ND UConn thoughts (merged thread)

[hoopsnloops32]

She came back in once.

Yea and she was holding her knee the whole time, barely able to move.

 

[CL82]

I seem to remember several layups Miles made going left. She is a good player and showed it. ND is a good team and showed it.
And I have said it before, this was not Fudd’s first rodeo, and I am sure she has been face guarded before; it was her job to get open. I disagree big time blaming it on the plays. She couldn’t shake Citron, plain and simple. Maybe Citron couldn’t have done it for the whole game but we’ll never know.

I’d have to rewatch the game, and frankly, I won’t be doing that anytime soon, but I felt as if when miles went to her left, she was far more likely to pass.

 

[Redux]

I won’t be doing that [rewatching the game] anytime soon

I almost always re-watch the losses (after waiting a couple of days for the pain to subside). Very instructive: in a second view you really learn a lot about the players and what you want to watch for later to see if they're advancing their game.

I root for UConn as if the outcome could somehow be different, can't help it.

 

[ABCDFE]

Going forward any discussion of Aubrey staying in the starting lineup when Dorka is healthy is over. In fact her position of the first forward to come off the bench should be in jeopardy. If Azzi is not hurt too bad. Watching the game the difference in apparent improvement from their HS years competing between Aubrey and Sonia is striking.

I can understand a lot of BYers are upset with Aubrey's play and I'm sure she's even more upset than us. But in this UCONN system, Aubrey cannot be the 1st or 2nd option to score. She thrives when she's has top level scorers around her because it opens up lanes and also allows her to focus on offensive rebounding and defensive steals etc. Yesterday's game by Aubrey although tough to see shouldn't have been too surprising as she's never been asked to consistently make jump shots. Geno and staff have echoed that they should do what they do best and because of the injuries situation with the team Aubrey was put in a tough spot. I don't blame Aubrey because she tried and we needed her to step up above and beyond who she is, unfortunately it wasn't her day. In the future against the top teams lets hope she will make a few more shots but also not asked to be a primary scorer, which means the team will have all available players.

 

[HuskyNan]

I can understand a lot of BYers are upset with Aubrey's play and I'm sure she's even more upset than us. But in this UCONN system, Aubrey cannot be the 1st or 2nd option to score. She thrives when she's has top level scorers around her because it opens up lanes and also allows her to focus on offensive rebounding and defensive steals etc. Yesterday's game by Aubrey although tough to see shouldn't have been too surprising as she's never been asked to consistently make jump shots. Geno and staff have echoed that they should do what they do best and because of the injuries situation with the team Aubrey was put in a tough spot. I don't blame Aubrey because she tried and we needed her to step up above and beyond who she is, unfortunately it wasn't her day. In the future against the top teams lets hope she will make a few more shots but also not asked to be a primary scorer, which means the team will have all available players.

It wasn’t Geno’s plan to have her shoot. The Huskies got flustered early and let the ND defense dictate who was open. Patience on offense didn’t show until the second half and even then, when the lead was cut to 5, the Huskies blinked and reverted to first half form.

ah well, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

 

[JellyBean]

ND played like I thought they would. They came out and Olivia Miles was aggressive from the jump! She set the tone for the team. That young lady is talented and worthy of high praise. And for those that say she isn't worthy; it is just disrespectful. ND was aggressive. Like a great boxing match. We hung in there for a few rounds. Got our bell rung a few times. Tried to make a nice come back but ND was too much in the end.

There will be games where shots are not going to fall. It happens. You try to adjust. I think with Aubrey going 1-12 hurt because that was one less scoring option out there. Lou and Aaliyah did their parts. Nika did as well. But not having another solid scoring option out there when Azzi went down, had a huge impact. Aubrey will learn, like the rest of the team, and improve. They have to keep that confidence going. Shots will fall.

 

[jazz]

Not sure when the thread was shut down so early.

First 4 missed shots by AG looked good coming out of her hand…just missed them. I hope people don’t get too down on AG, she will hit more than 1-12 in the future. I don’t think you will see many games like this from her – if any more. Just hope she keeps her confidence. She played hard the entire game which is difficult to do in the middle of a 1-12 game. She didn’t quit. Good for her.

