Georgetown Post Game

[Jonathan14]

Kaitlyn and KK did a tremendous defensive job on Kelsey Ransom. They made her life absolutely miserable. Ransom had 9 turnovers and 7 points. By the way, I hope Ransom is ok and her injury turns out to be just a muscle spasm or similar. Kid’s got the heart of a lion.

I’m happy for Allie that she got off the schneid and made a three. I hope this jump starts her perimeter game

We have tickets to the games at the XL Center in the stands up behind the visitors' bench, and over the years, I develop favorites from the opposing teams based mostly on heart and hustle, watching them coming in and out of the game, interacting with their teammates and coaches, etc. Kelsey Ransom is 100% one of those players who I root for. (Olivia Cochran from Louisville, who we saw last week, is another.) Ransom's been a bright spot for Georgetown this year, but she couldn't buy a basket today. She was so frustrated. She did come back to the bench unaided after she went down, and I hope that's a sign she'll be back out there 100% when they next take the court.

 

[Majorthreat]

Good win for us today. I am glad the bench got major playing time. I am still concerned with our bigs. Ice and Jana. Four and 2 points respectively. Three and 6 rebounds. 2-5 for Ice and 1-6 for Jana and only 1 block. I know Ice will never be an Aaliyah but a 10/6 average isn't out of the question for a season. Sarah is by far our best and leading rebounder. In games like this where we were going to win, I would have liked to see Geno maybe start Q. instead of Chen. Yes her footwork on D needs work as she doesn't shuffle her feet well since she is so long she takes long steps and is easily blown by. That's what made Nikka so good on defense. When she comes off the bench in garbage time it's hard to get any rhythm when the offense is stagnant and the offense isn't being run to perfection. If she got between 15-20 minutes of playing time she would average 10-15 points a game.

 

[topogigio]

Nice win, the big guns did what they were supposed to do, and Shade was the Shade of ol’. KK and Chen were solid as they should be. For my money the unsung star of the game was Chelli. The girl is Shadesque with her hustle and intensity. She outplayed both other bigs when she was in there!! Z ain’t no chopped liver, either!

 

[Stagnant]

I rewatched the first two minutes of the game. I really wanted to see everything ice did that led to the quick substitution. Georgetown grabbed at least three offensive rebounds and she was struggling to keep Jenkins off the glass in particular. Ice on offense missed a shot from the top of the key.

My guess is Geno was just upset with the rebounds. I think rebounds were a point of emphasis and to not grab them on the very first defensive possession likely encouraged him to make the quick hook.

 

[maple]

Was traveling during the game so I’m basing my opinion off the radio play by play.

Paige was Paige. She always gets her points in every game. Sarah Strong — wow! The sky is the limit for her. Was also impressed by KK’s tough defending on Jensen (IIRC). And Morgan Cheli came off the bench to really provide a spark in the first half; nice work, though those fouls near the end of the game were BS in my opinion. It was also nice seeing Allie get some minutes. The freshmen made a few freshmen mistakes but overall I found them to be positives rather than negatives. It can only go up from here. Chen also put in some good work.

Some good some bad from everyone else. I really wish we had someone (healthy) who could consistently hit 3s. I mean like the next KML or even KLS. Maybe Azzi …

I want to see Shade drive more inside. I love that she was drawing fouls. She has good FT % and this can supplement when she’s not hot from the arc.

 

[hart2hart]

I was at the game. It was loud. I thought they all looked very good. Morgan I was very impressed by….bigs need a little more time. Such a fun game.
Would have been in the 80’s if the gals made the bunnies. Very proud of Paige pushing though the muggings. Hope we see Azzi vs usc. Fingers crossed. I think Geno will probably give more minutes to Morgan. Really fun game……

 

[Happydad745]

Paige and Sarah...nothing but good. Chelli is a comer, she will continue to get better. Good game for the Huskies to feel good again.
Jana and Brady need lots of work to get to the level UConn needs to be a NC again. KK made her first 3 of the season, why does Geno let her shoot them? Q probably needs more playing time to get better. Azzi is always missed and getting Aubrey back will be wonderful.
Ziebell will be important to the team in the future.

 

[hoophuskee]

KK made her first 3 of the season, why does Geno let her shoot them? Q probably needs more playing time to get better.

You make a point about Q and playing time yet why not for KK and shooting 3's? How is she ever going to get better if she doesn't take them?

 

[Rb335]

I thought Paige looked more intentional about hunting shots. Against big east teams I think she could pretty easily score 30 per game in 25-30 minutes. But I notice that the way the offense is running kind of eliminates her passing prowess. Thankfully today we were able to deliver her the ball in better spots to score easily.

Glad to see the bench get minutes, especially Cheli getting meaningful minutes with the starters.

Looking forward to seeing how we handle Crooks this week. Hoping for an energized performance against ISU.

 

[The deacon]

We have tickets to the games at the XL Center in the stands up behind the visitors' bench, and over the years, I develop favorites from the opposing teams based mostly on heart and hustle, watching them coming in and out of the game, interacting with their teammates and coaches, etc. Kelsey Ransom is 100% one of those players who I root for. (Olivia Cochran from Louisville, who we saw last week, is another.) Ransom's been a bright spot for Georgetown this year, but she couldn't buy a basket today. She was so frustrated. She did come back to the bench unaided after she went down, and I hope that's a sign she'll be back out there 100% when they next take the court.

I'm with you, Jonathan. This is the third straight year we've seen Kelsey & Co. from near courtside at the XL Center and she is one of my favorite visiting players.

I'm sure she knew coming in that it would be a tough haul for her today, yet she hustled throughout until injured, and showed lots of leadership to her younger teammates. I'll hope she finishes the seson healthy, and well.

