ND Postgame Thread

[Cobra 1]

I’m not so sure about this. There’s more than one way to be a force inside: being stout or being swift. Breanna was always a force and it was through being swift. Jana is swift. I think she can be a force, a rim protector, a rebounder, a post up scorer a passer. Ice and Ayanna can bring the muscle if she doesn’t have enough.

Hopefully Ayanna will develop some type of scoring game; even her layups and put back’s are currently an adventure.
Ciao

 

[hoophuskee]

Geno's limited playing of Amari continues to baffle me. I mean could she have shot, rebounded, and been outhustled, and been frazzled any worse than Aubrey? I could see if we had a full squad, but with all the injuries? What a wasted resource....

Yes she could have. What makes you think she could be a better rebounder than Aubrey? Because what she did well vs Providence?

You think if Aubrey is being outhustled that all of sudden Amari wouldn't after near two years she has shown she hasn't been?

It's not a "wasted source." It's your over-valuing the source just becuase she is tall.

 

[hoophuskee]

It appears that the vast majority of posters want to see Amari get more quality minutes to see what she can do to help this team.
I wonder what Geno will do; he is very obstinate in his ways and yet it is hard to question our HOF coach.

Yes the 11 time champion is "veyr obstinate." All those Final Fours - yes he should listen to the BY who over-values anyone above 6'4.

 

[enigmatic]

All I have to say is better NOW than in the NCAAT. #bleedUCONNblue

 

[JBK]

Yes the 11 time champion is "veyr obstinate." All those Final Fours - yes he should listen to the BY who over-values anyone above 6'4.

I am not sure if we state an opinion why everyone thinks we are being critical of our coach the GOAT of women’s basketball.
I know it is early, but Mir McLean is off to a fantastic start in the ACC.
Unfortunately - no one is perfect and that’s why is it fun to talk basketball in this BY

 

[martyn]

Not sure why Griffen continued to take all those outside shots, long after it proved not to be working. Surely you have something else you can run in lieu of that, anything. Even with your best long-range shooter sidelined. And then he sends Aubry to the bench, as though she had done something wrong, after which the comeback efforts immediately fizzles out.

Inexplicable. Especially coming just one game after he said they have been encouraging each player to find the one or two things that they do very well and focus on that.

Griffen was completely off her game, defense as well as offense. Something was going on with her. The effect on the team was crippling.

 

[UConnCat]

If you get 13 more rebounds than the other team that’s 13 more possesions. One team gets the ball and the other doesn’t.

No, it doesn’t work that way. If the 13 additional rebounds were on the offensive boards then yes. If the 13 more rebounds were (mostly) on the defensive boards it doesn’t give you additional possessions as you’re going to get a possession anyway. Where are the stats that show ND had 13 more possessions in yesterday’s game. Each team took 57 shots. UConn had more trips to the FT line and ND had 3 more turnovers. Possessions were about even.

 

[Littlemin]

If you look back to the Texas game, the issues that hurt UConn today against ND were there too. Our interior defense was lacking (even with Dorka-albeit she did play that game with a broken thumb). When we really needed a bucket against Texas, Azzi was really the only one who could provide it (scoring 17 of 20 4thQ pts that game). With a similar issue regarding dealing with size inside plus not having Azzi available, ND took advantage of those weaknesses.

I do think it was 100% the right decision to not put Azzi back out there. Even when she came back in during the 2Q, she was still clearly hobbling a bit. Her health comes first. And with the physicality of the game and the way she has to run off screens in order to get open, it was better to be safe than sorry by sitting her out in the second half. Learned that the hard way with Paige in the last ND game. I was glad to see the coaching staff take that precaution when I’m sure Azzi was wanting to get out there and help in such a big game.

