So far...this Looks a lot like last year! (Trouble)

[Geew1992]

Gabby and Napheesa are not playing the consistently wonderful basketball that they did all of last season...perhaps it just too much to expect that they could repeat that truly remarkable performance......Napheesa's shooting percentage was so high I never expected her to equal it again but her all around play has not been up to her own standards as she has mentioned and Gabby's turnover rate has been an issue all season..I believe that the remaining AAC games will allow both players to get back to their best just in time for the NCAAs

I agree. But you first said gabby and Napheesa aren’t playing at the same level as last year. Then said gabby and Kia.

 

[Charliebball]

I agree. But you first said gabby and Napheesa aren’t playing at the same level as last year. Then said gabby and Kia.

sorry my bad.......Kia's been really good...........

 

[BroadwayVa]

Gabby and Napheesa are not playing the consistently wonderful basketball that they did all of last season...perhaps it just too much to expect that they could repeat that truly remarkable performance......Napheesa's shooting percentage was so high I never expected her to equal it again but her all around play has not been up to her own standards as she has mentioned and Gabby's turnover rate has been an issue all season..I believe that the remaining AAC games will allow both players to get back to their best just in time for the NCAAs

How far are we into the new season? Half way? lots of learning and growing to be done. AZ is still fumbling around finding her own way within this team. Pheesa, is finding a NEW place in the stacked deck. If there are 3 players on this team I don't worry about: Gabby, KLS, Danger. To expect a player to play like a robot in every game--is just robotic!!

 

[Rema64]

How far are we into the new season? Half way? lots of learning and growing to be done. AZ is still fumbling around finding her own way within this team. Pheesa, is finding a NEW place in the stacked deck. If there are 3 players on this team I don't worry about: Gabby, KLS, Danger. To expect a player to play like a robot in every game--is just robotic!!

You're right- Pheesa is trying to find a new place to play comfortably. I have seen her and AZ try to occupy the same spots on the floor in several games. Has anyone else noticed how they her and AZ run and trip over each other?

 

[Bronx23]

Some of us here pointing out weaknesses, flaws, lesser play is not whining, it actually goes to the core values of why this program has been great. While winning is extremely important, and this was a very good, tough win, striving for excellence or even perfection, has always been the goal of Geno, CD and the other coaches. So why then when some here make points critical of their playing, do others call it whining laugh at it or be dismissive.
Every team and every player (or even every human being) has areas of strength and others of weaknesses, and need to seriously work on those.
The team has demonstrated lots of grit this season in the few games that were close and pulled each out, which is very valuable. But not being able to evaluate and criticize their, or even Geno and the coaching staff is asking for trouble and at times leans towards homerism.
Their prep last year for the MS loss was partially Geno's fault as well as some of the decisions made during the game. (Yes I know this is almost sacrilege criticizing what is clearly one the greatest coach and maybe coaching staff of all time in any sport). Geno kept raising last season his concern that the team wasn't as good or as invincible as they seemed, and most thought he was an alarmist. He clearly saw things that were concerning. I don't think they did a great job preparing for the pressure, physicality of MS, whom I had seen a few times during the season and thought they were so offensively limited it wouldn't be close against them.
I guess what I'm saying is lets treasure and savor what we all have here, but always look for improvements and next steps.
Bronx23

 

[BroadwayVa]

Some of us here pointing out weaknesses, flaws, lesser play is not whining, it actually goes to the core values of why this program has been great. While winning is extremely important, and this was a very good, tough win, striving for excellence or even perfection, has always been the goal of Geno, CD and the other coaches. So why then when some here make points critical of their playing, do others call it whining laugh at it or be dismissive.
Every team and every player (or even every human being) has areas of strength and others of weaknesses, and need to seriously work on those.
The team has demonstrated lots of grit this season in the few games that were close and pulled each out, which is very valuable. But not being able to evaluate and criticize their, or even Geno and the coaching staff is asking for trouble and at times leans towards homerism.
Their prep last year for the MS loss was partially Geno's fault as well as some of the decisions made during the game. (Yes I know this is almost sacrilege criticizing what is clearly one the greatest coach and maybe coaching staff of all time in any sport). Geno kept raising last season his concern that the team wasn't as good or as invincible as they seemed, and most thought he was an alarmist. He clearly saw things that were concerning. I don't think they did a great job preparing for the pressure, physicality of MS, whom I had seen a few times during the season and thought they were so offensively limited it wouldn't be close against them.
I guess what I'm saying is lets treasure and savor what we all have here, but always look for improvements and next steps.
Bronx23

The pulpit is your's brother--keep preaching, HAL A LOU YA---Amen. Amen Amen.
Perfection and excellence are goals, depending your definition--not attainable.
Every human that ever lived, no matter how high or low their station in life--were imperfect, Amen
Only Hitler, Stalin, people of that ilk--you were not allowed to tell their truths---you don't always have to undress a coach to see his warts.
Keep preaching brother, Amen, amen, amen.

