Notre Dame Discussion

[Skeets]

UConn has to take the refs out of this game. Remember the game is being played in South Bend. Late in the game if it's close, and it's likely to be close, watch how the calls go. They won't be going for UConn.

 

[hoopsfan22]

UConn has to take the refs out of this game. Remember the game is being played in South Bend. Late in the game if it's close, and it's likely to be close, watch how the calls go. They won't be going for UConn.

UConn just doesn't go to the line much. UConn averages 6 for 9 at the line while ND averages 13 for 17. If both teams are playing their normal games, ND should have the advantage on fouls and go to the stripe a bunch more.

 

[Jaml]

I find it funny that an article on ESPN.com stated that Notre Dame is short-handed, while UConn is at full strength. We all know that UConn is most certainly not at full strength. They are like us last year, basically playing just seven players and the starters have to play big minutes.

Many of you are worried about HH's scoring, but she is a volume shooter and puts up a ton of shots, so rebounding is key. Koval is averaging 8.3 boards, King 11, and all 3 starting guards are averaging over 6 rebounds a game.

 

[Bone Dog]

I've watched a lot of minutes on Hidalgo. She is quick -- maybe as quick as anyone in D1 -- and resourceful, and fearless in driving against taller players. She appears to have the OK to go free-range on defense from Niele, and this has served ND very well. My two takeaways from all these videos:

1. The scout -- she is a dominant righty and needs to be guarded this way at both levels. She can still get past a perimeter defender by going left and then often goes right against a big in the paint who doesn't know the scout as well. She does this so often it's almost laughable. Everyone on the floor has to play her according to the scout, not just the guards.
2. She is a poacher and preys on guards who dribble too much, and bigs who bring the ball down or dribble unnecessarily. It doesn't even matter if a guard gets past her, if they don't make a play right away, because she will come around the other side and steal the ball. She gets a lot of steals in just this way. It's not enough to get past Hannah, if you don't immediately take a shot or pass the ball. She almost prefers to let guards get past her in order to do just this.

Geno teaches a quick passing offense. We can't afford to waste time dribbling on the perimeter -- I'm looking at you, Kaitlyn. As Geno says, there's three things you can do with the ball when you get it: shoot, pass, drive. What you can't do is waste time with fakes and indecision. Against ND, we need to live this philosophy. Play crisply and pass quickly.

 

[freshler40]

Doubt u will see the man to man matchups u listed
Nd played zone the whole game against texas
Likely to see that on thursday

If we get beat a lot with our man to man, isn't it possible that Geno would go to a 1/3/1 zone or similar? The big threat from ND is their penetrating guards.

 

[freshler40]

I find it funny that an article on ESPN.com stated that Notre Dame is short-handed, while UConn is at full strength. We all know that UConn is most certainly not at full strength. They are like us last year, basically playing just seven players and the starters have to play big minutes.

Many of you are worried about HH's scoring, but she is a volume shooter and puts up a ton of shots, so rebounding is key. Koval is averaging 8.3 boards, King 11, and all 3 starting guards are averaging over 6 rebounds a game.

Our guards have block out their guards and also hunt long rebounds.

 

[Monte]

As I think about this game, I feel that each one of these teams could win by a margin of 10 or 15 points.
After reading all of the posts on this topic, I feel more strongly about it It should be a great game to watch, and maybe the winner will win by 1 point. A game like this provides great anticipation. I only hope that there are no serious injuries. It will be a hard fought game.

 

[PacoSwede]

ND could prevail at home. I highly doubt it will.

it would require hildalgo, miles and citron to ALL bring their A games.

citron i would expect to be solid, but she wouldn't be a difference maker on her own. miles could be outstanding, but she's been erratic and can make too many mistakes. hildalgo can be amazing but also screws up plenty. if she's not hot, she could be a disaster vs. uconn.

then King must good too. and koval -- i'd be shocked if she could deal with uconn and even if she does, without the trio's A games it wouldn't mean anything.

if westbeld and/or the BE transfer can play it would help reduce uconn's MOV, but that's all barring A games from all 3 ND stars.

ND has slim hopes for success. But that why they play the game.

 

[Aluminny69]

Excellent analysis from Australian Podcaster. I don't know how much he aligns with comments already made in this thread. As always, you can feel free to disagree with him. It's all good. He picks UConn, but he is not sure if Azzi plays or not. If she does play, will she be agressive or tentative?

 

[PacoSwede]

Our guards have block out their guards and also hunt long rebounds.

they will

 

[yhun89]

I've watched a lot of minutes on Hidalgo. She is quick -- maybe as quick as anyone in D1 -- and resourceful, and fearless in driving against taller players. She appears to have the OK to go free-range on defense from Niele, and this has served ND very well. My two takeaways from all these videos:

1. The scout -- she is a dominant righty and needs to be guarded this way at both levels. She can still get past a perimeter defender by going left and then often goes right against a big in the paint who doesn't know the scout as well. She does this so often it's almost laughable. Everyone on the floor has to play her according to the scout, not just the guards.
2. She is a poacher and preys on guards who dribble too much, and bigs who bring the ball down or dribble unnecessarily. It doesn't even matter if a guard gets past her, if they don't make a play right away, because she will come around the other side and steal the ball. She gets a lot of steals in just this way. It's not enough to get past Hannah, if you don't immediately take a shot or pass the ball. She almost prefers to let guards get past her in order to do just this.

Geno teaches a quick passing offense. We can't afford to waste time dribbling on the perimeter -- I'm looking at you, Kaitlyn. As Geno says, there's three things you can do with the ball when you get it: shoot, pass, drive. What you can't do is waste time with fakes and indecision. Against ND, we need to live this philosophy. Play crisply and pass quickly.

