Michigan Postgame Thread

[WiseWillie]

Serah looked like she was lost and couldnt find the ball about half the time. Jana played like her shoes were on the wrong feet. Neither of them hustled after the first quarter. Maybe riding the pine will help that.

I did wonder why Geno put Allie in when we needed a quick tall defender like maybe Blanca in the last minute to deny Swords the shot or play under, so that Sarah could play out on Swords further. But who am I to question the "G.O.A.T"

Serah had a couple of layups in 1Q but after that disappeared. Plus she is not yet a strong rebounding presence.

UConn is known as a 3 pointt shooting team. It's an internal part of the offense. A smart coach will use a zone to slow the team down. Tonight it worked.

UConn has not show a strong inside game except for Sarah.

UConn did no exploit the main weakness of the 2 3 zone - the foul line area. UConn has the shooters, Azzi, Sarah, Ash, to exploit it. Why they didn't I don't know.

Another aspect of the game to work on.

ood observations regarding exploiting the 2-3 zone weakness in the foul line area. Good question. Besides the work needed by some players to get up to speed could the coaching staff do some soul searching? Were we outcoached?

Serah is far more skilled than Jana. Geno needs her to become a reliable 3rd option to take stress off Azzi and Sarah.

Serah may have more skills but Jana is a stronger presence under the basket as evidenced last year in the Final Four.

 

[uconnever]

I think it is a good idea to give Ziebell every opportunity in the world to figure things out this season. That additional shooting she is meant to provide could really be beneficial.

Exactly and I think it’s coming, Ive said it before, she plays smart and confident and doesn’t try to do too much. I think she’s better than she looks and she looks good to me. I think she’ll definitely join the scoring party this year, as will Blanca but more so driving and defense. We also need more from KK. I don’t wanna say I saw this before she got here, but I did see that Serah is off balance alot when she’s ready to score. She didn’t do what she did at Wisconsin by accident, she needs to relax and make sure she’s ready to score and not just rush into anything because without her being that third option like we thought, we aren’t that dominant team. Need her scoring down low so our guards can do their thing. Can’t wait to see how Geno figures this out. Oh and Heckel and Ash also are playing too fast and making poor decisions. Heckel needs to stop shooting threes and use that foul line pull up and stop dribbling into crowds. I forget what game but her foul line jumper is a thing of beauty and she hit two of them and that’s what I envisioned her being. Everyone is trying to be Paige but I think Geno will put an end to it all

 

[mudcat]

If it were not for Swords and Olson, Michigan would have been in a world of hurt.

If it were not for Stong and Fudd, UConn would have been in a world of hurt.

 

[HuskieDawg]

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.

After 5 games?

Like most Geno teams, the team as a whole and the players as individuals will improve as the season goes on. Players do have off shooting nights, it happens,

 

[Bone Dog]

A couple of folks have observed that Michigan’s matchup zone caused problems in the 3rd q. Totally accurate and Geno will address this in practices. I have no concerns about this. I live in New Mexico which makes it difficult to hear any local scuttlebutt about the team or how practices are going. I just watch games and pressers and think about what I see and hear.

So here goes: Geno knows how a matchup zone works and how to practice for it. He wasn’t caught by surprise by a new thing. But it may be that this is something they haven’t had a chance to work on in practice yet. This suggests that there’s been a lot of other stuff that has to be prioritized so far. I’d put this down to the loss of Paige among other things. She did a lot of stuff for the team, not just get buckets. Her absence means a lot of new things for everyone (not just Sarah and Azzi) to do to pick up the slack. Practices are probably very busy these days. Here’s an item that just moved to the top of the practice agenda.

I also noticed that in the post game presser, Azzi (sitting next to Geno) was asked about that third quarter and didn’t mention an unfamiliar zone defense. She surely knows how zone defenses work. She was more focused on the team not making good decisions and staying calm. And she was right. The zone caused problems, but to her that primarily meant keeping calm and making good decisions in response to it. And the team didn’t keep its cool, though they recovered it in the 4th quarter. That’s what a great team does. They don’t have a menu or a playbook in their pockets to consult. They “read and react” to what the other team does. It takes time to perfect this across the entire roster. They’ll get there.

