Playing in the AAC hurts UConn in the postseason article

[Topsail]

New article front and center on ESPN about Uconn’s woes in the tournament due to weak league.

 

[John]

New article front and center on ESPN about Uconn’s woes in the tournament due to weak league.

ESPN are a bunch of buffoons, I wouldn't use their articles for a digital canary cage liner.

 

[UConnCat]

So did anybody see the last 40 so seconds of the championship game? MSU had the ball with the score tied and McCowan missed a wide open layup! Did SEC play prepare her for that? ND then had the ball with the score tied and 6-0 Mabrey's attempted pass in to the post is tipped by 5-3 Morgan William for a turnover. Then, William takes the ball and misfires on an attempted pass to a teammate (before being run over by Mabrey) which allows ND to steal the ball. Did ACC and SEC play prepare them for that comedy of errors at the end? ND won it on an unbelievable shot falling out of bounds but let's not forget how they reached that point.

How about the UConn v Notre Dame game? ND is ahead and only needed to inbound the ball to draw a foul and get to the line to seal the game. The in-bounds pass is stolen for a layup. Did ACC play prepare them for that? ND then inbounds the ball downcourt with an opportunity to win the game and Shepard dribbles the ball off her foot for a turnover.

Again credit to Ogunbowale for a tough, clutch shot but let's not forget some error-filled basketball that led to that point.

Come on. All of the teams made key mistakes down the stretch. One team had a player who was really clutch.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I think the ESPN piece is a reasonable effort to explore this question. My favorite line from the article is this:

Down the stretch against the Irish, and last season in similar fashion against Mississippi State, UConn looked uncharacteristically fazed and a little lost despite being the favorite and having more talent and more All-Americans.​

That's very true, unfortunately. But is the best explanation for that really our conference? I don't know. You could attribute it to other things, such as the lack of a big player making a big play in a big moment, or the added pressure that the enormous expectations and history of the program brings to our players and coaching staff. The Boneyard covered some good ground on this question shortly after the loss, and there are some strong and differing opinions out there.

My current thinking is that, while not desirable, the conference situation has not been the definitive show stopper of the past two years. Having said that, going into the tournament, I do think that the team lacks recent exposure to opponents that play really good defense. That may explain why the offense has not been effective at key times in a big game, because the team is finally up against defenders that are far better than what they have been used to.

 

[UConnCat]

MSU had 2 All-Americans and showed this year it's win last year was not a fluke. Notre Dame has several McDonald's AAs on its team. Both are really good teams that defeated UConn in OT on last second shots in consecutive years. Why must there be some bigger explanation for these outcomes? These were really good teams and they just played better, at the very least 2 points better. It's insulting to them to say that the only reason UConn lost to them is because they weren't tested enough. These UConn teams were not without flaws.

Plus, it's not like MSU and ND played flawlessly down the stretch. Both showed signs of feeling the pressure and made key mistakes. It happens.

 

[UConnCat]

We used to hear these arguments back when UConn first appeared on the national scene and before the Big East became a good women's basketball conference. In 1995 there was no way UConn could compete with teams from the big, bad SEC. They managed and won a championship. Then they won again in 2000 and again in 2002, 2003 and 2004 all while being told the Big East was weak.

This year's and last year's UConn teams made mistakes down the stretch but what evidence is there that suggests conference play is the reason? This year's team fought back in regulation and OT. Where did that come from?

 

[BostonCanuck]

You can certainly win a game on a big last second shot. That, of course, is what Arike did for Notre Dame.

But Friday's game was also lost by the Huskies during a five minute stretch in the middle of the third quarter, during which they were outscored 14-5. During that five minutes, the Husky offense missed five shots, and turned the ball over twice. The forth quarter opened with Notre Dame down only 3, and the game was basically a knife fight from that point forward.

 

[ASweet3781]

Whether you agree that the league prepared us or not (I don't think it does at all), there is no argument that it is disgraceful a program as good as UConn's is playing in that league to begin with. The last 3 months of the season are a huge bore. It's bad for women's basketball. It's bad for the fans. It's bad for the program IMO.

UConn's last 2 AAC Tournament opponents were Cincinnati and USF. Notre Dame's were Duke and Louisville. Nuff said.

 

[UConnCat]

You can certainly win a game on a big last second shot. That, of course, is what Arike did for Notre Dame.

But Friday's game was also lost by the Huskies during a five minute stretch in the middle of the third quarter, during which Notre Dame outscored us 14-5. During that five minutes, the Husky offense missed five shots and turned the ball over twice. The forth quarter opened with Notre Dame down only 3, and the game was basically a knife fight from that point forward.