 

[hoophuskee]

They could probably score a lot more points for a worse team. But how often do you see teams in Final Fours being led by their posts that are freshmen and sophomore?

A long time ago Jim Calhoun used to take calls on WTIC and was being questioned about not using a 7 foot kid from Germany. To paraphrase he said "I can play him many minutes and he will improve. But the team won't win as many games. That's not what's best for the team if it's not to win games."

 

[LwrcasefaN]

You make a point about Q and playing time yet why not for KK and shooting 3's? How is she ever going to get better if she doesn't take them?

She probably makes them in practice. Same as Allie.

 

[donalddoowop]

It would help if the other players were better at feeding the post.

 

[Majorthreat]

They could probably score a lot more points for a worse team. But how often do you see teams in Final Fours being led by their posts that are freshmen and sophomore?

A long time ago Jim Calhoun used to take calls on WTIC and was being questioned about not using a 7 foot kid from Germany. To paraphrase he said "I can play him many minutes and he will improve. But the team won't win as many games. That's not what's best for the team if it's not to win games."

Thats true, but how often do you see a freshman leading a team in rebounding when you have 6'3"and 6'5" players. Rebounding just takes effort. Look at Morrow who is only 6'1". Most of the leading rebounders in the NCAAW are all under 6'2". This stat line will work against an overmatched Georgetown team but against a South Carolina or final four team I think we are going home. Paige and Sarah do need help

 

[LwrcasefaN]

It would help if the other players were better at feeding the post.

This.

 

[HopJim]

Saw the replay and the pick and rolls between Paige and Sarah were things of beauty. While I still believe Paige is the most intelligent basketball player I have ever seen, beginning to believe Strong will end up as her equal re: basketball IQ.
As a footnote, Cheli had an outstanding game in limited minutes. Strong basketball IQ here as well.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Still have only seen highlights. First thing I noticed is better offensive SPACING caused by aggressive deep passing towards the basket right over the half court line. That simple pass puts a defense on its heels. Usually, it's dribble over the half court line...start the weave...which every team knows as well as we do. In games like this...it's not important how much you win by, but what you work on to improve.

 

[uconnfan68]

Hopefully this is bulletin board material.

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[EricLA]

Really very little you can take away from this game except it was a win against an overmatched opponent. Paige and Sarah took 16/15 shots and no one on the rest of the team scored in double figures or made more than 2 baskets, so basically against a team we thumped, no one scored more than 7 not named Paige or Sarah.

It's not like others didn't play well. The defense on Ransom was really solid especially from KK but Kait did a lot of hard work as well. Actually really solid game by the both of them.

I thought Ice and Jana were particularly ineffective especially against a smaller team. This is the 2nd game I can recall where we had a solid size disparity that we almost took no advantage of. I have a feeling Crooks will eat our post players alive and get them into foul trouble to boot.

Iowa State up next. The team is what it is - the Paige/Sarah show. Stop or slow them and against good teams, it will be a long night.

BTW Ziebell keeps jacking up 3's, which she was good at in high school, but is shooting about 30% so far in college. Q's defense is improved, but she's still an adventure. I thought Morgan worked hard out there...

 

[JoePgh]

.
I thought Ice and Jana were particularly ineffective especially against a smaller team. This is the 2nd game I can recall where we had a solid size disparity that we almost took no advantage of. I have a feeling Crooks will eat our post players alive and get them into foul trouble to boot.

Iowa State up next. The team is what it is - the Paige/Sarah show. Stop or slow them and against good teams, it will be a long night.

After today, and after Geno's comments in the last two post-game press conferences, I think you will see a lot more of "Sarah and 4 guards" starting Tuesday evening. When that lineup is in place, Sarah will be the one who deals with Crooks, and I think she will do fine. I think she has the strength to do it, and I'm fairly sure that she can out-leap Crooks any time she wants. Crooks may be able to take jump shots over her, but I wouldn't even bet on that.

Regarding the "Paige/Sarah show", don't forget about Azzi as far as scoring is concerned. Of course we don't know if Azzi will play against Iowa State, but if she does, UConn will have three (rather than two) serious scoring threats.

I also think that Morgan will see a lot of floor time, and the rebounding corps of Sarah / Morgan / Paige will probably be adequate against most teams, possibly including Iowa State.

Having said that, I think that Jana is already a top-level rebounder in the college game, even though the rest of her post skills need a lot of work. Ice is improving in that area, but still is not getting nearly enough rebounds. If the starting lineup is Sarah + four guards, then Jana may be an early substitute if a boost in rebounding is needed (anticipating that her contribution may be limited to that fairly narrow role).

 

[hookshot]

It would help if the other players were better at feeding the post.

Maybe, but there is little incentive to feed the post - Ice does her best work facing the basket and Jana has Iimited post moves

 

[Stagnant]

I also think that Morgan will see a lot of floor time, and the rebounding corps of Sarah / Morgan / Paige will probably be adequate against most teams, possibly including Iowa State.

Morgan really did do a solid job rebounding and boxing out. She actually could have had more rebounds. There were a number of times her and Sarah were fighting for the same rebound and she let Sarah grab it.

But remember she is only 18. Asking her to block out 21 and 22 year olds at the 4 and 5 is a tall order. There are physical limitations in play here. We saw that today. The refs rewarded the aggression of the Georgetown bigs and punished Morgan for basically being smaller; they did this with a couple of bad foul calls.

She can’t guard Crooks. But I believe she can play against Iowa State. Iowa played a number of freshmen against Iowa state when they played them; and I think those freshmen played pretty well. Morgan should have similar success.