Instead of commenting on each game, my view is that one needs to see the team over several games to begin to get a good perspective on the plusses and minuses. The first four games were all against teams that are superior to those of the average BE squad - SEC (Arkansas, South Carolina) Big Ten (Minnesota), the best team in the AAC (South Florida), and with South Carolina ranked no. 1
Thought team played o.k. for a first game of season against Arkansas, although the Huskies had extreme difficulty against the Razorbacks quickness. Decent, but not impressive, win against Minnesota even though the margin was 30 points, but the Huskies disappointed in just a 7 point win over South Florida.
Conclusions based upon 3 games - Paige Bueckers is the best player on the floor at all times, whether or not she is scoring a lot or not, but she has not gotten on track yet from long range. She has played 40 minutes in game one and 38 in three, hardly a reflection of a deep bench. Christyn Williams has played well for two of three games and Azzi Fudd had her coming out party against South Florida. Evina Westbrook also looked good in 2 of 3 matches. The bigs have been unimpressive and Aaliyah Edwards had no points in game three. She has looked out of sorts for the first three games, so perhaps she would profit by coming off the bench. Nika Mühl has not gotten untracked and played only 3 minutes against South Florida. Except for Fudd in game 3, the bench has done little. The team has not defended well against 3-point shooting and looks too enamored with throwing up long range shots. What was a 6 player rotation last year has only marginally improved to 7 thus far.
Based upon team play in first three games I thought that South Carolina would defeat UConn by score of around 72-67 and it would be that close because the Huskies normally get up for big games.
Well. it was far worse than I anticipated and, as others have pointed, UConn has no effective inside game. Its bigs were totally outclassed by South Carolina’s. One statistic tells it all, South Carolina 19 offensive rebounds and UConn just 6. They won the game on defense and second chance points. UConn was just 3-8 from 3-point range and Fudd never got off a shot from long range in her 10 minutes. Almost as importantly, the team looked like Paige Buckets and the four dwarfs, although Evina Westbrook also played well.
Back to the drawing board.
Thought team played o.k. for a first game of season against Arkansas, although the Huskies had extreme difficulty against the Razorbacks quickness. Decent, but not impressive, win against Minnesota even though the margin was 30 points, but the Huskies disappointed in just a 7 point win over South Florida.
Conclusions based upon 3 games - Paige Bueckers is the best player on the floor at all times, whether or not she is scoring a lot or not, but she has not gotten on track yet from long range. She has played 40 minutes in game one and 38 in three, hardly a reflection of a deep bench. Christyn Williams has played well for two of three games and Azzi Fudd had her coming out party against South Florida. Evina Westbrook also looked good in 2 of 3 matches. The bigs have been unimpressive and Aaliyah Edwards had no points in game three. She has looked out of sorts for the first three games, so perhaps she would profit by coming off the bench. Nika Mühl has not gotten untracked and played only 3 minutes against South Florida. Except for Fudd in game 3, the bench has done little. The team has not defended well against 3-point shooting and looks too enamored with throwing up long range shots. What was a 6 player rotation last year has only marginally improved to 7 thus far.
Based upon team play in first three games I thought that South Carolina would defeat UConn by score of around 72-67 and it would be that close because the Huskies normally get up for big games.
Well. it was far worse than I anticipated and, as others have pointed, UConn has no effective inside game. Its bigs were totally outclassed by South Carolina’s. One statistic tells it all, South Carolina 19 offensive rebounds and UConn just 6. They won the game on defense and second chance points. UConn was just 3-8 from 3-point range and Fudd never got off a shot from long range in her 10 minutes. Almost as importantly, the team looked like Paige Buckets and the four dwarfs, although Evina Westbrook also played well.
Back to the drawing board.