Its not a good Morning

[HuskyNan]

Im not feeling good this morning. A bunch of stuff happened in last nites game. In a game like this we needed somebody to step up. ND had Hall step up. She had 16 pts and 12 rebounds. Some of our inexperience showed at different points in the game. ND had underclassman hit some unexpected shots. Sarah in early foul trouble hurt us. We lost her scoring rebounding and her presence. We needed her on the floor. ND had no one in foul trouble. Sarah is a key for us and those 3 fouls hurt. ND made 11 foul shots we made 3. ND had 3 scorers we had 2. With that said KK and Kaitlyn showed some positive offensive signs. We were in this game. We made a comeback when Sarah was back on the floor. Thats a good thing. Alot went right for ND and not alot went right for UConn. The biggest difference is ND was able to step up in critical moments just like UConn has done in many prior games but they didnt tonite.

We will learn from this experience. One thing good about failing, you learn from what you did wrong and improve on it. Thats called progress.

The atmosphere was an eye opener for some of our players who have never experienced a game like this. BB is a team game and we lost as a team. As good as we have been playing we werent that great last nite and without Azzi and Sarah on the bench we needed some one to step up. ND is good and UConn is good. Alot of things contributed to our loss and what hurts me is we came close a few times and couldnt make it happen. We needed more scorers and we didnt have them last nite. This game will be used as a measuring stick, We know where we are and we know what we have to do to get to where we wanna be. When you look at ND you have to wonder how they lost to Utah and TCU.

So now we look forward to Azzi and The Griff coming about hopefully soon. Having them should help alot and we have to get our underclassman up to speed. We are still a team coming back from injuries and inexperience. We will be back soon.

My friend, the Huskies lost an out of conference road game in December. It's not the end of the world.

Geno has spoken many times about trying to play as many different types of offenses and defenses as he could during the regular season in order to prepare the team for post-season tournaments. It was important to play ND to get experience with their type of play, of which they may be the best in the country. There are 8 Husky freshmen and sophomores to season and prepare for what's coming and sometimes getting figuratively slapped upside the head wakes the young or immature players to the fact that no one is scared of the UConn jersey any more and that players will need to earn - or hopefully, seize - their victories.

I hate to see you so dispirited and hope to see Optimus Prime back ASAP.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

My friend, the Huskies lost an out of conference road game in December. It's not the end of the world.

Substitute "Blue Devils" for "Huskies", "neutral site" for "road", and "November" for "December", and this could apply to the entire Duke men's basketball premium board after a three-point loss to then-#1 Kansas in Las Vegas.
In Duke's next huge test, it defeated top-five Auburn.

Bobby Bowden used to say that, to contend for a national championship, a team needed “a national championship schedule.” (He pronounced it “SKED-yool.”) What he meant: A championship aspirant needed a few – but not too many – testing games, and it needed the toughest of those to be staged at home or a neutral site.

UConn did more -- it went on the road.

ND won at USC, lost to TCU on a neutral court, and beat Texas at home.
UConn had played three ranked teams, but top 15-20, no top 5 -- and all on neutral courts (none at home). This was its first true road test.
Lets see how UConn responds in a future huge road test (e.g., South Carolina, in February). I have a feeling that game will be quite different.

As an aside, I found this stat interesting:
Ice Brady: 23:00 minutes, plus/minus of -13
Jana El Alfy: 14:36 minutes, plus/minus of +5

 

[ucbart]

ND lost to two teams that are not as talented as UConn. Explain that.

ND was playing in a gym with 35 fans and there was zero energy in that building. They very much fed off that crowd last night. The home crowd is good for at least 7-8 points. This game, on a neutral court with Aubrey and Azzi, will be far different. I'm not saying we will win, but it'll be different.

 

[VAUConnFan]

A lot of things to chew on, but bottom line, generally UCONN does not recruit athletes. And the ones we have are injured. So we have a lot of solid to very good to great high IQ bb players, but I suspect we will struggle against teams with athletic and good guards (ND), or athletic and good forwards (SC), etc. I'm not sure what other teams out there are built like that - having great athletes who can't score won't help you...

Are you suggesting that ND's guards and SC's forwards are merely athletic and good, but lack a high basketball IQ?

 

[uconnfan68]

With due respect, Geno absolutely needs to find his voice with the officials about the bad calls and no-calls that systemically plague his team in big games. He should have called it out directly after the officiating debacle that was last seasons national semi-final game, but he chose not to. That's not the choice a certain WNBA coach and her players made when confronted with a similar situation in this year's championship finals.

But instead, Geno continues to dance around the issue with the kind of light sarcasm he used in last night's post-game presser when asked about Paige. Therefore, I fear that the problem is going to persist.

Geno complaining would have the same effect Danny Hurley does. We’d get an even worse whistle. Everyone wants to move the capitol of college basketball somewhere else.

 

[EricLA]

Are you suggesting that ND's guards and SC's forwards are merely athletic and good, but lack a high basketball IQ?

Come on man. Not what I said.

 

[cancontent]

Come on man. Not what I said.

I didn't take it that way.

 

[EricLA]

I didn't take it that way.

