ND Postgame Thread

[maple]

We just need to be more aggressive as a whole, we never force them to guard hard and maybe get them into foul trouble, it’s always the other way around and it has a lot to do with a players personality, our players are always less aggressive.

Sometimes I think about how some UConn teams of old would just dominate the current UConn teams. Not because of a talent discrepancy. Just played tougher.

 

[Zonepress]

I felt going into the game that to win UConn would have to score85-90 points to win
Unlike other posts on the board, I thought the defense was okay Hidalgo and Miles are very
Difficult to defend and when their other players
Shoot like they did in the first half u need to play the a game offensively and that dint happen

 

[packwrap]

I don't know, but I'm accustomed to a bit more cutters of the base offense. I don't see it.

ND knows the UConn offense and managed to muck it up:

only 10 assists on 31 field goals
3 of 16 from 3
and your lack of successful cutters.

Good win for ND. They ended up beating us in both front and back court, but Huskies showed heart getting back into the game.

Liatu King was their hero down low with 16 points and 12 rebounds (This is King's 5th year in ACC after 4 at Pitt). Of course Hidalgo led the guards, but Miles was efficient going 6 of 9 for 16 points and Citron played strong d.

Some positives for UConn were Strong's composure and solid games from KK 10 and Chen 11 points. Not so much from our other players and Paige can't beat one of these top 8 teams on her own.

We will learn from this and quickly have Iowa St and USC to move on from this one. I still have a lot of faith in this group!

 

[boontonbomber]

No excuses, the better team won tonight. But I wish this game was later in the season. UCONN is still trying to find the right combinations with their deep roster & Aubrey could have also contributed inside.
Notre Dame is a very strong team & they are already set with their lineup.

Guess you're not familiar with Maddie Westbeld.

 

[donalddoowop]

No excuses, the better team won tonight. But I wish this game was later in the season. UCONN is still trying to find the right combinations with their deep roster & Aubrey could have also contributed inside.
Notre Dame is a very strong team & they are already set with their lineup.

ND won't be set until Westbeld gets back.

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

Some thoughts: It's always hard to beat a team that hits more than 50% of their 3 pt shots. Especially when you hit less than 25%. Some of it is defense, some is just a team (player) being hot. Also, sad to say, but Shade was a complete waste this game. Never came close to hitting a shot. Strong's bad fouls also had an impact on her play. Some really silly, careless turnovers. Gave up too many offensive boards (effort?). A tough game in a tough road venue. We should get better.

 

[oldude]

I do, sorry you feel that way. No double screens period. I’m talking this year. I don’t live in the past.

Yes this year. Paige was running Citron through a series of double screens - low blocks to high post handoff. Do yourself a favor and rewatch the 2nd half of this year’s game.

 

[bantamlaker]

Trying hard to put a positive spin on things. ND shot great from 3 (10 of 18) and we shot poorly ( 3 of 16). If ND had missed just 2 of those and we shot 5 of 16 instead of 3 of 16 we probably win this game even with all the other things that didn’t go so great for UConn. We’ll get them next time!

 

[Barkin Out]

Shade seems to disappear when the lights are brightest.

Sorry - we need a little levity

 

[boontonbomber]

Smallest player on the floor had 10 boards. I think rebounding has been UConn's Achilles heel of recent years,and it continues. ND didn't even have their best rebounder playing tonite.

 

[Gurleyman]

UConn tried face guarding Hidalgo last year and she went for 30+ and fouled out the BE DPOY in only 19 minutes. I'm not sure what game you were watching, but throughout the 2nd half, UConn was running Paige through a low screen in the blocks, followed by a high screen and handoff to get her the ball. You really don't have an idea what in the H you're talking about.

It feels like all that low screen to high screen stuff is just to get the ball in her hands and THEN start the offense. And it only worked less than half the time. Mostly she ran around, didn’t get open and we went to plan B, which was someone else do something while she stands and watches. Some of it is on Paige -she just doesn’t cut hard enough and demand the ball, but a lot of times the screens aren’t good enough and/or the passes aren’t good enough too. So we run around accomplishing nothing to get the ball to our playmaker instead of just letting our playmaker have it. I feel like of her made baskets, one was legitimately set up for her (a 10 foot baseline jumper on a back cut). The rest she created herself after finally getting the ball and driving on her own or with a simple ball screen. So let’s not waste all this energy getting her the ball.

