Geno On Texas Game Strategy and Natalie | The Boneyard

Geno On Texas Game Strategy and Natalie

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From another thread:
UcMiami said:
Well that was fun. Texas is pretty good and very big and they have one pesky point guard.
1. Really glad to see Uconn running that foul line curl for Lou - it is unstoppable and she should be as good with it as Maya was.
2. Thought the refs were weird tonight - didn't really affect the game that much, but very physical game with lots of tickytack fouls called while a bunch of the big ones were missed.
3. Natalie is a critical member of this team - complain all you want but we probably would have lost three games already without her.
4. Thought Texas ran out of gas at the end of the third. Their bigs were not a factor in the fourth.
5. Kia kept her rhythm from the DePaul game. Napheesa and Gabby continued being brilliant. Thought Dangerfield got seriously exposed as a freshman in this one - her defense was pretty much a swinging door.
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On the money, Miami ...per Geno.
​
 
MDoggie said:
Crystal Dangerfield has some growing to do but will be a force in the near future.
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They say that a rookie ML baseball player needs to have around 500 at bats before being able to really handle a curve ball. There is no shortcut to acclimating to defending against the top talent in D-1 WCBB. Crystal's certainly quick enough and tough enough. She just needs the repetitions, as they say, to be able to have the game slow down a bit for her and for her to have seen enough to anticipate movement. Once league competition starts, she should get plenty of that.
 
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After watching this game at the Sun I can attest that Natalie took quite some abuse under the basket. A lot of "should have been called" that wasn't. My bet she is going to feel it tomorrow. I didn't see the final stats but I believe the 1st half rebounds were something like 14-4, not for the good guys. I don't think we would have won without her. When she was in it was easy to double on their bigs in the post. I give here an attaboy for this game!
 
iamcbs said:
Brooke McCarty is an 1st team all Big 12 and a junior, she did what she was supposed to do against a freshman, Dangerfield will be fine. She got her ass kicked bad, which is what her coach asked for....
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She had 15 points agains the National Defensive Player of the Year last year. McCarty reminds me of Leilani Mitchell--small, quick, and deadly from distance.
 
ctfjr said:
After watching this game at the Sun I can attest that Natalie took quite some abuse under the basket. A lot of "should have been called" that wasn't. My bet she is going to feel it tomorrow. I didn't see the final stats but I believe the 1st half rebounds were something like 14-4, not for the good guys. I don't think we would have won without her. When she was in it was easy to double on their bigs in the post. I give here an attaboy for this game!
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Iron sharpens iron. Texas was a great precursor game for UConn to prepare them for Notre Dame. UConn had to work hard, and battle their BIGS the entire game. UConn had to go on a 12-0 run after the Longhorns had cut the lead to 2. You're right. Natalie took a lot of abuse today. It got her ready for Wednesday. Unlike the game Notre Dame played today. They played a very soft "cupcake" in Valparaiso who they just Pimp slapped for 40 minutes. ND jumped out to a 26-0 lead to begin the game, and never looked back. Playing a cupcake before a big opponent as UConn could be costly. That game today did nothing to help ND prepare for UConn.
 
Carnac said:
Iron sharpens iron. Texas was a great precursor game for UConn to prepare them for Notre Dame. UConn had to work hard, and battle their BIGS the entire game. UConn had to go on a 12-0 run after the Longhorns had cut the lead to 2. You're right. Natalie took a lot of abuse today. It got her ready for Wednesday. Unlike the game Notre Dame played today. They played a very soft "cupcake" in Valparaiso who they just Pimp slapped for 40 minutes. ND jumped out to a 26-0 lead to begin the game, and never looked back. Playing a cupcake before a big opponent as UConn could be costly. That game today did nothing to help ND prepare for UConn.
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As i wrote in a different thread, Let's compare notes after the game.
Playing Patsy's has worked well for Duke and Maryland this season.
There may be more than one way to scramble eggs.
 
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Carnac said:
Iron sharpens iron. Texas was a great precursor game for UConn to prepare them for Notre Dame. UConn had to work hard, and battle their BIGS the entire game. UConn had to go on a 12-0 run after the Longhorns had cut the lead to 2. You're right. Natalie took a lot of abuse today. It got her ready for Wednesday. Unlike the game Notre Dame played today. They played a very soft "cupcake" in Valparaiso who they just Pimp slapped for 40 minutes. ND jumped out to a 26-0 lead to begin the game, and never looked back. Playing a cupcake before a big opponent as UConn could be costly. That game today did nothing to help ND prepare for UConn.
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UConn normally plays a cupcake before a big game...
 
DaddyChoc said:
UConn normally plays a cupcake before a big game...
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Really ? Like #14 Texas today? :confused: They were ranked #8 in the preseason.
 