Miles had a great first Qtr – if she didn’t this could have been a different game. Hitting some tough shots and also getting some easy ones in transition when we didn’t pick her up. Not sure why NM didn’t pick up miles in transition the 2 times she got to the rim. It looked like she was helping defend against the big when usually she plays face up for the entire 94 feet. Maybe this was something that GA had her do.

NM played her heart out on defense. Moved her feet really well and had miles shut down on multiple occasions. Miles got her on a tough runner to the rim and once when NM went under a screen. She got beat a couple times in the second half – just can’t expect her to play 40 minutes against a player like miles and then run the offense and score, etc, etc. She did give a huge lift early with the two threes. She got to the rim and scored or got to the line or both three times as well.

Team looked very tired and made several mistakes as a result – not switching fast enough, missing rebounds, turnovers, etc. Ebo screens are really tough to get around – she is a sneaky weapon for ND with her screening and then late in games when players get tired as we did.

Good thing Lou heated up or it could have been worse. Lou is really good – why the heck was she not playing D1 the last few years? She alone makes us a better shooting team than last year. She is where I hope CD can get to one day. I think she will get better as the year goes on as well. CD on the other hand looked really slow and tired in this game.

AE had some good moments but I was hoping for more – take some control of the game when all else fails – maybe that will come later this year or next.

ND could go their bench early and often and UConn only substituting a bit with CD, which didn’t help and less with yanna. Yanna still figuring out that what she could do in HS, she can’t do against bigger, stronger, better players….she needs to get her mid range going.

first hurt when Uconn had a 2 point lead and was not the same again. Hard to compete with what looked like a well rested ND team and uconn missing 4 key players and one (CD) who is clearly not herself. This team made a nice run in the third and showed a lot of heart and toughness, which I found inspirational. Outscored ND in the second half. The offense just wasn’t the same without . ND played some really tough D. They seemed to never tire the entire game - they seemed to be one step ahead of uconn. Uconn hit a wall in the late third after the tech. We need to get some stronger play from our bench.

I’m obviously biased, but if we stay healthy, I really like our chances if we meet again. ND can’t shoot (56%) or play much better and we can’t shoot much worse (36%).

 

[Conndog]

I can understand a lot of BYers are upset with Aubrey's play and I'm sure she's even more upset than us. But in this UCONN system, Aubrey cannot be the 1st or 2nd option to score. She thrives when she's has top level scorers around her because it opens up lanes and also allows her to focus on offensive rebounding and defensive steals etc. Yesterday's game by Aubrey although tough to see shouldn't have been too surprising as she's never been asked to consistently make jump shots. Geno and staff have echoed that they should do what they do best and because of the injuries situation with the team Aubrey was put in a tough spot. I don't blame Aubrey because she tried and we needed her to step up above and beyond who she is, unfortunately it wasn't her day. In the future against the top teams lets hope she will make a few more shots but also not asked to be a primary scorer, which means the team will have all available players.

I'm not upset with Aubrey either, she scored a lot in high school and can make outside shots, so let her shoot if she is open. It's not like she was hogging the ball from all these other shooters who were open and waiting for the ball to be passed to them.
What did upset me is how many times a Notre Dame player was open for a shot, which they unfortunately made at a high rate. The ND player would get by their initial defender and then when someone else had to step in to assist, the pass either went outside to the open shooter or sometimes went to the open player down low. Too many times it seemed UConn left people open. This is another consequence of a regular starter not playing- Azzi is a good defender and with her suddenly gone, it also affected the defensive scheme. I hope her injury is not bad and that she'll be playing again very soon!

 

[Dynastic]

I give you that. But she would have played D and drained some of her shots...She would have helped today

To be honest, the reporters are supposed to ask Geno these questions, tough questions, like “why isn’t your backup center playing until the end of the game?”… but they won’t .

