Fort Hays State Postgame Thread

[hoophuskee]

Why the question? Because it is an honest scenario that could occur. I’ve seen sprained ankles. I've seen bereavement leaves when a player was at a grandparent’s funeral. I’ve seen them miss a game to two due to COVID. I’ve seen them catch an elbow in the nose! I’ve seen jammed thumbs and fingers. You have seen hundreds of these scenarios just as well. This is not a secret or impossibility.

How good was Iowa without Clark? I don’t know. I think by in large, Iowa was lucky enough not to have too many games without her. But that doesn’t mean a darn thing; statistically, there are a portion of the players on every team that will be unavailable for a game or two at some point.

UCONN had KK, Azzi, Megan, Ayanna, Caroline, and Aubrey out, and now you want to pull Paige too? They would have one senrior who hasn't played one game prior to this for UCONN. And the rest are all freshmen and sophomores. Yes. Pretty much the exact question I was asking. Depending upon what part of the season this hypothetical might occur, in responding you might predict that we would have some or all of those players available. I personally think we would still be pretty darn good, even without Bueckers. Two days ago, this forum went from the highest of highs, to yesterday after the game where many have projected a lot of angst!

The entire game wasn't sloppy. What makes you say that? Because I didn’t see the game and have read a whole bunch of gloom and doom posts. It is because I didn’t see it that I included the word “probably”. I know for a fact that it was a preseason exhibition, with a bunch of Freshmen and Sophomores playing; are you suggesting that they appeared to have played in top form? Or, having not seen the game was "probably sloppy" a realistic guess of yesterday's preseason play?

…you are proposing to remove UCONN's best and most experienced player along knowing 6 others are out and you are trying to draw a poitn "what if no Paige?" huh? Yup, my question exactly! You could have answered and said, ‘if we don’t have those players, and no PB, playing the way we played yesterday, we would get creamed against the entire Big East.’ Or, you could have answered, ‘regardless of their absence, we would still dominate the Big East, and I’d expect that we will have most if not all of those players active anyway. With or without Bueckers, we are a force to reckon with! All of the way through to the Championship Game!’

hoophuskee, you are very knowledgeable and make informative posts. I’d appreciate your honest assessment of the team, one way or the other. You don’t need to be defensive about the question.

Thank you and I'm sorry. Especially sorry if I offended. The thread has some negative and positive. For the 1srt game of the season it seemed like all your questions were of negative in some manner. for example "What if Paige was hurt . . . " and "Playing a Division 2 Team . . ." "They were probably sloppy . . ." the only thing I thought negative was 2 points between Ice and Jana. Heck even the 2-10 from 3 for Allie wasn't disappointing. Not every game the 3's go down for every 20 yo player. SO when you say "the game was probably sloppy," when a college team scores 89 p[points and its referred to as sloppy - yeah most of the time I'll get defensive.

Anyhow imo any Paige injury before Azzi comes back playing to her peak UCONN could beat subpar teams. but without Paige this early win or lose they wouldn't play well. They play anyone that is good to real good this early then they are in trouble without Paige. IMO too many young players this early and the expectation the negative posters had just wasn't fair.

Years ago Geno was coaching the Olympics. He wanted dot install his offense. Early on things weren't going well and DT and Bird came to Geno and told him to basically forget the Offense. They said Many of the pros either won't get in time. SO Geno scrapped it. In this case right now he is going to run his offense but without Paige he has nothing but frosh and soph. Chen is like an inexperienced player too to a degree. There is no way they are going to be a well-oiled machine with this much youth and no Paige.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Didn't Geno once say of Aaliyah that she gets two fouls called on her just walking into the building?

Or was that Nika?

 

[Alydar]

I thought that Paige set a good quick pace when bringing the ball up with Chen, and they had good chemistry together.
Paige also made some great quarterback passes upcourt.
But what made me chuckle were the missed bunnies that continue to plague the team.
Sarah can shoot 3's but her & others aren't the most relaible at making bunnies.
Like Geno said post game, the team shot more 3's than he would have liked.
Against elite teams that could be the difference between feast or famine & determine the outcome.
UCoon will need to improve their inside scoring.

Hay collapsed their defense into the paint and swarmed the UConn posts every time the ball was passed inside. That left players wide open from three but UConn must have missed their first half dozen.
I think Geno wanted to see more passes inside but there really weren't too many players open. The times the ball was forced inside the passes were too low.
The 3pt shot is being used more and more. SCar and Mich attempted 52 3's and made 13 (25%). They were 37% of the total shots taken in the game. That's more than UConn has averaged over the years. UConn has 3 elite shooters and a couple more who could be elite. I think it's going to rain 3's this year.

