Marquette Post-Game Thread

[EricLA]

Just one thought about UCONN playing consistently, or having players with sub-par games... and one example...

The 2010 N game was UCONN vs. Stanford. We scored 12 points in the 1st half down 20-12 at halftime. Maya, and to a lesser extent, Tina, carried the team to the victory in the 2nd half. Maya had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Tina had 9 points and 6 blocks. The final score was 53-47, so the entire rest of the team not named Maya or Tina scored 21 points.

My point is, we had 2 players who played great, and only in the 2nd half, and we still won the NC. Stanford, BTW, was the #2 team in the country that year so it's not like there were upsets leading up to the NC game like when we beat Louisville.

So not every player needs to play great to win the NC. Sometimes you ride 1 or 2 horses, other times it truly is a complete team effort.

I'm sure Geno (and of course us fans) would much prefer to see consistently good play by everyone for most of the game, but it's not necessary to win a NC. Of course it's more stressful to watch if it's a struggle, but teams can still win, even if each player doesn't play their "A" (or even "B") game...

Just trying to throw in a little perspective... FWIW... One other P.S. Baylor, ranked ahead of at #5, beat an 8-16 Oklahoma State team by only 7. The game was played evenly for 3Q's, and the MOV was a 8 point "win" in Q2.

 

[Cornell Lt]

A real point of emphasis must be elbow and hand contact to an opponents face. We have seen and suffered plenty of severe face contact to UCONN players this year. Are refs too busy watching feet and miss head contact and potential serious injury ?

I have mentioned on several occasions that UConn players been on the receiving end of contact to the head/neck area with no calls being made. I keep seeing/hearing people say "there was no intent there". Intent does not matter, the rule is very clear. We lost Caroline for a few games. Enough is enough. I would hope the league reviews the video's and hold the officials accountable

 

[oldude]

Both Paige & Evina are also shooting around 30% from the arc this season. Maybe both of them should never shoot another 3 either…..

 

[Bama fan]

Good to get a win, great to get the BE regular season title. I was very pleased to see ONO back into form; and Evina played a superb game. AE played well. Nika was out of character with less energy that usual. I worry that Caroline seems to have not fully recovered or returned to form. She has been sloppy and less energetic in the last few games. Sure hope this is about to pass.

 

[Kaizen]

Finally Aubrey is also in the photo.

 

[sun]

It's probably a good thing that UConn gets called for so many traveling violations now.
They need to clean up their footwork as much as possible before the tourneys begin to avoid TO's.

 

[housekeys]

I agree with everything you are saying here except that this (traveling) is not limited to Caroline. It has been happening since the beginning of the season Nika, Evina, Azzi, CW, Dorka, Liv and even Paige before she was injured have all been called for this violation going back to the beginning of the season. This violation was called on 4 different UCONN players in the first half of Arkansas game and something the entire team should have adjusted to by now.

Maybe it is not the players. It is rare for basketball players to lose their rhythm and outright travel, but it happens. The majority of travel calls from my point of view occur because of the physical play that refs allow. ONO, for example, is constantly bumped, and because of her lack of strength, shuffles the feet to rebalance herself. The call is a travel, when it could be a push on the defender. Refs have a tough job, but the fact, as you say that players have not adjusted, makes the case that it may not be just the players.

 

[Charliebball]

I don't think so...........for example she's been stripped of the ball from behind four times in the past couple of games showing an alarming lack of awareness and yes her outside shot is way off........she had a clanker last night that looked more like when CW really misses....

 

[Charliebball]

Curious comment about Caroline not being a good 3-point shooter. Fudd has two horrid 3-point shooting games of the past 4-5 but my comment would be to have her shoot more, not less, to get back in the groove. Similarly, Caroline is a streaky long-range shooter but seems to hit them when its most needed. Most that have watched the entire season would want her taking shots at all distances.

the season's stats are interesting......CD was shooting at a higher level before her injury.........I would think she should be around a .350 three point shooter

CD .459/.298
.489/.455
CW .461/.355
PB .563/.310

 

[CocoHusky]

Maybe it is not the players. It is rare for basketball players to lose their rhythm and outright travel, but it happens. The majority of travel calls from my point of view occur because of the physical play that refs allow. ONO, for example, is constantly bumped, and because of her lack of strength, shuffles the feet to rebalance herself. The call is a travel, when it could be a push on the defender. Refs have a tough job, but the fact, as you say that players have not adjusted, makes the case that it may not be just the players.

