Certainly before we play Arizona again! They did "upset" Louisville. What bothers me is the fact that UCONN with 4:50 left in the first quarter was up 17-2. Then won the game 95-80. So Arkansas played UCONN dead even for the remaining 34 minutes and 50 seconds of the game.
Arizona isn’t on the schedule, unless I overlooked something. I watched the Arizona upset and I think they match up better with them than they do with Arkansa, this year.
The word was supposed to be “repetitive”
You're obviously replying to someone's post. Want to tell us who? (The "reply" button is a useful tool.)
I’m glad I’m not the only one noticing. It was really disappointing. They looked bored and half the players didn’t bother clapping/cheering at many moments. Embarrassing body language and attitude. Last year the bench players seemed much more into and they weren’t even sitting next to each other. I hope this gets addressed, which I’m sure it will because GA said when they watch games back they do look at body language on the bench. Missing someone like Kyla who was somewhat of a vocal leader on the bench and always brought TONS of energy.
Dammit. I'd already added this to my meditative/religious/chant routine for tonite. I forgive you. OM.
The team has no identity right now (except being Paige's team). I hope they get one soon. Geno was visibly surprised & upset during the halftime and postgame interviews, like he couldn't believe what he just saw on defense. Tough defense is the core of what wins Titles, not a finesse team throwing up 3-pointers at a 30% clip. You would think the players/coaching staff would get this message by now.
I’ve filed an injunction against auto correct.
Think NCAA tourney re: Arizona.
Okay-- we disagree on this point. I thought the plays that we experience most frustration with her are for her poor basketball instincts not her athleticism. I recall three of her fouls today
I thought the same thing. IMHO instead of the exhibition I think they should have scheduled a "cupcake" just to warm everyone up, mainly because it's still mostly a young team. I like Chrystin and Ono, but they are not assertive senior leadership like Stef, Bria, Morgan, and Moriah. It's fortunate E is there and decided to stay. I also think he purposely scheduled the Arkansas game to assess his team, and right before they go to the Bahamas. He himself said Ark is tough to play not a lot of teams play that style. I think he also wanted to instill a sense of urgency and scare them too. Geno always with the psychology. We will see if it worked next week. They won but if you noticed no one was happy, Paige said it. Still I think it was good to get it out of their heads. Practice is not going to be pretty. Oooh Boy
For one thing, Arkansas did not lose their top three starters. One of them played today. If you watched the game today you saw her hit all kinds of shots. For another, when in the last four seasons has Geno's teams been better at stopping the dribble drive better than other teams. It even happened when Nurse was playing. Just watch the last national semi-final game UConn played against Notre Dame when one ND guard scored 37 points on mostly drives to the basket.
Oh man, the dreaded double "really" from Geno.
I want to thank, Arkansas for helping us to exhibit our strength & weakness as a team !