I am sorry but the idea that Fudd was the only player who could score in the 4th against Texas is really off base. Fudd got hot as all heck and the rest of the team focused on getting her the ball, picking for her, etc. THAT is what good teams do until the opposition takes it away. If other players tried to make plays and failed I could see your point but that was most definitely not the case. And I am not denigrating Fudd’s performance at all but as has been pointed out, her great run started when Uconn was already up double digits, so the “really needed a bucket” is somewhat misleading to say the least.
And yesterday, ND had established their superiority well before Fudd got hurt, and a good part of that was because Fudd couldn’t shake Citron and combined with ND not covering Griffin, Uconn was prevented from even running their offense. Losing her hurt any comeback chances, and that’s all it did.
One last point, and this is more aimed at all the posters who viewed this as a “big game”. It was yesterday, because any game is big on game day, but it was not even remotely a big game in the grand scheme of things. For Uconn, true big games don’t start until maybe the BE tournament, but certainly the NCAAs. If it was really a big game, I am sure Auriemma would have considered and had a counter for what ND threw at them.

 

[Bajan Best]

Today was a perfect storm for our team,
1) obviously, Azzi getting hurt was a big difference, and please don't tell me that prior to her getting hurt that she did nothing, the game is played in forty minutes, it's not like ND was the first team to limit Azzi's scoring early in a game.. We have all seen her come back in the 2nd half and torch other teams..
2) Anytime the refs allow the game to be played as physically as they allowed today UConn will have to be shooting well to overcome that. our offense and defense are more effective when the game isn't physical, Nika and Ayanna are the only natural, aggressive players on this team defensively, and Aubrey sorry.. Only Lou is aggressive on offense.
3) Geno got outcoached today, for the life of me why was Geno okay with AE not hedging hard on the screens at the top early on, her dropping back to stay connected with the bigs allowed their guards to attack the rim and shoot uncontested shots to keep ND in the game early on, their team was bigger and stronger, which means they should also be slower, so rotate defense and use your quickness to steal the ball, not get caught behind their bigs and be overpowered..
4) Amari's 6-5 could have helped us today, she was not hesitant being left alone and made 2) 3's whereas others on our team other than Lou were hesitant..

With all of that said, this is only one game, but as history has shown us, this is exactly the type of game that has stopped us from getting #12, we cannot play soft when the game is allowed to be physical by the ref's No one other than us Uconn fans will feel sorry for us, be the aggressor from the get go, use pump fakes more often, draw contact and force the ref's to call fouls on teams who play that aggressive against us.. Azzi has to learn from Paige how to be dramatic in letting the ref's see that she is being manhandled when trying to come off screens.. No one on our team has mastered drawing fouls for a good few years now, we are always seeking to get clean looks, let's learn to put teams in foul trouble every once in a while, please....

 

[nastynatty]

I am sorry but the idea that Fudd was the only player who could score in the 4th against Texas is really off base. Fudd got hot as all heck and the rest of the team focused on getting her the ball, picking for her, etc. THAT is what good teams do until the opposition takes it away. If other players tried to make plays and failed I could see your point but that was most definitely not the case. And I am not denigrating Fudd’s performance at all but as has been pointed out, her great run started when Uconn was already up double digits, so the “really needed a bucket” is somewhat misleading to say the least.
And yesterday, ND had established their superiority well before Fudd got hurt, and a good part of that was because Fudd couldn’t shake Citron and combined with ND not covering Griffin, Uconn was prevented from even running their offense. Losing her hurt any comeback chances, and that’s all it did.

I agree with your point about the Texas game and it was indeed very smart to feed Azzi’s hot hand. I simply was pointing out that in tough games, it’s often one player taking over the bulk of the scoring late (maybe the Texas game wasn’t the best example). This year (and a few games last year) it’s been Azzi, obviously we’ve seen Paige do it in the past 2 years as well. It’s not necessarily a bad thing all the time because UConn has enough players who can score at will and just take over a game when the situation calls for them to. Usually this role is filled by whoever’s night it happens to be (I pointed out that against Texas it was Azzi’s night). However, in this game at ND it bit us in the butt a bit because we desperately needed Lou to assume a similar role (which she as best as she could) but it without other scorers on the floor, it was much easier for the ND defense to just key in on her.

I do disagree with your statement that Notre Dame was in the driver’s seat before the Fudd injury. I believe it was still a 2pt game when Azzi’s injury occurred and the ND run happened shortly after. The offense was disjointed but the Huskies were still very much in it right before the Azzi injury. They weren’t playing well but they probably would’ve been able to hang around a bit longer had the Azzi injury not unsettled things. Azzi might not have been able to escape the ND defense that was glued to her when she was on the court but they were so concerned with her when she was on the floor that other things were opening up. Even without her scoring while she was on the floor, it became much harder to run anything when she was no longer there to attract so much defensive attention.

