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Message: [QUOTE="Papa33, post: 3393413, member: 682"] Self-styled sports mavens love to reduce issues to misleading simplicity. Reductio ad absurdem, it is called. UConn loses a game, or (you fill out the rest), and it's for a single reason: Geno's a lousy coach (and an utter failure in recruiting), the game strategy was a disaster, a player let the team and fans down, etc., etc. In most cases the single-cause argument simply ignores what most of us saw and almost all of the game statistics. Case in point. Uconn took 9 more shots than Baylor (69-60), lost the rebound battle by only 1 (43-44), had the same number of turnovers (10). and made one more 3-pointer than Baylor. Looks like, despite our height and esperience disadvantage, we played Baylor fairly even, no? So what— at least statistically— was the problem? At their best Uconn teams' scoring efficiency (points per possession) has been widely admired and envied. But this 2019-2020 Husky edition has been struggling to score at times, even against inferior opposition. Last night, our starters shot 31%— not nearly well enough against a strong team. Even more troubling, in my view, is the fact that only 8 of the made baskets were assisted. That is not the Uconn norm, and that points to serious problems with our *team* offense. It's not just lapses in individuals' shooting (Walker 5-20, ONO 0-8, Williams 0-5 from outside the arc, Irwin 0-4)); it's a problem with a team still in the process of creating the UConn ideal of coordinated movement of players and passes. Watching this year's team, I see static moments, ball handlers not finding teammates cutting and therefore having to create shots on their own; shots taken under pressure, etc. Might that not result in lower numbers of assists and lower shooting efficiency? Yes, Kyla's reluctance to shoot does allow her man to sag off and clog cutting lanes, but she did take 4 shots last night; she just didn't make them. But her defense, given her height disadvantage, was actually pretty effective. I don't think her time on the floor was a defining factor of UConn's ineffective offense. Consider, for example, our offensive problems in the game vs. Miss State in 2017: State's strategy was to interrupt and anticipate our movement, and we were constantly looking for teammates who weren't breaking open: cuts, screens, flow all suffered, and we didn't get the open shots we usually created. Much the same last night. But we're not even halfway through the season; this team has its work cut out for it. But easy explanations and solutions won't get it done. [/QUOTE]

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