Georgetown Postgame Thread [merged]

[Littlemin]

Perception!
Muhl had 5 TOs, but handles the ball every possession, many times more than once a possession but she also had 12 points on only 4 shots, 2-3 from 3, 6-6 from the line, 6 assists, good active D. But many fans take on her game is pretty negative.
Meanwhile, Edwards, handling the ball much, much less had the same 5 TOs but had 17 points on 11 shots, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists and TV announcers and fans take is she had a very positive game.
The fact of the matter is both played pretty well with way too many TOs. On to Seton Hall.

 

[Redux]

AE and DJ seemed to play well

By normal human standards they had good games. By stats they had good games.

But watch the game again and you'll see .... No, don't watch the game again, nobody should have to do that.

BTW it takes 1000% of the fortitude and dedication I have to play even a bad game of women's basketball (totally aside from any talent) and being snidely critical of such wonderful players is kinda malicious and petty. I get that.

But UConn had a 17 point advantage on the foul line while winning by 15, against a team not in the same universe. And they had to wear them down and have a 3rd Q streak to do that well.

 

[Urshurak]

Oh yeah. One more thing...

I pretty much stopped watching men's soccer because every time it seemed there was contact, the contacted player would fall to the ground, screaming and grabbing his leg as if the other guy had shot him. After the ref made the call, he'd get up and walk away. Job done.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Nika's game, her aggressiveness court vision, and willingness to take the ball into the tall trees or dive for it when she can take it away from the other team. But this idea of "selling" fouls is getting to be a bit much. She did it at least twice in this game. Once there was real contact, though not to the extent you'd think judging by her reaction. The second there was almost no contact at all. The refs bought it both times.

There's a fine line between making sure the refs see that the other guy plowed into you, and making it seem like the other guy should be arrested for assault and battery. Today at least once, Nika crossed that line, IMHO.

Some might say that as long as she's successful at it, who cares. I disagree. This is the same kind of thing which, if BYers saw it at Notre Dame and a few other places, would be all over it. My point is that it would be a shame if UConn got the reputation for flopping that some other teams have.

I called her out every time she did it in the chat. I agree with you.

 

[tchalla1]

Oh yeah. One more thing...

I pretty much stopped watching men's soccer because every time it seemed there was contact, the contacted player would fall to the ground, screaming and grabbing his leg as if the other guy had shot him. After the ref made the call, he'd get up and walk away. Job done.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Nika's game, her aggressiveness court vision, and willingness to take the ball into the tall trees or dive for it when she can take it away from the other team. But this idea of "selling" fouls is getting to be a bit much. She did it at least twice in this game. Once there was real contact, though not to the extent you'd think judging by her reaction. The second there was almost no contact at all. The refs bought it both times.

There's a fine line between making sure the refs see that the other guy plowed into you, and making it seem like the other guy should be arrested for assault and battery. Today at least once, Nika crossed that line, IMHO.

Some might say that as long as she's successful at it, who cares. I disagree. This is the same kind of thing which, if BYers saw it at Notre Dame and a few other places, would be all over it. My point is that it would be a shame if UConn got the reputation for flopping that some other teams have.

I agree--Nika's theatrics on fouls are getting to be a bit much, especially for someone who never admits to fouling.... I'll give her a break against Georgetown however because they were fouling UConn fairly hard in the first half and nothing was being called... The refs really had a poor showing in today's game...

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Perception!
Muhl had 5 TOs, but handles the ball every possession, many times more than once a possession but she also had 12 points on only 4 shots, 2-3 from 3, 6-6 from the line, 6 assists, good active D. But many fans take on her game is pretty negative.
Meanwhile, Edwards, handling the ball much, much less had the same 5 TOs but had 17 points on 11 shots, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists and TV announcers and fans take is she had a very positive game.
The fact of the matter is both played pretty well with way too many TOs. On to Seton Hall.

Some of the passes to the post were suspect tbh. But, in most cases the receiver is getting that TO.

 

[LarryLegend]

By normal human standards they had good games. By stats they had good games.

But watch the game again and you'll see .... No, don't watch the game again, nobody should have to do that.

BTW it takes 1000% of the fortitude and dedication I have to play even a bad game of women's basketball (totally aside from any talent) and being snidely critical of such wonderful players is kinda malicious and petty. I get that.