 

[hoophuskee]

I
Like Geno said post game, the team shot more 3's than he would have liked.
Against elite teams that could be the difference between feast or famine & determine the outcome.
UCoon will need to improve their inside scoring.

Your last sentence summation I'm with ya, but only at a very lower level than what it sounds. OFC two points not enough frpm our Bigs but it's not like they will be the focus on offense either. The 1st paragraph below is the quote you are referring to with your top sentence above. While as you say Geno said he would like more but it appears from the bold within that 1st paragraph and the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs taken from the postgame that the outside game was acceptable. He wants more scoring but how much more? Reading his other quotes (2nd and 3rd paragraphs form below), these aren't signs that he is going to want to get the inside a lot of looks. Geno is clearly stating he wants Paige to shoot as much as possible which will eventually open up more opportunities for others.. He's clearly highlighting how much it is a comfort that Paige and Sarah have this special chemistry connection and it’s comforting to know they can get any shot they want in the 2-man game. And he is really stating how eager he is to see Azzi play and how she'll perform with Paige and not just as a 3pt shooter.

The comments you are referring to when Geno said he wants more inside scoring that was directed to the 2 points she got form Jana and Ice. He wants more. But his comment "which is ether here nor there" along with his comments of Paige, Azzi and Sarah of which all three are more highlighted as focus players and more as of shooters, this means if anyone is holding their breath for a significant low post game, I wouldn't hold it too long at least until February or vs the lesser Big East teams and some possible November cupcakes. Thus I don't believe Geno's comment about wanting more inside baskets means he wants quite a few low posts. instead it means that when given the ball from a pick, or a penetration etc., that someone like Jana can score over the taller athlete top tier defensive players that are close to her around the basket. Aailyah was able to do this to some extent but limited by her height. Liv and Dorka not really their style.

The three paras belpw from the postgame I got from YT --- The UCONN Daily:

“And I would like to see us being a bigger presence (referring to the bigs); you know we took almost half our shots from 3, which is either here nor there, I would like to for it to be a little less, I would like to see us get more touches in the lane, get to the free throw line more, so those two would go a long way to help us do that, for sure."

“Which made me think she (Sarah) could be that right away. , , Because she did it at every level she played at . . . she just has a way that’s hard to teach . . . You have to come with those things that she has . . . She’s a lot better shooter than she showed today. Which I think gives us some great matchups when we go into some of the other games. It’s a dimension we haven’t had. . . You saw at the last play of the half; Paige and Sarah in that 2-man game. We’re gonna get an open shot no matter what with those two. That’s a good comfort.” Then Geno goes on to talk about how Paige and Saarh their chemistry meshes. They see the game in such a creative way the same way. Then he goes on to say that their skills are perfect for each other.

He later says “Having Paige at her best, at her most, wanting to get a bucket every time down as you saw today opens up a lot of opportunities for a lot of people. . . Watching Azzi in practice, she’s more than stand there and wait for the ball and be the best shooter in the country like everybody thinks she is. So, I am anxious to see what that looks like . . . . ”

 

[Ace565]

Hay collapsed their defense into the paint and swarmed the UConn posts every time the ball was passed inside. That left players wide open from three but UConn must have missed their first half dozen.
I think Geno wanted to see more passes inside but there really weren't too many players open. The times the ball was forced inside the passes were too low.
The 3pt shot is being used more and more. SCar and Mich attempted 52 3's and made 13 (25%). They were 37% of the total shots taken in the game. That's more than UConn has averaged over the years. UConn has 3 elite shooters and a couple more who could be elite. I think it's going to rain 3's this year.

We have the rain in the form of drizzle, downpour and monsoon courtesy of Paige, Allie, Ash, Kaitlyn, Azzi, Sarah, Jana, Caroline. Bring it!

 

[jeff30189]

Good to see the BY is picking up where we left off last season. It was an exhibition game missing 6 players so very little can be gleaned from it other than potential trends to watch.

It does not seem like Ice made much developmental progress, which is concerning. Jana (the anointed savior in the post) is not quite ready to dominate, but the potential is there and you can see that by mid-season she may be a serviceable post player if she develops a post move or three. Allie went to the Q school of never seeing a shot she won't take, but I respect the confidence if not the accuracy.

Paige, Ash, Kaitlyn and Sarah are the ready to go, and Q looks like she may earn herself more PT than most of us figured. Assuming Jana gets her act together that could be your Pick Six with Ice and Allie (add KK and Ayanna when cleared) off the bench. Sometime in December Azzi and Aubrey (with a B) will push the bench to get better or else.

Anyone else think that Nika left her freshman notes for "how to foul everything near you" for a couple people? I'm just glad there were no new major injuries.