No Charge on DIggins to end the regulation

[ASweet3781]

I gotta agree with the Old Coach. This is the problem when you play in a lot of blowouts, sometimes you can get sloppy in the strategic chess match in a tight come in the final seconds.

 

[Gurleyman]

I can sorta live with the 5 guards, just because I don't want to lose the game on a 3 - but with five guards you can't just let Diggins simply beat token pressure and get into the paint easily. And Stokes wouldn't be the mismatch on the perimeter that Dolson would.

Who knows, Stokes might have jumped out to contest the Diggins shot and we would have had the same Novosel v KML battle under the boards go the same way. Novosel made a heady, senior play - she was already in rebounding position even before the shot and boxed KML out once it went up.

 

[MilfordHusky]

When Geno says that he should have left Kiah in, that has to boost her confidence.

Have a great summer, Kiah!

 

[Wbbfan1]

I wonder if Geno would have been better off taking a time out after ND tied the game. Sure ND would have been able to setup their defense, but maybe the team gets a better shot. Also Bria should have been the one bringing the ball up the court she's got a better pull up jump shot then Tiff has and is just as quick. Bria would have taken the shot or driven to the basket in an effort to get a foul called.

Still a great game that they almost stole.

 

[Gurleyman]

I was watching after the tie - Diggins put pressure on Bria right away and Bria didn't make a hard cut. So they looked upcourt and Tiffany was there. Where it went wrong was Tiffany went to her left (strong hand) straight up the middle and Bria was running to the top of the key, brought her defender right into the play, and took the driving lane away. In hindsight, she should have fanned out to the wing looking to spot up and give Tiff a driving lane with her strong hand, but that's easy to say from a laptop when they only have four seconds to make those reads in real time.

In real time, I was thinking we should call a timeout after we crossed midcourt, which would have given us three seconds to set something up, but I thought better of it. The last thing you want to do is call a timeout there right as your player breaks free and has something developing against a broken defense.

 

[UConnChapette]

The Tiffany no-call was right after Dolson should have fouled out (after the 2 blocks, she hacked a rebounder pretty badly). Then what those no-calls did was give the defender carte blanche to reach in, which resulted in the KML elbow, which they had to call a flagrant. But if you're KML, and you just watched Tiff get wrestled to the ground with no call, you become extra-protective of the ball - she went too far with the elbow instead of hips/shoulder contact, which she would have gotten away with.

They had that really terrible charge call that Diggins "drew" on Bria to take away a lay-up for us, and then next play, Hayes was ridiculously late sliding in to take a charge on Novosel in a make-up call (which frankly might have been the worst call of the night).

In fairness to the officials, it was a really hard game to officiate. They tried to "let them play" but the end result was the game got very physical with hand checks, reach-in fouls, over-the-backs etc. and then it was hard to decide where the line of too much contact was.

You haven't seen Notre Dame play much this year, have you? They are the most physical team out there, yet the refs let them get away with the hand slaps, over the back, chucking up a shot without a prayer of going in and forcing contact where there wouldn't have been if they didn't throw themselves into the defenders. Yet, they seem to get the calls their way more times than not. Doris, for all the love she showers on nd, even brought this up in a prior game.

 

[justML]

Geno said he thought tonight's game was officiated fairly.

 

[NutmegDog]

Geno said he thought tonight's game was officiated fairly.

Yeah, but given the rules that apply, we all know we'll never know what Geno really thinks about the officiating -- he's way, way too smart to say anything other than "they were fair."

As for the no call on Diggins' charge at the end of regulation - we've all seen that officials just basically put their whistles away during the final 20 seconds of a close game. That happens all the time, and the excuse is that "we don't want the zebras deciding the outcome of games". Which is idiotic, of course. By not making calls on obvious infractions that have been called all game long, they ARE deciding the outcome. But, that's the way they do it and, generally, unless one player just punches the other, nothing gets called during the final possession or two of a close game.

 

[justML]

Yeah, but given the rules that apply, we all know we'll never know what Geno really thinks about the officiating -- he's way, way too smart to say anything other than "they were fair."

Geno has spoken the truth about the refs before so I take him at his word tonight.

I think we hurt ourselves more than the refs hurt us. But that's just my opinion.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

Geno blew it, not the refs.

I haven't read the game thread so I don't know what others have been posting --
BUT, I put the loss on Geno. ND inbounded the ball under the UConn basket with 11 seconds remaining. Geno put five guards (AND NO REBOUNDERS) on the floor to play defense against the ball. If ND shoots, one of two things happen.
Either the ball goes in the basket ---- or there will be a rebound that the defensive team MUST GET. But UConn had no rebounders. If Kiah Stokes was in the game, there was no way Novosel gets that easy rebound just 3 feet out from the rim.

And Kiah can defend against guards, too. That was a serious coaching error by Geno. When Novosel got the rebound, I froze my TV to find out where the rebounders were. Answer, both our tall girls were on bench.

If there are four or five seconds left at the inbound play by ND, a case can be made for five guards on the floor. But if there is time for a shot and a rebound, UConn's best rebounder has to be on the floor. That's Kiah Stokes.

SAD! Great last 2 minutes by Kelly. Her steals should have won the game.

I just hope Geno holds his hand up and takes responsibility for the 5 guard decision.

