Seton Hall Postgame Thread | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Seton Hall Postgame Thread

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jaydee602 said:
Once again, an opponent starts the game on fire while UCONN struggles to find its groove. It is a close game for 6 or 7 minutes.
But the problem for these teams is that they are unable to withstand UCONN's suffocating defense & team depth for a sustained time. The result is usually a landslide victory for the Huskies.
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As you note cold starts are something we can overcome against most teams, but come tournament time cold starts can give an opponent wings and pucker up our hoop, SO I'd just as soon see cold starts disappear. They are a bit of a mystery for this team.
 
I have season tickets to Seton Hall women's bball and was there with my crew and lo and behold so does the extremely knowledgeable UCONN fan to my left who also happens to be a fellow BYer! Amazing how great basketball minds think alike! We both thought that the crazy schedule change, bus ride etc. really showed in the way they played at different points in the game, but in the spurts where UCONN basketball came through it was just domination.

Jana is different now and as my colleague pointed out, her two buckets came off moves she didn't have last year. She just needs to get back into game shape so she can go for long periods if needed such as against Tennessee. I thought playing a zone was the right way to defend us but when we are sinking 3s, not so much. Ayanna looked strong and KK is just a wonder to behold on defense. I really am amazed at how close and disruptive she is to the dribbler and how plain annoying. She is worth the price of admission if you love great basketball defense.

I have no words for Blanca. It's my 3rd time so far this year seeing her live and she just is a game changer. 16 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals and probably 6 deflections. She may be listed at 6'2" but she plays like she is 6'5". She is just money around the basket and is in such great shape that she never stops.

Kayleigh's family was there, all wearing UCONN #9 jerseys, and I was glad she had a good game. She desperately wanted NOT to foul out and she came close twice but survived.

After the game, my group went to a venerable sports bar/restaurant known as Bunny's just down the road from SHU in South Orange and we were at a table next to Coach Bozzella from the Hall. We watched the end of the men's game which was on 4 tvs within 15 feet of the table. Since we all had our UCONN gear on, including my 4 year old granddaughter, it was pretty obvious, but Coach Bozzella was very friendly and is very much the gentleman. We only spoke a little about the game but he expressed his admiration for the UCONN defense/press. Tremendous thin crust pizza by the way. Really good time but then again it always is when you see this team play live, even when they are a little off.

As I said to a family member, when it's my granddaughter, UCONN basketball, and good pizza, it's the definition of a pretty, pretty good day. You can look it up.
 
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Blanca's play lately leads me to want to give her the nickname of "Flash" for being so super-fast.
She has a knack for making instantaneous touch & bounce passes of all types & also for putting the ball into the bucket in the instant of a flash.
She (along with Sarah) prowl the court like tigers looking to pounce.
She also meshes in super-well with the whole rest of the team.
She's got to be worth the price of admission & about half the team's MOV.
IMO she seems to be more like Paige's replacement than anyone else on the team,
Yes, she takes risks but she always seems to more than make up for her mistakes with exemplary play.
It's easy to see how she kicked her level of play up a notch today....a high octane. player with precision timing.
 
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cabbie191 said:
Regarding earlier comments about the officiating, when was the last time we had 3 players with 4 fouls? Overall we were whistled 21 times to their 14.
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Often enough to notice, UConn will bump opposing ballhandlers off their spots and get away with it. That's bound to come back at some point & haunt them as ticky tac "ghost fouls."
UConn fans need to accept the good officiating with the bad.
 
Blanca really makes things happen. She makes some bad decisions but they are not made out of timidity but rather out of aggressiveness - home run pass, offensive charge, and the like. She seems to get to where she wants on offense pretty easily, especially getting to the rim in the open court. The words that come to mind are fluid and smooth, but most importantly, Explosive (with a capital E).

Unfortunately she missed a free throw, so UConn was only 11-12 versus 11-11 last game.

Nice to see that Azzi, Allie and Shade all made three threes, but I would like Azzi to take more than eight shots. Sarah was 0-4 from three so I guess that is the subject of the next handwringing thread.

It seemed like a decent though unremarkable effort but the box score tells a different story, showing a field goal percentage of 58%, 38% from three, 92% from the line. 45 points from the bench, no one played more than 28 minutes. 25 assists and 16 steals; 27 turnovers for Seton Hall. So, we are truly spoiled.

The word is that Serah was kneed in the calf and that is better than most of the other alternatives when you see a player limp off of the court. I am sure they iced it right away, and she was wearing a compression wrap to minimize swelling. It feels like a “day to day” type injury. They might hold her out of the Xavier game as a precaution but I would be very surprised if she doesn’t play against Tennessee.

BTW I watched the game on “tape delay” since I was at the UConn men’s game, a thrilling 75-67 overtime victory against Villanova. Peoples Arena was rocking! The two programs have combined for a grand total of one loss this season. Basketball Capital of the World!
 
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Basingstoke said:
For once, I'm not going to read the previous posts before posting myself.
I acknowledge that it's probably bad form and possibly UCONN-unreal-expectations syndrome, but, even though today was a 40 point victory, I find myself a little distressed witnessing today's game in person at Seton Hall.
Even though they shot very out of the gate (& for the game), I found UCONN starting off flatter than flat.
I hope that Serah heals quickly, but (even though she had a quick 2 assists) she was unable to cover or close in the first period (particularly on Valenzuela, who is really good and a lock for All Big East). It wasn't only Serah, but Seton Hall looked like the more well-coached and disciplined team in the first quarter. Cutters constantly got wide open layups or found stationery shooters who did not have defenders closing out on them.
Once more, for the game, giving up offensive rebounds (particularly on long bounces) was a problem.
Defensively, things got better as the game progressed, but, before getting to some positive things that I noticed, it seemed to me that, even though she can be unstoppable whenever she wants, Sarah's hands and passes lately have been less reliable and efficient. Even if her passes were not intercepted, they seemed to be frequently tipped and less sharp, and she didn't seem to be aggressive on offense (specifically, driving to the basket or even pulling up against Valenzuela).
Before getting to some good things, it also seems to me that KK post-Notre Dame seems to be experiencing a regression in her own offense. She is still a great on-ball defender and takes care of the ball on offense, though.
Some really good things:
Blanca immediately turned things around when she entered pretty early in the first quarter. She was very efficient and effective on offense and defense.
Allie was a one-woman zone buster. Whenever they left her relatively alone, she made Seton Hall pay for it.
Yanna looks healthy and is back to doing some wonderful things on the court.
Azzi's first half shooting and her defense throughout the game were great, to me.
While it might be a problem vs Tennessee without both Serah and Ice, Jana looks healthy and effectively aggressive (& obviously should benefit from increased minutes for the near future).
I'm sorry if I'm being overly harsh, but this is a team with a tremendous ceiling, going through a part of the season where they are not truly being challenged (& probably were fatigued and thrown off by the change in schedule and rapid turn around), and are starting to have increasingly long lulls where they are not playing up to their own standard. It is a trend I hope that can be rapidly remedied.
Lastly, I haven't read the other posts as yet and have no idea how things were perceived in the telecast, but, to me in the arena, the refs seemed to have as dreadful and one-sided a game with their calls as I can remember. I'm probably overreacting, but it almost seemed like they were trying to influence the final score so that an exotic bet was being covered. Probably an overstatement, but that's how it seemed to me sitting in my wonderful seat at Walsh...
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Two of your paragraphs are right on but you and now me will get a lot of blowback from the all is great, all the time crowd. It's hard to disagree with the fact that SS is likely the top player in college, however for what ever reason your comments on her less than stellar play recently (with the exception of one half) are absolutely correct. Even the male announcer commented on her hands dropping a pass, unlike normal, and her passes have been less than sharp. Finally, when is the last time she has had two bunnies blocked in games - Nova and today. Maybe she is just bored but I hope Geno and Chris spend some time in the video room with her because she is playing well but not at her usual level.
The 2nd paragraph that you were right on with was the last one. The way the game was called was terrible- 21-14 fouls was nowhere near the way the game was played.
 