MDoggie said:
There's only one way to scramble eggs. You just have to scramble the eggs
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That same philosophy is also employed when making "Tiger" stew. First, you must catch the tiger. :eek:
 
Carnac said:
That same philosophy is also employed when making "Tiger" stew. First, you must catch the tiger. :eek:
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That's what the Irish will have to do: catch the tiger with their bare hands and a basketball. This is not going to go well for ND. Home is the worst place to catch a tiger. Don't try this at home.
 
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FWIW my $.02. I also thought Nat did a great job. She didn't just clog the lane - she played effective defense in the lane and on the Texas bigs. She didn't score a lot of points, but she was important in making it much less easy for Texas to score around the basket. I thought it was a great example of a player not having huge stats, but impacting the game in an important way...
 
MJL243 said:
With 2:36 left in the 3rd quarter with the score 51 to 49 Gen0 sent Natalie in to replace Crystal. The lineup of Kia, Natalie, Gabby, Napheesa and Lou played the rest of the game without substitution until the last minute, when Geno cleared the bench. They outscored Texas 21 to 5.:)
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I think Geno has found his lineups for the the Season now that Natalie has shown him what she is capable of in big games, IMO. For teams that have big and athletic 'Bigs' at the 4 & 5 positions such (Texas, Baylor or USC), a lineup of Nat, Pheese, Gabby, Lou and Kia works best. Though she may not start, Nat's presence inside frees Pheese and Gabby to show their athletic abilities on both defense and offense. For 'smallish' and athletic/quick teams (ala Dayton and ND), he has Pheese, Gabby, Lou, Kia and Saniya/Crystal. As long as they stay out of foul trouble I think he has the horses to handle all comers the rest of the way. Regarding offense, I especially like Lou's 'tight curls' around screens from her Bigs (Pheese or Nat) for those mid-range jumpers. She was deadly against Texas in the 2nd Half when those plays were called for her. Initially Texas crowding and literally mugging her seemed to work until she started to move actively around screens to shoot those mid-range. Those were money and I loved every bit of it.
About the ND game, I think ND will try Texas' strategy against Lou by getting underneath her and trying to muscle her with the intention of bothering her shots or drawing fouls on her. It was tried with Westbeld against Stewie last year without success. She has to just be calm and keep moving like she did in the 2nd half of the Texas game.
 
I have watched the Texas game 3 times now. A couple of things. The NCAA supposedly has gone out of their way to free the offensive player to make cuts and to generally " clean up" the game. Really ? I just laugh at the announcers. There is a difference between " physicality" and the blatant constant holding and grabbing and pushing that was obviously the Texas game plan. One of the worst case of officiating I have seen in a long time !
Saniya just looked totally disconnected to me. In the half court sets, she dribbled a couple times , passed the ball, and then just hung out and watched from one side of the floor opposite the ball. Is this by design ?
The lineup of Butler, Collier, KLS, Gabby and Kia has by far the best floor balance. Even if Natalie does not score , she frees up Collier, KLS and Gabby to take advantage of mismatches on the offensive end , and create more havic on the perimeter.
 
MJL243 said:
With 2:36 left in the 3rd quarter with the score 51 to 49 Gen0 sent Natalie in to replace Crystal. The lineup of Kia, Natalie, Gabby, Napheesa and Lou played the rest of the game without substitution until the last minute, when Geno cleared the bench. They outscored Texas 21 to 5.:)
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However, in the Baylor game, the exact opposite happened. Natalie replaced Napheesa when she got her 4th foul in the second half. UConn had a lead at the top, but Baylor chipped away at it and got to a tie of 54-54. Geno pulled Natalie and brought back Napheesa despite her four fouls, and she played great at both ends. Before long, the score was 72-58 UConn and the game was over. So that was an 18-4 run.
 
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magic said:
I have watched the Texas game 3 times now. A couple of things. The NCAA supposedly has gone out of their way to free the offensive player to make cuts and to generally " clean up" the game. Really ? I just laugh at the announcers. There is a difference between " physicality" and the blatant constant holding and grabbing and pushing that was obviously the Texas game plan. One of the worst case of officiating I have seen in a long time !
Saniya just looked totally disconnected to me. In the half court sets, she dribbled a couple times , passed the ball, and then just hung out and watched from one side of the floor opposite the ball. Is this by design ?
The lineup of Butler, Collier, KLS, Gabby and Kia has by far the best floor balance. Even if Natalie does not score , she frees up Collier, KLS and Gabby to take advantage of mismatches on the offensive end , and create more havic on the perimeter.
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On Saniya - yes, I think it is by design. Not always, but often the Uconn sets include one player who is floating at the arc to provide an outlet option/reset if the ball gets stuck - and it is often on the off side. While the idea is to keep constant motion on offense, it can become congested if you have all five players cutting through the lane all the time. Maria Conlon often float at the arc as well, KML too. You think, well that makes it easy on the defense, but it is amazing how often an assigned player gets drawn in towards the lane, and then loses that floater as they concentrate on the ball movement.