UConn went up by 8 points in the 4th quarter with a little more than 6 minutes to go and then up 7 points with 5+ minutes to go. ND stormed back to take the lead and then coughed up a 5 point lead with 21 seconds to go. Lots of mistakes were made on both sides. No excuses for the UConn mistakes but where's the evidence it was because of playing in the AAC? What accounts for MSU's mistakes down the stretch against Notre Dame? SEC play?

I hate that UConn is in the AAC. It's more than a little galling that there's a piece on ESPN about how that fact caused UConn to lose 2 championship games given ESPN's role in the breakup of the Big East but I digress. I just think if you're talented enough and tough enough it doesn't matter which conference you play in. UConn in its history has shown that.

 

[HoopsFan21]

In the first 9 days of the season, UConn played #10 Stanford, #20 Cal, #15 Maryland, at #5 UCLA. Then we had #3 ND, and at #9 Texas in December and January. February had four ranked match ups with a trip down to Columbia SC for #7 South Carolina, then home for #4 Louisville, #20 USF, and #19 USF. In the NCAA tourney we had to beat #20 Duke and #7 South Carolina before meeting ND. Is there any conference in America that would present more of a challenge than that schedule? We played more ranked teams in the first week of the season than exist in most conferences. UConn also finished the season with the best record of any ranked team at 36-1. For whatever reason, UConn has not played like themselves in the national semi-final two years in a row. I still think the late start times has more of a role to play in that than the AAC.

 

[BostonCanuck]

We played more ranked teams in the first week of the season than exist in most conferences. UConn also finished the season with the best record of any ranked team at 36-1. For whatever reason, UConn has not played like themselves in the national semi-final two years in a row. I still think the late start times has more of a role to play in that than the AAC.

That was exactly my theory last year, after the team laid a big egg against Mississippi State by scoring only 60 points during regulation. Our women did play better in this year's game, but they got off to a slow start again and could not hold eight-point leads mid-way through both the third and forth quarters. (However, this year's game started an hour earlier, at 9:30 pm Eastern instead of 10:30.)

But my biggest irk with it is that the #1 overall seed should have the absolute right to the more favorable scheduling. Why on earth should they have to play a nightcap game that gives them a shorter recovery time than the team they'll be facing some 43 hours later? I really don't understand it, television ratings be damned!

 

[Undercovervol]

I think it's a bit naive to claim that the conference has no effect on UCONN's team. These women are still human, and if their regular season ends with blow out after blow out, surely this will affect their team psychology somehow. Even if UCONN has lost the last two semi-final games by one possession on average, it doesn't erase the observation that UCONN did not play to the best of their abilities in those games, particularly in the last game, where there were long stretches where UCONN looked frazzled/scared/unsure, especially on offense. I think this is due to not handling pressure optimally, which would arguably improve with a harder schedule towards the end of the regular season. I still think UCONN was the best overall team this year: the question is, why didn't they deliver?

 

[HoopsFan21]

UConn had the toughest or second toughest schedule. Claiming that UConn needs to be in a different league so they can have a tougher schedule is exactly the argument I suspected it was: until UConn was scheduling WNBA teams, their schedule will never be seen as tough enough by P5 conference whores even though the metrics say they already play the toughest schedule.

 

[HuskyNan]

UConn has been in the league 6 years and has won 4 national championships. I would argue the league is stronger now than it was in its first season. UConn has NEVER been in a P5 league but has still managed to win 11 championships. It’s a dopey premise.

Why can’t people see that parity has arrived among the top teams?

 

[Tex-Lager93]

In the first 9 days of the season, UConn played #10 Stanford, #20 Cal, #15 Maryland, at #5 UCLA. Then we had #3 ND, and at #9 Texas in December and January. February had four ranked match ups with a trip down to Columbia SC for #7 South Carolina, then home for #4 Louisville, #20 USF, and #19 USF. In the NCAA tourney we had to beat #20 Duke and #7 South Carolina before meeting ND. Is there any conference in America that would present more of a challenge than that schedule? We played more ranked teams in the first week of the season than exist in most conferences. UConn also finished the season with the best record of any ranked team at 36-1. For whatever reason, UConn has not played like themselves in the national semi-final two years in a row. I still think the late start times has more of a role to play in that than the AAC.

Thank you. Despite outlining the daunting out of conference schedule, the writer continued down the path of conference woes. It’s tiresome and somewhat lazy. Could it be that UConn is actually helping the women’s game rather than hurting it (as so many pundits are quick to point out)?UConn has set a high standard and other programs are beginning to catch up. That was the most competitive, evenly matched Final Four I’ve ever seen. When has there ever been four teams that could win the Championship? But let’s talk about how the AAC hurts UConn. Snore.

