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Tennessee Post Game Thread (merged)

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UConn is at another level. I’m not sure they can lose. They need to fix what happened when they lost their lead. I am confident Geno can do that. We blew them out with out Blanca. A lot of kids stepped up under pressure and that showed me we’re getting better. This was an awesome game. UConn is explosive and they showed it again today.
 
Lots of great posts on the game. I just watched it. Not much more to add other than one of my worries was who was going to be that third shooter. I’m am comfortable in saying we now have two that we can put in big games that can stretch a defense besides Azzi amd Strong. And those two are Ash and Allie.

Allie to me has been a revelation in these recent games. She has shown a real improvement in all areas of her game, and her confidence is evident in the way she attacks the basket with her sneaky quickness and her no hesitation threes. I also think she’s holding her own on defense and she has some good ball handling skills as well, especially the second half against a lengthy athletic Tennessee team.

Feeling really good about this team. We’re going 9 deep and each bench player brings a different element to the game.
 
The starters did not need to be in at the end of this game.
Very well stated...
Hurley plays the first team the entire game. Why are you complaining about Geno?
Not to argue here but Alex averages 34 minutes a game. Solo 30 and from there 9 deep less. Geno goes 7 deep with the most heralded bench in many years. Why not let them take on the press the last few minutes? That and avoid an unnecessary injury to a starter. No need for Azzi to play 39 or Strong to play 37 today.

Maybe I just have memories of Paige going down with 38 seconds left in a 19 point win over ND. That and a believer of developing the bench in games that are a blow out with formidable competition. That is a huge moment to step on the floor against a team like Tennessee. It is deer in the headlight moment but what a better time to get them through it. Something that cannot be replicated in practice.
It also may keep a player or two from developing here rather than the portal next year. JMHO.....
 

I’m guessing if you asked Kim Caldwell about that, she would have no regrets at all for that sub. She is trying to build a culture with her team where the subbing is inevitable and happens as a matter of course. If she starts changing that the players will see it as situational and that is not what she wants. Will it work? I have no idea, but I wouldn’t bet against her.

Not that I care one way or another, but I do have a level of respect for a coach who believes in her system and sticks to it in difficult circumstances. I don’t think we (or her) will really know if it will work until she is fully stocked with her own recruits rather than so many transfers. She has been successful everywhere she’s been, and now has access to a completely new level of recruiting.

Speaking of recruiting, did I hear that we were expecting Haylen Ayers for this game? Perhaps it was another game but I did read somewhere she was coming.
 
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Big key to the game was Uconn outrebounding Tenn by 9
This is the key, along with minimizing turnovers.

Shot for shot, player for player, we can out duel any team easy. However if other teams can out-rebound UConn on the offensive glass, that team may well get enough additional shots to make it close. This is also true with turning the ball over, which gives more chances to the other team. Winning these two areas of the game should be the focus.
 
As I was watching a highlights reel from the game, after Kayleigh’s second length-of-the-court drive, and the glorious celebration that followed, I couldn’t help wondering if she is the happiest kid in D1 WCBB. She went far afield, all the way to the west coast, and finally she is home. She is well loved by her teammates, and her talents fit really well on this new team in the basketball capital of the world.

Welcome home, Kayleigh! This is where you belong.
 
In the pregame on WWAXX (channel 3) they had a segment on Caroline Ducharme in practice talking/teaching team mates constantly! Both individually and in groups!
Even with her not regaining her talent she is so valuable to this team as Azzi and Sarah!
 
That’s why Geno took Allie out of the game in the first half. Her defense was terrible in the first half.
IMO you're rembering way wrong. Allie only played 3 minutes in 1st half. In that time Barker jacked up two 3's that had nothing to do with Allie, same thing with another guard that took a bombs away 3 and hit it over Shade or K9 that again had nothing to do with Allie. The 2 penetrations Tenn did one was vs Azzi though Azzi played good d on her. And the other was on a fastbreak in which the player got fouled by Sarah; again nothing to do with Allie.. On the last play of her defense she was on help-side defense they threw the ball over her head and hit Cooper for a pass at the 3pt line which Copper nailed but Allie contested the shot.

You're slamming a UCONN player unnecessarily. More than likely you were spot on about Allie being a rhythm player but her being pulled had nothing to do with her defense as you cite. As you have remarked Azzi was so good - she came back in for Allie. And Shade was playing well. This was the likely reason - that 2 other players were playing very well in a tight game while Allie needed a bit more rhythm / minutes to get going. Geno's decsion to wait or put back in his superstar and keep in Shade. It had nothing to do with "playing terrible defense."

BTW UCONN exposed Tenn’s offense in the 2nd half. Normally that’s what happened when we speak of being “exposed.” When teams have times to adjust.they can expose the opposition. That's exactly what UCONN did.
 
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Very well stated...

Not to argue here but Alex averages 34 minutes a game. Solo 30 and from there 9 deep less. Geno goes 7 deep with the most heralded bench in many years. Why not let them take on the press the last few minutes? That and avoid an unnecessary injury to a starter. No need for Azzi to play 39 or Strong to play 37 today.