Geno is not to blame.... the refs are.. and the overly physical play of ND that was not called.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

Coaches have to say they think the game was called fair. I want to know why KML threw the elbow. I mean seriously. A laid back Cali girl throwing an elbow. To me, there was something that caused her to lose her cool. And Peters is the reason....

 

[VAUConnFan]

I have rewatched that play numerous times from every angle afforded.
1. Caroline was not set when Diggins took off
2, If a foul was going to be called, the correct call would have gone against UConn, So
3. Excellent no call!

 

[asuwish]

The charge on Diggins and our player is on her back on the floor and Novesel gets the rebound. If a charge is called Novesel dosnt get the basket and we win. If our player isnt on her back she might get the rebound or Novesel dosnt get a shot off. Either way the call shouldve been called with 8,4 seconds left. Hey we can look forward to next year now and wait to see who verbals over the next couple of months. Im very disappointed that we didnt win because of a bad call, but we did have a season better then most thought. Next year is going to be fantastic.

No game is won or lost on 1 call. there is always the one rebound, or one screen not set right, or one box out not made, or free throw not made. When you lose you look internally at what YOU did not do. There are too many things would make a game that went to overtime have a different outcome, not just 1 play.

 

[ScarlettB]

Yeah, but given the rules that apply, we all know we'll never know what Geno really thinks about the officiating -- he's way, way too smart to say anything other than "they were fair."

As for the no call on Diggins' charge at the end of regulation - we've all seen that officials just basically put their whistles away during the final 20 seconds of a close game. That happens all the time, and the excuse is that "we don't want the zebras deciding the outcome of games". Which is idiotic, of course. By not making calls on obvious infractions that have been called all game long, they ARE deciding the outcome. But, that's the way they do it and, generally, unless one player just punches the other, nothing gets called during the final possession or two of a close game.

I don't agree that the refs won't call fouls during the final possession of a close game unless one player punches another. In the sweet 16 game RU played against Duke in Greensboro, RU was up by 1 with virtually no time left on the clock. Duke threw up a long pass into traffic and an RU player was called for the foul although everyone was just going for the ball. That put Lindsay Harding at the line with no time left on the clock. Fortunately for us RU fans, she missed them both. We also lost a game to Stanford when Wiggins played for them. The game was tied and Stanford had the ball, but with .2 seconds on the clock and Stanford just inside the baseline under the RU basket, they called a reach in foul, sent Wiggins to the line for two shots and the game was over. Baylor lost a game to Tennessee in the NCAA tournament in similar fashion several years ago. Personally, I thought they made the correct no call on the Diggins drive, but if they had called it, it should have been a blocking foul for the reasons VAUConnfan stated. I think the game was officiated pretty fairly (a few questionable calls both ways). The refs needed to let them play. If they had called everything, Dolson would have fouled out in the second half, which would have pretty much killed any chance UConn had to win that game. Both teams played tough, hard-nosed basketball and I thought it was an exciting and entertaining game to watch. Your women left it all on the floor, which is really all they could do.

 

[VAMike23]

No game is won or lost on 1 call. there is always the one rebound, or one screen not set right, or one box out not made, or free throw not made. When you lose you look internally at what YOU did not do. There are too many things would make a game that went to overtime have a different outcome, not just 1 play.

+1

 

[Drumguy]

More like the rebound Uconn didn't secure to ice the game away. IMO you can't bet on that call. You have to get in position for that rebound.

The block out (or lack thereof) was the deciding factor in that sequence - we shouldn't have let them get that close in.

Bria should have called a timeout instead of driving with 24 secs left for example was a bigger faux pas.

Honestly when Stef picked up her 4th tickytack, I figured we were done for.

 

[JSB60]

Going down and trying to draw a charge in the final seconds is very risky and you can't fault a no call there. Of course, never expect an even break from the refs when playing ND throughout the game. But when that ball goes up, everyone has to fly to the board, even a foul is better than allowing the layup.

 

[CTGirl15]

I do think Bria or Geno should have called time out with 24 seconds left, the ball, and a tie game. Sure, that would have given Notre Dame the chance to set their defense and we were struggling with our half-court offense, but you have to figure we can run the clock and get the ball to Stef in the paint for the final shot of the game. They had no answer for her all night.

 

[huskybill]

I thought the game was officiated "fairly." It just wasn't officiated as a basketball game should be. As some mentioned, it was more like a war. The Geneva convention rules went out the window. After not calling so many obvious fouls, it hard to believe the refs would call one in the last 10 seconds. If ever a game called for the "Don't let them play" cheer I've been promoting, the vast majority of fans here are happy with "let them play." Except when there is no call against ND, of course.

 

[Kait14]

Geno is not to blame.... the refs are.. and the overly physical play of ND that was not called.

Absolutely not.. if the refs called this tighter we would have lost by much more.. The fact that they didn't call much on ND resulted in them not calling much on us.. Blaming the refs is just an excuse.. There were many things we did well, but many we didn't, i.e turnovers and bad shot choice

 

[Tenspro2002]

The refs allowed a ton of clutching, reaching in, grabbing, swiping, which played right into Notre Dame's style. That's why KML (rightly) had to swing a few bows to protect that rebound.

I think a no-call was the right call there, and was certainly consistent with how they'd been calling it all game.

 

[warbler1055]

Screwed again. ND dosnt foul. What a shame with seconds left Diggins drives and charges and no foul. They won it at the line again. Terrible Terrible

I thought for certain with 8 ticks left we won the game!!! What a heartbreaking loss!!!