Ice Brady on getting to Storrs "I’m just cheesing just thinking about it. I can’t wait.”

[hoophuskee]

Coco, I’m beginning to think some foks don’t really understand or embrace the importance of rebounding. I’ll remind our Boneyard (BY) brethren once again what former Laker head coach Pat Riley said during the LA Lakers’ “showtime era” run of winning championships. He said: “no rebounds, no rings.”

Each rebound your opponent gets is another chance to score, and a possible chance that you don't. NO TEAM can continuously allow an opponent to out rebound them by a wide margin and expect or hope to win.

Same thing with free throws. You can’t send your opponent to the line 10-12 times more than they send you and except to win. Especially in close games. When you play teams like South Carolina (Aliyah Boston) or DePaul (Aneesah Morrow) that have rebounding machines on their roster, you’d better have a plan to neutralize them, or slow them down.

If we are talking NBA - if we go recent then I'm not sure that the Golden State Warriors (the team overall most recent overall success) have that same mantra. And in Game 6 of the season you are referring to (84-85) with Lakers vs Celts, the Celts beat up the Lakers 54-44 yet the Celts still lost by 11.

The point is, I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill."

Anyhow- what you need is the execution to do enough of both. You need a certain "Balance." Case in point, SC's leading scorer was Henderson with 26 points. Boston had 11. What SC had was "Balance."

 

[Cuango]

Yes we are getting off track here but Boston has been the best player at her position since she was a freshman but that doesn't take away from Bueckers who if healthy appears to be a generational talent in my book.......I'm pretty sure if you asked fifty coaches whether they would rather start a team with either Boston or Bueckers it would be something of a split decision......but how about that Ice Brady!

While you cleverly hedged with the “somewhat” I would be shocked if a substantial majority did not choose Bueckers in that scenario! However, I certainly agree that some would choose Boston. Even I can’t say it wouldn’t require some thought. She (Boston) has been an exemplary example of a kid that does things the right way and who has taken herself from “really good” to “the best post in NCAA women’s basketball! She has my sincere admiration and respect and I can only say once again, wistfully, imagine if she had only come to UConn!
Actually, On rereading I see that you said, “something”! Sorry!

 

[CocoHusky]

If we are talking NBA - if we go recent then I'm not sure that the Golden State Warriors (the team overall most recent overall success) have that same mantra. And in Game 6 of the season you are referring to (84-85) with Lakers vs Celts, the Celts beat up the Lakers 54-44 yet the Celts still lost by 11.
The point is, I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill."
Anyhow- what you need is the execution to do enough of both. You need a certain "Balance." Case in point, SC's leading scorer was Henderson with 26 points. Boston had 11. What SC had was "Balance."

I think both you and @diggerfoot are taking that statement ( rebounding wins championships) far too literally. There is literally only one statistic that determines a champion and that is points not rebounding. Winning the rebounding battle does not guarantee that you win a championship in the NCAA nor the NBA nor the WNBA. UCONN won the rebounding margin @SC in 2020 and got blown out. UCONN lost the rebounding by 13 @Uconn in 2021 and won in OT. Rebounding (by itself) is not determinative of outcome of a game. However, a team (any team not just UCONN) simply cannot continue to operate at such big deficits in the rebounding margin ( as UCONN did in two games against SC this season) because this places significant pressure on playing the others aspects of your game well in order to win or even compete.

In the 2004 finals TN out rebounded UCONN 40 to 22. Hopefully this was the finals game @diggerfoot mentioned in the context of UCONN would have 1 less championship. How was UCONN able to win that championship? UCONN won by shooting 51%, 48% from deep and 82% from the free throw line resulting in a 5 point UCONN victory. Contrast this with the FF game one year prior when the teams played. TN won the rebounding margin 48 to 44. Despite UCONN shooting 45%, 41% from deep and 68% FT this game was a blowout and UCONN was able to hound TN into 31% shooting for the game although TN did collect 20 offensive rebounds.