It isn’t pretty offense, but some simple Paige/Strong two person pick and roll or pick and pop has the potential to be a Stockton-Malone type of thing where you can keep doing it and make teams show they can stop it. I always thought Bueckers had a very unique skillset of being able to make high degree of difficulty passes and shots and it feels like we are leaving most of her tools in the toolbox and turning her into kind of an ordinary player. She had one “nice pass” moment today (lob to Strong for a layup) and made a little over half of her tough 2s - but I don’t like that recipe for success.

 

[Geesworld]

Defend the 3 and hit some 3's, I believe we win this game. A young team going on the road playing against a great back court played well. I know we are going to get out rebounded all season long just because we're shorter than most teams, but we can't give up three four, five shots in one possession That can be demoralizing over a course of a game.

 

[jaydee602]

Kudos to Hannah Hidalgo for a clutch performance. She is definitely a candidate for NPOY.
But I wonder how many coaches would tolerate her showboating & taunting gestures,especially early in the game. Would Geno accept that behavior?
Niele Ivey is a great coach who motivates her players. But I am surprised she doesn't rein in Hannah a bit.

 

[Zonepress]

We need to focus on Hidalgo next time we play them. Stop her and we win. Easier said than done but someone on our team needs to take these things personal. We seem to be recruiting a different type of player these days and we need to not just focus on play but we need some players with attitude. Like a Swin, Asia or Shea. I can name a lot more. They were great players but they were not gonna take any crap. We have very few of those players on our team. Too nice. This is why our Kryptonite will be Notre Dame and South Carolina, not only are they good players but they are tough as a team. Geno needs to look at these things more, our girls while I love all of them, they are too nice. Ice I’m finding out will not be what I expected for this reason only. She has all the talent in the world but you can’t teach heart and toughness. I know it’s one game but we will need a little luck to win the title, mainly avoid these physical teams. We are mostly finess.

I think, saying, the team lacks heart is ridiculous
And I have no idea what too nice means
they were out, played by a team that was clearly better playing in front of a very tough crowd
miles and Hidalgo were the best 2 players in the
Game and king shot way better than normal
To say the team lacks heart ,isint tough and is too nice
Is an insult to the players
Perhaps pointing out things like lazy passes
Inability to finish at the basket going under screens
Not over, playing Olivia miles right hand
Taking a whole half to realize the referees were not going to call any fouls might be a better way to critique the team

 

[Zanzman]

It was them or Oklahoma for Beers. They lost.

That's what I am talking about.

I gave my money to nil

 

[Akhusky]

Tony I agree that we need to get some more athletes. Aubrey will help here and so will Azzi if she can fully recover from her injury. We need players that can stick with the quicker players that other teams will throw at us. Our team is really not very athletic! I love them all but they are kinda slow-footed!

The difference in game was clearly outside shooting. ND was great. We were bad. Our post game really struggled all night but our points in paint overall was strong. Need Azzi or someone else to help relieve the defensive pressure on Paige. Every opponent knows she is the head of the snake and in big games she needs to take over early to give others confidence.

 

[Zonepress]

It feels like all that low screen to high screen stuff is just to get the ball in her hands and THEN start the offense. And it only worked less than half the time. Mostly she ran around, didn’t get open and we went to plan B, which was someone else do something while she stands and watches. Some of it is on Paige -she just doesn’t cut hard enough and demand the ball, but a lot of times the screens aren’t good enough and/or the passes aren’t good enough too. So we run around accomplishing nothing to get the ball to our playmaker instead of just letting our playmaker have it. I feel like of her made baskets, one was legitimately set up for her (a 10 foot baseline jumper on a back cut). The rest she created herself after finally getting the ball and driving on her own or with a simple ball screen. So let’s not waste all this energy getting her the ball.

