Girls lose :(

[Scoe]

I watched only the overtime and would say that UConn needed to be more aggressive driving as Notre Dame did. The only official call that I thought was bad was the drive by the Notre Dame lady who pushed off and got to go to the line for two points.

and what was up with Stevens starting the OT on the bench especially when you have the jump ball WTF.

 

[Guapo]

No. Their OOC schedule was more than enough to prepare them.

Fair enough.

But conference play certainly didn't help

 

[StunningSteve]

They don't play a good team in January-March in their piss league. Is that clear enough for you? The 2nd best team in the AAC is USF who lost by 30 to Buffalo. They get a high profile non league opponent once or twice during that time but as bad as you think the AAC is in mens basketball it is heinous in women's basketball.

You think they would have won the game if they played an NBE schedule?

 

[Guapo]

Yes. What doesn't get exposed in 3 months playing against Cincinnati and East Carolina gets exposed in front of 20,000 people facing a real team in a tight game.

Yes.

Exactly what I'm afraid of.

 

[jorge34]

Definitely a bummer. Notre dame deserved it, they were the much more aggressive team and had some incredible shooting performances by their guards. And they got uconn on a night when they were really off from the perimeter.
I am just beginning to think geno might need to rethink the 6 player rotation he has been sticking with in recent years, especially when he has the #1recruit and #1 recruiting class in the country, sitting on the bench.

 

[KingAG]

Yes.

Exactly what I'm afraid of.

I think this takes away from the fact that ND and Miss St both had to played out of their minds to beat UConn.

 

[BlueDogs]

They played poorly in stretches and paid the price. It didn't help that UConn was getting mauled to death and never got any calls. They had their chances to win, but just didn't get it done. There is no good way to lose.

 

[noeynox]

That was J in the eye to win the game. Gotta tip your cap there. Shot was wet.

 

[Guapo]

I think this takes away from the fact that ND and Miss St both had to played out of their minds to beat UConn.

Did Notre Dame play out of their minds?

 

[DALTX]

No. Their OOC schedule was more than enough to prepare them.

True. There are only about 10 great teams, and I think we played most of them, other than Miss St. The AAC is not much worse than any other in that regard. The Final Four is not a good time to have an off game. This game was deja vu to last year. I want to know why our team only has six players, and the #1 recruit in the nation got 0 minutes.

 

[uconnfan68]

Did Notre Dame play out of their minds?

Young did.

 

[Scoe]

That comeback to send it into OT felt fake like too good to be true, Uconn had to win it in regulation realistically it kind of felt like the end of the George Mason game like when Denham Brown hit the game tying shot it didnt seem real its hard to explain.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Biggest takeaways:
1) If there's something bad for women's basketball, it's the officiating. That was pathetic. On top of about 8 missed travels, a 17ft disparity, and 2 of the worst charge calls I've ever seen, the second jump in OT was thrown directly over the Notre Dame player's head lol. Just such a bad look.
2) Sid Wilson has to be absolutely livid. Jess Shepard spent 2 years at Nebraska before jumping ship to play for Notre Dame and was given a waiver to be immediately eligible for no reason whatsoever, whereas Wilson attends like 3 days of summer classes and has to sit out. Should have lawyered up, clear as day Title IX issue

The officiating was absolutely disgusting. OT played out like this: UConn drives, draws contact, no foul. ND drives, falls over, foul called.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

That comeback to send it into OT felt fake like too good to be true, Uconn had to win it in regulation realistically it kind of felt like the end of the George Mason game like when Denham Brown hit the game tying shot it didnt seem real its hard to explain.

Exactly. When ND had the last shot there was no way it wasn’t going in.

 

[80shusky]

OMG, the women's team, who is like 148-2 lost in the Final Four after being undefeated this year and winning almost a dozen National Championships in the last decade. That's on KO.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I'll do it. I'll be the one to ask it:

Is the AAC hurting the women's basketball program?

Unfortunately as far as I know after a momentary google search, nobody cares enough about WBB to calculate even SOS

Not like UConn didn't kick some ass in the OOC

 

[ctchamps]

They don't play a good team in January-March in their piss league. Is that clear enough for you? The 2nd best team in the AAC is USF who lost by 30 to Buffalo. They get a high profile non league opponent once or twice during that time but as bad as you think the AAC is in mens basketball it is heinous in women's basketball.

USF was legit top twenty five. In addition They played at USC during that period. Last week they beat Duke and USC. That’s more than enough prep for this game.

There are very few competive teams in women’s B.B. In any year it’s 4- 6 teams that have a legitimate shot. Yes the AAC is bad relative to other conferences but even in the best conferences after the first two teams the drop off is so steep as to make this moot.

This 2 pt overtime buzzer beater loss is more on the players having a bad game.

Crystal needed to play like she did against USC for this team to win the final two games. Instead she played like the player hampered with shin splints who does not practice to avoid aggravating them. Gabby has played with a hip injury the past couple of months. ND does not get as many easy buckets in the paint with the early season Gabby.

Kia is primarily a catch and shoot guard. When she’s forced to play on the ball she’s essentially neutralized.
She was horrible on offense even with Crystal running things. Her first three shots were air ball three and two missed bunny layups.

When that happened and Crystal missed her threes I felt UConn was in trouble. ND was able to iso on KLS.

Add KLS inbounding balls for turnovers, Gabby fumbling the ball or passing balls to the other team, Crystal doing the same, Naphesia going mia and ND playing their A game I had no confidence that UConn would win. The only bright spot was Stevens and Muffet had the luxury of doubling down on her because everyone else other than KLS were horrible.

This loss had nothing to do with Refs or the AAC. It had more to do with two players hampered by injuries, the team playing it’s D game, ND playing it’s A game and Geno only having six players who can play at Division 1 level. Well Walker was occasionally effective.