Centerstream said:
And not to mention that they may have been thinking just a little bit about getting out of the gym and on the way home before the storm gets close...
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I seriously doubt that was on their minds as the played the game. Maybe they were just thinking about the good NJ pizza they would have waiting for them on the bus.
 
Azzi is doing what Paige did last year. Score early and settle the team. When UConn needs to run the offense through her, she will score 30 or 40. Easily.

Sarah Strong was to be expected. Big East and National Player of the Year are within her sights.

Quinonez came in and saved everyone but Azzi Fudd when they needed it. She’s such a spark and she’s starting to pass as good as she plays. That is dangerous.

Good contributions form the others, Ziebell is going to counter any team in march that decides to leave her open from 3. Jana is also such pivot piece. Kk played strong.

This team will depend on Shade. If she can score over 10pts, UConn will not lose.

I hope Serah is okay, she is needed!
 
Huskee11 said:
Blanca really makes things happen. She makes some bad decisions but they are not made out of timidity but rather out of aggressiveness - home run pass, offensive charge, and the like. She seems to get to where she wants on offense pretty easily, especially getting to the rim in the open court. The words that come to mind are fluid and smooth, but most importantly, Explosive (with a capital E).

Unfortunately she missed a free throw, so UConn was only 11-12 versus 11-11 last game.

Nice to see that Azzi, Allie and Shade all made three threes, but I would like Azzi to take more than eight shots. Sarah was 0-4 from three so I guess that is the subject of the next handwringing thread.

It seemed like a decent though unremarkable effort but the box score tells a different story, showing a field goal percentage of 58%, 38% from three, 92% from the line. 45 points from the bench, no one played more than 28 minutes. 25 assists and 16 steals; 27 turnovers for Seton Hall. So, we are truly spoiled.

The word is that Serah was kneed in the calf and that is better than most of the other alternatives when you see a player limp off of the court. I am sure they iced it right away, and she was wearing a compression wrap to minimize swelling. It feels like a “day to day” type injury. They might hold her out of the Xavier game as a precaution but I would be very surprised if she doesn’t play against Tennessee.

BTW I watched the game on “tape delay” since I was at the UConn men’s game, a thrilling 75-67 overtime victory against Villanova. Peoples Arena was rocking! The two programs have combined for a grand total of one loss this season. Basketball Capital of the World!
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Geno said he and Blanca had a long session (film?) very recently, but he did not want to go too hard on stuff that might get in her head and slow her down. Then he said something along the lines of living with a mistake for the 10 things that are amazing.
 
oldude said:
Careful. You could dislocate your shoulder from patting yourself on the back…… 😉
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You will never know how far I've been off making these predictions and this was the closest I've ever come . I just wanted someone to know. I consider you " oldude" one of the most knowledgeable poster's on the BY and am honoured that you took time to answer my post and I mean that sincerely. I also noticed you give me 'a like" for my posts and I thank you for that.. GO HUSKIES!!!!!
 
Hearing the announcer from Marist talk about Coach Bozzella back in his MAAC days was a trip for me; I managed another women's team in the MAAC in the early 2000s and Coach B. would have our team cracking up with his sideline antics. He was truly crazy out there. But it's honestly great to still see him out there doing his thing with much success.

I'm not stressed, but I don't think it's the margin of victory here that has folks uncomfortable, it's more the preventable turnovers and sloppy (at times) play. I'm honestly surprised Sarah hasn't gotten sharper with some of her passing - she often makes the tough passes look easy, like the early dime to Azzi, but her turnovers and tipped balls end up happening on much more routine passes around the key. Sometimes it looks like she's thinking three plays ahead in the half court and loses focus on the first pass.

As good as Sarah and the team have been this year, I do think they have another gear of focus to tap into when (and if) they actually face a challenge.
 
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Stagnant said:
I want to find Azzi and Sarah in games. I like passing the ball around and playing great team basketball. In general though; 8 shots is not enough for Azzi. And she started this game on fire. I prefer to keep her more involved in the offense.
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Team is not always great at getting Azzi the rock. For example, KK attempted a 3 that was close to an air ball with Azzi — who was 3/3 at the time— wide open to her left. After watching this on film, I hope KK never does it again. Get the ball to the hot hand.
 
