Seton Hall Postgame Thread (merged)

[freshler40]

I think people are being a little hard on Jana in this game. The pace of this game is a little too fast for her so in this case Uconn is better playing small ball against the aggressiveness and speed of Seton Hall.

Or a zone defense which we ran for periods with Jana on the court in the second half. It was very effective with many turnover for SH. Quicker guards then have two or three defenders to deal with, each taller and well positioned. No switching is necessary and opposing coaches have to make serious adjustments. They didn't or couldn't.

 

[Basingstoke]

I really recommend hunting down and watching Tony Bozella's postgame conference (I believe it's on the Seton Hall Pirates YouTube channel). He is full of grace and goodwill for both his own team as well as UCONN.
It includes some lovely shoutouts to UCONN'S assistant coaches as well as Aubrey and other UCONN players.
Obviously, he and Geno are buddies, but I found this particular opposing coach's press conference to be something special.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

A letdown should have been expected. Coming off the best win of the year, on the road, packed house and then playing in perhaps the next level up from an elementary school gym, what 20 year-old wouldn’t have been a bit down but that’s why halftime speeches were invented. Jana, stand still when you set a pick. It’s up to the person who you’re setting a pick for, to run their defender into you!!

 

[oldude]

I really recommend hunting down and watching Tony Bozella's postgame conference (I believe it's on the Seton Hall Pirates YouTube channel). He is full of grace and goodwill for both his own team as well as UCONN.
It includes some lovely shoutouts to UCONN'S assistant coaches as well as Aubrey and other UCONN players.
Obviously, he and Geno are buddies, but I found this particular opposing coach's press conference to be something special.

Tony Bozella is one of the very best coaches in WBB. During yesterday’s game, I was struck by how much better SH’s offensive flow and defensive focus was than SC’s on Sunday against UConn.

Tony Bozella is a fixture at SH. But I’ve often wondered what would happen if a smart AD gave a coach like Bozella the opportunity to be a HC at a P4 school, with all the financial and recruiting advantages that a school like SH just can’t compete with.

 

[Kat]

91-49, This is not a letdown or a disappointment. Let's be real, here.

 

[donalddoowop]

People must not have been watching UConn for the past six to seven years. Almost every time UConn has played as well as they did Sunday, they have followed it with a game where they were not as sharp. However, UConn usually does not win that next game by 42 points. As for Jana, why not post her under the basket the way Sarah does and put Sarah at the free throw line. If her teammates can get the ball to Sarah under the basket, why can they not get it to a player three inches taller? After reading the comments on this past game it seems the Boneyard wants Geno to recruit players who play at the top of their game every time and make no mistakes. Well, I challenge anyone to point out a team that has all their players play at their best every game.

 

[Skeets]

Just how spoiled are we? UConn scores 91 in a 42 point win and are we happy? Of course not, this is the BY.

 

[huskeynut]

Geno's 8 player rotation did the job. Maybe not as some believe they should. 91 - 46 says it all.

Concerning Jana - we did not run the spread against the Hall as well as we did against SC. The Hall was ready. So the spacing Jana had against SC was not there. That was also a reason Azzi did not shoot as well. The Hall was determined not to let UConn go berserk with making 3's. They were going to take Azzi out of the game. Give credit to the Hall some very good defense.

UConn is not just one player as last night's game proved. Five players in double figurers - 3 starters and 2 off the bench. What other team has that type of fire power?

They buried the Hall, not with the 3, but with good ball movement, rebounding, fast breaks and defense. Not much more you can ask for.

 

[sun]

The main difference between the last two games was UConn's 3 point shooting percentage which it's unrealistic to think that UConn can sustain that high of a percentage (46% vs. 31%).
However one constant is that Azzi seems to often need an extensive number of warm up shots since she comes out of the gate cold.
It's certainly nice to see UConn excel at the mid-range game when they're trying to establish an offense at the beginning of a game.
Paige, Chen & Ash showed their scoring versatility which is better then watching the team miss a bunch of 3's.

 

[Gusaford]

I really recommend hunting down and watching Tony Bozella's postgame conference (I believe it's on the Seton Hall Pirates YouTube channel). He is full of grace and goodwill for both his own team as well as UCONN.
It includes some lovely shoutouts to UCONN'S assistant coaches as well as Aubrey and other UCONN players.
Obviously, he and Geno are buddies, but I found this particular opposing coach's press conference to be something special.

Likable, classy guy. Wish his team a lot of success.

 

[Bone Dog]

I really recommend hunting down and watching Tony Bozella's postgame conference (I believe it's on the Seton Hall Pirates YouTube channel). He is full of grace and goodwill for both his own team as well as UCONN.
It includes some lovely shoutouts to UCONN'S assistant coaches as well as Aubrey and other UCONN players.
Obviously, he and Geno are buddies, but I found this particular opposing coach's press conference to be something special.

Tony Bozella on Aubrey: “She’ll always be a husky, but she’s got a bit of pirate in her too.”

