St Johns Postgame Thread | The Boneyard
.-.

St Johns Postgame Thread

oldude

oldude

bamboo lover
Joined
Nov 15, 2016
Messages
19,504
Reaction Score
182,574
Some postgame thoughts on the St Johns game:
  • The Red Storm have had some nice wins and some disappointing losses this season. In today’s game they were clearly overmatched by the Huskies.
  • Sometimes a team comes out and struggles to hit shots. Against UConn, teams struggle to even get off a shot. UConn forced 7 turnovers along with 1 block in the first 9 SJ possessions. The Red Storm only got 1 clean shot off in the first 5 minutes of the game. In the 1st qtr SJ had 12 turnovers and only 8 shots. 🤩
  • I have accused players of padding rebounding stats by missing bunnies, getting the rebound and scoring. Sarah is the only player I”ve ever seen who pads her steals stats by stealing the ball, missing a bunny and then chasing down an opponent to steal the ball again…..😎
  • A few ridiculous numbers from the first half: UConn forced 21 turnovers and took 32 shots, 14 more than SJ’s 18 shots.
  • KK with another beautiful all-around game: 11 pts (4/6), 1 rb, 4 assists, 0 turnovers, 6 steals, 1 block.
  • It’s always comforting to see Ash knock down her 3’s. I think it’s important for the Big games in March to be able to spread the floor with at least 3 players who can burn opponents from the arc.
  • Azzi with a somewhat quiet 16 pts on only 8 shots to go along with 4 steals and a block is like a security blanket that's always there when you need it.
  • There’s a lot of basketball left to play this season. But as of right now, Sarah is the clear NPOY imo.
  • Up next, a trip to Omaha to face the Bluejays. GO HUSKIES!!!
 
UConn 88 – SJU 43, a 45 point blow out.

The first quarter was like a ballet with KK as the prima dona. SJU made a stand in the second quarter, at least until Sarah engineered a 16-3 run. The third quarter began as an experiment in deliberate half-court basketball, until Geno decided to turn the press on again and Azzi and Ash dropped a few daggers. In the fourth quarter, Kayleigh and Blanca led the way, though the defense was not as intense and SJU was unable to close the gap.

This was also one of those games in which the rebounding stats don't tell the whole story. SJU outrebounded UConn 28-19. But the real story was UConn forcing 33 TOs and only giving up 8. And the number of shots taken was also decisive: 61-39. Yes, you read that right, UConn took 22 more shots than SJU and shot almost 60% to 36%.
 
IMG_4625.jpeg
IMG_4626.jpeg
 
I enjoyed see Geno not thrilled putting Ash back in. I enjoyed the Bench playing some kick ass defense of its own. While she still has some growing to do Kayleigh had some pretty zippy moves to the basket and she knows how to dive for the ball and generally scrap for it. Wish Q's floor length track meet had produced a bucket, but she probably should have pulled back and waited for reinforcements.
 
.-.
Once again I’m just looking for stuff to nitpick in a blowout game. I thought Q2 was not very impressive. UConn was locked in on defense, of course, but for the first half of the quarter they couldn’t hit the ocean from the shore and that lead to St John’s was leading the quarter 10-2. A lot of open looks/layups were missed. I know it’s easier said than done with some of these games to stay mentally focused, but still. (Like I said, nitpicking.)

UConn forced 33 turnovers and only had 8. Now that’s an incredible number. Flat out stole St John’s lunch money time and time again.
 
A bounce back effort with regard to turnovers: keeping it under 10 after 4 in the first period was good to see.
I love Blanca, but I can't wait to see her dial it down to 95 from 100 when she completes a drive.
Great team defense!
Sarah is beyond brilliant on offense and defense.
Great to see Ash hit some shots.
Just another instance of the team taking care of business.
What a joy!
 
HO HUM!! Another workman win in the BE. I have a statistic about Uconn that was on Face Book yesterday. In this week's top 25 teams on the list, Uconn was 156 wins and 41 losses in all time competitions. Notre Dame was not on the list, but with ND added , the count was 193 wins and 57 losses. I REALLY think that is a look into the future this year of WHO is the best team to win the NCAA N.C. GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!! One more thing, Uconn is 11-5 against So Carolina and 7-1 against Texas. AGAIN GO HUSKIES!!!!!!
 
