Michigan Postgame Thread | Page 8 | The Boneyard
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Michigan Postgame Thread

oldude said:
Some thoughts on the Michigan game:
  • Michigan is a very good, well coached team that plays hard. During the 1st half it looked as if UConn would blow them out of the gym. But they fought their way back into the game in the 2nd half and gave UConn a real scare.
  • A lot of interesting numbers in the 1st qtr. Sarah’s 9 rebounds were extremely impressive. But my favorite numbers: MI was 2/20 (10%).
  • Every game, Sarah does something amazing. Tonight it was her steal and ridiculous length of the court pass to Ash for an assist, while lying on her back. But it was her lunchpail effort on the boards that keyed UConn's win today. She had a career high 20 rebounds.
  • This may sound absurd. But it felt like Azzi had a relatively quiet 1st half until I realized she dropped 18 on the Wolverines. But her biggest shots were the 3's she dropped in the 4th qtr that were desperately needed by the Huskies.
  • UConn’s offensive execution continues to be inconsistent. At times they look unstoppable and at times they struggle to execute. The 3rd qtr tonight was particularly brutal. When was the last time UConn was outscored 18-4 in a qtr?
  • MIchigan's 2-3 matchup zone gave UConn fits, and Syla Swords is absolutely unconcious.
  • Some big shots by KK and Sarah down the stretch along with Azzi's clutch FT's provided the Huskies with just enough to pull the game out.
  • Surprised to learn that UConn and MI have never played each other. It’s been 29 years since UConn lost to a 1st time opponent……and fortunately it didn’t happen tonight.
  • Bring on the Utes!
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Went right to my first guess - South Carolina 16-3 in the fourth in the Bahamas in Paige’s sophomore year.
 
Centerstream said:
When Fox displayed this, I thought for sure that we were jinxed...almost came true.
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This was an important win then. Geno has losing records against only 2 schools. La Salle and US International. He could schedule a couple home and homes with La Salle to fix that, but he will forever be 0-1 against USIU. They closed for good in the 1990s.
 
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Jaydumo20 said:
KK saved the game for us when the whole team went cold. Don't ignore the offensive plays she made to keep us ahead. Without her in the game today we would have lost. You can't hypothetically alter that truth.
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Saving is generous and I’ll say that was just making up for some truly boneheaded offensive choices in the 4Q so it equals out
 
pghhuskydoc said:
It was a Kim Barnes-Arrico team doing what they do best. Making life heck for UCONN.
Swords was unconscious coming down the stretch and Strong was understandably gassed.
And still, we won.
Team will learn a lot from this game.
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Yeah, Barnes -Arrico and St.Johns was our one blemish of a non ranked team that defeated us years back… strongly believe that’s all she got the Michigan job.
 
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Dove said:
Swords shot daggers.

Caitlin Clark v. 2.0
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I remember saying something about this last year. I just put it out there that SylaI’ll be as good as Kaitlyn. She rises the occasion. She did to us what she did to South Carolina last year. I’m glad our huskies won, but it’s hard not to love what Michigan is becoming. They are very young team and oh my God nobody transferred out in this day and age that’s pretty impressive.
 
cferraro04 said:
C'mon, Swords played over her head. She averages 12.2 points per game. Swords rose to the moment and played her best game. I do not think we will see her play that kind of game the next time she faces UConn. I will credit Michigan for their toughness...they battled back from 20 down against the number one team in the nation. Respect!
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She plays like she typically does. She did not play over her head. She's not expected to be the primary scorer with Michigan. And if you think she won't play like this again should they face UConn, you're sorely underestimating her.

What you saw is why she's a regular on the Canadian national team at her age. She understands the game very well, has great instincts and gets the job done when her team needs her. She was key in helping Canada earn their bronze at Americup this summer, including the buzzer beater that won them the game. When the team is relying on a teenager over guards who play pro overseas, that says something to me.
 
Sorry to be so late to the party
We were driving between Lecce and Otranto, this morning…in lovely Puglia, Southern Italy: Greetings.