 

[Blakeon18]

Maybe a very different kind of season this year?

Yikes! Maryland....after defeating ND on the road...comes home and loses to
Nebraska 90-67. Many other examples...beyond the normal ups/downs.

 

[BRS24]

Geno would rather lose early in the season to provide some film so he can get his message across. There were seasons where they went undefeated (or almost) and it covered up a lot of issues that he had trouble fixing because of the team's record. Some thought "as long as we're winning ..."

 

[eebmg]

Is there any presser expected?

 

[jdote33]

Is there any presser expected?

 

[BostonCanuck]

"We need another big guy that can make shots from outside on the perimeter. So when Dorka comes back, that gives us the opportunity to do that."

No. When I hear statements like this from the head coach, I wonder if he has yet to truly grasp why his program has gone one for six in Final Four games since 2017 (including two losses to Notre Dame). So frustrating.

I would encourage everyone to listen to the first couple minutes of "UConn Women's Basketball Plus" recap of the game on YouTube by Hamilton Neill. His summation of the issue at hand here is quite succinct.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[GoUconn7961]

No excuses for missing players.
ND wanted it more, executed better and showed the holes in our defense.
Geno should sit them all down to watch the game, not as punishment, but as a learning experience.

I hate when they lose in South Bend

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I watched the game and not sure I can add any additional commentary beyond the fact ND shot lights out and Miles controlled the tempo the entire game. Fudd getting hurt obviously didn't help matters and I hope it's just a minor injury for her.

ND has a very good team but I think the Huskies could beat them in a rematch with Dorka and Fudd. UConn just needed more bodies. I know Ducharme isn't 100% at all but I'm wondering how healthy she really is. She hasn't looked the same since her concussion last season.

The team should learn from this and use this loss to motivate them for more games against top flight competition.

 

[eebmg]

Just listening to the presser now, I think he was very clear on what could have been done better by the players that were available, how they let Miles run roughshod in the 1st half without even trying to force her left, and just getting better movement instead of watching and worrying who would put the ball in the bucket. I thought a very positive presser with good learning messages.

 

[Beemer]

Seems like yours is one if the few pists mentioning the refs

There were complaints in the chat about the officiating favoring ND.

 

[Beemer]

Can you imagine the outcome without Lou?

I'd rather not, thank you just the same.

 

[CONNCAN]

Hey, all players, even the elite players have bad games each season, no matter what. It just happens. Yesterday, it was Aubrey Griffin who had the bad game. Others also didn't play as well as they could have (Caroline Ducharme). Again, it happens. But we, as UCONN Fans, can't come on here and express the CHICKEN LITTLE syndrome. Folks, I assure you that "The Sky Isn't Falling" for our team. RELAX. It is just one game in a long season. Yes, it was against one of our biggest rivals in Notre Dame. I get it. We all are glad that this appears as if it will be the last time we see a Mabrey playing against us. Notre Dame played an inspired game yesterday. Now it is time to move on and focus all of our efforts towards Princeton and hopefully every player will learn something that they will be able to use, positively, going forward, this season. Bottom Line - This team will most definitely need Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme, Ayanna Patterson, and others to play at their very best, for this team to make allot of noise in the NCAA Tournament this season. So, let's keep it positive, regarding each and every players on this team.

 

[Beemer]

Funny how after a loss the postgame thread is much bigger with many people chiming in who don't post unless we lose.

The very same thing happens on a hockey board I post on. It's human nature I guess.

 

[hoophuskee]

I am not sure if we state an opinion why everyone thinks we are being critical of our coach the GOAT of women’s basketball.
I know it is early, but Mir McLean is off to a fantastic start in the ACC.
Unfortunately - no one is perfect and that’s why is it fun to talk basketball in this BY

But it's okay if some of us disagree with your opinion, right? If we can't then what's the point of sites like these?
Such as think it completely wrong to look at Mir McLean's start having any relevance. Aren't we always concerned with Transfers that could be stars at other schools but flop at UCONN; meaning a player can perform extremely well at 1 school but not at UCONN? Did you really expect that the H/S A?A players that can't break the lineup at "UCONN" won't do well at other schools that aren't as good?

