Seton Hall Postgame Thread

[npignatjr]

2 things
6th game in 14 days
CW has played worse since Coach Lister left, started her backwards slide then

 

[BBallF]

Here we go with another matter of fact statement. It's a myth that she will snap out of it. Yes, and it was a myth that Nika would not help the team.

I never said Nika wasn't going to help this team. I touted her going back to the summer and still have been. I don't know who said that but these are two completely different things. I was talking about CW's shot as not being fixed by simply having a different mindset or by shooting her way out of it. We have been down this road several times before with her. It's the shot itself that needs fixing. That has nothing to do with her drives, floor game or other parts of her game. The same issues with her shot make her free throws unreliable as well. There is a very good analysis of the mechanics of her shot in a prior post above. When she can drive and take layups or she gets out in transition she is very effective but she is an inaccurate 3 point shooter this year at 27% and Liv is at 23% so no I don't think either one of them should be shooting very many of them at all. Geno in his presser last night talked about Liv shooting from the outside but he was talking about her shooting from foul line range. CW is even having a hard time now with her pull up J which is also due to mechanics but now there is a confidence issue as well that is permeating her game. I am sure they are addressing it but I don't think it is a quick fix.

 

[JBK]

Just a couple thoughts on CW.

1) She played hard defense tonight, and has been lately.

2) She’s clearly in some kind of offensive funk. I’m thinking maybe she expected herself to take more of the leadership role that was hyped (and self-hyped) for the juniors all preseason. And now that Paige, who basically plays her same position, has asserted herself more, and clearly understands the offense better and is basically directing the team... Christyn doesn’t seem suited for the leadership role - maybe she feels like she has failed somehow.

Or maybe she’s just been hurt and we don’t know it. Maybe she just needs a break to get her head together. Maybe Geno should invent a hurt toe and give her the next game off to sulk, and then it’s put up or sit.

Do you think all the praise and accolades given to Paige can have an impact on Christyn’s mind. The style of play of late has not been pressing and running which plays to her advantage as well. Also the offensive with Liv hanging wide open at the foul line makes it impossible for players to drive when the defense is packed in.
You may want to count how many drive to the basket hoops did UCONN get in the 1st quarter. My hopes in the next few games is that Mir plays more and they play uptempo and CW will get back in the flow.

 

[npignatjr]

AE’s chances of playing that many minutes only happens if she can stay out of foul trouble. She is being brought along at the right pace. Her future is bright.

Until AE becomes a threat to hit a jumper that won’t happen, especially given AG is useless five feet or more from basket.

AG last 2 games 4-13 from mostly those 5 feet, lots of energy though.

 

[freshler40]

I said it in the game thread. I'm done criticizing CW. It's gotten to the really sad point where her confidence is, well, shot. Every time she goes up I cringe. It's painful to watch and must be much more painful to experience. From now on she'll get nothing but encouragement from me.

Geno will set driving plays up for CW. She is deceptive being a lefty if she drives from the right side of the hoop. The rest of her game will fall into place. Not too worried about her outside shooting as the entire team is in a slump, 1 for 9 at one point in the first half. The coaches need to go over the shoot mechanics of certain players. That is like going for a annual physical. Basic stuff!. We played very sloppy at too fast a pace in this game. SH played us well in the first half and ran right at us! The team is worn out from the tough games against ranked teams and insane travel/testing requirements.

We still have some good pick and rolls that work! This is the only women's team that seems to run plays and not defer to one player though Beckers does need to take over when others don't seem to want to shoot or play. It is strange watching them start a play, they aren't fluid yet but will be. This is a very young team with a lot of up-side.

Liv need to watch the ball more and where it is on the court. All these players need to regularly cast their eyes on where the ball is at all times. This really hurt us with the half court heave in the SC game. We stopped playing when SC had 3+ seconds on the clock. Always pay attention to the ball!!!!

 

[freshler40]

Do you think all the praise and accolades given to Paige can have an impact on Christyn’s mind. The style of play of late has not been pressing and running which plays to her advantage as well. Also the offensive with Liv hanging wide open at the foul line makes it impossible for players to drive when the defense is packed in.
You may want to count how many drive to the basket hoops did UCONN get in the 1st quarter. My hopes in the next few games is that Mir plays more and they play uptempo and CW will get back in the flow.

