Our Sights are on Number 12

[Conndog]

To your point I have noticed that some of the top teams, in particular, ND & USC, under pressure, get away from their team game, ignore the coach and go ISO with their best player(s), which quickly proves to be self destructive. These teams are unbalanced in that they rely on a singular special player, which can be defended. The other top teams, such as TX and UCLA rely on height and post scoring and play more of a half court offense than a transition style which can be more difficult to manage as we do not see that very often in the BE. That leaves SC as being the outlier as they play true team baskeball, but are vulnerable this year from a lack of height and offensive rebounding as noted in their loss at us in Columbia.

Both ND and USC’s top players (Hidalgo, Watkins) make a living at driving to basket and hurling themselves against defender to draw fouls. If refs allow that to happen and reward them, so much the better for their team’s chances. Maintaining defensive position isn’t easy against them, but they do favor one side when driving- have to overplay them to some extent to deny that lane. UConn is playing great basketball on both sides of the ball. I’m intrigued by Ice’s return- she is one more big who may be very effective in the tourney. She looked quicker than I remember- certainly she’s in best shape and conditioning that I can recall. UConn is really deep this year, all healthy and hungry!

 

[Bone Dog]

Maintaining defensive position isn’t easy against them, but they do favor one side when driving- have to overplay them to some extent to deny that lane

so true. I think UConn did a good job denying Hannah her dominant hand, and the result was that almost all of her points in that game came from the perimeter. She was on fire from 3 that game, so all that good defensive work went for nought. I'd say it was an important bit of work she and Miles did over the summer working on their perimeter shooting, and good coaching from Niele.

Juju is the same way -- very much prefers her right hand, and last season UConn contained her by cutting off the right. She still got her points, but didn't take over that game. Same thing in the second half of this season's defeat. But Juju also deserves credit for working on her perimeter game and also practicing with her left all summer. By next season, it may be that no scout will find a way to contain her.