FSU Postgame Thread

[Centerstream]

I was close to their offense in the second half and it seemed to me that FSU benefitted from the referees going from a let them play approach to the exact opposite. Hate when that happens. One ref in particular. There were numerous times where there was at most incidental contact that was created by FSU guards throwing themselves at the defender. How is that a foul on the defender? Having said that, I think Caroline in particular has to do a better job to avoid silly contact.

I have never seen a team get whacked in the face more than this team. We must have had UConn players on the floor holding their faces at least six times today. Fortunately, nothing that appeared serious.

I am a firm believer that in nationally televised games (if not all), the refs look at the stat sheets at half time and respond accordingly.

 

[phil sampieri]

Put your head down, charge like a bull into the middle of the lane, run into a defensive player who automatically (99% of the time) gets called for a foul. Then because of these calls. a defensive player must back off so not to get called again.

I reffed a bit and played 100 yrs ago and I know the charge call is one of the most difficult but I was taught if the ball carriers lead shoulder caused the contact and the defender beat the ball carrier to that spot standing still it was a charge. Not in this game

 

[Bills Fan]

We have to solve the turnover issue against physical teams. It's a recipe for disaster. Princeton took 21 more shots than us, Maryland 13 more, FSU 4 more. Several of our turnovers were unforced today, just really bad passes that had no chance, the receiver of the pass not going to meet it strongly, and not grabbing and holding the ball. Everybody tries to muscle us so we have to have a strategy once that happens.

Dorka adds a lot underneath, but she has to learn to use the side appropriate hand on drives and shots under the basket. If you go up on the left side of the basket with your right hand you are showing the ball and allowing a clean block. If it's the other hand, away from the defender, it will be a foul.

CD is still not back yet. She was open a few times and did not get the ball though. I think it will come for her but the process is a lot slower than many of us thought. I think we have to limit expectations for her to only a moderate improvement at best from here on in. She is clearly still thinking too much out there and just needs to play.

As a whole I thought this toughest OOC schedule in the country which is now over except for Tennessee and SC is difficult to embrace as a true positive. The long term effects are invisible to a large extent now and will probably be so even come March. I don't really worry about losses per se but rather how we played and what happened. Being #9 is probably not a problem now but it may make it that much harder to make it back to the top 4.

The injuries to Nika, Dorka and Azzi were against physical teams on physical plays. The chop/slash on Dorka's hand, the intentional push of Aaliyah causing her to fall into Azzi, and the head injury to Nika were all physical plays in out of conference games. I'm not making a cause/effect argument that they would have not happened with an easier schedule, I'm just asking what did the schedule really get us as we now have the benefit of hindsight? Play an easier game on a Friday, then fly out on Saturday and play an away game on Sunday against a ranked team in a hostile environment two weeks in a row, and lose twice. Does that experience really help in March? I don't know. I just know that I'm glad that conference play is starting now. It's not the AAC it's the Big East and will be a lot tougher for the most part in and of itself.

I fully expect us to be a great team come March but these first two months with injuries ( I'm not counting Paige and Ice here) did not allow us to meld into the tight team we should be right now with all of our pistons firing. Of course, Geno is a magician. He proved that conclusively last year (as if he needed to) so I'm not concerned for the Big Dance but these interruptions and setbacks make everything more difficult.

With regard to your second paragraph, Dorka has done what you suggest last yearf and the first games this year, but please see my post #141 in this thread.

 

[Bigboote]

. . . I'll start checking Geno's wheels.

From CD's remarks after the game it sounds more like his intake manifold.

 

[Longtime fan]

Ugly. we held on for the win.

No Geno - please feel better. People could point to the final score and say "Nika and Dorka just came back so they were rusty". That wasn't the case. we came out gangbusters in Q1, and then got outplayed for the entire 2nd half. This should be a concern for the team and the coaches.

Having said that, Nika was terrific. Picked up where she left off. 12 assists and 6 points. Man she is good.

Aaliyah and Lou were also really good and huge shoutout to Dorka for being all over the floor in Q1.

The team showed grit and determination. But the game should not have been this close. Sorry, I can't be all puppies and kitties today. FSU is solid, but not an upper echelon team.

This was a game Uconn began as a perfect ballet, and ended up as a food fight in the cafeteria. We won the game in the first quarter and held on after that. Edwards was terrific and so were Dorka and Lou. Nika made all the difference, but showed a tendency for turnovers and poor decisions that we are unused to seeing from her.