I have been impressed at how well Butler has played in man defense outside the lane - they often go to zone with her in, but against DePaul she played a lot of man switching on screens twenty feet from the basket and was not 'exposed'. It helped that DePaul was not moving the ball as quickly as they normally do, but she held up really well.

I think the team has done quite well with spacing with all the line-ups. Butler helps by being perhaps the best screen setter on the team, and unlike Dolson and Kiah before her, she hasn't been called for any moving screens that I can remember - she makes herself big, and holds her position long enough before rolling and doesn't try to compensate for the other player not cutting close enough to her with a thrust hip.
 
JoePgh said:
However, in the Baylor game, the exact opposite happened. Natalie replaced Napheesa when she got her 4th foul in the second half. UConn had a lead at the top, but Baylor chipped away at it and got to a tie of 54-54. Geno pulled Natalie and brought back Napheesa despite her four fouls, and she played great at both ends. Before long, the score was 72-58 UConn and the game was over. So that was an 18-4 run.
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Different team, different game - or, you can't step in the same river twice! :)
 
However, in the Baylor game, the exact opposite happened. Natalie replaced Napheesa when she got her 4th foul in the second half. UConn had a lead at the top, but Baylor chipped away at it and got to a tie of 54-54. Geno pulled Natalie and brought back Napheesa despite her four fouls, and she played great at both ends. Before long, the score was 72-58 UConn and the game was over.
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Accounted for in part by the difference between Natalie for Napheesa and Natalie for Saniya/Crystal Dangerfield.
 
AussieHusky said:
I think Geno has found his lineups for the the Season now that Natalie has shown him what she is capable of in big games, IMO. For teams that have big and athletic 'Bigs' at the 4 & 5 positions such (Texas, Baylor or USC), a lineup of Nat, Pheese, Gabby, Lou and Kia works best. Though she may not start, Nat's presence inside frees Pheese and Gabby to show their athletic abilities on both defense and offense. For 'smallish' and athletic/quick teams (ala Dayton and ND), he has Pheese, Gabby, Lou, Kia and Saniya/Crystal. As long as they stay out of foul trouble I think he has the horses to handle all comers the rest of the way. Regarding offense, I especially like Lou's 'tight curls' around screens from her Bigs (Pheese or Nat) for those mid-range jumpers. She was deadly against Texas in the 2nd Half when those plays were called for her. Initially Texas crowding and literally mugging her seemed to work until she started to move actively around screens to shoot those mid-range. Those were money and I loved every bit of it.
About the ND game, I think ND will try Texas' strategy against Lou by getting underneath her and trying to muscle her with the intention of bothering her shots or drawing fouls on her. It was tried with Westbeld against Stewie last year without success. She has to just be calm and keep moving like she did in the 2nd half of the Texas game.
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I don't agree that the lineup you suggest "is the best." It CAN BE the best but it WASN"T the best vs Baylor. . I think the best overall is Danger instead of Natalie. A lot will come down to if Danger can play defense. If she can't -- I'm all for Nat.

As far as offense- the curls are fine - awesome but so is it when we get out on the break more and I prefer Danger's passing at the point. She is an incredibly gifted passer. Plus Danger is shooting the 3pt shot almost as good as Nat is shooting the 2. Danger can free up someone like KLS with pinpoint passes for three once teams begin to respect her drive and they are forced to collapse. Lou is shooting 50% from three so for example if she takes 20 shots from 3 she scores 30 points. That is the equivalent of someone shooting 75% from the floor.

The Texas coach all but admitted - she was frightened to play zone. SO the top teams either need a gimmick defense or play us man to man. Once Danger gets a better feel, she'll be able to penetrate much more - and as we've heard Geno say- Danger's sense / awareness and the ability to see and pass is incredible. If she is getting in the lane and forcing the defense to be extra sensitive defending the great cuts from Collier and Gabby, that frees up Nurse and Lou to be even more devastating.

Right now the best way to defend UCONN is man-to-man (or an unknown yet gimmick defense) whether Nat or Danger is in. If Danger can play defense at a much higher level, we know her offensive game will become even more "dangerous." That- imo is when this team takes a monumental jump. And ofc if we can get Gabby to nail some 3 pointers and shoot better from the outside. With Nat we may be more dependable and solid at the moment - but imo Danger has the capability to impact the game like an all-american (Nat not so much). Not saying Danger will be - no way. But she will allow UCONN to be much more indefensible.

******I don't want to take anything away from Nat - and I am not. We don't win without her. But it would be better for our team to not have to play "grind basketball." It may wear us down. Potentially if Danger hits her groove by the end of the year- you could have 5 a/a caliber type players on the court playing a style rarely seen in which none is the supreme domain player but all our incredibly skilled players. . IMO it is best to give this lineup the 1st shot.
 
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