Some thoughts on yesterday

[Tonyc]

It looked to me like Azzi's mid range shot is in pretty good shape. She made a bunch of them. It will only get better. Her trey still isnt where it was and thats ok for now, because her presence on the floor is what we needed. Be patient she will get it back. Caroline looks solid right now. I gotta say when the going got tuff this team stepped it up big time. "The Griff" shined and so did Azzi and everybody made plays and UConn took over. Now we have a few days and a long flight to Seattle. I must say for a regional in Seattle thats not a regional and I miss not going this year to someplace close by. Next year we got Albany and Im sure UConn will be there.

Yesterday we again saw a team of stars play like a team. T.E.A.M= Together Everyone Achieves More. I dont expect UConn to run into another team that hits as many treys a Baylor did and if they do we're ready for it. We shut them down in the second half. Baylor was on fire from treylan. We won by 19. Thats huge against a good team that was on fire from the outside. Baylor pretty much had to depend on their outside shooting because they couldnt matchup inside with us. Alot of teams moving forward will face that same problem of not being able to match up with UConns height.

Alot of these teams that pulled upsets are going to be on cloud 9 in the Regionals. All the attention they get theyve earned. However playing in a regional against a powerhouse well you will need to be focused and not just the attitude Im happy to be here. This is a regional not the NC. You still have further to go. UConn has got that killer instinct right now and in the blink of an eye they can roll right over you. For UConn this is a mission for some other teams they may not have that attitude. At this point of the tournament you need more then one go to player. You cant be dependent on one or two players. This is a team event. You need contributions from everybody and they need to know their role. UConn is playin like a like a run away train with no brakes. At this point in the tournament its more then just executing on both sides of the ball. You have to play solid defense and you have to be able to execute and take a shot when your team needs you to, and shoot it with confidence. UConn showed this yesterday.

We've been saying with all UConn has been through this season it would help them when things got tuff. Yesterday it showed. In the third qtr UConn stepped up big. There was no fear of the moment. There was no second guessing. They played tuff perimeter defense knowing Baylor would have problems trying to go inside. They executed and they stepped up and got it done. "The Griff and Azzi led the way. It didnt matter they may have not been 100%. They thrived on the pressure. The team looked like a true team executing on both sides of the ball and making big plays. You just cant stand around trying to make a play and not take a good shot. Good shots come from constant movement and UConn did that. WE shot over 50% from the floor and many of us know we're better than that. Now thats scary.

So here we are in the regionals again. It didnt look that way a few weeks ago. Now it comes down to who has the better guards, who has the bigs to get it done, who can play solid defense and who has go to players they can depend on. We've got them all. Teams weakness's will be exposed this coming weekend and they will have to overcome then. Teams will have to make adjustments this weekend and players will have to step up. I like our chances and I like'em alot.

 

[BRS24]

It looked to me like Azzi's mid range shot is in pretty good shape. She made a bunch of them. It will only get better. Her trey still isnt where it was and thats ok for now, because her presence on the floor is what we needed.

Alot of these teams that pulled upsets are going to be on cloud 9 in the Regionals. All the attention they get theyve earned. However playing in a regional against a powerhouse well you will need to be focused and not just the attitude Im happy to be here. This is a regional not the NC. You still have further to go. UConn has got that killer instinct right now and in the blink of an eye they can roll right over you. For UConn this is a mission for some other teams they may not have that attitude.

We've been saying with all UConn has been through this season it would help them when things got tuff. Yesterday it showed. In the third qtr UConn stepped up big. There was no fear of the moment. There was no second guessing. They played tuff perimeter defense knowing Baylor would have problems trying to go inside. They executed and they stepped up and got it done.

Azzi's shots - I kept telling the hub that I'd rather see Azzi take mid range jumpers and make them, rather than chance the 3 pt shots. Azzi driving into the lane for the former forced the defense to work harder on her.

Regionals - of our 10 active players, 7 of them have been to the regionals. Adding Paige's experience, albeit from the bench, kinda gives us 7.5 with the experience. UConn travels well, and the coaching staff knows all the pros/cons, pitfalls that can come up in the 2nd weekend of the tourney, along with the expectations that we get past that, as you know "that" question will be asked and answered ad nauseam for the whole weekend.

3rd Q - I posted in the post game thread that as uncomfortable as we were as fans, UConn needed a test in this game to prep for next weekend. With parity abound, gone are the days of the buzz saw UConn teams, aka, 2002, where Bird, Cash, Jones, Williams, and Taurasi were on a mission after losing to ND in NCAA semis the prior season. In 2002, the MOV for regular, BET, NCAA, and total were 38, 39, 27, and 36. The lowest MOV was 9, and the highest was 69. We'll most likely never see that level of domination again. So, for this year, we needed to be tested and figure out a solution.