Girls lose :(

[Mr. French]

Yes KLS stepped diagonally and should not have received a foul but the perspective of the ref didn’t have the benefit of camera angle viewers had.

Ya and I think he was more mad at KLS for taking the extra step and dribble she could have dumped off a step early and avoided it.

He lost it at the Stevens one, and not so much bc it was a terrible call but bc it was the second straight and it seemed like she definitely flopped...good play but I think you can tell she used that tiny shoulder dip as means to FLY backwards and sell it, which the ref bought for the second straight time.

 

[ctchamps]

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.

Sadly a good number of them won’t be around period.

And the meltdown is being led by some of the same people who have meltdowns here.

There are some differences when it comes to fan bases but most fan bases are similar. I’m sure the football posters look at the men’s forum and compare their resume with ours and laugh at our inability to deal with our situation.

 

[Showballot]

AAC effect?

Play tough teams early on, but have essentially no competition 2/3 of the season.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Is it fair to question Geno's situational coaching and team's poise in an actual close game when it matters?

He's the greatest women's coach of all time, and is great at building a monster and throttling inferior teams. But how about when it's a 3 point game with 5 minutes left against a team that can somewhat keep up with them? He has continuously been outcoached by Muffet in close, big games.

I think it's also fair to say that UConn doesn't get much experience in grind-it-out games where ND has more experience with close games.

I'm also taking the abysmal refereeing out of this for now.

 

[Rocktheworld]

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.

And you're just about spot on

16 total losses starting with 07-08
20 total losses starting with 06-07

 

[Rocktheworld]

Not surprised - that segment of fan base has been unparalleled in terms of being spoiled. Even after 11 NCs and 19 FF appearances, destroying opponents every night every year, if THIS is enough to tip the scales for them to call it quits, then maybe they need to do just that because sports fandom has never been easier than what they've had in the Geno era.

And for anyone blaming the AAC for them losing this game - really? REALLY? Was the old Big East really that much better than the AAC at WBB? Outside of ND and maybe UofL and Nova who challenged them on a yearly basis, if I recall they were destroying conference opponents regularly back then too and the "lack of parity in women's hoops" complaint would pop up whenever they beat Cincy or Providence or St. John's by 80 points. So please stop with that nonsense. OOC this year they played Stanford, Cal, Maryland, UCLA, Michigan St., Nevada, ND, DePaul, Oklahoma and destroyed them all. And they just beat Duke and destroyed SCar (team that won it all last year). It's not the conference. Not for the women's team.

Meh, in looking up the loss totals per @Bryan Lord post in the 5 years UConn has been in the AAC they have not lost a single conference game. From 2000 when they started racking up NCs onward to the end of the BE, they lost 14 times in-conference, averaging about a loss per season. And that's with some teams and players that were way better than this year's.

For OOC, in the 5 AAC years they have lost 4 total games (so 4 total losses). In the above time period, in the OOC they lost 24 times (averaging almost 2 losses OOC per year), again with better teams. I don't watch them and don't care to go back and look at their OOC match-ups, but I have a feeling if anything Geno has stepped up the OOC since AAC began. He's known for a while that his teams have to be challenged OOC because otherwise despite the above stats yeah his teams have always essentially ran through conference play

 

[BlueDogs]

Frankly, ND had a bunch of tanks out there that physically manhandled a better, more athletic team. They definitely crawled into UConn's heads and for whatever reason the girls just didn't execute at a high level. There were a TON of mental errors... bad passes, shot clock violations, defensive lapses... not what I remember seeing in UConn women basketball teams.

 

[UConn990411]

Notre Dame women’s players flopping is nothing new - they’re worse than the Duke men in that regard.

Here’s a live look at Muffet teaching her team to play defense:

 

[metsfan2323]

What was the AAC effect when they set the record for consecutive wins? and didn't they play two really good teams last week that should have gotten them ready for last night?

BTW don't they play men in practice? Geno can make the practices tougher than the games if he wants to.

It's not the AAC's fault. Geno blew this game by not giving Azura Stevens more minutes. She was the best player on the court.

