Is there a difference in UConn's Offense this year?

[PhillyCoach]

I saw a few flashes of the new offense in the previous games. The ND game was a full blown execution of the new tactic. For the first time (please correct me if I am wrong), every UConn player in this game (6), drove hard to the hoop multiple times. Even ONO was at the top of the circle and faked before driving in. Pheese did it constantly. Danger did it more than usual. Megan had her moments. Lou is getting better and better at the inside drive. But the leader of the day (and in MHO) going forward is CW. She had ND defense spinning like a top. MW is quick, athletic, strong, soft hands. acrobatic, fearless, and confident. Geno has stated that CW should have had the ball in the 2nd quarter more often because she was generating a lot of the action. I cannot remember UConn ever having 5 starters who can genuinely take it to the hoop. UConn took ND's driving game away quite a few times and gave them a taste of their own style. The last 2 years ND was driving on UConn at will. IN fact, many teams in the near past knew that UConn had trouble stopping the drives. And UConn was mainly an outside shooting team. **Remember the MIss St. semi 2 years ago. No one could get an open shot and DAnger was not allowed to create her own shot and drive.
IMHO UConn will be so much more dangerous offensively because they can shoot and drive with anyone. And they have 5 players who can score in double figures---easily.

 

[BobbyJ]

I saw a few flashes of the new offense in the previous games. The ND game was a full blown execution of the new tactic. For the first time (please correct me if I am wrong), every UConn player in this game (6), drove hard to the hoop multiple times. Even ONO was at the top of the circle and faked before driving in. Pheese did it constantly. Danger did it more than usual. Megan had her moments. Lou is getting better and better at the inside drive. But the leader of the day (and in MHO) going forward is CW. She had ND defense spinning like a top. MW is quick, athletic, strong, soft hands. acrobatic, fearless, and confident. Geno has stated that CW should have had the ball in the 2nd quarter more often because she was generating a lot of the action. I cannot remember UConn ever having 5 starters who can genuinely take it to the hoop. UConn took ND's driving game away quite a few times and gave them a taste of their own style. The last 2 years ND was driving on UConn at will. IN fact, many teams in the near past knew that UConn had trouble stopping the drives. And UConn was mainly an outside shooting team. **Remember the MIss St. semi 2 years ago. No one could get an open shot and DAnger was not allowed to create her own shot and drive.
IMHO UConn will be so much more dangerous offensively because they can shoot and drive with anyone. And they have 5 players who can score in double figures---easily.

Exactly. It improves tremendously their ability to get to the foul line and create kick outs. They were limited the last few years by Gabby's reluctance to drive AND pull up for the mid-range and Nurses' inability to drive and get off a shot in traffic. The prime beneficiary should be getting more wide open 3's.

 

[huskeynut]

The entire starting 5 has the ability to dribble and drive. So yes, this adds a new aspect to the offense. If Liv continues to play and improve, she will also dribble and drive to the hoop. More ammunition on the court.

 

[Sonny44]

I saw a few flashes of the new offense in the previous games. The ND game was a full blown execution of the new tactic. For the first time (please correct me if I am wrong), every UConn player in this game (6), drove hard to the hoop multiple times. Even ONO was at the top of the circle and faked before driving in. Pheese did it constantly. Danger did it more than usual. Megan had her moments. Lou is getting better and better at the inside drive. But the leader of the day (and in MHO) going forward is CW. She had ND defense spinning like a top. MW is quick, athletic, strong, soft hands. acrobatic, fearless, and confident. Geno has stated that CW should have had the ball in the 2nd quarter more often because she was generating a lot of the action. I cannot remember UConn ever having 5 starters who can genuinely take it to the hoop. UConn took ND's driving game away quite a few times and gave them a taste of their own style. The last 2 years ND was driving on UConn at will. IN fact, many teams in the near past knew that UConn had trouble stopping the drives. And UConn was mainly an outside shooting team. **Remember the MIss St. semi 2 years ago. No one could get an open shot and DAnger was not allowed to create her own shot and drive.
IMHO UConn will be so much more dangerous offensively because they can shoot and drive with anyone. And they have 5 players who can score in double figures---easily.

Yes, CW!

 

[CocoHusky]

I saw a few flashes of the new offense in the previous games. The ND game was a full blown execution of the new tactic. For the first time (please correct me if I am wrong), every UConn player in this game (6), drove hard to the hoop multiple times. Even ONO was at the top of the circle and faked before driving in. Pheese did it constantly. Danger did it more than usual. Megan had her moments. Lou is getting better and better at the inside drive. But the leader of the day (and in MHO) going forward is CW. She had ND defense spinning like a top. MW is quick, athletic, strong, soft hands. acrobatic, fearless, and confident. Geno has stated that CW should have had the ball in the 2nd quarter more often because she was generating a lot of the action. I cannot remember UConn ever having 5 starters who can genuinely take it to the hoop. UConn took ND's driving game away quite a few times and gave them a taste of their own style. The last 2 years ND was driving on UConn at will. IN fact, many teams in the near past knew that UConn had trouble stopping the drives. And UConn was mainly an outside shooting team. **Remember the MIss St. semi 2 years ago. No one could get an open shot and DAnger was not allowed to create her own shot and drive.
IMHO UConn will be so much more dangerous offensively because they can shoot and drive with anyone. And they have 5 players who can score in double figures---easily.

There is no doubt that a big part of UCONN's game plan last night was to attack ND off the bounce. Defensive foot speed is not ND's forte (Mabrey) and (Arike) makes little to no effort to get around the high ball screen. Jackie Young was uncharacteristically lazy and reaching last night. I think Phesa and KLS only missed one shot each that was more than 6 feet away from the basket when Turner or Shepard was the primary defender.

 

[msf22b]

Let's not forget that with (essentially) 5 person rotations, a common strategy of both teams had to have been to get the other in foul difficulty. And driving into the paint certainly has that effect.

I remarked last night that certainly what Philly mentioned had to have been a strategy...then in the presser, Geno confirmed it with regard Ms Williams. He noted that she does that (drives in and is unguardable) all the time in practice and that it's easy to encourage a player (even a frosh) to do what is her natural inclination in the 1st place.

Then there is KLS's recently discovered aggressiveness near the hoop (thanks Kobie), Napheesa's pivot maneuvers, Danger's floaters and MW's offensive board potential (which despite her highlight reel item in the 4th quarter, Geno felt she could do even more).

Put it all together and you have a much more aggressive, much less
dainty/finesse team than I can recall.

Some of it is Geno's superb understanding of what talents he has and making the best use of them...see presser re: Williams above...is it possible that a small bit is do to our new assistant coach...who knows?

 

[BostonCanuck]

The Husky's motion or passing offence, as it's known, seemed to peak towards the end of the Stewie era. The departure of the talented big three, and the benefit of hindsight, revealed that offense to have become somewhat predictable and overused by the team. Good opponents were able to recognize repetitive patterns by studying video, then devise and deploy defensive countermeasures. And when they did that in two consecutive national semi-finals, the Huskies seemed panicked and unprepared, partly because none of the seniors during those years were naturals at creating off the dribble.

Geno introduced some adjustments last season, but didn't have quite the right mix of players to complete the transition. Well that problem no longer exists, as CW (and others) emphatically proved last night!

The team now has a larger toolkit of options to choose from for their half-court sets. Geno is still using the motion offense at times where it makes sense to do so. But now, when a defense gets too out in front with pass denial for example, our players can create and break down the defense with good dribble drive penetration that often result in relatively easy layups or pull-up j's. It's looking like the best of both worlds to me.