Its coming together | The Boneyard

Its coming together

Tonyc

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Well we havent played 20 games yet and you can see the improvement. Last nite after a few days off, some rest and some practice, I liked alot of what I saw. Edwards another double digit point nite. She looked comfortable out there and played with confidence. Shes very athletic and is becoming a star. Liv making outside shots forced the defense to come out and guard her and that opened the middle up allowing us to penetrate. A big plus for Christyn as well as allowing everybody else Next we need Evina and Nika to start scoring. I expect to plays run to get both of them going.

Looking back at some of the games it almost appeared like in the big games against ranked teams, plays were set up for Paige as we were in a bit of a minnie slump shooting. Paige delivered. Then in the past few games it seemed like Paige became more of a facilitator and it was time to get Christyn goin. Last nite in her interview she was so happy to receive a compliment from Geno and that compliment may have just given her her confidence back.
So on Saturday Im hoping to see plays run to get Evina and Nika going.

The defense has come along way. We as individuals and as a team have come along way. We still have a long way to go but right now we are playing like the number 1 team in the country. Now we must continue to move forward and not get caught in our comfort zone. I feel that alot of what has happened over the past 10 games was getting individuals ready for March. Playing them and working them into Genos system so it flowed. Paith looked much improved last nite too and Saylor made a couple of really good plays. At 6'2 with the way she handles the ball shes special. She doesnt look lost out there and she seems to know where to be. Hey shes not afraid to shoot either and when her shot starts falling...well thats all we need.

We are beginning to look and play like a team with confidence. We've got all the pieces and those pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Were coming together at the right time. With so many underclassman we have plenty of room for improvement and by the time we get through the BE tourney we're gonna be tournament tuff and tuff out...a very tuff out. The one thing that we've got that no other team has is a go to player, maybe the greatest guard to ever play the game that makes things happen. Thats why I feel barring injuries and foul trouble we will win the National Championship and after this year there will be no more questions about who is the best team in WCBB because we will be unbeatable by any other team, other then ourselves.
 
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Correa scored 33 points in Uconn's last meeting with St.Johns and in this game she was outscored by a high school senior named Poffenbarger 3-2. As you say Tony, when her shots start to fall, she may yet provide some very useful minutes for the team going forward.
 
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I too am hopeful, but cautious & concerned as well.

I see a talented team with potential which plays with great inconsistency and lacks leadership.

Hard to be excited for a Tournament run when multiple starters fail to score - sometimes Christyn Williams, most recently both Nika & Evina.

Evina is the team veteran who I generally applaud for her play, but you gotta score if we are going anywhere. I love Nika's ferocity, but you gotta score. Christyn is even more a puzzle being sometimes on and sometimes off - not great as a junior on a veteran lacking team.

Yes we're young, yes we have talent, but we don't have continuity which at this juncture in the season is scary.
 

Carnac

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I too am hopeful, but cautious & concerned as well.

I see a talented team with potential which plays with great inconsistency and lacks leadership.

Hard to be excited for a Tournament run when multiple starters fail to score - sometimes Christyn Williams, most recently both Nika & Evina.

Evina is the team veteran who I generally applaud for her play, but you gotta score if we are going anywhere. I love Nika's ferocity, but you gotta score. Christyn is even more a puzzle being sometimes on and sometimes off - not great as a junior on a veteran lacking team.

Yes we're young, yes we have talent, but we don't have continuity which at this juncture in the season is scary.
Not having continuity will send you home from the tournament. I'm excited as anyone about UConn's recent play. BUT........like Skip Bayless often says........"I need to see more." Was last night's play an aboration or trend? Was that game last night a "tease" or a prelude of things to come?

I want and need to see this team play the remaining games on their schedule like they played last night. SHOW ME that you can play like that over a stretch of games. Geno didn't have to do a lot of coaching last night. The team (for the most part) played like a run-a-way train going down hill. They threw a blanket over the Red Storm by executing their offense on one end, and making stops on the other.

