Postgame: Too much[merged thread]

[DaBball]

I personally didn’t expect Cox to defend Collier as well as she did. She held her to 6-18 shooting which isn’t easy to do on someone like Collier. She also had 5 blocks. She had some offensive struggles shooting 3-12 but her defense made up for it.

 

[DaBball]

Megan needs to knock down those shots. Baylor did something similar a season ago where at least toward the later half of the game, they put Cox on Gulich and Brown on Corosdale. Corosdale couldn’t even go off the bounce like Megan has the ability, but she knocked down a few 3s. It kept Brown guarding the perimeter which gets things going for others (more open drives) tonight, she didnt knock those down.

 

[CL82]

I saw in person Baylor's game against UCLA last year, where Kalani went off for 33 points in her team's losing effort that day. But what really impressed me in person was just how huge Kalani was. She made the uber-athletic 6'4" Monique Billings look like a small preteen standing next to her.

It's not even her size, it's her base. She is just so solid and strong. No way for our guys to move her out of her spot. I definitely think she help her draft position last night.

 

[buddy]

That is the major issue that I see. Similar to the UConn men, they lack a tall and strong big, wide body, Steph Dolson type. That would make the difference here.

 

[Shades]

McCowan lacked it vs. Oregon and Brown vs. Stanford.

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.

 

[CocoHusky]

UConn shoots 29%, still keeps the game close and you are throwing in towel for season? Geno made few adjustments last night other than a few extra minutes of substitutions so would expect things to be different in future. Few of us expected UConn to go undefeated so suggest not letting the post game hang over take you to extremes.

I'm definitely not throwing in the towel. I Don't know what gave you that Idea.

 

[CL82]

The lesson from last night is that we are vulnerable to teams with big posts. Is that really a surprise to anyone? If we are going to have a chance of beating them we will need good ball movement to get open looks, and much better shooting. FWIW, during crunch time, it seems to me that we overlook CW. We shouldn't. Her range and speed is going to be critical for us down the stretch.

 

[LoTrader]

Megan needs to knock down those shots. Baylor did something similar a season ago where at least toward the later half of the game, they put Cox on Gulich and Brown on Corosdale. Corosdale couldn’t even go off the bounce like Megan has the ability, but she knocked down a few 3s. It kept Brown guarding the perimeter which gets things going for others (more open drives) tonight, she didnt knock those down.

Accurate assessment. When all 5 of your players (including those in the post) can hit the outside shot, that opens up the lane. I remember when OSU played UCONN in the Final 4 game. Ruth Hamblin had to come out of the key to guard UCONN and that was that. UCONN was hitting outside shots, and, then the lane opened up and easy baskets followed in the paint.

 

[Chong-Master]

To ALL the Boneyarders out there, the "Bottom Line" on this year's UCONN team, is that the 'Overall' recruiting efforts by the UCONN Coaching Staff has caught up with them. Yes, CW was the #1 recruit last year, but no one #1 recruit makes a team. ONO is a 'Project' and needs at least a year (or 2) to develop into the player Geno wants. Sorry folks, but Megan Walker is NOT a front line starter. She starts out of necssity. UCONN and Geno has no one really ready to replace Kia, Gabby, and Stevens. Love Molly and Kyla, but they are and haven't been able to fill the needs of the team off the bench. Both have basically are similar to the 2 walk-ons that perfomed in their roles, during their time on the team. Camera might be able to help later on this season, but I feel she will essentially be another Natalie Butler at best. Coombs is just another bench guard, who is maybe 75% of a Saniya Chong type player. Geno and the Coaching Staff went "bust" with their recruitments of Lexi Godon and AEH, both whom transfered out, have shown that 'maybe' the coaching staff should have taken a different direction during the 2016 and 2017 recruiting years. And while Griffin will be the Wing Guard that Geno was expecting AEH to be, UCONN's inability to land a true big post player in this year's recruiting class is really going to haunt them for the next couple if years, unless they are successful next year. IN SUMMARY, the lack of a true strong post player, along with a bench that is not as good as previous Championship UCONN team were, is the reason why I don't believe that they will fall short this season (maybe only making it to the Elite 8)

 

[bantamlaker]

I agree with most I take exception to the words "lost their composure" .Even Coombs when thrust in to sub for CW played with composure. CW, a Frosh, who never saw this much size, talent and tough defense, didn't have the experience to know how to make through to score. Walker nearly the same. What you haven't seen before you need practice and experience to know how to handle it. How could Geno replicate that size in practice??
I give Walker an A, CW B, Coombs a B plus, Phee an A minus (only because she missed shots she usually made) , KLS A plus, Danger A plus, Touly a B plus or A minus.
I'm so proud of how WELL they all played against very good defense and size at every position. There is no shame when you gave it your all and that was over come by SIZE.

