Sarah and Azzi played 40 minutes each, as did Swords and Olson for Michigan. Sarah and Azzi are incredibly tough customers. Sarah in particular looked really tired in the last few minutes. The Paige question re-emerges: can Geno afford to sit her down in close games? It isn't clear this question has been answered yet. I hope that eventually Blanca can be the one who holds the fort while Sarah gets a blow. But currently there's no one who can really do that.
The other thing this game shows is that we're not as deep as everyone has been thinking. Geno effectively played 6 deep. Blanca and Allie played 8 minutes each. But he didn't trust them in crunch time. Only Kayleigh got real minutes off the bench. And I think we saw exactly how far from big game ready Blanca still is. She'll get there soon enough. But not yet.
Once again, UConn's kryptonite turns out to be a zone defense. Their execution isn't crisp enough yet to reliably break a zone. It will come, but we're not there yet. And opponents perimeter shooting is another weakness. Syla Swords hit 8-14 from 3 including some really clutch shots down the stretch. Azzi did too, so it's not like we're the only team who can be beaten from the perimeter.
In closing, Michigan is a really good, well-coached team. But UConn is better. Olson and Swords are two of the best players in the country. But Sarah and Azzi are better. Personally, even though it was a nail biter, I appreciate games like this one. When pushed really hard, to their limit, the Huskies dug deep and grabbed a hard fought win with both hands.
