How would you play Baylor now.

[Tonyc]

Well if we play defense like we did againest Stanford thats a pretty good start. Frustrate Baylor with our defense and it will run minutes off the clock. Tina had pretty good success againest Griner so I think Geno will work with Stef on how Tina played againest Griner. If Stef can duplicate what Tina did just a little bit it will be a plus.

ND lost to Baylor by 12 and didnt shoot well. ND is a very disiplined team as is UConn. ND had no big post player UConn does.
Hey frustrate Baylor on defense and I think we have a good chance. I dont think we need our A+ game on offense, if we play suffacating defense. Thats about all we can do. All you can do is all you can do.

 

[semper]

Speed's the thing wherein we'll catch the conscience of the king.

 

[Bestiarius]

Griner should consider not having too good a game against Uconn. Wouldn't want to tick off the Olympics coach, would we?

 

[Icebear]

Geno keeps trying to convince people that we are not quick or fast. I am not sure how long people will keep buying that line.

 

[Wonkster]

I am waiting for some team to decide to go at Griner instead of away from her. Drive to the hole, go right at her chest to create some contact, and then leave it up to the officials to make the call. Griner has become a very smart player from a foul trouble standpoint, but I either have missed it or we have yet to see a team actually try and go at her. Of course this is easier said than done, and perhaps Waco may not be the best setting, but the fact that nobody seems to try and get this girl in foul trouble is mind-boggling to me.

The fly in the ointment with this plan is that last year a lot of people thought Griner was being given kid glove treatment by the refs after her freshman year punchout episode. And I'm not talking about UConn fans, but rather fans of Big 12 teams.

If Griner gets special treatment, then your scheme could be very costly to implement. You'll need a very deep bench plus an off-night of free throw shooting from Griner to make it work in your favor.

 

[Icebear]

Wonk, that concern is exactly the reason for #5 on my original post.

 

[Zorro]

Also very important to keep as much help as possible on Griner's left to keep her from rolling to her left and going to the bucket with her right hand. Make her shoot jump shots. She is also very good at those, but not AS good, and makes it a little more difficult for her to get into rebounding position.

 

[VAMike23]

Also very important to keep as much help as possible on Griner's left to keep her from rolling to her left and going to the bucket with her right hand. Make her shoot jump shots. She is also very good at those, but not AS good, and makes it a little more difficult for her to get into rebounding position.

Also, with her tremendous reach she's starting to use that nifty reverse layup with regularity when forced baseline, so that presents additional problems. She is getting tougher and tougher every year (no surprise)

 

[sparky]

Make Griner run the court. She is not fond of running so we need to take her out of her comfort zone. She is a load on the low block and we probably need to front her and have have the guards collapse down when she gets the ball.Make her pass out or put the ball on the floor, and then disrupt her movement. Simms is good and quick and shoots well, but once again we must get her out of her safety zone. Maker her handle the ball under pressure for 96ft.and get to start the offense further away from the basket. make someone else beat you besides her and Griner. Last year they lacked the ability to make consistent entry passes to Griner. This year they are better. We also need a few of CD's trick shots to fall.

 

[huskeynut]

In terms of Griner, Ice is spot on. Stef or Kia must be right into her body when we are on offense. This takes away her mobility and wing span. This is were she can get into foul trouble. You cannot try a fade shot on her, she'll block it 9 times out of 10. We must make Griner run the floor. She still likes to take plays off. If Stef can hit a couple of foul line jumpers, Griner comes out to try the block. Then its time for Stef to pass to Kelly or Bria or Tiff or whoever is using the backdoor cut for an easy basket.

Defensive pressure will slow Sims to a degree. But she is only one person and defensive pressure like we used on Stanford will force others to handle the ball. This is when turnovers can and will happen.

We need our team speed. We can win this game but it will be tough.