Aubrey was back in her "I dare not shoot" persona. She rebounded and helped on breaks and drives to the hoop. But she passed up every shot, to the point where Florida State could ignore guarding her at the three point line. Caroline is not playing nearly as well as she did in her freshman year when, we now know, she was playing injured.

CD is a substitute coach who goes by the book. She practically forgot about Patterson, and fully ignored the evolving ( we hope ) DeBerry. I don't think Geno called it in, but I think CD just doesn't push any envelopes or show the creativity to try anything new.

On the whole, once the first quarter ended, we were scrambling. Or defense was as lame as I have seen it...at least when it came to defending the three point shooters. They pretty much had open shots all day and, whereas they didn't convert them in the first period, they did thereafter, and reduced a late 20 point UCONN lead to about 4 I think. Then as you pointed out, Lou or Edwards would score for us.

We were excellent at the free throw line until Edwards ( of all people ) " clanked" two in a row. It is ironic that UCONN's strength was supposed to be three point shooting ( Paige, Caroline and Azzi ) and now it is all coming from Lou and Dorka. And Florida State owned the day from the arc. Even when Azzi comes back, we are a long ways away from teams like South Carolina, Stanford, Notre Dame, and half a dozen others. Edwards has become a star; Lou is highly reliable; NIka is a great point guard, Dorka is better than we think, but Aubrey needs to be brilliant and so does Caroline. And Patterson needs to be brought along until she explodes on the scene. Otherwise, we are not going very far.

 

[DrummerDee]

Tale of 2 Halves. First half, UCONN could do no wrong. 2nd Half, UCONN came out flat, picked up silly fouls and maybe got a bit too cocky. Edwards had a solid game and bailed us out. Nika played ok. She distributed the ball well (especially in the 1st half), but chucked up way too many 3 pointers that missed. Lou hit a number of key shots (and 3 pointers for this game). Dorka played well in spurts but seem to be "Gassed" towards the end of the game. Caroline played ok, but missed way to many shots she hit past season. Aubrey started the first 6 minutes of the game like she was going to have another "Double-Double" but then HIT THE WALL. Maybe it takes Geno to scream and yell at AG to play confident and aggressive (like she played vs. Princeton). But instead, she just appeared to be tentative (it looked that way after she picked up her 2nd Foul early in the 1st half). We need the PRINCETON Aubrey and not the TENTATIVE Aubrey to be successful this season. Not enough Ayanna Patterson today. I would have like to have seen more of her today. Also, why didn't we see Amari DeBerry and a little of Ines Bettencourt, to spell, for at least a couple of minutes to give Nika a breather, especially in the 1st half when we were up big?

Not sure if anyone else saw Aubrey get knocked down, and come up favoring her right hand. She was seen a bit later looking at her hand and shaking it. I think something happened, as she didn't play well, or aggressively after that. She also didn't see much playing time after her 3rd foul. She was out of sorts after that fall. I hope she is ok.

 

[MSGRET]

Announcers mentioned that technicals in Men's Basketball can be called for flopping, not on the women's side.

That reviewed play where the Seton Hall player tried to draw a foul on Nika was a complete flop, Nika didn't come close to touching her, even the announcer said it was one.

 

[AzzisBraids]

Feeding Aaliyah Edwards and Lopez Senechal the ball until Azzi returns is the best recipe for success
Lou is an elite scorer and Edwards isn't thinking, she's just playing and looks like her previous self
Dorka had some major blocks and her passing was stellar, until she remembers she's 6-5, forgoing points right now for hustle is best. Her energy alone was huge and she made her money on the O-boards today
Muhl back changes this team so much, she does so many things well
Tough matchup for the Ayanna and Aubrey types, FSU just matches up with them well with the athletic types

If we win and no one is injured, I'm happy - no matter the score

 

[HopJim]

Watched the game a second time, and a few added comments:
-Each time the game got very close, Lou scored with a FSU player on top of her or drew an offensive foul. One of the all time clutch players in UConn history. Every time I see her play I just want to say, "Thank you!"
-If anyone thinks UConn could have won without Dorka, get your eyes checked. Several critical shots, foul shots, and defensive plays. Coming back after not playing for awhile, hard to have nothing but kudos.
-While I was originally critical of Caroline, changed after watching her defense, rebounding and offensive movement. Not quite as good as last year's Caroline, but the player she guarded rarely scored, she boxed out well, and was one of the few Huskies that moved without the ball. Many of Edward's drives would not have been effective without Caroline moving her player out of the middle.

