Oregon Postgame Thread

[oldude]

Some thoughts on the Oregon game:

• I’ll start with the good. Crystal continues to play brilliantly. She is no Sabrina Ionescu, but she’s probably the next best thing. Liv showed some toughness against her PanAm game teammate and Anna continues to demonstrate poise under pressure.
• I know a lot of folks like to talk about Oregon’s outstanding offense, but the Duck’s team defense has improved dramatically. Moore in particular is a tremendous defender. UConn really struggled to get open looks against the Ducks.
• As for the Duck’s offense, they share the ball, kill you with the pick & roll, crash the boards and they can all shoot it. Not quite sure how they lost two games this year.
• In his pregame comments Geno talked about the blowout win vs Oregon in the Elite 8 three years ago when he said UConn’s experience was just too much for Oregon. He then suggested that perhaps the roles were reversed this year. Geno got that one right. Oregon has 20 years of college experience in the starting lineup and their execution is beautiful, not unlike that UConn team that beat Oregon by 38 three years ago.
• UConn lost to a much better team tonight. I know there will be a tendency by some to cast blame. I urge BY’ers to resist that urge and understand that this UConn team has a much tougher road to travel than any UConn team we’ve seen in the last 12 years or so.

 

[JordyG]

I'm an old Brooklyn boy. Wait'll next year...and I can't wait. Now there's a debt owed.

 

[veryolddog]

I saw what I saw. Oregon plays like UConn use to play. Great team! UConn needs to really learn from this loss, but it may be too late in the season. AAC is not going to challenge this team but it may provide an area where they can really practice. Who the hell knows at this point.

 

[JordyG]

I saw what I saw. Oregon plays like UConn use to play. Great team! UConn needs to really learn from this loss, but it may be too late in the season. AAC is not going to challenge this team but it may provide an area where they can really practice. Who the hell knows at this point.

Frankly again, I thought UConn played UConn ball just as much as Oregon. That wasn't the question. They just aren't talented enough to beat this team. Give them credit but give Kelly credit for his recruiting.

 

[ochoopsfan]

It was all uphill after the 2-0 lead.

Oregon is a much better team, right now, than UConn

 

[JordyG]

It was all uphill after the 2-0 lead.

Oregon is a much better team, right now, than UConn

Bottom line.

 

[Lorcan]

It's remarkable when you consider that the Ducks have won by shocking scores in both Maples Pavilion and on the Huskies home court by significant margins. I don't know how many players can say that they've beaten Stanford and UConn on their home floors by double digits. This is a very good Oregon squad that comes to play the big games and has letdowns against teams it shouldn't.

Minyon Moore was fantastic tonight for Oregon when she needed to be -- especially on defense.

 

[mhshuskies]

Ouch

 

[Wbbfan1]

If Megan has a normal shooting day, the game is considerably closer. She had wide open looks that she just plain Missed. Especially her three point looks. Still think UConn would have lost as Oregon's starting Five is significantly better then UConn's. For this team to beat Oregon they have to shoot better then 50%, get to the free throw line and MAKE Them. Then Oregon has to have a poor shooting day.

Don't know how many weeks UConn has been in the Top 5, but they will definitely be lower then 5 in next weeks rankings.

 

[cbraarj]

Megan and Williams didn't show up for Baylor, Tennessee and now Oregon!

 

[eebmg]

This is what happens when 2 of your top 3 players have poor games. Maybe the flu was a real issue with CW but not sure what happened with Meg. And having Kyla start is just not reasonable anymore.

 

[HopJim]

A few thoughts:
-Believe we can beat the Ducks with a different offense and at least a few players making shots.
-Anna wide open numerous times and not getting ball. What's up?
-Geno totally out coached. Don't care how many championships he has won, keeping Griffin in game when she was getting abused at both ends tough to see.
-While I remain a big Griffin fan, she was exposed tonight. Against another athletic player, she showed no offense. When she got ball, defense backed up. Tough to watch.
-Would suggest we develop a Plan B offense to use against the tough defensive teams. Counting on making 3's every game not looking like the answer against teams like Oregon.

 

[hoopsfan22]

This is what happens when 2 of your top 3 players have poor games. Maybe the flu was a real issue with CW but not sure what happened with Meg. And having Kyla start is just not reasonable anymore.

I said this in the chat. I understand that it's mostly symbolic and she's replaced with Anna at the first stoppage, but we were down 8 in the first three minutes.

 

[CTisballers]

Megan and Williams didn't show up for Baylor, Tennessee and now Oregon!

