Marquette Postgame Thread

[EricSD]

Calm down everyone. Last season UConn had back to back mediocre offensive games at Georgetown & St Johns scoring 73 & 71 points respectively. Somehow, the Huskies managed to right the ship.

Also, how about giving some credit to a well coached Marquette team that played their hearts out. The sky is not falling if the Huskies don’t win by 50……

Why is it when anyone is remotely realistic about what we just saw, we are told to "calm down"? I'm very calm, as is everyone else who is calling it like they saw it. Even Azzi was critical of the team today. No one is saying "we suck" or "the sky is falling". Just pointing out a poor effort.

It seems sometimes that if people aren't "Yay rah rah this team is the greatest thing ever in the entire universe", it's called out.

 

[browns]

Uconn has a real problem at the center position,Never mind UCLA,Texas .S.C. but other teams they may play that have just a decent center and Uconn could be in trouble..Jana and Williams just aren't getting it done..Getting outrebounded by 13 today was terrible
Allie played 20 mins and was a non factor
First half was the worst half I've seen Sarah play but the second half she scored at will
Thankfully the "D" was terrific most of the game

 

[slug25]

Geno needs to have another chat with Allie. She was totally disinterested in being an offensive factor today. Hard to fathom when playing in her home state before friends and family.

 

[Monte]

Today, I was worried about K9. We all know by now about her hustle, diving and rolling on the floor. Today, it got quite scary. There were really 2 serious crashes, and with both of those incidents, I felt she was injured seriously. She came back with her usual hustle from both. That kid is just filled with courage!

 

[oldude]

Why is it when anyone is remotely realistic about what we just saw, we are told to "calm down"? I'm very calm, as is everyone else who is calling it like they saw it. Even Azzi was critical of the team today. No one is saying "we suck" or "the sky is falling". Just pointing out a poor effort.

We can all acknowledge that this was not UConn’s best game without running around like Chicken Little yelling out that “the sky is falling.” That’s the part that gets to me. I’m not saying that you do so. But a number of BY’ers go there immediately after a less than perfect game by the Huskies.

I point out in my postgame thread that Sarah’s 1st half was her “worst shooting half I’d ever seen.” That was an absolutely “realistic” assessment. If I were Chicken Little I might go on to say, “If she shoots like that the rest of the season UConn has no chance to win championship #13.”

UConn is the greatest program in the history of WBB. Geno is the greatest coach in the history of WBB. This roster is the most talented in the nation. I’m exceedingly optimistic this year, regardless of the way today’s game played out.

Oh by the way. UConn won today.

 

[Blond D.]

I'm sure many will think I'm going overboard, but I think Geno needs to sit Sarah and Blanca until the Big East Tournament starts.......UConn can't win it all without both of them being healthy, and starting them back up in Big East Tournament will allow for both to get rid of any rust.....

yeah you are right......many think youre going overboard.

Sarah sat for a game and couldn't get going till the second half. Bubble wrapping players never works.

 

[Bills Fan]

olddude - 100% agree AND it will all come together when Blanca returns & the coaching staff switches up the 5 spot and starts Jana El Alfy and has Serah Williams coming off the bench

Conncan, well we certainly can agree one one thing; Serah is not the player we thought we were getting who could take over the post position but we are seeing JEA's contributions much, much differently because I do not see her as the answer at the 5 spot, unless the opponent's big is physically imposing, such as Betts If that is not the case, then I think our best lineup has SS and BQ as the 2 bigs. That's why, I said earlier that Blanca is necessary for this team to go all the way in April.
Geno is clearly frustrated with both SW and JEA and no, AP is not the answer Her late entrance into any game says all that's needed as far as Geno's current evaluation.
I absolutely love Jana's positive attitude and team support and I want her to succeed during her fourth year at Storrs. To do that I hope she spends the off season improving her jumping ability (this problem could be a result of her major injury), becoming a strong threat around the basket and most importantly improve her hand strength. This last item is the major cause of her turnovers as balls are knocked out of her hands and/or she is unable to hold on to passes to her. She will never develop the hand strength of Sarah, but neither will 99% of D-1 players

 

[ABCDFE]

Okay, I'm gonna scratch this one off and call it an anomaly game. The team is obviously dealing with the bug for a while. We've been playing tag with the cold/flu/covid in our household so kudos to the kids for pushing through.

However, there are some things I noticed this game that could be an issue down the road against top tier competition. REBOUNDING. Many of our post players are looking to tap the ball back instead of going up with two hands boxing out and going to get the ball. I felt today the other team wanted the rebound more than us, and too many times, our guards are thinking of getting a head start on offense thinking someone is going to grab the rebound and outlet. Other times, the ball is loose and the reaction of the guards are focused on the player and not the ball. We need all 5 players going for the ball. Rebounding is a mentality of "want to". I will say that if we don't rebound well in the latter stages of the tournament we will get beat, no matter how well Sarah and Azzi play.

