Mad Props to Heather.

[CL82]

She has such a strong base! She gave Griner fits. It was a tough game to lose but having Heather do so well (and for the 2nd year in a row) was a nice consolation prize!

 

[Cafe Poliziano]

Yes Heather was great!! Dolsen was thoroughly ineffective against Griner and it was obvious. Geno should have kept Heather on the court far longer, Pulling Heather for Dolsen was the biggest individual reason we lost tonight. Major boo boo by Geno.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Dolson can shoot better than Buck. Baylor players wouldn't bother guarding her shots.

 

[huskyharry]

She has such a strong base! She gave Griner fits. It was a tough game to lose but having Heather do so well (and for the 2nd year in a row) was a nice consolation prize!

Agree, she played with a lot of heart out there and showed excellent defensive positioning

 

[cohenzone]

Dolson didn't do much offensively. Griner ate her up on the other end. I think BUck should have seen more floor time in the 2nd half. She has shown in 2 games that Baylor and Griner have a harder time scoring when she is in the game. I wouldn't advocate that in general, but she seems to have figured out how to defend Griner.

 

[DaddyChoc]

good job Heather

 

[MilfordHusky]

Heather may defend Griner better than anyone else in the country.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Heather may defend Griner better than anyone else in the country.

maybe she learned from guarded Tina for many years

 

[Gurleyman]

Dolson didn't have a great day on offense, but she still is valuable in the high post as an outlet against pressure at the top of the key. She had one turnover trying to make a backdoor pass at the start of the second, but she connected on a couple of others. Plus when she's 15-18 feet from the basket, she has the ability to knock down that shot, which could draw Griner away from the basket more frequently if she's hitting (or at least make Griner worry a little about the recover part of the help-and-recover). Dolson also sets a lot of screens to free people up - she kind of knows how to toe the line of moving just a little, so she doesn't get called for the moving screen.

 

[CalifHusky]

Heather is much improved defensively.

Even the announcers said that when Heather is on the floor Baylor gets to do 5 on 4 offensively. Hopefully, by April, either Heather will be an offensive threat or Stef will have learned how to defend Brit, because clearly playing at only one end of the floor is not going to work against Baylor in April.

 

[dtbtbtb]

Heather was amazing on defense but she is a liability on offense...it's not only about shooting as Dolson is a better passer and a better in blocks to free a driving player.

 

[BrianUC]

At the half, Geno said that offense, not defense, would decide the game. That concerned me, that he would go back to Stef rather than give Heather more minutes. I was right and we lost.

By the way, Stef didn't do so badly. It was Griner she was playing after all. Stef is still a star.

 

[ochoopsfan]

According to the stats Heather played 14 minutes and during that time Griner was 0 for 2, with 2 turnovers and Griner made two FT's.

Buck took no shots, had 4 rebounds.

I would say that is more of a 4 on 4 than a 5 on 4.

If you could stop or frustrate the best player in the game wouldnt you make that trade off?

 

[blackbird]

The problem was, Uconn couldn't score if Buck was in, it hurt the rest of the team scoring wise too.

With Dolson in, Dolson could drag Griner to the perimeter, which either allowed our players to drive to the basket, or forced Baylor to not pressure so much on the perimeter and we got open threes. With Buck in, Griner didn't even bother, which meant that we had to try and score inside, with Griner ready to block our shots.

 

[GrizBear]

On the whole I think UConn has the most likable and most knowledgeable fans. Yours is the only WBB forum I visit regularly other than baylorfans. But I think you're overstating the effectiveness of Buck. Griner seemed to have a little trouble with the transition from playing against Dolson to playing against Buck. Both the turnovers were when Brittney mishandled the ball and I don't think that would have continued. I've watched a lot of Baylor games and it's not at all unusual for Griner to go through stretches where she's not dominant offensively, particularly in first halves. My opinion is, if Buck had played significant minutes in the second half, Brittney would have made a few adjustments and dominated against Buck. As has been stated, you lose a lot of offense without Dolson.

I like Dolson a lot. She'll probably be great in every other game UConn plays this season. She just doesn't match up well with Griner. That's no sin. Who does?

 

[snowkot]

I didn't care for Coach's rotation at the 5 in the second half last night.

Buck was clearly more effective defensively (both matched against Griner, and for weak-side help) as ochoopsfan's stats illustrated. And I don't agree that Buck was such an offensive liability that she couldn't find a spot on the floor.

It's absolutely true that she's not a scorer. But she's an offensive rebounder (she had none in the box score, but she occupied Griner so others could rebound) an effective screener, and her movement and location through the offense were a lot crisper.

