Fort Hays State Postgame Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Fort Hays State Postgame Thread

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Any team if they want to can take away the paint, including a D2 team. Most of the time that Uconn tried to pass inside there were three people guarding the paint, making completing the pass difficult, and doing anything if it actually connected even harder. The only way to change that is to hit outside shots, which Uconn did. Problem is FHS wasn't trying to win, they were just trying not to be embarrassed so they kept clogging the paint all game.

As for the rest - great to watch this team play again.
Paige superb
Chen looked really good
Ashley was throwin the shade
Q started soft, but came on well in the second half
Allie hopefully just nerves
Jana as advertised - raw, big, moves pretty well.
Strong looked comfortable out there
Ice I thought played well and didn't force things, I guess I am alone in that thinking.

FYI - Grad student Hollenbeck is 6'3" with long arms and is FHS's best player. 3 blocks and 9 points. And she was getting a lot of help defending our bigs.
 
Lots of good comments here. I wish I'd been there in person.

From what I could see through the TV tube, Paige is transcendent, even more confident than last season. After 19 pts in the first half, she seemed to be actively trying not to score to give the others more opportunities. She is primed for a NPOY season.

Ice looked skittish about mixing it up in the low post. I imagine she's really hoping Jana takes that burden off her. The problem for her is that Sarah looks to be a better high-post and perimeter player than her already. Also, both Sarah and Jana are willing to drive the lane and I haven't seen Ice show a similar willingness. She's in a bit of a no-man's-land currently with the way she seems to think about her role.

Jana is so rusty I could barely recognize her. The big kid who played in the FIBA games last summer was almost nowhere in evidence. I hope she finds that player again soon. She tried a drive down the lane and lost the ball. I was glad to see the drive -- that's her old spirit -- but her handle is too rusty to pull it off just now. She has a lot of work to do. Her rebounding was excellent -- a number of "Mine!" rebounds. Her defense was okay but way too foul prone. She needs to move her feet more than her hands on defense.

I loved Q's offense. She hit some 3s, rebounded, slashed to the rim, and didn't look as lost on defense as last season. Geno has her occasionally at the top of the key as a passer, but her passing is not nearly crisp enough yet. Too many tentative passes, a few turnovers as a result (though not credited to her they were caused by her) -- if she's going to play at the high post, her passing needs to improve.

Ash is feeling it. After a slow start with a couple of sloppy fouls, she pulled it together and scorched the net, drove the lane, ran in transition, played good defense. 4 steals!

Kaitlyn looks like a veteran. Her passing is a bit rusty, and maybe her instincts aren't yet attuned to the new team situation. At Princeton, I think she would have jacked up more shots. But here, her task is to create a balanced offense. Give her a few games and she'll have it figured out.

Sarah also looks like a veteran. She is already everything I expected from her, even if her perimeter shot didn't drop, it will soon enough. 11 pts could easily have been 20, and this wasn't from hogging the ball. As soon as Jana and Ice recover themselves, she will be a huge assistance to them. And she will take so much pressure off Paige and Ash and Azzi -- their jobs will be so much easier just because Sarah is on the court.

Allie is a shooter, but not yet a UConn level defender. Still, there are already signs that she can figure this out, like a steal in the paint and a block. She mainly needs to work on getting to her spots, switching crisply, etc.

It's also important to remember that this is a reduced roster. Only 8 were ready to play. 6 more are on the way, and this ought to take a lot of the pressure off the freshmen.
 
ConnManFan said:
I tend to look at these games more critically than most. I keep asking myself, "why did Paige miss two shots?"
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I thought she was fouled on the 1 2-pointer she missed, but no call probably as the game was a runaway by then.
 
my2cents said:
Low post scoring is becoming a thing of the past in basketball, at all levels. Our team seems to be pretty well positioned to take advantage of this trend.
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A'ja, Stewie or JJ would beg to differ... :-)
 
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Just watched the game on UConn +. I missed how we got the first ten points. Anyways I liked what I saw. I was worried when I saw the first quarter score and the box score before actually watching. After watching I feel like everyone got great shots but just missed, aside from Paige. I think Chen played pretty well. I thought her defense was ok, and she had some turnovers but I thought she very much looked like the player that we saw at Princeton. I also heard the post game interview before I watched and there was a question regarding ice and Jana's outing which sounded very critical. After watching I actually didn't think Jana looked bad. I actually thought she would struggle defensively based on her fiba performance. I remember watching the games live a couple summers ago and several people commenting on her effort. I thought the effort was there. I didn't get some of the fouls. But I did love the rebounding. I also didn't see her get a lot of touches in spots where she could even be aggressive. So with 1 shot, I'm not really mad at that. Ice had some nice passes. With Ice, I worry about her offensively. I thought she came in as a smooth scoring big, but I feel like she's lost a bit of confidence . Q played pretty well. I wonder how much we see Z in big games. I think she's ready for it. I don't think it's a competition thing, even in fiba she can be somewhat streaky. But she took all the right shots today. Paige was pretty great.
 
mainerhuski said:
I thought she was fouled on the 1 2-pointer she missed, but no call probably as the game was a runaway by then.
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Speaking of the game officials, at some point in the 2nd half I found myself thinking that Geno might have had a pre-game discussion with the refs about calling the game tightly against his team (it was just a practice game) so that he would have plenty of tape to use in practices this week. It just seemed like the refs were calling it one way against us and the other way against Ft Hays. Many of the Uconn fouls were handsey while FH was getting away with similar play, and looking at the stat sheet post-game reinforced that feeling---2 FTs for our team??? The rash of early calls against Ash and Ice and Jana made me think the refs thought we were all watching them, not the players we actually wanted to see.
 