Important point here about the changing of the leadership rolls and type of offensive set-up that works for CW's benefit.

Geno has been trying to establish Liv as an outside shooter. She is taking good clear shots, they just aren't falling perhaps due to her being tired. Many of her outside shots are short, off the front of the rim. Lets switch Edwards to that position and put Liv inside again. Edwards is also a better driving option. We didn't offensive rebound in the first half yesterday as no big went inside. The second half resulted in such a change described above and Liv had 11 rebounds and many points. Griffin is also another choice for the switch of players with Liv.

 

[msf22b]

One additional point I forgot to make (above)
Both teams played on the 15th.
-The Seton Hall kids (allegedly) had a long bus ride back from Milwaukee.
-The UConn kids were (perhaps) mentally exhausted from their last minute heroics at Gampal...but got got to sleep in their own beds.

Result: UConn sleepwalked through the first half, and there was no gas in the oven for the Pirates in the 4th quarter...

 

[SJF]

Half court offense has been a struggle all year. It’s obvious as long as he has the Posts up at top of key all opponents will sag and bait them into shooting shots they are not comfortable with. For the most part 3’s not falling for guards. The best way to get an opponent out of their half court sagging D is to full court press them. The only problem is as a team we look tired and half are limping somehow🤷‍♂️

 

[Jingo]

My two cents worth on SH and some references to SC:

1. PB is our only dominate player and to hope or say otherwise is just not accurate in the least bit. Fortunately, she is better than any Freshman or Soph-SR for that matter that I’ve seen so that gives us a chance in any game.
2. NM is pretty good. He defense was solid/good (not great and probably never will be, but good/solid nonetheless). I was very impressed with her against SC and she was decent against SH. She is not yet a consistent scorer and may never be, but her handle, passing, defense (yes her defense!) and her ability to make PB even better makes our team a lot better. She was out of control once and another time you can debate that she was as well. But yet so was PB and so was EW on occasion.
3. Good game by EW but why couldn’t she do more against SC? Is she not going to be able to play big against top 5 teams? She has a few ‘what the heck’ moments every game it seems. I’m a little (not a lot) concerned. Good game against SH.
4. Liv – nice passing game against SC but yet nobody was guarding her and most players can make good passes against air. In saying that, she still made the plays and that is great. I am very concerned that she seemed scared of Boston on the offensive end. By my count, she missed 7 out of 9 jumpers (shouldn’t count one as she was trying to beat the shot clock) against SC. She hit about half of them against SH. What concerns me is when she doesn’t take the shot at the foul line and sometimes even closer, when nobody is guarding her. I think she just needs to stop thinking, and if nobody is guarding her from the FT line, then take the darn shot….every time. Maybe she makes them, maybe she doesn’t, maybe we win, maybe we don’t, but we can’t expect to win too many games playing 4 on 5 on offense as far as shooters are concerned. I don’t think it will work in the long run if she can’t make the defense pay for not guarding her. I’d make her stay after practice and take a 100 shots with simulated game conditions (come out for the pass, turn and shoot). I’m convinced she can make the shot at a high percentage..50%
5. CW – well it is the same thing I’ve been saying all year. If she can’t drive to the basket, and it is tougher to do so when Liv’s man is hanging out in the lane, then she is not helping us much. To be fair, SH was the second game in a row where her defense was pretty good. She needs to get her eyes checked. I’m convinced that there is something wrong with her vision.
6. AE – coming along very well. I’d like her to hit some FT line jumpers as well. I think she may play huge for us after she gets another 10 games under her belt. Also she is very good on the offensive boards - she naturally takes up space and gobbles up rebounds.
7. AG – continues to make an impact in so many ways. She did have 2-3 TOs in quick succession. What a luxury it is to have a player the size of AG checking guards and disrupting passing lanes. She is a bit of a cheese piece really. She affects the game in a lot of ways.
8. The last two games, our offense has been stuck in a rut. Without PB, we would be downright awful. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that we can’t shoot and teams are backing off of us. We have a shooting guard that can’t shoot, we have a point (NM) who may be able to shoot, but at this point, she doesn’t scare many. EW is pretty good but our bigs (Liv, AE and AG) are not shooting with conviction. Even Liv refuses to shoot more often than not. Teams see this and back off. It is hard to run an offense when Liv’s or AE’s man is camped in the middle of the lane. To be fair though, Liv can make some nice picks for PB and there is no defensive help, so PB has the open shot after the pick. We made SC pay for this time and time again.
9. Too many turnovers. It would not surprise me if we are averaging close to 20 TOs a game during these 2 games.
10. I still think things will come together over the next month or so. I’m really encouraged by our defense lately. Not perfect but a lot better than it was in the first 10 games of the year!