 

[LouS]

We all love our Huskies! But if something does not change mentally, this team will meet the same fate as last years. The holes are still there!
1. No bench
2. Can’t guard off the dribble
3. Napheesa disappears in big games
4. Kia struggles to score in big games
5. Sloppy play and turnovers in huge games
6. Appear to be a tad indecisive in close games
7. Gabby plays great and hard...But does not trust her shot or take it

However Crystal and Azura seem ready for the moment! And Lou is the one constant! So hopefully the rest of the team can get over the MENTAL hump by March!

BUT, they are ranked #1 and undefeated....By the way, no one is perfect.......

 

[ricky]

This is the failure to recruit big girls recently..they keep recruiting guards and small forwards...crystal has been a treasure ..z has saved both nd and Texas games ...by pheesa and gabby underperforming in big games they expose Lou to more mugging..they really need to overcome the deer in the headlights state of mind when teams get tough ..just some observations

Collier is too finesse according to some. But Collier is indeed undersized in her oversized role guarding big and good centers. You may wonder why she fouls out. But it appears her role this year causes this. I also believe she is still hurting and is not moving like Collier of old. many times she is the last up the court. She was one of the best movers without the ball in the league.

 

[VillageHusky]

Some of us here pointing out weaknesses, flaws, lesser play is not whining, it actually goes to the core values of why this program has been great. While winning is extremely important, and this was a very good, tough win, striving for excellence or even perfection, has always been the goal of Geno, CD and the other coaches. So why then when some here make points critical of their playing, do others call it whining laugh at it or be dismissive.
Every team and every player (or even every human being) has areas of strength and others of weaknesses, and need to seriously work on those.
The team has demonstrated lots of grit this season in the few games that were close and pulled each out, which is very valuable. But not being able to evaluate and criticize their, or even Geno and the coaching staff is asking for trouble and at times leans towards homerism.
Their prep last year for the MS loss was partially Geno's fault as well as some of the decisions made during the game. (Yes I know this is almost sacrilege criticizing what is clearly one the greatest coach and maybe coaching staff of all time in any sport). Geno kept raising last season his concern that the team wasn't as good or as invincible as they seemed, and most thought he was an alarmist. He clearly saw things that were concerning. I don't think they did a great job preparing for the pressure, physicality of MS, whom I had seen a few times during the season and thought they were so offensively limited it wouldn't be close against them.
I guess what I'm saying is lets treasure and savor what we all have here, but always look for improvements and next steps.
Bronx23

I think many recognized the vulnerabilities and areas to exploit in last year’s team prior to the semi-final game. Likewise, I believe many can point to 2 or 3 areas of vulnerability where this year’s team might be susceptible to exploitation. That said, I think there is a difference between stating/identifying these areas of concern and lecturing/hectoring fellow posters, not to mention purporting to provide directions to the coaching staff and players, as if they were blind and clueless. I would go so far as to state that, in almost all of these areas, the coaching staff and players are well-aware of the vulnerabilities and trying to address and rectify them both in the short and long-term. The manner in which these attempts to address and rectify are being made however often are not as visible and clear as some critics and posters would like. I for one do not object to vulnerabilities in the team being discussed but I do shudder and wince when posters write as if the coaching staff is blind and the solutions being offered are coming from some combination of John Wooden and Red Auerbach from the hereafter.

 

[Jronp]

When I first posted this many thought I was being CRITICAL, but I was just being HONEST! This team didn’t change much from last year at all. And sometimes you are what you are. They still showed the same weakness and did not improve in the areas needed. However, it was a good year and we are proud of them!

We all love our Huskies! But if something does not change mentally, this team will meet the same fate as last years. The holes are still there!
1. No bench
2. Can’t guard off the dribble
3. Napheesa disappears in big games
4. Kia struggles to score in big games
5. Sloppy play and turnovers in huge games
6. Appear to be a tad indecisive in close games
7. Gabby plays great and hard...But does not trust her shot or take it

Hopefully the rest of the team can get over the MENTAL hump by March!

 

[Tenspro2002]

We all love our Huskies! But if something does not change mentally, this team will meet the same fate as last years. The holes are still there!
1. No bench
2. Can’t guard off the dribble
3. Napheesa disappears in big games
4. Kia struggles to score in big games
5. Sloppy play and turnovers in huge games
6. Appear to be a tad indecisive in close games
7. Gabby plays great and hard...But does not trust her shot or take it

However Crystal and Azura seem ready for the moment! And Lou is the one constant! So hopefully the rest of the team can get over the MENTAL hump by March!

Most of the way there.