 

[kenja]

Have rarely seen a team so unprepared for another. All week, myself and others commented on how predictable Miles was, always going right and using her long arms to shoot layups. Allowing her to do this from the start of the game is a mystery. We also knew ND would faceguard Fudd, yet there were few plays to get her open. While I fully expect UConn to win if they play again, seeing the predictable offensive and defensive play of ND and not have Huskies ready to play was disappointing.

Those grapes sour much? It was a true road game against a top 10 opponent. Those are tough. They can be tough against non-ranked opponents. And the best offensive player for UConn got hurt and, frankly, was guarded plenty well before. Never compare scores. It was a different atmosphere on Sunday for ND than their post-Bahama's hangover vs a Maryland team that managed to get curb stomped at home by Nebraska.

And for some folks. Stop pretending ND just went away after a couple of subpar seasons, They didn't. It's still a holy war.

 

[CL82]

I almost always re-watch the losses (after waiting a couple of days for the pain to subside).

Post/handle

 

[Bald Husky]

Citron shut down Azzi. She had a solid game.

Yeah, she did a solid job for 13 minutes.

 

[HopJim]

True to an extent, but they had no answers on defense period. ND shot 56% from the floor and coincidentally, so did Miles. She got them off and running big time with 13 in the 1st qtr but Uconn was only down 5 at the end of the qtr. ND broke the game open in the 2nd qtr and Miles only had 2, and 2 in the 3rd. She got 4 in the 4th for her total of 21, so after her 13, she got 8 the last 3 quarters, with 4 assists and 5 TOs. In my estimation, her start certainly set ND up nicely but so did their defense. Muhl’s 2 3’s were UConn’s only points almost 6 1/2 minutes into the game when Senechal hit a 3.
From 18-13, Uconn went almost 5 full minutes in the 2nd qtr scoring only 2 points, and were still only down 8 when Senechal hit a 3 at the 5:16 mark to make the score 26-18. But ND then ended the half on a 15-6 run to go up 17. Uconn had a shot to get back in at 49-44 and the ball but ND ended the 3rd on a 9-2 run to get the lead back to 12. Uconn never got closer than 10 in the 4th.

UConn had no answers? If you saw ND play Maryland, UConn had numerous possible answers but for some reason got off track early in the 1st quarter and never seemed to recover. I have watched Notre Dame play most of their games this year so while I have to give them the credit they deserve, I write this game off to poor preparation and just one of those strange games that happen. Would still bet good money the Huskies would win any rematch this year.

 

[VA Huskie]

Azzi played almost twice that, 13 minutes

View attachment 81527

Yes, but she came back in after getting hurt.

 

[Striper69]

I'm sorry but I think that Geno should have intentionally gotten a technical foul within minutes after Azzi's injury. The refs were letting ND get too physical and the foul that Miles did on Nika should have been a flagrant 2 with Miles being forced to leave. Nika could have been seriously injured, but I guess ND always gets away with that in South Bend.

I think Aaliyah should stand her ground when she sets the screens. She looked like she was trying to get a foul on the ND player and wound up getting Azi hurt. I may be wrong on that though.
What was the ND player doing pushing her towards Azi so hard for? Was that their defensive strategy?

 

[VA Huskie]

Not sure when the thread was shut down so early.

First 4 missed shots by AG looked good coming out of her hand…just missed them. I hope people don’t get too down on AG, she will hit more than 1-12 in the future. I don’t think you will see many games like this from her – if any more. Just hope she keeps her confidence. She played hard the entire game which is difficult to do in the middle of a 1-12 game. She didn’t quit. Good for her.

Miles had a great first Qtr – if she didn’t this could have been a different game. Hitting some tough shots and also getting some easy ones in transition when we didn’t pick her up. Not sure why NM didn’t pick up miles in transition the 2 times she got to the rim. It looked like she was helping defend against the big when usually she plays face up for the entire 94 feet. Maybe this was something that GA had her do.

NM played her heart out on defense. Moved her feet really well and had miles shut down on multiple occasions. Miles got her on a tough runner to the rim and once when NM went under a screen. She got beat a couple times in the second half – just can’t expect her to play 40 minutes against a player like miles and then run the offense and score, etc, etc. She did give a huge lift early with the two threes. She got to the rim and scored or got to the line or both three times as well.

