South Dakota State Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

South Dakota State Postgame Thread

Rebecca Lobo made a great point regarding South Dakota State. They received a poor seeding and the worst bracket for them. UCONN is used to their style because several Big East teams play that way.
She felt that the Jackrabbits might have fared better vs. the other #2 seeds, Duke, TCU, & NC State.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
In the presser Geno said Paige accomplished the feat of 50% from the field, 40% of threes and 90% frees for the season and that had never been done before in college or the pro leagues. The mike was the usual dreadful quality but I think he said she is the most efficient player too.
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Hey Rock, where did you see the presser? I’d be interested to see if Geno tears up like I am doing…
 
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DEpup said:
Foul trouble. Limited minutes
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Thanks, minutes weren't posted when I first looked at the box score. She only played 18 minutes and had 2 fouls. I guess the coach decided that she wasn't needed much in the second half...
 
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A great win and a fascinating game to watch. I've always loved Paige, but I especially love her when she gets pissed off at something that happens in the game and goes into her own version of Beadt Mode. She started off missing her first 2 jumpers and then it happened: after a couple of iffy foul calls went against UCONN, Paige got creamed in the paint on defense (no foul call) and then grabbed a rebounding while being mauled (this time a foul was called). This seemed to ignite her, and she turned into SheHulk on offense and simply refused to be stopped (as I'm "typing" this, Juju has just gotten injured and us being helped to the dressing room. I hope that she will be all right. As UCONN fans, we have had our hearts broken all too often seeing devastating injuries to Paige, Azzi, et. al., abd we know that others' misfortunes are nothing to celebrate).
Back to the UCONN game...
KK is remarkable! She completely changed the tone of the game when she's first entered (& both she and Kaitlyn both took care of the basketball).
For Sarah, just another normal day at the office. Not as overwhelming a statistical game as the last but still really efficient and impact fully.
It took Azzi a long time to get started tonight, but she wound up shooting 2 for 5 from 3 and avoided getting getting a third foul after getting 2 quick ones in the first half.
Some good contributions from Ice, Ash and Aubrey, too.
Congratulations to Paige on crossing the threshold to officially achieve 50-40-90 status to this point!
On to Spokane and Oklahoma (I have a feeling that Geno will spend the next few days really working on the team's rebounding)!
 
NW-MW said:
I do wonder in the small ball lineup how Beers will guard Sarah stretching out to the 3-point line
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Exactly. It would be great if Jana and Ice could hold their own against Beers. But good as she is, I don’t think stopping her will be the key to the game. It’s their big guards: Verhulst, Vann, Williams. Stop them and you win, and I have a feeling Paige & Co. can do that. Plus Beers can’t guard Sarah. I just hope Sarah doesn’t get stuck defending Beers often.
 
So if we needed to be reminded, this is what happens when Paige shoots it whenever she can and her teammates look for her all the time. This was not an anomaly in terms of what she can do only in terms of what she wants to do.

I was at the game and watching KK play defense is like watching someone get defended by their shadow. She is only a few refinements away from becoming one the best all around PGs in the country. A better 3, a pull up J, a left hand and some better judgment on passing instead of dribbling. Sounds like a lot but it's not. She has the physical strength and talent to do it.

Jana is struggling out there. She needs a summer of intense work and some basic fundamental muscle memory. We have to remember that she is a true freshman except that it was worse because she started being a year behind and out of shape.

Azzi is just great. Such a dynamic , smart ,explosive player and a precise, relentless defender. We are only seeing her really as a sophomore in terms of games actually fully played.

They are really playing UCONN basketball now. They just have to have confidence that it will do it all for them if they keep it up.
 
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Geno Auriemma, Azzi Fudd, Paige Bueckers postgame press conference



Unfortunately I won't have any locker room stuff tonight as I had to leave before the game started with bad back spasms.
 
Centerstream said:
I was really, really surprised that neither Beth Mowins or Rebecca mentioned during the game that this could possibly be Azzi's last game at Gampel.
Another good game that was really close and then suddenly we were up by 20, then 30 and then 40...impressive!!!
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Azzi didn’t talk to crowd afterward and say how wonderful it’s been & all like Paige did in her farewell/appreciation speech- hmmm!
 
Vowelguy said:
Gonna need a big stepup from Jana next game. Beers is no joke.
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I suspect that Ice may see more playing time than Jana, given her more advanced defense as of now. Either way, UConn will run Beers ragged. In the dictionary, her picture is next to the word "lumbering". I expect to see lots of 5 on 4 in transition . And when Beers is on offense, unless she has mastered the art of feeding herself (which would be a first for a post player), she will have problems when UConn's guards cut off her food supply. After the game I look forward to hearing from the posters who insisted that it was critical for UConn to land Beers from the portal, that its failure to do so is evidence of Geno's incompetence and/or decline, and that the team's existing post players are far inferior to her.
 
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my2cents said:
KK Arnold coming in and upping the defensive tempo changed the games direction.
Paige seeing nobody else's shots going in, saying ok, I will take over.
Fudd is so smooth.
Strong being Strong.
Two questions though. Why no Griffen in the first half and why do we throw the ball into Jana, nothing good happens from that?
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I believe that 1) Geno’s having Aubrey work her way back slowly. Real slowly, with the hopes of her being more involved in the later games; 2) Jana still needs to touch the ball — Hopefully a couple of her shots start dropping. Geno, the other coaches, and her teammates believe in her. Go UConn! Go Huskies!!
 
maple said:
Respect to South Dakota St. Played tough the whole game. I'm glad that Brooklyn Meyer is okay; that ankle roll was scary. I'm sure they'll be back in the tournament next year, too.