Two thoughts

-Kim Barnes Arico has experience matching Geno…back in the day, her Johnnies
embarrassed UConn, taking a big East game, UConn should have won

-(and more pertinent)…The game was too late for us to follow but as a super senior I woke about 2:45 ish to attend to things, seniors do at night…and I turned on ESPN play by play…and I came in with Uconn up 12/14…and then he subbed in Blanca at 4:42 of the third:

-inside of 25 seconds, she fouled Mila Holloway, who hit two foul shots
-She then turned the ball over twice in the next 32 seconds, leading to a three and
a reduced lead…In retrospect a commedia moment, but must have seen tragic at the time.
-Geno pulled her after a grand total of 49 seconds of negative mayhem

A game to tell her grandkids about after an illustrious career
 
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DemonDeac22 said:
I’d sure like to see Allie live up to her billing as a great shooter at some point. Right now it’s not making its way into the real games.
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Pretty tough to live up to anything when she only got two shots. She seems to be overlooked quite often when she is wide open. To be fair it is often when the ball is across the court so maybe they’re just not seeing her. Lļ
dtbtbtb said:
Few Thoughts:
*Credit to Michigan. A real good young team with a great coach. They are good this year but could be scary good the next 2 seasons as their stars are sophomores.
*Azzi played like a POY. cool as a cucumber under pressure.
*Sarah had a great 1st half but was clearly tired in the second half and it seems that the constant double teams and, missing some easy shots, took the aggressiveness from her on offense. 20 boards is unreal, she clearly needed some help on the boards which she wasn't getting from Serah.
*Serah didn't have a good game but her pass to Sarah in the end of the 4th quarter was critical.
*KK was real good. just wish she could shoot better. She will be left open a lot and must be able to hit those open 3's.
*Shade was real disappointing on offense. after a great start with the 2 3's she couldn't hit anything and had all kind of bad decisions.
*Blanca is clearly the main candidate to be that third scorer the team needs but she is a freshman and hopefully she gets it soon enough. I was surprised that Geno played her so little in the second half if at all.
*Allie got a lot of chances this game, but she MUST hit those open 3's to be a reliable part of the rotation.
*Kayleigh Heckel was disappointing aside then the nice take to the basket for and 1. her 3 point shots were horrible.
*Jana couldn't find her place and those 2 quick fouls were not good fouls.
*4 point in the third quarter for UConn??? i don't remember any game where UConn scored only 4 points in a quarter.
*UConn must find a reliable 3-point shooter aside than Azzi. Ash? Allie? Kayleigh Heckel? KK? Blanca? someone must find their 3-point shot and be a reliable option. The UConn offense is way too predictable if they can rely only on Azzi and Sarah.
*I don't think anyone will want to meet Michigan in an elite 8 game.
*Swords did show some Clark shots with those unconscious shooting. Very impressive and she is only a sophomore.
*There is a lot of teaching for Geno to do from this game. A real good game to have early in the season.
*On to Utah on Sunday and if i have to guess, UConn will go all out on them and run over them.
*
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Not sure I would agree that Allie got “lots of chances”. She logged 8 minutes and had two shots. She did have one other opportunity for a three but (rightly) passed instead to Azzi who had the hot hand. Azzi drilled it of course! I’m pretty confident that Allie will blossom into the three point sharpshooter we all hope for but meanwhile, let’s not ignore her obvious improvement from last year. She knows how to play this game and has become a much better defender, she has a decent midrange shot and is not reluctant to drive inside. (Where she usually finishes) i’m not concerned at all that last night is/was any kind of indicator of her longterm potential. I remain confident that she will continue to improve this year and will be an essential and effective player for us next year and beyond.
 
Great 1st quarter for sure, won the game right there. Strange loss of momentum just couldn’t make a shot and also made some bad decisions. I read some say “not as deep as we thought” and not sure why. Part of the reason they only scored 4 pts in the 3rd was because, for me at least, Shade and KK played basically 10 minutes each and did nothing offensively. Use the bench to find a spark, Shade when not making shots can be replaced. They then looked like they’ve never seen a zone. Even Sarah had trouble with her decision making from the foul line, threw a couple away. She’s an excellent passer and shooter, catch turn and square them figure out where the zone can be attacked. It was very strange. I mean Swords was incredible, when she got comfortable after struggling early she showed how good of a player she is as did Olson, good team,

Honestly thought Geno had a rough game, in game adjustments and substitutions. Also up 3 with 17 seconds left and 3 fouls to give, how does swords dribble to a spot to get a 3? Coming out of the time out I thought they’d use the fouls. Too good too deep for this to have changed so dramatically.

