IMO UCONN looked very beatable on Sunday

[jsloanjr]

BTW, I did not see the game live, but it just seemed that if Louisville could have hit a few more shots the Big MO might have turned. Our post players seemd very slow to the ball in the paint and the help defense was missing. How many rebounds did UCONN miss becuse of being out of position or Louisville wanted it more? Rebounding is ATTITUDE and TOUGHNESS......I am sure geno will address this this week. But, it was a good win by 17 points against a very good Louisvulle team....They did not play their "A" game either. Plus, they were missin Bria Smith?...March 3rd should be fun.

Breanna was awesome and so was MO Jeff......Sunday was not our best game and if they play like that in a few weeks in KY, we are in trouble....I am praying for KML's speedy recovery this week...Time is on our side.

 

[calpedaler]

and if UConn would have hit a few more shots they would have won by 30.

 

[Dickers]

And if Geno had not called the dogs off at about the 7 minute mark, it could have been 40. Stewart didn't score from about the halfway time in the second period. Imagine the score if she had the green light for 40 minutes!! I think that Geno can install that "killer instinct" by letting them be killers.
It seems that as he has aged a bit, and being in the new conference, he has called off the dogs in a lot of these games. LET THE BIG DOGS RUN.

 

[VAMike23]

and if UConn would have hit a few more shots they would have won by 30.

I was thinking the same thing - if this game were re-played ten times with the same adjustments, decisions, etc. , I think that we usually hit a few more 3's as a team, particularly in the first half. If they weren't good, open looks in the flow of the offense, I wouldn't be saying this. But I think 85% of them were.

If we had a hot shooting night, it could have been a 30 point win. The winning margin represented about the smallest margin that our 'run of play' was likely to yield. I don't believe there were any big gaps or adjustments that we needed to make. It was what it was....

 

[meyers7]

BTW, I did not see the game live, but it just seemed that if Louisville could have hit a few more shots the Big MO might have turned. Our post players seemd very slow to the ball in the paint and the help defense was missing. How many rebounds did UCONN miss becuse of being out of position or Louisville wanted it more? Rebounding is ATTITUDE and TOUGHNESS.I am sure geno will address this this week. But, it was a good win by 17 points against a very good Louisvulle team....They did not play their "A" game either. Plus, they were missin Bria Smith?...March 3rd should be fun.

Breanna was awesome and so was MO Jeff.Sunday was not our best game and if they play like that in a few weeks in KY, we are in trouble....I am praying for KML's speedy recovery this week...Time is on our side.

Really? Please tell me this is tongue in cheek.

The game was never in doubt and was over by about the 8-10 minute mark in the 2nd half.

Come on, really?

 

[sparky]

Of course if you listened to the announcers, they were touting the Ville's coach for his ability to see what was happening and to make great adjustments for their next meeting. I guess Geno and the ladies will just sit back and do nothing.

 

[baggerbob]

Geno has done that a number of times this year, where Stewie hits a few shots in the 2nd half, lead gets up to 20+, then Stewie spends the rest of the game outside passing the ball around the perimeter, not looking to shoot.

 

[msf22b]

Louisville certainly found that there are some opportunities in no-mans land.
Not at the guard level and not underneath but 15-18 feet away.
Asia Taylor showed poise and exactittude out there and scored plenty.
Now, if Geno can devise a D for that without sacrificing the above areas, I'll be impressed.
Does anyone expect less?

 

[ndmb]

UConn is beatable, otherwise, why bother watching the game? Did they play their best game ever? No, but I wouldn't be worrying about the sky falling because we only beat a top 5-10 team by 17.

 

[JoePgh]

And if Geno had not called the dogs off at about the 7 minute mark, it could have been 40. Stewart didn't score from about the halfway time in the second period. Imagine the score if she had the green light for 40 minutes!! I think that Geno can install that "killer instinct" by letting them be killers.
It seems that as he has aged a bit, and being in the new conference, he has called off the dogs in a lot of these games. LET THE BIG DOGS RUN.

He did not call the dogs off at the 7-minute mark, as the post-game interviews with the coaches and Stewie made clear. The team stopped playing well at that point, fortunately with a 22-point lead. Even playing relatively poorly, they still won by 17. Louisville outscored UConn in the last 7 minutes by 14-9, which should not have happened but certainly was within the realm of plausible outcomes.

I don't think the game was really in doubt. Both the offense and defense were working as designed (UConn shot 49+%, Louisville 36% -- both near UConn's averages for FG% and FG% against). The 17-point margin was probably about right for the difference between the two teams. It would not surprise me to see a 10-12 point UConn win in Louisville, which would also seem to be about right.

 

[phil sampieri]

He did not call the dogs off at the 7-minute mark, as the post-game interviews with the coaches and Stewie made clear. The team stopped playing well at that point, fortunately with a 22-point lead. Even playing relatively poorly, they still won by 17. Louisville outscored UConn in the last 7 minutes by 14-9, which should not have happened but certainly was within the realm of plausible outcomes.

I don't think the game was really in doubt. Both the offense and defense were working as designed (UConn shot 49+%, Louisville 36% -- both near UConn's averages for FG% and FG% against). The 17-point margin was probably about right for the difference between the two teams. It would not surprise me to see a 10-12 point UConn win in Louisville, which would also seem to be about right.

Watch the game again and tell me they didn't take the air out of the ball. Are you kidding? UC had a few chances for fast breaks and just pulled up and ran offense, starting at about 5+ minutes. You will also notice Louisville was totally out of gas and we could have easily at that point outscore them by another 10 or 12 points.

