Teams learn and grow...

[Jaydumo20]

How come people who have been uconn fans for 40 years, forget this at the start of every year? Please check back with me when, like every single year since we've watched, in March they are rolling and headed back to another final four. Keep this receipt!

 

[Aluminny69]

Well, since 2016, when Stewie graduated, it's been the same story every season for seven seasons. Look great against weaker teams, lose a few games against top teams, suffer some key injuries, then fall short of a NC. So, what constitutes a successful season? Most teams are more than happy to make the final four. Is that what constitutes a successful season for UConn now?

 

[Jaydumo20]

Well, since 2016, when Stewie graduated, it's been the same story every season for seven seasons. Look great against weaker teams, lose a few games against top teams, suffer some key injuries, then fall short of a NC. So, what constitutes a successful season? Most teams are more than happy to make the final four. Is that what constitutes a successful season for UConn now?

This is the most talented team we've had in so many years. Most of us don't make outlandish claims here, even though we're crazy at most times.
Here's my claim:
Everyone will get better. We'll have people back that we didn't have. Jana will make big strides. But it's this:
Sarah Strong in about 2 months time is going to be the best player in college basketball. She can pass, rebound, block shots, hit 3s, see the floor. If people think that this is her ceiling your minds are gonna be blown. Enjoy.

 

[Zonepress]

This is the most talented team we've had in so many years. Most of us don't make outlandish claims here, even though we're crazy at most times.
Here's my claim:
Everyone will get better. We'll have people back that we didn't have. Jana will make big strides. But it's this:
Sarah Strong in about 2 months time is going to be the best player in college basketball. She can pass, rebound, block shots, hit 3s, see the floor. If people think that this is her ceiling your minds are gonna be blown. Enjoy.

Yes the team is talented but so are a number of other teams
Imho Nd was the more talented team
With Azzi and a fully healthy Aubrey maybe not

 

[packwrap]

Well, since 2016, when Stewie graduated, it's been the same story every season for seven seasons. Look great against weaker teams, lose a few games against top teams, suffer some key injuries, then fall short of a NC. So, what constitutes a successful season? Most teams are more than happy to make the final four. Is that what constitutes a successful season for UConn now?

You are largely right here, but I'm sure you would agree going 37-3 and winning the NC is pretty successful. That's still 3 losses that must be endured. (Could also be 39-1)

Still 2 BIG games to go with U$C and SC and also Iowa St and Tenn to deal with speed and physicality. It's only these games and the last 3 at the natty, where we run into top teams.

This is the best team we've had in the Paige era. They didn't play like it tonite, but still almost 4 months to go.

 

[maple]

You are largely right here, but I'm sure you would agree going 37-3 and winning the NC is pretty successful. That's still 3 losses that must be endured. (Could also be 39-1)

Still 2 BIG games to go with U$C and SC and also Iowa St and Tenn to deal with speed and physicality. It's only these games and the last 3 at the natty, where we run into top teams.

This is the best team we've had in the Paige era. They didn't play like it tonite, but still almost 4 months to go.

If we end up beating U$C and SCar (and winning the title) then I can look back on this team and say ND just brought their A+ game and we had an off night. A fluke.

But my fear is that this is a precursor to us going 1-2 (or 0-2) against U$C and SCar and then we also go home empty handed in the Big Dance. The longer it goes on since we’ve won a title the further out of reach it seems.

Maybe Strong will be in her Stewart era come the FF (if they get that far). Though I wish some other players would start stepping up more. We can’t have people constantly having poor shooting %s or playing weak defense when it matters most.

 

[Gurleyman]

This is the most talented team we've had in so many years. Most of us don't make outlandish claims here, even though we're crazy at most times.
Here's my claim:
Everyone will get better. We'll have people back that we didn't have. Jana will make big strides. But it's this:
Sarah Strong in about 2 months time is going to be the best player in college basketball. She can pass, rebound, block shots, hit 3s, see the floor. If people think that this is her ceiling your minds are gonna be blown. Enjoy.

I feel like we aren’t overwhelmingly talented beyond the big 3. That’s more than enough if the role players plug in around them well. But I feel like we had more talent with Dorka-ONO-Christyn -Aaliyah as our supporting cast.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Some thoughts. Sometimes your car makes a noise, but it still runs so you keep driving it. Well, last night the check engine light came on. It's not time for a new car by any means, but repairs are needed. And these thoughts apply to more than the current year.

Talent. We have it, have had it in abundance so I'm not feeling sorry for us at all.

Injuries. Yep. An abundance, but the way I look at it...it presented opportunities for other players to step up. And many did. Spend that capitol. Shade was obviously on a short leash last night because of shooting, but she's more than her shooting. She's physical, good rebounder for her size and brings energy.

