Postgame: Too much[merged thread]

[BostonCanuck]

It’s not that she lacked energy. It’s more like Schaefer burned her out by having her lunge at the PG whenever she was drawn out past the three point line, and then she would have to chase down Hebard making a break to the basket after she made that lunge. Oregon kept on drawing McCowan past the three point line and Schaefer never adjusted. Terrible job by Schaefer that night.

Exactly as I saw it that night too. Oregon even got easy layups on backdoor cuts after some of those McCowan lunges, and you're right, Schaefer never did adjust. I was flabbergasted.

 

[BroadwayVa]

UCONN missed wide open treys. The opportunity to win was there last night. The constant sound of the rim clanking was loud and tragic.

As my Native American friends say often: Walk in their Moccasins (sp) first. These women are not machines although it has often looked that way with easy wins.

 

[CocoHusky]

Would Megan start for Baylor? Would she start for ND? I think possibly for Baylor over Richards, but many think NaLyssa Smith is better than Richards, although Richards defense changed the game yesterday. Likely not for Baylor, especially not over Young.

At Baylor she would definitely start over Richards.
At ND she might not start over Young but Young would slide to the 2 and Mabrey is your 6th man.

 

[SLY63]

Credit to Kim for putting Brown on Walker and forcing Meghan to make shots. Once Meghan showed reluctance, Brown could basically sag off her, clog the middle and allow the perimeter defenders to stay in the face of our shooters. That really made the difference. I would expect to see something similar from Miss St or Stanford, if we play them.

 

[Florida Fan]

Offense was the problem tonight, not defense. Everything tough, everything from the perimeter. As I've said, CD is more a liability, than asset, against the top teams. She's just too small & she cant penetrate & break down a tough, physical defense. So, she just stands behind the 3-point line & throws-up 3-pointers...Not a way to generate fluid offense. She's just not a top-flight floor leader - I'm sorry.

At least Danger attacked, when the others were covered. She was aware of the clock and her responsibilities and tried to makes things happen. There was no use passing to our forwards inside. It had to happen from the perimeter. She was off last night but will be back with a vengeance. No way I'm giving up on Crystal.

 

[BroadwayVa]

This game tells us a lot of things...most of which we already knew:

• We are small...our quickness helps us with the slower players, and Napheesa plays a lot bigger than she is (amazingly so)...but, when we play against big, mobile players that work a hard as we do, we are vulnerable. This game reminds me a lot of the physical beating we took in the Mississippi State loss two years ago. When we play teams like this, Pheesa and Lou need help from the rest of the team, and that help cannot be tentative.
• Both Meghan and Christyn passed up a lot of open shots that weren't available later in the game. Underclassmen can be a little in awe of their teammates...or just a little in awe of the big stage they find themselves on. Both ladies will need to get over that by tourney time...not fair...but the way UCONN recruits, with small but gilt-edged classes, everyone has to pull an oar.
• During the last 5 minutes, we really weren't getting many good looks at the basket. The energy level seemed to have broken down our offensive movement over the course of the game. The big message to the bench is learn the plays and be ready to contribute when we get into the kind of highly physical games we'll be seeing in the Elite 8 on.

Really proud of these guys...especially the three upperclassmen that took the brunt of the load.

I do think this game increases our chances for a deep tourney run...

Thank you for this. Cheering them on, no trampling them into the dust... You are a FAN.
I am proud of you for seeing Humans as Humans not robot. The BENCH. Geno is a near God, he is a teacher of Basketball. His bench as it is will remain for the Juniors as it is. For Coombs a bit more and hopefully much more next season. ONO, is ONO, talented and tall--but thin and without big game Div 1 Experience should we have expected more?
As a terrible second guesser It may have been beneficial to allow ONO to stay and commit 5 fouls and learned by real game experience. She won't ee this level of competition in the AAC.

 

[shiverz45]

You didn’t watch the South Carolina game then. She shot us right of the gym that night. We never even had a chance.

She probably only had 4 or 5 threes, but it felt like 9 or 10. I knew she was going to hit big shots tonight vs. UConn... and she did.

Also Chloe Jackson went 9-13 for 19 points to go along with Landrum shooting 6-8. Jackson had a miserable shooting night against UConn although she had some big buckets near the end.

