Some thoughts

[Tonyc]

Alot of tuff breaks. We've been running on fumes and it caught up with us tonite. We have lacked scorers all season. It caught up with us tonite. We are a really good team with 50 pts sitting on the bench and it caught up with us tonite. With all that look at our record. We're good. I know alot of you are down. So am I. We lost. Its tuff to admit. First of all I am a friend of Danielle Patterson's dad. I met her at the CTK Ossining game when Chong and Sierra Calhoun were the NY stars. Danni was in jr high and at the game with her dad. STJ shot well from trey and Dani had a great game. Thats why we lost.. We lack scorers and have all season. Lou has been great. We need more Lou's and until Caroline gets up to speed and Azzi gets back and up to speed we will struggle. Teams know now to pack in the middle and suffocate Lou and you can beat UConn. I hope you all realize what we've done with 50+ pts on the bench. Caroline and Azzi have to come back healthy and I would think we are almost unbeatable.

I cant wait for the end of the season when we can rest, and get our energy back and more importantly get Caroline and Azzi healthy and back. The good TO's were down. The bad fouls hurt us and we didnt shoot the ball well. That stuff happens and it happened tonite. The attitude we should all have now is get Caroline and Azzi healthy and win the BET and NC.

 

[Urshurak]

Agree 100%.

Where this team is, considering, is remarkable.

Does SC have UConns record if you take away Boston and Cooke?

Does Stanford have UConns record if you take away Jones and Brink?

Does Iowa or Villanova have their record without Clarke and Siegrist? Plus their next best player?

NO. Simple as that.

 

[Longtime fan]

Alot of tuff breaks. We've been running on fumes and it caught up with us tonite. We have lacked scorers all season. It caught up with us tonite. We are a really good team with 50 pts sitting on the bench and it caught up with us tonite. With all that look at our record. We're good. I know alot of you are down. So am I. We lost. Its tuff to admit. First of all I am a friend of Danielle Patterson's dad. I met her at the CTK Ossining game when Chong and Sierra Calhoun were the NY stars. Danni was in jr high and at the game with her dad. STJ shot well from trey and Dani had a great game. Thats why we lost.. We lack scorers and have all season. Lou has been great. We need more Lou's and until Caroline gets up to speed and Azzi gets back and up to speed we will struggle. Teams know now to pack in the middle and suffocate Lou and you can beat UConn. I hope you all realize what we've done with 50+ pts on the bench. Caroline and Azzi have to come back healthy and I would think we are almost unbeatable.

I cant wait for the end of the season when we can rest, and get our energy back and more importantly get Caroline and Azzi healthy and back. The good TO's were down. The bad fouls hurt us and we didnt shoot the ball well. That stuff happens and it happened tonite. The attitude we should all have now is get Caroline and Azzi healthy and win the BET and NC.

I don't share your optimism about the near future. Caroline didn't look good today, let's be honest. On that drive to tie the score, late in the game, her " tear-drop ' was barely in the right direction of the hoop. She only was able to score from the foul line as I recall. My point is; Caroline needs a lot of time to get back in game shape. And, since she is still wearing the ice bag on her head, I can't help but think she is continuing to suffer in some way. Azzi will be even more rusty than Caroline. And the team, the starting five which figured out how to play together is now " unraveled, as new players are accommodated. " We all want to believe they are the cavalry. But they are a two deep cavalry and we need five deep. Our bench today gave 3 minutes of work. In that time, Ines did not play; Patterson had a foul within ten seconds; and while DeBerry nicely blocked a shot, she also took a shot that missed the backboard. We can lose to four team in our Big East Conference...maybe five. It will remain a dog fight to earn wins. As you say, we lack scorers ( except Lou).

 

[cgshuskie]

Come on Tonyc; are you serious?

 

[BfromCT]

In a message on February 11, I addressed the bench issue, expressing among other things, the concern that the physical and mental toll on the bodies of the five starters will have repercussions for the rest of the season. “The gas tank may be empty by the time of the Big Dance.” It appears that I was in error because it seems that the tank has been pretty much empty since the team’s magnificent game against South Carolina of February 5.

