Marching Toward March 27

[Huskee11]

So, UConn has 4 regular season games left, then 3 in the AAC Tournament, and the first two rounds of the NCAA in Storrs. Unless a huge meteor hits Connecticut, looking at 9 wins.

Sweet 16 and elite 8 are well over a month away, March 25 and 27.

What does UConn need to focus on between now and then? How do they get even better? The Huskies do so many things incredibly well, but where is the most room for improvement between now and then?

I`m sure the Boneyarders have thoughts on that. Here are mine:

Health. Obviously, take care of Kia`s ankle, get her at 100%. Also, confident coaches will manage whatever they and Lou think might need managing to get Lou fully charged.

Have Napheesa take more three pointers, and Gabby more 15-16 footers, in the games. The bigs on the premier teams can`t stay with either of them so they likely going to back off and give them those shots. Get more and more comfortable taking them.

Work on establishing Lou early in the games, and go to the curls and posting up more often throughout. Team seems to have gone away from running the curl.

Increase minutes for Crystal and Natalie, and work in practice to improve Crystal`s defense.

Keep working to keep fouls to a minimum. Some phantom calls in the SC game - two on Lou - and 5th on Napheesa a joke, but there were also legitimate fouls as well. Obviously they are part of the game, but work to make them a smaller part while still playing aggressively.

Work on feeding the post better. As historically great as this team is in passing the ball, they as a group still seem to have hesitancy feeding players that establish position inside. Like a wide receiver in football, sometimes the player flashes open for a very brief period of time, but the pass is not made and the moment is gone.

What do others think?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

So, UConn has 4 regular season games left, then 3 in the AAC Tournament, and the first two rounds of the NCAA in Storrs. Unless a huge meteor hits Connecticut, looking at 9 wins.

Sweet 16 and elite 8 are well over a month away, March 25 and 27.

What does UConn need to focus on between now and then? How do they get even better? The Huskies do so many things incredibly well, but where is the most room for improvement between now and then?

I`m sure the Boneyarders have thoughts on that. Here are mine:

Health. Obviously, take care of Kia`s ankle, get her at 100%. Also, confident coaches will manage whatever they and Lou think might need managing to get Lou fully charged.

Have Napheesa take more three pointers, and Gabby more 15-16 footers, in the games. The bigs on the premier teams can`t stay with either of them so they likely going to back off and give them those shots. Get more and more comfortable taking them.

Work on establishing Lou early in the games, and go to the curls and posting up more often throughout. Team seems to have gone away from running the curl.

Increase minutes for Crystal and Natalie, and work in practice to improve Crystal`s defense.

Keep working to keep fouls to a minimum. Some phantom calls in the SC game - two on Lou - and 5th on Napheesa a joke, but there were also legitimate fouls as well. Obviously they are part of the game, but work to make them a smaller part while still playing aggressively.

Work on feeding the post better. As historically great as this team is in passing the ball, they as a group still seem to have hesitancy feeding players that establish position inside. Like a wide receiver in football, sometimes the player flashes open for a very brief period of time, but the pass is not made and the moment is gone.

What do others think?

I agree with everything but your final point - feeding the post better. That is working very well EXCEPT when out true traditional post Natalie is in. The pass in to her has to happen to expand the post game. If she doesn't produce with it, revert to current plan. The beauty of the AAC is we have leeway to play with that. If we do it aand it is productive, we have a new weapon and it would do great things for Nat's confidence.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I agree with everything but your final point - feeding the post better. That is working very well EXCEPT when out true traditional post Natalie is in. The pass in to her has to happen to expand the post game. If she doesn't produce with it, revert to current plan. The beauty of the AAC is we have leeway to play with that. If we do it aand it is productive, we have a new weapon and it would do great things for Nat's confidence.

To be fair a lot of the passes down low to Nat have been terrible whether they be bounce passes at her knees or a pass at waist level where it's easily tipped.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I'd like to see Lou not be so anxious to immediately shoot when the team is running half court offense, and let the game come to her a bit more. She's the one Husky that will force up a shot, or take a contested shot, say early in the shot clock or when an extra pass might be more desirable. This is what got her into trouble early in the South Carolina game. If she can manage this a little better, her field goal percentage will go up and she might be able to avoid those rare bad shooting nights.

 

[mntncougar]

So, UConn has 4 regular season games left, then 3 in the AAC Tournament, and the first two rounds of the NCAA in Storrs. Unless a huge meteor hits Connecticut, looking at 9 wins.

Sweet 16 and elite 8 are well over a month away, March 25 and 27.

What does UConn need to focus on between now and then? How do they get even better? The Huskies do so many things incredibly well, but where is the most room for improvement between now and then?

I`m sure the Boneyarders have thoughts on that. Here are mine:

Health. Obviously, take care of Kia`s ankle, get her at 100%. Also, confident coaches will manage whatever they and Lou think might need managing to get Lou fully charged.

