes, for tonight, that was the case. I can do the math. I don't expect that to be an ongoing pattern. I think Gabby's injury last week limited her minutes. Gabby will NOT average 17 minutes per game this season. I think the Core 4 will be at 25-28 minutes. I expect that Crystal and Z will be close to that as well.

I'm just commenting on what was posted. Math is math. I take it no real playing time for Batouly, Irwin or Walker and no garbage minutes for 4 other players.

Time will tell all. We will see. Let's revisit as the season progresses.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I'm just commenting on what was posted. Math is math. I take it no real playing time for Batouly, Irwin or Walker and no garbage minutes for 4 other players.

Camara is out a couple more weeks.

 

[geneticrex]

Mine has frozen over 20 times!

We had more freeze time than game time.

 

[mdakota]

Wow... Just watched the replay... We're going to have a very very special team this year. I'm so excited. They all looked good. Bent and Dangerfield really stood out for me, both made great improvements. Also a shout out to Kia.. if she can consistently drain those threes... game over... Great job Huskies

 

[Golden Husky]

I was there, was most impressed by the defense, getting into passing lanes and trapping. Especially in the first quarter. Their play seemed to level off in the second quarter but was solid again in the second half.

Outside shooting was not good except for Kia.

Minor scare in the first quarter, Lou came down funny on her ankle making a layup. She stayed in for a few more minutes but went to the locker room when she was taken out around the five minute mark, possibly to get retaped. Came back a few minutes later and seemed fine. Whew.

Looks like in effect a starting six. Walker looks strong defensively as number seven. Was expecting a bit more from Coombs, but its only one game. Bent came in ahead of her.

Crystal looks stronger physically, Irwin trimmer.

A good start, overall.

Yes, more to applaud than to pan, I believe. The assists-to-baskets ratio, always a UConn staple, was 75%, better than last season's cumulative 71.3%, albeit versus inferior competition. Z did a lot (15 points, seven rebounds, four blocks) with a little (16 minutes) and Crystal seems to have changed the arc on her shot, with a better outcome. Those two--the tall and short of it--plus the four returning starters, all of who should be better players than a season ago, validate the unbridled optimism expressed on these pages. We don't yet know what we'll get from BatCam, and Meg is a work in progress but it seems to me that nothing that happened Wednesday night should dampen those lofty expectations.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I just watched the first half again. We missed at least 6 layups. Three of those would have been assists from Crystal, so she should have had at least 10 assists.

 

[eebmg]

When I was listening to the game on radio, it did not sound like we were playing very well but in watching the game video, I feel alot better about the team. The biggest stand outs to me were Z and Crystal but all of the big 6 looked good except for the shooting and missed layups. Almost all the shots we missed were good shots and we will make them more often than not. I actually liked the athleticism
from AEH and Gordan even if it was garbage time.

 

[eebmg]

Yes, more to applaud than to pan, I believe. The assists-to-baskets ratio, always a UConn staple, was 75%, better than last season's cumulative 71.3%, albeit versus inferior competition. Z did a lot (15 points, seven rebounds, four blocks) with a little (16 minutes) and Crystal seems to have changed the arc on her shot, with a better outcome. Those two--the tall and short of it--plus the four returning starters, all of who should be better players than a season ago, validate the unbridled optimism expressed on these pages. We don't yet know what we'll get from BatCam, and Meg is a work in progress but it seems to me that nothing that happened Wednesday night should dampen those lofty expectations.

Z only played 16 minutes?? That will change. I don't know how but it will. I would like to think that if ONO saw the game, she could really
appreciate how she could develop at Storrs with Z giving her great practice competition and an incredible role model while Crystal Dangerfield feeds her like a baby.

 

[LasVegasYank]

Initially I thought the same thing. Then I placed the cursor on the screen and it revealed an icon in the low right corner of the screen for expanding to the full size of your monitor.

Thanks so much.

 

[rvwsleep]

Which player has the Conehead hairdo? Or giant beehive.

Although several Huskies had their hair up, upon further review, augustaTC is correct. CD's was the highest.

 

[Carnac]

Starting in exhibition games doesn't count. Has to a "real" game!

That's true. We debated all summer who was going to fill that 5th starter position for THIS game, and for the season. We got our answer at least for the first game. I suggested that Geno may experiment by starting Crystal in one exhibition game, and Azura in the other, to see what each of those combinations look like to begin the game.

He may have liked what he saw from Dangerous so much, he'll start her period. He can bring Stevens in at anytime if he sees something he doesn't like at the beginning of the game. We'll see if that happens. Which one of them starts against Stanford in 11 days as you suggest will be the real answer.

 

[Carnac]

This will probably sound kinda dumb, but I remember when I saw Gabby enter games early in her freshman year - she screwed up a lot, but man, there was just something special about the way she moved. Felt sort of the same way watching Walker. She stood out, at least to me, without doing anything special. How's that for insightful analysis!

Everyone MUST craw before they can walk!!!!

 

[CocoHusky]

KLS was rusty from three but looked a bit better on D.

KLS has transformed herself defensively! It really is astonishing that this KLS bears no resemblance to Freshmen KLS. As a freshmen she was a long striding , somewhat non agile defender. Last night I focused on her feet defensively and had flashback of Kelly Faris -I'm not even kidding.

 

[CocoHusky]

I think they were nervous and unsure. I saw positives from all of them, though not making shots.

I though the entire team played nervous. Each UCONN player (Except Napheesa) missed the first shot they took, many of which were wide open shots or layups and some missed very badly.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Although several Huskies had their hair up, upon further review, augustaTC is correct. CD's was the highest.

Crystal is trying to look taller.

I think Meg, Molly, and Kyla sported ponytails, but the bun was the "do du jour." Perhaps it was an homage to Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.