Regarding Golden State the current team is currently a top 8 rebounding team in the league right behind the Miami Heat ( Pat Riley is the GM). Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich so I'm fairly certain he does subscribe to that mantra. Incidentally Golden State might have two more championships as the were soundly out rebounded by Cleveland and Toronto in recent losses in the finals.

Rebounding is a skill so I'm not sure what you mean when you say" I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill. " I'm also slightly confused by the "balance" you are describing.

Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson are going to help UCONN enormously with rebounding as will a healthy Dorka and AE. Geno would not have called them immediately after the game if he didn't know they could provide the help his team needs.

 

[Bone Dog]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

 

[CocoHusky]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

Yup, Guards win championships too. So if you good rebounding guard you should be all set.

 

[CL82]

So you understand the over “arching” theme.
Kudos.

Personally, “I’m loving it.”

 

[Carnac]

I was thinking the same thing!!! Another thought about Brady. It's way too early to start trying to GUESS who Geno’s starting 5 will be that first regular-season game in November. What I was thinking about this morning was who will comprise Geno’s core unit, and how many players will be in it.

I can see a rotation unit of 8-9 players consisting of Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Dorka Juhasz, Caroline Ducharme, Aaliyah Edwards, Aubrey Griffin, Nika Muhl and Lou Lopez-Senechal. That's 9 players. I can see Amari Dewberry, Isuneh (Ice) Brady, and Ayanna Patterson working their way into the rotation also. Brady and Patterson are unproven incoming freshmen who will have to learn the system and earn Geno’s trust. That could well happen once official practice begins in mid-October.

The core players are inter-changeable. Any of them are very capable of starting. Geno tells his players: “give me a reason to play you, or a reason to keep you on the bench.” None of us know right now today how fast our two freshmen will climate and assemilate into the fabric of the team.

It could be during the first three weeks of practice, of maybe not until after the holiday break. I’m betting one of them will make an impressive debut a la Crystal and Christyn early in their freshman year.

That %#? auto correct ruined my post again. Of course Amari’s last name is DeBerry, not Dewberry. That should be” acclimate, not climate.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think both you and @diggerfoot are taking that statement ( rebounding wins championships) far too literally. There is literally only one statistic that determines a champion and that is points not rebounding. Winning the rebounding battle does not guarantee that you win a championship in the NCAA nor the NBA nor the WNBA. UCONN won the rebounding margin @SC in 2020 and got blown out. UCONN lost the rebounding by 13 @Uconn in 2021 and won in OT. Rebounding (by itself) is not determinative of outcome of a game. However, a team (any team not just UCONN) simply cannot continue to operate at such big deficits in the rebounding margin ( as UCONN did in two games against SC this season) because this places significant pressure on playing the others aspects of your game well in order to win or even compete.

In the 2004 finals TN out rebounded UCONN 40 to 22. Hopefully this was the finals game @diggerfoot mentioned in the context of UCONN would have 1 less championship. How was UCONN able to win that championship? UCONN won by shooting 51%, 48% from deep and 82% from the free throw line resulting in a 5 point UCONN victory. Contrast this with the FF game one year prior when the teams played. TN won the rebounding margin 48 to 44. Despite UCONN shooting 45%, 41% from deep and 68% FT this game was a blowout and UCONN was able to hound TN into 31% shooting for the game although TN did collect 20 offensive rebounds.

Regarding Golden State the current team is currently a top 8 rebounding team in the league right behind the Miami Heat ( Pat Riley is the GM). Steve Kerr played for Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich so I'm fairly certain he does subscribe to that mantra. Incidentally Golden State might have two more championships as the were soundly out rebounded by Cleveland and Toronto in recent losses in the finals.

Rebounding is a skill so I'm not sure what you mean when you say" I wonder if some posters think the game is all about "Rebounding" and they don’t really understand or embrace the importance of "Skill. " I'm also slightly confused by the "balance" you are describing.

Ice Brady and Ayanna Patterson are going to help UCONN enormously with rebounding as will a healthy Dorka and AE. Geno would not have called them immediately after the game if he didn't know they could provide the help his team needs.