Maybe I just have memories of Paige going down with 38 seconds left in a 19 point win over ND. That and a believer of developing the bench in games that are a blow out with formidable competition. That is a huge moment to step on the floor against a team like Tennessee. It is deer in the headlight moment but what a better time to get them through it. Something that cannot be replicated in practice.
It also may keep a player or two from developing here rather than the portal next year. JMHO.....
Don’t want to make a big deal out of this. I’m so psyched about this team this year and the win in this game is much more fun to think about. But you’re bringing up a negative in which I feel there was none for this game. I hold a completely opposite POV than what you hold. While you go back to the Paige injury I look back to last year after the loss to Tenn. IMO that had to do with the team chemistry in that they didn’t play enough court time together. IMO they need to try their best to play as much time together as they can especially vs a pretty good team.

This year’s team is desperate to be challenged. And probably this is the last team that can probably do it before the NCAAT. Allie and K9 need as much minutes as possible as do all the starters going against a pretty good team. And as Geno said he needs Sarah and Azzi to get accustomed to more minutes. This is an opportunity to get your core team valuable time.

And your last point imo is what a fan thinks in regard to Who might portal next year . . .” But I’m sure the coaching staff and team are far more concerned on what they need to do this year to win it all. Who might portal is the last thing on their minds but not for a fan imo.

Even those last few minutes are teachable moments and not garbage minutes which fans tend to look at it like. That atrocious ¾ one-handed pass Sarah made (after a timeout),and that awful bounce pass Ashlynn made to Sarah are far more valuable than giving minutes to non-core players. Especially vs this opponent in which they were doing UCONN a favor by continuing to press.
 

While Connolly accurately points out what happened, it's a very short sighted analysis. That exact same substitution pattern is what brought TN back from certain doom in the first half. That pattern had been working well up to that point in the game.
 
Did Geno know Texas beat Tennessee by 31 points in 1984? Reason for leaving the starters in until the very end. I would have tried to beat them by 32+. Just saying.
 
When Tennessee made a basket, can’t the UConn player inbounding the ball run the baseline to pass to a teammate? UConn players didn’t do that- it’s allowed, isn’t it?

Yes they can run the baseline UConn didn’t do that cause they didn’t have problems inbounding the ball so no need
 
When Tennessee made a basket, can’t the UConn player inbounding the ball run the baseline to pass to a teammate? UConn players didn’t do that- it’s allowed, isn’t it?
Yes, after a made shot, an inbounder can move. Whether or not she can depends why a team is inbounding. Here’s an explanation

IMG_4778.jpeg
 
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Saw the replay. Great game.

The silence of the crowd when the 1st quarter ended was deafening.

Geno, CD and Co. are the best.
 
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How many of you are happy we won by 30 and not 28? I have to admit I prefer 30. I was definitely hoping that last Tennessee shot missed...

30 sounds better.
33 sounds better. Matter of fact 50 sounds a lot better and could have been if we didn't go quiet and butter fingers in the second quarter. What we did with the second quarter was give 4 or 5 other teams hope. Nobody is harder on them than the kids themselves and Azzi did a fine job of that.
 
Longest streak in 25 years is very impressive.

Tennessee plays a very unorthodox/unconventional style of basketball. Maybe that is what Azzi really meant.

Maybe it's me, but Tennessee seemed to play very physical/rough. I saw one play where K9 got clobbered and they give K9 the foul...

I am very impressed with K9.
Their point guard fouled every time down the floor. Perhaps a byproduct of the homers who ref at Boling.
 
I was at a "broadway" lunch show, so I didn't watch the game live, however forgot to turn off my notifications, so I knew the outcome. When everyone left after our weekly family dinner, I asked the hub if we could watch the game, and he was 100% agreeable. He enjoyed it just as much or even more after seeing it live. 😁 ❤️
 
They proudly call that SEC tough defense. But, I think we adjusted and we got our licks in too. They let both sides play and I thought it was a fairly called game.
I think the game was physical and called loosely for both sides. There was about the same number of fouls called on each team. During the game, posters on Vol Nation were decrying the officiating calling it one-sided. There were voice-of-reason posters, however, that pointed to the 30 pt. MOV and rightly noted that officiating did not cause the loss.
 
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It’s hard for me to picture refs — folks who have the closest view of hundreds of games a year — wouldn’t favor teams like UConn. I mean if they were going to favor any team. This is why it’s preposterous to assume that the refs are slanted one way or another. They may make mistakes, miss some calls and so on. But biased for or against a particular team? I can’t see it.
 
I was going to say I can't believe this conversation about refs is still going on. . . We bitched in 1980 when UConn 1st joined the BE. Every ride home from the games was, "the men would have had a better chance if the refs. . . " When the 'modern era' of women's basketball arrived in '85 I would take the kids to the women's games and complain on the ride home. Every sports forum board I have ever visited inevitably has a whining thread about officiating - even if you visit the 2 teams that just played each other's forums, they both complain.
Let's face it, the refs aren't perfect. I believe they are equally competent / incompetent.
 
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