Georgetown Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Georgetown Postgame Thread

Jingo said:
Liv, Dorka and AE don't need more experience .. they need to see the ball once-in-awhile to keep them happy .. it's called Basketball 101, eh?
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Liv is coming back from an injury and her minutes are limited. Dorka and Aaliyah played 25 and 24 minutes, respectively , not an inconsequential amount.

Again, the small ball was most effective today. Geno went with what works.
 
Hard not to like a 40 point win but, but. Why so many turnovers against one of the worse teams in the conference? We tend to get sloppy and had long stretches of not scoring. Lots of problems with poor passes into our posts who were well covered or had fumbles out of bounds off of decent passes. Hope we are working the heavy ball in the gym and improving hand eye coordination. This is an on-going problem.

Some of Geno's floor combinations didn't jell well but some combos gave him a good look at what might work in the future. Our three bigs at the game end needed to do more with defensive rebounding.

On the plus side, we finished well and seemed to have a best tempo at a 10-20 second offensive set, not 20-25 like much of the second half. Again, hard to argue but the players need to play up as if against a solid top ten team, not down as we did in much of this game.

As a fan, I wish we would continue a game end offense, not to run up the score but to continue to improve, why waste that time. It's an illness with current basketball. If 40 points are an embarrassment, what's another two?

Good to see all healthy players getting some court time, contribute and develop. We have a bright future.
 
Good win because all wins are good. It wasn't "4th quarter Marquette" good by any means, though. Love seeing Amari getting more mins.

I know there will be some that identify my thoughts here as "just another spoiled UConn fan" BUT...

Very few teams go into EVERY season year after year with legit expectations of a final four or better. So that's the bar, like it or not.

We're still more potential than performance. Despite recent scores, we're not ready to face the big dogs on the national stage in a "win or go home" scenario as yet.

We have some great players and we can be much better. Need more focus on 40 minutes of crisp accurate passes and cuts. Confident shooting seems to be on the uptick (might be the Azzi Effect) with fewer hesitations and missed opportunities. Can we do that against the best? Not yet, IMO. Getting there, but need to do so with great urgency.
 
HuskyNan said:
You watched South Carolina today and came away with the opinion the Huskies have no chance? Did we see the same game? I saw a five minute or so stretch where both teams couldn’t make a shot.

That’s not a knock on South Carolina. The simple fact is that any of the top teams can knock another one off depending on which version of the team that shows up. If the team that beat Tennessee in the XL Center plays South Carolina, I like our chances - a lot. If the Villanova game version shows up, ummm, maybe not.

South Carolina is formidable but they are not unbeatable. I think even their fans would admit that. “Respect all but fear none” - John Wooden
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WOW, I know everyone has an opinion and an individual perspective but what game was he watching? Dawn Staley certainly wasn't that pleased with SC's overall performance today... As in year's past, SC looked disjointed and out of sequence--honestly, I am not overly impressed--good but not great, formidable but not unbeatable. I walked away with the exact opposite observation: given where UConn is now with a healthy squad, they can certainly beat SC or anyone, for that matter....
 
HuskyNan said:
You watched South Carolina today and came away with the opinion the Huskies have no chance? Did we see the same game? I saw a five minute or so stretch where both teams couldn’t make a shot.

That’s not a knock on South Carolina. The simple fact is that any of the top teams can knock another one off depending on which version of the team that shows up. If the team that beat Tennessee in the XL Center plays South Carolina, I like our chances - a lot. If the Villanova game version shows up, ummm, maybe not.

South Carolina is formidable but they are not unbeatable. I think even their fans would admit that. “Respect all but fear none” - John Wooden
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Absolutely right @HuskyNan .
SoCar beat Tenn by 14 pts at home... without Horston... Tenn's BEST Player... and no major players missing from SoCar.
UCONN beat Tenn by 19pts at home...with only Green (a back up) missing and... UCONN missing NPOY.
While I realize the transitive theory doesn't apply to basketball games, the fact is, against a "similar" opponent, the results were similar, even with UCONN missing their best player.

Bottom line... to Quote @HuskyNan ... "South Carolina is formidable but not unbeatable." they have been beaten this year.
 
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I guess the game was not important enough to keep their attention...too sloppy and too many turnovers. Maybe having so many different sets of players together is confusing, I don't know. Lots of good stuff with the bad.
 
Jingo said:
How can you call it a balanced attack when our three 'bigs' get only 9 out of 58 shots against a smaller team .. this is BAD for chemistry!
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Well 2 of them were sitting with fouls, so that didn't help.
 
Jingo said:
Liv, Dorka and AE don't need more experience .. they need to see the ball once-in-awhile to keep them happy .. it's called Basketball 101, eh?
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We have Bueckers, Fudd, CFD, and Williams. They are all scorers who can put up 20-30 points (not all at once, but on any given day). We're gonna be a guard oriented offense. Just the way it is.
 
Great to get a win. Lots of playing time for lots of players. Troubling amount of turnovers, but great effort on the defensive end. I think ONO had a pretty sloppy game all around with fouls, turnovers, and a general lack of concentrated effort. Nika was outstanding all around despite a few sloppy turnovers. Caroline looked a bit tired late in the game. Happy to see Amari and Piath get some floor time. Has to help them going forward. Go Huskies.
 
Jingo said:
Azzi 1 for 7 from 3 .. and recently 0 for 7 from 3 .. to be considered a 'pure shooter', ya gotta make 'em, eh?
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Oops! Now we know you haven't been watching. I guess you just read stat sheets, which don't tell you that much.
Oh well, I guess I'm just excited about nothing. Darn, I've watched every minute of every game. She's a dynamic shooter of the basketball. 2nd to Steph? Shooters miss shots and hopefully they keep shooting.
 
