Quote Of The Night

[RockyMTblue2]

“We were joking around in the locker room that whenever Crystal gets in the lane, I can be on the opposite end of the court and there’s a chance it’s coming to me. I have to be ready,” Samuelson said. “You just never know who it’s going to go to. Phee always says if (Dangerfield’s) not looking at you, you’re getting the ball.”

What's that, stolen material?

UConn women sprint to easy win over SMU

And another from "Coach" Lou:

“That pressing kind of gets us mismatches a lot,” Samuelson said. “It gets people in positions that they don’t necessarily want to be in. When we set up, they have the game plan, they clearly scouted us, they clearly know every offense we run because that’s what teams do to prepare to play against us.

“But when we’re in transition, we don’t necessarily run anything. You can’t guard when you don’t know what’s happening. You can’t guard when we don’t even know what’s going to happen.”

 

[DEpup]

Out of the mouths of babes and it only took what 16 games in to figure it out. Lol.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

"I think the basketball world, if you're not careful, is stand around and wait to shoot a 3," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "If you watch, that's kind of what basketball has become. I think there's got to be something else to the game."

The Huskies displayed a lot of something else last night:

UConn had 16 steals and scored 26 points off 24 SMU turnovers. The Huskies had 21 points on the fast break and outscored SMU 38-22 in the paint. 26 assists on 31 made baskets.

SNY | NCAA Women's Game Recap

 

[Ozimoto]

Kind of a piranha on a roast game.

 

[Carnac]

Finally!!! I’ve been waiting to see that type of defense all season. I liked what I saw last night. I saw several fast breaks last night. That’s been a rare sighting at UConn women’s games lately. I watched CW to see what she was doing on defense. Again, I liked what I saw.

I’m seriously liking me some Molly Bent. She has finally blossomed. I don’t cringe when she comes in now. I’m confident now that she’s not going to turn the ball over, or do something to hurt us. She's playing with an air of confidence I've never seen before. It appears that Geno trusts her, and has no hesitation inserting her into a game at ANY given time. She grown and matured to the point where she can truly help this team.

The bench mob is looking better. I’m not worried about Christyn. Christyn is a warrior. Once she “gets it”, once she gets her "sea legs" at this level, she’ll never look back. I recall so many of our freshmen returning from summer break to announce.......they got it. That they now understand the system and what they are supposed to do.

I remember Gabby and Mo-Jeff saying this during an interview in August (right after they returned to campus from summer break) of their sophomore year. I expect CW and ONO to return to campus in 7 months smiling and announcing that they've “got it.”

I remember Crystal looking exactly the same at this point in her freshman year. Look at her now. The same goes for ONO. They'll be fine. As much as we want/need them to blossom now, we must accept the fact that some things cannot be rushed. Last night’s game was easy and enjoyable to watch.

Very much looking forward to the UCF (17-2/6-0) game Sunday. If our girls can play like they did last night the rest of the way, they are going to be very hard to beat.

Not looking past UCF, but next real acid test will be against #4 Louisville a week from today. A top 5 team with a top 5 scorer in the country that will be a high seed in the tournament, and mirror the type of teams they will see in March.

As Vic Schaefer (MSU) says.............praise the Lord and go dogs.

 

[BobbyJ]

Finally!!! I’ve been waiting to see that type of defense all season. I liked what I saw last night. I saw several fast breaks last night. That’s been a rare sighting at UConn women’s games lately. I watched CW to see what she was doing on defense. Again, I liked what I saw.

I’m seriously liking me some Molly Bent. She has finally blossomed. I don’t cringe when she comes in now. I’m confident now that she’s not going to turn the ball over, or do something to hurt us. She can now come in and give the guards a quick blow without being a liability.

The bench mob is looking better. I’m not worried about Christyn. Christyn is a warrior. Once she “gets it”, she’ll never look back. I recall so many of our freshmen returning from summer break to announce that they got it. That they now understand the system and what they are supposed to do.

I remember Gabby saying this during an interview in August of her sophomore year. I expect CW and ONO to return at the end of the summer smiling and announcing that they’ve “got it.”

I remember Crystal looking the same at this point in her freshman year. Look at her now. The same goes for ONO. She’ll be fine. Last night’s game was easy and enjoyable to watch.

Looking forward to the UCF (17-2/6-0) game Sunday. If our girls can play like they did last night the rest of the way, they are going to be very hard to beat. The next acid test will be against #4 Louisville. A ranked team with a top 5 scorer in the country that will be a high seed in the tournament, and mirror the type of teams they will see in March.

Praise the Lord and go dogs.

Scoop, I know you're excited but pump the brakes a little. Remember, that was the equivalent of a good HS team they beat last night. The next acid test may very well be Sunday.

 

[Carnac]

Scoop, I know you're excited but pump the brakes a little. Remember, that was the equivalent of a good HS team they beat last night. The next acid test may very well be Sunday.

I understand that SMU is a conference bottom feeder, ranked just above 0-5 Temple and Wichita state, but I still liked what I saw. Our girls had to start somewhere. Now let’s build on what they did last night going forward. You’re right, we’ll know more after the UCF game. The Golden Knights (17-2/6-0) will be a much tougher out than SMU, and will present tougher “challenges” for UConn that they could not.

Have you seen their OOC schedule? Not very impressive. There are some wins against some........ahem, "soft" teams. They lost to an unranked Central Michigan team 75-68, and to #15 (at the time) Syracuse 57-52.
Granted, UCF does have the #6 ranked defense in the country at 52.7 ppg. But guess who is right behind them at #7, that's right, UConn at 53.2 ppg.

This UConn team has always much better than either of those two teams from day one. UCF will suffer their first 2018-2019 AAC conference loss Sunday.

I also like our chances against Louisville as well. We've got more weapons than they have. After Asia Durr (21 ppg, who IS NOT currently ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring), what/who do they have? Their next best scorer is Sam Fuehring at 10.2 ppg. Louisville is not currently ranked in the top 10 in any statistical NCAA WCBB category other than being #4 in the top 25. Louisville also has some soft teams on their OOC.

Every journey has a starting point. Hopefully this is theirs, and it appears they’ve turned the corner on their play and the season. We know where Geno wants this team to go. The type of defense they played last night can take them there. If not now, when? This looks like the right road to me. Let’s see where it goes.

 

[BostonCanuck]

I agree, Scoop. Regardless of the quality of recent opponents, I see progress being made game by game since the Baylor fiasco, as the team systematically checks off boxes on its to-do list: More energy on defense. Check. Better passing and execution of the motion offense. Check. Crystal swishing and dishing. Check. Megan Walker. Check. Meaningful contributions from the bench. Check.

Now if the Huskies can just get Christyn Williams over the freshman wall, and pull out of the team-wide shooting funk they're in, I think we'll be in very good shape. And whom among us wouldn't bet that they'll be sure to take additional steps forward by March.