Nothing to be ashamed of:

[cferraro04]

If we were going to lose a game this is the one I figured losing would hurt us the least. To begin with playing Baylor the consensus number one team on their home court and losing by 5 is nothing to hang your head about. Did we have opportunities to win this game sure we did...but, the law of averages eventually catches up with everybody. We were on fire from three...so cooling off from 3 was more probable than sustaining the hot shooting. Griner was as expected unstoppable but someone, forgot to tell Heather Buck that who did a great job defensively. If we could get 6 points a game out of Heather she could be big for us this year. I said Griner would get 25 and 12 well she got 25 and 10 and 9 blocks to go with it. Bria and KML did great tonight. Faris was everywhere she played a great game even if it didn't show up in the scoring column. Sims was a competitor and refused to let her team lose...Madden made some big plays defensively as well.

I really didn't expect UConn to be playing its best basketball in December...I fully believe that UConn will be a very tough team to beat in March. Playing Baylor on a neutral court may produce a different result as well. I am more convinced now than I was before that UConn is a final four team with an exceptional chance to win their 8th national championship.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I was actually quite disappointed. I thought Steffie (who I really like) showed that she isn't nearly as quick or athletic as she would have to be to defend Griner. I thought our Ms Buck really somewhat neutralized Griner and I don't think her limited offensive skills were a detriment since we played better offensively when Buck was in the game. I don't agree with those who were talking this four on five stuff. Anyway they started the game slowly but caught fire and started playing quite well. Then midway through the second half they'd gotten an eleven point lead and suddenly stopped running their offense wisely. They started playing sloppily and made some serious bonehead plays. The momentum shifted quickly and badly and there was never a recovery. I can't believe that they changed their M.O. that had been so successful in the latter part of the first half and the first segment of the second half and started trying to drive in proximity to Griner only to have her block the shot instead of moving the ball around the perimeter and finding the open man. It's pretty suicidal to go inside when she's in position because she's so quick and long. Then Steffie and others started allowing some very easy entry passes where a simple move by Griner led to layups or fouls and free throws. I know that they're just kids and they're not perfect but it just seemed that they just basically let Baylor back in the game. Last year in Storrs the Huskies had a big lead, got into some foul trouble, let Baylor get back in the game, played tentatively and luckily managed to make a couple of plays in the end to pull out the game. I would have thought they learned something in that game and would have shown more composure but instead they lost their edge. The last few minutes was really bad with some horribly run offense. Not boxing out on a missed Baylor free throw might have been the biggest boo boo of the entire game because it took away any hope of them getting back into the game. It was a real lost opportunity, to say the least. I still love them but the last ten minutes of the game they weren't the same team. They lost their composure and Baylor gained theirs.

 

[rocky rococo]

UConn looked like a Final Four team. Baylor looked like a National Champion.

 

[MarieM]

Buck should have stayed in the game, yea she didn't score but neither did Griner.

 

[ladybears4eva]

If we were going to lose a game this is the one I figured losing would hurt us the least. To begin with playing Baylor the consensus number one team on their home court and losing by 5 is nothing to hang your head about. Did we have opportunities to win this game sure we did...but, the law of averages eventually catches up with everybody. We were on fire from three...so cooling off from 3 was more probable than sustaining the hot shooting. Griner was as expected unstoppable but someone, forgot to tell Heather Buck that who did a great job defensively. If we could get 6 points a game out of Heather she could be big for us this year. I said Griner would get 25 and 12 well she got 25 and 10 and 9 blocks to go with it. Bria and KML did great tonight. Faris was everywhere she played a great game even if it didn't show up in the scoring column. Sims was a competitor and refused to let her team lose...Madden made some big plays defensively as well.

After re-watching the game and post game comments:
I really didn't expect UConn to be playing its best basketball in December...I fully believe that UConn will be a very tough team to beat in March. Playing Baylor on a neutral court may produce a different result as well. I am more convinced now than I was before that UConn is a final four team with an exceptional chance to win their 8th national championship.

Again, like with Notre Dame we could not close out the game without letting the other team get two easy shots before the clock winds out......i can't stand it.... it was more of an 8 point lead before this easy shots at the end... Mulk was mad at that in the post game teleconference... I agree. Diggins did it to us last time... so irritating that she got away...

Teaching moments.

in the first half, it was all baylor until the last 5 minutes of the half, where KML and co shot lights out, Madden and Sims were lost in fouls/wrong assignments and we got cold.

Second half...

 

[ladybears4eva]

Buck should have stayed in the game, yea she didn't score but neither did Griner.

she played well... but it was a matter of time until she did and sims took control of the game...

 

[MarieM]

she played well... but it was a matter of time until she did and sims took control of the game...

it took 14 minutes for grinner to get a bucket.. I'm proud that the least person one could think of guarded grinner and did a great job on her too

 

[tomcat]

I had predicted Baylor, 67-61, so the game turned out 16% better than I had thought it might. That doesn't take the sting out of it. It's just that UConn had done to it what UConn usually does to other teams. There were just several times when the players seemed to be running around. On a couple of occasions, I asked myself, "What happened to the vaunted UConn press?" Could they not run it? Was Sims too fast? Was Griner too big an outlet, keeping it from being successful?

And I am a huge Stef fan, but I and many others had hopes built up by her growth last year. Now she seems to have hit a wall, and not just against Baylor. She looks like the second-best center in the country against poor teams, but a solid, effective center (though not much of an offensive threat) against top-10 teams. And against Griner, she simply got handled. It may be that way for this year and next, a la Jayne Appel vs. Tina Charles. Jayne turned herself into a terrific center, but more often than not against Tina and UConn, lost the battle.

I do not know why UConn is not running sets to get Stef the ball. I'm not talking about the Baylor game here -- The reasons for not doing it in that game are obvious. But against other teams, maybe it's that Geno sees UConn as a three-point scoring machine, and that's Option Number One. Well, with Bria and Kml and occasional help from Doty and Faris, that's not a bad choice. But to me, that's the formula for being maybe the second or third-best team in the country. Not a bad day's work, but not generally what these ladies aspire to.

I recognize that the team is sorely lacking an offensive-minded, take-it-to-the-basket power forward, something likely to be remedied next year. But until then, I worry about the team's ability to show the kind of offensive versatility that might take them all the way.

 

[sparky]

I like Stef too, but HB was a beast out there. She really came to play and did well. As for the rest, it was an ok performance. I don't understand the quick shots when we were up 9 with about 12 min to go. Stef took two shots that I wish we had back. We had shinning moments with out half court sets, but for some reason we acted like we were down 9 not up.. I know we can beat them and can't wait for a rematch. Griner has improved her strength and sims is a beast.