If others say what you are saying - great. I just wonder sometimes if others don't think as you.

And yes I understand your point about Golden State. But all I was saying was that I don’t think that the Pat Riley mantra is the Golden State mantra. Not that Golden State wasn't/isn't a good rebounding team.

And as far as skill; I just Googled rebounding with a question: "Is rebounding a skill?" The answer came up it is - it's called "a gentle skill." However when I google basketball skills nearly everywhere they will list shooting, passing and dribbling as skills. Even Googled and found some sites in which they either call these 3 most important skills. Or with some when they refer to 4 or even 5 most important (or similar) skills these 3 are on it but for some Rebounding is not. It's a "lesser skill." Which is probably why when I did a Google and asked the question you can see the reference of Rebounding is "a gentle skill."

That's the point where I'm coming from. I highly value rebounding and it is a basic core fundamental, but I don't put it with passing, shooting and dribbling in terms of skill. Whether one agrees or not is not material- just saying I do have a reference of the three skills and I believe it to be true. That's where I'm coming from.

 

[Carnac]

Scoring more than your opponent is a direct cause of winning. Rebounding is often (not always) an indirect cause of winning. This is the distinction I’ve had in mind this whole time, and have been puzzled by those who say “it’s all about rebounding” and suggest any dissent from this mantra is utter idiocy. It’s important to think clearly about what others say and not mis-attribute foolish things to them in order to win an imaginary argument.

I did not mean to suggest that rebounding was the end-all be-all. That would be ridiculous. There should be a balance of scoring and rebounding. If you don't/can’t put the ball in the basket, it doesn't matter how many rebounds you get. You’re going to lose.

The elite teams we play are going to score. How many extra possessions they get is determined by how many rebounds they get. If anyone read my comment any other way than that, they mis-read it.

 

[Bone Dog]

.The elite teams we play are going to score. How many extra possessions they get is determined by how many rebounds they get. If anyone read my comment any other way than that, they mis-read it.

It’s clear that the reason we lost to SC both times last season is that we were out rebounded significantly. The stat line shows this plain as day. Anyone looking at those games ought to agree that we need to rebound better next season.

There may be a couple of ways to achieve this. On offense it may be more about shot selection and running plays efficiently than merely about grappling in the paint. On defense, grappling in the paint is bound to be a more prominent factor. But here too, an all around efficient defense that switches well can be as significant a factor as grappling. This is the inverse of the offensive principle: getting offensive boards is partly a result of getting the shots your scheme calls for. Denying an opponent the shots they want to take, making them take shots they don’t want, makes it much harder for them to get offensive rebounds.

In the first game against DePaul Aneesah Morrow got lots of rebounds in part because they were able to take the shots they wanted on O and we weren’t for much of the game. In the second game, we played more efficiently on O and D and with much better energy, and as a result Morrow wasn’t a significant factor, though she still scored and rebounded respectably. The Creighton games followed a similar pattern. I take this as a fuller analysis of those games than merely saying we needed to rebound better. Something similar would be true of the SC games, and even more obviously so.

 

[hoophuskee]

It’s clear that the reason we lost to SC both times last season is that we were out rebounded significantly. The stat line shows this plain as day. Anyone looking at those games ought to agree that we need to rebound better next season.

There may be a couple of ways to achieve this. On offense it may be more about shot selection and running plays efficiently than merely about grappling in the paint.

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

 

[Alydar]

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

I'll be pleased if they just learn to box out.

 

[Stymie]

I'll be pleased if they just learn to box out.

Hallelujah

 

[Stymie]

Stymie, that's a real simple and basic equation anyone can understand.