One thing I notice that players out of hs who have measurable success their freshman year have in common is that they aren't repurposed or expected to do so many things which they find unfamiliar. They are doing the things you saw when they were recruited. Yea...they make mistakes, but, they aren't losing their confidence. Why am I saying this? If you're on the ropes in a game where you haven't shot the 3 well...what does it matter if you give Allie a shot? Defense, right?

Bigs. I don't even know what that means at times. OK- I do...sort of. Here's how I look at it. There's size BIG. And there's BIG SKILLS. What does that mean? Just because you're TALL doesn't make you an effective POST player if you don't have BIG SKILLS. You can get them (BIG SKILLS), but it's such a unique skillset that it's not going to happen overnight or realistically over a season. Last natural BIG SKILLS post at UCONN was Dolson IMO. She was happy in her role and in her home between the foul and baseline. She embraced setting hard pics. It felt good to her. My point? We get BIG players, but they aren't BIG SKILLED. You will not find video of Ice nor Jana as back to the basket post players. Can they with consistency? They both have great footwork, but it's negated in my opinion because now they operate in a crowd. Iowa moved Stuelke to the 4 in their offense because she's BIG, with handles.

Bigs Part 2. Start them at the TOP of the offense rather than the baseline in pick and rolls. They are mobile bigs. Give them the ball on cuts more. They are too stationary in the offense. I know a lot of folks don't like Chen driving into the lane and "getting stuck", but if someone cut...she wouldn't be stuck. If Strong gets the rebound...let her bring the ball up instead of waiting on an outlet. Paige can start the offense in the 4 position. Lastly, Ice. From film that i've seen...she's better offensively from a wing not where she often finds herself with the ball...foul line area. I'd prefer to see Strong in that predicament.

Summary. We have talent even with injuries. We need some new looks and to try some new wrinkles. Our offense has become predictable.

 

[Jaydumo20]

I feel like we aren’t overwhelmingly talented beyond the big 3. That’s more than enough if the role players plug in around them well. But I feel like we had more talent with Dorka-ONO-Christyn -Aaliyah as our supporting cast.

Its unfair to assess first/2nd year talent in December. No fan has the ability to project that either. We are running on emotions and miniscule knowledge about player development and coaching. This is why we're wrong 95% of the time
but we act like, in retrospect, we knew it all along.
You'll probably be wrong about 50% of this team come february and I wouldn't fare any better.

On the men's side, based on their performance in the first 2 months of their careers nobody would've expected:
Andre Jackson, Sanogo, Clingan, Karaban to become highly decorated uconn legends.

 

[ucbart]

TBH, this loss stings, but it's not the worst thing that could've happened. Since the schedule came out, I never thought we would win this game. ND has awesome guards and they're just so very good at home. Even our best teams have had a problem beating then at the Joyce Center.

Besides Paige and Sarah, the two players that most would've helped us yesterday were in fact, sitting on the bench in street clothes, Azzi and Aubrey.

On a neutral court, after our young kids have more time to develop(Sarah and Jana specifically) and with Azzi and Aubrey back, I think this could be much different. We did cut that lead to 1, but our mental mistakes on D, letting Hidalgo hit that 3 to end the third and the barrage of turnovers to start the 4th, were hurdles we could not overcome.

And I would love it, just one time in a big game where we start out struggling, if Geno would just put the ball in Paige's hands from the outset.

Lastly, Shade has got to stop having these 0-5 type games. She is either really good(Louisville) or she puts up a stinker(last night).

 

[GoUconn7961]

I think we're forgetting how young this team still is and how few games they've played together.
I love Paige, but she doesn't appear to be the type of leader that Sue, DT and Stewie were in big situations.
Don't come at me for an opinion. It's just what I see.

This was a fan bragging right game only and nothing more.

 

[Vancat]

Paige is practically a household name now, and everyone is gunning for her. Plus, I know she's way stronger than she used to be, but she's still a little Olive Oily. I think when Azzi comes back it will help things immensely.

 

[Zonepress]

I think we're forgetting how young this team still is and how few games they've played together.
I love Paige, but she doesn't appear to be the type of leader that Sue, DT and Stewie were in big situations.
Don't come at me for an opinion. It's just what I see.

This was a fan bragging right game only and nothing more.

Regarding page, not appearing to be a leader
IMHO I put that on the coach
Not playing her as a point guard where she has the ball in her hands all the time limits her ability to pack the game
Coach Ivey runs every play their two best players
Running a pro style office of Pick-n-roll

Actually, the game is more than just for bragging rights
With a very weak conference schedule games, like this really affect where the team will be seeded
For the tournament

 

[Jaydumo20]

Some thoughts. Sometimes your car makes a noise, but it still runs so you keep driving it. Well, last night the check engine light came on. It's not time for a new car by any means, but repairs are needed. And these thoughts apply to more than the current year.

