cferraro04
Sensei
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 2,435
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GENERAL COMMENTS:
It was great to see Azzi Fudd get her sea legs under her and have a break-out come-back game. That only bodes well for UConn in the future. I don't think that Azzi just yet breaks into the starting lineup. I think Geno will want to see some consistency in her play before he makes a change to the starting line-up. I think her minutes will continue to increase until he is confident to make that change. That being said, I think Geno will go with the same starters and he will continue bringing Azzi in off the bench for significant minutes. Keep in mind...soon we will be seeing the return of Ayanna Patterson and Aubrey Griffin both of whom will also need minutes to establish their comebacks. I will be posting this game analysis as well as Saturday's game against Louisville this weekend. I will be going to Chile to teach martial arts seminars and to conduct Blackbelt and Master tests. I will be leaving on Monday the 2nd and returning on Monday the 9th. Thank God my wife will be recording the games for me...because I will have little time while I am in Chile to be scouring the internet trying to find a feed for the game.
Holy Cross Is not going to be an exciting team to watch. They average 62 points per game, they turn the ball over 16.2 times per game. One bright spot is they have played some pretty good defense so far this year forcing 16 turnovers with about 8 steals per game, but they haven't faced anybody like UConn. They average about 7 three-pointers per game. They are not that good of a rebounding team only grabbing 32.1 rebounds per game.
It appears due to injuries that Holy Cross is somewhat depleted and as a result, will be playing a 4-guard line-up against UConn. They have a junior-laden starting line-up made up of 4 juniors and one sophomore. They will start: Simone Foreman 5'9" Junior, guard; Kaitlyn Flanagan 5'8"
Junior, guard; Kendall Eddy 5'7" Sophomore, guard; Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly 6'0" Junior, guard; Meg Cahalan 6'2' Junior, forward. Lindsay Berger seems to be out of the line-up...she may be hurt. She is a big piece of their team she is a 6'2" forward who averages 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and they will miss her if she is not playing against UConn.
UConn should win this game easily and it will be an opportunity for everyone to play. Geno may use the second half to work on some sets in order to get ready to play Louisville on Saturday
PLAYER ANALYSIS:
Ice Brady 6'3", forward vs. Meg Cahalan, 6'2", forward - Meg averages 1l.l points, 4.3 rebounds per game. Ironically she is Holy Cross' best three-point shooter making 1.86 threes per game. She can also be somewhat of a facilitator tied for second on her team and averaging 1.6 assists per game. Ice is currently averaging 6.3 points. 4.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. With this line-up Holy Cross may try to run against UConn...however, I am not sure how successful that would be as Geno has a lot of options where he could go small and run with just about anyone in the country. If Geno decides to stay big at this position he could always bring in 6'5" Jana El-Alfy. This would be extremely challenging for Holy Cross and I would expect our post-players to have a very good day. Given Ice's size and agility around the basket and with Jana waiting in the wings to come into the game, Holy Cross will have much difficulty in the post. ADVANTAGE UCONN
Sarah Strong 6'2", forward vs. Simone Foreman, 5'9", guard - Simone is Holy Cross' most consistent player averaging 14 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.0 three-pointers. Sarah will have a size advantage on Simone and Sarah's numbers thus far in her rookie season are fantastic. She is averaging 14.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 steals and is averaging 1.3 three-pointers. This match-up by the numbers looks to be intriguing but it would appear that Sarah will prove to be too big, too strong, and too talented. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
Paige Bueckers 6'0, guard vs. Kaitlyn Flanagan, 5'8" guard - Kaitlyn is Holy Cross' 2nd option for scoring and she is their floor leader. She averages 11.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals, and averages one three-pointer per game. Kaitlyn will have her hands full with All-American Paige Bueckers. Paige has set the pace for UConn this season averaging: 22 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and 2.2 three-pointers per game. Paige will probably only play slightly more than 20 minutes in this one but it will be good enough:
ADVANTAGE - UCONN