Not here.
Lotta “just have to shoot better”.
Anything to wallpaper over the rebounding deficiency.
(Again, cue the beating a dead horse meme)

 

[HopJim]

There are two conversations that appear to be getting mixed. UConn got beaten by South Carolina in Finals but to me this is an anomaly due to: 1. Boston-when playing the top center in the country, odds are you will get outrebounded. 2. Injuries and illness to many of the top 6 UConn players. UConn wasn't a great rebounding team during the year, but not our #1 issue during the other 35 games.
Its rare that the top shooting teams (i.e. Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, etc.) are the top rebounding teams. They are usually adequate-not top 5 but top10. Rather than some that are focused solely on rebounding, not sure why there isn't more focus on becoming the top offensive team in the US. Yes, we can do better on rebounding but we don't have Boston. We do have Paige, Azzi, etc.

 

[Zanzman]

Not here.
Lotta “just have to shoot better”.
Anything to wallpaper over the rebounding deficiency.
(Again, cue the beating a dead horse meme)

 

[Bone Dog]

I'm with you I watched in horror as UCONN got wiped off on the glass. I still picture early in the game Evina Westbrook guarding Boston. One of our bigs was out, and the other who is now in the WNBA was hurt. There was only possible outcome and that was to get crushed on the boards. To make it more brutal Evina hurts herself in the 1st half.

And you made great points about offense too. I was a primary pretty good defensive player but as season wore on my shot went to crap. Even before and after I always appreciated "Offense." Ever since I was a kid and even now I appreciate "Offense" more (not saying anyone that prefers defense is wrong. Not one bit.). But on the Defensive end I saw we were overwhelmed on the glass, - I was hoping to see some spark on offense. To my horror and even now I can hear Lobo commenting how Henderson was denying Paige the ball. IMO watching that game there was only 1 player on offense that can make a play - and that was Paige. Between allowing the smaller player Henderson deny Paige the ball as much as she did which should never be much of a factor for someone like Paige and UCONN, for UCONN not looking for Paige as much as they should and or just not forcing the offense to get her the ball (not for her to necessarily shoot but ger her the ball in a triple-threat position) when the other players couldn't do much, or Paige turning down shots had me very, very frustrated. There is no way no way the top guard in WCBB for a quality team like UCONN should be as restricted as they were in getting Paige the ball in decent enough positions as infrequently as they were - when it was clear she was the only one capable of making potentially consistent plays.

So as you say "they better be better rebounding next season," - also imo the execution on offense had better be much better too. The lack of offense -- scoring only 49 points in which we have to hear someone like Lobo tell us that a smaller player isn't "allowing" Paige to shoot should be inexcusable too. I won't get into injuries -- just saying if Paige has an advantage - this team should not be broken enough that they can’t get her the ball if that is the best way to score in a potentially hard fought game when she has a pretty good advantage (which she did).

I'm always looking for the bigger picture. It wasn't just about rebounding as though that happens in a vacuum. But once we were weakened in that area, everything else suffered. Henderson could play deny defense on Paige only because there weren't enough other options and they were not worried about us getting an offensive rebound. If we'd been healthier -- and especially with Dorka healthy -- the rebounding imbalance would likely have been smaller. And if that had been the case, Paige would have blown right past Henderson's deny defense and either scored or forced Saxton and Beal to foul her. That's what happened in the game two years ago even though we had a weaker starting 5 and they had essentially the same one as this year.

But sadly, none of this was the case, we had the healthy personnel we had, and that meant we'd lose the rebounding battle by a large enough margin to allow Henderson to play deny defense on Paige, and all the rest followed with grim inexorability.

Now if I slip into speculation mode and try to imagine what the next year's meetings will look like, I conclude from this not that we need to recruit/transfer even more burly post players, but that we may have enough muscle already, and that with a healthy Paige and Azzi (i.e.other-Paige) and SC minus Henderson, SC will struggle to guard the perimeter giving Aaliyah and Dorka and at least one of Aubrey/Amari/Ayanna/Ice a free hand in the paint. Two years ago, they could barely keep up with only one Paige. How will they manage, with the same personnel on their side, to guard Caroline and Lou as well? Two seasons ago, in the game we barely won -- a tight matchup to be sure -- Beal was assigned to guard Paige and she scored 30. I wonder how they'll account for Azzi, Caroline and Lou. Will Zia be assigned to Paige? Can Beal keep up with Azzi? If so, is Saxton supposed to come out against Caroline and Lou? Boston will probably out play Dorka, but will she and Cardozo collectively outplay Dorka, Amari, and Ice while Saxton and Amihere struggle to box out Aaliyah, Aubrey, and Ayanna? It really seems to me that they will have more problems to solve than we will.

