Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="jdote33, post: 4802189, member: 11252"] Thanks for the thread. I'm a bit more optimistic than I was following the UCLA game. In actuality, through 6 games the team is 4-2 with a ton of room for growth and several opportunities to test themselves and rise up to the challenge. Several teams have started the season playing great basketball, but I'm not sure how much better they will get as the season continues (perhaps bias/wishful thinking). South Carolina is routinely scoring 100 (Paopao seemingly doesn't miss from 3), Stanford's bigs are looking like the best Center/Power Forward duo since...I can't even think of one. UCLA had a tough injury but their team is shooting the ball a lot better than I had anticipated (literally have 5 players averaging over 13 points a game and are shooting 40% from 3 as a team). Even a team like Virginia Tech has had their two best players really play at a super high level virtually every game (Kitley struggled a tiny bit vs Iowa but still had a double double I believe). On the flip side I think there is a lot of room for growth for this team and obviously a huge adjustment needs to be made now that Azzi will not be in the lineup. Paige has been good, not quite shooting at the levels she did freshman year, and still needs to improve defensively. AE has been a bit up and down and had a tough time in the Caymans. Ice has been a bit cold. In any event Texas is a great barometer/test for the team. I think they are better than NC State. They have really good inside play, Rori Harmon seems fully back, as she struggled a bit last year post injury. And similar to UCLA and NC State they go a legit 8 or 9 deep, meaning everyone who plays is good. They will probably press a little bit as well- which will probably be the first time we've seen it since the Ohio State game. So the things that I want to see are as follows: 1) It's probably going to be a season long thing, and I think this is being discussed on different threads, but I'd like the ball in Nika's hands more, especially off of misses. I get Paige is Paige, but Nika just lead the country in assist last season . If she's on the floor, offensively it just makes sense (imo) to put the ball in her hands so teams can't just cheat off her. She does a great job in pushing the ball and looking for early offense. This by consequence means Paige needs to fill the wing a bit more, run to open spots and be ready to fire. 2) Caroline Ducharme back, playing 20+ minutes. It's so interesting, prior to the season, Geno was raving about how she performed in a scrimmage. And just very typical Geno, he asked the reporters bluntly and honestly, do you start Caroline? lol it was a question the boneyard wrestled with all off season, and it was kinda interesting to hear him wrestle with it as well. He said it primarily because of her health that he didn't know. Now 3 weeks in, I'm not sure what you do if she says she's feeling better. I actually thought she played ok in the Dayton game, and even in the Minnesota game in limited minutes. So 2 out of 4 games she's played she was fine in a young season. I know ppl talk about freshman Caroline but she had quite a few moments last year as well (hit double figures in 10 out of 23 games, and like 6 of the games she didn't score 10 or more she played limited minutes). The Caroline convo seems to more be shifting to whether she should play at all. If she is able to, and if she's able to play 20 minutes, I think more often than not she will be productive. 3) Aubrey, Paige, Caroline post ups?! Can everyone get in the post jk. It's sort've discussed all the team how the past 3 years, Uconn has had great passing bigs between ONO and Dorka who really were able to hit cutters, but also players in the post. Every time I see Paige post up she scores. Caroline used to post up a little as well, and Aubrey is very good at finishing. I hope to see this more throughout the season, it may be their best shot at easy baskets. It's tough to expect Paige to hit 10 jumpshots a game. 4. Amari and Ice getting on track - I do think this is a good game for Amari. Taylor Jones has probably been Texas best player through their first 7 games, but they really haven't faced great competition. I think Amari's size and length could work well for her in the matchup. Additionally Ice will be needed to step up as well. I don't want to jinx it but the good thing about Texas is that they aren't really a 3 point shooting team. One of their better 3 point shooters Shaylee Gonzales is off to a pretty slow start from the perimeter. I hate the amount of open looks UCLA got, off offensive rebounds and miscommunication. Nevertheless I don't think they will be as concerned with Texas launching from the perimeter. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,434

Messages: 4,396,199

Members: 10,209

Latest member: gemini*trvl