Seton Hall Postgame thread | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Seton Hall Postgame thread

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EricLA said:
I don't disagree that "concerning" is too strong a word, but I've seen too many times people opine that "our bench could be a top 25 team". In reality, our bench, while absolutely fantastic, would not be close to a top 50 team.
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Heckel, Quinones, El Alfy, Ziebell, and Fisher? That’s just best available. Also have Brady, Cheli, Ducharme, Patterson, and Malou-Mamel. If they were all we had, we’d still be pretty good. Maybe not #1, but top 10-ish.
 
uconnfan68 said:
Heckel, Quinones, El Alfy, Ziebell, and Fisher? That’s just best available. Also have Brady, Cheli, Ducharme, Patterson, and Malou-Mamel. If they were all we had, we’d still be pretty good. Maybe not #1, but top 10-ish.
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I'm mystified at how you could look at the pasting our bench took against the starters of a Seton Hall team that is not close to top 50, and think our bench could be top 10. I have no words. And by the way, Brady and Cheli are injured.
 
JoePgh said:
I was at the game and was watching the team warm up before they removed their jackets, so I couldn't see the uniform numbers. I immediately saw that KK was warming up with the mask, so I knew we would see her in the game. But then, looking further, I became concerned that I didn't see anyone who looked like Sarah. I was thinking, "Geez, did we get back one starter just to lose another?" It took until the introductions of the starting lineup to realize that the player with the headband was in fact Sarah.
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Very Swin-like. Easy to spot from the upper bowl.
 
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EricLA said:
I don't disagree that "concerning" is too strong a word, but I've seen too many times people opine that "our bench could be a top 25 team". In reality, our bench, while absolutely fantastic, would not be close to a top 50 team.
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The fourth quarter began with a backcourt of Kayleigh and Allie, and (as I recall) a front court of Serah, Jana, and Blanca. Just one starter among those five, and the four other players consisted of two Hoopgurlz Top 15 American guards and two international forwards with impressive pre-UConn resumes. If that really were UConn's starting five, and had practiced that way since September, and were supported by an appropriate bench (including people like Kelis, Caroline, and the currently-injured Ayanna, Morgan and Ice), I'm pretty sure that with Geno's and CD's coaching they would win the Big East and qualify for the NCAA tournament. They might reach the Sweet 16.

When they haven't gotten too many minutes all year, and probably not many reps in practice as a unit, and they've been sitting on the bench for an hour and a half before they get in the game, you can't expect them to be sharp and impressive. But if they were treated like the starting five, they would certainly play more like the starting five.

Another way of putting this: Imagine a horrible alternate scenario where Sarah, Azzi, KK, and Ashlynn were unavailable for the entire year, but the rest of the current UConn roster was available and uninjured, and was playing together as the UConn team since the start of practice in September. How far do you think that team would go? I think the Sweet 16 is a very plausible guess for how well that team would do.
 
My recommendation for those who find the 4th quarter of a 30-40 point UConn blowout rough or frustrating to watch? Either turn off the TV or if you're there in person, leave and go home. And I echo the sentiment that being out-scored by 5 points in a meaningless 4th quarter is hardly being "trounced", especially when it's mainly our bench vs their starters.
 
EricLA said:
I'm mystified at how you could look at the pasting our bench took against the starters of a Seton Hall team that is not close to top 50, and think our bench could be top 10. I have no words. And by the way, Brady and Cheli are injured.
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You as a UCONN fan saw the team last year be pretty good but not that great after Tenn but you would've heard Geno say pre-season last year "We will be a March team." You saw what happened at the end when Azzi (and Paige got better with her minor injury) got more playing time together, right? So, if you saw for yourself last year the transformation from a "good team" to an extremely great team," why be so sure about what the other poster said? yeah top 10 is much but still -- to get so wroked up over calling it "mystifying," as if it matters that much?

If your reply is going to be "that you want to see it," then what were you or others saying last year after Tennessee despite Geno telling us his team was going to be a March team?

