Just total domination! Congrats to UConn!

[Zorro]

I would like to commend all of our visitors from SC for their restraint and humorous badinage. I enjoyed your posts and hope you will continue to hang out. (Ad Cuevas DID drop her shoulder on that first-half-ending foul. You cain't do that, y'all.)

 

[scrooster]

I would like to commend all of our visitors from SC for their restraint and humorous badinage. I enjoyed your posts and hope you will continue to hang out. (Ad Cuevas DID drop her shoulder on that first-half-ending foul. You cain't do that, y'all.)

Wait ... but no UConn player dropped her shoulder and was awarded a blocking foul? Wanna see the animated gif?

 

[geneticrex]

Wait ... but no UConn player dropped her shoulder and was awarded a blocking foul? Wanna see the animated gif?

While I agree with you assessment that is was a slaughter, the only thing that I took issue with were all the fouls that Tuck and Jefferson absorbed without a call.

But hey, I'm sure nobody wanted to watch a 50 point drubbing. We get enough of that in the AAC.

 

[hoophuskee]

I guess we've been "shooting the lights out" all year then. But who would have thought the 3 pt % would be HIGHER against the best opponent?

But this UCONN team is the greatest 3pt shooting team in the history of UCONN. Making it sound like "if we didn't hoot our best" then ti would have been different is a bit "scared/shy" talk. If DT and Maya didn't shoot well in some of the big games then "it could have been different" too. You are right - if we shoot poorly we can lose to a team like USC. But, with that said, it is extremely hard for us to shoot poorly.

Think of it this way--

1-- Arguably we have the best pg in the nation. I don't know other teams but MoJeff is a beast. Any pg better than her has to be awesome awesome. Plus she is terrific 3pt shooter.
2-- Stewart is the best "big" in the country.
3-- One can argue that Tuck is a better "big" overall in terms of level of play than any big on USC.
4--- We have the best 3pt shooter in the country and the greatest shooter in UCONN History.
5-- Kiah Nurse and Saniya Chong are terrific 3pt shooters.
6--- And my God- what happens if Stewie ever fins her 3pt touch like she did her frosh year? Maybe this year she won't find it but still . . .

All these things but importantly with MoJeff - we are able to run an offense and run a break that hits the 3pt shooters on the wings.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Thought this summation by a well-known Gamecock fan applies and should be shared ...

What a wonderful and totally objective response from a fan of the losing team. If that isn't impressive, than I don't think anything is. He recognizes what this coaching staff has done over the years to bring in the right kind of kids and instill the discipline and the toughness to handle just about any circumstance that arises on the court and make it second nature to them. Bravo to both you Scrooster, and the Gamecock fan who you quoted.

 

[Buzzyboy]

UConn is at an entirely different level then any team in WCBB. Its taken Geno 30 years to get here. That tells me that any coach that wants to catch him well he will be retired by the time they get there. To get there it will take a Total Commitment which means a life time. I don't see anybody doing that in our life time. What happened tonite shows where UConn is compared to every other team in WCBB. UConn is fine tuned but more importantly UConn is mentally tuff and the more pressure you put on them the better they perform. You cant say that about many teams. Tonite you saw UConn take shots they could make for the most part. You didn't see crazy shots, you didn't see UConn do things they knew they couldn't do. What you saw was a well disciplined team do what they do best and not try to do anything they knew they couldn't do. They played to their strengths. Geno is a genius dealing with players and pulling their strings as Kara said pulling the strings of puppets. He is tremendous at doing that and that's why I continue to say UConn is unbeatable they can only beat themselves and if they lose its a fluke. That's not cocky or arrogant that's how I see it. As long as Geno and Chris are at UConn they will continue to win and will be very difficult to beat because they have the want to and they recruit kids with the want to. They just don't recruit kids who are good, its more then that. I keep post why would any great player go anyplace else. You have the best teachers of the game at UConn and you go someplace else? I just don't understand that.

I don't agree that it's taken Geno thirty years to get here. He's been here for quite a long time already, maybe just fine tuning things more recently. He's had better overall talent more recently than he had in his first 15 years but as the talent level has moved up, so has the domination. Ten years in he really started to get quite a bit of talent and then that success led to even better talent. Geno does more with the talent he has available than any coach in the game and I do have to give kudos to his staff, headed by the great Chris Daly. There has been no one that I'm aware of that has been able to do what he's done, particularly where he started from. What this program was when he arrived and where it is now is unfathomable. The script to a movie would be too hard to believe, and would never be made. It's almost like Hoosiers in that Storrs was a back water town with nothing to suggest that both the women's and men's programs would ever rise to the level that they have. Totally incredible! It's still amazing to me that this team lost to that Stanford program a few months back! Well, it kickstarted the defense playing like we've come to expect it to perform. Go Huskies!!!!!