 

[ctchamps]

Disagree. They need to get beat up a lot more. Too soft when it counts.

They definitely played tight. The men showed that getting your butt kicked a lot doesn’t add toughness.

This team has shown in a few games this season that they were vulnerable.

 

[housekeys]

As poorly as some of the UConn players played on offense, it was the defense (or lack thereof) that lost the game. ND scored 91 points. That does not happen if UConn plays a good game on defense. As for the refs, they where bad in that they where inconsistent. Was the officiating affecting UConn's intensity (or lack thereof) on defense? That is debatable. Either way, ND made the big plays when they needed them. Tough loss.

 

[ctchamps]

True. There are only about 10 great teams, and I think we played most of them, other than Miss St. The AAC is not much worse than any other in that regard. The Final Four is not a good time to have an off game. This game was deja vu to last year. I want to know why our team only has six players, and the #1 recruit in the nation got 0 minutes.

Walker has not shown enough to play against competitive teams. And she’s lights out ahead of the next six players on the squad.

If you believe Geno is one of the best women’s B.B. coaches, those bench players prove you need good players. They would rarely have games that they played even with teams that the six good players would blow out by forty.

 

[ctchamps]

As poorly as some of the UConn players played on offense, it was the defense (or lack thereof) that lost the game. ND scored 91 points. That does not happen if UConn plays a good game on defense. As for the refs, they where bad in that they where inconsistent. Was the officiating affecting UConn's intensity (or lack thereof) on defense? That is debatable. Either way, ND made the big plays when they needed them. Tough loss.

That’s where I believe the injuries to Gabby and Crystal had the greatest impact. Give MM credit. She had a great game plan and was fortunate that her weakest starter had a career game.

 

[storrsroars]

As poorly as some of the UConn players played on offense, it was the defense (or lack thereof) that lost the game. ND scored 91 points. That does not happen if UConn plays a good game on defense. As for the refs, they where bad in that they where inconsistent. Was the officiating affecting UConn's intensity (or lack thereof) on defense? That is debatable. Either way, ND made the big plays when they needed them. Tough loss.

Q2 was absolute shutdown defense. And the refs let them play. Stevens was huge in that.

Q4 was awful. Not sure what Geno was thinking sticking with KLS with 4 fouls, which opened up the inside for ND. I don't watch them enough to know how Geno usually subs, but it sure looked to me like UConn was a better team with Stevens on the floor tonight. Regardless, sticking with KLS late hurt the team and Muffet took full advantage.

 

[ASweet3781]

Q2 was absolute shutdown defense. And the refs let them play. Stevens was huge in that.

Q4 was awful. Not sure what Geno was thinking sticking with KLS with 4 fouls, which opened up the inside for ND. I don't watch them enough to know how Geno usually subs, but it sure looked to me like UConn was a better team with Stevens on the floor tonight. Regardless, sticking with KLS late hurt the team and Muffet took full advantage.

UConn rallied from a 10 point deficit against ND in December when Samuelson left the game due to her ankle and he had no choice but to turn to Stevens and Walker.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Women's board in full meltdown mode, there are people posting their goodbyes to WCBB because they can't take the heart ache.

I think the men's team has lost more this year than they have in the last 10.

 

[Hankster]

As someone who really doesn’t live or die for the women’s team, there were a lot of one way calls there. Gotta level the playing field somehow...

Still, they passed sloppy as hell there.

At one time late in the game I thought I saw UConn went to the Charity stripe 6 times.

 

[Hankster]

UConn rallied from a 10 point deficit against ND in December when Samuelson left the game due to her ankle and he had no choice but to turn to Stevens and Walker.

Speaking of Stevens. A tough first quarter for the girls. Geno puts in Stevens in the 2nd, and it was goodbye ND. She scored and blocked or altered ND;s inside game. ND could not drive with ease as they did in the first Quarter. Dangerfield sat most of the 2nd QTR. Dangerfield was horrible in the 1 Qtr. Although Dangerfields shot was a temporary dagger, I felt with Stevens in there she could easily chip away in the paint. ND really couldn't stop her. Second half she was in and out, mostly out.

 

[UConn990411]

Speaking of Stevens. A tough first quarter for the girls. Geno puts in Stevens in the 2nd, and it was goodbye ND. She scored and blocked or altered ND;s inside game. ND could not drive with ease as they did in the first Quarter. Dangerfield sat most of the 2nd QTR. Dangerfield was horrible in the 1 Qtr. Although Dangerfields shot was a temporary dagger, I felt with Stevens in there she could easily chip away in the paint. ND really couldn't stop her. Second half she was in and out, mostly out.

I only watched about 6 games this year, but every game I found myself saying “Geno doesn’t play Stevens enough.” It’s like he felt obligated to play the lineup from last year - almost to the detriment of what was actually their best lineup.

I rarely ever second guess him, but this was one of those (possibly fair) exceptions.

 

[whaler11]

I happened to see the 4th quarter and OT.

Geno was in full Cronin mode. Freaking out so badly up 5 that Daley was holding him back was a pretty bad sign. They certainly seemed to play to his level of tightness late.

 

[the Q]

I happened to see the 4th quarter and OT.

Geno was in full Cronin mode. Freaking out so badly up 5 that Daley was holding him back was a pretty bad sign. They certainly seemed to play to his level of tightness late.

That’s because they called 2 absolutely made up charges that would’ve basically put the game way.

 

[the Q]

2nd year in a row girls were playing timid, jogging up and down the floor letting chubby Nd girls beat them in transition.

I thought last year was a fluke, but these girls haven’t handled the bright lights well 2 years in a row.