St John's Postgame Thread

[From France]

4/14 on 3 pointers is a disappointment

 

[freshler40]

Geno and the announcers said SJU is a good defensive team. Shooting 57% against them is pretty good. As Geno noted, the half court offense could be better. Sarah had a quiet night, and neither Paige nor Azzi got enough shots. Not bad for a road win in which we just covered the point spread.

The pull-up jumpers by Ash, Azzi and Paige along with clean rebounds by Jan will take this team a long way. We did handle passes more cleanly in this game but still need to get and keep our turnovers under eight (8) a game. We had 13. We continue to force passes into heavy traffic or passes to no one in particular. Our deep bench, while still confusing at times, will keep our starters fresh and can now hold or increase leads.

It was refreshing to get the quick start and play a full game at a better pace. That suits our talent. Would like to see KK begin moving downcourt after Jana or others clear defensive rebounds. She waits too deep in the backcourt slowing down our offensive sets or penetration by guards. This allows the defense to set up. Our double high post is now set up more quickly and can be very effective with our bigs on the floor. This offensive set resulted in many pull up jumpers by the above trio.

Credit to St Johns, they played a full 40 minutes with gusto and helped our team grow.

 

[yhun89]

Morgan looks truly impressive out there. A big guard who knows how to box out and rebound.

Negatives: Sarah's double digit points every game streak comes to an end. But hey, she did have 5 REB and 5 AST.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Still not a 4 quart effort. A scoring drought like that would be a death knell w/SC or TN or in the tournament.
Yes, I know there's young players and Geno tinkers w/the lineup, but that excuse isn't holding up anymore.

 

[HuskyNan]

All I want is a 4 quarter effort w/o that scoring drought and they still haven't been able to do it.
I turned the game off before the 3rd quarter was finished.

So sorry they’re not living up to your expectations

 

[meyers7]

I haven’t watched the game. But 71 points against St John’s is worrisome. I know Geno is letting the bench play more but again this competition we have to be better offensively, no?

WE need to shoot the 3 better. Also St John's took forever on the offensive end. Quite a few Shot Clock violations. Hence we only got 51 shots. We've been averaging around 62. And we only shot 29% from the 3 pt land. 3 more made 3's and we're at 80.

 

[oldude]

WE need to shoot the 3 better. Also St John's took forever on the offensive end. Quite a few Shot Clock violations. Hence we only got 51 shots. We've been averaging around 62. And we only shot 29% from the 3 pt land. 3 more made 3's and we're at 80.

St John’s does a really good job of both switching and fighting over screens to defend the 3, which they did last night for the most part. UConn neutralized that by running several curls off screens that resulted in midrange shots or drives to the basket for Paige, Azzi, Ash and others.

Yes, UConn shot only 29% from the arc. But they shot 57% from inside the arc.

 

[oldude]

So sorry they’re not living up to your expectations

One thing I can never get over about the BY is that UConn can go on the road, against a tough defensive team, win by 26 points, in a game that was never in doubt, and still have fans complain.

Last night UCLA, the #1 team in the nation, beat a mediocre PSU team at home by only 16 pts. I’m sure that Bruin fans must be calling for Cori Close to be tarred and feathered.

Even Megan Culmo was grousing after the game about UConn’s performance. God knows what it will be like if and when Geno hangs up his coaching whistle.

 

[Rowdy831]

UConn is fortunate in that they don't need to overwork their star players while playing their league schedule. In the back of my mind I wonder how playing 25 minutes a game will affect their conditioning and will that be an issue when they have to play close to a full game?
In the coming weeks I will be looking at players like Ice that aren't really giving big contributions nightly but will need to show up big in the tournament for UConn to make it's annual deep run. I expect the roster that is playing now to be the roster that finishes the season and even if they get a player back who is injured I don't expect them to do too much.

Lastly I expect you will see a lot of Morgan when they play the likes of USC, UCLA and South Carolina. She has some length and really plays sound basketball on both ends of the court. With that said she needs to find a way to contribute 6-10 points nightly on the offense if she becomes that big lineup option.

 

[BobbyJ]

One thing I can never get over about the BY is that UConn can go on the road, against a tough defensive team, win by 26 points, in a game that was never in doubt, and still have fans complain.

Last night UCLA, the #1 team in the nation, beat a mediocre PSU team at home by only 16 pts. I’m sure that Bruin fans must be calling for Cori Close to be tarred and feathered.

Even Megan Culmo was grousing after the game about UConn’s performance. God knows what it will be like if and when Geno hangs up his coaching whistle.

