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Louisville Postgame Thread (merged)

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Ban Sue Bird from coming to these games, she’s a curse on Paige . Head bang

Notre Dame is probably offering her a free ticket after last night.

At the same time tho, we got a 30+ point win over a ranked team with a horrible night from Paige. Improvement.

LV isn’t even terrible, this is the same team who barely lost to OKL and UCLA at one point.
 
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For me, the most important question after every game is: Are we improving? For many of us, especially Geno, this team’s maturity is revealed through its ability to be consistent. Except for a brief lapse at the start of the second quarter, this was our most consistent game, with the bonus of that consistency displayed up and down what is proving to be a very deep bench. It was the best game of an elite team that is clearly getting better.
 
The IOWA vs TENN game was also a " clinic". How
to collect turnovers and miss shots from 3 feet out.!!
And a playing style of "off to the races" and Platoon
substitutions. I've never seen anything like it. I'm betting that
it won't look like that when UCONN plays the VOLS.
 
caseyb7 said:
Morgan Cheli continues to impress me, especially with her intensity and defense.

She reminds me of Nika Muhl per her energy.

Early on her she fouled a bit, last couple outings better.

I've been to a couple games in person and she looks bigger than her listed 6 2".

For someone of that size she hustles and gets to her positions and scambles for the ball.

I think we have several "developing stories" that the fans will love, Morgan will be one I watch.
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It's great to see the 6'2" hustle in Morgan. Then there is,
of course, Sarah, and imagine when Allie Z. gets into her flow.
 
Aluminny69 said:
It will be hard to promote Paige as POY if she is not the best player on her own team. I would say that for the last two games, Sarah has outplayed Paige. Will this keep up?
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I wondered this as well. But as Jeff W said in the presser, their number one goal was to stop Paige. Sarah and others can go off in large part because the opposing defense is double-playing her. Paige was off last night when she did shoot. I trust the coaches will figure out how to spring her more often from some of these defensive schemes.
 
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We honestly played fantastic. Feel like that’s my entire notes for the game!

Praying for Azzi. Hope it was just a tweak/scare.

I mentioned this in chat but wow has Chen really made me feel foolish for doubting her at the start of the season.
 
maple said:
We honestly played fantastic. Feel like that’s my entire notes for the game!

Praying for Azzi. Hope it was just a tweak/scare.

I mentioned this in chat but wow has Chen really made me feel foolish for doubting her at the start of the season.
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Chen was adjusting for a while. It’s natural for her to look a bit lost early in the season.
 
Fun game to watch in person. The arena was about 2/3's full, mostly with UConn fans. Others on here have noted how great Azzi and Sarah were last night. They were indeed, but I'd like to give a shout-out to Shade. Her mid-range pull-up is a devastating shot. She played great last night on offense and defense. As for Azzi, she came out of the locker room in the third period and was sitting on the bench, smiling and kidding with her teammates. It was not the demeanor of someone who had re-injured her knee. I'm reading tea leaves, but it was a good sign.
 
Paige shot terribly, but opened up opportunities for Sarah and Azzi. That’s why she’s such a threat. I wonder if ND is going to bother doing that, because they really don’t have anyone who can contain Sarah in the first place as it looks.
 
I think there's an APB out on Paige's offense since she returned from the Bahamas. For the second game in a row, she's looked out of sorts on the offensive end, tentative, almost lethargic. Thankfully, her game is more evolved, and she contributes in so many other ways. If teams want to take her out of UConn's scheme, they'll have to pay for it by giving ample shooting room to Sarah, Azzi, and Ashlynn.

Unlike last year, UConn has 2 new elite scoring options with Sarah & Azzi. It says something about UConn's NC potential when Paige looked like the 4th scoring option last night and 4th best UConn player.

I feel ND will play tighter defense against UConn, particularly at home, and hopefully we'll see a return of a more aggressive Bueckers, similar to her play against NC & Ole Miss.
 
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Aluminny69 said:
It will be hard to promote Paige as POY if she is not the best player on her own team. I would say that for the last two games, Sarah has outplayed Paige. Will this keep up?
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Teams know who the nerve center of UConn is. As such, they know if they shut her down, they have a teeny crack in UConn's armor possibly to attack. Of course, on this team you have to pick your spots as there's heavy firepower elsewhere on the roster. POY? If I had to choose right now, it would be Hidalgo. Lightning in a bottle.......Paige will never equal her freshman performance. Many reasons for that. She has altered her game and is now often the team's best rebounder. Go figure.
 