Kaitlyn Chen 5'9", guard vs. Kendall Eddy 5'7", guard - Kendall has broken into the starting line-up probably due to injuries. Kendall has started in the last two games. She is averaging 9.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn still seems to be struggling to find her stride but her year-to-date stats nevertheless match up comparatively with Kendall's. Kaitlyn is averaging 6.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. While statistically, Kendall may average more points per game...the competition level that Kendall has faced is not comparable to what UConn has played so far this year. However, I think Kendall may end up being one of the bright spots for Holy Cross in this one. ADVANTAGE - HOLY CROSS
Ashlynn Shade, 5'10", guard vs. Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly - 6'0", guard - Mary-Elizabeth has started the last 5 games for Holy Cross. She is averaging 5.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1 three-pointer per game. While Ashlynn too has not hit her last season stride she has played exceptionally well, playing the third most minutes on the team while only turning the ball over .67 times per game. Her game stats are respectable as she averages 7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.0 steals, and hits on 1.3 three-pointers per game. Ashlynn will play Mary-Elizabeth tough on the defensive end and she will drive Mary-Elizabeth crazy with her constant movement. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
BENCH:
UConn's bench is extremely deep this year and with Azzi starting to round up to form...Geno can afford to go deep into his bench without losing too much. UConn will bring 28.6 points and 16.3 rebounds off the bench not to mention size and talent advantage. Unless some of Holy Cross' unavailable players become available, With only Simone Lewis, Jamie Bachman and Lauren Huber available Holy Cross will only be able to bring 5.9 points and 7.3 rebounds off the bench. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
COACHING:
Two hall-of-fame coaches and a cracker-jack coaching staff...will pretty much ensure that there will be precious few if any errors from the staff.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN
INTANGIBLES:
The game will be played at Gampel in front of the students. The team will be looking forward to playing in front of the home crowd. UConn is too big, too talented and seasoned to let this one get away from them. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
UConn - 95
Holy Cross - 44
MOV - 51
It was great to see Azzi Fudd get her sea legs under her and have a break-out come-back game. That only bodes well for UConn in the future. I don't think that Azzi just yet breaks into the starting lineup. I think Geno will want to see some consistency in her play before he makes a change to the starting line-up. I think her minutes will continue to increase until he is confident to make that change. That being said, I think Geno will go with the same starters and he will continue bringing Azzi in off the bench for significant minutes. Keep in mind...soon we will be seeing the return of Ayanna Patterson and Aubrey Griffin both of whom will also need minutes to establish their comebacks. I will be posting this game analysis as well as Saturday's game against Louisville this weekend. I will be going to Chile to teach martial arts seminars and to conduct Blackbelt and Master tests. I will be leaving on Monday the 2nd and returning on Monday the 9th. Thank God my wife will be recording the games for me...because I will have little time while I am in Chile to be scouring the internet trying to find a feed for the game.
Holy Cross Is not going to be an exciting team to watch. They average 62 points per game, they turn the ball over 16.2 times per game. One bright spot is they have played some pretty good defense so far this year forcing 16 turnovers with about 8 steals per game, but they haven't faced anybody like UConn. They average about 7 three-pointers per game. They are not that good of a rebounding team only grabbing 32.1 rebounds per game.
It appears due to injuries that Holy Cross is somewhat depleted and as a result, will be playing a 4-guard line-up against UConn. They have a junior-laden starting line-up made up of 4 juniors and one sophomore. They will start: Simone Foreman 5'9" Junior, guard; Kaitlyn Flanagan 5'8"
Junior, guard; Kendall Eddy 5'7" Sophomore, guard; Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly 6'0" Junior, guard; Meg Cahalan 6'2' Junior, forward. Lindsay Berger seems to be out of the line-up...she may be hurt. She is a big piece of their team she is a 6'2" forward who averages 9.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and they will miss her if she is not playing against UConn.
