St John's Postgame Thread

[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

 

[oldude]

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.

All your points are correct. But you make my point as well, that UConn WBB fans are, shall we say, a little spoiled in their expectations?

 

[Zarathustra]

Very nice clarifying comments from Geno after about
the 16th minute of this Post Game Presser. EG... not
having to score 100 points, getting time for the "Subs"
and that, when he does that, it will LOOK "bad", and finally his short term and
long term thoughts on JANA.... If you did not watch the
whole "presser", try watching it and starting it at about minute 16.

 

[Plebe]

All your points are correct. But you make my point as well, that UConn WBB fans are, shall we say, a little spoiled in their expectations?

Meh, amazing success breeds high fan expectations. Not sure you can have the former without the latter, unless there were never any fans to begin with.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Appreciate the sarcasm, but she wasn't involved. 5 shots is not involved. Rebounds have nothing to do with offensive involvement either.

Nor do assists, I guess.

 

[oldude]

Meh, amazing success breeds high fan expectations. Not sure you can have the former without the latter, unless there were never any fans to begin with.

Before Geno arrived in Storrs, there weren’t any fans to speak of. So I guess this is all Geno’s fault…….

That includes UConn becoming the 1st WBB program in history to generate over $3 million in revenue.

 

[Jaml]

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.

Roughly the same distance from Storrs to Hartford.

 

[Plebe]

Roughly the same distance from Storrs to Hartford.

With the key difference being that UConn elects to regularly host home games in Hartford, whereas UCLA doesn't ordinarily play home games at Long Beach State.

Also, the traffic on the 405 renders even short distances excruciatingly distant.

 

[Plebe]

Before Geno arrived in Storrs, there weren’t any fans to speak of. So I guess this is all Geno’s fault…….

That includes UConn becoming the 1st WBB program in history to generate over $3 million in revenue.

"All his fault"? Not sure about the negative spin, but Geno himself has talked before about being in some ways a victim of his own success. There is surely a natural correlation among many variables: team success, program revenues, his own salary, and fan expectations are just a few.

Back to the last night's game. There were pluses and minuses to the performance overall, but at a "macro" level what stuck out to me was just the overall low energy throughout the portions of the game I watched. I did miss the first quarter and small portions of the fourth.

 

[HuskyNan]

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.

TBF, that was before his realization that freshmen didn’t have to sit on the bench until their sophomore year. Caroline caused an epiphany - even the guys that have been nervous and tentative in their first few games can evolve quickly and provide valuable depth. KK and Ash most likely cemented the idea. Problem with freshmen, though, is that they’re notoriously inconsistent. We can see Jana and Morgan rounding into form but they still have their moments and maybe they, and other youngsters, aren’t as likely to provide the flawless games Geno used to aspire to.

He seems pretty chill about the unevenness of games this season. Guess he’s still developing too

 

[ERWUC65]

TBF, that was before his realization that freshmen didn’t have to sit on the bench until their sophomore year. Caroline caused an epiphany - even the guys that have been nervous and tentative in their first few games can evolve quickly and provide valuable depth. KK and Ash most likely cemented the idea. Problem with freshmen, though, is that they’re notoriously inconsistent. We can see Jana and Morgan rounding into form but they still have their moments and maybe they, and other youngsters, aren’t as likely to provide the flawless games Geno used to aspire to.

He seems pretty chill about the unevenness of games this season. Guess he’s still developing too

I, too, am amazed at his demeanor so far this season, although I also detect a simmering just below the surface.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Nor do assists, I guess.

A couple of her assists were in transition. That's spontaneous, not team initiated.

If you're okay with her taking 5 shots a game, so be it, but I don't know how you square that with the notion she was used on offense.

 

[oldude]

"All his fault"? Not sure about the negative spin, but Geno himself has talked before about being in some ways a victim of his own success. There is surely a natural correlation among many variables: team success, program revenues, his own salary, and fan expectations are just a few.

Back to the last night's game. There were pluses and minuses to the performance overall, but at a "macro" level what stuck out to me was just the overall low energy throughout the portions of the game I watched. I did miss the first quarter and small portions of the fourth.

Sorry you missed the 1st qtr, which was UConn’s best by far, after which the game was effectively over for all intents.

 

[sun]

The team chemistry changed for this game in part because of Azzi's aggressiveness. She's more mobile on the court than Sarah & also has more seniority which led Sarah to not need to score as much.
Azzi was taking more of the shots.
Other UConn players were also much more aggressive scorers including KK, Jana, Ash & Morgan.
Sarah was aggressive on defense reflected by UConn holding St. John's to scoring 17 points less than their game average.
Also note that Kylie Lavelle averages 16 points per game for St. Johns yet only scored 7 points against UConn.
The fact that Sarah only scored 6 instead of her PPG average of 16 shouldn't be such a big deal. As a team UConn scored 7 points under average which reflects that St. John's played a hard fought game at home.
That other UConn players compensated for Sarah's lower scoring reflects how much UConn's scoring options are growing, especially due to Azzi being on the court
Sarah stayed busy feeding others with assists.

