Regardless of the statistics, I recall on more than just one occasion, early in the 1st quarter, I was cursing at the television, “grab the ball!” Based upon the statistics, this obviously must not have been all that many times, but it rings very heavily in my memory.
On rebounds, I recall that UConn was excellent at getting position on, and boxing out (or as it may have been boxing in) the Louisville player(s). The shot would be taken, UConn would man-up on the opposition, the ball would be inbound to the hoop and/or bouncing off the iron, and we would have that Louisville player sealed off! And I do mean sealed off; just no way were they getting the rebound! And, as it turned out, those players we had boxed out, rarely would get a rebound!
Our player(s) in the paint would physically be in between the opposition and the ball, perfect, holding them back from getting the rebound … but at some point, you have to give up on that boxing out technique and run over and simply “Grab the Ball!” as I would yell. Our player would be the closest to it, however we’d be in such a pushing match, playing excellent technique, not willing to give way, that when the ball came down maybe six feet away, we would not be in a position to retrieve it. After all of that battle boxing out, some little Louisville guard would run free and go retrieve the rebound right out from under us. I of course would curse, “#^%!, Grab the ball!”
Well, not too much later into the game, I relaxed a little. We were now up by a dozen or more, and I was not quite so ‘on the edge of my seat’, and I no longer cursing at my television screen. Oh, that is when I also recognized that more times than not, that pesky little guard running over there and grabbing the rebound … that was Paige; she ended up with 10! AND, Kaitlyn, Azzi, Ash, Q and KK accounted for another 18…