Northwestern Post Game Thread

[jojipoji]

Disagree - we stopped running our regular motion oriented sets. Actually we did the same thing against Stetson. I think they don't want to aid in future opponents scouting us. In Hurley I trust.

That’s a great take. Why run plays so the next team can’t scout

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm not saying they should've won by 50 points. My point is the team was outscored by 13 points over the final 13 minutes. I get that its a game of ebbs and flows, but had UConn matched Northwestern down til under the 8 minute mark, then you start thinking about pulling your starters around the 6. That wasn't at all possible tonight.

And then what? We don’t play again until Thursday night. No one is going to be more tired on Thursday because they played an extra 5 minutes on Sunday.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

I don't know about you guys... But a blowout on TV and a blowout in person feel completely different.

I don't mind when I'm watching a blowout on TV.

But damn, I was mostly bored tonight at Barclays. Both games were complete blowouts (esp the Duke game). My wife was actually surprised when I was enthusiastic that Northwestern made it a bit of game on the 2nd Half. I know it sounds kinda odd. But I needed something to make it exciting. At the end of the day I knew the game was over. UConn dominated from the tip...

Anyway, Win and Advance! Lets keep this going folks! I won't be at Boston but I will sure as hell be at Legends NYC (hoping for a good crowd there)

 

[EnochRoot]

And then what? We don’t play again until Thursday night. No one is going to be more tired on Thursday because they played an extra 5 minutes on Sunday.

The idea of pulling your starters early when the game is out of reach for the opponent isn't just for their rest. It's also to avoid injury.

Come on, a good lawyer doesn't ask the question he doesn't already know the answer to, right?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I don't know about you guys... But a blowout on TV and a blowout in person feel completely different.

I don't mind when I'm watching a blowout on TV.

But damn, I was mostly bored tonight at Barclays. Both games were complete blowouts (esp the Duke game). My wife was actually surprised when I was enthusiastic that Northwestern made it a bit of game on the 2nd Half. I know it sounds kinda odd. But I needed something to make it exciting. At the end of the day I knew the game was over. UConn dominated from the tip...

Anyway, Win and Advance! Lets keep this going folks! I won't be at Boston but I will sure as hell be at Legends NYC (hoping for a good crowd there)

Barclays is also not a great arena IMO

 

[Mookson]

Was at Barclays tonight and I’d say there may have been just as many, if not more spillover Duke fans there than UConn fans, and they were all booing us, def not a very friendly environment for us tonight.

also I find it incredibly corny to stay and boo a team that your team is not playing. Although I’m sure a lot of UConn fans do that.

 

[Kolumbo]

Was at Barclays tonight and I’d say there may have been just as many, if not more spillover Duke fans there than UConn fans, and they were all booing us, def not a very friendly environment for us tonight.

also I find it incredibly corny to stay and boo a team that your team is not playing. Although I’m sure a lot of UConn fans do that.

If dook fans are anything, it's corny. they really are an odd lot. think about this. UNC-dook is, allegedly, one of the greatest rivalries in college sports. And dook boos UConn. the bluest of the blues.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Barclays is also not a great arena IMO

Agreed. For it to be relatively new - its by far the least appealing of the major NYC areas arena.

Prudential and UBS are better.

Obviously MSG is on a league of its own

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

We shot 81% from two for the game 26/34. that makes up for a few missed threes.

 

[gsmooth]

It was a well-played game by us. We were up the whole time, never in danger. No one got hurt.

If we made 3s at a normal clip, the score would have been uglier.

It would have been like the Xavier game in Hartford

 

[caw]

I will say it is good UConn is winning games without shooting well (poorly even) because we all know shooting usually goes down in the final four stadium. Not being reliant on the three is not a bad thing.

 

[AdamaNation]

“Best player on the floor” couldn’t throw it in the ocean. Nitwit podcasters.

A little lackluster in the second half and need to find the three point range, but still not worried.

Hurley confident. We. Are. Good.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

@Hans Sprungfeld : time to eat.

