ND UConn thoughts (merged thread)

[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!