Some folks (including me) have observed that the team doesn’t seem as deep as we had thought. Others have bristled at this, as if this were an insult to the roster to say or think. What I meant, and I presume what others also meant, is that a bench is only as deep as the number of players who have internalized sufficiently the practice lessons at any point in the season. That number will grow as the season progresses. Currently, in a tough November game, Geno’s judgment seems to be that his crunch time bench is 6 players deep with a 7th player (Allie) on the cusp. Blanca and Jana seem a little further away, but close. Ice and Morgan are unavailable, and Carol and Ayanna may not be ready yet for the fiercest competition yet, same with Kelis and Gandy. This is normal. Give the kids time. For some it will be a matter of weeks, for others months, and for a few another year. This is the nature of WCBB. And it’s especially the nature of a team like UConn that relies so heavily on a read and react system.

 

[Lurker]

Anyone have a link to a presser from Kim? I searched, but couldn't find one

 

[sno-cat]

Paige has left the building and it is time to turn the page/Paige. I’m tired of hearing that if only we still had Paige then ………..

 

[Jumpy Radar]

I am not in a panic, nor am I disappointed in the game last night. It's just 5 games into this season.

We have to establish a 3rd scorer. I believe that KK, K9, Serah, Ash, and Allie are all capable of fulfilling this role. Serah is being developed at a slow to moderate pace by Geno which is a good idea. She has to learn the system and her teammates, and they need to learn how to play with her. But I can see her becoming a double figure scorer soon. KK is good. K9 is showing signs. Ash is still streaky. The sleeper for me is Allie. If she can get her confidence up, get to her spots on the floor and start knocking down shots like we know she can it would create a huge problem for defenses.

Allie, study tapes of Reggie Miller and Ray Allen!

Another thing is that we have not had a true big in years, and we still don't. Think about more recent players with size that were great but not your traditional big. Maya, Stewie, Phee, etc. these all played out of position, more like point forwards, because they could lead the offensive charge, score inside-out, block shots, get steals, and rebound the ball. They were multifaceted which made them very difficult to defend. Sarah Strong, is that kind of player. Azzi is that kind of offensive threat. Now we just need one of the names I mentioned above to step into that 3rd scorer roll.

In no way am I letting any of the ladies off the hook. They all need to improve and be serviceable to the team when called upon. Practice. Practice. Practice. We're talking about practice!

 

[WiseWillie]

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.

3rd Q was unlike any I've witnessed in too many years watching the Huskies. Clearly an anomaly and due to the energy expended on the outstanding, smothering defense n the first half? Whatever the reason, they clearly need to be addressed and sure they will be.
Regarding the end of the game I wondered the same thing when we had fouls to give and let Swords shoot a three. Really uncharacteristic coaching or miscommunication or something at a very crucial time for sure. Working the offense definitely but maybe reworking some end game strategy. Thank goodness for Azzi's shots at the end that seemed to be more impromptu
"take what the game gives you" instead of set plays. This could have easily been a loss because Michigan just simply ran out of time. Lessons learned and work to be done. Now onto the next one.

 

[REB1094]

Last year it was easy. Paige would cut to the FT line, receive the ball and either shoot it, pass it to an open shooter or drive to the basket. I think this year that needs to be Sarah.

1000%

UConn actually tried that a lot yesterday. It felt like Michigan was ready for it and they were able to just crowd Sarah because there were no other scoring threats outside of Azzi. It’s playing with fire to leave Shade open, but she’s at 24% on the year and was 0-4 after the first few minutes of the game

Once we got to the middle of the zone, Michigan was able to glue a player onto Azzi and essentially play 3 on 1 against Sarah with minimal consequences. KK and Ash HAVE to make teams pay for that

The high-low with Serah and Sarah was interesting. Wonder if we see Serah more in the middle of the zone as she gets more comfortable in the offense

 

[Sun Dog]

Deja vu the men vs. BYU. Where is our Stewie with the never let ‘em up instinct?

 

[CL82]

When I read some pre-game posts, I sometimes had to shake my head. At times, UConn fans forget the days of intimidating opponents with just the name on the jersey are long gone. Other teams have great coaches and players now and games won’t always be a cakewalk.

Agreed, Nan, although I would argue that the name on the jersey and home court advantage did just that to Michigan in the first quarter. As it turned out, we needed every bit of it.

 

[CL82]

3rd Q was unlike any I've witnessed in too many years watching the Huskies. Clearly an anomaly and due to the energy expended on the outstanding, smothering defense n the first half? Whatever the reason, they clearly need to be addressed and sure they will be

So many shots came up short, I'm inclined to believe it was too many minutes for the starters. Sara does so much for us. I can see how it's hard to take her off the court, but 40 minutes, especially with a team that's as deep as this one is, will only diminish her effectiveness and wear her down over the course of the season. I'd like to give her at least a couple minute break per half, probably with Blanca.