You really misread me

@Hans Sprungfeld : time to eat.

You either haven't comprehended me initially or in my explanation, OR you just mistrust me. If you understood or believed me, you'd clearly know there's no reason to "eat," or even bring the error up.

From what I see, you're on your second additional post since you first told me that you don't care. I don't believe you.

You have much to offer this forum, when you concentrate on your strengths. Why engage me as someone other than a rooting-interest teammate aligned with you in larger interest?

EDIT: Figured I'd give you 2 versions

 

[firstnline]

Only one foul is impressive

Just keep the Big East refs away and we will be fine, just like last years tourney.

 

[mauconnfan]

Excellent first half without shooting well from deep. 2nd half not enough passion and should’ve been throwing it into the interior much more instead of forcing shots. Also took the air out of the ball way too early it seemed.

Oh well 2 good meh wins….next! Shots are gonna fall!!

 

[NickDanger]

Committee should be embarrassed!

Marquette and Creighton just barely squeaked by far lower-ranked teams.
Looks to me like they were seeded too high.

 

[NickDanger]

Pretty much any other bubble team once I found out about their key injury. Giving a Big 10 team with mediocre metrics a bid because of one great win, even though that team would be missing a key player for the tournament was conference welfare.

They beat the number 8 team in the 1st round.

 

[NickDanger]

And then what? We don’t play again until Thursday night. No one is going to be more tired on Thursday because they played an extra 5 minutes on Sunday.

You risk injuries.

 

[kemba]

I understand that a win is a win at this point, but you need to have every edge that you can get to win it all...

We've shown upcoming better teams twice now that we're capable of letting our foot off the gas with a lead in the 2nd half. And also that we can go dead-arse ice cold for long stretches.

That's hope for a team that may be desperately trying to come back from a big deficit. We want teams to be deflated and hopeless when we stretch the lead to 15-20 pts.

Nitpicky rant, but need to strive for 40min of perfection. Tough to get it, but need to try!

We played 2 games that were completely over by halftime. Both felt over by the first under 12 timeout. The last thing these games provided other teams is hope

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Bouie finished 2/15 from the field being guarded by a freshman in his final collegiate game. Castle is the best perimeter defender in America.

agreed...thats coaching and player buy-in. I believe, unless I'm wrong, I read in your HS scouting report last yr of Castle that he couldn't guard opposing PG, so that's real praise a year later

 

[husky429]

agreed...thats coaching and player buy-in. I believe, unless I'm wrong, I read in your HS scouting report last yr of Castle that he couldn't guard opposing PG, so that's real praise a year later

Many HS recruits are pretty bad defenders. Andre was too. The coaches don't demand it because they carry such a load on offense.

 

[Deepster]

Shout out to Andre Johnson for securing the spread. Hopefully you don’t get reamed out by coach too bad.

Husky Nation salutes you!

I had UConn -13.5 + UConn over 74.5.

Andres first points of the year clicked it to 75 for me. LOL. Thank you sir!

 

[Edward Sargent]

Everyone watching the game is thinking, "only 8 blocks? wth was I watching?!"

They don’t have instant replay for blocks. There was at least one replay that show DCs fingertips deflecting the shot and it wasn’t counted as a blick

 

[navery12]

Marquette and Creighton just barely squeaked by far lower-ranked teams.
Looks to me like they were seeded too high.

Marquette won by 4 in a game they were favored by 4.5 and Creighton won by 13 in a game they were favored by 3.5. Everyone left in the tournament is good, they were definitely not seeded too high

 

[Umami Zen]

The combination of Clingan controlling the paint (and not getting into foul trouble) and Castle's total commitment to shut down/limit opponent's top scoring threat is just awesome to watch. Game over.

Not as worried about three point shooting as some. Law of averages dictates occasional cold shooting nights. The shots were there in the flow of the offense. They were good shots that were mostly uncontested. And we usually make them. Our 2 point shooting average was off the charts.

Reload/refocus/ and move on to Thursday.

EDIT: BTW..The coaches didn't instruct them to stop shooting the three ball