Marquette Post-Game Thread

[HopJim]

She doesn't have to score a lot to bring stability to the team. She played zero minutes when we played Oregon. Remember what happened? We got clobbered. She is vital to the success of this team regardless of her putting up huge scoring numbers.

Williams seems to have a much better insight into her abilities this year. During the games she can't make a 3 pointer, she drives more. Not going into that side to side dribble as much 30 feet from the basket that doesn't accomplish much and bogs down the offensive flow. Rebounds well and her strength often helps stop the quick players that no one on UConn seems to be able to guard. As I've said before, I believe she is the X-factor that could win us a Championship. When she gets in her zone and lets the game come to her, few players are better.

 

[eyeroll]

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 thought I saw them check the video too, but I could be mistaken. I feel like contact initiated with the off hand clearing out should qualify for non-incidental.

 

[jaundicedeye]

I think Dorka being bashed in the face should be much more concerning than players shuffling their feet

Clearly an offensive foul on Marquette player for use of non-shooting hand/arm and entire body moving into an upright and stationary Dorka.

 

[oldude]

Clearly an offensive foul on Marquette player for use of non-shooting hand/arm and entire body moving into an upright and stationary Dorka.

I agree it should have been an offensive foul on Marquette. But after allowing the play to continue with UConn scoring at the other end, and then stopping play, the refs could not retroactively call an offensive foul.

The only option was a technical foul. The refs decided the contact was incidental. There is certainly room for disagreement on that decision.

 

[hookshot]

All they do is make the game less watchable. You don't see those calls in the NBA. Players palm the ball with every dribble it seems and they don't call that. It's a bad revision and as far as I'm concerned they are BS.

You're right about the NBA becoming unwatchable

 

[Teacherdeb]

An overall good effort against a physical team. A slow start again, with Nika getting two quick fouls and a seat on the bench. Having two players as the only 1st Q scorers kind of unusual. Same for 1 three between both teams in the 1st half. No one had a bad game although Caroline won't look back fondly on this one. I suspect she'll get back into the very nice rhythm she had before her injury.

Two non-game things. Paige is, as we know, animated on the bench. She makes... how to say it...a variety of gestures from the bench. Some I get and others might be obvious to a 19 year old, which I ain't. And, after the trophy ceremony somehow Amari ended up alone, clutching the trophy, looking a bit dazed as she wandered off the court.

Yeah, I thought Amari hauling the trophy off by herself was interesting- it looked heavy

 

[Teacherdeb]

Evina was great but the team we saw tonight loses in the Elite Eight. They just need to play better for all four quarters.

Really? the appeal of basketball is that depending on the game, players tend to rise or fall to the level of competition. the elite 8 game is unpredictable, oh ye of little faith.

 

[my2cents]

I don't post to these threads early so I can digest all the comments and points of view.
I like to hear Geno's press conference regarding the game, because, lets face it, his opinion carries the most weight.
His comment about, winning is not easy, but because UCONN wins so much we take it for granted. That point of view permeates this board and comments.
That was a very good basketball team that we easily beat last night. Some fans here never give any credit to the opposition we play. Instead, we moan and groan about turnovers, minutes, who is starting......meaningless dribble.
We should be focused on some of the positives. We were up 17 points at halftime with CW scoreless, Nika on the bench the entire half, Azzi getting one shot, two points. With our team in the best shape health wise this year, the defense can now play UCONN defense, no fear of fouling, rest when a player needs it, way more aggressive than when we have only 6.
The other main takeaway, with all the weapons we now have, we can live with the inconsistent play that we have seen all year. Geno can sub an Evina for a Nika, a Caroline for a slow starting CW, etc... and still get production.
Lastly two random thoughts:
Coaches need to work with Caroline and show her how she is travelling and break her of that bad habit.
Paige in uniform is a tease that she is right about to come back.

 

[CocoHusky]

All they do is make the game less watchable. You don't see those calls in the NBA. Players palm the ball with every dribble it seems and they don't call that. It's a bad revision and as far as I'm concerned they are BS.

