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Game thoughts

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johnnyc said:
Great win against a very good team. Both these teams are NC caliber teams. UConn just took a step closer to realizing it. Huge going into the NCAAs. The Irish are the team I would least want to face in the final.
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Agree. Not only are they an excellent team but next time they'll be like we were last night....

They will refuse to leave without a win.
 
Icebear said:
Chris, Stokes was not good tonight when she was in. It was a conscious choice by Geno to pull her.
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I understand Geno was going with his best team, but Dolson was gassed the last 7-8 minutes of the game. We were not getting much out of her at all. I think St0kes could have given us more at that point. But hey, it worked out ok in the end.
 
Aluminny69 said:
Would love to hear Muffet explain why ND went away from the zone they opened the second half with. ( Not that I'm complaining.) The ND zone stymied UConn, allowing ND a temporary lead, and I don't think UConn really solved the zone defense. But maybe I missed something.
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I'm thinking here, cause I don't know, is they went away about the time KML came in. As "on fire" as she was last night, maybe Muffet was thinking they didn't want her to get hot shooting 3s over the zone??? IDK, just a thought.
 
Agree with Icebear in that Stokes looked lost out there. I recall that she should have made two easy baskets, but couldn't hold on to the ball. As a result of her ineffectiveness, Dolson had to play almost the entire game and looked gassed. I have seen that in other games where she played less minutes. I really believe Doslon needs to get in much better condition on the off season. Lots of competition next year.
 
Aluminny69 said:
Would love to hear Muffet explain why ND went away from the zone they opened the second half with. ( Not that I'm complaining.) The ND zone stymied UConn, allowing ND a temporary lead, and I don't think UConn really solved the zone defense. But maybe I missed something.
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Irish played zone when KML wasn't in the game . She is a zone buster. Hard to argue with GA success, but I would have liked to have seen KML start second half. Huskies started slow and seemed unsure for a couple minutes on offense. Irish took the lead. I believe KML came in at around the 16:00 mark? Changed everything. At 7:30 left in the game "both" teams were gassed! Huskies sucked it up, Irish did not get back a couple of times, and huskies converted transition buckets.
 
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magic said:
Irish played zone when KML wasn't in the game . She is a zone buster. Hard to argue with GA success, but I would have liked to have seen KML start second half. Huskies started slow and seemed unsure for a couple minutes on offense. Irish took the lead. I believe KML came in at around the 16:00 mark? Changed everything. At 7:30 left in the game "both" teams were gassed! Huskies sucked it up, Irish did not get back a couple of times, and huskies converted transition buckets.
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she came in before that.. he couldnt wait til the 16:00 so he called a timeout!
 
John Fryer said:
Where did that negative come from? Why?

I didn't see Kiah do anything to hurt the team.

She rebounded and blocked the middle when she was on the floor.

Peace,

John Fryer
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John, I saw Stokes miss a chippy under the basket and then she was yanked never to be seen again. It's possible that she got pulled for missing a defensive assignemnt though. I saw her wandering around on defense once where it was apparent she didn't know where she was supposed to be.
 
"Rough day for Dolson. Missed shots, turned the ball over, looked slow getting to a few loose balls. I really thought Stokes should have played more."

Me too. But then Auriemma has 800 more career victories than I do.
 
vtcwbuff said:
John, I saw Stokes miss a chippy under the basket and then she was yanked never to be seen again. It's possible that she got pulled for missing a defensive assignemnt though. I saw her wandering around on defense once where it was apparent she didn't know where she was supposed to be.
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Geno designed a great defense that mandated every defensive player's responsibility in clogging the lane to prohibit easy penetration. It was a bit
complicated and not the normal defense for us. Stokes really looked confused
and I think that and not the missed layup got her a seat on the bench.
 
phil sampieri said:
Geno designed a great defense that mandated every defensive player's responsibility in clogging the lane to prohibit easy penetration. It was a bit
complicated and not the normal defense for us. Stokes really looked confused
and I think that and not the missed layup got her a seat on the bench.
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I think this is exactly what happened. According to the box score Kiah did not have any rebounds. Her only stat line was 1 TO.
 
What impressed me about last night was how much the bench was involved in the game. With a minute or so left, it was obvious how happy and proud the bench players were that they were going to win the Big East Championship. The whole team was so into this game and as a team they proved last night they can take and win a game against an elite team. As Geno said during his press conference the team owned this win.
 
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vowelguy said:
True, but you could still argue that they should've tried going back to zone - given that man wasn't working great either, seems like it would've been worth the risk.
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My recollection is that ND has been primarily a man to man defensive team this year, so I guess Muffett wanted to stay with what they do best. Also their biggest problem was not on the defensive end, it was scoring more points.
 
Some random positive thoughts
  1. First and foremost, as Geno has said, we got our identity back. And it starts with that clawing man to man D. The D that we saw vs Stanford. It's back.
  2. KLM has her groove back. She's got that "shoot first and ask questions later" look that had been gone. The silky smooth release is back too. We are a different team when she is out there being aggressive and hitting her shots.
  3. Props to Bria and Tiff. They need to continue to push the basketball.
  4. Kelly's 3's were obviously huge. It would bode very well for us if we could get 8-10 points out of her a game. She's capable. Maybe this is the shot in the arm she needs.
Some concerns:
  1. Once again, Kelly and Doty out there at the same time is problematic. That 4 minute stretch to open the 2nd half was painful. Geno had to call the timeout to sub. He couldn't wait for a clock stoppage, it was so bad. (Then Muffet switches to man. I know she was concerned about KML who was coming in but wow. )
  2. The offense is a little too reliant on KML. She's a freshman and freshman have games like Diana did vs ND.
  3. I'd like to see Stokes and Banks more but that's just me.
 
