Notre Dame Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Notre Dame Postgame Thread

To all of us "couch coaches" who think we are smarter than Geno, we must give him kudos for inserting Jana El-Alfy at the perfect time.
Not exactly the elevator screen call, but it helped decide the outcome.
 
HuskyNan said:
  1. Jana is a great rebounder but not great at moving her feet on defense
  2. It’s not like they aren’t trying
  3. Geno isn’t going to change his lineup in the 39th game of the season
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I think Blanca should start in place of Serah W. and use Serah as a 1st/2nd off bench. What I like about Jana is that she displays on her face and actions that she will do whatever it takes to win. Too me she has determination even if she has short comings.
 
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I thought Ziebel helped open the floor when she was in the game vs Serah or Shade. Jana also came up with some huge minutes in Q3. I thought ND had a great defensive game plan to force Azzi left at all costs and double Strong. It worked for a while and thankfully Blanca was up to the challenge. Teams will force players outside of Strong/Fudd to win the upcoming games, so Blanca and Shade need to be offensive threats. Thus far it’s just been Blanca.

Here’s to hoping the rims are a bit kinder in PHX. Congrats on another FF, it’s a gift to watch this team every year.
 
A win is a win. Goose egg from Ash and only 2 a piece for Serah and Kk. I think they need to do better than that in offense to get through the next two games. Not to take anything away from their defense, which is great.

Slow night from Azzi overall. No 3’s. Her and Sarah had two players on them almost always.

Blanca. Holy smokes is she good. Thank God. It was a difference maker today.

K9 was awesome. Allie was good too. Allie is scared to death to shoot it seems. Not sure what’s up. Moment too big for her maybe. She needs to snap out of it quick.

Good game overall against a feisty ND. HH made Marina Mabrey and LeBron James proud tonight. Lots of flip flop flaps. ND got away with WAY more aggressiveness than UConn did. It was glaring at times. It is what it is.

On to the Final 4!
 
Considering how little Notre Dame has to work with in terms of players, I’m pretty surprised that they got as far as they did. Obviously, Hannah Hidalgo has been carrying the team (much like Taurasi did after Bird and company graduated). As much as I don’t like Hannah, I am pretty darn impressed of what she has accomplished.
 
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In a game where Azzi had an uncharacteristic 5 turnovers and shot 5-12 and where ND's defense held down Sarah in the first half, it was Blanca who had a fearless 20 points to go with 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Our bench had a combined 32 of the team's 70 points or almost 50%. If Blanca is the X factor than K9, Allie, and Jana made it the X-Y-Z-J factor and what separates us from every other team. It was a real grinder though in every respect as most Elite 8 games are (last year's game against a JuJuless USC was our closest game in the tourney).

I truly believe the overinflated balls and ridiculously tight new rims are reprehensible. The poor shooting in the region was an absolute byproduct of that sure fire way of making the game less offensive. It just shows that the people making the decisions in the NCAA know nothing about women's basketball. Given the crowds and paid attendance, this whole Super Regional tangent has also been a predictable disaster. It was designed to save and/or make money and sounds like it did neither.

Geno had Sarah bringing the ball up in the 4th quarter so HH wasn't near it in addition to putting KK in the corner. Putting Jana in was also a great move. She made 2 big buckets and had 4 offensive rebounds and played with intensity. We needed it.

Anyway, survive and advance. We need to get our rhythm back and just play loose. Credit ND for a very sound defensive plan. Turns out leaving Blanca open from the arc was a big gamble that did not go well for them. When a team can win ugly, you know it is a very good team.
 
I thought Geno made a great second half adjustment. He had Blanca or Sarah bring the ball up the court to keep it away from Hidalgo, who was very disruptive on defense, and to put the ball in their hands to initiate the offense. That’s why the offense looked better in the second half.

And that’s why he’s the G.O.A.T.
 
cleobel60 said:
I think Blanca should start in place of Serah W. and use Serah as a 1st/2nd off bench. What I like about Jana is that she displays on her face and actions that she will do whatever it takes to win. Too me she has determination even if she has short comings.
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Deep breaths. Never seen an undefeated team change lineup unless there is a totally different situation. Love Blanca off the bench. It always works.
 
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Some random thoughts as I'm still hyperventilating.

  • The regional final is indeed the hardest game to win
  • When did we start using other players to bring the ball up? Second half? Masterful. Glad that Geno made that adjustment
  • Saw glimpses of Sarah getting mad. Gotta see more of that
  • Blanca played so loose and carefree, thankfully she might not truly understand the pressure of getting to the final four
  • Re @HuskyNan comment that “Geno isn’t going to change his lineup in the 39th game of the season” - it would be like when my daughter’s HS soccer coach going with the same lineup for the entire conference season, and then in first round of states, he’d change it up. They never made it out of the 1st round the 3 years she played. So there’s that.
  • Blanca shouldn’t start - having her and K9 first off the bench throws the other team’s first subs off. Geno LOVES having those sparks off the bench to add another layer
  • (on edit) Jana's seven minutes were SO impactful
 
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25th Final Four!!!!!!!! Amazing. 38 - 0 for the season.

It was a dog fight that I expected. ND came in hot and believed they had a good chance of an upset.

Blanca had other ideas. She was amazing. ND had no one who could defend her. Nobody yet has shown they can really defend her.

Sarah and Azzi consistently battled in the game. Didn't give in and finally broke it open.

Kudos to Jana. Really important minutes in the 3rd quarter. Kayliegh was so good both defensively and offensively.
 
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joea said:
Once again UConn shows that the only team that can beat UConn, is UConn. Is the basket smaller?
Defense travels.
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In a way. The baskets were brand new with brand new rims and. brand new overinflated balls according to Geno.
 
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