Paige was just phenomenal. What can you even say at this point??

A bit of a cold start, but once we got rolling, there was no stopping us. Everyone kept shooting and the baskets started falling. And our defense was absolutely STIFLING. It was incredible to watch. And then defense lead to TOs, lead to points -- the usual for UConn. It was very nice to see!!!! Some classic UConn ball out there on the floor tonight.

Got the job done at home. Now let's take this show on the road!!!!!
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No free lunches from here on out. Deep end of the bench can pretty much forget seeing the court. Maybe Aubrey does if she is feeling good.
 
Crossover said:
I suspect that Ice may see more playing time than Jana, given her more advanced defense as of now. Either way, UConn will run Beers ragged. In the dictionary, her picture is next to the word "lumbering". I expect to see lots of 5 on 4 in transition . And when Beers is on offense, unless she has mastered the art of feeding herself (which would be a first for a post player), she will have problems when UConn's guards cut off her food supply. After the game I look forward to hearing from the posters who insisted that it was critical for UConn to land Beers from the portal, that its failure to do so is evidence of Geno's incompetence and/or decline, and that the team's existing post players are far inferior to her.
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I thought OU was a high scoring uptempo team? How does Beers fit in with that?
 
I was at the game and it was a special night at Gampel. Full house, and it was an early-arriving crowd given the 8:00 start time and the fact that they opened Gampel at 6:30. I was happy to be there with my cousin who had never seen the women play at Gampel.

Lots of people like me soaking it in, knowing it was the last time Paige would play at Gampel. Words that come to mind - festive, colorful, electric, loud, joyous. It was a night to remember.

The students are back from break so their presence was far more noticeable than it was on Saturday. Saw Karaban and McNeeley there also.

I don’t recall ever seeing Paige play better. Tonight was her night, we were all living in her world from 8 to 10. Most players move around the court in a linear fashion, but with Paige it is mostly circular and slithery, but linear when the situation calls for it. I don’t think you can teach someone to play the way she plays.

The defense was very intense. Really everyone playing like that, but KK deserves special mention. SDS did a better job with it than Arkansas State but still ended up with 25 turnovers. Their intensity on defense and ability to get back on defense was good in the first half but withered in the second half. They were worn down.

But give SDS credit. They are a good team, with the misfortune of drawing UConn in the second round. Well coached, play hard, run their offense well, good shooters, easy to see why they were so successful this season. They also had a very good following that traveled with them. They were largely behind their bench tonight, although on Saturday they were in sections across the way. I hope their team and fans will have positive memories of their time in Connecticut.

Would have liked to see Aubrey in the first half and Caroline at some point. Caroline was a full participant in warmups and looked fine. And falling behind early and looking out of sync for the first five minutes or so until Paige righted the ship was not what I was hoping for. But other than that, what a night.
 
Caroline was the only player not to get a single minute in this game. That concerns me! Is she in Geno's doghouse for some reason or was she hurt in practice?
 
Vowelguy said:
I thought OU was a high scoring uptempo team? How does Beers fit in with that?
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In a simple way, last year they were high scoring up tempo with zero inside game.

Presto transfer portal, now they are high scoring up tempo with an all American post.

Beers is good at passing from the inside out to the 3 point shooters, or if she is not doubled, doing her own thing down low.

On d, she lags off her player to be a rim protector.

It's a good sweet 16 matchup for UConn. We need to contain Beers and make sure their shooters don't shoot 60% against us.

They play up tempo, so Huskies will be running. Will be a fun game.
 
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my2cents said:
KK Arnold coming in and upping the defensive tempo changed the games direction.
Paige seeing nobody else's shots going in, saying ok, I will take over.
Fudd is so smooth.
Strong being Strong.
Two questions though. Why no Griffen in the first half and why do we throw the ball into Jana, nothing good happens from that?
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At the end of the game, we tried to force it to Jana on like 5 possessions in a row. And I don’t understand it. It’s either a turnover or a wild shot every time we telegraph that we are going to Jana. Not sure what the rationale was.
 
Just.A.Fan said:
Caroline was the only player not to get a single minute in this game. That concerns me! Is she in Geno's doghouse for some reason or was she hurt in practice?
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I swear I saw her icing her head in the 4th quarter.

On OU, I think they go as Peyton Verhulst goes. She plays as sort of a point forward for them sometimes. I would really try to focus on shutting her down. Strong is the perfect defender against Peyton too tbh.
 
Sluggish start but then KK brought the energy and Paige decided to win the game herself. I love when Paige is aggressive. Was keeping up with the entire SD State team in first half scoring alone

Now the fun begins. We’re riding a lot of confidence and that will be the key. Paige, lead the way!
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
The South Dakota Coach just said UConn is the best 2 seed in the history of women's basketball. I know what he wanted to say.

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H.C. Aaron Johnston also reflected on a question about UCONN quality of play:
"They play HARD. They don't take breaks." ( at about the one hour and minute mark ).
"They wear you down". Coach Johnston also made a great comment about how
his local community/fans/young girls look up to his Jackrabbit players in the same
way that the UNCONN community/fans/young girls look up to the Huskies and Paige.
He wanted to (justly) praise HIS PLAYERS for what they do for Women's College
Basketball in upper Mid-West. WELL SPOKEN, COACH!
 
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