Positive thoughts. (for DD)
The ladies really out-hustled the Irish, diving after loose balls, fighting for possession and the wonderful moment when Bria got behind the Irish D, both teams really dragging, everyone on both sides playing huge minutes and competing like mad, except UCONN just did it way more.

Both Kaleena and Bria got most of their points inside the three-point line; Bria's pull-up is devastating; she moves into the lane can fight her way to the basket or take a very athletic pull-up jumper. KLM is also a killer near the basket with put backs and general athleticism. I always thought a lot of high percentage 2's, with a chance of an and one are just as good (better) than 3's. In crunch time. Bria completely outplayed Diggins. Anyone notice how similar their approach to the game is?

Steff may not have had a great offensive game but she neutralized Peters and got her into foul trouble. That had a very big influence on the outcome.

Maybe we finally learned the secret to Kelly's offensive prowess...Just don't think about it...just hoist it up!
But pay attention to item one (above). If they don't guard you take a step or 2 in.

The Notre Dame subs did well at the end of the first half and McBride is a keeper, but can you imagine how we are going to manhandle them next year.

There were periods in the earlier games when we rattled Diggins into ineffectiveness. But she usually returned to form and killed us in the second half. Didn't happen today, if anything, the defensive pressure was even more stifling in the 2nd half until garbage time.

I don't know what happened to Novosel. She always chargers. Today they called it. She really couldn't get untracked thereafter. Must be a real downer for her. I still like her game.

If there is a future meeting, perhaps we have a slight advantage. Killer rivalry.
 
Icebear said:
Yes, they were out there together for two of the minutes. And yes, that was when Kiah was most confused.
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it may very well be that being out there with stef is something that kiah's not comfortable with yet. and i don't think that stef is , either. obviously , if she goes in for stef, she's the only post player, and she really has played well the last half of the season. i don't see having stef out there gassed, when kiah could certainly give her a couple of minutes break. that could be especially important as they get deeper into the tournament.
 
doggydaddy said:
But if they lost, you'd have a 3 page post on what is wrong...lol.

It's ok....we are all happy today!!!
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Well, it is sweet...and...a bonus is recalling all the negative posts about this team and who wrote them.
 
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I thought the quick interview with Geno after the game was priceless. We don't get that kind of joy from him very often.

What a difference it makes for us when Kelly makes a couple of threes. What stops her usually do you suppose?
 
semper said:
I thought the quick interview with Geno after the game was priceless. We don't get that kind of joy from him very often.

What a difference it makes for us when Kelly makes a couple of threes. What stops her usually do you suppose?
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I missed the quick interview. Where did you see or hear it?

Thanks!
 
semper said:
I thought the quick interview with Geno after the game was priceless. We don't get that kind of joy from him very often.

What a difference it makes for us when Kelly makes a couple of threes. What stops her usually do you suppose?
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Lack of confidence, in my opinion. She shoots them great in practice but thinks too much in the game and hesitates. She didn't hesitate on the two she made last night. Didn't think. Just shot.
 
meyers7 said:
I understand Geno was going with his best team, but Dolson was gassed the last 7-8 minutes of the game. We were not getting much out of her at all. I think St0kes could have given us more at that point. But hey, it worked out ok in the end.
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Even when you're gassed you can still compete if you're in the flow of the game. Bringing Kiah in at that point doesn't give her much time to get into it.
 
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Lots of talk about Kiah...let's not lose sight of the fact that she's a freshman playing in her biggest college game yet. Geno (he of the 800 wins) can read his players pretty well, I think, and didn't see from Kiah what he needed to see. Kiah will be fine, great, in fact. I'm sure her short shift on the floor will be a learning experience for her, and she'll have a good NCCA tourney.
 
Dairyair said:
Lots of talk about Kiah...let's not lose sight of the fact that she's a freshman playing in her biggest college game yet. Geno (he of the 800 wins) can read his players pretty well, I think, and didn't see from Kiah what he needed to see. Kiah will be fine, great, in fact. I'm sure her short shift on the floor will be a learning experience for her, and she'll have a good NCCA tourney.
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Just curious...whats is she supposed to learn from being on the floor for 2 minutes here 1 minute there etc. I agree about not breaking up chemistry even if Stef isn't scoring but it was obvious that Stef was tired in the second half. Kiah could easily hold the fort down while Stef gets a breather. I agree... Kiah will be huge come ncaa tourney time.
 
msf22b said:
Positive thoughts. (for DD)
the wonderful moment when Bria got behind the Irish D, both teams really dragging, everyone on both sides playing huge minutes
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That play made it clear beyond any doubt who the best conditioned starter/rotation player on either team is.
 
johnnyc said:
... The Irish are the team I would least want to face in the final.
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Yeah, but think of what that means - Notre Dame would have to get past Baylor in the semifinal and we'd have played Stanford for that round. Geno could live with that!

Most likely, that is.
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Wonkster said:
Yeah, but think of what that means - Notre Dame would have to get past Baylor in the semifinal and we'd have played Stanford for that round. Geno could live with that!

Most likely, that is.
.
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That's the best possible scenario IMO. I would love us to beat Baylor first. If ND beats Baylor people would question whether we could have beaten Baylor, but lucked out not having to play them.
 
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