Great win by ND...

[rington]

sorry but i just don't get the whining and complaining about the refs. it was a physical game. ND took the ball to the hoop much more than UCONN did and as a result were fouled. UCONN was basically a jump shooting team. our post players only took 10 shots, but our guards did not drive nearly as much as the ND guards did. when you drive and take a shot, chances are fouls will be called.

Hayes, Peters, and Achonwa went out in the first half with 2 fouls but UCONN did zero to build a lead with the 2 post players on the bench. and the amount of time during that period in the 1st half that the UCONN post players spent on the perimeter was surprising to me. ND was just the better team today. if you can't see that and admit it, then go ahead and complain about the calls and talk about how UCONN was robbed.

UCONN was sloppy with the ball and got it stolen way too many times by ND. we lacked poise down the stretch and ND did what they needed to win the game. as i said, great win by ND and congrats to them.

Why do the refs always call a go0d game when we win, and call a bad game when we lose??

 

[EricLA]

you know, it's one thing to say there were some calls that were not good. it's another to blame the loss on the officials. i'm not going to go back thru every post and find out who was blaming the officials and who wasn't, but about 10 people on here have said in different ways that the more aggressive team generally gets the calls. even Chris Dailey said that in her post game interview.

so my point has been like i've said in this entire thread, congratulations to ND. they played a hard fought game and deserved the win. if UCONN had won it, we would have deserved the win. classy fans leave it at that.

 

[UConnCat]

Just because a coach (CD, for example) doesn't complain about officiating or blame a loss on officiating doesn't mean that the officiating was fair and even. Coaches can not complain because it softens the impact of the loss on the team. Complaints from the coach give the players permission to put responsibility for the loss on the officials rather than themselves.

That being said, the officiating in this game wasn't even. All of the questionable calls favored ND. Peters was over Dolson's back on a rebound and ends up shooting 2 FTs. The walking call on Doty was just wrong. The reach around Sue Bird steal by Diggins on Bria is a foul 9 out of 10 times (Just ask Sue). Novosel throwing her body in to defenders in the lane simply can not be a foul every time. But, that's how it goes in basketball. Home teams get the calls. Championship teams need to be able to overcome this and win close games.

BTW, here are Geno's thoughts:

On defending Notre Dame's Natalie Novosel ...

"She's not easy to guard. I thought we did a great job on her in the first half. It wasn't anything that we haven't done in the past, but she's just really good at getting herself into the lane. That's two games in a row now that we've played Notre Dame where they've shot a lot of free throws, and we generally don't foul that much. They're the only team that shoots that many free throws against us. I wish I had an explanation for it but I don't."

 

[cardfan]

Takeaways from this game. Based on this game, right now NB is better than UConn. Period. Not by much. Every game will be a war, but they have Skylar and UConn doesn't. They have more experience and panic less. At crunch time, they make better, team-oriented decisions while UConn's players don't seem to. UConn may win on its home turf, but maybe not. I believe it's far from a sure thing.

Next, Bria. Most of the time, world class. Uconn would not have been in the game without her. But some of the time, unfortunately, not world class. Her dribble got picked a time or two and the trouble with a gunner like her is that she sometimes chooses the wrong time to try to put the team on her shoulders.
Stef. No one could accuse her of not working. I wish she could knock down the 15 footer, but she does not seem able to. Some of her moves to the basket were wonderful. And her teammates just don't get her the ball down low anywhere near enough. I agree with Ice's observation that when Peters moved outside to guard Stef there should have been opportunities there that UConn did not exploit.
Caroline: Fabulous game. Never expected to see her in there for as long as she was.
Kelly: Gave UConn an awful lot on several levels. If UConn had another one of her, they would have won.
Kiah: Made some mistakes, but made some very good plays as well. Hung in there against a very tough team and held her own. I admit I was surprised at how good he was.
KML. Played like a very talented freshman, but a freshman nonetheless.
Tiff. Not a good game. She just did not play well.

excellent post. I thought your 26 TOs, (and ND's pt off of them), and missed FTs was the game. When was the last time a UConn team had 26 TOs? The game was very physical, an advantage to home team, which may have led to the TOs. I think you take them at Hartford and in the post season.

 

[DaddyChoc]

sorry but i just don't get the whining and complaining about the refs. it was a physical game. ND took the ball to the hoop much more than UCONN did and as a result were fouled. UCONN was basically a jump shooting team. our post players only took 10 shots, but our guards did not drive nearly as much as the ND guards did. when you drive and take a shot, chances are fouls will be called.

Hayes, Peters, and Achonwa went out in the first half with 2 fouls but UCONN did zero to build a lead with the 2 post players on the bench. and the amount of time during that period in the 1st half that the UCONN post players spent on the perimeter was surprising to me. ND was just the better team today. if you can't see that and admit it, then go ahead and complain about the calls and talk about how UCONN was robbed.

UCONN was sloppy with the ball and got it stolen way too many times by ND. we lacked poise down the stretch and ND did what they needed to win the game. as i said, great win by ND and congrats to them.

thank you Eric... well said!

POST OF THE DAY!

 

[uconnfan68]

Sorry but ND's defense wasn't so much great as it was regularly given non calls. Several non calls resulted in breakaway baskets. Called the same way it was at the UConn end and ND has to back off and give space. It was a function of how the game was called.