It isn’t pretty offense, but some simple Paige/Strong two person pick and roll or pick and pop has the potential to be a Stockton-Malone type of thing where you can keep doing it and make teams show they can stop it. I always thought Bueckers had a very unique skillset of being able to make high degree of difficulty passes and shots and it feels like we are leaving most of her tools in the toolbox and turning her into kind of an ordinary player. She had one “nice pass” moment today (lob to Strong for a layup) and made a little over half of her tough 2s - but I don’t like that recipe for success.

It might be worth noting that Iowa went to the final game, two years in a row running an isolation with Caitlin Clark, and a bunch of other nice college players

 

[ABCDFE]

Didnt watch the game yet just looked at box score. But Shade with zero points was a bummer to see. Wish we had more dawgs on our team.

 

[The deacon]

Yes this year. Paige was running Citron through a series of double screens - low blocks to high post handoff. Do yourself a favor and rewatch the 2nd half of this year’s game.

Even with Paige scoring 25 points, mostly on off-balance, short jumpers, Citron did herself proud not spending most of the evening on her backside.

A lesser athlete would have collided with screening Huskies at every turn. Paige might have slightly won the battle with Sonia, but it surely was fun watching the two of them running laps through the other eight players throughout the game.

 

[Martin84]

UConn played like they were panicking the entire first half. Drive into the lane, stop with no pass in mind, throw out to the wing. Repeat. No offensive flow.

I suspect it is a lack of athleticism compared to ND. Just too slow -- repeat of last year.

I feel like Uconn did a little too much standing around and didn’t do anything to help the driver, like cut towards the basket. I saw too much afraid to shoot because my name isn’t Paige or Sarah. You don’t win a competitive basketball being passive.

 

[jdote33]

ND won't be set until Westbeld gets back.

This was also Liza Karlens first game of the season. Koval is a good freshman but she's struggled some. Just having Karlen back is huge for them and I thought she gave good minutes. ND is scary but UConn was literally right there, especially only down 1 B4 Hidalgo's 3 to end the 3rd.

It's interesting and totally a Geno decision regarding the guards and center position. Kk and Chen played well. I pretty much trust them, not going to shrink in a big moment. However their lack of 3 point shooting or gravity in providing spacing almost made me want to see Allie Z. In a game where your opponent hits 10 3s, perhaps the teams best 3 pt shooter didn't get a minute

Similarly for the bigs, I thought Ice and Jana both had moments. But... Their inability to defend any pick action was a bit exposed. They also didn't contest at the rim without fouling or grab a ton of rebounds. Which almost made me think we should've done some of the Paige at the 4 stuff we did last year and have Ash, kk, and Chen out there.

Not to be repetitive but this game made me miss Caroline as well. Get well soon Carol Bird..

Also, last thing, I feel Ashlynn just missed shots, a couple she would love to have back. It sucks. But it's kinda the tough part about being a role player. Paige started 1-4 or something but got another 16 shots. Ash started 0-5 and got benched. I don't think it's a big game thing. I just think it's a these things just happen thing. I know the media is gonna ask her about her confidence and a bunch of stuff like that ahead of the next big game and shes an eloquent speaker who can articulate how she feels. But I think it's unfair at times.

 

[Zonepress]

Glass half full… very hostile environment, no Azzi, no Aubrey. Put this team at a neutral site with either of those two and I think it’s a W. for March!

Good point a very difficult game to win the way Notre Dame played but they were clearly in a better team

 

[TheGOAT23]

Defend the 3 and hit some 3's, I believe we win this game. A young team going on the road playing against a great back court played well. I know we are going to get out rebounded all season long just because we're shorter than most teams, but we can't give up three four, five shots in one possession That can be demoralizing over a course of a game.

I don’t think that we are shorter than most teams. We are just not a fast team and we don’t have any junk yard dawgs. You need positioning to rebound and in order to do that you need to move your feet and body, quickly.

 

[topogigio]

I hate saying it, but Hildago is the best player in WCBB right now, She is what, 5'5" on a good day, and dominates like no other! Obnoxious, but equally impressive!