Very good thinking and analysis .. now, if we can just get Saylor some more minutes to see what we got...

 

[Bald Husky]

By the way, not a basketball comment, but can somebody tell Saylor to keep her mask on. All the bench players are masked, all the coaches are masked, but Saylor most of the time has hers under her chin. There is a reason some teams are paused, and there is a reason why everyone on the sidelines have to where a mask. We don't need an accident now. Somebody tell her she is not in High School now, and she has to obey ADULT rules.

 

[Ralph]

Wild thought. Paige has been pretty poor shooting early in a few games. Could she be tanking it deliberately to force others to try and step up? See, I am missing we need you, shoot the ball. Also keeps Geno happy, I am shooting the ball, just not going in. Problem is no one shoots well and somewhere in the middle of the game, Paige suddenly starts hitting to pull us out of our funk.

 

[jaundicedeye]

By no means am I excusing CW play. Yes she is a junior, But let's keep somethings in mind.

Geno has said players were struggling with the offense way back when CW was a freshman with KLS, NaPheesa Collier and Crystal Dangerfield. I think we would agree Pheesa was a much better mid to low post player than what we currently have and she took a lot of attention from oppositions post players. KLS helped spread the floor with her deadly shooting and she often took two players with her. Crystal Dangerfield much better at running offense and Dribble penetration than anybody we currently have. CW strengths on that team was slasher and getting to the basket. The lanes weren't clogged for her to accomplish that. .

Currently CW strengths are limited due to horrible team movement, lack of shooters and clogged lanes. Every since we went away from a post heavy offense which we did a lot early part of this season, CW has looked lost. ONO and AE picks mean nothing because soon as she comes off the pick the Bigs are right there waiting for her and CW strength isn't the mid range pull up. She is more of a rhythm scorer. The offense has shifted to Paige which is openly campaigned by the head honcho in charge. Not a problem with that because the (Hometown) talent has earned that. I just would like to see that change to some degree, because I feel like our early season team success has taken a hit. Also find a lineup and rotation and let the girls mold into their roles with in those rotations.

Tonight's game was not good, but I am confident CW will rebound and find her stride.

Well said!

 

[HopJim]

2nd half maybe B+ or so, 1st half, D+. Seton Hall was ready and showed they deserve to be in the NCAA. AEH has been a great addition for them, and it seems she's matured a lot so good for her. Was the team tired? Letdown? They certainly played much better in the 2nd half and wore SHU down.

Paige - missed some shots in the 1st half and some sloppy turnovers, but another stellar scoring night for NPOY.

Evina - she just does so much. 12 points on 50% shooting, 1 block, 3 steals, 7 assists, 8 boards. The 3-ball abandoned her tonight but she scored other ways and did a lot more than score.

Props to Olivia - a really solid night for her. She had like 5 boards in just a few minutes in Q4 - but 15/13 is a really good night for her.

Nika seemed a bit off, but no one is more intense than her. She will be fine.

Both LIya and Aubrey were stellar. Aubrey is the energizer bunny for the team.

Christyn, I got nothing to say except 2 thumbs down.

Overall, win and move on. 21 point win over a pesky SHU team. Rooting for them to make the big dance big time. They are the only team besides DePaul with a louder coach than Geno LOL!!!

Have a love, hate with Aubrey (mostly love). One of the best defenders and most energetic players in country. Against smaller teams, many offensive rebounds and layups. Particularly against teams that don't guard Liv at the key, as most are doing now, tends to get lost down low, takes bad shots, and bog down the offense. Geno doing good job mixing and matching her skills depending upon teams we play and game to game matchups.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I actually thought all of Christyn's shot attempts were good ones. That's what makes it so frustating. She's getting good looks and she's throwing up airballs and laying bricks.

That 4th qrtr pull-up from 7 feet, middle of the lane and squared up to the basket and the shot was off-line. Long or short I get, but off-line?