 

[hoophuskee]

I'm always looking for the bigger picture. It wasn't just about rebounding as though that happens in a vacuum. But once we were weakened in that area, everything else suffered. Henderson could play deny defense on Paige only because there weren't enough other options and they were not worried about us getting an offensive rebound. If we'd been healthier -- and especially with Dorka healthy -- the rebounding imbalance would likely have been smaller. And if that had been the case, Paige would have blown right past Henderson's deny defense and either scored or forced Saxton and Beal to foul her. That's what happened in the game two years ago even though we had a weaker starting 5 and they had essentially the same one as this year.

But sadly, none of this was the case, we had the healthy personnel we had, and that meant we'd lose the rebounding battle by a large enough margin to allow Henderson to play deny defense on Paige, and all the rest followed with grim inexorability.

Now if I slip into speculation mode and try to imagine what the next year's meetings will look like, I conclude from this not that we need to recruit/transfer even more burly post players, but that we may have enough muscle already, and that with a healthy Paige and Azzi (i.e.other-Paige) and SC minus Henderson, SC will struggle to guard the perimeter giving Aaliyah and Dorka and at least one of Aubrey/Amari/Ayanna/Ice a free hand in the paint. Two years ago, they could barely keep up with only one Paige. How will they manage, with the same personnel on their side, to guard Caroline and Lou as well? Two seasons ago, in the game we barely won -- a tight matchup to be sure -- Beal was assigned to guard Paige and she scored 30. I wonder how they'll account for Azzi, Caroline and Lou. Will Zia be assigned to Paige? Can Beal keep up with Azzi? If so, is Saxton supposed to come out against Caroline and Lou? Boston will probably out play Dorka, but will she and Cardozo collectively outplay Dorka, Amari, and Ice while Saxton and Amihere struggle to box out Aaliyah, Aubrey, and Ayanna? It really seems to me that they will have more problems to solve than we will.

They're loaded with seniors and they are getting a transfer guard along with their other youth of Raven and a couple of H/S A/A's. Imo we're behind them.

 

[Bone Dog]

And in that speculation, I didn't even mention the foul problem. Boston nearly fouled out in the game two years ago and Saxton had 3, while Olivia and Aaliyah each had 4. Next time around, they'll have Cardozo as a back up to Boston, so 5 more fouls to throw at the problem. But we'll have a much deeper bench to absorb a lot more fouls.

 

[Bone Dog]

They're loaded with seniors and they are getting a transfer guard along with their other youth of Raven and a couple of H/S A/A's. Imo we're behind them.

I think you have a point about their seniors. We'll only have a few Juniors, a few sophomores and two grad students. But I have to disagree about the freshmen out of fear of @CocoHusky et al blaming us for assuming they'll develop at all. If we can't assume the same for a rising sophomore like Amari, or freshmen like Ice and Ayanna, how can we possibly allow ourselves to assume the same for Dawn's freshmen?

In other words, SC will likely start an inexperienced sophomore point guard (5 mins/game) and 4 seniors including the NPOY. By contrast, we'll likely start two juniors, including a junior point guard former NPOY, two sophomores, and a grad student, all very experienced. I think we ought to call this a wash.

Now who will we sub in? I think SC will likely sub in one junior center (14 mins/game) and no one else with any significant game experience. We'll likely be able to sub in 2 juniors and a grad student with substantial game experience, a sophomore center with little game experience, and two freshmen posts. It's all just idle speculation, but I like our odds.