 

[HuskyNan]

Difficult for ONO to do her job without experience on the court. She was a star in HS, and has the skill set to be so in college, but she NEEDS to be on the court. Geno's talked about the difficulty of playing QB. But, ask any rookie QB in the NFL - until you get experience under your belt, you aren't going to develop on the pro level. Give her floor time and let her learn from her mistakes, and blossom into the player we need in the paint. Without her, its going to be tough against taller opponents with capable coaching.

It takes posts longer to develop when moving up a level. Upperclass post players are bigger, stronger, and have better footwork. Unless there’s some miracle, Olivia won’t dominate as a freshman unless she can put on 15healthy pounds of muscle overnight

 

[BroadwayVa]

lol. MW was 3/10 on mostly open shots and passed up others. Nobody on uconn thinks she had a good game. Was she terrible? NO. But if she really had had an A game, UConn probably wins .

I agree: If Megan Walker had the OPPORTUNITY to play her A game--it's a win.
Did Phee or KLS have their A games.

 

[shiverz45]

You mean 2 freshman and a sophomore are NOT as good as 2 All Americans and a Honorable Mention All American? Shocking!

I remember there was a thread started after the Notre Dame game that this UConn team was better than last year team. I thought it was kind of ridiculous at that time.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Difficult for ONO to do her job without experience on the court. She was a star in HS, and has the skill set to be so in college, but she NEEDS to be on the court. Geno's talked about the difficulty of playing QB. But, ask any rookie QB in the NFL - until you get experience under your belt, you aren't going to develop on the pro level. Give her floor time and let her learn from her mistakes, and blossom into the player we need in the paint. Without her, its going to be tough against taller opponents with capable coaching.

The handwriting was on the wall early and certainly in the 4th qtr. ONO played nearly as well against Baylor as others had, didn't have the strength of Touly, absolutely EXPERIENCE is not gained in practice or sitting watching. Baylor taught the entire team some lessons and ONO would have gained experience Uconn will need if they are to go far in March/april.

 

[Chong-Master]

I agree: If Megan Walker had the OPPORTUNITY to play her A game--it's a win.
Did Phee or KLS have their A games.

Do you really think that MW would start over Azura Stevens this season, if she had decided to stay and not got to the WNBA? Megan Walker could be a really good 1st or 2nd player off the bench, on a strong UCONN team, but not a starter.

 

[shiverz45]

What went wrong? SIZE. That's all. Phee couldn't get any shots inside against 6 5, 6 7---it is the Griner story with added 3 point fire power.
Uconn PLAYED GREAT. Twice they were down by 10 --twice they came back.
The one element some of us have been screaming about and Uconn didn't get (you can't always get the Xmas presents you want) is SIZE, Tall, Wide.

What went right? Walker and CW drilled big 3's when needed. Touly was very effective on defense against Brown, I would have kept her in. Katie Lou and Danger nearly killed themselves trying to win---I call that a plus.
Get real Uconn fans--Uconn played great for the most part were done in by SIZE---

Touly was picking up a foul after every other possession. She would not have lasted long.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Do you really think that MW would start over Azura Stevens this season, if she had decided to stay and not got to the WNBA? Megan Walker could be a really good 1st or 2nd player off the bench, on a strong UCONN team, but not a starter.

You should have sent this to Geno not me. I can't see why he didn't play Stevens against baylor rather than Walker. That was dumb of him wasn't it??

 

[BroadwayVa]

Touly was picking up a foul after every other possession. She would not have lasted long.

The question you must answer---did Touly give up more points than anyone else guarding Brown--and how effective was she in keeping Brown occupied ? Fouls no matter how many don't matter if you are going to sit that player anyway. No fouls on the bench sitters but nothing good either.

 

[DaBball]

Stanford’s ability to put Coffee and Smith out on the perimeter and to have them go 3-4 and 5-9 from 3 was the difference. It was
something UConn didn’t have last night, but should have should they meet Baylor again.

 

[da60]

In watching the game, uconn just looked so small......In league play both Ono and Touly have to play a lot. Although Ono is lean, she can develop and help us. Touly looked like she belonged in there and can only get better with more play. Kyla can bang inside and can give a few minutes. Unfortunately Megan has never shown me much, although I always hope for more. Adjustments will probably be made and there is a lot of time to change things around. I trust Geno and staff to get the team going. The game is changing and hopefully we can change with it.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Credit to Kim for putting Brown on Walker and forcing Meghan to make shots. Once Meghan showed reluctance, Brown could basically sag off her, clog the middle and allow the perimeter defenders to stay in the face of our shooters. That really made the difference. I would expect to see something similar from Miss St or Stanford, if we play them.