But UConn had a 17 point advantage on the foul line while winning by 15, against a team not in the same universe.

Mr Naismith rolled over in his grave at least a couple of times

 

[HuskyNan]

By normal human standards they had good games. By stats they had good games.

But watch the game again and you'll see .... No, don't watch the game again, nobody should have to do that.

BTW it takes 1000% of the fortitude and dedication I have to play even a bad game of women's basketball (totally aside from any talent) and being snidely critical of such wonderful players is kinda malicious and petty. I get that.

But UConn had a 17 point advantage on the foul line while winning by 15, against a team not in the same universe.

Are you saying the Huskies aren’t allowed to have human failings? Some people on the Boneyard are really out there with their expectations.

The team played poorly and still won by 15 points. In some parts of the country, that’s a nice win. You people that have to award style points are making it hard or the rest of us to enjoy a win.

By the way, today’s game has zero to do with the South Carolina game, same as the 30 point blowout of St John’s. The inevitable refrains of, “If we play this way against ……” are beginning to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard

 

[Redux]

Are you saying the Huskies aren’t allowed to have human failings? Some people on the Boneyard are really out there with the expectations

As someone once said, "being snidely critical of such wonderful players is kinda malicious and petty." Posters have bad days too.

 

[Littlemin]

Some of the passes to the post were suspect tbh. But, in most cases the receiver is getting that TO.

No, the receiver of a pass has to establish clear possession of the ball or the TO is on the passer. If anything post players, (not just Uconn), cause TOs to players feeding them because coming to meet the pass from the post is a lost art.

 

[ConwayGmck]

CT was up 65-41 with 2 minutes to play, then GT scored the final 9 pts to make the outcome look more competitive. Had Fudd not gotten injured again, most likely the game would have been around the projected MOV.....

 

[vtcwbuff]

". . . you need to get something, anything, out of Deberry, even for just a few minutes."

The team certainly didn't get that today. Deberry reminds me of one of my grandsons (my fav but don't tell anyone). He plays HS basketball and soccer and is a very good Xcountry runner but when it comes to team sports there is something missing. Aggression, drive, fire whatever you want to call it but I think DeBerry has the same problem.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

No, the receiver of a pass has to establish clear possession of the ball or the TO is on the passer. If anything post players, (not just Uconn), cause TOs to players feeding them because coming to meet the pass from the post is a lost art.

Yea...that's the rule, but .... Perimeter receivers should come meet the ball...agreed. Post players are trying to hold their position on the block. I was referencing the latter passes. I just saw too many passes into double and triple overage.

 

[Tonyc]

This is a game to forget. No analysis needed. Go back to practice and work it out. I felt we came out and GTown threw the first punch and we didnt punch back. I felt we were unfocused and had a lack of energy. We have shown a lot of fire in previous games we didnt today. Stuff like this happens sometimes. The refs were inconsistent and that caused GTown to get in foul trouble which resulted in the inability for GTown to play physical defense and they allowed us to score easier. On to Seton Hall on Tuesday. I hope Azzi is ok to play. We need her against Tenn and I would think we will look forward to Patterson and Caroline against SC.

 

[Blond D.]

No, the receiver of a pass has to establish clear possession of the ball or the TO is on the passer. If anything post players, (not just Uconn), cause TOs to players feeding them because coming to meet the pass from the post is a lost art.

There was several times that Nika threw a pass to Lou who had stopped when Nika was throwing it ahead of her. A lot of the turnovers were miscommunications and a few were not hanging onto the pass and few were just bad passes.

 

[Centerstream]

I love the fact that you gave a sore thumb yet had the straights to say why. That is the point of a discussion. That is the way to disagree with respect. That is the right of it.

Thank you.

 

[Huskee11]

This was a tough game to watch in person. Even during our best stretch of the game in the third period, almost all of the points were coming from the foul line. There was some degree of offensive flow in the fourth quarter, but overall a real struggle.

Georgetown is bigger than most other Big East teams, and their size and physical play - combined with our careless passing, missing shots we normally make, and referee indifference made for a very long first half.

Again like with Florida State, the referees let everything go in the first half and called a totally different game in the second half.