Team looked very tired and made several mistakes as a result – not switching fast enough, missing rebounds, turnovers, etc. Ebo screens are really tough to get around – she is a sneaky weapon for ND with her screening and then late in games when players get tired as we did.

Good thing Lou heated up or it could have been worse. Lou is really good – why the heck was she not playing D1 the last few years? She alone makes us a better shooting team than last year. She is where I hope CD can get to one day. I think she will get better as the year goes on as well. CD on the other hand looked really slow and tired in this game.

AE had some good moments but I was hoping for more – take some control of the game when all else fails – maybe that will come later this year or next.

ND could go their bench early and often and UConn only substituting a bit with CD, which didn’t help and less with yanna. Yanna still figuring out that what she could do in HS, she can’t do against bigger, stronger, better players….she needs to get her mid range going.

Azzi Fudd first hurt when Uconn had a 2 point lead and was not the same again. Hard to compete with what looked like a well rested ND team and uconn missing 4 key players and one (CD) who is clearly not herself. This team made a nice run in the third and showed a lot of heart and toughness, which I found inspirational. Outscored ND in the second half. The offense just wasn’t the same without Azzi Fudd. ND played some really tough D. They seemed to never tire the entire game - they seemed to be one step ahead of uconn. Uconn hit a wall in the late third after the tech. We need to get some stronger play from our bench.

I’m obviously biased, but if we stay healthy, I really like our chances if we meet again. ND can’t shoot (56%) or play much better and we can’t shoot much worse (36%).

Excellent summary.

 

[Littlemin]

UConn had no answers? If you saw ND play Maryland, UConn had numerous possible answers but for some reason got off track early in the 1st quarter and never seemed to recover. I have watched Notre Dame play most of their games this year so while I have to give them the credit they deserve, I write this game off to poor preparation and just one of those strange games that happen. Would still bet good money the Huskies would win any rematch this year.

Every game is different, Uconn had no answers Sunday and that is a fact; what happened in the past means nothing, what happened in other games between other teams means nothing.

 

[Bone Dog]

It's a delicate balance. When we lose our perimeter shooting advantage, opponents can pack the paint and then our post players struggle. Consider Aubrey's inability to score -- a natural slasher, when the paint is packed, that part of her game goes away, and so does her confidence in her outside shot that had seemed to be on the rise. If Azzi returns soon and Caroline continues her recovery and Dorka comes back, none of these problems need to recur.

We built this team a certain way, and then lost key components of it. The remaining parts don't function the same way with half the team injured. No surprise there. I hope we face ND in March with our full complement (save Paige and Ice) and get to see the difference. That's me being reasonable. Then I hope we see them next year (with Paige and Ice and KK and Ashlynn and Q and Jana) and run ND into the cracks in the floor. That's me being unreasonable.

 

[Longtime fan]

To say that you UConn was undersized today is an understatement. There were plays where AG at 6 ft 1 in was playing center. AE is a strong 6'3 but the rest of the UConn team was undersized it appeared at almost every position. Notre Dame had at least three or four players that seem to own the paint the whole game that were bigger and physically stronger than their matchup. What's worrisome was not just the fact that UConn was undersized but also was slower than Notre Dame.

It was one of the worst performances I have seen for a CONN team. Caroline and Aubrey looked like they belonged at a division III school. Edwards was assaulted for 40 minutes with no relief. So was Nika. We don't have an enforcer. Nor do we have someone tough enough to retaliate. Edwards maybe and Patterson maybe. But c'mon, Patterwon is a young freshman. I know coach knows what he is doing, but I thought it was a mistake not to use DeBerry more. If just to allow Edwards to breathe.

 

[hoophuskee]

Yes but she got injured 7 minutes into the game. So half the time she was out there limping.

UCONN loses it's top superstar (and already lost its starting center several weeks ago) in which she is hurt very early and they lose to a Nationally ranked team playing on their home floor.
Shocking.