 

[HopJim]

Looking ahead, where does she play next year? Muhl is the PG of the future, Paige and Azzi are generational players and ONO needs Edwards on the court to be an effective player. Without injury, there is no role.

If (yes, a big if) Williams gets her shot back, who would you want in there, her or Muhl? Muhl's energy looks great but Williams has significantly more upside. The one game Williams excelled in her shooting, she did not try to do as much, staying closer to basket and focused on driving more than 3 pointers. Maybe that is the answer. We will need them both if we hope to win at the end of the year.

 

[oldude]

That 4th qrtr pull-up from 7 feet, middle of the lane and squared up to the basket and the shot was off-line. Long or short I get, but off-line?

Yes that shot in particular was a head scratcher. It clanked off the back of the rim.

 

[pvdoggy]

Yes that shot in particular was a head scratcher. It clanked off the back of the rim.

Jordan Spieth knows how CW is feeling. I have seen him missed 3-4 ft straight putt that did not even hit the hole. He has not been able to snap out of a multi-years funk after a start of his career where people were talking bout him potentially winning more majors than Tiger Wood.

 

[Bald Husky]

Wild thought. Paige has been pretty poor shooting early in a few games. Could she be tanking it deliberately to force others to try and step up? See, I am missing we need you, shoot the ball. Also keeps Geno happy, I am shooting the ball, just not going in. Problem is no one shoots well and somewhere in the middle of the game, Paige suddenly starts hitting to pull us out of our funk.

Lets face it, we do not have a reliable 3 Pt shooter other than Paige. Maybe Nika can shoot at least 10 shots a game. She only takes 3 or 4. We don't know how good or bad she is shooting cause we don't have enough data to go by. She has passed on many open opportunities, and if she wants to be a viable starter going forward she has to show us, and the coaches of course, how capable she is. They don't have to be 3 pointers, just show us that she can get the ball in the hole.

 

[Bliss]

Wild thought. Paige has been pretty poor shooting early in a few games. Could she be tanking it deliberately to force others to try and step up? See, I am missing we need you, shoot the ball. Also keeps Geno happy, I am shooting the ball, just not going in. Problem is no one shoots well and somewhere in the middle of the game, Paige suddenly starts hitting to pull us out of our funk.

Shooters never tank it. Instead, they expect and want every shot to go in.

 

[oldude]

Jordan Spieth knows how CW is feeling. I have seen him missed 3-4 ft straight putt that did not even hit the hole. He has not been able to snap out of a multi-years funk after a start of his career where people were talking bout him potentially winning more majors than Tiger Wood.

Speith was close last week holding the 54 hole lead in Phoenix, although he couldn’t close the deal on Sunday.

 

[Sanka541]

If CW cannot get it going in our next 5 games against the worst 5 teams in BE then I worry for her come March honestly.

 

[pvdoggy]

Speith was close last week holding the 54 hole lead in Phoenix, although he couldn’t close the deal on Sunday.

That's like CW has one good shooting game.

 

[oldude]

That's like CW has one good shooting game.

Speith tees it up today at Pebble. Let’s hope he can make it 2 in a row.

 

[CocoHusky]

By no means am I excusing CW play. Yes she is a junior, But let's keep somethings in mind.

Geno has said players were struggling with the offense way back when CW was a freshman with KLS, NaPheesa Collier and Crystal Dangerfield. I think we would agree Pheesa was a much better mid to low post player than what we currently have and she took a lot of attention from oppositions post players. KLS helped spread the floor with her deadly shooting and she often took two players with her. Crystal Dangerfield much better at running offense and Dribble penetration than anybody we currently have. CW strengths on that team was slasher and getting to the basket. The lanes weren't clogged for her to accomplish that. .

Currently CW strengths are limited due to horrible team movement, lack of shooters and clogged lanes. Every since we went away from a post heavy offense which we did a lot early part of this season, CW has looked lost. ONO and AE picks mean nothing because soon as she comes off the pick the Bigs are right there waiting for her and CW strength isn't the mid range pull up. She is more of a rhythm scorer. The offense has shifted to Paige which is openly campaigned by the head honcho in charge. Not a problem with that because the (Hometown) talent has earned that. I just would like to see that change to some degree, because I feel like our early season team success has taken a hit. Also find a lineup and rotation and let the girls mold into their roles with in those rotations.