 

[sawxfan23]

BTW, I did not see the game live, but it just seemed that if Louisville could have hit a few more shots the Big MO might have turned. Our post players seemd very slow to the ball in the paint and the help defense was missing. How many rebounds did UCONN miss becuse of being out of position or Louisville wanted it more? Rebounding is ATTITUDE and TOUGHNESS.I am sure geno will address this this week. But, it was a good win by 17 points against a very good Louisvulle team....They did not play their "A" game either. Plus, they were missin Bria Smith?...March 3rd should be fun.

Breanna was awesome and so was MO Jeff.Sunday was not our best game and if they play like that in a few weeks in KY, we are in trouble....I am praying for KML's speedy recovery this week...Time is on our side.

Louisville shot 50% and IMHO played just about as well as they could while UConn did not shoot the ball well at all, played the entire 2nd half with a banged up KML, played the whole game without BB, and still won by 17. The rebounding is skewed because when you get down like Louisville did you start sending everyone to crash the boards and get more rebounds but you you also give up a lot more transition buckets. UConn will win by 20 plus on March 3rd.

 

[Shenandoah]

I think that a comfortable 15-20 point win gets the point across that you are a better team, no doubt. It also serves to not embarass or tick off your opponent. A wise strategy given that we may see them possibly 2-3 times more this year.

 

[DobbsRover2]

As Pam and Becca remarked many times during the game, neither team is going to push to the limit or show all their plays in a game that is the opener in what could be a four game season's set. The game went pretty much to plan, as the stats were fairly standard against a top team and the margin was almost exactly what Sagarin predicted, while Massey had it at 81-60, so they nailed UConn's score at least.

I also don't think Geno was too keen on having any late game post action that could result in a KLM type tumble against a hard-nosed defensive team like Lville. It isn't worth it when the game is well in hand.

That said, UConn knows it can't always depend on the 3-pt shooting to be clicking as was in the early void on Sunday, and setting up the type of plays where MoJeff swoops in for a layup could be critical down the road.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

BTW, I did not see the game live, but it just seemed that if Louisville could have hit a few more shots the Big MO might have turned. Our post players seemd very slow to the ball in the paint and the help defense was missing. How many rebounds did UCONN miss becuse of being out of position or Louisville wanted it more? Rebounding is ATTITUDE and TOUGHNESS.I am sure geno will address this this week. But, it was a good win by 17 points against a very good Louisvulle team....They did not play their "A" game either. Plus, they were missin Bria Smith?...March 3rd should be fun.

Breanna was awesome and so was MO Jeff.Sunday was not our best game and if they play like that in a few weeks in KY, we are in trouble....I am praying for KML's speedy recovery this week...Time is on our side.

Take some Vitamin A, get under a sunlamp briefly, look in the mirror and repeat: I feel great. I feel great. I feel great.

 

[CCinCT]

Of course if you listened to the announcers, they were touting the Ville's coach for his ability to see what was happening and to make great adjustments for their next meeting. I guess Geno and the ladies will just sit back and do nothing.

Sparky is correct - it seems a common theory on part of the the ESPN shills - I'm sorry, I meant announcers - that UCONN will NOT get any better, but any team they are playing will improve by leaps and bounds

 

[UcMiami]

Yup - I was on the edge of my seat the whole game ... if Jefferson hadn't buried that one three when we were up by 19 I think we lose. It was nip and tuck throughout the second half but thank goodness we pulled it out in the end.
Louisville could find a defensive rebound in the first half. Nor an offensive one.
I will say that Louisville with Hammond being their tallest player at 6'2" does pose a little bit of a problem for Uconn in that their 'post players have to be guarded out to near the three point line and that is not Stef's strong suit, but the opposite is true, they have no one who can really guard Stef in the paint so they have to double team any time the ball goes low. Not dissimilar to Stanford whose posts tend to be three point shooters.

 

[msf22b]

Not dissimilar to Stanford whose posts tend to be three point shooters.

I always thought that MS. Ogwumike is relatively undeveloped in her skills past the foul line.

 

[watanabe]

UConn could play exactly the same way in March with the exception of shutting down LVs mid range shots. UConn by 30 easy.

 

[huskeynut]

The game was never, and I repeat NEVER, in doubt. Hammon, Slaughter and Shimmel were non factors. One LV player scored in double figures. Please remember, UConn plays man - to - man defense. So props to Bria, MoJef, KML, Stewie and Stef.

Come March it will be the same result. LV is good but not that good.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Louisville shot 50% and IMHO played just about as well as they could while UConn did not shoot the ball well at all, played the entire 2nd half with a banged up KML, played the whole game without BB, and still won by 17.

Sez who? ESPN.com says they shot 37% from the floor, 32% from three, and 77% from the line. Not a 50% in sight.

 

[CTyankee]

The sky is falling... The sky is falling...

 

[chrissaran]

In March Louisville will be healthy; Connecticut will be healthy. Connecticut will win. We played without Kaleena for most of the second half, and Brianna Banks didn't play at all. With eight healthy players UConn will probably press a bit more, not too much more, but a bit more. Brianna is a tough defender, and she will help the other guards get a bit more rest. UConn will win 83-65.

 

[sawxfan23]

Sez who? ESPN.com says they shot 37% from the floor, 32% from three, and 77% from the line. Not a 50% in sight.

You are right I misremembered it was UConn that shot 50%

 

[pap49cba]

jsloanjr just likes to stir the pot. This post reminded me of why I used to have him on ignore.