I love your grading system Broadway. The team shoots 29% and 4 of the 5 starters get an A. I wish I had you for organic chemistry in college.

 

[BackBay]

One has to question Geno's recruiting strategy after seeing how "small" & slow UConn looked last night. You can't get away with not having big-body post players against the top teams in the country. Losing Boston as a recruit was a tremendous loss. No way to sugar coat it.

 

[BobbyJ]

If you were in chat last night you would have seen this team skewered, killed, lashed, bashed, vilified and killed by the chatters. Sad.

UCONN had a long layoff and this game was erroneously scheduled. Should have had a game just before this one.

I doubt it would have mattered. Tough, physical, in your face defense takes UConn's offense, and especially Samuelson and Dangerfield completely out of their offense. Against teams with size they can't get to the rim because other than Collier, they don't get off the floor.

 

[Jim R]

For those folks who feel that ONO didn't do her job, I say that here was a freshman, going against a senior, who was 3 inches taller, much bigger/stronger, and most importantly, much more experienced. Let's face it, Baylor made the plays that they had to make to win the game, and UConn didn't. We had multiple open shots that we make a living off of, that just didn't go in. It happens. There is a lot of season left. FIDO...

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.

 

[Vowelguy]

I love your grading system Broadway. The team shoots 29% and 4 of the 5 starters get an A. I wish I had you for organic chemistry in college.

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 .

 

[CocoHusky]

To ALL the Boneyarders out there, the "Bottom Line" on this year's UCONN team, is that the 'Overall' recruiting efforts by the UCONN Coaching Staff has caught up with them. Yes, CW was the #1 recruit last year, but no one #1 recruit makes a team. ONO is a 'Project' and needs at least a year (or 2) to develop into the player Geno wants. Sorry folks, but Megan Walker is NOT a front line starter. She starts out of necssity. UCONN and Geno has no one really ready to replace Kia, Gabby, and Stevens. Love Molly and Kyla, but they are and haven't been able to fill the needs of the team off the bench. Both have basically are similar to the 2 walk-ons that perfomed in their roles, during their time on the team. Camera might be able to help later on this season, but I feel she will essentially be another Natalie Butler at best. Coombs is just another bench guard, who is maybe 75% of a Saniya Chong type player. Geno and the Coaching Staff went "bust" with their recruitments of Lexi Godon and AEH, both whom transfered out, have shown that 'maybe' the coaching staff should have taken a different direction during the 2016 and 2017 recruiting years. And while Griffin will be the Wing Guard that Geno was expecting AEH to be, UCONN's inability to land a true big post player in this year's recruiting class is really going to haunt them for the next couple if years, unless they are successful next year. IN SUMMARY, the lack of a true strong post player, along with a bench that is not as good as previous Championship UCONN team were, is the reason why I don't believe that they will fall short this season (maybe only making it to the Elite 8)

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.

 

[mbr33ct]

Why is it so hard for some to give Baylor all the credit? They perhaps played one of their best game in their history. Kudos to Kim and team for a well planned and executed game. Saying that, a stop here and there with a couple more shots made...who knows, maybe results would have been different.

After all, this is the same UConn team that beat up on ND earlier this year.

 

[OneTrickPony]

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 as 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...

 

[DaBball]

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.

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.

 

[Dove]

I doubt it would have mattered. Tough, physical, in your face defense takes UConn's offense, and especially Samuelson and Dangerfield completely out of their offense. Against teams with size they can't get to the rim because other than Collier, they don't get off the floor.

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

 

[BroadwayVa]

I love your grading system Broadway. The team shoots 29% and 4 of the 5 starters get an A. I wish I had you for organic chemistry in college.

It is not about STATS it's about effort against an aggressive defense and not matching in height at any position. Stats rarely show effort. An easy team big stats. A team as Uconn ran into last evening; away from home, just off of Xmas break, hostile crowd right up on to the floor. 17 to 22 year old kids. In Organic Chem your grades, I'm sure, were based on your ability to decipher the text, remember the lectures: you didn't have to run for 40 minute while being pushed, pulled, and physically abused while being tested. If you could withstand that beating while taking MY test, depending on your actual grade, I may have given YOU an A. Any class that was not subjective in testing I deserved the grades I received, that most likely is the case with you too.
Then too I am grading as a Fan; I believe that allows me some lattitude.

 

[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.