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Observations / what we learned

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  • We have found our All-American and her name is Bria Hartley. 2nd team at least.
  • I thought Dolson had a terrible night. Though one of Voepel's tweets said "Stats won't adequately explain how much Stefanie Dolson has contributed to this game for UConn." So maybe she did things I didn't see.
  • Buck had a superb first half. Ok in second. But now she's gotta build on it.
  • All the talk this summer of UConn's supposed "deep team" has been disproved. Deeper than last year, but that's not sayig much, and still just 7 deep.
  • Once again KML came in and saved a stagnant offense in the first half. She really gets the team going.
  • Doty did not have a good game. Too athletic for her?
  • Faris yet another workman like performance. And kudos from Gundy.
  • Solidifies UConn's standing as among the top 2 or 3.
 

msf22b

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Stef is still a work in progress, she's going to get much better. Its common knowledge that the big girls take more time.
She did some wonderful passing in the 2nd half. At the end Baylor just played better.

Speaking about D, the Baylor kids played tough when it counted.

Buck now has had two decent games against Griner, who else can say that? She's an improving player and is earning playing time. i'm sorry she didn't see more action in the 2nd half
 
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  • We have found our All-American and her name is Bria Hartley. 2nd team at least.
  • I thought Dolson had a terrible night. Though one of Voepel's tweets said "Stats won't adequately explain how much Stefanie Dolson has contributed to this game for UConn." So maybe she did things I didn't see.
  • Buck had a superb first half. Ok in second. But now she's gotta build on it.
  • All the talk this summer of UConn's supposed "deep team" has been disproved. Deeper than last year, but that's not sayig much, and still just 7 deep.
  • Once again KML came in and saved a stagnant offense in the first half. She really gets the team going.
  • Doty did not have a good game. Too athletic for her?
  • Faris yet another workman like performance. And kudos from Gundy.
  • Solidifies UConn's standing as among the top 2 or 3.

KLM should start instead of Doty. Why start the game off in the hole with your top shooter on the bench. Doty took no shots, had no assists, and 1 rebound.
  • We have found our All-American and her name is Bria Hartley. 2nd team at least.
  • I thought Dolson had a terrible night. Though one of Voepel's tweets said "Stats won't adequately explain how much Stefanie Dolson has contributed to this game for UConn." So maybe she did things I didn't see.
  • Buck had a superb first half. Ok in second. But now she's gotta build on it.
  • All the talk this summer of UConn's supposed "deep team" has been disproved. Deeper than last year, but that's not sayig much, and still just 7 deep.
  • Once again KML came in and saved a stagnant offense in the first half. She really gets the team going.
  • Doty did not have a good game. Too athletic for her?
  • Faris yet another workman like performance. And kudos from Gundy.
  • Solidifies UConn's standing as among the top 2 or 3.
 

Kait14

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  • We have found our All-American and her name is Bria Hartley. 2nd team at least.
  • I thought Dolson had a terrible night. Though one of Voepel's tweets said "Stats won't adequately explain how much Stefanie Dolson has contributed to this game for UConn." So maybe she did things I didn't see.
  • Buck had a superb first half. Ok in second. But now she's gotta build on it.
  • All the talk this summer of UConn's supposed "deep team" has been disproved. Deeper than last year, but that's not sayig much, and still just 7 deep.
  • Once again KML came in and saved a stagnant offense in the first half. She really gets the team going.
  • Doty did not have a good game. Too athletic for her?
  • Faris yet another workman like performance. And kudos from Gundy.
  • Solidifies UConn's standing as among the top 2 or 3.

Doty didn't show up, period
 

UConnCat

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CD addressed the depth on post game. She said they need to be able to go deeper but the players on the bench haven't shown the required intensity in practice. I took that to mean Banks and Stokes. She mentioned Sims' intensity as an example.

CD seemed most disappointed with the missed opportunity to win the game on the road. She said there was a spurt in the 2nd half when the team took a step back and made some bad decisions with the ball (taking the ball to the basket against Griner). She said the key question now is whether the team will be better come Jan 18th.
 