Why so harsh on fans for a team that has played incredible this year on a subject that can be considered so subjective anyway?
 
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SoCalCanine said:
My recommendation for those who find the 4th quarter of a 30-40 point UConn blowout rough or frustrating to watch? Either turn off the TV or if you're there in person, leave and go home. And I echo the sentiment that being out-scored by 5 points in a meaningless 4th quarter is hardly being "trounced", especially when it's mainly our bench vs their starters.
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Come on, man. The lead was 47 at the 6 minute mark. the final MOV was 36. 11 point negative turnaround in the last 6 minutes of the game. I'm not complaining, but so many people have blue blinders on that they can't accept the facts. Yes it's my opinion that our bench is not a top 50 team, but our bench was really overwhelmed by a possibly non-NCAA caliber team with their starters in.
 
Classic said:
What’s the deal with Brady eating a snack during the third period while sitting on the team bench. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player do that before.
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Could be a number of things health related.

One of my daughters is Type 1 diabetic and played softball and ice hockey. We always had snacks immediately available in case her blood sugar dropped too low.
 
Classic said:
What’s the deal with Brady eating a snack during the third period while sitting on the team bench. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player do that before.
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In the book that was written about the 2001 team, I believe “the same river twice” Jessica Moore is quoted as saying she would have a snack on the sidelines as she was a redshirt player that season.
 
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Um… I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t initially recognize Sarah Strong out there. KK Arnold was in a mask, so you would have thought that perhaps … and yet I was able to recognize her right away!

But I was surprised, like, “Wait, was that #21 who pulled down that rebound?” What the heck is different about her than before?

Perhaps the shoes?
 
Huskies lost the 4th Q after being up by 41!
Oh noes!!1!
EricLA said:
Come on, man. The lead was 47 at the 6 minute mark. the final MOV was 36. 11 point negative turnaround in the last 6 minutes of the game. I'm not complaining, but so many people have blue blinders on that they can't accept the facts. Yes it's my opinion that our bench is not a top 50 team, but our bench was really overwhelmed by a possibly non-NCAA caliber team with their starters in.
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Way to ignore the point.
Big picture, is there any point in placing significance to the level of play in the dying minutes of a blowout decided long before halftime? Nope, nada, zilpsch.

And this game in this thread is being called a 'clunker' 😆. To echo the poster you're replying to, to those people, best to take a long walk or somesuch.
 
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EricLA said:
I'm mystified at how you could look at the pasting our bench took against the starters of a Seton Hall team that is not close to top 50, and think our bench could be top 10. I have no words. And by the way, Brady and Cheli are injured.
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The key component you are missing is that if they were starters (for this hypothetical other team) they would have significantly more game experience logged and be more familiar with each other. So they would look very different.

Maybe they wouldn’t be in the top 10, but they would be in the top 25.
 
There are a lot of things to nitpick about the performance today -

Slow out of the gate, missed a lot of open shots
Overpassing
Careless with the ball in the first half, sloppy at times
Missed layups, passed-up layups
Difficulty with the zone, Bozzella had a pretty good game plan

But, we need to keep things in perspective. After that slow start, tied at 11 late in the first quarter, UConn pushed a lead to 72-26 in the early fourth quarter. That is a run of 61-15 over about 23 minutes. Incredibly deflating for Seton Hall, maybe that motivates them for the next time but just as likely it increases their apprehension level; Bozzella has his work cut out for him between now and then.

I was at the game and the defense was simply suffocating, most obvious seeing them in person. Forced 32 turnovers and had 20 steals, plus they made Seton Hall work like crazy just to get over half court and to get a shot of any kind, rarely an open one. It is constant, they are all on the same page and there are no weak links. Having KK back was a real benefit but K9 can play the in your face defense as well.

Glad to see KK back, Caroline back, Jana hitting a couple of shots from the free throw line area, and Allie hitting four threes.
 