We have seen a series of distressing circumstances - a much higher rate of turnovers per game than in recent seasons, poor decision making in a number of bad passes each game, a resurgence of missed layups that so plagued the Huskies last season, getting out hustled, and players fumbling passes (Edwards in particular). The Huskies appear mentally and physically exhausted. The team has averaged just 61 points per game in the five contests since South Carolina, not one of which was well played by the Huskies, and with losses to Marquette and St. John’s. The Huskies haven’t lost two conference games per season in a decade.

The welcome return of Caroline Ducharme has not seemed to have helped that much, although her presence was decisive in a two point win over Creighton last week. So what does the future hold? Obviously, none of us really know, but unless the team gets some rejuvenation pills and the return of Azzi Fudd, neither a Big East championship nor a long run in the NCAAs is assured. The team that played last night will have trouble in both the Big East semis and finals and, likely, the round of 16 in the Big Dance.

This unfortunate situation is the result of several factors - a weak class of incoming freshmen due to the season long injury of Ice Brady, a squad with just 12 players (and the 12th was not added until the last minute after the Bueckers and Brady injuries), the unprecedented series of injuries this UConn team has suffered, and lastly the conference schedule. The women’s season is one week shorter than the men’s and it appears as if the Big East has largely adopted a schedule that features one home game followed by an away game. Cutting down on the number of trips per season would be of some help.

The St. John’s loss will bump UConn down to a no. 2 seed, and put the Red Storm in the mix for an at-large berth in the NCAAs.

The moral of the story is that the Huskies will not be able to compete for a national championship without more players and a stronger bench. Still, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I do not think we'll see 15 straight Final Fours.
That's OK. Lot's of teams never make one FF, let alone 15.

This is not our year.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I do not think we'll see 15 straight Final Fours.
That's OK. Lot's of teams never make one FF, let alone 15.

This is not our year.

Even if we had Azzi, a final four was a long shot. No Paige, no final four IMO. There's a chance we do not make it out of the first weekend. Wonder how long it's been since we haven't made at least the sweet 16?

 

[Blakeon18]

1993 was the last year we did not make at least the sweet 16...that streak is waaay longer than any other
current sweet 16 streaks by any college. It is ongoing of course and I would make a wager that it will
continue this March...current difficulties a challenge not door-closers.

 

[Rowdy831]

The NCAA tournament is not that taxing on the players. They play two games per week with a lot of rest after the weekend game to recover for the next weeks games. The first weekend will be weaker teams that won't match up at all with the better teams so short of a complete meltdown they will make it to the second weekend.

How does the team make a run? The need to have enough rest between now and the tournament to get their legs back and just as importantly their mental sharpness back. They lost last night in part because they didn't complete some easy chances that they should complete close to 100% of the time.

Mentally this team looks like they are burnt. If they can get enough rest to mentally recover they will make a run. You might notice they play completely different against the good teams compared to the game following a big game. That is mental. I am frustrated at points but I have no doubt this team has the talent to still compete for a title.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Alot of tuff breaks. We've been running on fumes and it caught up with us tonite. We have lacked scorers all season. It caught up with us tonite. We are a really good team with 50 pts sitting on the bench and it caught up with us tonite. With all that look at our record. We're good. I know alot of you are down. So am I. We lost. Its tuff to admit. First of all I am a friend of Danielle Patterson's dad. I met her at the CTK Ossining game when Chong and Sierra Calhoun were the NY stars. Danni was in jr high and at the game with her dad. STJ shot well from trey and Dani had a great game. Thats why we lost.. We lack scorers and have all season. Lou has been great. We need more Lou's and until Caroline gets up to speed and Azzi gets back and up to speed we will struggle. Teams know now to pack in the middle and suffocate Lou and you can beat UConn. I hope you all realize what we've done with 50+ pts on the bench. Caroline and Azzi have to come back healthy and I would think we are almost unbeatable.

I cant wait for the end of the season when we can rest, and get our energy back and more importantly get Caroline and Azzi healthy and back. The good TO's were down. The bad fouls hurt us and we didnt shoot the ball well. That stuff happens and it happened tonite. The attitude we should all have now is get Caroline and Azzi healthy and win the BET and NC.