I was saying the same thing in my head. When will Meg and Williams have better games against better teams. This can’t be UConn Basketball getting blown out and outplayed

 

[msf22b]

Oregon was able to play man to man and not double in the paint...they are resolute defenders.
As a result it was very difficult for us to get easy open looks.

The only way we were going to win this game was for our main scorers to all perform well.
Obviously didn't happen.

I'm still interested to see the team when it does. They'll be a difficult out.

 

[Blueballer]

Fair weather fans really make me sick. We seem to have acquired a large number of them over the years. The chat room is pathetic.

 

[cferraro04]

I will say this...I am disappointed in how our stars played tonight...Chrystal and Anna aside. If we shoot 6-7 from the free throw line you add four to the score making it 60....I mean...how good is Oregon's free throw defense that we go 2-7. Add in Walker going 3-16...if Walker goes 8 for 16...you can add 10 more making it 70. If two of them are 3s then it is 72. If Williams goes 4-9 instead of 2-9 add four more points...and we are at 76...a whole different game. You got to hand it to Oregon...they did what they had to do by holding UConn to 56... Oregon also asserted themselves on the offensive end... So, maybe it is unrealistic for my scenario above...however, on the other hand, if we assert our will and we must if we are going to go deep into the Tournament in March then we could turn this loss into a win.

 

[Blueballer]

Megan and Williams didn't show up for Baylor, Tennessee and now Oregon!

Maybe you missed it but CW has had the flu and was getting IV fluids through this morning.

 

[ocoandasoc]

It was great to see a team at Gampel playing Geno's offense and executing it perfectly.

Too bad they were wearing green and yellow.

 

[Husky fanatic]

One more stern test next Monday with what I expect will be the same results as this one. Perhaps in the future games we should establish a Bricklayers award as well as a Bad Ass award. Seems as though we have some one throwing up bricks each game. We will need to have all 5 contributing to the scoring effort if we are to go far. Kudos to Crystal and Anna for their contributions. Aubrey nice defense on Sabrina but if you're going to create turnovers do something with them.

 

[Geesworld]

Oregon and Baylor are bad match ups for UCONN. Two much height against our small lineup. Love Crystal, but she is to small on defensive end and her ball pressure isn't the same as in years past. Would love to see MW and CW step up intensity on the defensive end. They seem very lazy on that end.

 

[Littlemin]

Not much to say, Oregon is just a much better team. One comment though, IMO, Uconn has individual talent but little chemistry. This is no knock but this game reinforced my belief they should move Dangerfield off the ball, NOT because she is not a good point guard but because she really is their only player who can create her own shot.

 

[Rb335]

They just look so scared at the beginning of big games. It’s puzzling. I think that Irwin should not be starting in place of Makurat, who has become one of our most poised players. Even though it is just a few minutes, and she is only 1 of 5 players starting, I think starting our best five limits the possibility of these consistent slow starts. At one point we played Oregon pretty close to even for a 20-25 minute stretch. It makes me wonder if we didn’t spot them 10 points in the first quarter, would we play with more confidence and give ourselves a chance?

At the end of the day, our two best offensive players need to step up in big games. It’s very likely that CW wasn’t fully healthy, but she and Megan will need to figure it out by March. That’s something no team can realistically overcome.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Even though it was the dagger through the heart of Stanford's likelihood of winning the PAC-12 this year, I was really happy when Moore announced her transfer to Oregon. She was the best part of her U$C team last year, but because she has never been a particularly prolific scorer, she really flew under the national radar and didn't get the attention I thought she deserved. Nevertheless, I think she's one of the premiere defenders in the country, and she gives it 100% 100% of the time on the floor.

UConn has (at least) two major problems this year vs. the golden eras:

1. No consistently reliable "take over the game" player. The Lobo, DT, Charles, Moore, and Stewwie eras all had that player you know would almost always reliably show up and take over. Win by committee leaves much more to chance, and that's been this year's team. CD was it tonight, but she's disappeared in other games. Walker has been it some times, but she was a shadow of her best self tonight. Williams, quite frankly, has never recaptured her magic against Notre Dame last year. UConn could really use that player who everyone knows they can count on - that builds infectious confidence for everyone else.

2. Insufficient post presence. ONO is growing and getting better. Aubrey has flashes of brilliance, especially her nose for the ball on rebounds. But this team just doesn't have the right combo of size, strength, and experience inside - Hebard killed on the glass, and UConn spotted Oregon 8 rebounds.

 

[victor64]

When Megan has poor shooting nights against Baylor, Tennessee and Oregon, she is no longer having off-nights. Because she is told not to stop shooting, it is now a cause for concern.

CW has struggled all year. Being sick tonight certainly didn't help.