EricLA said:
This^^^

People with blinders on who are like "oh this is just an exhibition game". Well I don't care how good Ft Hayes will be in DIVISION 2 - there were times we simply could not run any effective offense. Yet again, relying on Paige to bail us out. 2 of the quarters were terrific. 2 of them substandard. In fairness, Ft Hayes played some VERY stout defense...
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As you say "you don't care . . ." Well, I don't are for these posters that think you need to play 4 quarters of high quality play for such a young team trying to learn an offense that isn't easy to learn this early in their career. And anyone if they are going after Jana - if they are doing that is complete lunacy imo. Yeah like Tina and Stef early on never had 2 point games or similar vs weak opponents. Anyone that believes they didn't then I have a bridge to sell them.

As for Paige - she is supposed to bail UCONN out. That's why there shouldn’t be such panic from some such as suggesting "Ice has regressed" after drawing a conclusion after 1 game. My God what must have some of you been saying after the 1st month or so last year? Paige allows this team to not panic unlike fans that regularlry do (if not 2 quarters it will be one qtr or it will be a 5 minute stretch or even a play the panicked fan will go off and say things like if you make that play all the time vs this team then how are you going to beat that team etc). Paige a;llows this team to build up and develop chemistry which contrary to some public opinion it can't be generated after just a few week’s of practice and either no games or a few. Haven't most of UCONN's greatest teams been built on experience? Now all of a sudden that no longer nmatters?

That's why there is a reason why chemistry is important. There is a reason why experience is important. I believe many of us will agree that the more a talented team plays together, the more experience and chemistry they will gain, then overall the better they will eventually perform. Until such time some of you are just going to have to be miserable and have to suffer by having to watch Poor Paige bail us out. And whenever we lose a potential/probable game because 18/19/20 year old's aren't perfect some of you can do what you like to do and that's dump on "Passive Paige" etc. because how dare she turned down two shots playing 40 minutes of contested ball vs other good, well-coached teams.
 
You guys are going to be the death of me. It was a freaking exhibition game with Geno making frequent lineup changes. Sarah, Allie, Jana, and Kaitlin, all playing in their first game in a UConn uni, played 101 of 200 total minutes accounting for some ragged play. All this and the Huskies still won by 40 points. Good gravy, it’s already a long season
 
my2cents said:
Low post scoring is becoming a thing of the past in basketball, at all levels. Our team seems to be pretty well positioned to take advantage of this trend.
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Low post scoring is hardly a thing of the past. Bigs setting up down low is not seen a lot. But payers at all levels,men and women, look for size mismatches, and will get down low to take advantage . It's a major emphasis in the W. Can't say I've seen much of that going on with the UConn women over the years , though. Maybe I need to pay more attention.
 
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If the game against Boston were actually the championship game. I would play a 4 guard lineup. With strong at the center. I am dead serious. Those are the 5 players most ready to play college basketball right now.

KK
Shade
Chen
Paige
Strong

Fortunately, we have three months to figure out the rotation. And for some of the bigs to develop.

It does make me a bit concerned that 6 players were not available for this game. We can make all of our plans about this player coming back and this player coming back. But that is assuming 100% health for every other player on the team. Teams just generally don’t get healthier when the real games start.
 
Blueballer said:
That's an interesting take after just ONE exhibition game. Writing off the post play already?
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Exactly. Amazing the hot takes after an exhibition game rout. Jana is in the same situation as Ice last year. Missed her whole first year. Tough year to miss and come flying out of the gate. Ice missed some short range jumpers she will make.

Shooters are often a bit streaky. So long as the confidence is there, it usually isn’t a problem. Allie should be fine Q was so involved. I hope she gets some meaningful minutes. She and Aubrey are in somewhat the same slot, and Q is a better shooter but not the same on ball defender. What is not to love about Ashlynn Azzi back if on form gives us crazy shooters and KK isn’t awful. Caroline, we have to hope the right decisions are made for her health. If she is ever available, that’s another weapon. Morgan remains to be seen. Lot of talent, not enough minutes. And that is all beyond Bueckers and Chen. We should be a game long terror to defend, of course an inside presence will be important against the better teams.
 
I second and third Nan's comments!
A lot of the players that got in are new players or coming back from an injury! Give them time to jell with each other!
There are really good athletes on this roster and the more experience they get they'll improve!
I was really happy that these players really took the time to improve their bodies and their game in the off-season!
This will be a fantastic team come the middle of this season.
I watched the game on WWAX/1166 on Xfinity and thought they did a good job especially for an opening contest. I was thrilled to see Meg Cuomo on the broadcast team!
Some of you have to mellow and chill out!
 