Thank you. I get that people are salty after a loss, but let's not LOOK for arguments where they don't need to exist.

 

[cancontent]

Thank you. I get that people are salty after a loss, but let's not LOOK for arguments where they don't need to exist.

I hear you. The issue is the term "athlete"/"athletic" because of how it has been used when describing players as a whole. This goes for all sports, not just basketball. People pick up on it and jump to the wrong conclusion sometimes.

 

[Zarathustra]

Extra motivation to beat UConn, I guess. ND shot, what, 67% from three last night -- they certainly don't do that every game -- and UConn was under 20%, and they don't do that every game, either. Normal numbers are far more balanced. Not having Azzi really hurt, with everybody else's three's not falling. And possibly the psychological blow for the team of, yet again for the millionth time, having a key player out with injury for a big game.

Check the box score: N.D. shot 10/18 from the three (55.6 %), it was
Hildalgo, I believe, who shot the 6/9 from the three (I'll have to
recheck that, I believe). She also was 7/7 from the three-point line.

 

[Bigboote]

As soon as I saw Dee Kantor I knew it was not going to be a good night for UCONN. There were a number of times when Paige was obviously fouled and there was no calls.

I said the same thing to my wife as soon as I saw Kantner.

I included the second sentence to respond to several posters in various threads ruing that UConn players weren’t cutting hard toward the basket. It’s tough to do that when you’re getting bumped every time you cut.

I don’t know which team I think is better in general, but there’s no question ND was better last night. Notre Dame won fair and square, I’m not bellyaching about the outcome. But luck (i. e., a team occasionally punching above its weight or having an off night) is part of the game.

I’m disappointed, sure, but neither dismayed nor dark.

 

[Blond D.]

The big difference last night was ND was hitting their 3's and we weren't. Plain and simple.

I didnt say the ONLY difference....I said the BIG difference.

 

[Bigboote]

I hear you. The issue is the term "athlete"/"athletic" because of how it has been used when describing players as a whole. This goes for all sports, not just basketball. People pick up on it and jump to the wrong conclusion sometimes.

I blame Howard Cosell. He’s the first person I remember using the word athlete in some way that was specific to him. He insisted that Willie Randolph (Yankees second baseman in the 70’s-80’s) was “The Athlete” because, I dunno, you’re not already an athlete if you play PROFESSIONAL baseball? Just listen to Kareem/“Roger” in Airplane! if you don’t think basketball players are athletes.

 

[cancontent]

I blame Howard Cosell. He’s the first person I remember using the word athlete in some way that was specific to him. He insisted that Willie Randolph (Yankees second baseman in the 70’s-80’s) was “The Athlete” because, I dunno, you’re not already an athlete if you play PROFESSIONAL baseball? Just listen to Kareem/“Roger” in Airplane! if you don’t think basketball players are athletes.

Thanks for this insight. That generation of sports commentator is very different to what we have now. All these players are athletes.

 

[Soxx]

Not sure if ref complaints are allowed, but Paige has the worst whistle ever. Literally got clobbered by King on that rebound, on the replay King tackles her to the ground, and nothing was called. The announcers were praising King on her offensive rebound. 3 people grabbing her on the drive, nothing called.

That isn't why we lost, but that was shameful officiating.

The entire team was too passive. Why didn't we just really hammer it in on Koval and King? Why didn't we box out? Where on earth were the adjustments?

I had the same reaction to that no-call. One of the announcers—maybe even Lobo??!—was praising King for going straight up Paige’s back and grabbing that rebound. But I saw a definite “over the back” foul. Paige ended up flattened on the floor.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Wow o Wow! Perhaps I am a psycho Geno fan. This game will play dividends if we get to meet ND in the tournament. ND will not change one bit of their scheme for a second go round. Do you think ND will get 24 points from 10 open looks next time? I don't think so. KK and Chen will not be tempted to collapse the middle. This was a great lesson for our two point guards.

Also, it's my belief that Azzi would have been worth more than 12 points considering her scoring difference over Ash and by providing Paige with more freedom to work. December games are still preseason!

 

[cancontent]

Wow o Wow! Perhaps I am a psycho Geno fan. This game will play dividends if we get to meet ND in the tournament. ND will not change one bit of their scheme for a second go round. Do you think ND will get 24 points from 10 open looks next time? I don't think so. KK and Chen will not be tempted to collapse the middle. This was a great lesson for our two point guards.

Also, it's my belief that Azzi would have been worth more than 12 points considering her scoring difference over Ash and by providing Paige with more freedom to work. December games are still preseason!

I agree to an extent. Disagree regarding ND won't change their scheme as that's an unfair assessment.

Both team will have tweaks to how they function as the season progresses. Not to mention ND will be different, especially when they have Westbeld back and Karlen is available for more than 10 minutes. UConn will also be different once Azzi and Aubrey return.

 

[msf22b]

With all the talk of guard play, a lot of ND's success in the 1st half was due to their forward's superior aggressiveness and truly excellent offensive rebounding.
There was no expectation in the analysis that that would occur. It really took the starch out of the early going...into the second half.

I have no expectation why that occurred except that the Boneyard scout was incorrect. We were clearly not superior in that facet of the game.