We held their two perimeter guards, Ransom and Faunteroy, to 5-29 shooting and 12 points between them, and we were 22-26 from the free throw line. Those are positives.

Other than that, just a midseason dud that seems to happen every year, particularly against physical teams. Our next few games - Seton Hall, Butler, DePaul - should be more free flowing.

XL is an ok venue, and 11,000 plus there today, but give me Gampel any day. Fortunately our next two home games are there.

Take the win, move on, hopefully Azzi is ok. Being at the game, I did not know what happened until afterwards.

 

[Littlemin]

Yea...that's the rule, but .... Perimeter receivers should come meet the ball...agreed. Post players are trying to hold their position on the block. I was referencing the latter passes. I just saw too many passes into double and triple overage.

All players should meet passes. If a post player has a defender on her hip or back it is very easy to meet the pass and hold position by subtly pressing back with your legs and lower body (backside and hips) and then half stepping to the ball.
Anyway, Muhl’s 5 TOs were earned but so were Edwards. My point was they can’t negate an otherwise good game for one player and totally not be put into the equation for another.

 

[wingsfan055]

Probably the worst game of the year. Easily the worst half of the year:
1). Georgetown played aggressive perimeter defense, and that threw everything off. Nika couldnt beat the perimeter with the dribble, and she had a lot of TOs with forced passing. Not just her. Outside shots were defended tightly ..and were missed. Great teams know how to adjust on the fly. We didnt adjust for the entire half.
2). Too many TOs, some forced..but not enough turning TOs into easy points to our benefit. We need more easy points.
3). This is how good teams like SC will play us. We need to develop a mid-range game. It seems like a lot of 3-pointers or forcing things inside. The mid-range or pull-up jumpers are how you beat aggressive defenses. When's the last time Nika pulled up for a jumper? The mid-range shots were there all day today if we wanted them.
4). The team looked slow and tired. Out-hussled for rebounds. I bet the flu or something is still hitting Lou and other players. AG has regressed. She lost the pop with her energy and lift.
5). Once again, a setback with our health. Hope the Azzi injury was just a shot of pain from the hit and not more ligament stretching. It didnt look like a big knock on her knee.
6). Not to pick on the bench, but Amari & Innes looked bad out there today when we had the game in hand. This is why you dont play them meaningful minutes in the 1st quarter. They're simply not ready.

 

[Topdawg]

Glad to take a win.

Our team has slow days and this was one. I was concerned about how we played in the first half. We were slow and tentative, perhaps because Georgetown was aggressive. We did better in the second half - though not as well as we have played in other games.

That said, it was good to see Aaliyah and Dorka get double doubles. Aubrey was tough on defense. Nika and Lou made their contributions.

I hope Azzi is able to play in the next game on Tuesday.

Hope we learn from this game and are able to withstand tough opponents in the weeks ahead. We had a low scoring first half. Nevertheless, we fared better than Stanford, who scored 4 and 15 points in the first two quarters in their loss against USC earlier today!

 

[Beemer]

Teams are apparently told to be VERY physical and UCONN is exposed to a lot of physical contact

And coaches will keep telling their teams to do this as long as UConn doesn't handle it well.

 

[Soxx]

Totally don't understand your Lou comment. Thus the dislike.
Seeing how it is a short time before the game in New Jersey, I doubt that Caroline or Ayanna will be cleared.

The Lou comment seems off to me as well. She mostly just plays through whatever she faces. No drama.

 

[Bama fan]

Took way too many Mike's Mangos to pull this one out... (closest "smiles" we have to "buzzed")

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going." It is refreshing to know we can always count on you and Mike.

 

[EasyEd]

Besides the starters not handling the physicality of the game very well, it seemed to me that Deberry and Bettencourt took a step backwards. Everyone wants them to play more but I can see why Geno is reluctant to play them. The person who complained that the starters were still in when up by 22 with three minutes left was not a valid complaint. After they both were on the floor at the end we lost 7 points of the lead. So they got plenty of playing time. If they got more, we may have lost.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going." It is refreshing to know we can always count on you and Mike.

We all have to do what we can to help... keep the positive MOJO.

Love these Huskies.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Nika said they didn't have it in shootaround. She didn't lay it on Georgetown, but she sure looks POed or sullen or she's falling asleep.