Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="EricLA, post: 2503471, member: 26"] Start with the ugly. ECU in the entire 2nd half. Having said that, 4 things stood out to me... [LIST=1] [*]UCONN's defense was really terrific pretty much the entire 2nd half and that includes the reserves. Kudos to the team for stifling a quick, pesky, and fairly athletic ECU team. [*]Which brings me to how ECU played - quick, pesky, and athletic. They played hard the entire game in spite of being blown out. I've seen teams play UCONN closer and completely give up for long stretches. ECU did not. [*]I was very pleased to see that as hard as they played, there was nothing that was overly physical. Sometimes teams that are way over-matched over-compensate by playing overly-physical. ECU did it last year but not this year. Kudos to them for that. [*]They have a pair of talented, quick, athletic freshman guards. One does WAY too much dribbling trying to create her own shot - I hope it's something the coach addresses because in this day-in-age, having 1 uber talented player go bat- crazy with the ball is not a recipe for success (a.k.a. Kelsey Mitchell=Ohio State) [/LIST] The bad - in a game where UCONN dominated in every conceivable category, putting on my Geno hat, the only bad I can find is the 1st 8 minutes or so of Q2. with about 2:30 to go in the quarter, ECU played UCONN evenly with the score 10-10. At that point, UCONN went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter. Geno noted that the offense really came to a halt without Lou and Gabby in (UCONN went on an 0-11 FG drought). Anyhoo... for the bad, that was it. The good - pretty much everything else. Stifling defense, excellent offense (both in transition and in the half-court) and excellent performances by pretty much the entire team... I will try to keep it short for each player because almost all of them had things stand out to me... including the reserves.... Gabby - sent the tone early and often. I think she scored 16 of her 18 points in the 1st half and she was EVERYWHERE on offense. THIS is the Gabby we got to see most games last season. More please, Gabulous! Lou - She was my POG, but it was close between her and Gabby. Lou had a more consistent game where as Gabby did her damage in a short period of time. She really has become a complete player and while she should be in the NPOY discussion this season, I believe she's the leading contender already for next season. Pheesa - quiet game from a stats perspective, but she had some terrific blocks and played some monster defense. Usually she scores 18-20 points and I think "I don't recall noticing any of it". However, she played very loudly today. Not quiet at all. I noticed her a LOT. Crystal - I can't rave enough about her. Her shot seems off lately, and sometimes she does seem to force things around the basket, but she's midway thru her 2nd year. Most everything else is spectacular. Can you imagine what she's going to be like the rest of her career??? Watch out. If she doesn't win the Lieberman award next year, she really should her senior year. Kia - not sure if her deep charlie horse affected her - but played 27 minutes and was solid... Azura - her shot seems to be off. I think this is the 3rd game in a row where she failed to get to double figures scoring. 16 rebounds is monstrous, but at least 4-5 of them were off her own missed shots. Paging Tina Charles...! Megan - another solid performance for her. I'm not sure if she hit the freshman wall early, but I'm really hoping she's able to build on her solid performances going forward. I think for her it's between the ears - mental. I'm hopeful she's rounded the corner... Kyla and Molly - both got extended minutes today. I noticed Molly more than Kyla today, altho Kyla BATTLED on defense. Molly seemed much more composed running the offense, and aside from one wild, errant pass, looked good. Mikayla - I think she did herself no favors in extended minutes last game - her play in Q2, especially, was a mess on both ends of the court. Having said that, a terrific block, excellent steal, and great pass to a streaking Lexi Gordon is a great way to get back on track. I expect to see great things from her. Lexi - took 4 shots in 3 minutes, but she was wide open and I think they were the right shots. Had just a terrific drive at the end. I know she's working hard. Batouly - I still think she's rusty and a step slow. Got the ball several times in the post and was either too far under the basket, or too slow, was swarmed, and had to pass the ball back out. She sure is smooth tho. This was the 2nd game in a row, at least, where the reserves came in against some/several of the other teams' starters and acquitted themselves quite nicely. I REALLY like this team - the precision, energy, help defense, passing, movement without the ball - all of it was on display tonight, and they still haven't put together 40 minutes of great basketball. I doubt it will be needed to win a NC this year, but it will be a thing of beauty when we finally get to see it. Let's hope they do it several times, leading up to, and including, the NC game! Go UCONN!! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach