Notre Dame Game Thread

[Papa33]

I actually rewatched that play because I was pretty sure the ND player was moving on that play - and yup, she was nicely set, Chong twisted to go around her and the ND player did a cute little hop to that side and flop which the ref bought. It was perhaps not the best play for Chong to make, but it was not egregious and she is very good on not creating charges with her body contortions. But it was certainly no worse than a few of Gabby's wildly inaccurate turnovers, or similar mistakes made by other players. For some reason you seem to take particular note (pleasure?) in criticizing and denigrating certain players. Kia I thought had a great game scoring 8 points on 6 shots with four assist and one TO while playing lock down defense. Chong had a really solid game as she has in most of the games to date playing solid defense and coming up with 27% of Uconn's offensive rebounds.

Regarding both Saniya's overall contributions and the specific charging call, yours is a far more balanced and accurate assessment than the "horrendous" overkill you were responding to.

 

[Papa33]

Two interesting side bars to this game is:
1. NO UConn player was in serious foul trouble last night. Collier, Samuelson & Dangerfield had three. The most interesting and important note is that Gabby played all 40 minutes, and only had 1 foul. THAT is amazing. That is a trend we hope continues the rest of the season. Gabby needs to be on the floor if UConn is going to continue to win basketball games.
2. UConn was 19-20 (95%) from the free throw line. Games are won and lost at the FT line. ND was 4 of 8.

Spot on! Only one foul while being hyperactive on defense, making steals, contending for rebounds (and getting them) against taller opponents, and fronting a preseason All-American center. Then making two foul shots after being guillotined. Remarkable!

 

[JordyG]

Reading other teams' boards it appears that every team is going to improve by leaps and bounds by the end of the year making a rematch with UConn much easier. UConn apparently has reached its ceiling for the year, and what you see is what you will get in March because even with the game's best coach when it comes to developing players, this year's team, despite it only being December, has officially peaked. Even with Geno at the helm, UConn never gets better between early December and the NCAA tournament - only other teams do.

As I told one poster, if you think UConn's ladies won't develop a better 1/2 court offense; if you think we won't get any better offensive contribution from the backcourt; if you think UConn's defense by forwards and guards alike won't improve, then I defer to your rose colored glasses. Let's just lock this team in amber from now until Dallas while we watch every other team in WCBB improve.

 

[BigBird]

Did anyone else notice that Kat Westbeld had another ineffective outing versus UConn? I've only seen her play a few times, most often against the Huskies. But she never quite seems to bring it against our kids. She had seven turnovers, the most for any player on either team. And there were several poor plays or moves that didn't show in the scorebook. She looked disconsolate after being taken out by MM late. Later, McGraw ripped her wings (?) for not being able or willing to feed the post. After rewatching the game a few more times, I could see why MM was so upset. I'd guess, as I cannot prove, that Westbeld is a good athlete and a hard worker, etc. But she was certainly not at her best versus UConn...again.

 

[BigBird]

Agree. Surprised there were not more negative comments about refs. A lot of "phantom" calls.

Is it just me, or does Dee Kantner make a fair number of "notice me" calls? And if the refs at ND were a little "off," was is more because of what they didn't call as much as what they did? I always expect ND to get a lot of home cooking, but not so sure that they did this time. Other views?

 

[UcMiami]

Is it just me, or does Dee Kantner make a fair number of "notice me" calls? And if the refs at ND were a little "off," was is more because of what they didn't call as much as what they did? I always expect ND to get a lot of home cooking, but not so sure that they did this time. Other views?

I thought they treated the start of the game as if they were afraid it would become the Louisville/Baylor game and they wanted to stop it before it got started. ND and Uconn don't tend to get out of hand in that way, so I thought it was overkill.
But I didn't think they were 'bad' just a little touchy while at the same time not calling freedom of movement or low post banging. Just a little odd. Not a lot of bad missed calls and not a lot of phantom calls.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

How about two UConn players taking hard shots above the shoulder, and the officials make no call. Chong took an elbow to the chin, which is a TEXTBOOK Flagrant 1; no call. The official stops play to get her some attention, which is a nice gesture, yet she is on the other end of the court, 100% out of the play, and there is no sign of significant injury; COMPLETELY outside the scope of regulation officiating.

The Gabby takes a forearm to the throat...no review. Just a plain ol' foul.

I'd like to hear an explanation for both of those plays. Won't get one, but boy, would I like to hear one.

HardHatGuy#2- - - the refs are incompetent and have no clue they missed those 2 calls!