 

[Buzzyboy]

While I agree with you assessment that is was a slaughter, the only thing that I took issue with were all the fouls that Tuck and Jefferson absorbed without a call.

But hey, I'm sure nobody wanted to watch a 50 point drubbing. We get enough of that in the AAC.

I'm very happy with the result but I wouldn't have minded a 50 point drubbing.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I know this will come off wrong and make me sound like an arrogant bastard but let the chips fall where they may!
The world of WCBB learned some things tonight that were evident before but not believed by those outside of the Huskies Nation:
1. SoCar in the future in FF semi's or FF finals or where-ever has NO chance to beat UCONN! The Huskies won 87-62, 25 points and could have been 35. How is SoCar going to make up those 25 points and hold UCONN to below 70 points? Unless UCONN throws the game away they will win the rematch by over 30 points!
2. The Huskies showed the rest of WCBB how to beat SoCar, cut off the head and the body will follow! Face guard Tiffany Mitchell the whole game, eliminate most of her offense and the rest of the players have no way to initiate their offense! After her first 8 points, the rest of her points were in garbage time!
3. Anyone who thinks Jewel Loyd is the Most Outstanding Player in WCBB in 2014-2015 is freaking stupid! The reason she does what she does is because she has no one on her team that is near her level of talent so she has to score 30 points every game, get 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, sell popcorn, clean the bathrooms..........so Notre Dame has a shot to win the game that day!
Stewie showed everyone tonight what she is capable of EVERY NIGHT! But because she plays in a team concept, with the best players in college, she does what the team needs to win that night! She is the best player in College Basketball, and it isn't even close! She is in a world by herself! And I'll bet the ranch Loyd will win POY by a wide margin! If ignorance is bliss, the media must be very happy!
4. If The All-American team doesn't have Stewart, KML, Tuck and MoJeff on the first team it's a lie, and the fix is in! KML is the best SF, Tuck is the best PF, Stewart is the best post/player, and MoJeff is the best PG in the game today! And I'll bet that Stewart is the only one that does make 1st team AA! VOTE THE TRUTH! 'nuff said!
5. The most improved player in the nation in WCBB is Saniya Chong! Where she was vs Stanford was the pits! Her defense was horrible that night and tonight she helped shut down SoCar best player, Mitchell! And the way she's played the last 3 games or so is a testament to the size of her heart! She didn't fold her tent and run away after Nurse took her starting spot she worked on her defense and regained her confidence in her 3 point shot and her "game" as a whole! She was great tonight!
6. MoJeff will wind up considered as the best PG in UCONN history, which is saying quite a lot!!

 

[Bestiarius]

You've got a very good team and an excellent coach. You will learn and grow from this game.

And when you play Tennessee, I will be rooting ofr you to demolish them. Hope to see you in Tampa in April.

And keep on posting here. You are a welcome addition to the discussions.

I agree with huskynut.

I think you'll handle Tennessee easily. I think a part of USC's problem was a lack of physical conditioning. Once the adrenaline wore off, conditioning was not where it needed to be to be competitive against a more talented team. You may have noticed the UConn players were as intense at the end of the game as at the beginning.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I'm very happy with the result but I wouldn't have minded a 50 point drubbing.

Do not get greedy. The 25 points tied Louisiana Tech's 85-60 Tournament win for the biggest margin of a #2 over a #1. Quite historic on its own.

 

[Kevin G]

You just slaughtered us.

80% of you predicted a 16+ pt win or more. Cudos.

Only a dozen or more bad calls against SC ... no excuses, even given that horribly bad call to end the first half that was just horrible. You know the one, the charging foul against Bianca. No problem.

But your girls just absolutely dominated ... we can only pray to recover from this and see y'all in Tampa.

Whoever said #23 was great and would have a great game for UConn ... you were totally right. She made the difference.

Everything y'all threw-up tonight, went down.

Welcome to the Boneyard and thank you for your post. You have some very talented players led by a high spirited motivated coach in Staley. A lot of respect to you and your team. Best of luck the rest of the way.

 

[Intpseeker]

One last question from me. In the lead up to last night's game, I watched 4-5 of SC's games and thought that Wilson and Coates were the real deal. They would come in and have their way with whomever they played. But not last night.

Was it an off night for both (I know Wilson had 10, but it was a very quiet 10), or is the talent they play against night in and night out, just not as good as some folks maintain?

 

[meyers7]

I agree with huskynut.

I think you'll handle Tennessee easily. I think a part of USC's problem was a lack of physical conditioning.

But, but, S Carolina's bench depth was gonna wear out the Huskies.

 

[rocky rococo]

I was surprised at how few touches Coates got in the offense, only took six shots all night. Does she do most of her scoring on putbacks, or did UConn take away that piece of the rotation?