Have Napheesa take more three pointers, and Gabby more 15-16 footers, in the games. The bigs on the premier teams can`t stay with either of them so they likely going to back off and give them those shots. Get more and more comfortable taking them.

Work on establishing Lou early in the games, and go to the curls and posting up more often throughout. Team seems to have gone away from running the curl.

Increase minutes for Crystal and Natalie, and work in practice to improve Crystal`s defense.

Keep working to keep fouls to a minimum. Some phantom calls in the SC game - two on Lou - and 5th on Napheesa a joke, but there were also legitimate fouls as well. Obviously they are part of the game, but work to make them a smaller part while still playing aggressively.

Work on feeding the post better. As historically great as this team is in passing the ball, they as a group still seem to have hesitancy feeding players that establish position inside. Like a wide receiver in football, sometimes the player flashes open for a very brief period of time, but the pass is not made and the moment is gone.

What do others think?

I agree, particularly on the last point and particularly with Saniya.

 

[Florida Fan]

So, UConn has 4 regular season games left, then 3 in the AAC Tournament, and the first two rounds of the NCAA in Storrs. Unless a huge meteor hits Connecticut, looking at 9 wins.

Sweet 16 and elite 8 are well over a month away, March 25 and 27.

What does UConn need to focus on between now and then? How do they get even better? The Huskies do so many things incredibly well, but where is the most room for improvement between now and then?

I`m sure the Boneyarders have thoughts on that. Here are mine:

Health. Obviously, take care of Kia`s ankle, get her at 100%. Also, confident coaches will manage whatever they and Lou think might need managing to get Lou fully charged.

Have Napheesa take more three pointers, and Gabby more 15-16 footers, in the games. The bigs on the premier teams can`t stay with either of them so they likely going to back off and give them those shots. Get more and more comfortable taking them.

Work on establishing Lou early in the games, and go to the curls and posting up more often throughout. Team seems to have gone away from running the curl.

Increase minutes for Crystal and Natalie, and work in practice to improve Crystal`s defense.

Keep working to keep fouls to a minimum. Some phantom calls in the SC game - two on Lou - and 5th on Napheesa a joke, but there were also legitimate fouls as well. Obviously they are part of the game, but work to make them a smaller part while still playing aggressively.

Work on feeding the post better. As historically great as this team is in passing the ball, they as a group still seem to have hesitancy feeding players that establish position inside. Like a wide receiver in football, sometimes the player flashes open for a very brief period of time, but the pass is not made and the moment is gone.

What do others think?

So, UConn has 4 regular season games left, then 3 in the AAC Tournament, and the first two rounds of the NCAA in Storrs. Unless a huge meteor hits Connecticut, looking at 9 wins.

Sweet 16 and elite 8 are well over a month away, March 25 and 27.

What does UConn need to focus on between now and then? How do they get even better? The Huskies do so many things incredibly well, but where is the most room for improvement between now and then?

I`m sure the Boneyarders have thoughts on that. Here are mine:

Health. Obviously, take care of Kia`s ankle, get her at 100%. Also, confident coaches will manage whatever they and Lou think might need managing to get Lou fully charged.

Have Napheesa take more three pointers, and Gabby more 15-16 footers, in the games. The bigs on the premier teams can`t stay with either of them so they likely going to back off and give them those shots. Get more and more comfortable taking them.

Work on establishing Lou early in the games, and go to the curls and posting up more often throughout. Team seems to have gone away from running the curl.

Increase minutes for Crystal and Natalie, and work in practice to improve Crystal`s defense.

Keep working to keep fouls to a minimum. Some phantom calls in the SC game - two on Lou - and 5th on Napheesa a joke, but there were also legitimate fouls as well. Obviously they are part of the game, but work to make them a smaller part while still playing aggressively.

Work on feeding the post better. As historically great as this team is in passing the ball, they as a group still seem to have hesitancy feeding players that establish position inside. Like a wide receiver in football, sometimes the player flashes open for a very brief period of time, but the pass is not made and the moment is gone.

What do others think?

Gabby is wide open for the 15 footer, often so open she can't believe it. She's such a threat to drive, they back off her so now what? It's like some of her old foul shots, the first one bouncing off, the second, dead center. With that shot, the defender doesn't know whether to stop left, stop right or break both legs. I agree, above all the other moves, she needs to get that automatic, on her way to POY. Like Geno says to all who aspire to greatness, "she needs more time in the gym."

 

[huskyd]

Having re-watched the SC game--this time from the beginning--I was more aware of what happened to Lou early on. And what happened was that she missed wide-open shots, including lay-ins. Her treys are never more than an inch or less from going in or out. Too much credit was given to Lou's defender. There were plenty of brush-off moves by Katie and good screens provided for her--she just was missing. That happens to everyone, great players and ordinary. She'll be fine. I feel much better having actually seen what took place. Both Gabby and Pheesa made the Gamecocks' bigs look silly when taken off the dribble. They are really, really good.