 

[husky429]

They never call that travel. I wish they would.

But that happens 20+ times per game in men’s game. I said that during last years FF and half the board freaked out about it.

Refs are trained not to call that travel. The distinction when she controls the ball is hard to judge, so they let it slide.

Better than kembas full 5 steps in the backcourt last year, lol

 

[Horatio]

Frankly, ND had a bunch of tanks out there that physically manhandled a better, more athletic team. They definitely crawled into UConn's heads and for whatever reason the girls just didn't execute at a high level. There were a TON of mental errors... bad passes, shot clock violations, defensive lapses... not what I remember seeing in UConn women basketball teams.

Exactly. After last year and now last night its
Becoming a physical issue. Geno should consider sacrificing some of the athleticism for size and height.

 

[buddy]

Frankly, ND had a bunch of tanks out there that physically manhandled a better, more athletic team. They definitely crawled into UConn's heads and for whatever reason the girls just didn't execute at a high level. There were a TON of mental errors... bad passes, shot clock violations, defensive lapses... not what I remember seeing in UConn women basketball teams.

This is exactly what I was going to say. The wide bodies that ND had down low especially just were able to neutralize the UConn defenders with ease. The UConn girls team was similar to the men's team in that regard. No real muscle that could last. Azure Stevens would have been player of the game, but for some reason, Geno decided not to start her in the third quarter. They would have put ND away.

 

[the Q]

Exactly. After last year and now last night its
Becoming a physical issue. Geno should consider sacrificing some of the athleticism for size and height.

No excuse for hose fat girls beating everyone up and down the court on multiple occasions for easy baskets. Geno can’t coach that.

 

[Scoe]

Exactly. After last year and now last night its
Becoming a physical issue. Geno should consider sacrificing some of the athleticism for size and height.

I dont think it would have been a bad idea to use Batouley for a couple minutes to pick up fouls and set screens, I get you can't do it late in the year I just dont understand Geno not using his bench at all.

 

[Horatio]

I dont think it would have been a bad idea to use Batouley for a couple minutes to pick up fouls and set screens, I get you can't do it late in the year I just dont understand Geno not using his bench at all.

He had a short bench all season for no reason . Why? Too talent to make kids wait.

 

[Glastonhusky]

Massive travel!

Also, Katie Lou Samuelson ended up with the ball in her hands for what should be an easy shot for her at the end of OT after the "buzzer beater". She got the shot off in time but looked like her focus was gone. She already accepted they lost the game.

I thought the same thing, she had a good look but just kind of flipped it up like she thought the game was over.

 

[StunningSteve]

AAC effect?

Play tough teams early on, but have essentially no competition 2/3 of the season.

You can add ACC, SEC, B1G, etc effect...

Because all of their teams would be getting blown out during the season too.

There isn't a conference that would challenge the girls night in and night out. The Womens game doesn't have that much depth

 

[ASweet3781]

You can add ACC, SEC, B1G, etc effect...

Because all of their teams would be getting blown out during the season too.

There isn't a conference that would challenge the girls night in and night out. The Womens game doesn't have that much depth

I don't think you truly realize how awful the AAC is in women's basketball. They had a game where they came out terrible at SMU and had a 4 point lead because SMU is so bad. A solid Power 5 school would have put them in more of a hole. Cincinnati was the 4th best team in the league and they just fired their coach. It's not the only reason they lost but it's a factor.

 

[BugsyCT]

Hmm. Maybe we should try to get UConn into a P5 conference then.

 

[the Q]

Ya and I think he was more mad at KLS for taking the extra step and dribble she could have dumped off a step early and avoided it.

He lost it at the Stevens one, and not so much bc it was a terrible call but bc it was the second straight and it seemed like she definitely flopped...good play but I think you can tell she used that tiny shoulder dip as means to FLY backwards and sell it, which the ref bought for the second straight time.

They were both awful calls. The only reason there was any contact on the kLS one was that the Nd defender was out of bounds already.

Impossible to be a charge when you are out of bounds.