Agreed 100%. We need PB or KK taking that ball in every lineup Chen is in.

 

[Zonepress]

Imho the key to beating ND is to play well
Offensively/ you’re not gonna be able to keep them from scoring their points

Based on the Texas game, there’s a strong likelihood that Notre Dame will play zone
This accomplishes two things for them
Generally, it keeps you are a foultrouble which is important with their nonexistent bench
And secondly, it slows the pace of the game down
And allows them to “rest “ on defense
Quite confident, Uconn will get good shots pretty easily if they make a good percentage, they’ll be in great shape

In any case, it should be a good game and I think Coach GA learn a lot about his team

 

[yhun89]

Another thing to note is that we have 4 capable players who know how this team functions. Paige, KK, and Ash all probably got their butts handed to them by Geno last year after this game, certainly they've learned a lot from their mistakes. Ice I think was given a few minutes, but not too many since she wasn't great last year until the very end.

 

[yhun89]

Imho the key to beating ND is to play well
Offensively/ you’re not gonna be able to keep them from scoring their points

Based on the Texas game, there’s a strong likelihood that Notre Dame will play zone
This accomplishes two things for them
Generally, it keeps you are a foultrouble which is important with their nonexistent bench
And secondly, it slows the pace of the game down
And allows them to “rest “ on defense
Quite confident, Uconn will get good shots pretty easily if they make a good percentage, they’ll be in great shape

In any case, it should be a good game and I think Coach GA learn a lot about his team

It only works on Texas because they can't shoot 3's and were very post dominant. We can.

 

[Zonepress]

If we get beat a lot with our man to man, isn't it possible that Geno would go to a 1/3/1 zone or similar? The big threat from ND is their penetrating guards.

It’s possible you might see a few minutes of zone from Coach GA and find out how well they shoot the three
Hidalgo strong shooter Citron is as well
Miles not as much
Last year while Hidalgo scored seemingly at will
It was the high screen and the step back jump shots from westbeld on the assist from Hidalgo that really hurt
Coach Ivey imho game plans very well, and it will be interesting to see what her approaches both offensively and defensively

 

[Longtime fan]

We have to much talent to say we only win if Azzi plays. You are vastly overrating Notre Dame.

Not so sure. Those two guards ( Miles and Hidalgo) are as good as they get. And Citron is much better than given credit for. Their bigs know their jobs and they are "trees." This will be a super test for ICE and Jana. But what can defeat the Irish is a stream of three point shooters. So if Paige, AZZI and Sarah ( also ASH when in the game ) can hit their open looks , we can win. It will require crisp "in and out' ( paint to arc ) passing to create the open looks. They won't be there otherwise. This will be a wonderful match.

 

[PacoSwede]

Another thing to note is that we have 4 capable players who know how this team functions. Paige, KK, and Ash all probably got their butts handed to them by Geno last year after this game, certainly they've learned a lot from their mistakes. Ice I think was given a few minutes, but not too many since she wasn't great last year until the very end.

that was last year, and it was the alumni game, which royally screwed the huskies up. not very relevant to thursday.

 

[yhun89]

that was last year, and it was the alumni game, which royally screwed the huskies up. not very relevant to thursday.

what I’m saying is we have 3 players who have experience against pressure and ND’s defensive and offensive schemes.

Of course this goes for ND as well. But they’re in our position that we were in last year, where if they have foul trouble, they have zero depth to make up for it.


Experience is good. KK and Ash will be better equipped to handle ND. Paige knows what to expect from Sonia (note that last year, it was the first time she’d played ND in 2 years because of her ACL injury in 2022.) and hopefully PB can find a way to break free of Sonia’s defense.

 

[HuskyPhan]

Lots of great analysis here. Assuming Azzi plays, I don’t believe the Irish can hang with us for 4 quarters. The depth we have this year will allow us to really crank down the defense on Hidalgo and Miles without worrying about foul trouble. Like most teams in the country, the Irish will not have an answer for Sarah and don’t have enough offensive weapons to keep up with us. I’m expecting (hoping) a double digit win for our Huskies. Also hoping this game is one where Sarah shows that she should be in All-American discussions

 

[CL82]

UConn has to take the refs out of this game.

Stop them in the parking lot I say!

 

[Kat]

UConn has the guards to cover Hidalgo and Miles, without even using Paige for that. She'll be prowling the court, making steals, getting rebounds, blocking shots, doling out assists, and getting her points--her usual superstar stuff. They have no answer to the Huskies' front court players, and this team's depth. I'm looking forward to this game.

 

[Stagnant]

It sounds like Azzi is out.

 

[DEpup]

For me, I think Sarah is really the key to this game along with Ice/Jana as well as posting Paige up and utilize those front court skills she developed last year.

King and Prosper really have no chance against Sarah so just keep feeding her the ball. Sarah alone could get the whole ND front court in foul trouble.

I'd also post up Paige and pull Citron out of her defensive comfort zone on the perimeter.

 

[yhun89]

It sounds like Azzi is out.

Well… this is troubling. Internally cursing right now. This isn’t good. One of our better defenders out and one of our best shooters.

Sarah 30 piece incoming I guess.

 

[yhun89]

With Azzi out:

Sarah, Jana, and Ice MUST have good games and no foul trouble.

Paige has to somehow break out of Citron's defense. With Azzi out, she is susceptible to the double team, which also means Ash and Chen need to light it up from the perimeter to give us a chance to suspend the double teams for the game.