Surly1 said:
I think there's an APB out on Paige's offense since she returned from the Bahamas. For the second game in a row, she's looked out of sorts on the offensive end, tentative, almost lethargic. Thankfully, her game is more evolved, and she contributes in so many other ways. If teams want to take her out of UConn's scheme, they'll have to pay for it by giving ample shooting room to Sarah, Azzi, and Ashlynn.

Unlike last year, UConn has 2 new elite scoring options with Sarah & Azzi. It says something about UConn's NC potential when Paige looked like the 4th scoring option last night and 4th best UConn player.

I feel ND will play tighter defense against UConn, particularly at home, and hopefully we'll see a return of a more aggressive Bueckers, similar to her play against NC & Ole Miss.
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crap /... paige's shot has been off, so suddenly she's a mediocre player???!!!!!

i think we stick with her. :rolleyes:
 
Gusaford said:
Fun game to watch in person. The arena was about 2/3's full, mostly with UConn fans. Others on here have noted how great Azzi and Sarah were last night. They were indeed, but I'd like to give a shout-out to Shade. Her mid-range pull-up is a devastating shot. She played great last night on offense and defense. As for Azzi, she came out of the locker room in the third period and was sitting on the bench, smiling and kidding with her teammates. It was not the demeanor of someone who had re-injured her knee. I'm reading tea leaves, but it was a good sign.
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Encouraging observations on Azzi. Every b-ball fan is hoping for the best for that young lady. She seemed less stressed on TV, too.

Shade is learning from Azzi that you can’t be a shooting guard if you aren’t aggressive. Shade was the most aggressive she has been in forever last night. I think watching Azzi from the bench is the education Shade needs to be a killer for the rest of her career.

Ice, on the other hand, should not be playing at the top of the key if she isn’t going to be aggressive passing to the cutter and driving to the hoop. She is playing not to make mistakes and it shows. That’s not the worst thing but it is a sin in the UConn offense. L She missed Paige cutting every single time and when she had her defender at a disadvantage she didn’t press her advantage.

Teams will double Paige until they realize Strong, Chan, Azzi and Shade can kill them just as quickly.

Can’t wait until AG returns and gets incorporated into the rotation. Imagine an opponent trying to keep up when, say, her and Shade enter the game at the same time.
Amazing.
 
This was as good of a complete team and 4 quarter effort as I've seen in a while.

Some thoughts::

1. In 30 years of watching UConn Women I have not seen a freshman make it look as effortless and play as smooth as SS. She does get the benefit of having all eyes on Paige, but she is phenomenal.
2. Azzi was as aggressive as I can remember. Her 1:1 take under the hoop was nasty. I can only hope she was not injured.
3. Shade's mid-range pull-up was also nasty last night. Her spark was huge.
4. Paige did not have a great game, but when an athletic team like Louisville makes you their #1 priority and double-teams you on every screen, you're not going to have a great shooting night.
5. Ice was solid and El-Alfy looked really strong and had a few really nice moves. We really need good D and rebounding from them as a combo at the 5.
6. Chen also had a really good game. Much more aggressive and the cross-over where she 'broke the ankles' of the L'ville player was awesome.
7. Supporting cast was solid. We hung tough in Q4 (except for a flurry of L'ville 3's) which most of the time got real ugly in the past.
 
Soxx said:
I wondered this as well. But as Jeff W said in the presser, their number one goal was to stop Paige. Sarah and others can go off in large part because the opposing defense is double-playing her. Paige was off last night when she did shoot. I trust the coaches will figure out how to spring her more often from some of these defensive schemes.
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Apparently Jeff W does not learn from his mistakes. He tried a similar strategy in 2009 in an attempt to shut down Maya and Rene. It didn’t work. Tiffany Hays and Kalana Greene had wide open shots and shot lights out. Tiffany scored 23 points. I believe she was making her first start replacing an injured Caroline Doty.
 
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SLY63 said:
This was as good of a complete team and 4 quarter effort as I've seen in a while.

Some thoughts::

1. In 30 years of watching UConn Women I have not seen a freshman make it look as effortless and play as smooth as SS. She does get the benefit of having all eyes on Paige, but she is phenomenal.
Expand ...
(cough) Maya Moore
 
Impressive win. I am not quite ready to grant them a waltz to the final four just yet especially if Azzi isn't 100%. A lot to like from this game and it was great to see that the "take Paige out of the game" did not work. There will be bumps in the road going forward and I hope all this enthusiasm doesn't turn to vitriol when that happens.
 