It might be because they actually believe that the only way UConn can lose a game is because of the officials or injuries. I mean, they always have the greatest roster right? So they gotta blame somebody.

 

[my2cents]

The after game press conference, Geno addressed the issues that people bring up in the BY.
He could have left his starters in the game after scoring 25 points. If they all played 38 minutes they could have scored 100 points in the game.
He decided to get his young players into the game, who are new to college basketball, against a tough defensive team to develop them. Knowing they could struggle, hence 11 points in a qtr.
No matter what the decision, half the BY will complain.

 

[uconnever]

Yes. Everyone agrees Jana is "coming along" and "making progress". I agree. However the key to moving past "coming along" and breaking through the "making progress" wall is getting more effective minutes with the same or as many of the starting five players as possible and more than a couple of minutes at a time on the floor. What Jana needs now more than anything is continual, uninterrupted and meaningful time on the court to refine what is being preached and stressed in practice. She also needs to be fed the ball a lot more when she clears out her defender under the basket.

Jana is steadily improving and the reason she probably doesn’t play so many minutes is she hasn’t played in a long time because of a major injury and never before at this level and even to me she goes really hard and looks tired out there, as she should be. But Geno knows how long and she can play and he’s done this before. He knows at what rate to bring players around. The one thing I agree with is that our players are not getting her the ball when she sets up down low. Each game I yell at the tv at least 3 times to get her the ball when she is clearly ready for it and set up nicely. That has to change because I see her fighting hard and that part of her game needs repetition. I gave her a hard time earlier but she’s good now. We will need her the most against the best teams because they are all big. I think when that time comes, she just needs to learn how not to foul. Just play good defense and rebound that’s literally it. Anything else is icing on the cake.

 

[Zarathustra]

A win is a win, and the end of the bench got some useful minutes. Paige looked a bit rusty, Azzi looked great and Sarah was subdued but influential. The big 3 only took 23 shots and scored a combined 31 points. The other 40 points came mainly from Ash Jana Morgan. In a way, the best part of the game was seeing the rotation players play competently. They didn’t score a ton, but they played pretty good D.

Sarah "subdued?" She was 3/5 shooting with 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and one
steal with a +/- of +23 (the HIGH for the team). Sarah's efficiency rating was 12,
not high, but second only to Paige and Azzi at 14 each. My notes have
Sarah not playing any time in the 4th quarter (I could be wrong). So,
Sarah was subdued by Sarah Standards but IMHO she subdued herself
by only taking 5 shots.... maybe Geno wanted her to be a facilitator in
this game. So, BONE DOG you are correct she was " subdued but
influential" as you said. But I suspect that there was a GENO reason
in the game plan. Maybe??

 

[Vowelguy]

One thing I can never get over about the BY is that UConn can go on the road, against a tough defensive team, win by 26 points, in a game that was never in doubt, and still have fans complain.

Last night UCLA, the #1 team in the nation, beat a mediocre PSU team at home by only 16 pts. I’m sure that Bruin fans must be calling for Cori Close to be tarred and feathered.

Even Megan Culmo was grousing after the game about UConn’s performance. God knows what it will be like if and when Geno hangs up his coaching whistle.

Fans have been paying attention to Geno. For 40 years he has said that the score is irrelevant; the aim is to do things right.

 

[vaeman]

 

[Zarathustra]

I am absolutely baffled from some of the comments in this thread. It seems we all were not watching the same game.

We, the Boneyard, all "look" at different things in the game.
So, you are absolutely "CORRECT"... but not (IMHO) a reason
to be baffled.... Well maybe a little... but not when I began to
look at the "big picture" of Geno (IHMO, again) developing his
younger/bench players in a game. My notes from the game,
which could be wrong, have PAIGE, AZZI, and (I think, Sarah),
not playing a minute of the fourth quarter. I trust GENO
say the game that he wanted.

 

[Zarathustra]

WE need to shoot the 3 better. Also St John's took forever on the offensive end. Quite a few Shot Clock violations. Hence we only got 51 shots. We've been averaging around 62. And we only shot 29% from the 3 pt land. 3 more made 3's and we're at 80.

Thanks! I had not thought that all those "SHOT CLOCK VIOLATIONS" would
have that kind of effect on UCONN's number of shots and, of course, the
score. LEARN SOMETHING EVERY DAY!! Thank you, meyers 7!

 

[meyers7]

St John’s does a really good job of both switching and fighting over screens to defend the 3, which they did last night for the most part. UConn neutralized that by running several curls off screens that resulted in midrange shots or drives to the basket for Paige, Azzi, Ash and others.

Yes, UConn shot only 29% from the arc. But they shot 57% from inside the arc.