We lost the game at the foul line in regulation not to ND's defense.

Yes, we lost it at the foul line, and the home job didn't help... but I have to think Geno is excited now that Kiah, Brianna, and Kaleena have seen the worst road environments, and KS and BB actually contributed today. The next meeting will be much more physical and we'll be ready.

 

[DaddyChoc]

"armchair refs" always have the luxury of replay, DVR and listening to the opinions of the announcers.

making calls & seeing "everything" while actually reffing the game isnt as easy as sitting in your favorite recliner watching on your 55" HDTV with your surround sound blarring!

 

[magical2]

well ice, go ahead and continue to blame the refs and look like a really poor sport. i was not calling you out specifically, but go ahead and complain - it just look like a being a poor sport. of course that's anyone's right.

or one could take a different road and congratulate ND for the win and look at what UCONN needs to do to improve and beat them the next time. and by the way, what was i "wrong about the officiating"? i never said the refs called a perfect game. i never said there were fouls that were not called. i said it was a physical game. i said ND drove to the hoop more than we did and in those cases fouls are more likely to be called. so sorry ice, i'm not wrong about the officiating because i did not comment on it.

i get that you are upset about the loss, but seriously? ur really gonna try to call me out for something i didn't even do?

I think there were a number of reasons why we lost a game today we shoud/could have won. Eric the posts re the game are correct imho. It is also not inaccurate to have seen a # of cases in which the intensive/aggressive ND defense may have been allowed at home to get out of hand. The CD layup which was called traveling could also be questioned. The fouls with ND going to the basket were less of an issue for me <a cpl could have charges> then other non calls! That being said we still could have won the game if we had done what we needed to do! Going forward what we need to do is work on what we need to do to improve to not only beat ND,but to achieve our goals!

 

[cardfan]

thank you Eric... well said!

POST OF THE DAY!

I also wondered why UConn didn't go the paint with NDs bigs in foul trouble. I thought the 2nd half would go to ND once their bigs got back, but it was Novosel and Diggins, and big plays by McBride that sealed the win.

 

[Cafe Poliziano]

ND has beaten us the last two times we played them because our team did not play as well as they did. We have lots of talent, can't be argued but the team is playing ugly ball, not at all the smooth flow of previous teams over the last many years, imo until the whole team gets better floor vision and learns to play with each other we will not win tight games against the best, this is the second game we held the lead in the last minutes and lost, I truly hope the team is seriously pissed off about this out come, maybe this will be the preverbal wake up call.


GO Uconn !!!!!!!

 

[Tonyc]

Dont forget the last play of regulation. Novosal drives the lane, jumps into the defender looking for a foul, a definite charge and no call. I dont wanna hear they dont call fouls on the last play of the game. We had it, we blew it, we will learn from it, but its hard to swallow.

 

[VAUConnFan]

ND has beaten us the last two times we played them because our team did not play as well as they did. We have lots of talent, can't be argued but the team is playing ugly ball, not at all the smooth flow of previous teams over the last many years, imo until the whole team gets better floor vision and learns to play with each other we will not win tight games against the best, this is the second game we held the lead in the last minutes and lost, I truly hope the team is seriously pissed off about this out come, maybe this will be the preverbal wake up call.


GO Uconn !!!!!!!

It goes the argument of a prior threads about how much uglier UConn basketball becomes when playing teams of equal talent and ability.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Dont forget the last play of regulation. Novosal drives the lane, jumps into the defender looking for a foul, a definite charge and no call. I dont wanna hear they dont call fouls on the last play of the game. We had it, we blew it, we will learn from it, but its hard to swallow.

That's a no call Tony. There is not an official in the world that is going to make that call in the last few seconds. You may not want to hear it, but it is a fact of basketball life. Unless, the call is blatantly obvious, the officials are going to swallow their whistles. That last play in regulation was a long way from blatantly obvious.

 

[Tonyc]

Really how bout .0002 at TN a few years ago againest Baylor?????????? Whether its the first 10 seconds of the game or the last 10 seconds of the game the game is still being played and therefore a call should be made especially in a close game. JMO I do agree with you VA they usually dont call it.

 

[Bestiarius]

Lots of positives in this game. First, it was a good experience for our younger players in a game that was not a must win.

Overall, the team played well against excellent experienced competition. Preseason, many predicted we would lose by 20 or more. This game showed we can beat ND and almost did so in their house.

Was probably a good game for women's BB. Sets up greater interest in a rematch later in the season.

Sure was more interesting to watch than a 40 point blowout.

Happy 20th birthday today to Stefanie.

 

[waltww]

To me this was the frenetic game of games. Both teams had energy and willful efforts playing incredible defense. It was a tough game to lose and a pleasant win for Notre Dame. Despite some questionable calls especially at the end I thought the game was called simply by letting them play. The last few years UConn ran up big leads that insured last minute runs would not cost them a loss. That is a big difference with this years team. They seem to let up once they get a 10 point leads. I thought about the contribution of each of out active players and could not fault them. They all worked hard and did their best in a tough environment. In my opinion Notre Dame is as good a we are NOW! So now is the time to put all those teachings that Geno continually reminds the players. Practice and seek perfection and keep getting better. Most of us could benefit by following the same rules for ourselves.