Tonight's game was not good, but I am confident CW will rebound and find her stride.

CW struggles are not new and did not start this year. Paige is much better than running offense than Crystal was.
I agree that CW strength is as a slasher and getting to the basket. What is stopping her? The lanes are equally clogged for Paige, Nika and Evina and yet they seem to find a way to get to the basket.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

A word for AEH. Congratulations to that young lady. She's been on a rollercoaster right for years. She left UConn on bad terms, then went to Mississippi State, which valued her, and for whom she played an excellent half season. Then she tanked the next season. Now she's at Seton Hall where she's playing the best basketball of her career. She certainly has developed as a player, blending in with the high speed, motion offense of SH. She's playing defense, and moving on offense. It's too bad that we lost her from UConn. But good to see her develop and mature. She played well against UConn, and Coach Geno certainly saw the fine talent that he recruited those years ago. Wish the best for her in the future.

 

[oldude]

CW struggles are not new and did not start this year. Paige is much better than running offense than Crystal was.
I agree that CW strength is as a slasher and getting to the basket. What is stopping her? The lanes are equally clogged for Paige, Nika and Evina and yet they seem to find a way to get to the basket.

Christyn is tentative on offense whether shooting from outside or driving to the basket. There were several times last night when she had the ball in her hands and clearly had a lane to the basket, only to back the ball out and pass to a teammate. This is a player whose confidence is terribly fragile right now.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

ONO did not have the great night that the stats claimed. She had just two rebounds and two points at the end of the first half. She was tentative, missed outside shots, and didn't even make a pretense of going for offensive rebounds. Eight of her thirteen rebounds came in the fourth quarter. Her offensive rebounds seemed to come when Edwards was in the game, causing opposing players to key on Edwards, and leaving ONO open under the basket to rebound, or score. One would like to see ONO play aggressively back-to-the-basket, putting up layups and either scoring, or getting fouled. Her outside shooting just isn't helping. Congratulations to Coach Geno for figuring out how to use ONO in a way that minimizes her liabilities. But as he pointed out again last night, it was Edwards and Griffin who were playing aggressively, and both who provided the offensive rebounding that the team needed. He didn't mention ONO.

 

[eebmg]

Important point here about the changing of the leadership rolls and type of offensive set-up that works for CW's benefit.

Geno has been trying to establish Liv as an outside shooter. She is taking good clear shots, they just aren't falling perhaps due to her being tired. Many of her outside shots are short, off the front of the rim. Lets switch Edwards to that position and put Liv inside again. Edwards is also a better driving option. We didn't offensive rebound in the first half yesterday as no big went inside. The second half resulted in such a change described above and Liv had 11 rebounds and many points. Griffin is also another choice for the switch of players with Liv.

And this is why Geno is salivating about next years class where each player has a pretty flexible skill set and "can do many things in different locations:" on the court.

 

[Geesworld]

CW struggles are not new and did not start this year. Paige is much better than running offense than Crystal was.
I agree that CW strength is as a slasher and getting to the basket. What is stopping her? The lanes are equally clogged for Paige, Nika and Evina and yet they seem to find a way to get to the basket.

You are right, the problems did not start this year. That's why I went back to her freshman year when she had solid basketball players surrounding her running the same offense then as they do now. Scoring points does not mean running the offense. Not sure what you're seeing from Paige or anybody else when it comes to running the offense this year but our offense hasn't been in sync all year. Paige is on the court during those slow starts. 🤷‍♀️ That isn't a slight it's just what it is from a freshman PG/SG. Happy for Paige, Evina and Nika getting to the basket. I bet they, along with CW, would get there more often if the lane wasn't so clogged. I see a Tiff Hayes season for CW. Remember she used to have up and down games in a Husky Uniform too.

 

[MooseJaw]

I would have argued against it until tonight. Christyn is not a great shooter, but she has lost all feel for her shot. Not sure what's going on in her head, but it can't be good.

Agree 100%, however the thing that was bothersome to me was her head hanging and facial expressions after missing a number of shots including a couple of bunnies. This is something Geno had previously said would put a player on the bench. Geno had a few words about Christyn in post game presser with a hint of things need to change. I hope she gets her act together, team is so much better with her getting it done. Waiting.