Thanks to free tickets from Huskeymaniac, I was at Barclay's last night. They were punishing Paige whenever she was moving. We are going to see this all year. It didn't matter at all though last evening. My five top takeaways were these:

1) Sarah is gifted, there is no other way to describe it. She made the UL defenders look helpless. An extraordinary all around player and what a head for the game. That pass to Q on the fast break brought the house down.

2) The team defense was at a February level last night. They were stifling. I watched carefully a UL out of bounds play. We had 5 switches. It became a 5 second call.

3) Ash being aggressive and scoring is a game changer. Let's see if she can do it against ND. She is going to get there this year. It's part of the maturity issue that Geno was talking about. When she does it consistently it takes the pressure off of everyone else.

4) UL is very physical and at times unruly and I was worried all game. That was a nasty pick on Azzi. Fervently we hope she is okay. Her all around game is actually better than it has ever been. And her shooting? What a stroke. That one drive move on the baseline and backhanded scoop layup was textbook. During the game at commercial timeouts they had on these quizzes with Azzi and Paige. Azzi is hysterical and very, very smart.

5) This is a NC caliber team. It's been said repeatedly by old dude and it is spot on that the post game is the key. The two bigs have to improve and develop. If Aubrey is even 85%, it will be huge. She looked good in warm ups. They only have to stay in the games, defend and rebound, reduce errors, and be a threat underneath. We have such great guards/forwards where the scoring will come from. Ice is going to break out soon though. She has much greater presence than last year. You can feel it. Her problem is her lift. She has to rely more on positioning and boxing out than Sarah for example who can simply see the ball, get the ball.

Go see our team in person. They are addicting!
 
Mandoo said:
Teams know who the nerve center of UConn is. As such, they know if they shut her down, they have a teeny crack in UConn's armor possibly to attack. Of course, on this team you have to pick your spots as there's heavy firepower elsewhere on the roster. POY? If I had to choose right now, it would be Hidalgo. Lightning in a bottle.......Paige will never equal her freshman performance. Many reasons for that. She has altered her game and is now often the team's best rebounder. Go figure.
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Not even close imo. It's Paige. Unless Hidlago outplays her head-to-head. Paige has equalled her frosh year with junior year. What she did last year was off-the-charts getting that team to FF. It's just that Clark was also off-the-charts. And so far she has been amazing this year. There's a reason why the Lousivile coach set up his defense in the manner he did. It's due ot their scouting in which they see she is such an amazing scorer that they will live with others getting open shots. ND probably won't do this - so we'll see.
 
Ozimoto said:
Impressive win. I am not quite ready to grant them a waltz to the final four just yet especially if Azzi isn't 100%. A lot to like from this game and it was great to see that the "take Paige out of the game" did not work. There will be bumps in the road going forward and I hope all this enthusiasm doesn't turn to vitriol when that happens.
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After 9 years on this board you should know better. ;):p UConn beat L'ville 52-28 on the boards and there's already a guy whining about their lack of rebounding. :confused:
 
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Really relieved and more positive about the season after the team put up that score against Louisville. I hope it charged the team up too.
 
Aluminny69 said:
It will be hard to promote Paige as POY if she is not the best player on her own team. I would say that for the last two games, Sarah has outplayed Paige. Will this keep up?
Expand ...
Not sure if you are noting an issue or an opportunity?;) I would hope that Paige is not the best player in every game. Against Louisville, we saw how teams try to take Paige out of the offense and what the results will be if Sarah, Azzi, etc. continue to perform as they did last night. Paige is clearly the leader of this team no matter what the box score results are. If UConn continues to beat Top 25 teams by 30+ points, good things will follow for all.
 
Surly1 said:
Unlike last year, UConn has 2 new elite scoring options with Sarah & Azzi. It says something about UConn's NC potential when Paige looked like the 4th scoring option last night and 4th best UConn player.

I feel ND will play tighter defense against UConn, particularly at home, and hopefully we'll see a return of a more aggressive Bueckers, similar to her play against NC & Ole Miss.
Expand ...
Not sure about the bold. The oipen looks are a lot attributed to Paige. Anyhow, this is the beauty of having three superstars in Paige/Azzi/Sarah. I'm not sure Ash coul be so consistent but it would be amazing if she could.
 
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