Talent. We have it, have had it in abundance so I'm not feeling sorry for us at all.

Injuries. Yep. An abundance, but the way I look at it...it presented opportunities for other players to step up. And many did. Spend that capitol. Shade was obviously on a short leash last night because of shooting, but she's more than her shooting. She's physical, good rebounder for her size and brings energy.

One thing I notice that players out of hs who have measurable success their freshman year have in common is that they aren't repurposed or expected to do so many things which they find unfamiliar. They are doing the things you saw when they were recruited. Yea...they make mistakes, but, they aren't losing their confidence. Why am I saying this? If you're on the ropes in a game where you haven't shot the 3 well...what does it matter if you give Allie a shot? Defense, right?

Bigs. I don't even know what that means at times. OK- I do...sort of. Here's how I look at it. There's size BIG. And there's BIG SKILLS. What does that mean? Just because you're TALL doesn't make you an effective POST player if you don't have BIG SKILLS. You can get them (BIG SKILLS), but it's such a unique skillset that it's not going to happen overnight or realistically over a season. Last natural BIG SKILLS post at UCONN was Dolson IMO. She was happy in her role and in her home between the foul and baseline. She embraced setting hard pics. It felt good to her. My point? We get BIG players, but they aren't BIG SKILLED. You will not find video of Ice nor Jana as back to the basket post players. Can they with consistency? They both have great footwork, but it's negated in my opinion because now they operate in a crowd. Iowa moved Stuelke to the 4 in their offense because she's BIG, with handles.

Bigs Part 2. Start them at the TOP of the offense rather than the baseline in pick and rolls. They are mobile bigs. Give them the ball on cuts more. They are too stationary in the offense. I know a lot of folks don't like Chen driving into the lane and "getting stuck", but if someone cut...she wouldn't be stuck. If Strong gets the rebound...let her bring the ball up instead of waiting on an outlet. Paige can start the offense in the 4 position. Lastly, Ice. From film that i've seen...she's better offensively from a wing not where she often finds herself with the ball...foul line area. I'd prefer to see Strong in that predicament.

Summary. We have talent even with injuries. We need some new looks and to try some new wrinkles. Our offense has become predictable.

Its one game against an elite team, in december, on the road. You said something great- "if they win it all I'll look back at this...". We do this every year. We forgive ourselves so readily as fans.
Last year, we cried and cried all year, then in the final four we acted like we knew all along.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Paige is practically a household name now, and everyone is gunning for her. Plus, I know she's way stronger than she used to be, but she's still a little Olive Oily. I think when Azzi comes back it will help things immensely.

lol

 

[Dawson]

I just look at our Mens team who just lost two games in a row and think wow we sure are spoiled by the past. Do we give up on them as well and think they have no chance at a title now because they lost a couple games?

We played a very solid Notre Dame team on their home court without one of our best players. One of our top players (A freshman) was in early foul trouble in this game and our Star had a rough start to the game. It's all going to be ok people. We have time to learn from this and time to grow into the team that can and in my opinion will win the national championship this spring.

 

[Zinethar]

I guess I watched a different game with my admittedly biased eyes. To me for most of the time UConn's TEAM outplayed ND's TEAM. Yes Hildalgo got hot for a bit. I believe the plan was to single cover her and if she scored don't let the rest of the team beat you. Their post was totally nonexistent (except for her constant moving screens that looked more like running interference). Geno expected Ash to take Azzi's place and get aggressive. She still stops shooting once she misses a couple shots. Can't have that. I had hoped she could make up for Azzi's missing points but she scored 0. Not blame just fact. Chen and KK both scored in double figures - I had asked 3 others to score 10 points or more. We got 2 and our post duo had 8. Pretty close. I asked for Sarah to score 20. A bit close but sitting for a quarter in foul trouble caused that miss. As for Paige - she still refuses or is not capable of doing what Geno asks. Be aggressive for the WHOLE game. She score 2 points in the first half. Ended with 25. She again waited too long to assert herself but proved that she could indeed do that.

Lessons hopefully learned. This team is very good and I still think a far better team than ND when Chen and KK are driving. What was the biggest problem? Too many missed shots. That should get better over time. Understand how ND was rebounding - they didn't often try to get the rebound but rather hit it outside where their players were stationed while UConn packed it in. UConn is young, talented, and smart. They will learn. Don't forget in one season ND beat UConn 3 times in the regular season but UConn won when it mattered.

 

[Zonepress]

I just look at our Mens team who just lost two games in a row and think wow we sure are spoiled by the past. Do we give up on them as well and think they have no chance at a title now because they lost a couple games?