I want to see EVERYONE show up, not just Paige and 1-2 others that decide to come along for the ride. I want to see Christyn and ONO show up, play and contribute like they did last night. I need some meaning minutes (contribution) from Nika and Evina too. I know what I'm going to get from Aaliyah. She shows up for every game, and backs down to no one. Aubrey can be counted on. I'd like to see shoot wen she has open looks (or drive the lane) when she has them and not defer to others.

We have basketbaall players on outr team. I want and expect to see them PLAY!!! Don't be araid to shoot when you have an open shot! You're an elite player playing on an elite team at an elite level. If you could not play at this level, you wouldn't be here. TAKE THE SHOT!!! :mad: Paige will play and perform better if she doesn't have to carry the whole load by herself. These are team games. They should be team wins.

That was a fun game to watch and re-watch. All of us felt real good after that game. THAT was the type of UConn women's basketball that we'ree use to seeing. I'll be looking to see if UConn comes out fast and loose or lathargic and unable to score. I want to see if they can pick up where they left off. Don't talk about it, be about it!! Just do it!!
 
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I too am hopeful, but cautious & concerned as well.

I see a talented team with potential which plays with great inconsistency and lacks leadership.

Hard to be excited for a Tournament run when multiple starters fail to score - sometimes Christyn Williams, most recently both Nika & Evina.

Evina is the team veteran who I generally applaud for her play, but you gotta score if we are going anywhere. I love Nika's ferocity, but you gotta score. Christyn is even more a puzzle being sometimes on and sometimes off - not great as a junior on a veteran lacking team.

Yes we're young, yes we have talent, but we don't have continuity which at this juncture in the season is scary.
Really, offensively, in terms of scoring, we are only firing on 3 of our 5 starting cylinders. The defense was what last nite was about. It led to offense because it caused deflections and turnovers but also because it leads to a faster set up for the offensive sets. It is very reminiscent of last year's late season turnaround when we had no depth. Now we have it with Aubrey, Mir and AE and the ability to slide Evina, Paige or keep Nika at the point as needed.

We need 5 threats on offense. Perhaps it is a confidence issue with Nika and Evina but I agree that we are vulnerable if we aren't getting production from everyone.

Against a St. John's, shutting down Correa meant shutting them down as a team but there are going to be other teams that are not a one trick pony and they will challenge Nika and Evina to shoot by doubling or overplaying everyone else to the ball. Anyway, I felt we looked more like we want to look last nite than at any prior time all season. When Geno said that might have been CW's best game, I think he was referring to her whole career. He loved her defense. It just propelled her on offense as she related after the game. We BYers have been saying that all season. We really do get it right here.
 
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Don't know about Christyn's best game of her career. Her freshman year, against ND, when she scored 28 in front of a National audience, may have been her downfall. High expectations for a freshman after that game. Very few players have Paige's confidence, and almost none as freshmen.
 
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Assuming the stellar team defense holds, and I expect that it will, we really just need Paige, Chrisyn and one of our two bigs to play well offensively, in order to be the favorite in any game we could encounter for the duration of the season. A strong game from Evina and/or Aubrey on such a night would be icing on the cake, rendering us almost unbeatable I would think. So color me optimistic. With Geno fine-tuning his team as March approaches, I see this happening much more often than not on a nightly basis.
 
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Huskee11

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We had 52 shot attempts against Georgetown and 51 against Saint John`s. Those are season lows.

Not sure what to make of that. In the case of Saint John`s, certainly part of it was that many were going in, not a need for many offensive rebounds (we had 9). I also think that our defensive intensity was forcing Saint John`s to run the shot clock down a lot.

Our shots were by and large good shots. We took some ill-advised shots, but very few bad shots.

Last night I saw a team that was working the ball around quite well and the ball was ending up in the hot hands of shooters with open shots. 8-11, 8-11, 8-10, 5-7.

