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Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 3375806, member: 26"] I was not able to watch the game so had to tape it. A couple of thoughts... The first half did not bother me, perhaps in part because I knew the final score. We were up 15-4 in the 1st Q until a pair of quick 3-pointers by Oklahoma closed out the half. We held them scoreless for the last 4 minutes or so of the 2nd Q and got the lead up to 13 at the half. Some of the TO's in the 1st Q were unforced, but we ended up with 13 for the game. Not terrible. This season so far, UCONN has generally come out strong in the first half, and coasted in the 2nd half. Not so this game. the 2nd half explosion was fantastic. Keep in mind that even tho the lead at half time was "only" 13, Oklahoma scored 21 points, and for a team who averages over 80, that was some good defense. From my vantage point, for the most part, the defense was more active. Getting out on shooters, fighting hard thru screens, good recovery and help defense - at this point we are really only about 1/3 of the way thru the season given our first game was Nov 10 and we've only played 10 games so far. Heck, we have 11 coming up in January. At this point of the season, I'm way happy with the team with one exception - Christyn Williams. Crystal was totally solid this game. 19 points, 6 assists, 1 TO, 2 steals - seems her hip issue is behind her and she's focused and 100% healthy. I LOVE the ball in her hands, and in this particular game, even tho she hit some deep 3-pointers, it was not within the first 5 seconds of the offense (ie. dribble down, stand outside the 3 point line and jack up a shot without a single pass). Megan not only deserves 1st team AA, she's been the best player in America to start the season. 17 points, 15 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals - NO ONE is playing better than her. Not saying she will win any NPOY awards, but she's worthy of being heavily considered for that honor. LOVE how she's enhanced her game from year 1. Olivia - the sophomore leap for her has been awesome. I think for her, playing some overseas ball was great but getting back to UCONN and spending the rest of the summer working on her strength and her game was even better for her. I realize Oklahoma was overmatched by her size, but this was one of the first games I saw her get the ball, and her first instinct was to go TO the basket, not fade away. The only time she faded away was when she was double teamed and could not get thru the defense. Not sure what her ceiling is, but boy was she fun to watch yesterday. Career game for her and so proud of her. Aubrey Griffin - if ever a kid was making a case for more minutes, she's the one. Her game against DePaul was forgettable, she was OK against ND, but against Seton Hall and now Oklahoma, she was terrific. I realize she needs to show she can do it against better competition, but her progression as a freshman has been terrific and fun to watch. She has HUGE upside. The great thing to see about her is that her defense is on par with her athleticism and her ability to get a steal, go coast to coast and score, even if getting bumped, is really impressive. As she develops a mid-range and long-range shot, she will enter the realm of special. Anna is so solid. Sure I'd love to see her score more, and in this game she had no assists, but I REALLY like her game. NOT flashy at all, just solid in every aspect, and she's competent on defense. Makes up for her "slower" foot speed with good instincts and high BBlQ. Molly and Kyla continue to contribute solid minutes and play. So happy for them. They are obviously benefiting from Westbrook being unable to play this year - and deserving of every minute they play. Which brings me to Christyn. She's putting up decent numbers this year, but not at all what I was expecting given where she left off last season, and the sophomore leap I thought she'd have. I don't want to say she's regressed, but for a team that lost Pheesa and Lou, I thought she'd be in the discussion for the best player on the team and in the running for making an AA team. Sure she's the 2nd leading scorer on the team, but she disappears for such loan stretches in games that it's almost surprising when she does something fantastic, which she still does do. Bottom line - some big games left this year, but given who we lost, and who we don't have, this tea has been really good and fun to watch. I know next year starts the next dynasty of UCONN teams being bad for women's basketball, but this team is no slouch... And YES we are totally deserving to be #1 at this time. Are we the best team in the country? Probably not. But as for rankings, we deserve #1. This team has worked their butts off and I'm very proud of them so far... [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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