You're right about the NBA becoming unwatchable

We are not talking about the same thing here. You are talking about how you like to watch the game and what makes it unwatchable. I'm talking about how the game is actually being called and the seeming inability of the UCONN players to adjust to how the game is being called. The refs don't care about "watchable", they have been given points of emphasis. Hand checking and more physicality used to be a part of both the NBA and CBB, but guess what? That aspect of the game has changed and players at both levels have adjusted. Quickly adjusting to new rules
or the way a game is being called has always been a signature feature of UCONN WBB.

 

[mhshuskies]

E says her change in playing so much better lately was due to a conversation with her position coach (Morgan).

 

[DefenseBB]

It does and even more so when you factor in Muhl’s 2 in the first minute and a half.

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.

 

[Rb335]

General comments about themes on this thread.

Geno said recently in a postgame that in big wins, he tends to give seniors the extra minutes alongside the end of the bench. CW has at most 11 games left in her career, that’s why she was playing. However, he did say he doesn’t like when the one remaining starter thinks it’s their opportunity to take all of the shots, which she kind of did in the last few minutes.

Caroline doesn’t have a great A/TO ratio, but then again, not many active players on the roster do. She’s had a few games with lots of turnovers, and a bunch of games without. But if you look, Evina, Aaliyah, and Liv are also averaging a similar amount per game. It’s a team weakness to me.

This team has finally found depth, but I feel like they are struggling to figure out their roles. With so little continuity, it’s hard to find your place and work at getting great at that role. The most obvious right now is Caroline adjusting from nearly becoming the offensive focal point, to trying to figure out her role as 7th or 8th off the bench. But the same can be said for everyone experiencing changing roles.

Looking forward to the remainder of the week, now that we are healthy. I’m proud of this team for continuing to stick together and play hard.

 

[Ozimoto]

The game was kind of sloppy offensively. The way Marquette plays defense had a lot to do with that.

This one was never in doubt.

 

[browns]

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.

I have to disagree as far as last night goes.Evina finally did push the ball up .Your right Nika's first thing is to turn and race the ball up court that sometimes leads to a fastbreak basket .All year Evina would walk the ball up giving teams a chance to set up their defense..last night she didn't.a couple of times when it looked like she was going to I saw Geno waving his arms to push it up which she immediately did..if you and I can see how the offense gets clogged down I'm sure Geno can and I think he finally had a talk with her about it

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Westbrook is emerging as a needed team leader...something we need until Paige returns and beyond. Everybody played hard, but at times looked like an accident waiting to happen. 30 point win looked much better than the last time we played Marquette. I hope Dorka is ok.

​

paige is still the leader of the pack. notice she was out on the court when dorka got hurt. shes the one

 

[BRS24]

Some thoughts on the Marquette game:

• If I am correct, tonight’s starting five for the Huskies (Liv, Christyn, Aaliyah, Nika & Azzi) is yet another different starting lineup this season. Not sure if it’s # 10 or #11? Unlike past lineups, this iteration had nothing to do with injury or illness.

This is lineup #7 (originally on 2/6 vs Tenn), and the 11th time we've seen a change.
The longest stretch was lineup #1 (6x):

The 2nd longest was lineup #9 (4x):

Geno said he would stay with #9 until it wasn't working, and if memory serves, Juhasz didn't start well vs G'town in last game, so perhaps that's why he made the change to start ONO.

 

[browns]

Very good game from Evina..It was AE's turn to have a good game but it was just mediocre at best.Defense was good except 2 or 3 times when there was miscommunication and they looked out of it..I hope Caroline never takes another 3 point shot..she simply is not a good 3 point shooter!! Now her slashing to the basket or taking her man low she is excellent..At 6'2" she is a nightmare for defenders..I hope she keeps that up.
I found it very interesting when they showed the stats comparing while Paige was playing the first 6 games and the 19 games since then and they were almost the same in all categories..I would have thought they would have been much better with Paige but this isn't the case

 

[oldude]

This is lineup #7 (originally on 2/6 vs Tenn), and the 11th time we've seen a change.
The longest stretch was lineup #1 (6x): View attachment 73702
The 2nd longest was lineup #9 (4x): View attachment 73703

Geno said he would stay with #9 until it wasn't working, and if memory serves, Juhasz didn't start well vs G'town in last game, so perhaps that's why he made the change to start ONO.

