Poll. Which team gives us the biggest challenge head-head

[eebmg]

We are at the time of season where we have seen our main competition multiple times including some matchups against UConn directly and our own team seems to have stabilized.

Discussions across multiple threads are already underway regarding who has the best chance to beat us so
it is time to quantify our opinions.

My vote is Baylor. The combination of Brown/Fox/Wallace and some strong coaching / motivation from Mulkey. I think we match up a little better with Miss St. McGowan seems more inconsistent and I think we can take Vivians out of the game a little easier plus there is no way we would let Miss St take us out 2 times in a row.

 

[Mdoggie]

The prestige of Uconn and the history of the program is this years only competition. Living up to the tradition of winning it all is pressure enough.

 

[bballnut90]

Mississippi State. Player for player Mississippi State matches up well with Connecticut. They can beat you inside, off the dribble, and have several very dangerous outside shooters. They play tough disciplined defense, have gone undefeated against a difficult schedule and are well coached. Perhaps more than any other reason, they know they can beat Connecticut. No other team has a roster of players who have that confidence.

Notre Dame is a dangerous team, but they don’t have rebounders to battle UCONN. They also really lack depth, only going 6 deep and zero backup guard play. They don’t have a PG. Muffett should be high on everyone’s list for COY with the job she’s done despite losing so many players to ACLs, plus 2 to transfer. I think they can beat UCONN, but I wouldn’t bet on it. They’re my 2nd choice after Mississippi State.


Baylor and SC don’t match up well with Baylor IMO. Neither team is particularly dangerous from the perimeter, which you have to be against the Huskies. SC has never played UCONN close, even when SC had Mitchell/Coates/etc. Baylor has the horses, but UCONN will turn Baylor into a perimeter team which isn’t their strength. Wallace would have to win the battle against Dangerfield or Nurse to have a shot. I also don’t think Kim will ever beat Geno with a less talented roster like Muffett and Vic have done.


Louisville, another team that has never challenged UCONN. UCONN handily won their matchup this year and the entire board was worried about the quality of play. I don’t think Louisville matches up favorably with the Huskies, and Auriemma has always schooled Jeff Walz.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Baylor. We're small, they are big and their guard play ain't bad either. If we meet we have to stay out of foul trouble and be able to rain 3s on them and have a decent transition game. Do that and we run em out of the gym. Oxygen tanks are not allowed on the sidelines are they?

 

[Oldbones]

................ there is no way we would let Miss St take us out 2 times in a row.

April 3, 2011 FF: Notre Dame 72, UCONN 63
April 1, 2012 FF: Notre Dame 83, UCONN 75
Sorry..................................

 

[eebmg]

I guess the "other" votes are coming from BY's who are insulted that any team can give us a problem.
Must be nice to have that level of confidence.

 

[eebmg]

...... there is no way we would let Miss St take us out 2 times in a row.

April 3, 2011 FF: Notre Dame 72, UCONN 63
April 1, 2012 FF: Notre Dame 83, UCONN 75
Sorry.........

Never again?

 

[my2cents]

Baylor...they are very big so they can exploit our only vulnerability, rebounding

 

[paisan]

As everyone likes to say about uconn the same for miss st ...they are the best until someone beats them ...and they have beaten uconn

 

[Oldbones]

Baylor...they are very big so they can exploit our only vulnerability, rebounding

A vulnerability which undermines perhaps our greatest strength: Transition.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Geno loves playing new teams, and we haven’t played Baylor this season. They might be in for a surprise.

 

[oldude]

After watching Baylor beat TX last night, I'm convinced that MS St poses the biggest threat to UConn. While Baylor may have more talent, the Bulldogs are a much better all around team, particularly on the defensive end. As dominant as Baylor has been against a large collection of cupcakes + TX & an early season matchup vs a then struggling Stanford, Baylor is masking over lots of weaknesses. Brown and Cox are very good, but they're foul prone and neither of them run the court worth a damn. There were several times last night that Brown didn't even cross half-court. Defensively, Baylor had lots of breakdowns vs a TX team that doesn't execute particularly effective team offense. Finally, while Wallace has set the world on fire lately on offense, she turns the ball over when pressured, and she will get a large dose of Kia Nurse against the Huskies.

 

[Ozimoto]

I think Baylor poses the biggest match up problem for the Huskies. They aren't as efficient offensively but their athleticism and quickness could very well undermine the efficiency of the Husky motion offense. You can't deny that they will be a nightmare on the glass if we have to play them. Mississippi State is good too, but I think the Huskies match up better with them and while McCowen is very good, she doesn't have a Lauren Cox to work with defending the post.

 

[Bear11]

Looking at the last few truly competitive games UConn has played (and I'll admit that's a small sample), a consistent theme seems to be getting beat on the offensive glass. That was true for Notre Dame and Texas this year, and Mississippi State and Florida State last year. Baylor is the best offensive rebounding team in the country. If Baylor rebounds well, it would slow the UConn transition game, along with the second chance points. This factor gives Baylor as good a shot as anyone, but it's still a very difficult matchup. I'm already looking forward to the meeting next year, and I hope it becomes a regular occurrence. Given what each team returns and adds next year, we will likely be looking at a match of the top 2 teams in women's basketball.