UConn should win this game easily and it will be an opportunity for everyone to play. Geno may use the second half to work on some sets in order to get ready to play Louisville on Saturday
PLAYER ANALYSIS:
Ice Brady 6'3", forward vs. Meg Cahalan, 6'2", forward - Meg averages 1l.l points, 4.3 rebounds per game. Ironically she is Holy Cross' best three-point shooter making 1.86 threes per game. She can also be somewhat of a facilitator tied for second on her team and averaging 1.6 assists per game. Ice is currently averaging 6.3 points. 4.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. With this line-up Holy Cross may try to run against UConn...however, I am not sure how successful that would be as Geno has a lot of options where he could go small and run with just about anyone in the country. If Geno decides to stay big at this position he could always bring in 6'5" Jana El-Alfy. This would be extremely challenging for Holy Cross and I would expect our post-players to have a very good day. Given Ice's size and agility around the basket and with Jana waiting in the wings to come into the game, Holy Cross will have much difficulty in the post. ADVANTAGE UCONN
Sarah Strong 6'2", forward vs. Simone Foreman, 5'9", guard - Simone is Holy Cross' most consistent player averaging 14 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.0 three-pointers. Sarah will have a size advantage on Simone and Sarah's numbers thus far in her rookie season are fantastic. She is averaging 14.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 steals and is averaging 1.3 three-pointers. This match-up by the numbers looks to be intriguing but it would appear that Sarah will prove to be too big, too strong, and too talented. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
Paige Bueckers 6'0, guard vs. Kaitlyn Flanagan, 5'8" guard - Kaitlyn is Holy Cross' 2nd option for scoring and she is their floor leader. She averages 11.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals, and averages one three-pointer per game. Kaitlyn will have her hands full with All-American Paige Bueckers. Paige has set the pace for UConn this season averaging: 22 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and 2.2 three-pointers per game. Paige will probably only play slightly more than 20 minutes in this one but it will be good enough:
ADVANTAGE - UCONN
Kaitlyn Chen 5'9", guard vs. Kendall Eddy 5'7", guard - Kendall has broken into the starting line-up probably due to injuries. Kendall has started in the last two games. She is averaging 9.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn still seems to be struggling to find her stride but her year-to-date stats nevertheless match up comparatively with Kendall's. Kaitlyn is averaging 6.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. While statistically, Kendall may average more points per game...the competition level that Kendall has faced is not comparable to what UConn has played so far this year. However, I think Kendall may end up being one of the bright spots for Holy Cross in this one. ADVANTAGE - HOLY CROSS
Ashlynn Shade, 5'10", guard vs. Mary-Elizabeth Donnelly - 6'0", guard - Mary-Elizabeth has started the last 5 games for Holy Cross. She is averaging 5.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1 three-pointer per game. While Ashlynn too has not hit her last season stride she has played exceptionally well, playing the third most minutes on the team while only turning the ball over .67 times per game. Her game stats are respectable as she averages 7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.0 steals, and hits on 1.3 three-pointers per game. Ashlynn will play Mary-Elizabeth tough on the defensive end and she will drive Mary-Elizabeth crazy with her constant movement. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
BENCH:
UConn's bench is extremely deep this year and with Azzi starting to round up to form...Geno can afford to go deep into his bench without losing too much. UConn will bring 28.6 points and 16.3 rebounds off the bench not to mention size and talent advantage. Unless some of Holy Cross' unavailable players become available, With only Simone Lewis, Jamie Bachman and Lauren Huber available Holy Cross will only be able to bring 5.9 points and 7.3 rebounds off the bench. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
COACHING:
Two hall-of-fame coaches and a cracker-jack coaching staff...will pretty much ensure that there will be precious few if any errors from the staff.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN
INTANGIBLES:
The game will be played at Gampel in front of the students. The team will be looking forward to playing in front of the home crowd. UConn is too big, too talented and seasoned to let this one get away from them. ADVANTAGE - UCONN
UConn - 95
Holy Cross - 44
MOV - 51
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