 

[CocoHusky]

There are two conversations that appear to be getting mixed. UConn got beaten by South Carolina in Finals but to me this is an anomaly due to: 1. Boston-when playing the top center in the country, odds are you will get outrebounded. 2. Injuries and illness to many of the top 6 UConn players. UConn wasn't a great rebounding team during the year, but not our #1 issue during the other 35 games.
Its rare that the top shooting teams (i.e. Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, etc.) are the top rebounding teams. They are usually adequate-not top 5 but top10. Rather than some that are focused solely on rebounding, not sure why there isn't more focus on becoming the top offensive team in the US. Yes, we can do better on rebounding but we don't have Boston. We do have Paige, Azzi, etc.

I'm rather surprised by the separation given these two things- better rebounding and becoming top offensive team in the nation.
Better rebounding includes offensive rebounds which are usually close to your own basket and can make many high percentage shots. SC collected 21 Offensive rebounds in the championship game.
More importantly without adequate defensive rebounds UCONN is unable to ignite the transition game where the defense is on their heels. It would be very helpful for UCONN to return to a top offensive team in the nation if UCONN was not going up against a set defense on the majority of the offensive possessions.
Equating the SC rebounding advantage in the recent games to only Boston is a little bit sketchy. SC out rebounded UCONN in 4 of the 5 starting defensive matchups and top 2 subs in the final game so it was not just Boston . By contrast in the FF game against Stanford UCONN was able to win 3 of the 5 starting rebounding matchups and decisively won the first two subs matchup with Nika and Evina collecting 8 and 6 rebounds respectively.

 

[Bone Dog]

@CocoHusky is right that defensive rebounding is essential to the transition game. This is the key to easy shots. I don’t quite follow the analysis of matchup rebounding, and I’m not sure it’s a meaningful statistic. Often boxing out your matchup allows someone else on your team to get the rebound. Do we have a stat on box-out rebounds?

But @HopJim is probably thinking that offensive rebounds are inversely related to better shooting. Here too the statistics may not help much, but the broader facts show that champions are not always the best rebounding teams.

It seems to depend on how you build your team, and this depends on who you can recruit. It looks like Geno has been trying to build a good rebounding team but lost key rebounding prospects in recent years. In interviews over the last two years, he seemed mainly complained, in this order, about:

1) Playing poor D,
2) Poor shooting
3) Poor defensive rebounding
4) Missed layups

I think this reflects both concerns. And I am struck by the fact that he doesn’t complain about offensive rebounding, unless it’s the other team’s.

Here, too, I try to think of the bigger picture. Rebounding is partly a function of shot selection, namely getting the shot we want on offense and not letting the opponent get the shot they want. A team that executes well tends to rebound well on both ends. And transition scoring depends essentially on defensive execution. We want them to take a forced off balance shot so we’re in a better position to rebound a ball they’re not ready for.

From this perspective it becomes clear that great guard play is a huge factor in effective rebounding. It’s not that the guards have to get the rebounds. They just have to prevent easy shots from the midrange and beyond and prevent easy passes into the paint. Something similar will be true of offensive rebounds.

 

[Stymie]

Regarding offensive rebounds.
Don’t they often lead to layups and/or second shots closer in (therefore shots that drop with a higher percentage)?
And in the event they do not result in a put back shot, they result in a shot clock reset which (IMHO) drains energy from the defending team and increases their propensity to foul.
That’s why I consider them such a valuable commodity.

 

[meyers7]

I get the funny feeling that @Stymie knew that phrase did not apply to McDonalds and was just being pedantic. Very similar to someone using the word confusement.

I don't trust anyone to know anything around here.

 

[Bone Dog]

Regarding offensive rebounds.
Don’t they often lead to layups and/or second shots closer in (therefore shots that drop with a higher percentage)?
And in the event they do not result in a put back shot, they result in a shot clock reset which (IMHO) drains energy from the defending team and increases their propensity to foul.
That’s why I consider them such a valuable commodity.

Offensive rebounds are not preferable to making the shot in the first place. This is especially true of missed layups. Unless you mean we should miss layups intentionally. Of course you don't. You make a good point about clock management, but even this is not worth intentionally missing a layup for. This is probably why they don't figure more prominently in Geno's mid- and post-game interviews. He probably thinks it's always better to make the shot than to miss it.