Game thread--Pace U.

[Kaizen]

Bulter layup 2, she has 16 pts

 

[MilfordHusky]

Nat showing good footwork. She has 14 points. Or maybe 16.

 

[MilfordHusky]

95-32 final.

 

[Kaizen]

Fianl 95 - 32

 

[bags27]

Some quick thoughts:
Biggest pluses:

• Gabby, Gabby, Gabby
• Natalie and Kyla both looked terrific; the competition wasn't much, but, really, we couldn't have asked for more from them today.
  
• Molly did everything well, considering this is her second game

But:
What is with Lou? Not only was she benched for much of the game, she never looked really in the flow when she was in. Announcers said she wasn't practicing much lately; mostly stretching and gentle work on the bike. Maybe she's nursing a minor injury?

 

[huskeynut]

Good game. Frosh look very good in the early going going.
Gabby is a nightmare for opponents. Pheesa starting to remind me of Swin Cash.
Kia nice and steady. Sinaya looking very good and consistent.
Nat showing she can be a force.

FSU had better beware. This UConn team, though different from last year, is still a team to be taken seriously.

 

[OldAlum]

Postgame presser is listed for free on Huskyvision at 3:20

 

[wire chief]

There had been BY talk that Lou may need to carry this team on her back. Now I'm not forming conclusions
after 2 exhibitions, but it is tempting to wonder, if a particular Lou teammate is the one, if anyone, who may be doing the hoisting.

 

[Scud49]

She has always reminded me of the great Elgin Baylor, a bit undersized at the forward position, but a tremendous leaper and scorer. He and Jerry West carried the Lakers for many years.

 

[Rayvin56]

Anyone get the postgame presser to come up yet?

 

[OldAlum]

Nope. Says it has not started. Geno late again?

 

[Bigpetunia]

One of the things we all knew would be a point of interest this year centered on who would be that individual to step up and grasp leadership of this "new" team. I think we now have a pretty good idea. Looks like this will be Gabby's team, and I'm delighted with that!

 

[Kaizen]

There had been BY talk that Lou may need to carry this team on her back. Now I'm not forming conclusions
after 2 exhibitions, but it is tempting to wonder, if a particular Lou teammate is the one, if anyone, who may be doing the hoisting.

Remember Stewie was in doghouse, then after that she showed herself as the NPOY..

 

[Kaizen]

Gabby should be in The First Team....

 

[BroadwayVa]

Instant analysis (= complete guess). Geno needs to develop another big scorer and letting Crystal play with Lou sitting is a way to do that!

Molly Bent:
BENT, Molly25 Minutes ----2 points--1/4 baskets--0/3 from the 3, 0 foul shots, 6 rebounds , 6 assists, 2 steals, o turnover--2 fouls. Plays with intensity---not afraid to hoist a 3--great teammate--
Yep this kid is a keeper.
Butler---earned her PT today--Collier is truly a BAll Magnet--Chong isn't ready to sit just yet
Even against PACE--I'm pleased with the entire team--
katie LOU has been chained to the kennel--the next game--say hello to the REAL Samuelson!!\
Today my fixation was on Bent, kLS, Crystal--not knowing what's happening back in thelocker room-Bent was great, Crystal needs to loosen up (that will come) Katie LoU will score..

Bags--A less than serious comment--Why develop another scorer--he has Gabby--a point per minute player


25 2 1/4 0/3 0/0 6 6 3 2 0 2

 

[BroadwayVa]

Gabby should be in The First Team....

I thought Gabby was the team!!

 

[HuskyNan]

There had been BY talk that Lou may need to carry this team on her back. Now I'm not forming conclusions
after 2 exhibitions, but it is tempting to wonder, if a particular Lou teammate is the one, if anyone, who may be doing the hoisting.

I have two sons at two different colleges. Both are sick with colds and say many people at their campuses (campi?) are sick, too. I know there's a cold going around right now - everyone in our office is sick.

 

[Kaizen]

I have two sons at two different colleges. Both are sick with colds and say many people at their campuses (campi?) are sick, too. I know there's a cold going around right now - everyone in our office is sick.

Katie Lou is from sunshine Southern California ....

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Molly has to get over the freshman hesitation which is screwing with her stroke. After that it's Kitty Bar The Door.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Katie Lou is from sunshine Southern California ....

B12 and OJ. Yes, KLS is prone to the sniffles, but Bob Joyce fed the fires of injury and when she appeared jumped all over the Dog House thing. Hey, Bob, shut up! Hey, Geno, man up and tell us.

PS. Ooops, I forgot the HIPPA folks are going to jump all over me. It's okay, I'll survive.

 

[Carnac]

Most of the doubts and questions we posed and pontificated about over the summer have been answered. We now know the freshmen can play.
Of course their maturation will continue throughout the season, but all 3 have shown that they can give the team significant minutes, and make plays when they're on the floor. Saniya and Natalie played well overall in the two exhibition games. If Chong can continue to play well on defense, she'll play this year.