We would have won this game except, our starters and Caroline were just gassed by the middle of the 4th quarter. All those turnovers, missed passes, missed scoring opportunities on fast breaks, getting beat on defense, were due to everyone just being tired. I thought Edwards was close to passing out late 4th quarter.

 

[cancontent]

These are all great points, but there is a silver lining in this at the same time. Like I've noted in other threads, there are teams who have not experienced as much adversity and aren't in the top ten or ranked at all. This could provide a bit of a reprieve during the first couple rounds. Beyond that who knows? The current situation is not ideal, but from a pragmatic viewpoint, the team's situation could have been a lot worse.

 

[NC28604]

The NCAA tournament is not that taxing on the players. They play two games per week with a lot of rest after the weekend game to recover for the next weeks games. The first weekend will be weaker teams that won't match up at all with the better teams so short of a complete meltdown they will make it to the second weekend.

How does the team make a run? The need to have enough rest between now and the tournament to get their legs back and just as importantly their mental sharpness back. They lost last night in part because they didn't complete some easy chances that they should complete close to 100% of the time.

Mentally this team looks like they are burnt. If they can get enough rest to mentally recover they will make a run. You might notice they play completely different against the good teams compared to the game following a big game. That is mental. I am frustrated at points but I have no doubt this team has the talent to still compete for a title.

"The first weekend will be weaker teams that won't match up ", like St. Johns?

 

[Centerstream]

Even if we had Azzi, a final four was a long shot. No Paige, no final four IMO. There's a chance we do not make it out of the first weekend. Wonder how long it's been since we haven't made at least the sweet 16?

It's easy to look up. Wikipedia

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

1993, we missed out on the tournament. The year before we lost in the Round of 32.

 

[hoopsdiva]

I recall a comment that Geno made, I think it was during our heyday of triple digit win streaks. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something to the effect that you're never as good as you think you are when you win big, and you're never as bad as you think you are when you lose. We may not make the FF, and some of our longest and proudest streaks may come to an end, but there are still a whole lot of programs who would love to be us.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

It's easy to look up. Wikipedia

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

1993, we missed out on the tournament. The year before we lost in the Round of 32.

It seemed odd to me the team with Lobo would miss the tournament entirely so I double checked and they did make the tournament in 1993. The team lost in the "first round" to Louisville but there were only 48 teams in the tournament then.

 

[Centerstream]

It seemed odd to me the team with Lobo would miss the tournament entirely so I double checked and they did make the tournament in 1993. The team lost in the "first round" to Louisville but there were only 48 teams in the tournament then.

And I obviously misinterpreted the meaning of the • in 1993. Oops.

 

[TCC Kid]

I don't share your optimism about the near future. Caroline didn't look good today, let's be honest. On that drive to tie the score, late in the game, her " tear-drop ' was barely in the right direction of the hoop. She only was able to score from the foul line as I recall. My point is; Caroline needs a lot of time to get back in game shape. And, since she is still wearing the ice bag on her head, I can't help but think she is continuing to suffer in some way. Azzi will be even more rusty than Caroline. And the team, the starting five which figured out how to play together is now " unraveled, as new players are accommodated. " We all want to believe they are the cavalry. But they are a two deep cavalry and we need five deep. Our bench today gave 3 minutes of work. In that time, Ines did not play; Patterson had a foul within ten seconds; and while DeBerry nicely blocked a shot, she also took a shot that missed the backboard. We can lose to four team in our Big East Conference...maybe five. It will remain a dog fight to earn wins. As you say, we lack scorers ( except Lou).

Caroline, I agree. One play in particular, FOR ME, wrapped up her mentality. She was hit and spent (maybe seconds) considerable time behind the basket on her knee holding her head. If fear she fears more damage to her already banged up head. With that I agree with her---more bangs to the head bring long term evolving issues.
@Tonyc's EXCUSES are just that. St. Johns with 12 people, had one possibly 2 that could have been ranked with Dorka, or Caroline. The rest, on any Uconn team would have been role players.
I have had my negative thoughts of DeBerry. Not against St Johns. She alone stopped scoring under the basket while she was in--she was pulled after one ill advised (but taken by many) shot that missed. Her size under the boards --as a back stop--can work. She has a lot of learning to do.