 

[enigmatic]

I understand the rant of this article but it's not like Merlin is gonna just magically appear and put the UCONN athletic department in a better conference tomorrow. Geno has obviously done his job compensating for its AAC opposition by scheduling a tough OOC so basically there's nothing else he can do. I've said it before but unfortunately football is the namesake of college athletics and it would be a shame if another school from the American got plucked into a better conference because of consistent success on the football field. Yes maybe we could benefit in some sort if we had closer games I guess for mental purposes but personally I dont see anything wrong if the total margin of loss the last four seasons has been 6 points. SIX POINTS!

 

[UConnNick]

UConn has been in the league 6 years and has won 4 national championships. I would argue the league is stronger now than it was in its first season. UConn has NEVER been in a P5 league but has still managed to win 11 championships. It’s a dopey premise.

Why can’t people see that parity has arrived among the top teams?

The old Big East Conference was a BCS league, and therefore was a P5 equivalent, with the same standing as the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and PAC12. The terminology was just different at that time. So 8 of our 11 nattys were won in what was effectively a power conference, the old Big East. The 2014-2016 titles were won while UCONN has been in the AAC.

Three of the five seasons UCONN has played in a non-P5 league we have won the title. That's not too bad. The other two titles won during that time were by P5 conference teams, making P5 conferences 2-3 vs UCONN and the AAC during the past five seasons, since the Big East morphed into the AAC.

 

[Shorty Dee]

I disagree. I know UConn had an amazing team during Mo, Morgan and Stewie tenue, but UConn was in the AAC, and they won 4 Championships in that division.

 

[HuskyNan]

The old Big East Conference was a BCS league, and therefore was a P5 equivalent, with the same standing as the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC and PAC12. The terminology was just different at that time.

Funny, I never saw the women playing in a BCS bowl.

UConn was NEVER in a P5 conference. Period.

 

[Sea Goat]

New article front and center on ESPN about Uconn’s woes in the tournament due to weak league.

No one is more critical of ESPN than I am. However, the article makes some valid points.

No one plays a tougher out of conference schedule than UConn. Trouble is that, because of conference scheduling, the bulk of such games are early. There is no doubt that, in women's BB, the AAC is chock full of tomato cans.
Playing tomato cans night in and night out is challenging from a competitive point of view. After January 1, most of the time, UConn's toughest compettition before the tournament are the boys they play against in practice.
It just makes you work that much harder at being sharp. Challenges have to be conjured up rather than naturally appear on the court. I believe there is some truth in this article. Frankly, it is more evidence of the deleterious effect of being in such a horrid conference.

 

[UConnCat]

Because UConn didn't win 6 consecutive national championships the search is on for an explanation. Surely, there must be an explanation for this unnatural occurrence.

Actually, I blame Louisville and South Carolina for not providing stiffer tests in February and SC again for losing by 28 points in the Elite 8 game.

 

[UConnCat]

I think it's a bit naive to claim that the conference has no effect on UCONN's team. These women are still human, and if their regular season ends with blow out after blow out, surely this will affect their team psychology somehow. Even if UCONN has lost the last two semi-final games by one possession on average, it doesn't erase the observation that UCONN did not play to the best of their abilities in those games, particularly in the last game, where there were long stretches where UCONN looked frazzled/scared/unsure, especially on offense. I think this is due to not handling pressure optimally, which would arguably improve with a harder schedule towards the end of the regular season. I still think UCONN was the best overall team this year: the question is, why didn't they deliver?

What explains MSU's failure to deliver down the stretch? SEC play? Why didn't South Carolina give UConn a tougher test in the Elite 8 game?

 

[mbr33ct]

I keep hearing UConn's "practices" are much harder than any games played. Whether UConn is in the AAC or in a P5 conference, would they not be the same team? Besides, didn't UConn dismantle South Carolina that won the big bad SEC tourney over Miss St?

EDIT: One additional follow up, within one tourney...how can UConn go from "they are bad for WCBB" to "the AAC is bad for UConn"?

 

[UConnNick]

Funny, I never saw the women playing in a BCS bowl.

UConn was NEVER in a P5 conference. Period.

P5 is a term that has only existed for the past five years. Prior to that power conferences were referred to as the BCS. The Big East was a power conference as a member of the BCS. Ignore that fact if you like.

 

[socal613ws]

What's funny is none of this was ever posted when they had Stewart sr year and were beating teams by +30