This is the first time seeing (since Michigan) supporting cast looking too tentative and not being aggressive enough and passing through motions with no clear objective. Our bigs offer absolutely no threat at the elbow once they get the ball there as they look to hand off to a guard. Our bigs (outside of Strong) need to play better, offer some type of threat in the mid range game or ability to drive to basket. This is going to make our matchups with the bigger teams more problematic if we have to go to the small ball lineup we will most likely be compromised on the rebounding end and if our shots are not falling, it means a lot of one and dones on the offensive end.

This game tells me we will need Blanca to be full go for the tournament and if she is compromised I have to say I will be quite worried going up against teams like SC.

Lets hope this was a one off game and the result of various players recovering from being sick. Lets also hope that this is a one off where Allie looks like freshman Allie. Shade wasn't great today too which compounded the issue, but I trust her more because she's been in high stake games for several years now and she'll know what to do. Lets also hope this data point won't be one where opponents can use against UCONN because UCONN will have figured the aforementioned issues out.

 

[ucmiami2]

One of those games where you say 'winter doldrums' (usually happens a month earlier), or just tip of the hat to Marquette for being disruptive and hammering the O-boards.

What I will say, was with the exception of KK (and Jana to a degree), none of the supporting cast stepped up when Azzi/Strong struggled. Yes Azzi scored 17 in the first half and hit 5-8 from three, but she went 1-6 inside the arc and Strong was going 1-9 for 3 points, the other 'scorers' in 42 minutes on the floor in the first half were:

Shade - 15 min, 1-3/0-1, 1 R, 0 A, 2 TO, 1 S
Allie - 12 min, 0-0, 0 R, 3 A, 0 TO, 1 S
K9 - 10 min, 1-2/0-1, 2 R, 1 A, 1 TO, 1 S
Serah - 5 min, 0-0, 4 R, 0 A, 1 TO, 0 S, 1B
Totalled to:
42 floor minutes 2-5/0-2, 7 R, 2 A, 4 TO, 3 S, 1 B

And then in the second half those 4 combined for:
45 floor minutes going 3-12/0-3, 5 R, 2 A, 1 TO, 2 S, 1 B

The two not mentioned above: KK, Jana played 46 in the game and combined for:
5-6/0-0, 9 R, 10 A, 3 TO, 2 S

The defense was good in the game and everyone contributed, but I would say they were often a step slow in rotations and they gave up a lot of bunnies. leading to a surprising 37.5% shooting for Marquette and 56 points. The O-Boards were a problem as well, again partly because of Uconn's scrambling out toward open shooters.

We did better when Sarah sat out a game, then when she was a no-show for the first half today. Allie is supposed to be a scorer and took zero shots in 12 first half minutes, K9 took 2, Ash 3. It was amazzing watching Sarah miss all those shots as a fan, as a teammate besides Azzi, no one else stepped up, and I think that is likely to be the message from the coaches!

And finally welcome back KK, and hello Jana, you seem to have heard the message.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Why is it when anyone is remotely realistic about what we just saw, we are told to "calm down"? I'm very calm, as is everyone else who is calling it like they saw it. Even Azzi was critical of the team today. No one is saying "we suck" or "the sky is falling". Just pointing out a poor effort.

It seems sometimes that if people aren't "Yay rah rah this team is the greatest thing ever in the entire universe", it's called out.

I get it. A vigorous 2 minute debate between two of my favorite people here. I have to admit I originally intended a game post which had more negative content, because we certainly did punch down a weight class or two. But the bigger picture is these kids routinely crush it and for a day they didn't; not a crushing, just a licking. But as fans with much invested we should be allowed critical observations without the offer of a sedative. Everyone's heart is in the right place.

 

[BRS24]

IMHO, this game is this year's version of last year's vs TN. LOTS of tape to dissect.

When the team's avg MOV is 30+, it seems like we're doomed. I compare it to asking a runner to crack 2:30 in a marathon every week for 18+ weeks.

 

[CONNCAN]

Uconn has a real problem at the center position,Never mind UCLA,Texas .S.C. but other teams they may play that have just a decent center and Uconn could be in trouble..Jana and Williams just aren't getting it done..Getting outrebounded by 13 today was terrible
Allie played 20 mins and was a non factor
First half was the worst half I've seen Sarah play but the second half she scored at will
Thankfully the "D" was terrific most of the game

I think recently, Jana El Alfy is out playing Serah Williams and should be moved into Starting Lineup as the offense and defense moves a bit (not allot more but slightly better) better with Jana than Serah (as it was during last season's NCAA Playoffs).