 

[the Q]

Refs are trained not to call that travel. The distinction when she controls the ball is hard to judge, so they let it slide.

Better than kembas full 5 steps in the backcourt last year, lol

Espn has hid it now (shocking) but there’s a 2009 video where Bobby knight shows officials missing 5 step travels on Blake griffin and Tyler hasborough 3 feet from the basket. This isn’t a new development. And it’s patheitc. If they can’t call it, these aren’t really the best refs.

 

[ctchamps]

Is it fair to question Geno's situational coaching and team's poise in an actual close game when it matters?

He's the greatest women's coach of all time, and is great at building a monster and throttling inferior teams. But how about when it's a 3 point game with 5 minutes left against a team that can somewhat keep up with them? He has continuously been outcoached by Muffet in close, big games.

I think it's also fair to say that UConn doesn't get much experience in grind-it-out games where ND has more experience with close games.

I'm also taking the abysmal refereeing out of this for now.

Totally fair to question anyone. Heck I question God why he created so many loonies who come to this forum. Big mistake creating so many!

On a side note if we determine Geno has done things wrong or has weaknesses what does that say about the rest of the coaching fraternity?

I'd say Geno has evolved over time. He used to be a far greater in game micro manager than recently. Players like Rebecca Lobo have stated that he's not the same intense coach they had.

I think the lesson is that every strategy has a strength and weakness. Blowing out teams increases the chance players develop confidence (different than guarantees) but it doesn't prepare the players when there is adversity (tight game). The first NC for UConn follows this argument. Duke was blowing out teams all season in 98-99. They had no experience for a tight game.

It's still preferable than losing. Losing increases the odds that players lose confidence and each additional loss probably knocks down confidence in greater increments for most people.

I guess the ideal situation would be to have a loss or two because undefeated seasons ends up putting more pressure on individuals not to screw up. A smattering of tight games to give starting players end of game scenarios instead of sitting on the bench would be beneficial. But the majority of games should emphasize perfection hence blow outs. Gene's biggest bugaboo is getting the women's game to be more competitive. He recognizes that it's not only good for the game and fans, it's important in the development of his players. That's why he schedules a top five schedule every year. Perhaps he should play his second tier players the first half and put in his starters in the second half if he can't find opponents to give him competition. That would almost guarantee a tight game at the end.

Of course even this strategy poses a problem. It rewards players who don't perform well in practice. And that would have an adverse impact on his players who do push themselves hard in practice. Given Geno's overwhelming success I think he should stick to his game plan and not listen to us wanna be coaches.

 

[intlzncster]

Conspiracy theory: do you think this was done to change the narrative around how UConn is bad for women’s basketball? The better game would have been MSU against UConn but another 1 seed taking out UConn shows more parity, not dominance of one team... and if the officiating was an issue. Just a thought.

The refs in teh women's game are not savvy enough to pull this off. Even if blatant.

 

[intlzncster]

He's the greatest women's coach of all time, and is great at building a monster and throttling inferior teams. But how about when it's a 3 point game with 5 minutes left against a team that can somewhat keep up with them? I think it's also fair to say that UConn doesn't get much experience in grind-it-out games where ND has more experience with close games.

I think this is probably the most likely reason. If you are not tested semi regularly, it's tough to develop that crunch time instinct.

Some people are being myopic though. Geno ain't perfect, but people saying he can't win close games because of his OT record in Semi Finals are completely ignoring all the times UCONN has won close games that haven't gone into OT, including in the semis. That's a huge selection bias.

For this particular team, I think it had to due more with the fact is they have a ton of talent, but no one who can carry a team on their shoulders in difficult moments. Someone you can go to over and over.

Their toughest kid, Nurse, is not well suited to taking the ball one on one regularly, so that limits her taking over games when everyone else is scuffling.

 

[the Q]

The refs in teh women's game are not savvy enough to pull this off. Even if blatant.

But they can let teams get away with a ton of physical play like they have with miss st last year and Nd this year.

Shepard and McCowan last year both should’ve. Been on the bench the entire 4th quarter and ot.