Our defense has consistently been good this year. Up until the bench clearing in the 4th quarter SH had very few possessions where they weren't barely able to keep the ball no less get a clear shot. The amount of energy and concentration it takes to keep up the switching and doubling on every possession is huge. The mop up crew to end the game made no effort to put that kind of effort into defense.

Layups remain an issue. This is the only area where SH seemed better than us.

I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one who didn't recognize Sarah at the start of the game. I too had to wait to see the 21 on her back before being sure it was her.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
If you are talking about Azzi under the basket she clearly was bodied or hip checked out of bounds. The ref clearly got it wrong, but that is just the breaks of NCAA refereeing.
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No I quoted the wrong post. Sorry about that.
 
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Another blowout. 🥱
 
I thought that by wearing the headband Sarah definitely looked like Napheesa Collier when she played.
Pheesa's style looked great on both of them too, enough to wish that Sarah keeps wearing it.
I haven't seen that look in a long while and I appreciated the flashback.
Pheesa's a great player for Sarah to emulate, one of the UConn greats!
 
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Centerstream said:
@HuskyNan I know you have posted this before but where are the stats found that you copy into the Postgame threads? Is it from an app or from a website?
TYiA.
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It’s from Live Stats &1. Access panel (c) (pic from mobile version).
  • (a) Access the Tools menu. Find the Tools menu from the main page (right pic);
  • (b) From the Tools menu (upper left pic), select “Save/Print PDF of stats”;
  • (c) Select from Panel (lower left pic): “Analytics Boxes”.
&1 Live Stats for every played game (first link of two). These links are listed in the latest Chronological Rotations thread.
IMG_5461.jpeg
 
An easy win, although some meh offense and ball security at times.

Focusing a bit on Serah:

EricLA said:
I'll be honest - I expected more from Williams this season, especially as a senior with all her hype.
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I expected more, too, especially with the regular season now half over. Jana looked improved today and may be gaining more confidence from Geno.

my2cents said:
The real thing to work on is Serah Williams. After she gets the ball, she literally dips at the waist before she goes up which allows the defense to cover her. Shooting 50% from point blank is not acceptable when you include all the turnovers getting her the ball.
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Serah also doesn't go up strong enough. Sometimes she doesn't go up vertical at all, but sideways and gets blocked or misses badly.

One reason is that she doesn't put enough arcing lift or loft on the ball. She ends up shooting line drives or angle-up shots that have little geometric probability of dropping downward through the hoop.

Other times Serah makes some nice moves. Basketball analyst Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested that players should mind the hobgoblin of inconsistency. Or something.
 
Another problem with drawing any conclusions from the 4th quarter is that the play calls are not the same - usually by then Geno has “called off the dogs” and they’re not trying to trap on defense or run up the steal numbers any more. They play some zone and basically run a glorified practice for ten minutes. Lots of half court offense which can look choppy at times as they try to run set plays and get everyone involved. The starters’ numbers are all boosted by points off turnovers, which the deep bench don’t even get a chance to replicate.
 
Another Big East win, Sarah, Azzi, Allie and welcome back KK! Nice contributions all around.

Geno is experimenting for March here's what I noticed:
1. He's deploying Ziebell and Blanca earlier and earlier in games and it's leading to success.
2. He's prepping for playing bigger post opponents by putting line-ups with Sarah, Serah, Jana and sometimes even Blanca so he can counter post heavy teams.
3. He's is trying to give Azzi and Sarah breaks during quarters 1-3.

The pressing is disrupting every team they face and this is one of the strongest defensive teams. KK and Azzi on the guard side have a unique synergy where they know what to do, where to be and how to turn people over in the backcout. However, the counter is the turnovers are creeping up and I believe due to defensive fatigue.

Azzi and Sarah need to stay in to keep their scoring rhythm. He subbed Azzi out after she was hot from 3 and did the same thing for Sarah last game when she hit back to back 3's. Paige was vocal and I remember her being peeved everytime Geno would take her out. So he did that less. Nor Azzi or Sarah speak much so they're not going to say anything but the defensive rest will interrupt offensive flow.
 
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