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.
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??
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.
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.
I don't agree that Megan Walker is a starter on any other WCBB Team.
Idk about that. Muffet likes to have Mabrey handling the ball unless Nixon comes in then She’ll do that. But You could be right. It would just be weird to have someone of Mabreys Caliber and Experience on the bench.
You are not only old but wise, grasshopper. As usual, a sober, measured, rational assessment.
So far ND and Baylor have been offered as possible places where Megan would not be starting this year. I disagree with both. On what other WCBB team wouldn't Megan Walker be a starter?
Wrong premise, Megan walker is a SF, Azura is a PF/C. So yes, I really think that MW would be starting along with Azura Stevens not instead of her.
I disagree that Muffet would bench Marina Mabrey for Walker. I believe that if Walker were on the Irish, she would be the first player off the bench, not a starter. Megan is better inside, but Young and Ogunbowale are both slashers and Shepard and Turner are both more effective around the basket. Mabrey is our primary 3-pt threat, which opens the floor. Ogunbowale is not a bad 3-pt shooter when she shoots in rhythm (and I expect Arike's 3-pt % to rise as the season progresses.) But Megan would come in for Young or Ogunbowale, I believe.
I think if Azura came back, she would start along with Williams, Dangerfield, Collier and Samuelson. The front court would be Azura and Collier, KLS at SF, and the backcourt would be CD and Williams. But I think Walker would inherit Azura's role as the bench player with a large number of minutes (unlike this year's bench, where no one serves that role yet).
I see your point but happen to disagree.
MW wouldn't start at Stanford. MW "might" start at Oregon State and UO, but, on all these PAC-12 teams wouldn't be in the top 5 for minutes played. So after rereading the statement, I changed my response.
I can't help but say the magic words: "Just like Baylor did." Mulkey got skewered on the BY for scheduling a cupcake between the break and UConn. Maybe she was smarter than a lot of us thought. Of course, none of that says anything about the fact that Baylor is just really, really big, plain and simple, and UConn looked like they had never seen players of that size. Yes they came back and yes, that's admirable, but at the end of the day, they couldn't get into the tall trees and make magic happen.
I really don't like to pile on one player, but it is not just one game. She hasn't shown the spark that she had at the start of the season for some time now, since just before she got sick. And I;'m starting to believe the BYers who say that a #1 pick actually can't shoot well. It makes no sense, but that's what my eyes are telling me. I really hope I'm wrong.