Check the linescore. I believe when Buck entered in the first half, Baylor was in the midst of a 5-0 run (something like that). Buck left with UConn in a 7-0 run. Dolson entered and Baylor immediately went on their own 7-0 run.

Every game is different, but last night, Dolson was just laterally too immobile on both ends of the floor. The score is the final arbiter and frankly I think UConn was a more effective team with Buck on the floor. I suspect Griner and Mulkey would agree.

 

[cohenzone]

"Dolson didn't have a great day on offense, but she still is valuable in the high post as an outlet against pressure at the top of the key. She had one turnover trying to make a backdoor pass at the start of the second, but she connected on a couple of others. Plus when she's 15-18 feet from the basket, she has the ability to knock down that shot, which could draw Griner away from the basket more frequently if she's hitting (or at least make Griner worry a little about the recover part of the help-and-recover). Dolson also sets a lot of screens to free people up - she kind of knows how to toe the line of moving just a little, so she doesn't get called for the moving screen."

Nobody argues that Dolson isn't a better player on O. But it isnt all that clear that UConn struggled to score when Buck was on the floor. In fact it, seems like Baylor didn't struggle to score when Dolson was on the floor, and did struggle when Buck was on the floor. Geno said at the half that he thought O would win this game. He was right, it was Baylor's O. I think he might have been wrong this one time and got away from the philosophy that leads to his success - we win with D and O decides by how much.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I thought Auriemma made a huge mistake with Buck last night. She was very active and effective against Griner while Dolson looked as if she were playing wearing lead sneakers. Dolson had 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. Buck had 4 rebounds and 0 turnovers in 15 minutes. Griner scored 25 points against Dolson and none against Buck.

Yet Geno sits Buck for most of the second half????

 

[Kevin G]

Way to go Heather!!!

 

[HuskyNan]

I thought that when Heather hit the deck in the first half that she injured her wrist. You could see her holding up her arm towards the bench after she fell and then she went out at the next whistle. I wonder if it was bothering her?

My husband and I were calling for Geno to put Heather in with Stef in the second half. Heather does a really great job of clogging up the paint and even though she's a liability on offense, I thought she might open up some opportunities for Stef if they were in together.

 

[meyers7]

I think Geno was right. A game in the 50's-60's we lose (and we did). We need to score in the 70's (at least) to beat Baylor. We held Baylor defensively fine, offensively we didn't score enough.

But I did think Buck did a nice job. Hopefully this can up her confidence and she can build on it.

 

[phil sampieri]

I didn't care for Coach's rotation at the 5 in the second half last night.

Buck was clearly more effective defensively (both matched against Griner, and for weak-side help) as ochoopsfan's stats illustrated. And I don't agree that Buck was such an offensive liability that she couldn't find a spot on the floor.

It's absolutely true that she's not a scorer. But she's an offensive rebounder (she had none in the box score, but she occupied Griner so others could rebound) an effective screener, and her movement and location through the offense were a lot crisper.

Check the linescore. I believe when Buck entered in the first half, Baylor was in the midst of a 5-0 run (something like that). Buck left with UConn in a 7-0 run. Dolson entered and Baylor immediately went on their own 7-0 run.

Every game is different, but last night, Dolson was just laterally too immobile on both ends of the floor. The score is the final arbiter and frankly I think UConn was a more effective team with Buck on the floor. I suspect Griner and Mulkey would agree.

 

[phil sampieri]

Griner didn't beat us, Simms did. Hate to say it but Caroline just wasn't quick enough to get to the wing when we went zone.We guard simms we win but that is a tall order.

 

[Georgestarr7]

The problem was, Uconn couldn't score if Buck was in, it hurt the rest of the team scoring wise too.

I think if you look at the game we came back from 7 down to take the lead int the first half after Heather came in (KML was freed up to make her string of 3's) and Heather came back in the second half after we lost much of that lead (Griner shooting over Stef) and the momentum switched. Heather goes out and Baylor cranks in a very strong run to finish. I was wondering like Nan what would have happened with 2 bigs in at the same time. I do agree that if this was in the Spring, Geno would have played a different game.

 

[Georgestarr7]

Griner didn't beat us, Simms did. Hate to say it but Caroline just wasn't quick enough to get to the wing when we went zone.We guard simms we win but that is a tall order.

That is very accurate. As I said in another post I was hoping for Ms. Banks to come in to pester Sims for awhile. I felt for Caroline.