 

[rjp172]

Sims and Williams are the key. Griner will get respectable numbers no matter what defense you put on her. In Waco I think it's tough to get the fouls called you need to go your way. ND shot horrifically from outside (16%) and got little point production from their front court. However, ND was still able to record 40 points in the paint to Baylor's 52 pts. I'm not an expert on Baylor, but I don't think that happens to often. The significant difference were fouls called, trips to the ft line, and second chance points. Baylor has several double digit rebounders. Achonwa and Wright in their limited minutes were able to push Griner away from the basket only to have Williams get the rebound. Uconn will certainly be able to slow Baylor down and cause some turnovers, but I honestly don't think it's going to be as stifling as it was against Stanford. Baylor's guards are much faster, physical, and skilled than Stanford's guards. I think it's a tall order to beat Baylor in Waco, but I think UConn can do it for sure. UConn will take care of the ball better then ND did, especially after having a warm-up against a decent team before their meeting. I suspect UConn will shoot better from 3pt too. Baylor can get extremely emotional on the court which can help or hurt. Mulkey will be crying and working the refs the entire game. Hope UConn wins and takes back #1. Of course as a ND fan I like when UConn comes to South Bend in January as #1 and ND #3

 

[easttexastrash]

The best way to stop Griner is to get her to punch you and get thrown out of the game.

In all seriousness, I still think that a slightly shorter player that can get into her armpits is the best way to go if you want to draw fouls. Dolson does not possess the similar foot quickness around the basket that Charles had and I think that it will be hard for her move quickly enough to really make Griner react poorly. Griner has gotten very good at avoiding foul trouble. I truly believe that her rebound numbers are not greater because she is very cautious about picking up the ticky-tack fousl over the back.

I see the comments that ND drew fouls successfully. I am not sure that I would call two fouls on Griner having a successful game plan to get her in foul trouble. She stayed on the court for all 40 minutes and had more blocks than fouls.

Sims is MUCH better that what anyone saw last year...legit all American. And she is a gamer. She loves the big moments and thrives on playing good defense. She had 13 assist, 7 steals and 2 turnovers against Yale. Those are good numbers no matter how weak the opponent.

I feel certain that this will be a good, close game and I am in no way certain that Baylor will win. Geno is a master and there is obviously tons of talent, even if some of it is young.

Mosqueda-Lewis should certainly start against Baylor. UCONN cannot afford to start out like they did against Stanford and expect that Baylor is going to shoot equally poorly. KML is just too good to keep on the bench, but Geno said he likes her coming off the bench.

 

[ladybears4eva]

i love this board, great readers and posters.

 

[ladybears4eva]

In terms of Griner, Ice is spot on. Stef or Kia must be right into her body when we are on offense. This takes away her mobility and wing span. This is were she can get into foul trouble. You cannot try a fade shot on her, she'll block it 9 times out of 10. We must make Griner run the floor. She still likes to take plays off. If Stef can hit a couple of foul line jumpers, Griner comes out to try the block. Then its time for Stef to pass to Kelly or Bria or Tiff or whoever is using the backdoor cut for an easy basket.

Defensive pressure will slow Sims to a degree. But she is only one person and defensive pressure like we used on Stanford will force others to handle the ball. This is when turnovers can and will happen.

We need our team speed. We can win this game but it will be tough.

too bad Sims is essentially WAY better than any of Stanfords guards at this point of the game.

 

[Icebear]

too bad Sims is essentially WAY better than any of Stanfords guards at this point of the game.

But no other team in college basketball brings defensive pressure like UConn, as well and they have already been exposed to both Griner and Sims and aware of their excellent skills. Experience always cuts both ways.

 

[sarals24]

Last year TAMU had success against Baylor picking up full court in the regional final, but I agree that Sims looks much better now than she did then. I'm sure losing that game gave her more than a little motivation in the offseason. We are going to need to be able to hit our outside shots to extend the defense a little bit...hopefully 3 out of our 4 gaurds will have good shooting games, at least!

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Excellent post.

Doty, Hartley, Faris, Hayes and Dolson. Lewis first off the bench. Stokes to rest Dolson. As Banks gets more experience, I believe she will be part of the 8 player rotation. Everyone else plays only in games that are not in question. Only foul trouble trouble will change that.

DD I couldn't agree more. It will be an 8 player rotation unless there are injuries or foul trouble. There will be many mixes and matches and we will press most of the time particularly against the good teams.

 

[ladybears4eva]

But no other team in college basketball brings defensive pressure like UConn, as well and they have already been exposed to both Griner and Sims and aware of their excellent skills. Experience always cuts both ways.

very true, I'm very glad SIMS, and BG and co played in Hartford and almost won last year, they are better for it now.