Maybe. But ONO is probable a bad example to use. The vast majority of the traveling calls that I'm concerned about are not the result of defense. It is the result of the UCONN player being in too much of a hurry after receiving the ball and shuffling the feet before starting the dribble. This seems to be a TEAM problem not just one player.

 

[housekeys]

the season's stats are interesting......CD was shooting at a higher level before her injury.........I would think she should be around a .350 three point shooter

CD .459/.298
Azzi Fudd .489/.455
CW .461/.355
PB .563/.310

3 point shooting percentages will take a hit because opponents focus on "hot" shooting players. To their credit, both Azzi and Caroline are making the adjustments and taking the ball inside, which is where they have been more successful recently.

 

[STLCardinal]

What was worse is the whole pace of play slows down when Evina takes over. At least Nika pushes the ball up the court where as Evina always walks it up the court. With Evina running the point for 18:25 of the first half minutes, we had a measly 24 shots. In looking at our season shots, we average only 59.9 per game down from our 5 year average of 63….that is a function of pace. So yeah, I want Paige back so Evina isn’t running the point.

Thanks for making that point. Some people spend so much time looking for Nika mistakes that they cannot see the difference in the offense when she runs it. Evina will get to a spot, stand and dribble waiting for the others to move and the only thing moving is the shot clock. Nika gets the ball up the floor, pushes it toward a wing, makes them move to start things. The biggest advantage in this is that there is time for more cutting and screening. A lot of times Azzi gets a better shot on her 2nd or even 3rd cut off a screen. Then the more movement you have the more the defense gets out of position which opens lanes for Caroline and Christyn. But if you don't have time to get to that point, then things get rushed.

I think Evina is contributing greatly. I just don't think it's best from the point guard spot. Nika just needs to stay out of foul trouble and realize they are gonna call certain fouls because they just aren't very good and need somebody to give them a "point of emphasis" so they know what to call.

 

[hoophuskee]

I'd think you'd want CD taking good 3's vs 3's that she is highly covered. I get the point that she hasn't been a good 3 point shooter this year but if that were the case of just looking at %'s that you look at to say yes shoot or don't -- then Dorka should never take another 3 either. And Evina is only slightly better at .304 so then you'd say she shouldn't take another 3 - and so -on.

As far as the stats of Paige and without - I wouldn't put 2 cents into the relevancy of those numbers. Fudd and Ducharme were getting their feet wet for one thing.

 

[my2cents]

Browns man give it up. It seems your logic is based on ONE word that a poster uses. I.E someone describing DEADLY for Caroline's 3 point shooting. Caroline is a good 3 point shooter and should continue to shoot them when she is open. If 40% shooting is considered above avg. she only needs to make one more out of 10, not a stretch.
UNBEATABLE is the other word that you dislike regarding people discussing Paige's return, yet you feel that we are FF team without Paige. So , a FF caliber team, ADDING last year's consensus BEST college player of the year....hurts are chances to win?
Like I said, you make no sense...

 

[huskeynut]

I just check the stats. Caroline has 27 Ast and 44 TO so far. I'm a bit shocked. And Azzi has 13 Ast and 14 TO. Paige has the best Ast/TO ratio 4.1. The 2nd coming is ONO's 1.76. And no other one is above 2 then. What a big gap.

This is the big issue that needs to be addressed. Too many head/ facial shots that are either let go or called as a normal foul.

 

[CocoHusky]

Browns man give it up. It seems your logic is based on ONE word that a poster uses. I.E someone describing DEADLY for Caroline's 3 point shooting. Caroline is a good 3 point shooter and should continue to shoot them when she is open. If 40% shooting is considered above avg. she only needs to make one more out of 10, not a stretch.
UNBEATABLE is the other word that you dislike regarding people discussing Paige's return, yet you feel that we are FF team without Paige. So , a FF caliber team, ADDING last year's consensus BEST college player of the year....hurts are chances to win?
Like I said, you make no sense...

. Come on you need to lean in just a little bit here. If/when the opinions on the BY start making sense where are you going to go to get your daily belly laugh for free?

 

[CocoHusky]

You are doing it again concentrating on that one word that irks you. @my2cents said: she only needs to make one more out of 10, not a stretch.