 

[Charliebball]

yeah you are right......many think youre going overboard.

Sarah sat for a game and couldn't get going till the second half. Bubble wrapping players never works.

Apparently, I wasn't imagining things based on what Geno said after the game,......Sarah is still under the weather and is clearly dealing with some lower leg/foot issues that are impacting her normally solid shooting base.......why would you want to see her out there against lowly Big East competition with four meaningless games to go if she's not close to 100%? Doesn't seem like a crazy idea to me under the circumstances.....

 

[Linart]

God, that first quarter---I thought we were having an Ilia Malinin moment.

 

[SCNCHuskie]

Also we got out rebounded 42-29. I suspect this is connected to our poor shooting.

I believe this had a lot more to do with the lineup. Serah and Jana played 10 and 16 minutes respectively. The majority of the time it seemed UConn had a very small line up on the court; Azzi, Allie, KK, and K9.

 

[Ozimoto]

Marquette has some size and they deserve some credit. Defensively they made it difficult for UConn to run their motion offense efficiently. They need games like this to test them, and I don't think Geno was particularly worried about the final score. At no time did I get the feeling they could lose the game. The team may have been feeling a little full of themselves and they need a game like this to wake them up and refocus them going into the post season. I'm not concerned unless they repeat this performance against Villanova.

 

[Bald Husky]

Without reading any of the comments, I just want to say that Jana should be starting in place of Serah. I think she has a better upside, but then again, her fouling is a big problem. Serah Williams does not rock my world.

 

[PacoSwede]

Allie played 25 minutes and was 0 for 2 shooting. She needs to be taking (and making) more shots if she's coming off the bench to provide a spark and help the offense, the way she has played before today.

and in home state with her admirers there. it was damn shame!

 

[faninwisc]

People need to calm down. Uconn will be just fine. I live in Madison and go to the Uconn vs. Marquette game every year and it's typically a tough match up. Marquette is very physical, they are sold defensively, and they don't make a ton of mistakes. The same people who are freaking out about Uconn having a closer than expected game are the same people who also worry about Uconn not being tested enough going into the tournament. There are a lot of really good teams that would have gone to Milwaukee today and came out with a loss.

 

[and one]

There were a lot of things that weren't up to snuff today. Ok, it happens. I'll chalk most of it off to just having a meh day at the office. Obviously having a game like this against a stronger team could lead to a loss; of course all teams have bad days that can lead to a loss. It's the nature of sports.

The thing that concerns me is that our rebounding is underwhelming. If we do not win the NC this year I get the feeling that it will be because we don't have a strong inside rebounding/scoring threat outside of Sarah. Teams don't have to game plan how to control Serah or Jana. Having Blanca available will help. Hook or crook, we'll need better post play as we get into the NCAAs...or Azzi and Sarah will have to shot really well against the good teams. They can do that but more production from the bigs would make things a whole lot easier.

 

[Stagnant]

Uconn has a real problem at the center position,Never mind UCLA,Texas .S.C. but other teams they may play that have just a decent center and Uconn could be in trouble..Jana and Williams just aren't getting it done..Getting outrebounded by 13 today was terrible
Allie played 20 mins and was a non factor
First half was the worst half I've seen Sarah play but the second half she scored at will
Thankfully the "D" was terrific most of the game

i agree that it is the weak position again this season.

When we play in crunch time in march against teams captor beating us; I am hoping we can play Blanca and Sarah. That would be an elite 5 on the defensive end. We just would need to hang in there on the glass. That would be my only concern.

 

[schmendrick]

I'm not at all worried. Off game; simple as that. This is February doldrums, plus no one is 100%. And glad we got tested by a solid, cohesive team--and crowd--that seemed hyped to challenge UConn, and never backed down. Kudos to Marquette.

 

[Happydad745]

In the Uconn world of BB, this was a turned down day....but it is Feb. and not much is happening. I expect some changes before the month is over. We obviously miss Blanca, and thankfully we have everyone else, up or down.

 

[Centerstream]

I think recently, Jana El Alfy is out playing Serah Williams and should be moved into Starting Lineup as the offense and defense moves a bit (not allot more but slightly better) better with Jana than Serah (as it was during last season's NCAA Playoffs).

I think both Serah and Jana are playing with the same mentality...looking over their shoulders because if they make a mistake, odds are that they are coming out at the next whistle. I have no idea how that would affect either player, especially the one that was a B1G conference Defensive Player of the Year and on the All Defense team. And for Jana, it's been going on for two years now...

 

[JellyBean]

What a game! It wasn't pretty but what it showed was that we can win "pretty" and win "ugly" and that is all that matters in the end, winning. This game just reminded me of the UConn/Stanford championship game of 2010, minus the championship atmosphere.