I stand corrected. TN feels like ages ago and my memory only goes back to breakfast….

 

[Charliebball]

To me, one of more significant things that happened this evening happened before the opening tip-off. Liv was restored to the starting lineup, but Caroline was not. Since they both seem to be at the same (nearly complete) level of recovery from their injuries, this suggests to me that (at least for now) Azzi has taken Caroline's place in the UConn starting lineup.

While it is unkind for someone to lose her starter's status because of an injury, I think Caroline may find herself "Drew Bledsoe-d" by Azzi "TB12" Fudd. Given the way Azzi has played and shot the ball in the time she has been a starter, it is hard to argue with Geno making this decision. Caroline will still make a major contribution off the bench. What a luxury for Geno to have the "3" position covered by a depth chart of Azzi / Evina / Caroline! They could play together if need be, meaning that one or two of them would also cover the "2".

I think it's pretty clear that when Paige returns (no longer saying "if" after Geno's latest comments), she will replace Nika in the starting lineup, and the two of them will cover the PG position very adequately. Nika will still have a major role since I don't think Paige will play more than 20-25 minutes in any game this season.

Suddenly the front court is looking like the least deep part of the roster. I hope that after the last two games, no one still thinks the either Amari or Piath is ready for significant minutes in a "win or go home" game.

Two other comments, mostly unrelated to the above:

1. Those who think Christyn should get far fewer minutes are still failing to identify who else we have on the roster who can successfully defend an opponent's fast guard. Evina is not particularly quick, Azzi less so, and Caroline Ducharme is not quick at all. Nika and Paige are not fast enough to do that job, and Paige in particular should not be asked to do that in the next six weeks.
2. Caroline scored OK in tonight's game (though I can't remember her missing a layup like she did tonight), but she has a real problem with turnovers. This was true even before her injury, and it continues to be true. If there is a concrete reason why she should get fewer minutes than Azzi or the current version of Evina, that is it.

It appears to me that Ducharme is not playing at the same high level as she was before her head injury........just not as sharp at either end of the floor........,.in addition to Fudd's good play, perhaps that's why she's not getting more minutes right now.........I'm hoping she's just hit a little freshman wall and snaps out of it by the big tournament......

 

[Charliebball]

Very good game from Evina..It was AE's turn to have a good game but it was just mediocre at best.Defense was good except 2 or 3 times when there was miscommunication and they looked out of it..I hope Caroline never takes another 3 point shot..she simply is not a good 3 point shooter!! Now her slashing to the basket or taking her man low she is excellent..At 6'2" she is a nightmare for defenders..I hope she keeps that up.
I found it very interesting when they showed the stats comparing while Paige was playing the first 6 games and the 19 games since then and they were almost the same in all categories..I would have thought they would have been much better with Paige but this isn't the case

also if I remember correctly, Paige wasn't playing quite as well as last year at the beginning of this season

 

[browns]

paige is still the leader of the pack. notice she was out on the court when dorka got hurt. shes the one

I noticed that and I wondered why did she go on the court when it was just the trainers and Geno..I think Paige likes the cameras.. I really like watching Paige and her antics on the sidelines but she knows the cameras are on her quite often and I don't think she had any business going on the court..and Geno has already said that" Nika is the leader of the team even though other people think they are"

 

[oldude]

Very good game from Evina..It was AE's turn to have a good game but it was just mediocre at best.Defense was good except 2 or 3 times when there was miscommunication and they looked out of it..I hope Caroline never takes another 3 point shot..she simply is not a good 3 point shooter!! Now her slashing to the basket or taking her man low she is excellent..At 6'2" she is a nightmare for defenders..I hope she keeps that up.
I found it very interesting when they showed the stats comparing while Paige was playing the first 6 games and the 19 games since then and they were almost the same in all categories..I would have thought they would have been much better with Paige but this isn't the case

A lot to unpack here. AE mediocre? What game were you watching? Aaliyah had 10 pts (4/7), 5 rebounds, 3 steals & 1 assist. She was tremendous on D and played a solid all-around game.