I understand the point you are trying to make just would like to dismiss that comparison to Stewie Freshman team. That Stewie team gave up 80 points exactly 1 time during that season and it took ND 3 OT periods to get there. That team also held #1 Stanford to 35 points for a game on their home court. That team was also packed with world class defenders. UCONN fans are very spoiled by the success of the program I'll admit that. Being spoiled and knowledgeable are not mutual exclusively. Those same fans have a pretty good idea of what championship basketball looks like and that was not it. It may have been just one game, but this game highlighted recurring issues. Paige is well on her way to winning more POY awards but may not realize a NCAA championship unless UCONN achieves more consistent post play and plays significantly better perimeter defense. Every UCONN starter shot better than 50% during this game and Liv and Aaaliyah were each a point away from all 5 starters being in double figures. Arkansas was an unranked team and UCONN was up 17 to 2 within the first five minutes of the game. For the last 3.5 quarters of this game UCONN was basically content to trade basket with Arkansas-aka shootout. What was also disappointing about this game in particular and the last 3 UCONN teams (thus the recurring) is the lack of leadership, communication and total team commitment necessary to make defensive stops. One of Geno great teaching points which he emphasizes at every clinic he gives is that communication on defense is more important than it is on offense. With this team i don't see or hear defensive communication and believe me I looking and listening very closely. I've also come to believe the scout (pre game plan) are not be followed. What I see are individual uncoordinated defensive actions. For example some defenders are choosing to go under screen while others are choosing to fight over. For the post players I also see hesitation on the weak side rotations leaving our bigs in no man's land-meaning they are not able to help contest the shot and they are in horrible rebounding position. That is not how this are supposed to work for even mediocre defensive teams. First and foremost the scout has to set the general foundation and it is supposed to cover the basics such as: Are they pushing the ball handlers to their weak hand (usually the case). Since you know the high ball screens are coming are we going over or under? Does this team have any pick and pop bigs-like Stanford does? Where is my help coming from? I'll use Azzi as an example -Azzi's perimeter defense was abysmal today. Every time Azzi got beat off the dribble there was no help. Azzi is going to get beat-they are all going to get beat sometimes. Azzi has to do her part to get better but Azzi is not her own help. An improvement will only come from better communication & coordination by SOMEONE/ANYONE yelling: "Azzi I got you your help, push her right! One of the other hallmarks of UCONN teams is that the players on the bench are learning from the mistakes that are made by the players on the floor. That didn't happen in this game. Dorka should have been learning from watching Liv, Aaliyah should have learned from watching Dorka and Liv. All three players were repeating the same mistakes. Likewise Nika and Carolinne should have learned from Azzi defensive struggles. Instead the same Arkansas player ( Spencer) beat Azzi off the dribble the same way she beat Caroline and the same way she beat Nika. Spencer is not a starter for Arkansas and the move she used to beat Caroline, Azzi and Nika didn't even require her to change direction. I'm not suggesting its easy but it is very necessary and UCONN WBB has always had someone willing and and able to do it. Freshman Morgan Tuck stepped in and did it for and ailing Dolson in the 2013 FF. Kia Nurse did it on the fly (without a time out) and it help UCONN come back from 10 Point deficit in the 4th Quarter against ND in 2017.
I'd rather see DeBerry.
Nice post. I approve your messaging. I've highlighted your best points.It’s only first game. No big deal with of the stuff stated below other than 1 thing. OMG Paige!!!!! . For me – just amazed at her play. Too bad UCONN needed her to play the 40. Just want to re-iterate this game no big deal 1st game of season.
1—Dorka. If we over-evaluate the 1 exhibition game like what was done last week and apply the same to this week then the good news is that she’ll be back next year. Saw a player not near as good defensively vs Liv as some suggested last week. And her outside shooting looked just as atrocious as her f/t shooting. No way right now she starts over Liv.
2—Liv. Still the same but better. But still essentially the same in that she has such poor basketball instincts. We can win with her but whew, at least so far, she is much more of a great athlete than a basketball player. Man, would I love to see her have a jump hook on the right-side of the baseline.
3--- Edwards. Our best 4/5 post player. 4—Nika- Terrible today but no big deal.
5--- CWill and Evina. To me they are very nervous players unless if the game is a blowout. Think of beautiful Evina’s shot was and she didn’t seem to hunt for more. And she doesn’t take the ball to the hoop much with an intent to score either. As for CWill the only thing you can rely for her to score on is a layup. If she doesn’t get it, then what? Granted it’s hard to stop her from getting some. But her shot still remains an enigma other than layups. Even f’/throw line-- it’s not good. But they are a very nice offset to one another.
6—This leads me to Azzi. IMO key player for the season. Her defense was atrocious. I expect this will be fixed to a degree. IMO offensively she’ll take major, major pressure off of everyone if UCONN can get her looks like they did today in the 3rd quarter. UCONN needs to get her open/ she needs to work to get open, and ofc she needs to hit quite a few 3’s. That’s exactly what Geno said a few weeks ago about her and team need to get her open. That's why he's the boss!!!!!
A lot to look forward to.
