JoePgh
Cranky pants and wise acre
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2011
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Recently, to distract myself from post-election news, I decided to watch the three games that UConn lost last year (to Baylor, Oregon, and South Carolina) in rapid succession. There was a noticeable similarity among the three games: UConn was competitive for 3 out of 4 quarters in each game, and really lost the game in one quarter -- the first quarter against Oregon and South Carolina, and the fourth quarter against Baylor. Really, against Baylor, UConn competed for 35 minutes, and was down by only 55-54 with about five and a half minutes left when they caved in completely.
My impression from the three games is that Baylor and South Carolina should have been single-digit games decided by a few points, possibly on the last possession. But Oregon seemed to me to be a different case, where UConn really was overmatched in talent and experience. I think if UConn had played a seven game series against either SC or Baylor, UConn probably would have lost the series in either seven or six games, but might well have been swept in a similar series against Oregon.
Oregon's skill and experience made me think of the 2016 UConn team with Stewie, Moriah, and Morgan Tuck. I think a case can be made that those two teams (UConn 2016 and Oregon 2019) were very similar, each having an uber-star (Stewie or Sabrina) and two other players who were more talented than anyone on most other teams, even Top 10 teams. They were even similar in their roles:
Sabally as the inside-outside forward similar to Stewie (but of course Stewie was far more skilled);
Sabrina Ionescu as the point guard, just like Moriah but bigger and better;
Ruthie Hebard in the Morgan Tuck role -- two players who were really quite comparable.
Oregon even had a KLS type of player in Erin Boley, whose several early 3's helped to establish a 10-point first quarter lead that basically decided the game.
Who would win if Oregon 2019 played a seven-game series against UConn 2016? I would love to see that series, and I think it could go either way. I would give the very slightest edge to UConn, but it would really be an even-money bet.
My impression from the three games is that Baylor and South Carolina should have been single-digit games decided by a few points, possibly on the last possession. But Oregon seemed to me to be a different case, where UConn really was overmatched in talent and experience. I think if UConn had played a seven game series against either SC or Baylor, UConn probably would have lost the series in either seven or six games, but might well have been swept in a similar series against Oregon.
Oregon's skill and experience made me think of the 2016 UConn team with Stewie, Moriah, and Morgan Tuck. I think a case can be made that those two teams (UConn 2016 and Oregon 2019) were very similar, each having an uber-star (Stewie or Sabrina) and two other players who were more talented than anyone on most other teams, even Top 10 teams. They were even similar in their roles:
Sabally as the inside-outside forward similar to Stewie (but of course Stewie was far more skilled);
Sabrina Ionescu as the point guard, just like Moriah but bigger and better;
Ruthie Hebard in the Morgan Tuck role -- two players who were really quite comparable.
Oregon even had a KLS type of player in Erin Boley, whose several early 3's helped to establish a 10-point first quarter lead that basically decided the game.
Who would win if Oregon 2019 played a seven-game series against UConn 2016? I would love to see that series, and I think it could go either way. I would give the very slightest edge to UConn, but it would really be an even-money bet.