 

[MSGRET]

Feeding Aaliyah Edwards and Lopez Senechal the ball until Azzi returns is the best recipe for success
Lou is an elite scorer and Edwards isn't thinking, she's just playing and looks like her previous self
Dorka had some major blocks and her passing was stellar, until she remembers she's 6-5, forgoing points right now for hustle is best. Her energy alone was huge and she made her money on the O-boards today
Muhl back changes this team so much, she does so many things well
Tough matchup for the Ayanna and Aubrey types, FSU just matches up with them well with the athletic types

If we win and no one is injured, I'm happy - no matter the score

I thought Dorka did great considering she had been out for 7 games and still has a special splint on her broken thumb, although it is slowly healing.

 

[Tonyc]

Well many fans wanted bigs and now we have them. What we need are shooters and ball handlers. We still have over 50 pts sitting on the bench. We get Azzi back at some point which will be huge. Im hoping before the South Carolina game. I believe Christmas is about 3 weeks out for Azzi. We were told 3-6 weeks before she can come back. Im not so sure about that based on everybody else coming back later then expected. First we need to get healthy and hopefully the Christmas break helps. Until then we have to figure out a way to not put ourselves in positions of picking up our dribble, which has led to poor passes, and TO's. I expect defenses to pressure the ball against us and key on Lou and Edwards. That means we need to run plays for Caroline Aubrey and everybody else. Setting pics and screens for Lou will help too. Next up Seton Hall and that wont be easy . When you look at our rebounds and shooting percentage we look really good. I would expect Geno will call Chris and tell her how to run practices and then the Christmas break. Get Well Geno.

 

[LoboDays]

Playing at the pace that UCONN plays at is a tough ask when you only use 6 players. They were spent in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Credit to all of them for fighting thru it and getting the win. No more injuries and Azzi back for the final push and let’s see how far we can go.

 

[HuskyNan]

-While I was originally critical of Caroline, changed after watching her defense, rebounding and offensive movement. Not quite as good as last year's Caroline, but the player she guarded rarely scored, she boxed out well, and was one of the few Huskies that moved without the ball. Many of Edward's drives would not have been effective without Caroline moving her player out of the middle.

This is what I saw too. Caroline’s neck mobility, for lack of a better term, is not back yet which explains the missed layup - she couldn’t look up at the rim - but she’s moving her body well otherwise.

 

[tchalla1]

I thought our beloved coach CD made a strategic error by pulling Dorka and Caroline and putting Aubrey and Ayanna in. Aubrey reverted to two years ago and just stood on the perimeter; Ayanna couldn’t handle the slapping at the ball and got flustered. Florida State went on a run, then was able to regroup mentally and settle in.

Excellent analysis on the critical juncture of the game. UConn was ready to blow FSU completely out were it not for the substitutions that you mentioned. I know CD probably felt she needed to spell Dorka because of her prolonged absence, but it was a bit too soon and Aubrey and Ayanna did not transition the momentum that UConn had built --in fact the substitutions terribly stalled us... I agree with your assessment of Aubrey--she seemed for some strange reason, "lost". She hasn't looked this way this season previously...

 

[EdSaid]

UConn started the game with players from five different countries. That's cool.

At 4:30 of the 2nd quarter Nika committed two fouls without a tick of the clock. Old Nika might have had an adverse reaction. Team Leader Nika shook it off, played the entire game, only committing one additional foul, while she lead her team to the win in her first game back after concussion protocol.

Aubrey Griffin hurt her right hand in the second quarter. While playing defense, I'm not sure who committed the UConn foul, but Aubrey came away shaking her right hand. She played through it, then came out of the game, and was not the same in the second half. I hope all is well. I was 50-60 feet away and could see the look of pain in her face.

I would not like to think where this team would be without Lou.

 

[SallyH]

They are the result of a massage technique called cupping. When I have a chronic muscle spasm, my massage therapist will apply a suction type cup to the pressure point. It works very well

What Is Cupping Therapy—And Should You Try It?

You're definitely going to have bruises, JSYK.

www.womenshealthmag.com

My masseuse uses cupping and tibetan singing bowls:

 

[Bills Fan]

This was a game Uconn began as a perfect ballet, and ended up as a food fight in the cafeteria. We won the game in the first quarter and held on after that. Edwards was terrific and so were Dorka and Lou. Nika made all the difference, but showed a tendency for turnovers and poor decisions that we are unused to seeing from her.

Aubrey was back in her "I dare not shoot" persona. She rebounded and helped on breaks and drives to the hoop. But she passed up every shot, to the point where Florida State could ignore guarding her at the three point line. Caroline is not playing nearly as well as she did in her freshman year when, we now know, she was playing injured.