[nb: most folks here probably know this, but for those who might not, Aubrey’s parents went to Seton Hall.]

 

[HuskyNan]

Tony Bozella is one of the very best coaches in WBB. During yesterday’s game, I was struck by how much better SH’s offensive flow and defensive focus was than SC’s on Sunday against UConn.

Tony Bozella is a fixture at SH. But I’ve often wondered what would happen if a smart AD gave a coach like Bozella the opportunity to be a HC at a P4 school, with all the financial and recruiting advantages that a school like SH just can’t compete with.

That can’t be right. I have it on good authority that everything about the Big East sucks

 

[Oldschoolbb]

Tony Bozella is one of the very best coaches in WBB. During yesterday’s game, I was struck by how much better SH’s offensive flow and defensive focus was than SC’s on Sunday against UConn.

Tony Bozella is a fixture at SH. But I’ve often wondered what would happen if a smart AD gave a coach like Bozella the opportunity to be a HC at a P4 school, with all the financial and recruiting advantages that a school like SH just can’t compete with.

Seton Hall is a well-coached team. I was struck during the game that they were a miniaturizing-mirror version of UConn - just smaller and not as athletic. Each player was noticeably smaller than their UConn counterpart. Bozella has a good player in Eads, who is probably the second best freshman in the Big East after Strong. If he can get some more good players to build in around her, SH could be a team to watch.

A couple of observations from live viewing of the game. Seton Hall just doesn't have enough players to sustain the effort they displayed in the first quarter and a half. Paige is a long taller and longer than she looks on television. It's going to serve her well at the next level. Her right knee tweak at the end of the first half was concerning. It was a non-contact event when going up for a jump. Aubrey Griffin must have been a soccer player at the youth level. She had at least three instances of kicking the ball in this game and they were all very intentional. Lots of players try to kick the ball and miss. She was connecting every time. Jana is very slow-footed. I don't know that it's coachable, but she should be doing a lot of agility work if she wants to improve her play. That and stop bringing ball down every time she gets it inside.

 

[Rowdy831]

Any team that is even half good should be able to shut down one player if that is their objective, unless that player is 6'7 and your tallest is 6'0. Problem is you can't do that to all the players and when you have a team like UConn that has three top 5 WNBA picks on the floor you really do have to pick your poison. Nan does a great job of getting the analytics out for all to see and you notice that even though Azzi didn't score a lot the team was the most successful when she was on the floor.

I do think UConn is getting better but I still would like to see them play a team with size before they play a team like UCLA. I think any team that tries to play small against UConn will have serious trouble and that includes ND.

 

[Charliebball]

Depending on the source, Walsh seats between 1,300 and 1,400 people. I think it would be difficult to get excited about playing…you can’t feed off the crowd. Felt like a flat tire after SC.

I was at the game last night......... I was extremely surprised how loud Walsh was especially when Seton Hall scored.........those tiny high school-like gyms can get surprisingly clamorous...........interestingly in warmups the rap music was truly blaring and Caroline Ducharme participated in every pregame drill showing no ill effects from all that noise......

 

[uconnfan68]

People must not have been watching UConn for the past six to seven years. Almost every time UConn has played as well as they did Sunday, they have followed it with a game where they were not as sharp. However, UConn usually does not win that next game by 42 points. As for Jana, why not post her under the basket the way Sarah does and put Sarah at the free throw line. If her teammates can get the ball to Sarah under the basket, why can they not get it to a player three inches taller? After reading the comments on this past game it seems the Boneyard wants Geno to recruit players who play at the top of their game every time and make no mistakes. Well, I challenge anyone to point out a team that has all their players play at their best every game.

It's like you don't even know us.

 

[Charliebball]

Seton Hall is a well-coached team. I was struck during the game that they were a miniaturizing-mirror version of UConn - just smaller and not as athletic. Each player was noticeably smaller than their UConn counterpart. Bozella has a good player in Eads, who is probably the second best freshman in the Big East after Strong. If he can get some more good players to build in around her, SH could be a team to watch.

A couple of observations from live viewing of the game. Seton Hall just doesn't have enough players to sustain the effort they displayed in the first quarter and a half. Paige is a long taller and longer than she looks on television. It's going to serve her well at the next level. Her right knee tweak at the end of the first half was concerning. It was a non-contact event when going up for a jump. Aubrey Griffin must have been a soccer player at the youth level. She had at least three instances of kicking the ball in this game and they were all very intentional. Lots of players try to kick the ball and miss. She was connecting every time. Jana is very slow-footed. I don't know that it's coachable, but she should be doing a lot of agility work if she wants to improve her play. That and stop bringing ball down every time she gets it inside.

I'll add that watching the game from courtside I was struck by how physical UConn's defense is.........while there were some tiki tac calls, there was also a whole lot of contact that the refs let go on the part of aggressive UConn defenders.......it was very impressive.......

 

[Charliebball]

Just how spoiled are we? UConn scores 91 in a 42 point win and are we happy? Of course not, this is the BY.