 

[HuskyNan]

Where is our Stewie with the never let ‘em up instinct?

Breanna or Jaylin?

 

[Bone Dog]

Last year it was easy. Paige would cut to the FT line, receive the ball and either shoot it, pass it to an open shooter or drive to the basket. I think this year that needs to be Sarah.

Yes, though technically this strategy doesn't work so well against a zone. That FT line jumper that Paige used to such great effect against OU last season is really a pic-play, and pics don't work as well against a zone, unless the player you pass to is ready to shoot from the outside.

 

[MilfordHusky]

My local girl said she was working on her rebounding this year. Five is good for her, and she battled hard for some of them. We all know she can shoot.

 

[WiseWillie]

Agreed! Too many here are acting (typically) like the sky is falling! Let’s take a deep breath! We won, sure we had some breakdowns and disappointments, but somehow, with our two lodestones stepping up, as usual, we dominated, fell apart, righted the ship, and survived! All of that is good! The breakdowns will provide the coaching staff with loads of teaching material! Sarah confirms (to herself, the team, and the coaches) that her all around skills can impact the team in many ways beyond scoring! Azzi confirms (to herself, the team, coaches, and public at large) that she has the “clutch” gene! She can “bring it” when the game is on the line! For the rest of the team, it’s a mixed bag.

However, the bottom line here is that we won and even though there were some hiccups, the team is going to benefit tremendously from this game! Geno and his staff have a plethora of things for the team to work on! Yes, there were a few shall we say, disappointments, but none of them were so bad as to cause a loss of confidence, a blue funk or anything the coaches can’t address right away. Most of the things I’m hearing people fret about are really, if you look at them objectively, merely the expected steps that are typical for a young player attempting to become a functioning cog in the smooth running machine that is UConn, at it’s best!

These kids, no matter what happened in this game, are still the same highly recruited, highly skilled, highly sought after players they were before this “terrible tragedy” of a game! They, just like all the countless Huskies before them, will learn from this experience (good or bad) and eventually, be better for it.

It is very likely, that we will be having this same conversation (meltdown) next year with Olivia, Jovana, and a few holdovers from this year. That’s OK! Remember, we are still undefeated, #1 in the nation, Geno & Co. are still here, and every goal that we had prior to this game, is still attainable, and we just beat one of the best teams in the country! Not only is it not all bad, it’s virtually all good! Go Huskies!

Well, there's the old idiom "is the glass half full, or half empty?" that can summarize the Boneyard's take up, down and sideways on this or any game. There have been some very excellent observations on mostly the full and several on the empty side. That's fine. We all have our own opinions. However, while we can opine to Thanksgiving, it's these young women who are out there giving their all on the floor every game. They deserve our support and encouragement whether they play like professionals or something less. We survived a tough game against an excellent team. There are lessons gained that will be used to strengthen weaknesses for this team so it is ready come March. Let's let our HOF coaches do what they know how to do and enjoy the result. Pre-season matchups should help build teamwork, but more importantly assess new players, test some strategies and finalize rosters while getting players into playing together under game conditions. When it's done against some of the best teams in the nation then it's a good test and this was definitely a good one.

 

[freshler40]

1000%

UConn actually tried that a lot yesterday. It felt like Michigan was ready for it and they were able to just crowd Sarah because there were no other scoring threats outside of Azzi. It’s playing with fire to leave Shade open, but she’s at 24% on the year and was 0-4 after the first few minutes of the game

Once we got to the middle of the zone, Michigan was able to glue a player onto Azzi and essentially play 3 on 1 against Sarah with minimal consequences. KK and Ash HAVE to make teams pay for that

The high-low with Serah and Sarah was interesting. Wonder if we see Serah more in the middle of the zone as she gets more comfortable in the offense

At this point in the season, Sarah is a more complete inside player. She provides scoring, rebounding and court sense. When she plays point forward she is less of a threat IMO unless she can hit some 3 pointers and operation on a give and go basis. Geno is trying hard to make Serah that same inside threat but it isn't there yet. Hoping that changes and expect that it will.

 

[CL82]

Yes, though technically this strategy doesn't work so well against a zone. That FT line jumper that Paige used to such great effect against OU last season is really a pic-play, and pics don't work as well against a zone, unless the player you pass to is ready to shoot from the outside.

Yep, the 2-3 zone usually is vulnerable to a foul line jumper. Calhoun used it to great effect against Syracuse.