ConnecticutBB said:
Did anyone read or know why KK got ZERO playing time?
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Saving her for the regular season opener. Geno said she is feeling better, but my guess is she is more needed for real games rather than an exhibition.
 
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Stagnant said:
If the game against Boston were actually the championship game. I would play a 4 guard lineup. With strong at the center. I am dead serious. Those are the 5 players most ready to play college basketball right now.

KK
Shade
Chen
Paige
Strong

Fortunately, we have three months to figure out the rotation. And for some of the bigs to develop.

It does make me a bit concerned that 6 players were not available for this game. We can make all of our plans about this player coming back and this player coming back. But that is assuming 100% health for every other player on the team. Teams just generally don’t get healthier when the real games start.
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It's not like they are healthy and will get hurt. They are coming back from injuries, so they have nothing to do but get healthier because they are not playing UNTIL healthy. Now, during the course of a season everyone gets bumps and bruises and no one is 100% at the end of the season, but that is a different scenario than players who haven't played coming back from injury. Let's get them back before we get them hurt again.
 
hoophuskee said:
I disagree with context of everything you say.

1--- They were still able to put up 90 points. Its not like they scored on talent alone. Their strength (shooting) was an obvious strength.
2---- Yes the freshman and soph you cited were disappointing. They aren't pros though. So, expect to see more early in the season. Freshman and soph not playing well in an Exhibtion game is not a big deal.
3--- Your point about Allie imo is over-the-top. Three point shooters unless they are all-time greats will go 2-10 from 3 from time to time. Your expectation (ie the fact you are being critical of a 3pt shooter after game 1 exhibition in her 1st college game) by being this critical of a 1st game shooter isn't realistic for an 18 year old. Three point shots aren't layups.
4---- The team went to FF last year with Paige as a PF. With all the guards and small forwards UCONN has, why is it that you don't think she could play that spot to fill-in when Sarah sits until Aubrey comes back?
5--- You think Geno, Paige and add in Azzi when she comes back are so incompetent and incapable of not "getting more" from the inside game, so much so, that it's going to be "a long season?"
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In Geno’s press conference before the game, he talked about the importance of post play, pointing out that every one of his championship teams had either one or two dominant post players, sometimes three. That puts some incredible pressure on Sarah, who is not really a dominant post in the classical sense, but a product of the modern game. Of course Paige can play the four ( she did in today’s game), but IMO that is a move of desperation instead of a proven winning formula. She should be playing her normal position, where she can control the game on both sides of the ball.
 
UcMiami said:
Any team if they want to can take away the paint, including a D2 team. Most of the time that Uconn tried to pass inside there were three people guarding the paint, making completing the pass difficult, and doing anything if it actually connected even harder. The only way to change that is to hit outside shots, which Uconn did. Problem is FHS wasn't trying to win, they were just trying not to be embarrassed so they kept clogging the paint all game.

As for the rest - great to watch this team play again.
Paige superb
Chen looked really good
Ashley was throwin the shade
Q started soft, but came on well in the second half
Allie hopefully just nerves
Jana as advertised - raw, big, moves pretty well.
Strong looked comfortable out there
Ice I thought played well and didn't force things, I guess I am alone in that thinking.

FYI - Grad student Hollenbeck is 6'3" with long arms and is FHS's best player. 3 blocks and 9 points. And she was getting a lot of help defending our bigs.
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Shame Hollenbeck is at the end of her college career. She was impressive. Quite a few D1 programs could use a talent like her.
 
Stagnant said:
If the game against Boston were actually the championship game. I would play a 4 guard lineup. With strong at the center. I am dead serious. Those are the 5 players most ready to play college basketball right now.

KK
Shade
Chen
Paige
Strong

Fortunately, we have three months to figure out the rotation. And for some of the bigs to develop.

It does make me a bit concerned that 6 players were not available for this game. We can make all of our plans about this player coming back and this player coming back. But that is assuming 100% health for every other player on the team. Teams just generally don’t get healthier when the real games start.
Expand ...
Why would you play the players that need the least adjustment to the college game in the pre-season? Isn't the idea to get the new guys experience and build team chemistry?
 
Hi, I'm a bit behind this season, I guess that happens when you have a baby at home... anyway, I heard about Aubrey, Azzi, Caroline, and Ayanna all still recovering from injuries last season. Someone in this thread said KK tweaked an ankle. What happened to Morgan Cheli though?
 
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This was so awesome, to be able to see a game live. Just to sit and watch it on my tv in my living room :-)
Usually I have to look for replays or I just follow the chat / stats online. I'm hoping to maybe find a way to be able to watch from afar this year!
 
Millenial23 said:
Hi, I'm a bit behind this season, I guess that happens when you have a baby at home... anyway, I heard about Aubrey, Azzi, Caroline, and Ayanna all still recovering from injuries last season. Someone in this thread said KK tweaked an ankle. What happened to Morgan Cheli though?
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Hamstring issue from HS. Lingering.
 
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