Bills Fan said:
I seriously doubt that was on their minds as the played the game. Maybe they were just thinking about the good NJ pizza they would have waiting for them on the bus.
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How dare they! Now that CT is known and accepted as the Pizza Capital of the World, I repeat, how dare they?

After all, what could be better than to celebrate being the Basketball Capital with having food from the Pizza Capital? 😀
 
I am glad the team is continuing to look less than sharp at times. That means they have some room to grow. I don't want them to peak too soon. See ND last season. When they started slowly today, I mentioned in the chat to give them time to warm up, and they did. If UConn is still sputtering come BE Tourney time, then I will be concerned.
 
After being so psycho as a Wrestling Coach and now being 78 and unwell every day I truly love watching our girls play and understand that LIFE sometimes gets in the way of their performance!
We UConn fans are truly blessed to have this program in our "backyard"!
The young women give us their best shot every time out, it may not be their best game but they work so hard to be perfect that they screw up but not for lack of effort!
Geno and staff, especially CD constantly turn out great players, intelligent, truly nice people and in our present society that's rare!
My Mother (rest in peace) always said "She liked the old world not the new one!"
You listen to our alumni and they still remember CD's rules of conduct! And they hated it but respectfully said it made them better adults!
I still get emotional watching a player do something extra ordinary and the thrill on their faces afterwards!
Remember please that for the most part they are teenagers and as such they are entitled to get a little "flaky" every once in a while!
 
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RockyMTblue2 said:
Geno said he and Blanca had a long session (film?) very recently, but he did not want to go too hard on stuff that might get in her head and slow her down. Then he said something along the lines of living with a mistake for the 10 things that are amazing.
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Geno was on a roll with the "other sports" analogies in the presser today. He compared Azzi to a great (baseball) hitter having a two week slump and then coming out of it, and he said that Blanca "is going to throw ten touchdown passes. You'll have to live with the 5 interceptions." The Blanca one got a chuckle out of the press pool.
 
sun said:
Often enough to notice, UConn will bump opposing ballhandlers off their spots and get away with it. That's bound to come back at some point & haunt them as ticky tac "ghost fouls."
UConn fans need to accept the good officiating with the bad.
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As much as we like to appreciate their smooth unselfish play, they are very physical. Ask any opponent.
 
I know Heckel got in foul trouble. But I rewatched the game. At least two of the fouls involve a ball taking a weird bounce or a deflection… and Heckel dives for the loose ball and there is contact and the refs whistle her. I can’t imagine Geno had a problem with those fouls.

Allie Ziebell. Her shots were really wide open. Almost like seton hall didn’t have her on the scouting report at all lol.

Also, Allie is never going to be a point guard. But she has a pretty reliable handle. And she has pretty good hands. Caught a number of low passes on the perimeter in this game that I can imagine people bobbling.
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
After being so psycho as a Wrestling Coach and now being 78 and unwell every day I truly love watching our girls play and understand that LIFE sometimes gets in the way of their performance!
We UConn fans are truly blessed to have this program in our "backyard"!
The young women give us their best shot every time out, it may not be their best game but they work so hard to be perfect that they screw up but not for lack of effort!
Geno and staff, especially CD constantly turn out great players, intelligent, truly nice people and in our present society that's rare!
My Mother (rest in peace) always said "She liked the old world not the new one!"
You listen to our alumni and they still remember CD's rules of conduct! And they hated it but respectfully said it made them better adults!
I still get emotional watching a player do something extra ordinary and the thrill on their faces afterwards!
Remember please that for the most part they are teenagers and as such they are entitled to get a little "flaky" every once in a while!
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Thank you "RSHERMVIKES" for your comments... today (and as always!) .... NICE!
P.S. You really "pinned down" many of my thoughts about "watching our girls". Z
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Geno said he and Blanca had a long session (film?) very recently, but he did not want to go too hard on stuff that might get in her head and slow her down. Then he said something along the lines of living with a mistake for the 10 things that are amazing.
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His actual line was that if the quarterback throws 10 touchdown passes you can live with 5 interceptions.
 
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