What goes around comes around: St Johns, OK, Cal all gave Mulkey a model for a game plan. If a team has bigs; Baylor added one more hitch to Uconn's giddy up. Ms St, Stanford are no fools they will keep the tapes of these games for April should Uconn meet them then. Because Uconn won those games mentioned few saw the many weaknesses of this team or had too much faith that Geno could always find a rabbit in his hat of trick.s The tricks ran out last evening. No shame, it had to happen, how does a team with EFFECTIVELY 5 players win every game?? Answer: They don't.

 

[eebmg]

The question you must answer---did Touly give up more points than anyone else guarding Brown--and how effective was she in keeping Brown occupied ? Fouls no matter how many don't matter if you are going to sit that player anyway. No fouls on the bench sitters but nothing good either.

I thought Touly was active and wanted to compete which is the biggest thing for me. Yes, she fouled to much because she took on Brown 1-1 alot. On the other hand, I thought she was very good setting tough screens which we really did not capitalize on. Anyhow, still decompressing.

 

[hussybulldog]

Louisville will take care of them for UConn again in April.

Too much size. Too much Cox (the difference maker imho.) Too much everything.
(And the size problem only gets worse next year.)

We were manhandled for much of the game but got some gritty play to stay in it.

Baylor is a bad matchup for this team. Hope to not have to face them again.

First non-OT loss since? 2013?

 

[hoopingcrane]

Credit to Kim for putting Brown on Walker and forcing Meghan to make shots. Once Meghan showed reluctance, Brown could basically sag off her, clog the middle and allow the perimeter defenders to stay in the face of our shooters. That really made the difference. I would expect to see something similar from Miss St or Stanford, if we play them.

She also had Baylor picking up the defense further up the court, reminiscent of what Miss St did in the semi-final two years ago and they fought through picks and screens hard, generally playing very physically, which I agree tired UConn out late in the game. Result was a lot of tough shots a few feet further out than usual taken more quickly and more difficulty penetrating. Geno urged them to run the offense longer but that didn't happen- too much confidence they could make the difficult shots? Or, a lack of confidence they could get a better shot? The offense just doesn't have the flow of past years teams, but as others have said, give Baylor credit for a good plan and good execution.

 

[Chong-Master]

Going forward, at least UCONN will now have the AAC to feast on. I don't forsee UCONN losing an In-Conference game. Although South Carolina will be a challenging game, I see UCONN winning that game. The next and only true test will be the Louisville game. This, I can see UCONN possibly going into NCAA Selection Day, with 2 losses. This could still give UCONN a #1 seed, but not necessarily coming from the Albany Region (I can see them possibly going to the Southeast Region). Thus, allot would be riding on that Louisville game.

 

[donalddoowop]

It takes posts longer to develop when moving up a level. Upperclass post players are bigger, stronger, and have better footwork. Unless there’s some miracle, Olivia won’t dominate as a freshman unless she can put on 15healthy pounds of muscle overnight

She does not have to dominate. Just get the opportunity to play and and play as well as she can without fear of making mistakes. Also, I wonder how Irwin would have done if she had been given the opportunity to shoot the shots Walker had. I said before Walker came to UConn that I did not believe she had an accurate shot and some posters got all over me. I still feel that way. Walker is a scorer, not necessarily an accurate shooter.

 

[LoTrader]

Happy New Year @Chong-Master. Solids points all around. Megan Walker is a starter on every team in WCBB though. Megan had a bad game last night. In looking back at both the 2016 and 2017 classes only one player (Cox) in both of those classes would have made a difference for UCONN in that game. Cox chose Baylor.

I don't agree that Megan Walker is a starter on any other WCBB Team.

 

[Rixxx]

I have been watching Lou cut through the paint for three years. I cannot remember ever seeing a pass to her during this cut. Not only Lou, but anybody cutting through the paint never receives a pass. Perhaps this is just a method of trying to lose the defender. This has to be tiresome unless you are setting up in the post to take advantage of a mismatch. Geno knows why he does it.
Another thing I have is an unproven theory. All freshmen generally have to adapt to a parade of taller players than they played against in high school. In high school, a 6'2'' player ended up in the post. In college, that same freshmen may have a 6'4" defender on the perimeter that presents a number of problems.
I have noticed this year that a number of schools have serious height: ND, Stanford, MSU, Baylor even TN looks big this year. SIZE= Advantage if athletic enough.