Oregon Post Game Thread

[phil sampieri]

Nika is a wonderful “complementary” player. Reminds me of early Kelly Farris… who also couldn’t shoot. Nika’s not intended or capable of playing a significant offensive role. She fits perfectly with a team that includes Paige, Azzi, CW and the rest. The current group - unfortunately, not so much.

 

[TeamFirst!]

And it's an extremely dumb horse as well. The whole "play Piath and Amari" against Oregon when you have 4 better forwards available is so ill advised.

 

[Cuango]

With the team around her I'm not sure why anyone has a problem with Ducharme taking 20 shots. Who else is supposed to shoot with Williams, Fudd, and Bueckers out? In spite of her missed threes she was still 47% overall. That's much better than, say, Caitlin Clark, either of SC's guards, and equal to Louisville's best player Kianna Smith. That was the best thing to come out of the game, another example of why Ducharme is going to be great. Nelson-Ododa was terrific too considering she was all on her own inside. Had she played like that in the tourney last year UConn probably would've won the title.

Well said! That’s an astute and likely true observation.

 

[Alydar]

The team traveled over 2800+ miles by charter to play a basketball game, after which they'll immediately travel another 2800+ miles to return home. They only have 8 players available, yet coach plays only 6, leaving 2 on the bench.

This after losing the best player in the country, as she was still on the court with 30 seconds remaining in a blowout loss. After which a respected sports science MD offered fatigued hamstrings may have played a significant role.

The team is basically getting its doors blown off for the entire game, while the one sub logs 24 minutes, with no real impact, including a stunning travel on a wide open layup.

I'm confused. If not this game, when?!? Coaching malpractice for me.

PS With Ms. Ralph having moved on, who's coaching the guards?

Marcus Welby.

 

[lsj001]

The bigs are insignificant when you can't attack off the dribble or pass into the post. We are missing our three most talented guards. All three former 1 rated players coming out of high school.

 

[hoophuskee]

This game is meaningless as are all the losses other than NCAA seeding. UCONN is a badly wounded bear that’s lost its claws. A big time strength of this team was going to be their perimeter play with Paige, the hopes that Azzi would be near Paige or at least big-time outside threat, and CW’s slashing. Losing Paige is brutal. And not having Azzi being the threat she was has rocked CW’s slashing game.

Until the outside game is fixed (and it won’t be without Paige and to some extent Azzi), then this team is going to mightily struggle.

A secondary major problem is that when Azzi comes back, not only is she healthy enough to defend, but can they get her open enough? Geno pointed that out early in the year that he has to figure ways to get her open. Azzi hasn't played much in the past 2-3 years. And all this lack of playing time from the team / specific individuals crushes the team’s ability to work on this. Thus, putting the team in a deeper hole.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Yes I’ve seen every single game. Carolina shoots every time she gets the ball lol not complaining about that because she’s basically our only scorer besides CW. But she came in as a 3 point shooter and shooting well under .30%. And again I’m not upset just disappointed of how we playing far as defense, the effort isn’t UConn basketball at all.

Even after today's 1 for 8 for 3 pointers, Caroline's still shooting .316 for 3 point shooting. Again, people are complaining that she's rushing her shot but to a large degree, that is her shot. She practices getting it off quickly. I agree that when she has time she should slow it down some but notice she is the one player we have currently who has stepped up the most against top teams. 24 points against Louisville. 22 points against Oregon. Getting her shot off quickly is important against the top teams. If we can get players back I think this has the makings of a top 4 team still. We should have beaten Louisville, even with Paige out. We wouldn't normally shoot 3-18 against Oregon for 3 pointers. No CW, Paige or Azzi was a big factor.

 

[Slipperman]

starting to feel bad for the seniors as it's looking more and more like they will leave UConn without a single championship. what the h$*l has happened to the womens team the last 6 yrs? there was a time that their bench players could have been considered a top 10 team by themselves. not this group.

 

[oldude]

starting to feel bad for the seniors as it's looking more and more like they will leave UConn without a single championship. what the h$*l has happened to the womens team the last 6 yrs? there was a time that their bench players could have been considered a top 10 team by themselves. not this group.

It happened in 2020 with Crystal.

 

[Rb335]

Nika is a wonderful “complementary” player. Reminds me of early Kelly Farris… who also couldn’t shoot. Nika’s not intended or capable of playing a significant offensive role. She fits perfectly with a team that includes Paige, Azzi, CW and the rest. The current group - unfortunately, not so much.