Caroline should never take another 3-pt shot? I’ll acknowledge last night wasn’t her best, but Caroline has proven to be a deadly 3-pt shooter, when she gets into a groove. She has come up BIG in several critical games from the arc, and will do so again.

 

[CocoHusky]

I don't post to these threads early so I can digest all the comments and points of view.
I like to hear Geno's press conference regarding the game, because, lets face it, his opinion carries the most weight.
His comment about, winning is not easy, but because UCONN wins so much we take it for granted. That point of view permeates this board and comments.
That was a very good basketball team that we easily beat last night. Some fans here never give any credit to the opposition we play. Instead, we moan and groan about turnovers, minutes, who is starting......meaningless dribble.
We should be focused on some of the positives. We were up 17 points at halftime with CW scoreless, Nika on the bench the entire half, Azzi getting one shot, two points. With our team in the best shape health wise this year, the defense can now play UCONN defense, no fear of fouling, rest when a player needs it, way more aggressive than when we have only 6.
The other main takeaway, with all the weapons we now have, we can live with the inconsistent play that we have seen all year. Geno can sub an Evina for a Nika, a Caroline for a slow starting CW, etc... and still get production.
Lastly two random thoughts:
Coaches need to work with Caroline and show her how she is travelling and break her of that bad habit.
Paige in uniform is a tease that she is right about to come back.

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.

 

[browns]

also if I remember correctly, Paige wasn't playing quite as well as last year at the beginning of this season

Her 3 point shot was way down but otherwise she was playing as well as last year

 

[browns]

A lot to unpack here. AE mediocre? What game were you watching? Aaliyah had 10 pts (4/7), 5 rebounds, 3 steals & 1 assist. She was tremendous on D and played a solid all-around game.

Caroline should never take another 3-pt shot? I’ll acknowledge last night wasn’t her best, but Caroline has proven to be a deadly 3-pt shooter, when she gets into a groove. She has come up BIG in several critical games from the arc, and will do so ag

 

[oldude]

I noticed that and I wondered why did she go on the court when it was just the trainers and Geno..I think Paige likes the cameras.. I really like watching Paige and her antics on the sidelines but she knows the cameras are on her quite often and I don't think she had any business going on the court..and Geno has already said that" Nika is the leader of the team even though other people think they are"

I have often seen teammates go onto the court or playing field to both console and sometimes assist an injured player off the court. Not sure why U would object to that. Nika may be the leader on the court. But Paige is still the leader of this team, even when she’s injured. Don’t think for a minute that Geno does not want Paige to be involved in every aspect of this team.

 

[donalddoowop]

Very good game from Evina..It was AE's turn to have a good game but it was just mediocre at best.Defense was good except 2 or 3 times when there was miscommunication and they looked out of it..I hope Caroline never takes another 3 point shot..she simply is not a good 3 point shooter!! Now her slashing to the basket or taking her man low she is excellent..At 6'2" she is a nightmare for defenders..I hope she keeps that up.
I found it very interesting when they showed the stats comparing while Paige was playing the first 6 games and the 19 games since then and they were almost the same in all categories..I would have thought they would have been much better with Paige but this isn't the case

You are wrong. Caroline is a good three-point shooter. She is also good at driving. She is not going to be as good now that she is not starting. She had more room for error when starting. She is adjusting to her new role. Too many people have unreasonable expectations for some of the players on UConn.

 

[browns]

Caroline shoots 30% from the arc..you think that is deadly...Far far from it in fact that is pretty poor

 

[browns]

You are wrong. Caroline is a good three-point shooter. She is also good at driving. She is not going to be as good now that she is not starting. She had more room for error when starting. She is adjusting to her new role. Too many people have unreasonable expectations for some of the players on UConn.

Fine if you think shooting 30% is good

 

[browns]

I have often seen teammates go onto the court or playing field to both console and sometimes assist an injured player off the court. Not sure why U would object to that. Nika may be the leader on the court. But Paige is still the leader of this team, even when she’s injured. Don’t think for a minute that Geno does not want Paige to be involved in every aspect of this team.

Yes teammates plural..not just 1 teammate who isn't even playing in the game