Butler looks like she's ready for prime time. Her stock rose considerably today. Butler had 16 points in 22 minutes. With the strong work of Butler, combined with 24 points and 10 rebounds from Williams and 11 points and 11 rebounds from Collier, the Huskies outscored Pace 50-8 in the paint. It was nice to see Natalie make an impact offensively today. Her presence will be needed this season, especially before the Christmas break.

After the game, Butler said: "There is a big target on our backs, and everybody expects us to be at a certain level. We literally had a conversation with Coach Geno that you can’t play out of fear, you have to play for desire. You have to play to go after something. I think for me that really registers that there is a difference in the way you play. It's a whole different mindset going into this. We have to trust each other as a team. We have a lot to prove.
It is not pressure of gosh, we want to fulfill what the team did last year. But instead, it's what we want to do, it's what our team goals are”.

Kia Nurse added 11 points and five assists for UConn while Saniya Chong had 10 points. Freshmen Irwin (eight points, five rebounds, three assists) and Molly Bent (two points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots) also had strong showings.

We still don't know who will be the 5th starter, as Geno went with a different lineup today. He said post game that the decision not to put Samuelson into the game until 5:20 remained in the third quarter was because “sometimes players like Lou just kind of coast through things in the exhibition season.” It was interesting to see Geno put a small lineup of Crystal, Gabby, Saniya, Napheesa & Kia on the floor, and then go BIG with Natalie, Napheesa, Lou, Kyla, and Molly. Both units played well together. No doubt we'll see these combinations on the floor many times during the season. Now with two games behind them, and having a much better feel and understanding of the the team, the staff can now turn their attention towards Florida State, and the beginning of the regular season.

It will be hard to tell how good some of the top 15 (serious contenders to play in their respective NCAA regional tournament finals) teams are after the season starts because the majority of their OOC schedules are comprised of teams outside of the top 40 (low to mid majors). Many of them will play early season games against inferior teams resulting in lop-sided or blowout scores. Many of them only play 1-2 other top 15 programs with a comparable talent/skill level the first two months. With the exception of a few schools, we may not get a real indicator of how good they are until conference play begins.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Carnac, let me be the first to utter this truism, at UConn starting doesn't matter. It's how the team finishes.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Molly Bent:
BENT, Molly25 Minutes ----2 points--1/4 baskets--0/3 from the 3, 0 foul shots, 6 rebounds , 6 assists, 2 steals, o turnover--2 fouls. Plays with intensity---not afraid to hoist a 3--great teammate--
Yep this kid is a keeper.
Butler---earned her PT today--Collier is truly a BAll Magnet--Chong isn't ready to sit just yet
Even against PACE--I'm pleased with the entire team--
katie LOU has been chained to the kennel--the next game--say hello to the REAL Samuelson!!\
Today my fixation was on Bent, kLS, Crystal--not knowing what's happening back in thelocker room-Bent was great, Crystal needs to loosen up (that will come) Katie LoU will score..

Bags--A less than serious comment--Why develop another scorer--he has Gabby--a point per minute player


25 2 1/4 0/3 0/0 6 6 3 2 0 2

Molly actually had 3 steals and 2 blocks, plus the 6 boards and 6 dimes.

Two years ago, we commented that Kia Nurse plays like a junior, not a freshman. Molly seems to play like a junior as well.

 

[JordyG]

To me the best thing about this game, again, was every came out injury free, although Collier seemed to tweak her knee a bit. Okay, I'm going to brag. I've resisted up until now talking on these exhibition threads because, well, they're exhibitions. But. When Molly and Kyla signed I said 1) Don't sleep on these young ladies. Molly is smart, feisty and hard nosed with a big motor. 2) I said Kyla is a good hard nosed player and rebounder with a wide body, positions herself well, moves her feet well, and has a nice little shot. 3) I said don't be surprised if early on Molly gets more time off the bench than Danger, but as the season goes on Danger will become more important. Gabulous (let's just start calling her Ms. AA) rebounds by getting good position and using her athleticism. Kyla rebounds by reading the ball off the rim well and getting good positioning. Not as well as Collier who can fly in from nowhere to get a rebound because of this ability, but Kyla seems to be a better offensive rebounder. This I didn't expect. I didn't expect Molly to be a physical player, which she is. She also has a nice little shot, but hers is to the arc. This team looks like a bunch of street fighters. Honestly, when teams are finished playing The UConn this year they're going to be bruised and exhausted. Some of these bigger teams are going to be scratching their heads wondering how this smaller team beat their pants off.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Do we have recruits in the building??

The recently injured Aubrey Griffin sat next to Andra Espinosa-Hunter.