It's also the Big East........

 

[victor64]

I was at the game last night......... I was extremely surprised how loud Walsh was especially when Seton Hall scored.........those tiny high school-like gyms can get surprisingly clamorous...........interestingly in warmups the rap music was truly blaring and Caroline Ducharme participated in every pregame drill showing no ill effects from all that noise......

did she have ear plugs in?

 

[Geew1992]

Unlike the SC game, Uconn wasn't hitting their 3s. Hall was able to pack the paint. That's going to happen until the 3s drop consistently. If teams are going to pack it in, it's going to be tough for Jana.

Also, yall are a really hard crowd to please.

 

[uconnfan68]

Seton Hall is a well-coached team. I was struck during the game that they were a miniaturizing-mirror version of UConn - just smaller and not as athletic. Each player was noticeably smaller than their UConn counterpart. Bozella has a good player in Eads, who is probably the second best freshman in the Big East after Strong. If he can get some more good players to build in around her, SH could be a team to watch.

A couple of observations from live viewing of the game. Seton Hall just doesn't have enough players to sustain the effort they displayed in the first quarter and a half. Paige is a long taller and longer than she looks on television. It's going to serve her well at the next level. Her right knee tweak at the end of the first half was concerning. It was a non-contact event when going up for a jump. Aubrey Griffin must have been a soccer player at the youth level. She had at least three instances of kicking the ball in this game and they were all very intentional. Lots of players try to kick the ball and miss. She was connecting every time. Jana is very slow-footed. I don't know that it's coachable, but she should be doing a lot of agility work if she wants to improve her play. That and stop bringing ball down every time she gets it inside.

Those kickballs are huge. They most often come when the other team is inbounding with the ability to run the baseline. She takes that out of play!

 

[Charliebball]

did she have ear plugs in?

That's possible but from where I was sitting, I didn't see any......and believe me it was really loud.......

 

[Stagnant]

I know Geno was mad at halftime. But I was actually impressed with seton hall. I think they are pretty good.

 

[Zanzman]

Some thoughts on the Seton Hall game:

• It feels like we are in the home stretch to the Big Dance. While the top teams in the P4 conferences will be battling each other furiously over the next few weeks, UConn has the relative luxury to focus on polishing up their execution, solidifying the rotation and getting everyone healthy for the post season.
• I keep finding new things to like about Sarah. Over the past two games Sarah has demonstrated one of the prettiest babyp-hooks you’ll see in wbb.
• After the HUGE win at SC, you might have expected a bit of a letdown by the Huskies against the Pirates, and sure enough, the Huskies were not particularly sharp to start the game against an aggressive Seton Hall team.
• Surprisingly, UConn really needed Paige to take over the game, particularly in the 1st half, which she did, leading the Huskies with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, while passing DT, the GOAT, on the all-time UConn scoring list.
• Paige has been getting banged around a lot this season. In the last 2 games she has come up limping 3 times: once at SC, earlier in the game vs SH and then right before the half as she hobbled off the court directly into the locker room. We all got to hold our breath until Paige came out for the 2nd half and buried a mid-range jumper.
• Everyone on UConn plays hard. But Ashlynn has another gear. My goodness does she hustle all over the court.
• Aubrey with yet another really good game at mom & dad's alma mater.
• Not the prettiest game. But who am I to quibble over a 42 pt UConn victory on the road. GO HUSKIES!

Not a pretty game, refs inserted themselves far too much, especially in the first half.

However, there were a lot of good things overall and I’m glad that Paige is okay.

On to the next.

With Azzi having an off night scoring (not even that many attempts), Paige found her stroke and picked up the slack.

Too bad Ash got those two quick first half fouls because she was feeling it on offense.

Knowing where Paige stands on the career scoring list,I may be in the minority but I think she is a better distributor than scorer. She has such great vision.

Fouls, turnovers and low 3 point percentage made it look sloppy at times but they still put 91.

Watching Aubrey round into shape and getting minutes and scoring is a huge boost.

Geno used this game to work on some things. Aubrey played some 5 and the Huskies played some 2-3 zone. I wonder if a zone would work against UCLA.

It was only a matter of time before UConn would widen the gap. The Pirates just can't guard all the Husky weapons.

Ok

I'll add that watching the game from courtside I was struck by how physical UConn's defense is.........while there were some tiki tac calls, there was also a whole lot of contact that the refs let go on the part of aggressive UConn defenders.......it was very impressive.......

you mean they miss UConn fouls also not just the opponents

 

[Oldschoolbb]

I know Geno was mad at halftime. But I was actually impressed with seton hall. I think they are pretty good.

I've seen most of their games this season and will say they are only about 3.5 players deep. But those 3.5 players are good, if not the best athletes (except Eades). Walsh Gym is a throwback and a Seton Hall women's bball season ticket is also. $75 a ticket for 15 or so games, so about $5.00 a game. That's an entertainment value!