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D97ED6F7-B67F-4C07-B34C-324040787257.jpeg
Another good team win. Everyone who played scored and contributed to the victory. The defense was very good. The offense shot well overall (56.7%) while 3 pt makes was 32%.
Christyn had the game high 19 pts and 5 assists. Nika had 11pts and a game tying high of 6 steals with CD. Azzi was a bit off at the 3pt arc but still managed to score 12 pts. She along with Ono and Dorka tied for most rebounds (5). Evina had another solid game and provided the most blocks (2). However, turnovers were a problem (21) but this was balanced out by the team’s steals (21).

UConn’s bench is really progressing and with PB return, they will be a very tough team to beat in the tournament.
 
CTBballfan243 said:
If Paige can return this season, Geno can play Paige with Ducharme, Azzi and Nika. That’s 4 high basketball IQ players all on the court at the same time. Ducharme at the 4, Paige at the 3, Azzi at the 2 and Nika at Point. Put whoever you want at the point. That’s a winning combo.
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Have to agree. Without Paige, the flow is best when Nika, Azzi and Caroline are on the floor (plus pick 2 from Dorka, CW, Evina , AE and Liv). With Paige, I’d love to see those 4 plus Dorka or Liv.
 
oldude said:
Some thoughts on the Georgetown game:
  • UConn came out pressuring the ball to force the tempo of the game. Nika was her typical annoying self with 5 steals in the first half. The Hoyas hung around for a while, but UConn picked up the pace with about 5 minutes left in the half going on a 19-2 run and it was all over except for the second half.
  • I love that Azzi appears to have adopted Caroline’s philosophy to just keep on shooting until they go in. After missing her first 3 shots from the arc, you just knew the 4th was going down. It wasn’t a typical Azzi shooting game, but she continues to demonstrate that she is a complete basketball player who’s understanding of the game reminds me of another freshman who played for UConn last season.
  • Georgetown turns the ball over a lot. UConn’s defense today was relentless. That’s a bad combination for the Hoyas which resulted in the Huskies forcing 30 turnovers, including 21 steals.
  • Christyn has really put together a string of solid games for UConn. Her “ankle-breaking” crossover dribble and layup in the 3rd quarter was a thing of beauty.
  • A little sloppy at times today by the Huskies, but it’s hard to argue with a 41-point victory.
  • Amari once again showing that 3-pt stroke that gets UConn fans just a little bit excited about the future.
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Ok may surprise people here - but I thought this was Nika’s best game of the season. Overall wish out bigs played as well as our guards.
 
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browns said:
And AE continues her 1 good game 1 so so or bad game..After the Xavier game Geno said he needs AE to play like that every game..well that didn't happen
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Right. Talked about this before to the consternation of several BYers. She scares me when she has the ball on the high post and is looking to pass. She frequently misses the open cutter who are invariably Azzi and CD and makes bad judgment passes. She also makes poor plays at times when she gets the ball on the low post. She is a mechanical as opposed to fluid basketball player and she has to have everything working for her in a given game to play really well.
 
Still it’s going to be tough for Geno to juggle 9’players. Let the best play. There will be some unhappy players though
 
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Jingo said:
How can you call it a balanced attack when our three 'bigs' get only 9 out of 58 shots against a smaller team .. this is BAD for chemistry!
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That's also a product of an undersized team packing the paint and forcing outside shots. It was Gtown's only hope to dare UConn to take 3s and see if they make them. Otherwise the down low shots would be money. I'm glad the bigs knew it and often passed out of those double teams.
 
I thought there was some very unselfish play today and I also thought there were times where shots were forced and the extra pass was not made. The latter can be a problem at the Elite 8 and FF level. I also thought there was much more sloppiness today with the ball than against Xavier. I still don't like the bigs handling the ball and making guard decisions with the ball from the high post. It causes turnovers and impedes the movement of the offense. Liv and Dorka are better than AE at it. She holds the ball too long at times and frequently misses an open cutter.

We are not a great half court set offensive team so transition is very important. I think the ball has to go to CD and Azzi more in transition or at the early stages of the half court offense such as on their cuts or for pull ups. They are our best shooters from outside but also have textbook jumpers and strong drive moves with both hands. Small ball was so effective today not just because of the trapping defense and the steals but also because everyone has guard skills at passing. That one fast break from Dorka rebounding and passing to Evina and then diagonally to Nika and then diagonally with a partial no look to AE for the score was vintage UCONN.
 
I loved seeing 3 6'5" players in the game together near the end. Wanted Geno to put Dorka back in for a couple plays just to say we had 4 of them in together :D. I thought Liv seemed a bit off today. Fumbled quite a few. Not being smiley even in a blowout. Just had that lack of sleep look. Finally come on guys its much harder to keep focus during a blow out than against a quality team. I'd like to see focus at all times but these are not players of our age - they are just barely not teenagers (well most). It will be OK. Geno has his finger on it for sure.
 
Nika Muhl wins the battle of the Croatians!
Nika 11 points three rebounds and 4 assists and 6 steals
Hoya Croatian # 13 Anita Kelava, 10 minutes in the fourth quarter
6 points one rebound, one steal
Both from Zagreb. Anita is 6 ' 3" and 24 years of age. She
was also on the Croatian National Team ( about 3- 4 years ago, 2017? )
On to Marquette!!
 
We won. End of story.

Don’t count on seeing Paige before the BE Tourney or the NCAA tourney, if that’s possible. Shooting hoops and limited practice time is way different than a game.

The current squad members may be it. And they’ll do ok.
 
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