Its not a good Morning

[EricSD]

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.

 

[EricSD]

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.

 

[Woof 101]

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

UConn lost to three teams not as talented ..... No attack but the ball is in your side of the conversation.

 

[JellyBean]

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.

Well said!!

 

[ABCDFE]

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...

I think to some degree you're right. Jokic is not an athlete but he's the best player in the NBA. However, I will say we definitely need more dawgs and players that get on a mean streak. At this moment, the killer mentality is missing and we desperately need a junkyard dawg or two

 

[Conndog]

Last night ND was better, it just isn’t more complicated than that. The could have happened, should have happened to me is just explaining down that for a game ND took it to us. Remember ND was also without two key players who are still injured and Miles was out for large stretches of the game, which to me balanced out Sarah getting in foul trouble. Outside of our freshman, of which Sarah was amazing, every player on our roster has played in big games like this. ND simply had more players step up.

Not the end of the world, but something to figure out. I still believe Paige should be bringing the ball up court versus being the off guard and having to work really hard to get open, but then what do you do with Chen or even KK. It’s a little bit of an imperfect lineup against top teams I think, something that will get figured out as the season goes on.

Having Shade take the next step and become more consistent offensively would be a big help. Having Ice and Jana begin to assert themselves more defensively would absolutely help. Tweaking the offensive sets in certain situations based on what the defense is doing might help.

We are firmly planted as a top team in the country and just need to keep improving as the season goes on which I have no doubt we wil.

Miles was only out for a few minutes as i recall

 

[Conndog]

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.

I think the difference was ND limited 3’s or contested them strongly while UConn did not

 

[cgshuskie]

Our guards, KK and Caitlyn, must shot better if we are to make a run at no. 12. They must be able to knock down the 3, and definately the mid range. Also, they must go hard to the rim. Both had drives blocked and that should not happen. A guard knows if someone is right up on them or whether they have beaten the coverer to the hoop. Driving guards should be able to passed out of a drive, as a basic skill. KK and Caitlyn must get better.

 

[boontonbomber]

Louisville got fined $20,000 after Jeff Walz criticized the refs last February. I'm guessing UConn is expecting some decorum from its coaches rather than pay out fines

Louisville's Jeff Walz reprimanded for criticizing officials

The ACC on Tuesday reprimanded Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz and issued a $20,000 institutional fine for violating the league's sportsmanship policy with his criticism of officials after the Cardinals' 73-72 loss at Syracuse on Sunday.

www.espn.com

Bad guess. Decorum is not a term that Hurley is familiar with, yet.......

 

[Cuango]

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.

That’s why it’s gonna be soooo sweet when we win #12!

 

[Blond D.]

I think the difference was ND limited 3’s or contested them strongly while UConn did not

ND used their picks and screens better but we had a lot of chances to shoot a 3 but hesitated.

 

[BRS24]

I'd rather see a loss now, than a loss in March.

 

[Galaxyshooter]

We’re not playing Carolina at home. Something to do with a missed game in the COVID season or something. We’re on the road.

My apologies.. you're right, but my expectations are the same, with even more expectancy because you have to win on the road to win a chip. so all the bigs I mentioned I hope they're ready and able to produce. Ric Flair said, "In order to be the man, you gotta beat the man," and South Carolina is the Champs

 

[DallasDomer]

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

ND has decided to forget about the Cayman Island games but here's a simplistic explanation. Both games were lost in the second half and ND looked worn out. In the TCU game shooting was way off and Koval and Miles got in foul trouble. The Utah game was similar but Utah found that if they flopped on any contact those refs would call it and ND did not adjust to the calls.

I think there was also emotional carry over from beating USC and thinking they could beat anyone with ease, they learned from it. I'm not sure but the travel might have been a factor.

 

[Zarathustra]

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.

Thank You for the comment of the Huskies "getting bumped
every time they 'cut' ". When I saw that happening in the game
it really did not "register" in my consciousness. I can see how that
would seriously affect the timing of UCONN flow and timing of
passes. Do you think that Kaitlyn Chen 'hesitates' on some passes
because the timing of the cutter is "just not there" or is something
else also a factor? I learn something every day! My comment to
the Hoyas today: " Sorry about that " (i.e. after the game!) Go UCONN!

 

[jabstep]

I think the difference was ND limited 3’s or contested them strongly while UConn did not

Our defense strategy of playing off Hildalgo when she was in either corner ALL by herself was not a successful approach. As I have said before, Koval and how she screens and then resets to allow ND guards to work off her is the best I have seen. It is like a beautiful dance team. We could learn from that. I would show our big's tape of that. I think ND letting KK, Chen, Brady, and Shade shoot the 3 whenever they wanted but not letting Paige get as open as Hildalgo worked for them. I would love to play ND again when we had Azzi who is one of the best guards if not the best when she is healthy which has been unfortunately not very often.

 

[Blond D.]

I don't want this to sound like an excuse ( but I know it does) it seemed to me like that big center that ND has set a whole lot of moving picks and screens. She was constantly moving into our guards and giving them a push.
Am I alone in seeing this?

 

[jabstep]

I have watched 4 ND games and the refs are not calling any illegal screens on Koval. She sets then moves on an angle closer to the hoop and then moves again then resets. Our bigs set a screen and don't do any resets and it looks nothing like Koval and Miles or Hildalgo do it.