Win is a win, but practice will be full of working offense against the zone. Teams will see the film, it’s coming.
 
The zone can be tough to play against. I can’t even count how many times I watched teams struggled against Syracuse MBB despite the fact that everyone and their mom KNEW it would be basically the only defense they ran.

Heck even in the earlier game last night once Syracuse WBB switched to it in the second half, Utah struggled to score.

It’s early in the season. Some players are brand new to the college game and are being asked to do a lot. They will learn. I have faith in the coaching staff.
 
All I can add is that I was glad I needed to film my wife's symphony last night, and could only check scores at the half and the end. Not sure I could have survived actually watching it. The box score says a lot though, two superstars on our team and for some unknown reason, inconsistency. It's early in the season though.
 
Orc said:
They won but they got exposed badly tonight. Only Azzi and Strong are capable three point shooters. The rest are bricklayers. This is probably Geno’s worst shooting team in years. Im not so confident about repeat anymore.
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You have such little faith, and after only five games! Do you realize one or two great shooting games will significantly improve the team's shooting percentages?! There just isn't a big enough body of work to make such a bold statement..."worst shooting team in years". Wait until at least 12-15 games to draw a conclusion. Sheesh!!!
 
uconnever said:
Unfortunately we don’t have it hopefully only right now. Shade is unreliable on offense and seems to have leveled off progression wise. Her decision making has been poor this year. And none of the new players were ready for this level of a game. Heckel can’t shoot, Williams plays soft and Blanca who I believe will be a real contributor can’t shoot either. We desperately need Ziebel to become reliable to be elite like we planned. Sarah and Azzi can’t win a title alone. KK needs to make shots also. Those are the two that can change everything, KK and Ziebel, the other three new players need more time, they just haven’t played UConn basketball enough. I hate to say it but I dont think we can count on the new players too much. It may come down to the players that have been here more so. I actually trust them to do better. This is why we need games against teams with elite rosters because we need the new players too much understand how we play teams like this and what it takes. I did expect a little more from the team as a whole but everyone pretty much played how I expected them too at this point. Geno has his hands full if this is all Williams has to give.
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After all the incredible highs and performances this team and program have delivered to the fanbase, imagine writing off new and inexperienced players and being so negative after a mere 5 games into the season. Lame. This team is full of players completely new to the system with very little playing time. Geno and his teams almost always improve significantly over the course of the season. Players will find their roles and settle in, and be a force to be reckoned with this spring.
 
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Kaizen said:
Swords is great but Fudd is even better ~~~
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My "hand-charted" stats had Syla Swords, in the fourth quarter with 3/5 three pointers, one two-pointer, one free throw, and, of course, 12 points. Azzi in the fourth missed three two pointers but made 3/3 three pointers and 4/4 (WONDERFUL!!) free throws for 13 points. I AGREE: Syla was "unconscious"
but AZZI was "even better". Azzi ...MADE THEM WHEN SHE HAD TO....! She
won it for the HUSKIES when the GAME and Azzi were ON THE LINE (CHARITY
STRIP)! Go Huskies!
We need to shake off this game like a wet Husky coming out of
the rain!
 
pvdoggy said:
Maybe... Azzi's 3pt shots were mostly open, Swords' 3pt shots were much tougher.
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Yes... but..... How tough is it being Azzi, on the charity strip, with the game on
the line? Syla Swords was "unconscious" in the fourth Q (a great 'player') .... but Azzi had to stand there and consciously "THINK" about it! There are different kinds of "toughness"! GREAT GAME. It's nice to WIN!
 
Geno needs to focus every practice on breaking various zone defenses. Every opposing coach, if they have 3 working brain cells, will throw a zone at UConn. UConn needs practice players who can throw zone defenses at the girls.
 
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