 

[WiseWillie]

Azzi was money at the line. Cool as the other side of the pillow.

Never heard that pillow expression before (why not?) but certainly sums up Azzi at crucial moments. She was the "go to" player when it was needed last night.

 

[DEpup]

Paige has left the building and it is time to turn the page/Paige. I’m tired of hearing that if only we still had Paige then ………..

And I'm going to throw something out there that probably will upset people... I'd ask people to push aside the emotion of loving Paige.

IMO, last year's team in November even with Paige doesn't win this game. This would have been in the L column. The April version would have been a different story.

Even with all the things I saw that disgusted me, this team is still ahead of last year's team in the process timeline. IMO.

 

[Centerstream]

Maybe I am just missing it...do we have a link to any postgame pressers?

Yes, a separate thread

 

[HuskyNan]

Never heard that pillow expression before (why not?) but certainly sums up Azzi at crucial moments. She was the "go to" player when it was needed last night.

The phrase was “in” when Diana was playing at UConn followed by, I think, “singing the nylon song”

 

[Basingstoke]

Exactly and I think it’s coming, Ive said it before, she plays smart and confident and doesn’t try to do too much. I think she’s better than she looks and she looks good to me. I think she’ll definitely join the scoring party this year, as will Blanca but more so driving and defense. We also need more from KK. I don’t wanna say I saw this before she got here, but I did see that Serah is off balance alot when she’s ready to score. She didn’t do what she did at Wisconsin by accident, she needs to relax and make sure she’s ready to score and not just rush into anything because without her being that third option like we thought, we aren’t that dominant team. Need her scoring down low so our guards can do their thing. Can’t wait to see how Geno figures this out. Oh and Heckel and Ash also are playing too fast and making poor decisions. Heckel needs to stop shooting threes and use that foul line pull up and stop dribbling into crowds. I forget what game but her foul line jumper is a thing of beauty and she hit two of them and that’s what I envisioned her being. Everyone is trying to be Paige but I think Geno will put an end to it all

I agree with almost all you said, but I disagree about Kayleigh and 3's.
My take is that she, KK et al should be taking any open 3's they get. They have to take them without hesitation, with no memory of past failure and with confidence.
Of course, that should not exclude getting to their sweet spots for pull up jumpers, floaters and strongly finishes drives.

 

[Basingstoke]

A couple of folks have observed that Michigan’s matchup zone caused problems in the 3rd q. Totally accurate and Geno will address this in practices. I have no concerns about this. I live in New Mexico which makes it difficult to hear any local scuttlebutt about the team or how practices are going. I just watch games and pressers and think about what I see and hear.

So here goes: Geno knows how a matchup zone works and how to practice for it. He wasn’t caught by surprise by a new thing. But it may be that this is something they haven’t had a chance to work on in practice yet. This suggests that there’s been a lot of other stuff that has to be prioritized so far. I’d put this down to the loss of Paige among other things. She did a lot of stuff for the team, not just get buckets. Her absence means a lot of new things for everyone (not just Sarah and Azzi) to do to pick up the slack. Practices are probably very busy these days. Here’s an item that just moved to the top of the practice agenda.

I also noticed that in the post game presser, Azzi (sitting next to Geno) was asked about that third quarter and didn’t mention an unfamiliar zone defense. She surely knows how zone defenses work. She was more focused on the team not making good decisions and staying calm. And she was right. The zone caused problems, but to her that primarily meant keeping calm and making good decisions in response to it. And the team didn’t keep its cool, though they recovered it in the 4th quarter. That’s what a great team does. They don’t have a menu or a playbook in their pockets to consult. They “read and react” to what the other team does. It takes time to perfect this across the entire roster. They’ll get there.

Some folks (including me) have observed that the team doesn’t seem as deep as we had thought. Others have bristled at this, as if this were an insult to the roster to say or think. What I meant, and I presume what others also meant, is that a bench is only as deep as the number of players who have internalized sufficiently the practice lessons at any point in the season. That number will grow as the season progresses. Currently, in a tough November game, Geno’s judgment seems to be that his crunch time bench is 6 players deep with a 7th player (Allie) on the cusp. Blanca and Jana seem a little further away, but close. Ice and Morgan are unavailable, and Carol and Ayanna may not be ready yet for the fiercest competition yet, same with Kelis and Gandy. This is normal. Give the kids time. For some it will be a matter of weeks, for others months, and for a few another year. This is the nature of WCBB. And it’s especially the nature of a team like UConn that relies so heavily on a read and react system.

Excellent take.