And now the game is a referendum on losing in past Final Fours and Finals.
Just -wow.

 

[hoophuskee]

To be honest, the reporters are supposed to ask Geno these questions, tough questions, like “why isn’t your backup center playing until the end of the game?”… but they won’t .

The backup Center is Edwards. She was the same backup center throughout her frosh year. And in her soph year she was the backup center vs teams like NC Sate and Stanford.

How is it that she isn't the backup center then?

 

[TCC Kid]

I almost always re-watch the losses (after waiting a couple of days for the pain to subside). Very instructive: in a second view you really learn a lot about the players and what you want to watch for later to see if they're advancing their game.

I root for UConn as if the outcome could somehow be different, can't help it.

I have to wait a few days too. However, after I cooled down and away from my stupid foolish questions around WHY? I can remember 7 or 8 determined kids, a bit lost in the game of football/hockey on a wood floor. I don't cheer, cuz I knew they lost except on the come back charge.. But I scream at the dumb moves or poorly timed fouls.

 

[hoophuskee]

If Azzi were on the floor the entire game Citron wouldve most likely continued to guard her. The rest of NDs defense wouldve had to be aware of where Azzi was. That would help UConns offense with Citron and ND focusing on Azzi. It wouldve helped UConn be I would think Azzi at some point would get her points just like Lou did, with Azzi creating her own shot or by team mates setting screens and pics. We lost by 14 pts. A couple of things if Azzi played. Azzi I think wouldve scored at least 15 pts and on another note if Azzi was in the game I believe Caroline and Arbury wouldve scored a combined 16 pts. You can slice it another way. Azzi Caroline and Aubrey scoring 16 pts makes us a winner and thats only 2 baskets each. This game was winable if Azzi wasnt hurt. IMO

Certainly a player face-guarding Azzi would need to be picked. Once the player is picked by a UCONN big such as Edwards or Griffin, it would mean the big on ND would have to rush out toward Azzi. Bigs are generally slower to react. That's very reason why smaller guards are able to shoot as well from the outside; is that the bigs are generally too slow to continually contest on the perimeter over 40 minutes.

With Dorka being hurt, the game plan was probably about getting Azzi free enough to force one of their bigs away from the basket in which Azzi would be the decision-maker; shoot or make a pass which eventually would force their guards to defend to Edwards or Griffin. It's the whole reasonb why you set a pick for a guard; you're looking to gfree them up to shoot or get a mismatch when a big has to come out.

Once Azzi got hurt, the game plan goes down the toilet. The go-to top decision-maker you've bene practicing with this early in the season is gone. How many injuries is UCONN supposed to endure? It's easy to sit on our couches and say it shouldn't matter. But that isn't reality. Reality is that the superstar makes everyone better. So when the superstar is out, then some players are more apt to mightily struggle vs very good teams. If the players could perform so easily without Azzi, then it would mean that either the other players are great too or that Azzi isn’t all that great. That's the entire point I think you are making here with Azzi being out; which I agree with. She's the fuel of the offense and with her gone this early it's too much to overcome.

 

[dcheng021]

I'm taking a more positive spin on this loss. In the second half, UCONN outscored Notre Dame 36-33, and we did this missing Azzi and Dorka. 5 players (Nika, Aubrey, Patterson, Lou, and Aaliyah) basically had to play the entire 40 minutes with Caroline looking limited and DeBerry coming in for some mop up minutes towards the end. On top of that, Notre Dame was playing great and shooting lights out (56.1% for the game). On top of that, it was UCONN's first true road game of the year playing in front of a sold out hostile environment. Honestly, with everything working against us, we should have lost that second half by 10-20 points and could have easily lost the game by 30 points.

If you compare Geno's postgame presser after this game compared to last year's first loss against Georgia Tech, he's much more positive after this loss.

 

[Cuango]

Umm no. Flagrant 2 is a punch. That was the Furthest thing from a flagrant 2…get real..

While it was not a punch, it looked clearly intentional to me. I was also surprised Geno didn’t go crazy!