While I understand the comparison, I think Kelly Faris is often not remembered accurately for her abilities. She improved her outside shot tremendously, from 27% as a freshman to 41% as a senior.

She shot 33.9% from 3 for her career, on 351 attempts. Was 44% from the field and 76% from the free throw line. Not to mention career averages of 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists to 1.8 TO, to go along with 7.2 ppg. Not the best shooter, but far from the worst.

Right now, Nika needs to find her offensive game. She shot better percentages last year, but still was only 38% from the floor. This year is way down from that. She's going to get a lot of minutes until we are at full strength, and we would benefit from her keeping defenses honest.

 

[Cuango]

But Coach has RAVED about Amari multiple times.
I haven’t seen her play enough to form an opinion.
So why the misrepresentation by Geno??
If what you say is true?

Potential! Most of the time hen a coach says things like that about a freshman he/she is referring to their potential.

 

[oldude]

While I understand the comparison, I think Kelly Faris is often not remembered accurately for her abilities. She improved her outside shot tremendously, from 27% as a freshman to 41% as a senior.

She shot 33.9% from 3 for her career, on 351 attempts. Was 44% from the field and 76% from the free throw line. Not to mention career averages of 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists to 1.8 TO, to go along with 7.2 ppg. Not the best shooter, but far from the worst.

Right now, Nika needs to find her offensive game. She shot better percentages last year, but still was only 38% from the floor. This year is way down from that. She's going to get a lot of minutes until we are at full strength, and we would benefit from her keeping defenses honest.

Oregon sat back on defense, basically giving UConn the 3-pt shot from the top of the key because they could. If Paige was running the offense against that Oregon defense she would of had 30.

Maybe a silver lining is that Nika did knock down her last 3 of the game.

 

[victor64]

Because you and many here can't handle the truth?
Truth: They are not good enough to be out there!

Coco, i agree with most of your stuff but you won't convince me that those two would have done any worse than Edwards.

 

[Alydar]

A friendly tip to all UConn WBB fans outside of the ESPN 97.9 radio broadcast market in Hartford. We can now listen to Bob Joyce’s pre and post-game show, as well as his call of the game. You can’t listen to his shows in line.

They substitute alternative programming for “on-line” listeners during the games. The varsity radio network carries the entire game from start to finish, and it’s free unlike Tune-in. With all due respect, I’d much rather listen to Bob and Debbi than Gary and Kara. Bob also features a portion of Geno‘s post game presser after every game, SNY does not. I’d rather hear Geno’s take on the game rather than Kara’s.

If SNY does not broadcast the game (like today), you get nothing. For those fans in other states, this is great news. I listened to Joyce’s post game show today and loved it.

It's on line if you use Apple or android products but there is no way to listen on my PC any more. The varsity network directs listeners to a download page that has 2 options, Apple or Android. That's rinkydink. Or did UConn get paid to exclude PC connections? This has been offered to PC users for decades and I like to listen to Joyce while watching the game, even if they were off by several seconds. Soon I expect to need a Facebook account to watch games.

 

[donalddoowop]

And it's an extremely dumb horse as well. The whole "play Piath and Amari" against Oregon when you have 4 better forwards available is so ill advised.

That does not hold water when those players are playing poorly, and you may need them later in the season. As far behind as UConn was, what would it have hurt?

 

[Conndog]

#15 prospect nationally Hoopgurls 2021
#3 at her position
6’5”
Geno RAVES about her “athleticism”.
Can’t get 1 minute midway through the season in a blowout on an injury riddled team?
Houston , we have a problem?
Poor scouting?
Poor coaching?
Zero development?
What gives?

Someone said to this we needed guards not bigs today, I disagree: for one, we didn't have other guards today, also another big complementing Liz could have gotten effective inside scoring and defense too, not to mention freed up Ono better. I'd like to at least have seen what would have happened if DeBerry of Piath were in today's game

 

[CocoHusky]

Even after today's 1 for 8 for 3 pointers, Caroline's still shooting .316 for 3 point shooting. Again, people are complaining that she's rushing her shot but to a large degree, that is her shot. She practices getting it off quickly.

Huge difference between having a quick release and rushing a shot. The John Wooden quote is applicable here: Be Quick - But Don't Hurry. Caroline has a very quick release. Tonight Caroline rushed some shots. Rushing a shot sometimes doesn't have anything to do with how fast you get the ball out of your hands it has more to do with the shot clock, how compromised the defense is, and correctly accessing the other options available to you. Caroline rushing a few shots tonight is the least of this teams problems- she might be the only one out there that actually wants to shoot the ball.

