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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2664290, member: 2117"] They really don’t match up at all with UCONN, but if they’re going to win they need big nights from Arike and Mabrey. What Notre Dame lacks in atheticism they make up in craftiness. None of Mabrey, Shepard, and Young are extremely athletic, but all are extremely crafty and capable of creating their own shot. I think Westbeld could be a huge weapon too because she is very good from the high post, and if she can knock down a couple of shots early, it may generate looks for Mabrey and Arike on the perimeter, or open lanes for Young to get to the basket. If Arike starts to play hero ball, it’ll be a long night for ND. She can’t force shots. Most important is they cannot settle for perimeter shots. All of their players are capable rebounders, but perimeter shots mean long rebounds that UCONN will have an edge to grabbing due their quickness and it’ll lead to fast break opportunities. They cannot get in a running game with UCONN. Defensively, I think they need to give open shots from 12 feet and back to Collier, Stevens and Williams. Close out on the 3 lights out perimeter shooters, and do the best they can on Z. I’m sure Muffet has something up her sleeve. The only time she was really blown out by Geno in the last 6-7 years was the 2014 title game when they just lost Achonwa and Dolson/Stewart completely abused freshman Taya Reimer inside. Even the 2013 semifinal was a close game until about 5-6 minutes to go. Another factor I haven’t seen mentioned is that no one on ND’s roster has ever beat UCONN. For as much poise and confidence they show compared to most other teams, they self destructed in December. If they find themselves in a similar position, I’m not convinced they’ll remained poised and be able to close it out. [/QUOTE]

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