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KLM should start instead of Doty. Why start the game off in the hole with your top shooter on the bench. Doty took no shots, had no assists, and 1 rebound.

cuz Geno likes bringing some fire off the bench? same complaint, different year :(
 

UConnCat

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cuz Geno likes bringing some fire off the bench? same complaint, different year :(

Exactly. KML enters the game and doesn't leave. If she started, she'd probably need to get a breather in both halves anyway. She's gets her breather at the start of both halves.
 
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Dolsen had no idea how to stop Griner, Heather on the other hand was far more effective in the role of stopping Griner. Geno should have left Heather on the court far longer than he did, Kelly plays great as usual but is ineffective as to scoring when it is needed the most, much like last year, Tiff is a role player did well but not what I would like to see out of a senior who is supposed to be a big scoring threat. Luckily its early in the season and the next time we see Baylor Geno may think twice about Pulling Heather when she is doing so well, I guess he still dislike having her on the court even when she is out performing the starting center.
 

alexrgct

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1. This was the first showcase for WCBB that really did the sport justice this season.
2. There are no moral victories. That doesn’t mean you can’t build on a loss (and in UConn’s case, there is a lot to build on from tonight), but every loss stings. I can promise you, no one on UConn’s side of things is saying, “Yay, we hung with the #1 team better than anyone else has!”
3. Baylor is the first team UConn has faced that is as well-conditioned as they are. UConn got outhustled at the end of the game by kids who had played as many minutes as they had. Maybe the homecourt helped Baylor there, but still, I am not confident that conditioning will be an advantage for UConn in Round 2 if there is one.
4. The positives UConn can take from the game:
a. This team is tough as nails defensively. I thought Baylor would score 75 points. Holding them to 66 at home when you had to foul at the end is really impressive.
b. Heather Buck can be relied upon to play quality minutes. Period.
c. Tiff played some really good ball tonight. She’s settled into her role, and that’s as a high-energy, tough player who’s a pain in the butt to deal with, even if she’s not the team’s alpha.
d. Bria was up to the challenge.
e. Caroline was a complete no-show…and UConn still only lost by five. I have a hard time believing she will be so invisible in a second game.
f. KML didn’t look phased playing in a hostile environment.
g. Kelly continues to be the second-best defensive player in the country.
h. No other teams have Brittney Griner.
5. UConn will remain #2 in the polls, for what it’s worth. Which is not much at this juncture.
6. I feel pretty good about UConn’s matchups with Notre Dame. We seem destined for a three-game series at least, but I think we match up very well with them. Wouldn’t be shocked if we drop a game to them, especially in South Bend, but we seem to be stronger defensively and a little deeper in the post in the event of foul trouble.
7. Odyssey Sims was the second-best player on the floor by game’s end (in stretches in the middle, Bria and KML were better, but not by game’s end). UConn cannot beat Baylor if Baylor has the two best players at the business end of games.
8. UConn learned about itself tonight. What it learned was that it was not quite good enough to beat Baylor on the road. Usually, that’s the kind of lesson UConn teaches other teams. The Huskies responded well after the Stanford loss last year, and that was a worse loss than this one. Let’s hope for the same kind of result now.
9. Once again, 10 of 11 of these girls return next year, on top of an incredible recruiting class! But this year is not one to concede, either.
 

msf22b

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In both halfs, there were segments in which one of the teams completely outplayed the other. Heather was on for at least one of those segments but Steff was on one for the 2nd half with excellent high post play and crisp passing.
I have some questions about Heather's lack of play in crunch time but won't go nearly as far as Cafe P in his/her roundhouse at the caching staff. I think its clear Heather will get her minutes.She's earned them.
 

DaddyChoc

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CD addressed the depth on post game. She said they need to be able to go deeper but the players on the bench haven't shown the required intensity in practice. I took that to mean Banks and Stokes. She mentioned Sims' intensity as an example.

CD seemed most disappointed with the missed opportunity to win the game on the road. She said there was a spurt in the 2nd half when the team took a step back and made some bad decisions with the ball (taking the ball to the basket against Griner). She said the key question now is whether the team will be better come Jan 18th.

some would say she's rough and dirty, never smiles blah blah blah... sort of like Angel.