 

[UConnNick]

After watching Baylor beat TX last night, I'm convinced that MS St poses the biggest threat to UConn. While Baylor may have more talent, the Bulldogs are a much better all around team, particularly on the defensive end. As dominant as Baylor has been against a large collection of cupcakes + TX & an early season matchup vs a then struggling Stanford, Baylor is masking over lots of weaknesses. Brown and Cox are very good, but they're foul prone and neither of them run the court worth a damn. There were several times last night that Brown didn't even cross half-court. Defensively, Baylor had lots of breakdowns vs a TX team that doesn't execute particularly effective team offense. Finally, while Wallace has set the world on fire lately on offense, she turns the ball over when pressured, and she will get a large dose of Kia Nurse against the Huskies.

Agreed. MSU is still the elephant in the room, particularly because unlike any of the other contenders, they've actually won a recent huge game vs. us. It's not likely we will see them until the championship game if both teams advance to it. They have the psychological advantage over all the other teams because they've beaten us. While all of the teams not named MSU go in believing they can beat us, there's still some shred of doubt in the back of their minds because none of them have been able to during the past several seasons. We get up big early like we did against Louisville and it's already over, because we're not going to surrender a 20+ point lead, even if it's early in the game. MSU may be the only team in a position to deal with that mentally.

 

[BostonCanuck]

Mississippi State. Player for player Mississippi State matches up well with Connecticut. They can beat you inside, off the dribble, and have several very dangerous outside shooters. They play tough disciplined defense, have gone undefeated against a difficult schedule and are well coached. Perhaps more than any other reason, they know they can beat Connecticut. No other team has a roster of players who have that confidence.

Mississippi State, for exactly the reasons mentioned above. Next would be Notre Dame, mostly because of the way they played us early in the season, and because of the intangibles that such a well-coached program always brings.

I was a little worried about Baylor, but not after watching them last night. Their defense just wouldn't cut it against the Huskies. I think we would put them away early with the three ball and the transition offense. Plus I wouldn't be at all surprised if Brown was in foul trouble for most of the game due to the work of Pheesa and Azura down low.

 

[Hayven]

It’s between Baylor and Miss St., I would give the edge to Miss St as they have already beaten UConn. Baylor does not have a player like Vivians as well, who can help with scoring from the outside consistently

 

[DefenseBB]

...... there is no way we would let Miss St take us out 2 times in a row.

April 3, 2011 FF: Notre Dame 72, UCONN 63
April 1, 2012 FF: Notre Dame 83, UCONN 75
Sorry.........

ahem...that was then and this is now. 7 straight UConn wins with the closest being this years 9 points. Maybe next year...

 

[Woof 101]

I'm going with Miss St and not because of any special match ups other than the 2nd best coach in the field.
Having said that I doubt Geno spends a long time on the phone with Vic this year on how to beat his team. Nor do I expect short bench or not, should we face them Geno will not let them set the pace of the game again.

 

[Golden Husky]

After watching Baylor beat TX last night, I'm convinced that MS St poses the biggest threat to UConn. While Baylor may have more talent, the Bulldogs are a much better all around team, particularly on the defensive end. As dominant as Baylor has been against a large collection of cupcakes + TX & an early season matchup vs a then struggling Stanford, Baylor is masking over lots of weaknesses. Brown and Cox are very good, but they're foul prone and neither of them run the court worth a damn. There were several times last night that Brown didn't even cross half-court. Defensively, Baylor had lots of breakdowns vs a TX team that doesn't execute particularly effective team offense. Finally, while Wallace has set the world on fire lately on offense, she turns the ball over when pressured, and she will get a large dose of Kia Nurse against the Huskies.

As has become my habit, I find myself agreeing with Oldude's analysis.

 

[cbraarj]

Uconn lost to Miss.State last year because they Uconned Uconn in the first quarter and out hustled them the whole game. Uconn walked the ball up the court. Only Gabby played a good game! The biggest reason they lost was OVERCONFIDENCE! They won by 60 the year before. It was 61-12 at halftime. On top of that a 111 game winning streak and it was a recipe for disaster! MS won by 2 in OT and deserved to win that game. Uconn will not let this type of play happen again. If they play this year Uconn wins by at least 23 points!!!

 

[Vowelguy]

1. Baylor
2. Miss St
3. N Dame
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. Louisville
7. UCLA
8. Stanford
9. So Carolina

#1/2 close

 

[oldude]

As has become my habit, I find myself agreeing with Oldude's analysis.

GH, if you're frequently agreeing with me, I must confess, I'm a little worried about you.

 

[LoTrader]

After watching Baylor beat TX last night, I'm convinced that MS St poses the biggest threat to UConn. While Baylor may have more talent, the Bulldogs are a much better all around team, particularly on the defensive end. As dominant as Baylor has been against a large collection of cupcakes + TX & an early season matchup vs a then struggling Stanford, Baylor is masking over lots of weaknesses. Brown and Cox are very good, but they're foul prone and neither of them run the court worth a damn. There were several times last night that Brown didn't even cross half-court. Defensively, Baylor had lots of breakdowns vs a TX team that doesn't execute particularly effective team offense. Finally, while Wallace has set the world on fire lately on offense, she turns the ball over when pressured, and she will get a large dose of Kia Nurse against the Huskies.

oldude, good observation on Baylor's BIGS not making it back down the floor. I didn't see the UCLA vs Baylor game, but UCLA is famous for the "LA Lakers" Showtime fastbreak AFTER a made basket by the other team. UCONN would run Baylor out of the gym...it would be one of those games where all of sudden UCONN goes from being ahead by 4 points to 20 points in a blink of an eye.

 

[Centerstream]

As everyone likes to say about uconn the same for miss st ...they are the best until someone beats them ...and they have beaten uconn

Miss St has beaten UConn this season? If you are referring to their OT fluke last season (2017), then it is 1-1 due to the fact that we squeaked by them the year prior (2016) by 60...