 

[EricSD]

It was a meh game. UCONN's problem, IMHO, is that their inconsistency often lasts an entire quarter. Against USC, we got down big early, had to mount a mammoth comeback, but ultimately fell short. Against any top 10 team, that won't cut it, and efforts like we saw against SJU last night might well result in bowing out in the NCAA's in the sweet 16.

Honestly, I get that people want to be positive about the effort, players, etc., but we still need to be realistic. AT THIS TIME IMHO, this team MIGHT make the elite 8. It would depend on the matchup. But there is no way this team (as it's constructed and playing right now), makes the final 4.

There were some really good things in the game. I think KK continues to show spark, fire, and energy, and if she can consistently make 3's (like 33%, not 8%), she will be a major weapon. I think Jana continues to improve, and she's better than Ice by a fair bit at this time. Ash is solid and you know you are going to get major effort from her. Morgan is solid and the first "post" off the bench now (ahead of Ice, shockingly).

And you know that Sarah, Paige, and Azzi can all go off at any given time. One "meh" game from all of them doesn't concern me.

On the flip side - our half court offense is weak. If we aren't forcing TO's off our defense, we struggle in the half court. Cait seems not to have improved at all this season. I was NOT expecting her skills to improve, but I WAS expecting her chemistry with the team to improve. She still gets caught too often in no man's land with the ball, and honestly, I like KK at the 1 better than Cait at this time. Also this team gives up way too many open 3's and we often get lucky if the other team misses.

Don't know what's going on with Ice, but something ain't right with her. The fact that she's behind Morgan on the depth chart for the 5/4 position is troubling. And Q - she's an adventure out there and really seems no better than last season.

Let's be honest. Give SJU all the credit in the world for "in your face defense", but they are just not as good as the other elite teams out there and if we struggle against them, imagine what it will like against a much better team. We went thru a 5 minute stretch scoring 1 point. I get playing the subs and giving them scratch to get experience in games, but even some of our poor stretches include most of the starters on the floor.

Bottom line is that this team not only hasn't managed to put together a 40 minute performance, generally they put together about 20-25 +/- really good minutes a game. The rest is average. I get that he's tinkering with the roster, and there is still room for growth, but to pretend everything is great is just people wearing blue blinders...

 

[Dugway]

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.

You are absolutely correct. The BY crowd has it's expectations. Valid or not, fan's do have their expectations!

By in large it appears that the expectations are that we should score more points. By simply watching the thread(s) where we all predict the upcoming score for the next game, we see that the average guess is that UConn will score 82 points against our Big East opponents. Some folks will have a guess in the 90's, some guess in the 70's, however the average is that we will score about 82. That is the expectation!

From a defensive perspective, the BY crowd's expectations are that our opponent will score about 50. Some guess as low as the mid-30's, most are in the high 40's or low to mid-50's, and it all math's out that we expect to give up about 50 against the Big East.

Margin of victory, based upon an exception of 82 for UConn and 50 for our opponent, is a 32-point win. That seems to be where most BY fan's expectations are. That is what people guess, UConn will beat our Big East opponents, regardless of which team that is, by about 32 points. On Jan. 5th we beat Villanova by a score of 83 to 52, more or less right at expectations and the Post Game thread had virtually everyone praising that effort.

We are winning most of our games by 26 to 27 points. We've not once been tested in the Big East; I doubt that will occur this season at all! So, if we win by 27 what really is the difference between that MOV, and a 32-point MOV? To get that extra five point MOV, do we risk having one of our key players get hurt late in the game? Does it say to the opposing BE coach, we here at UConn are going to do everything in our power to run up the score on you? Because 32 is so much better than a lowly 27-point blowout?

The flip side to 'the BY has over expectations on offense', is our actual scoring inconsistencies. I think this is scary to the BY faithful! The Villanova game, when we scored 83 and received high praises in the comments; our scores by quarter were 23, 20, 23, 17. We at the BY loved it! Other games however we have a score by quarter more typical of yesterdays: 25, 11, 18, 17. Another example was the 26-point margin of victory on Dec. 29th against Providence: 28, 17, 11, 11! Yes, we won by 26, and yet still the comments were nasty.

I think the concern folks have with eleven-point quarters, is that if a Big East caliber opponent is capable of holding us to only 11-points, is it not possible that a supremely talented defensive team could also hold us to that same 11-point quarter? And possible they do it two, three or even four times in a game? Is it possible that we will run into some supremely talented defensive team during the tournament? If the tables are flipped, and UConn is held to scoring 51 or 52, will we lose that game? It certainly is not going to happen during Big East play. But if it happens during the tournament, are we, or are we not going to be going home without the twelfth championship? I think this is what scares many BY fans and why they lash out when they see an 11-pt result in a second quarter against St. John's.