Nika had 5 assists one turnover, Evina 7 and 2. So they were helping facilitate things on a night when the others were lighting it up. Their lack of point production was not a problem last night.

In a total of 53 minutes of play, they only took 3 shots combined. Saylor took 4 in 5 minutes.

Even though it worked out fine last night, I would like to see them shoot more than that. There may be nights when some of the others are off, or are getting lots of defensive attention, and we will need more from them. And we have gotten more from them at various points this year, example Evina at Tennessee.

Like Anna, Nika is too committed to passing off the dribble.

Both Nika and Evina also need to get more comfortable with taking open shots when they show. The 10-15 footer was there for both of them a few times last night. That should be money in the bank. For whatever reason, lots of players pass up that shot. Paige doesn`t.

For those of us that played before the advent of the three point line, we had a name for the midrange game. It was called "basketball".
 

HuskylnSC

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Time for the minority report. I thought Evina's play against St. John's was fantastic. Eight rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and a block in 28 minutes. While playing defense against a bigger player. I believe what we saw was a masterful demonstration of a player doing exactly what was needed to make her team better. She had several open looks and took only 1 shot. She has demonstrated before that she is not shy about taking big shots (see the Tennessee game for an example). She wasn't passing up shots. She was giving them away. Giving them to Crystal who needed the boost of a big game and Olivia and even Aubrey. She was facilitating a team environment and I thought she was marvelous. She gets what Geno is trying to do and works right in sync with him. When the time comes for Evina to take THE shot, she will and you know she will.
 

Wbbfan1

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I want to see a similar performance against Xavier on Saturday. IF UConn can again get double digit scoring from Paige, Christyn and Olivia will be a good sign. I would also like to see Evina get more involved in the offense but if she continues to rebound and get assists, I'll be satisfied. What's also a good sign is that Aaliyah is able to play longer minutes without picking up fouls. The way she's playing she'll be able to play 25-30 minutes if necessary without fouling out.
 
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As to the relatively low number of shots the last two games, I think that was a function of Georgetown and St. John's trying to limit the number of Husky possessions by slowing down the game and using the majority of the shot clock on each possession.

The Husky defense also forced both teams to use more of the shot clock in an attempt to get a decent look at the basket.
 
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I too am hopeful, but cautious & concerned as well.

I see a talented team with potential which plays with great inconsistency and lacks leadership.

Hard to be excited for a Tournament run when multiple starters fail to score - sometimes Christyn Williams, most recently both Nika & Evina.

Evina is the team veteran who I generally applaud for her play, but you gotta score if we are going anywhere. I love Nika's ferocity, but you gotta score. Christyn is even more a puzzle being sometimes on and sometimes off - not great as a junior on a veteran lacking team.

Yes we're young, yes we have talent, but we don't have continuity which at this juncture in the season is scary.
Exactly the opposite is happening. As Tony writes in his cautiously positive way, this team is coming together. This is what many of us were hoping for all season (and last) and wondering if it would happen. Uconn played its best, most coordinated, most attractive game v. St. Johns. Exactly what the Huskies need to do going forward. This is the time of the year, as Geno has said often, that the team must come together to have a shot at the NC in March.
Now the issue is can the team do it again? I believe they can.
 
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As to the relatively low number of shots the last two games, I think that was a function of Georgetown and St. John's trying to limit the number of Husky possessions by slowing down the game and using the majority of the shot clock on each possession.

The Husky defense also forced both teams to use more of the shot clock in an attempt to get a decent look at the basket.
Couldn't agree more with your analysis. St john's had trouble getting a shot off in 24 seconds and if they were lucky to a rebound bounce their way they took another 24 seconds. We could have pressed them if we wanted to. Our help defense and switching including our centers doing the jump-out switch double team is working really well. Aaliyah started it and now Live is following. Liv is a defensive stopper for us if our guards get beat she is there most of the time to stop the offensive player and our guards then recover as they all rotate towards the help. We win the dance on our defense and we have Paige.
 

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