No excuses--please---St Johns WON. I didn't like some of the calls, I never do! Neither did St Johns.
Uconn has the 5 starters, highly touted Patterson, Ines, 6ft 5 in DeBerry, Exceptional Caroline, Amazing Lou, Wonderful Muhl, Talented Dorka, Powerful Edwards, one in a million Aubrey. Add the walking wounded and Uconn could take on and possible beat WNBA teams (not all) TALENT lots of Talent. When scoring (and the opponents have a lot to do with that) and Rebounding--Uconn wins every time. But not last night.
As much as it hurt me to say---Hat's off to St Johns Coaching staff and team.

 

[BRS24]

I recall a comment that Geno made, I think it was during our heyday of triple digit win streaks. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something to the effect that you're never as good as you think you are when you win big, and you're never as bad as you think you are when you lose. We may not make the FF, and some of our longest and proudest streaks may come to an end, but there are still a whole lot of programs who would love to be us.

Yup. And he also said that when the team was going thru a super long win streak, some deficiencies were hard to coach. If you are on a 80+ game win streak, I'm sure there's a feeling of invincibility, therefore harder to get thru to the players. He also mentioned that some of these issues came out full bloom during the tournament, and if you cannot solve them, you go home. The losses to Miss St and ND in 2017-2019 come to mind.

 

[npignatjr]

"The first weekend will be weaker teams that won't match up ", like St. Johns?

Yes but that would be after a long break between the BE tournament and the NCAAs

 

[MSSportsGuy]

And I obviously misinterpreted the meaning of the • in 1993. Oops.

All good lol.

 

[Rb335]

I do not think we'll see 15 straight Final Fours.
That's OK. Lot's of teams never make one FF, let alone 15.

This is not our year.

I completely agree. I love the optimism of the board, but we don’t have much basis for thinking about the final four right now.

Since our win at Tennessee, it’s been a real struggle for this squad. Failing to score 70 points in 7 of 8 games. Going 5-3 during that stretch. What’s further worrisome is that of those 5 wins, all were by 10 points or less. The two wins against Villanova are solid. Beating Creighton by 2 at home was nice but showed we are very beatable. And two close ugly wins over Georgetown and Providence, teams that won’t sniff the NCAA tournament.

It’s perplexing, we saw the potential against South Carolina, so we’re all clinging to that version of the team. It gives a glimmer of hope that they can get hot. But it’s an outlier performance. We’re tired, we’re not healthy, and both of those things may or may not be resolved. We’ll find out!

We’re getting a huge boost in metrics from our early season tear with Azzi available. But without her, our resume is very very different. If we go into the tournament without her, I fear we could be a team with an inflated seed, prime for upset. We’ll see where we go from here, but as the season winds down, it’s very unpredictable what we’ll see. Will be rooting for them every step of the way though!

 

[uconnfan68]

The NCAA tournament is not that taxing on the players. They play two games per week with a lot of rest after the weekend game to recover for the next weeks games. The first weekend will be weaker teams that won't match up at all with the better teams so short of a complete meltdown they will make it to the second weekend.

How does the team make a run? The need to have enough rest between now and the tournament to get their legs back and just as importantly their mental sharpness back. They lost last night in part because they didn't complete some easy chances that they should complete close to 100% of the time.

Mentally this team looks like they are burnt. If they can get enough rest to mentally recover they will make a run. You might notice they play completely different against the good teams compared to the game following a big game. That is mental. I am frustrated at points but I have no doubt this team has the talent to still compete for a title.

Unfortunately, the "weaker" teams may be more athletic, and have a great shooting day. That will bury us.

 

[npignatjr]

In a message on February 11, I addressed the bench issue, expressing among other things, the concern that the physical and mental toll on the bodies of the five starters will have repercussions for the rest of the season. “The gas tank may be empty by the time of the Big Dance.” It appears that I was in error because it seems that the tank has been pretty much empty since the team’s magnificent game against South Carolina of February 5.

We have seen a series of distressing circumstances - a much higher rate of turnovers per game than in recent seasons, poor decision making in a number of bad passes each game, a resurgence of missed layups that so plagued the Huskies last season, getting out hustled, and players fumbling passes (Edwards in particular). The Huskies appear mentally and physically exhausted. The team has averaged just 61 points per game in the five contests since South Carolina, not one of which was well played by the Huskies, and with losses to Marquette and St. John’s. The Huskies haven’t lost two conference games per season in a decade.