And hasn't UCONN's start been terrific too? Mir would be behind Dorka, Edwards, Patterson, Griffin, Ducharme, and Lou (players that play the 3-5 spots).

 

[hoophuskee]

Hey, all players, even the elite players have bad games each season, no matter what. It just happens. Yesterday, it was Aubrey Griffin who had the bad game. Others also didn't play as well as they could have (Caroline Ducharme). Again, it happens. But we, as UCONN Fans, can't come on here and express the CHICKEN LITTLE syndrome. Folks, I assure you that "The Sky Isn't Falling" for our team. RELAX. It is just one game in a long season.

UCONN loses Azzi Fudd during a game while having a road game agaisnt a top tier team; they are more-than-likely gonna lose. --->That's why other plays on the UCONN team might have a bad game.

 

[Beemer]

There is a saying in football. Teams with great defenses "travel well". Well, UConn's finesse, perimeter game is the opposite - it doesnt travel well. Without any post play, UConn has to be near-perfect with its passing, picks & of course shooting to score consistently against physical, big teams. It's not that hard to defend UConn if you have the size & physical players. Just clog the middle to prevent any cutting, and play tight perimeter defense against our "scorers". Azzi & Lou would need to play "hero ball" to give us a shot - very hard to do. We've seen this year after year in our losses. You need to have a post game to get easy points, put pressure on the other team, & create space for our shooters. Maybe a healthy Dorka/AE combo can get us there, but I doubt it this year against the physical Top 10 teams.

I wish I could love this post more than I can!

I'm not a fan of finesse, perimeter basketball any more than I'm a fan of finesse, perimeter hockey. It's just too easy for other teams to intimidate with physical play & knock the finesse team off of their game even if they're not on the same level in terms of talent. I've seen it happen hundreds of times. UConn needs to be a lot tougher mentally as well as physically when they play powerful AND talented teams like ND & SC or they're not going to win #12 any time soon.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In mourning ... no comment. Yeah, I know:

 

[browns]

At Providence game Aubrey has 18 pts, 10 rebs and 2 stls.

How did she play yesterday against a real team?

 

[hoophuskee]

I wish I could love this post more than I can!

I'm not a fan of finesse, perimeter basketball any more than I'm a fan of finesse, perimeter hockey. It's just too easy for other teams to intimidate with physical play & knock the finesse team off of their game even if they're not on the same level in terms of talent. I've seen it happen hundreds of times. UConn needs to be a lot tougher mentally as well as physically when they play powerful AND talented teams like ND & SC or they're not going to win #12 any time soon.

So going to all these Final Fours and getting to Finals these last several years has been easy on our opponents?

I am a fan of great skill. SO while it gets construed I'm just sticking up for Geno just because he wins that isn't entirely true. It's that I'm a fan of his type of style. And as a result, you say UCONN needs to get a lot tougher mentally. Yet they are always in FF's and have been to Finals these lats several years.

So how is that taken for not mentally tough??

I tend to think some fans are in love with slow down old style low post basketball. As a fan, I am so glad that UCONN avoids that style. I want the team to run. That's how you get the recruiting which results in 11 Titles and many consecutive Final Fours coming from a non-power conference out-recruiting from Storrs Ct so many college programs. Many of these super recruits see how the UCONN style fits their game.

No team is perfect in terms of not having a weakness. When you lose, you are going to lose the game at some “fundamental.” And please don’t take this the wrong way, please don’t. But I feel sorry for your outlook as ot what you want to see if you can’t fully appreciate what UCONN has done. I love UCONN’s style. And it seems like you and others can’t appreciate that style near as much as I do. We’ve been to so many Final Fours etc and you use the word “easy” with our opponents?

 

[browns]

After watching Griffin for three years now, it is clearly evident that she is not a good shooter, she continues to be awkward at times on offense. She is a slasher with a great motor but not a solid shooter, and her body of work will never garner her an All-American selection...

Exactly !!

 

[hoophuskee]

How did she play yesterday against a real team?

There were other games she played well other than Providence, right? Some of them were "real," weren't they?