One stray observation: Renee's utterly forgettable broadcast partner (I've already forgotten his name) said that Geno may be exploring what the 'floor' of this team, i.e. what's the worst performance that can still win. He wasn't talking about this game, and he's also clearly wrong about this. Geno is absolutely not trying to encourage a 'worst' performance that can win. However, us fans may want to think about this, and Daniel Connolly said something to this effect on a podcast the other day, namely that our less than dominant performances are still beyond the reach of almost all opponents. He referenced the Michigan-UConn game, which was pretty close in the end. But that game only happened because UConn played about as poorly as they can, and Michigan played way above their heads, and they still couldn't overcome the depth of talent and athleticism on this team. I find this reassuring: on their worst day, UConn is better than other teams on their best day.
 
.-.
I’ll have to watch the replay tomorrow. For the conference games I usually just wait until the next day to watch since the outcome a given. I just speed watch the game on 2x.
 
Gael said:
Great defense. Possibly the best press since John Wooden's.

This was the ninth straight game, all blowouts, in which Gandy got no minutes. Yet, she's not on the injured list. This is very unusual. Something's off.
Expand ...
Ayanna didn't play either and she is higher up on the depth chart. Maybe due to her concussion recovery, she didn't play even though she was available.
 
Next 12 said:
HO HUM!! Another workman win in the BE. I have a statistic about Uconn that was on Face Book yesterday. In this week's top 25 teams on the list, Uconn was 156 wins and 41 losses in all time competitions. Notre Dame was not on the list, but with ND added , the count was 193 wins and 57 losses. I REALLY think that is a look into the future this year of WHO is the best team to win the NCAA N.C. GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!! One more thing, Uconn is 11-5 against So Carolina and 7-1 against Texas. AGAIN GO HUSKIES!!!!!!
Expand ...
Those records are not against the present teams at those schools.
 
.-.
Gael said:
Great defense. Possibly the best press since John Wooden's.

This was the ninth straight game, all blowouts, in which Gandy got no minutes. Yet, she's not on the injured list. This is very unusual. Something's off.
Expand ...
It was a while ago that someone asked Geno about Gandy. He gave a rather generalized answer about how Gandy started the game late and there was some growing to do. I suspect he does want to put her out there to get handled. Hopefully she'll make an appearance soon.
 
Gael said:
Great defense. Possibly the best press since John Wooden's.

This was the ninth straight game, all blowouts, in which Gandy got no minutes. Yet, she's not on the injured list. This is very unusual. Something's off.
Expand ...
Nothing is “off”, Gandy’s games are the practices. I am sure she is learning a lot, and recognizes that she is not ready to play in games yet. Give her a couple of years to develop.
 
The point spread was a whopping 46.5. We came up short at 45. Yikes!

I thought we played very well overall. I think SJU is actually a pretty good team, but they were very overmatched.

We shot a solid 59/39/90.

Streaks: UConn 32 wins in a row; UConn 45 BE wins in a row; Azzi 34 FTs in a row.

We led 8-0 before SJU had a shot and led 20-2 after shooting 9-9.

Sarah had 24 points on 15 shots; Azzi had 16 points on 8 shots. K9 had 9/2/3 on 4-5 shooting. Blanca had 14/3/2/4/1. Maybe the fastest player I've ever seen.
 
Blanca is a scorer. Her explosiveness is off the charts. Don't try to tame a mustang. She might take some ill advised shots, but she is like a bucket per minute! Defensively, she causes absolute chaos to the opposition, Heckel is impressing me more every game. Her defense and aggressiveness is stellar. Her passing and drives to the basket add much to the offense.
 
.-.
I was at the game and it was a large, enthusiastic crowd, especially given that it is a weeknight game in Hartford (not Gampel) and the students are out.

Tartamella is a good coach and I am sure he worked hard with his team against full court pressure, but nothing could have prepared them for what came at them right off the bat. He called a time out with two minutes gone, UConn had made four layups and Saint John’s had not taken a shot at that point. It looked like six against five on the defensive end.

Some other impressions from tonight:

Sarah made some difficult shots and passes look easy;

Azzi continues to impress with the things she has added to her game, her intense defensive pressure for sure but tonight I saw her ability to create her own shot off the dribble and draw fouls;

Blanca is quite an imposing sight dribbling the ball the full length of the court; still gets out of control on occasion but when she seems to deliberately slow it down, like she did on an inside move and basket in the second half, it is still plenty fast enough; and

K9 had a very good game, seemed to be going downhill a lot, north/south.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Online statistics

Members online
415
Guests online
6,307
Total visitors
6,722
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
166,277
Messages
4,474,284
Members
10,350
Latest member
Donec


Top Bottom