We played a very solid Notre Dame team on their home court without one of our best players. One of our top players (A freshman) was in early foul trouble in this game and our Star had a rough start to the game. It's all going to be ok people. We have time to learn from this and time to grow into the team that can and in my opinion will win the national championship this spring.

Notre dame is way more than a “solid team”

 

[HuskyNan]

Its unfair to assess first/2nd year talent in December. No fan has the ability to project that either. We are running on emotions and miniscule knowledge about player development and coaching. This is why we're wrong 95% of the time
but we act like, in retrospect, we knew it all along.
You'll probably be wrong about 50% of this team come february and I wouldn't fare any better.

On the men's side, based on their performance in the first 2 months of their careers nobody would've expected:
Andre Jackson, Sanogo, Clingan, Karaban to become highly decorated uconn legends.

Why don't you post on the women's board more often? You're making the guy side look good.

 

[Dawson]

Notre dame is way more than a “solid team”

Agreed! Which furthers the point that I was making that this is not a big deal.

 

[Rowdy831]

If we end up beating U$C and SCar (and winning the title) then I can look back on this team and say ND just brought their A+ game and we had an off night. A fluke.

But my fear is that this is a precursor to us going 1-2 (or 0-2) against U$C and SCar and then we also go home empty handed in the Big Dance. The longer it goes on since we’ve won a title the further out of reach it seems.

Maybe Strong will be in her Stewart era come the FF (if they get that far). Though I wish some other players would start stepping up more. We can’t have people constantly having poor shooting %s or playing weak defense when it matters most.

I think UConn matches up better with USC and USC. ND has two of the best guards in the country and Miles to me is the best point guard out there right now. If I was Geno I might have to make Paige the best point guard and have Azzi as the other. Uconn is playing too small for a team that has a player like Sarah Strong.

 

[hoophuskee]

Well, since 2016, when Stewie graduated, it's been the same story every season for seven seasons. Look great against weaker teams, lose a few games against top teams, suffer some key injuries, then fall short of a NC. So, what constitutes a successful season? Most teams are more than happy to make the final four. Is that what constitutes a successful season for UConn now?

Now??? It was always.

As Geno says per the below link: "We might not win a National Championship ever year, but we're right there when it's usually being decided, and that's all that matters." Note the comment "and that's all that matters." Note the comment "and that's all that matters." Note the comment "and that's all that matters." Note the comment "and that's all that matters."
Other than a rare year when UCONN was head-and-shoulders above everyone else, this has always been the way. And with transfers now being so easy for every player, why wouldn't it be moreso?

 

[Zarathustra]

I guess I watched a different game with my admittedly biased eyes. To me for most of the time UConn's TEAM outplayed ND's TEAM. Yes Hildalgo got hot for a bit. I believe the plan was to single cover her and if she scored don't let the rest of the team beat you. Their post was totally nonexistent (except for her constant moving screens that looked more like running interference). Geno expected Ash to take Azzi's place and get aggressive. She still stops shooting once she misses a couple shots. Can't have that. I had hoped she could make up for Azzi's missing points but she scored 0. Not blame just fact. Chen and KK both scored in double figures - I had asked 3 others to score 10 points or more. We got 2 and our post duo had 8. Pretty close. I asked for Sarah to score 20. A bit close but sitting for a quarter in foul trouble caused that miss. As for Paige - she still refuses or is not capable of doing what Geno asks. Be aggressive for the WHOLE game. She score 2 points in the first half. Ended with 25. She again waited too long to assert herself but proved that she could indeed do that.

Lessons hopefully learned. This team is very good and I still think a far better team than ND when Chen and KK are driving. What was the biggest problem? Too many missed shots. That should get better over time. Understand how ND was rebounding - they didn't often try to get the rebound but rather hit it outside where their players were stationed while UConn packed it in. UConn is young, talented, and smart. They will learn. Don't forget in one season ND beat UConn 3 times in the regular season but UConn won when it mattered.

Paige had two points in the First Quarter... twelve points at the half and
two points, again, in the third quarter. She had another 9 in the fourth
before missing her last F.T. shot (maybe hoping for a rebound and some
extra needed points?) Just a clarification about " She (Paige) scored 2 points in
the first half". See thread #17 , above.

 

[Zinethar]

Paige had two points in the First Quarter... twelve points at the half and
two points, again, in the third quarter. She had another 9 in the fourth
before missing her last F.T. shot (maybe hoping for a rebound and some
extra needed points?) Just a clarification about " She (Paige) scored 2 points in
the first half". See thread #17 , above.

You are correct. Th box score I was looking at apparently was more complicated than my little brain could handle at that moment. I saw the 2 points which was apparently on the bottom of a 1st quarter with the label below it saying half time ( - bad division of that page had an add right below that line but after the ad was halftime results.) I remain positive however about this team.