CD is a substitute coach who goes by the book. She practically forgot about Patterson, and fully ignored the evolving ( we hope ) DeBerry. I don't think Geno called it in, but I think CD just doesn't push any envelopes or show the creativity to try anything new.

On the whole, once the first quarter ended, we were scrambling. Or defense was as lame as I have seen it...at least when it came to defending the three point shooters. They pretty much had open shots all day and, whereas they didn't convert them in the first period, they did thereafter, and reduced a late 20 point UCONN lead to about 4 I think. Then as you pointed out, Lou or Edwards would score for us.

We were excellent at the free throw line until Edwards ( of all people ) " clanked" two in a row. It is ironic that UCONN's strength was supposed to be three point shooting ( Paige, Caroline and Azzi ) and now it is all coming from Lou and Dorka. And Florida State owned the day from the arc. Even when Azzi comes back, we are a long ways away from teams like South Carolina, Stanford, Notre Dame, and half a dozen others. Edwards has become a star; Lou is highly reliable; NIka is a great point guard, Dorka is better than we think, but Aubrey needs to be brilliant and so does Caroline. And Patterson needs to be brought along until she explodes on the scene. Otherwise, we are not going very far.

I pretty much agree with most of your post, but I think Azzi's return will make a tremendous difference. Yes, at the beginning of the year we thought we had 3 outstanding 3 pt shooters, PB, CD, and Azzi. Well PB is gone for the year, for who knows how much longer and CD is not a factor as we all had hoped based on her 2021-22 performance. I, for one, don't see that we should plan on that for the rest of the year. We do need two outside gunners to help open the inside and we will have that when Azzi returns and not before. The second part of that duo is Lou, not PB or CD. Until then we need Caroline to be the best she can be and Aubrey to somehow regain the confidence a few posters remind us of from her high school days. If she is unable to do that, then we need to appreciate what she does excel at; rebounding, running the floor and good defense on just about anyone she is assigned to guard. She does all of those things well, but just has no confidence in her shooting from 12-25 feet out. If Yanna can continue to make reasonable progress and Ines can provide 2-5 minutes of relief to Nika at the point then we will have a solid 9 player rotation that can work in March and April.

 

[Stinger92860]

Question for the medical experts on the board. What are the spots on Dorka”s arm?

cupping therapy

 

[AzzisBraids]

I thought Dorka did great considering she had been out for 7 games and still has a special splint on her broken thumb, although it is slowly healing.

I agree and I'm not discrediting her comeback journey. Prior to her injuring her thumb, finishing around the rim was frankly struggle. Focusing less on that and on others things will surely help her.

 

[Mike72fl]

This may be an off-topic discussion. I think the women need to change the rule when it comes to flopping. They need to change it to technical foul if flopped (the same as the rule for men). I have watched a few women games this season (not just Uconn games), I have seen more flopping than ever; and some are just ridiculous.

 

[Geew1992]

That reviewed play where the Seton Hall player tried to draw a foul on Nika was a complete flop, Nika didn't come close to touching her, even the announcer said it was one.

Seton hall??

 

[BBallF]

With regard to your second paragraph, Dorka has done what you suggest last yearf and the first games this year, but please see my post #141 in this thread.

I read it. If that is the reason then I understand it but it is still not the way to make those plays.

 

[tchalla1]

Agreed. However, she would have done the team far better if she didn't have 3 of her shots blocked.

You didn't like her aggressiveness? Nine of 10 times, Dorka gets fouled and gets free throws on going to the basket. FSU is a very athletic team, most teams will foul her...

 

[Bone Dog]

At 4:30 of the 2nd quarter Nika committed two fouls without a tick of the clock. Old Nika might have had an adverse reaction. Team Leader Nika shook it off, played the entire game, only committing one additional foul,

I remember seeing that and thinking "What a flop" by their big, Myers. Nika kept her cool just as you said. But I think she also asked herself "What would Paige do?" And she apparently concluded that Paige would pin a similar foul on one of their bigs, which she proceeded to do in the 3rd quarter, when she boxed out Timpson under the rim and let her throw her to the floor. And I think Nika was right -- that was exactly what Paige would have done. In fact, that's exactly what Paige did do the last time she played against ND.

 

[Blond D.]

After the first half, what adjustments needed to be made? UConn was on a roll, everything was going right.

Even if youre ahead and cruseing, theres still things you have to be ready for in the second half,. Teaching moments, things you could do better and you have to be ready to adjust to the other teams adjustments. You have to stay one step ahead of the other team.