How does UConn beat Creighton Tenn and SC

[HuskyNan]

It is hard for me to agree that the" loss of Ayanna is a serious set back." Only because she has barely played since she arrived and, when she did, she did nothing on offense at all. You all love her because she is athletic, strong and can jump. Or could do so before her latest three surgeries. I know she was a top recruit, but what did you ever see in a UCONN uniform that supported that? She barely got minutes her freshman year. And was mostly injured. Her breakout game was likely three points and 2 rebounds. Seriously, what did you see other than a resume? And a kid worthy of admiration.

Ayanna played 30 games and averaged 10.1 minutes.

So, you equate playing well with scoring a lot of points?

 

[CL82]

It is hard for me to agree that the" loss of Ayanna is a serious set back." Only because she has barely played since she arrived and, when she did, she did nothing on offense at all

I understand where you're coming from, but her athleticism in high school was off the charts for a female athlete. She actually has a functional dunk. Not that half finger roll half dunk thing that you sometimes see in the women's game. Certainly, at a minimum, I doubt we would lose many jump balls. But more importantly, we've needed an extra body in our front court. She, potentially, would add significant physicality, and five more fouls, the need for which I suspect will become readily apparent during the South Carolina game. A fully healthy Ayana, is something we've yet to see.

 

[Bone Dog]

It is hard for me to agree that the" loss of Ayanna is a serious set back." Only because she has barely played since she arrived and, when she did, she did nothing on offense at all. You all love her because she is athletic, strong and can jump. Or could do so before her latest three surgeries. I know she was a top recruit, but what did you ever see in a UCONN uniform that supported that? She barely got minutes her freshman year. And was mostly injured. Her breakout game was likely three points and 2 rebounds. Seriously, what did you see other than a resume? And a kid worthy of admiration.

I’m with @HuskyNan on this one. It’s not just about scoring. And it’s not a matter of having a breakout game. Incremental improvement from Ayanna would have meant plenty to our title hopes. She’s bigger and stronger than Morgan and had quicker feet than Jana or Ice She boxed out well and defended well. 10 or 15 minutes per game from Ayanna could have made a significant addition to our frontcourt. With her we had one more strong body and 5 more fouls to give. Counting Morgan and Aubrey that would make six frontcourt players. Now, until and if Aubrey returns to full strength we really only have three. Morgan could be a 4th, but we can see from yesterday’s game that Geno isn’t ready to give her a lot of minutes in a close game.

So, yes, the loss of Ayanna is significant for our title hopes.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I’m not sure this is accurate. Tessa and Milaysia are talented scorers, as is PaoPao. Tessa even played against Paige a few times in high school back in Minnesota and she was a bright talent even then. Joyce and Chloe are also talented and intense players. Bree and Raven may not be scorers at the same level, but they are excellent defenders and rock solid players.

I think our Big Three is slightly better than Dawn’s Fab Five (I just made that name up), but they are five. That’s a lot of talent on a very athletic, quick team. And Dawn believes the same thing as Geno, that offense comes from defense, and they are a great defensive team.

We’ll have a chance to win this game. But it won’t be from exploiting weaknesses. This will be a strength vs strength rock fight. Paige has been in a few of those and knows how to win them. So has Azzi. And though she’s still a bit of a project and somewhat rough around the edges, Jana has been in a few rock fights in her career.

Think about the game against SC 2 years ago. That was exactly this sort of rock fight and Nika almost engineered an improbable victory against an even stronger version of SC with no Paige or Azzi. Or the game 4 years ago, another rock fight and freshman Paige almost single-handedly won that game in overtime. This year’s version promises to be another one, and these are great games even if you don’t win them.

I like the metaphor of a "strength vs strength rock fight."

Brings to mind the immortal words of Rip Torn: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"



I like this edition of the UConn Huskies vs USCarolina.

Go Huskies!!!

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Not a bad prediction.

UConn beat the Blue Jays by 11; will beat UTenn. by 13; will beat USCarolina by 4 in OT.

Final Answer!

Go Huskies!!!

 

[CONN78SEJ]

All we have to do is outscore them. It's that simple. We have a team shooting percentage of over 50%. We have 3 superstars. No team in WCBB has a Paige Azzi and Sarah. Its that simple

Right Tony. UConn needs a starting five where all five players can make a jump shot. My starters would be Paige, Azzi, Ash, Sarah and Ice. First off the bench KK, Morgan, Kaitlyn, Allie, Jana, and not necessarily in that order but maybe. Of course Aubrey and Caroline if both are available could make a big difference also. My sense is Geno would ease both back into the rotation especially if UConn has at least a 10 point lead.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Wow So SC scored 66 pts and 18 were free throws that 48 pts from the floor. If we have to face that, that will be a problem. I dont think UConn will score less then 70 pts against Tenn or SC however we could very well end up without a player on the floor if they win because they will need foul shots to beat us. Just sayin LOL This is what I mean about Southern Cookin.

When you see a referee driving a Maserati it makes you wonder.

 

[Fossil]

Creighton - show up.
Tennessee - guard the 3 pointer. If Tennessee has 10 or more. UConn could be in trouble.
South Carolina - need another snow storm in the south to cancel the game.

I feel like the Tennessee and South Carolina games are like Hoosiers where you have solid fundamentals against athleticism. Both teams have size and length and speed which could definitely give us fits. Let’s hope the family Chitwood’s show up.

 

[Stagnant]

I have always felt kind of good about Tennessee because I thought they were reliant on turnovers. And one thing UConn doesn’t do is turn the ball over. But that was early-in-the-season Tennessee. They have looked competitive against good teams that don’t turn the ball over recently. It’s a dangerous game for sure.