Team USA v. China at 10:30 EDT Tonight | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Team USA v. China at 10:30 EDT Tonight

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easttexastrash said:
Too bad that the crowd was not bigger. This is a team for the ages and those who pass up a chance to watch them play are really missing out.
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I agree ETT. I am glad that I went and took my daughters. The younger one said that it was really fun and that we should do it more often. I promised her that we could go every time a historic team like this comes to town. (I might even be willing to lower the bar a bit so we can actually see another game!)
 
RealHusky said:
I agree ETT. I am glad that I went and took my daughters. The younger one said that it was really fun and that we should do it more often. I promised her that we could go every time a historic team like this comes to town. (I might even be willing to lower the bar a bit so we can actually see another game!)
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I agree... lower the bar, there's plenty of quality basketball out there. It also allows the kids to see the different levels of the game. All levels (1st - USA National Team) could be learning experiences for ALL.

its strange that some posters dont watch HS hoops but use the ranking systems as indicators of who's good (or not). There's nothing like watching games in person in your local area. There's tons of "good" players, maybe not on UConn's level but you'll enjoy the effort they put out.

Its also important to let the kids judge what's good basketball or not. Putting our opinions on kids doesnt allow them to see the other side.

(sorry for the rant)
 
DaddyChoc said:
I agree... lower the bar, there's plenty of quality basketball out there. It also allows the kids to see the different levels of the game. All levels (1st - USA National Team) could be learning experiences for ALL.

its strange that some posters dont watch HS hoops but use the ranking systems as indicators of who's good (or not). There's nothing like watching games in person in your local area. There's tons of "good" players, maybe not on UConn's level but you'll enjoy the effort they put out.

Its also important to let the kids judge what's good basketball or not. Putting our opinions on kids doesnt allow them to see the other side.

(sorry for the rant)
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I agree. I love going to high school games and it gives you such a perspective of where it all begins. You get to see some players who give everything they have because they love the game so much.

When I lived in Texas I used to take three days and go to the State Tournament and watched 15 games in three days. By the end of the tournament I was wiped out emotionally but it was so much fun. I watched every game from Class A to Class 5A and the tension was just as great for the smaller schools as it was for the larger schools.
 
Thanks to all for the court-side insights and then for the box scores and quotes.
 
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Does 'Chen' mean 'Husky' in Chinese?

From the ESPN game account: " China played without its top two players, Miao Lijie and Chen Nan."

LOL!
 
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Wonkster said:
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Does 'Chen' mean 'Husky' in Chinese?

From the ESPN game account: " China played without its top two players, Miao Lijie and Chen Nan."

LOL!
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Does our Admin have a new name? :)

Note that China was not at full strength, so don't read too much into the score. We also were missing a great player in Tina.

Note that the new Maya Moore got to the FT line for 5-6.

The box score reminded me of 2010. Catch, Maya, and Angel got steals that led to fast breaks. They bring lots of energy.
 
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Speaking of China's playing w/o their two top players, I wonder if the Chinese were 'pulling a Sveta.'

Old-timers here may recall the episode when UConn was scouting Svetlana Abrosimova, and Chris Dailey went to Brazil to see Sveta play in a tournament. The Russian coach purposely kept his budding young star on the bench except for a couple of minutes of garbage time play, just so that she would remain a secret weapon. And unviewed by any teams hoping to purloin her services.
 
MilfordHusky said:
Does our Admin have a new name? :)

Note that China was not at full strength, so don't read too much into the score. We also were missing a great player in Tina.

Note that the new Maya Moore got to the FT line for 5-6.
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I had to do a double-take at that one. Looks like Maya played a really efficient game. As did Tamika Catchings. I love watching her play, especially when she's surrounded by talent like that of this olympic team.
 
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Can't help wondering if China bulked up their post game by secretly hiring a beefy American player. The player wearing #4 on their Chinese uniform is listed as "Ban Ban Yang."
 
speedoo said:
78-49 USA after 3 Q's. 19 for Catch, Big Syl has 12.

Time for the second team to mop up.
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This second team is not the usual group of reserves. They are more like a "soon to be the best players in the world" kind of group. :)
 
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My understanding is that tickets were pretty expensive- like $60. Was that accurate?
 
alexrgct said:
My understanding is that tickets were pretty expensive- like $60. Was that accurate?
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Tickets started at around $30 and moved way up from there. Many of the sold tickets were indeed in the $50 to $60 range They say that there were about 7500 in attendance.
 
USA is playing Japan in a closed exhibition today. The team needs the time together as they committed a lot of turnovers, usually the result of an unexpected pass. Those should start to go away with some more practice and playing time as a team.

Defense needs work too. The trapping defense was outstanding, especially in a key part of the second quarter when the US started to pull away. However, the Chinese team rotated the ball well and they got a lot of open looks and they made a lot of them.

Catch looked outstanding last night. I had forgotten that she missed European league play with a foot injury. She looked fresh and ready to go last night. In addition to being the lead scorer (in not a lot of minutes) she made some great steals that lead to easy points.

Apparently, there was no video feed for the game last night not due to a lack of marketing vision but due to something more mundane. They had a college graduation ceremony earlier in the day at the arena and they did not think that they had time to setup the equipment. That seems strange but that is what they are saying.
 
Geno's comments on the defense and the turnovers:

"We gave up too many points in the first half. But we talked about this in the locker room – not one player on this team was picked because they’re a great defensive player. We have all of these good offensive players that are going to moan when we make them play defense. Defense is going to be the last thing that we get right, but as the weeks go on, we’re going to get it right.

(on the turnovers) You have an all-star team with the best players in America so they all want to prove that they’re unselfish. So instead of taking a wide open shot they throw a stupid pass. That’s what most of the turnovers were tonight. As they settle in, they’ll realize that it’s okay to shoot the ball."
 
The non-trapping defense will improve. Future opponents will not have the fg % China had last night.

The other big improvement will come in assists and turnovers.

I was happy to see the positive comments re progress from Geno and the players.. They are getting it done in Seattle.
 
alexrgct said:
My understanding is that tickets were pretty expensive- like $60. Was that accurate?
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London tix are very pricey--I paid over $200 per game for each semi. I'm still looking for a discount on the $480 gold medal game tix. :(
 
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UConnCat said:
Interesting comments by Geno at the end of the video about his approach with this team. Also comments from Sue, Catch and Diana.

http://www.usabasketball.com/video/index.html?vid_id=0_24svbgnp

CD in the background chatting it up w/ U of Washington coach Kevin McGuff.
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Very interesting. Not surprising, but interesting.

However, I'm betting that there will be some good half court offense, especially with these combos:

Maya, Lindsay and Seimone

Sue, DT, Asjha, Swin and Tina (just like old times + Tina)
 
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