 

[bellairehusky]

Wait ... but no UConn player dropped her shoulder and was awarded a blocking foul? Wanna see the animated gif?

I thought Stewart got elbowed on at least two occasions to the gut area (one looked intentional) that should have been technicals. Late in the second half the refs started calling the fould where the SC players would bump her off on cuts, but it should have been cleaned up earlier in my opinion.

Your post seems gracious enough, but I say that there were a dozen or more bad calls against UConn as well.

 

[Henry]

We played the game we wanted to play and forced SC to play at a pace that does not suit them. I noticed that their offense was nowhere near as disciplined as ours. A few of their players had really good games but it was as individuals and not as part of the team. They are a very good team with good players and a good coach. They will be a program contending every year.

 

[CL82]

Wait ... but no UConn player dropped her shoulder and was awarded a blocking foul? Wanna see the animated gif?

Sure. Make one with cats doing funny things. Cats are funny.

 

[CL82]

I know this will come off wrong and make me sound like an arrogant bastard but let the chips fall where they may!
The world of WCBB learned some things tonight that were evident before but not believed by those outside of the Huskies Nation:
1. SoCar in the future in FF semi's or FF finals or where-ever has NO chance to beat UCONN!

Don't you believe it. SC will be dramatically better the next time we play. They just got lesson 101 in championship basketball. They'll learn.

 

[NewCorn]

Well, this version of the team anyway, although I think the other starters at Stanford would play a different game now too.

I meant to say "unproven in a close game." I was gloating a bit over our victory and speaking tongue in cheek.

 

[Tonyc]

Every team who plays UConn learns as does UConn learn from playing other teams. The difference with all the intangibles that make UConn better I don't believe other teams can catch them. How many games has UConn lost in the past few years? Look at those losses. ND got flop calls. When the refs got wise UConn romped. Baylor with 6'9 Griner was something we may not see for quite a while. Then theres Stanford this year which imo was a fluke. Early season the coaches were away recruiting and Geno coaching the USA team. Right now UConn is back to being almost unbeatable. My point being that with all the teams UConn plays none have found a way to beat them. They play teams year after year ranked in the top 25 and UCOnn rolls over them. Not even a game. We are watching a tremendous Dynasty. Last nite many times KML was wide open and she doesn't miss wide open, so was Jefferson. UConn took shots they could make. They were much quicker and defensively they are so much better. If you look at the past few seasons UConn beats everybody by double digits and most teams by 20+. It doesn't matter how many times they play UConn. No coach has figured out how to beat UConn. SC is good and will get better but to catch Geno I don't see that with any coach.

 

[Hongster]

SC is a better team than I thought, if this team step up a few notch in defense by March we may have a hard time beating them.

 

[msf22b]

!![/QUOTE]

Don't you believe it. SC will be dramatically better the next time we play. They just got lesson 101 in championship basketball. They'll learn.

Think Louisville (was it last year or the year before) ?
They got schooled, the paid attention, learned, took the Court and were bulldozed again.
Then came the NCAA's, Same old, Same old.
The same fate awaits SC in the final-4 (if they get that far).

 

[EricLA]

Don't you believe it. SC will be dramatically better the next time we play. They just got lesson 101 in championship basketball. They'll learn.

SC is a better team than I thought, if this team step up a few notch in defense by March we may have a hard time beating them.

So then according to you guys, there's no chance UCONN gets any better during that same time frame?

 

[huskeynut]

Don't you believe it. SC will be dramatically better the next time we play. They just got lesson 101 in championship basketball. They'll learn.

SC will be better - yes. Enough to beat UCONN - no.

SC's guards showed they are not an outside threat. And their guards dribble a lot trying to penetrate. Defensively, it makes it easier for our guards to back off a little and wait.

Coates and Wilson didn't get the ball down low. Why - because SC's guards were dribbling instead of passing. Wilson stood around in their offensive sets outside the three point line waiting for a pass. She didn't try to move around to get in a better position to get the ball. SC's bigs also made it easier for UCONN to defend because they tried to post themselves down low and gave themselves little room, if any, to move to the basket.

Compare to the way UCONN moves the ball around the perimeter. Also compare to the way UCONN moves its offense out to the foul line opening the backline to backdoor cuts or drives down the lane.

I will give SC credit in that they played a straight up man to man defense. But they were slow to react to Stewie, Morgan's and K's moves down low.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

What a wonderful and totally objective response from a fan of the losing team. If that isn't impressive, than I don't think anything is. He recognizes what this coaching staff has done over the years to bring in the right kind of kids and instill the discipline and the toughness to handle just about any circumstance that arises on the court and make it second nature to them. Bravo to both you Scrooster, and the Gamecock fan who you quoted.

A thorough drubbing can bring clarity. It is a service UConn has frequently rendered.