No bench? Yes
Can't guard off the dribble? Somewhat
Collier disappears in big games? She actually played well in this one
Kia struggles to score in big games? Definite check here
Sloppy play and turnovers in huge games? Yup
Appear to be a tad indecisive in close games? Definitely. Too many guys afraid to attack.
Gabby plays great and hard but doesn't trust her shot? She took a few and made a few, this wasn't a huge problem.

 

[socal613ws]

U called it!

 

[BostonCanuck]

When I first posted this many thought I was being CRITICAL, but I was just being HONEST! This team didn’t change much from last year at all. And sometimes you are what you are. They still showed the same weakness and did not improve in the areas needed. However, it was a good year and we are proud of them!

You know, earlier in the season, I really thought the Huskies had addressed the glaring weaknesses from last year's semi-final with the improvements in pushing pace and controlling tempo during the game, and better guard play that could create off the dribble and break down a pressure defense. However, that second element did not sufficiently materialize, both late in the season and in this game in particular. Kia had made some incremental improvement in that area, but not nearly enough. And gosh, Geno sat Crystal a lot during the later stages of the game... I could only speculate why.

Of course the new weakness that was exposed is that our defense really isn't all that. Their guards romped to the rim and scored at will tonight, and while bad refereeing had something to do with that, you still have to give credit to Notre Dame. That's not something we often see, and not one of the things that our defense is famed for shutting down. Notre Dame is a tough match-up for us, no doubt. And for the second year in a row, Geno got out-coached during his last game of the season.

 

[Tenspro2002]

You know, earlier in the season I really thought they had addressed the glaring weaknesses from last year with the improvements to pushing pace during the game, and guard play that could created off the dribble and break down a pressure defense. However, that second element really did not materialize. Kia made some incremental improvement in that area, but not nearly enough. And gosh, Geno sat Crystal a lot during the later stages of the game... I could only speculate why.

Of course the new weakness that was exposed is that our defense really isn't all that. Their guards romped to the rim and scored seemingly at will tonight, and while bad refereeing had something to do with that, you still have to give credit to Notre Dame. That's not something we often see and not what our defense is famed for shutting down.

The problems were not X's and O's, or anything physical. It was entirely mental.

You could see the tentativeness. The stage got to them, again, and this was not a young team by any stretch -- 2 seniors, 3 juniors, and a sophomore.

These are great kids, but their legacy -- at least Nurse and Gabby -- is going to be the fact that they came up small on the biggest stage, in the exact same manner, two years in a row. They couldn't get it done without Stewie and co.

Geno's shine also takes a hit, going from what could have been an epic run over two separate personnel groupings, to adding more fuel to the fire of "can't win the close game".

 

[ASweet3781]

Here are some facts that should have concerned everyone.

1. We beat Notre Dame easily in South Bend in 2017.

2. We only lost Chong, added Stevens (Walker too), and everyone else was older

3. We should have had an off season of motivation from the Miss State loss

4. ND lost 4 players to ACL including Bri Turner.

Despite all of this they led us by 10 points going into the 4th QTR in Hartford and ended our season. They either worked harder than us in the off season or we have players that maxed out on their potential already.

 

[BostonCanuck]

The problems were not X's and O's, or anything physical. It was entirely mental.

You could see the tentativeness. The stage got to them, again, and this was not a young team by any stretch -- 2 seniors, 3 juniors, and a sophomore.

These are great kids, but their legacy -- at least Nurse and Gabby -- is going to be the fact that they came up small on the biggest stage, in the exact same manner, two years in a row. They couldn't get it done without Stewie and co.

Geno's shine also takes a hit, going from what could have been an epic run over two separate personnel groupings, to adding more fuel to the fire of "can't win the close game".

Actually, tonight the problem was both. I and many others have already chimed in about your side of the equation in other post-game threads, and will surely continue to do so because it's a very real issue. Geno often commented this season about how this particular group is so nice but seems somewhat casual about things. And as he continues to get older, it's not going to get any easier for him to relate to players he is coaching.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Here are some facts that should have concerned everyone.

1. We beat Notre Dame easily in South Bend in 2017.

2. We only lost Chong, added Stevens (Walker too), and everyone else was older

3. We should have had an off season of motivation from the Miss State loss

4. ND lost 4 players to ACL including Bri Turner.

Despite all of this they led us by 10 points going into the 4th QTR in Hartford and ended our season. They either worked harder than us in the off season or we have players that maxed out on their potential already.

I actually question #3. This team should have come out with a killer instinct and a desire to scorch earth and prove last year was a fluke.

Where was the fire with this group?

 

[socal613ws]

I'm not trying to be a hater or put anyone down because God knows ID feel the same pressure as these ladies, but it feels like anytime the game is close and tight the last 2 min they panic and look for someone to be the go to girl and the team's personality does not fit the teams of the past.

 

[Zanzman]

Glad you could toot your own horn iron digging up a 3 month old thread