 

[Cuango]

The team traveled over 2800+ miles by charter to play a basketball game, after which they'll immediately travel another 2800+ miles to return home. They only have 8 players available, yet coach plays only 6, leaving 2 on the bench.

This after losing the best player in the country, as she was still on the court with 30 seconds remaining in a blowout loss. After which a respected sports science MD offered fatigued hamstrings may have played a significant role.

The team is basically getting its doors blown off for the entire game, while the one sub logs 24 minutes, with no real impact, including a stunning travel on a wide open layup.

I'm confused. If not this game, when?!? Coaching malpractice for me.

PS With Ms. Ralph having moved on, who's coaching the guards?

Shea deciding to move on has truly impacted us in a very bad way! I knew she would be hard to replace but I guess I may have underestimated just how bad the effect of her leaving would be!

 

[hoophuskee]

Question for those who believe UConn will rebound when everyone is back, who was injured for the South Carolina game, that would have made a difference? Saylor and Mir are both gone, and Griffin is out for the season.

Three games in 3 days make the game irrelevant. Other than BE Tourney no NCAA game will be played like that. Not one NCAA Tourney game is played like that.

And it appears Azzi was hurt, doesn't it? She stopped playing immediately after that game. As a UCONN fan you had to know that, didn't you?

So I'm puzzled why you made the post you did,

 

[hoophuskee]

Perhaps. Perhaps, Coach can now get through to Nika that constantly knocking down shots is not an option. It's a necessary requirement.

Her delusions of not need to because the team has great shooters could now be clearly demonstrated for her.

You have a quote from Nika or Geno saying that Nika feels she doesn't need to shoot well from the outside?

 

[Floridaduck]

Proud of Geno and UConn for making the trip and playing the game. I think we all would have preferred two healthy, full roster teams going at it in a prime time WBB spectacular. I thought ONO and Ducharme played very well. MKA is a tough venue for a visiting team anyway but with only one team healthy… it’s rough.

 

[CocoHusky]

Coco, i agree with most of your stuff but you won't convince me that those two would have done any worse than Edwards.

If that is your standard " worse than Edwards" then I'm not even going to waste any energy trying to convince you because you are using the incorrect standard. The proper UCONN WBB standard is and has always been for all players: Can they positively impact this game ? If those players are Amari and Piath and we are talking about the Oregon game this afternoon the answer was a resounding no. Notice that the answer to the question for Piath and Amari has nothing to do with AE and that Oregon is not Xavier.

 

[VA Huskie]

For UCONN fans this makes the Tennessee game extremely important if the Huskies want to nab a top 4 seed. Stranger things have happened, but I don't see UCONN beating South Carolina in 10 days, and I'm not sure a resume with best wins being South Florida/Notre Dame can contend for a top 4 seed.

Assuming that Paige comes back and is 80%+ of herself and Azzi comes back and contributes like we hope - I think the committee will look at our last 10 (or so) games with them as a key factor in seeding.

 

[CTisballers]

Even after today's 1 for 8 for 3 pointers, Caroline's still shooting .316 for 3 point shooting. Again, people are complaining that she's rushing her shot but to a large degree, that is her shot. She practices getting it off quickly. I agree that when she has time she should slow it down some but notice she is the one player we have currently who has stepped up the most against top teams. 24 points against Louisville. 22 points against Oregon. Getting her shot off quickly is important against the top teams. If we can get players back I think this has the makings of a top 4 team still. We should have beaten Louisville, even with Paige out. We wouldn't normally shoot 3-18 against Oregon for 3 pointers. No CW, Paige or Azzi was a big factor.

I agree when Paige and Azzi gets back alongside CW this team still has a chance to win it all and they will. Paige being back will open up so Carolina will shoot better once she can set her feet and have a little more time and having Azzi on the court will also be a major factor. Ima a fan weather they win or lose just hate hearing the haters on Twitter when we do lose

 

[shiverz45]

For UCONN fans this makes the Tennessee game extremely important if the Huskies want to nab a top 4 seed. Stranger things have happened, but I don't see UCONN beating South Carolina in 10 days, and I'm not sure a resume with best wins being South Florida/Notre Dame can contend for a top 4 seed.

I hope you are right. SC is winning games, but they are not playing their best basketball.