Texas postgame presser (merged)

[RockyMTblue2]

I found it a little odd that Vic never turned his players loose with the press. He participated throughout. Like he didn't want anything veering off in the wrong direction, particularly so early in the season and in Yankee territory.

 

[Carnac]

As Texas head coach Vic Schaefer pointed out, Texas made a lot of mistakes too. They DID NOT play a perfect, or near perfect game.......................and they lost. UConn (Azzi) played a little better. No we did not play a perfect or near perfect game, but we won. We did enough to win. THAT is what matters. Just win baby!!! UConn will get better with each game, and smooth out some of those wrinkles game by game. We'll get there. We won't make the mistakes in late December we're making now.

 

[hoophuskee]

The fact is Paige is not playing this year, and Rori will be back. She was National freshman of the year, plays point and doesn't turn it over (would have handled our pressure way better), and her quickness on both ends is difficult to deal with. One thing Vic knows is that if you've never played against UConn you just don't get how hard they play. Now his transfers, highly touted freshman (looked very solid) have seen them and will understand next time what to expect. I know we will be better and our youngsters we have more experience but If the two meet on a neutral court in March this game is a toss up!

We'll be favored. Not a tossup. We, as UCONN fans, have to expect that Azzi will be better than Rori. Sure they were without Rori. Well UCONN has had 2 games without Paige going into this matchup along with the three other seniors in which now Azzi is being asked to drastically change what she was vs last year. Azzi in her current form is completely different than last year. So this is Game "2" for the "drastically new" Azzi. Last year in which she "waited for the ball," as a general rule, this year she is going to be asked to become much more ball dominant vs prior year vs top teams as needed. This doesn't happen overnight. Probably why you saw such a difference in one half vs the other.

And Rori is not "Michael Jordan."

And UCONN had a 17 point lead with 4.5 minutes left? The game was over.

Anything can happen in a random game however vs very good teams. And Texas is a very good team. Sure they can win. But not a tossup looking at this moment.

 

[Zarathustra]

I like Vic a lot, and I think he will be a good thing for the University of Texas. As for the other disappointments, and there were several, Texas always has outsized expectations.

Prior to Vic taking over at TEXAS, my lingering thoughs always have gone ( past tense )
to the very unfortunate situation of Sedona Prince's injury and followup care while
at Texas. Then she has to get injuried at Oregon.. Unfair to Sedonia!. Best of luck in the
WNBA!

 

[Bone Dog]

I watched the replay of the Creighton SD St game this evening and noticed something I think is quite typical of the non-top-5 teams: they tend to have point guards who don't keep the ball moving. Several trips in a row, Mogenson brought the ball up and then picked up her dribble at the top of the 3 pt line. It was as if she expected to be able to stand there unimpeded and initiate a play. Of course, a defender immediately got in her face, and she had to energetically swing the ball around to try to force the defender back. This wasted a few seconds until a teammate came out of position to bail her out. So much for whatever play they wanted to run.

A big, like Liv or Dorka, can get away with this because they're not so easily challenged, and part of the point of having them in the high post is precisely to force the opposing big to come out and guard her.

This is also the difference between Nika and Azzi or Paige when they bring the ball up. Nika will occasionally make this same mistake, picking up her dribble before she's ready to distribute the ball. We saw this against Texas a few times. On lots of other trips, Nika didn't do this, and things ran much more smoothly. By contrast Azzi and Paige never make this mistake. They keep their dribble alive until they know what to do with the ball. I think we're a cut above most other teams because our guard play is simply superior, and not just in Azzi. Nika is on the whole an excellent point guard, and Lou knows better than to give up the dribble early. In fact, she's so efficient that she hardly holds the ball at all. She catches a pass and either shoots, drives or passes almost immediately. Caroline is similar in this respect.

Azzi brought the ball up a few times against Morris, and simply blew past her at the top of the key taking it the length of the court and right to the rim. It looked like the Longhorns weren't even a factor for her. Caroline did that a couple of times in that close game against DePaul last year, taking the ball the length of the floor and straight to the rim. Guards like that don't stop the ball themselves -- the other team has to stop them, if they can.