CD wants these ladies to have fire in the belly... all that "playing nice" that some fans enjoy will take you only soooo far!
 

UConnCat

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some would say she's rough and dirty, never smiles blah blah blah... sort of like Angel.

CD wants these ladies to have fire in the belly... all that "playing nice" that some fans enjoy will take you only soooo far!

Playing nice? I have no idea what fans you're talking about, but the fans on this board what the team to play with intensity and win.
 
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Here are my take-aways:
The game was so exciting I didn't even notice what Mulkey was wearing.
The refs treated Uconn more than fairly.
Faris - her usual excellent game. She deserves AA status. Showed good judgement on offense when she kicked out on her drives instead of shooting. Everyone else kept going and had their shot blocked. When will people realize that just because you've driven past Griner that you are not safe to shoot the layup. The extra pass is the way to go while Griner is busy trying to block your non-shot.
Sims has the quickest hands on earth - but nowhere else.
Baylor is much better conditioned than I realized.
I though that at half time, we would start pulling away in the 2nd half. But, Baylor matched or bettered Uconn's intensity.
BU's defense was awesome. When does Uconn ever become a victim of shot clock violations or have to take the last second rush shot?
I'll never criticize Griner again. I'm now a believer.
Either team could have won it, but today the best team won.
A great game well played by both teams at a high level. The rematch should be awesome.
Heather made a number of exceptionally fine plays. Awesome game for her and its becoming consistently good. Bodes well for the rest of the season.
 
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Exactly. KML enters the game and doesn't leave. If she started, she'd probably need to get a breather in both halves anyway. She's gets her breather at the start of both halves.
Geno stated earlier in the year that KLM never gets tired.
 
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what we learned from baylor is that there nothing without brittney griner point blank no offense
 
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Geno stated earlier in the year that KLM never gets tired.

I think he's wrong. That's two big games now where she comes out on fire and than all of her shots get short.
 

alexrgct

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I think he's wrong. That's two big games now where she comes out on fire and than all of her shots get short.
Otherwise known as regression to the mean. No one is going to shoot 100%. Baylor also played her much tighter in the second half.
 

speedoo

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CD addressed the depth on post game. She said they need to be able to go deeper but the players on the bench haven't shown the required intensity in practice. I took that to mean Banks and Stokes. She mentioned Sims' intensity as an example.

CD seemed most disappointed with the missed opportunity to win the game on the road. She said there was a spurt in the 2nd half when the team took a step back and made some bad decisions with the ball (taking the ball to the basket against Griner). She said the key question now is whether the team will be better come Jan 18th.
Thanks for the recap. I hope the team is better by Jan. 7 for the game at ND, no doubt the toughest remaining regular season game.
 

blaqtech

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I enjoyed this game...
My thoughts....
1. We needed a center who can contribute on the offensive and defensive ends. This would have made a huge difference. We can't have the half and half play. Steph can't do it on defense(well not yet) against Griner. She looked a little to stiff and slow of foot still. She didn't play bad, but more was needed. I love that she was willing to take it to Griner on the offensive end. She gonna have to learn to draw fouls, but I love that she tried and her passing was good. Heather is good defensively. All that work against Tina is showing. I'm still confused about her offensive game, well lack there of.
2. When Griner goes to stop the player driving to the basket, the player she was guarding needs to be going towards the basket for the quick dish and lay in. No one that I can recall went to the basket to provide any type of option for the driving player.
3. Long stretches with very minimal scoring. That 21-6 stretch is what lost this game. We got to have a consistent 3rd scorer behind Bria and KML.
 

easttexastrash

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what we learned from baylor is that there nothing without brittney griner point blank no offense

Other than the 23 from Sims? That's not a bad sidekick.
 
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KML hit her first 6 shots then missed her last 6 shots.

she did something similar against Stanford. I think in big games her adrenaline gets going, but then half time slows her down...either that or she is actually getting tired..
 

cferraro04

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Without Griner Baylor is just ordinary. Sure Baylor has other players that can play...but, Griner puts them in the class they are in. Without Griner this team would not be a top 10 team.
 
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