The welcome return of Caroline Ducharme has not seemed to have helped that much, although her presence was decisive in a two point win over Creighton last week. So what does the future hold? Obviously, none of us really know, but unless the team gets some rejuvenation pills and the return of Azzi Fudd, neither a Big East championship nor a long run in the NCAAs is assured. The team that played last night will have trouble in both the Big East semis and finals and, likely, the round of 16 in the Big Dance.

This unfortunate situation is the result of several factors - a weak class of incoming freshmen due to the season long injury of Ice Brady, a squad with just 12 players (and the 12th was not added until the last minute after the Bueckers and Brady injuries), the unprecedented series of injuries this UConn team has suffered, and lastly the conference schedule. The women’s season is one week shorter than the men’s and it appears as if the Big East has largely adopted a schedule that features one home game followed by an away game. Cutting down on the number of trips per season would be of some help.

The St. John’s loss will bump UConn down to a no. 2 seed, and put the Red Storm in the mix for an at-large berth in the NCAAs.

The moral of the story is that the Huskies will not be able to compete for a national championship without more players and a stronger bench. Still, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings.

Mostly agree, Ice is an unknown ranked behind Ayanna. If or when either of the major knee injured players return to form is only a crapshoot for this season or next.

 

[msf22b]

In a message on February 11, I addressed the bench issue, expressing among other things, the concern that the physical and mental toll on the bodies of the five starters will have repercussions for the rest of the season.

The Huskies appear mentally and physically exhausted. The team has averaged just 61 points per game in the five contests since South Carolina, not one of which was well played by the Huskies, and with losses to Marquette and St. John’s. The Huskies haven’t lost two conference games per season in a decade.

The welcome return of Caroline Ducharme has not seemed to have helped that much, although her presence was decisive in a two point win over Creighton last week.

This unfortunate situation is the result of several factors -

A very precise and almost complete analysis by "B"

I've noted earlier that putting one more (splendid) body into the mix might not help that much...despite Caroline's wonderful effort vs Creighton that concept has turned out correct (for now)...6 is still not enough...

And Caroline's initial appearance furthered Geno's historically typical predilection to play as few as possible...She was the only player off the bench.

I worry that even Aziz's return (if it occurs) will not turn this season around.

I recall 2011 in the Philly regionals...I drove down with Wonkster
The starters against Duke were
Moore
Dolsen
Tiff Hayes
Bria Hartley
Kelly Farris
Fierce, indomitable competitors all...the top 4 ...all-stars at the next level
And Kelly, the heart and soul of the team.

Then bench was was Laura Englen, Michala Johnson (who both hardly played and who both left the program) Heather Buck who played 5 minutes and Lorin Dixon who was the (only) primary used sub at 25 minutes.

That group was able to withstand the typical UConn pressure, the loss of Caroline Doty and the requirement that Stef and Bria as freshman hold up their end.
I remember that it was the Dukies who were physically defeated and exhausted, certainly not the triumphant Husky's

It is not a knock on this team, that they don't have the firepower and physicality to match the 2011 bunch, that coaching has has come a long way since then (a tribute largely to Geno) and that opponent's know the formula for disrupting our team...

And that Geno has (stubbornly) stuck with his long held philosophy of overly relying on his starters to the detriment of the reserves...even CD was moving in a different direction when she coached and played the bench 3 more effectively.

It is possible, that this year (every year is different), that Geno's approach of long-standing has contributed to the demise of this group...
That the splendid 5 just did not have enough in their tanks to get across the finish line

It is even possible that there is some internal dissension...They know each other, live together. talk...

What I have suggested is an idea, an approach...This is a discussion board
I am not stating this as a fact, that this is what happened...I surmise based on the evidence in front of me.

But some things are clear...The initial enthusiasm and brilliant play has dissipated.
And it is possible that like Humpty-Dumpty, it may not be possible to reconstitute this season, no matter who returns.

My hope is that the issues that emerged this year will bring a great deal off-season analysis and consideration among the staff.

And change as required...to comprehend the required elements of what it takes to produce dominating BB in this era.