Agreed. But you'd like to shoot 50%/40%. Well really 55%/38% would be great. 2 more made 3's would have had us at 6/14 last nite (which would have been 43%, great!) .

 

[victor64]

Thoughts from reading this thread:

1. Resting your starters against a team with one win in a weak Big East makes sense to me.
2. With Paige and Azzi encouraged to hunt shots, Sarah often becomes the third option. Judging strictly from body language, she seems to have no issues with deferring. I am guessing she will be quite prominent in big games.
3. Ice does not have great hands. If she caught everything like Sarah does, she would not be frustrated with her playing time.
4. Only 11 FTs which oddly seems to be a little more than normal. UConn has morphed into running a dribble drive offense with kickouts to shooters at the three point line. Teams are attempting to stop this by fouling the heck out of the dribbler and mugging the post player. In theory, this should lead to more FTs. The data shows this not to be the case. I would bet this is near the top of Geno's concerns.
5. I like watching the nonstarters play. This means Ash and Morgan are on the floor. If there were ever stereotypical "UConn" players, these two play like it.
6. Inexperience or time away isn't Jana's problem with layups. It is mental. Like a talented pro golfer who struggles making two foot putts.
7. This isn't a final four team yet but if they stay healthy, they will be.

 

[meyers7]

One thing I can never get over about the BY is that UConn can go on the road, against a tough defensive team, win by 26 points, in a game that was never in doubt, and still have fans complain.

Last night UCLA, the #1 team in the nation, beat a mediocre PSU team at home by only 16 pts. I’m sure that Bruin fans must be calling for Cori Close to be tarred and feathered.

Even Megan Culmo was grousing after the game about UConn’s performance. God knows what it will be like if and when Geno hangs up his coaching whistle.

Yea, I think she was off on that. She even said she didn't think Geno would be happy with the performance. Maybe she's been reading the BY too much lately?

 

[Plebe]

Last night UCLA, the #1 team in the nation, beat a mediocre PSU team at home by only 16 pts. I’m sure that Bruin fans must be calling for Cori Close to be tarred and feathered.

1. Bruin fans, to the extent they exist, didn't grow accustomed to such an otherworldly standard over the past three decades. Also, I'm sure anyone with any connection to the Los Angeles area is right now greatly preoccupied with other events.
2. I'm not sure whether the official record will reflect this as a neutral court contest, but the game was relocated to Long Beach, over 30 miles away from UCLA.
3. Cori herself in the postgame interview expressed dissatisfaction with the performance.

 

[uconnfan68]

Jana is steadily improving and the reason she probably doesn’t play so many minutes is she hasn’t played in a long time because of a major injury and never before at this level and even to me she goes really hard and looks tired out there, as she should be. But Geno knows how long and she can play and he’s done this before. He knows at what rate to bring players around. The one thing I agree with is that our players are not getting her the ball when she sets up down low. Each game I yell at the tv at least 3 times to get her the ball when she is clearly ready for it and set up nicely. That has to change because I see her fighting hard and that part of her game needs repetition. I gave her a hard time earlier but she’s good now. We will need her the most against the best teams because they are all big. I think when that time comes, she just needs to learn how not to foul. Just play good defense and rebound that’s literally it. Anything else is icing on the cake.

Jana needs to stop referring the game and just play. The old line about controlling the things you can. Paige too.

 

[oldude]

Agreed. But you'd like to shoot 50%/40%. Well really 55%/38% would be great. 2 more made 3's would have had us at 6/14 last nite (which would have been 43%, great!) .

And Paige, coming back from injury was 0/2 from the arc. Add in that Sarah was also 0/2 from the arc and I’m not terribly concerned with our 3-pt shooting.

 

[rt bb fan]

Good win against a pesky team. The freshmen are making their mark in the game very nicely. Every body ate except Q ,but she only played minutes. Ash is still hitting her 3's and Jana looked good on rebounds and lay-ups.Morgan was a burst of energy off the bench and the Starting 3 scored below normal, but was not needed to score more. Again we led in all statistical categories. Uconn is ready for all the BE teams ahead and then the play-offs. GO FRESHMEN!!!! GO SOPHOMORES!!!!! GO HUSKIES!!!!!

The big 3 did not play in the 4th quarter hence the low scoring stats.

 

[rt bb fan]

A grind it out easy road win, against an 0-4 Big East team. A lot of playing time for all, with the exception of Q (somethin' ain't right there). Geno is working on stuff, and the players are working out the kinks. Azzi is looking like her best version. Tennessee and South Carolina will be the true litmus test.

Both Q and Ice