"They're Hitting Their Stride"

[RockyMTblue2]

A good composite article of pregame thoughts from the last couple of days.

‘They’re hitting their stride:’ UConn women have their hands full with South Carolina, but they’re not the same team that lost to Arkansas two weeks ago

The UConn team that’s won its last three games by at least 29 points isn’t the same one that left Fayetteville, Ark., with a loss. Monday night against South Carolina, the Huskies get to see whether their growth is enough to take down one of the premier teams in the nation.

www.courant.com

“Since [losing to Arkansas], I think there’s been a different approach by certain individuals on the team, and there’s been a different approach by the team as a whole,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It does show up in these games that we’ve played, and hopefully it’ll continue to.”

UConn’s identity has certainly crystallized of late as Bueckers has asserted herself offensively early and often, no longer deferring to others to shoulder the scoring load. Her efficiency has been sensational, and she’s commanding so much attention from opposing defenses that it’s opened things up for her teammates to score, too."

 

[EricLA]

I always wonder about that whole "good loss" stuff. Could the team have learned as much if they had won the game by 3 instead of lost by 3? I used to be of the opinion "yes", but maybe I was wrong.

Hopefully the players reflected on their performances, defense, communication, decision making, etc. etc. on the long flight home. Hopefully Geno and co. made them watch the entire game to point out mistakes that were made.

I love the "different approach" since the loss comments by Geno. And of course I agree - I hope it continues to show up in games.

I felt before the season started that there was no team who had the talent on their roster that UCONN has. With what we added this season, I thought we were the best team in the country. Lots of basketball left to be played, but there is so much parity at the top, it really does feel like a fair number of teams could win it all this year. Hope we are there at the end...

 

[mattlow710]

I always wonder about that whole "good loss" stuff. Could the team have learned as much if they had won the game by 3 instead of lost by 3? I used to be of the opinion "yes", but maybe I was wrong.

Hopefully the players reflected on their performances, defense, communication, decision making, etc. etc. on the long flight home. Hopefully Geno and co. made them watch the entire game to point out mistakes that were made.

I love the "different approach" since the loss comments by Geno. And of course I agree - I hope it continues to show up in games.

I felt before the season started that there was no team who had the talent on their roster that UCONN has. With what we added this season, I thought we were the best team in the country. Lots of basketball left to be played, but there is so much parity at the top, it really does feel like a fair number of teams could win it all this year. Hope we are there at the end...

dont you think before that game ,PB still want to prove herself as a pass first player
although Geno told her to shoot more ?
Thanks to that loss , PB start firing at 1st half the following games and make the team more comfortable and more relaxing

 

[msf22b]

Then there is the strange response Geno gave when asked about why Nika didn't play against Tennessee.

He noted that there was a disagreement about her style of play, role, and function (paraphrased)...And he decided that it was serious enough, not to play her. He said that afterwards they came to a meeting of minds and he's quite happy with her play now (sly smile)...Geno, lowering the boom, establishing discipline, and achieving the desired result.

Whatever the differences were...we'll likely never know...coach has assisted in the transformation of Nika to a Kelly Farris/ Jennifer Rizzotti/ Carla Berube clone.

To the benefit of the team.

 

[eebmg]

I always wonder about that whole "good loss" stuff. Could the team have learned as much if they had won the game by 3 instead of lost by 3? I used to be of the opinion "yes", but maybe I was wrong.

Hopefully the players reflected on their performances, defense, communication, decision making, etc. etc. on the long flight home. Hopefully Geno and co. made them watch the entire game to point out mistakes that were made.

I love the "different approach" since the loss comments by Geno. And of course I agree - I hope it continues to show up in games.

I felt before the season started that there was no team who had the talent on their roster that UCONN has. With what we added this season, I thought we were the best team in the country. Lots of basketball left to be played, but there is so much parity at the top, it really does feel like a fair number of teams could win it all this year. Hope we are there at the end...

The loss to TN in 2000 at Gampel paved the way for us destroying TN in the NC.

 

[Sanka541]

I always wonder about that whole "good loss" stuff. Could the team have learned as much if they had won the game by 3 instead of lost by 3? I used to be of the opinion "yes", but maybe I was wrong.

Hopefully the players reflected on their performances, defense, communication, decision making, etc. etc. on the long flight home. Hopefully Geno and co. made them watch the entire game to point out mistakes that were made.

I love the "different approach" since the loss comments by Geno. And of course I agree - I hope it continues to show up in games.

I felt before the season started that there was no team who had the talent on their roster that UCONN has. With what we added this season, I thought we were the best team in the country. Lots of basketball left to be played, but there is so much parity at the top, it really does feel like a fair number of teams could win it all this year. Hope we are there at the end...

Personally I think in a season like this where you are losing games, you really have to develop and learn quicker as March is coming around fast. Losing that Arkansas game showed them the defence needs to be better and showed individuals like Paige that she can’t wait until the 4th quarter to turn up, she has to be assertive from the start and clearly she’s taken that on board as since then she’s been unbelievable start to finish in games. Every team has lost games this season but not all of them have learnt and sorted their problems out, UConn I think has and it’ll make them better come March.

 

[Sanka541]

Personally I think in a season like this where you are losing games, you really have to develop and learn quicker as March is coming around fast. Losing that Arkansas game showed them the defence needs to be better and showed individuals like Paige that she can’t wait until the 4th quarter to turn up, she has to be assertive from the start and clearly she’s taken that on board as since then she’s been unbelievable start to finish in games. Every team has lost games this season but not all of them have learnt and sorted their problems out, UConn I think has and it’ll make them better come March.

I meant “losing games” as in due to covid from the schedule. There are less games being played then a normal season so you can’t afford to waste games not learning anything

 

[fomalhaut]

Whatever the differences were...we'll likely never know...coach has assisted in the transformation of Nika to a Kelly Farris/ Jennifer Rizzotti/ Carla Berube clone.

With a little bit of Nikola Jokic thrown in.

 

[jabstep]

Well, these games have shown us and Geno somethings about his team. The starting five I think is interchangeable. The bench can and does help the team and give some players a rest. The rest of the big east will be to get ready for the dance and get Mir and possibly Anna if healthy back into the rotation. Seemed like we might have needed Paith last night near the end of the game so let's get her some minutes with the first team. It doesn't matter how much we win by in the rest of our games. We will have more games like this in the tourney

 

[npignatjr]

Since then Nika has only gotten more in control and become a better defender, willing to shoot, even drove inside scored last night, set picks. Gotten healthier.
AE has become a force, without fouling.

 

[LoboDays]

Since then Nika has only gotten more in control and become a better defender, willing to shoot, even drove inside scored last night, set picks. Gotten healthier.
AE has become a force, without fouling.

I think AE is a critical piece of the puzzle moving into the later rounds of the NC. There are some good players on the better teams that will be hard for ONO to handle. Tough chore for a freshman.. She should get a lot of minutes on the floor leading up to the tourney.

 

[oldhusky]

The article and responses seem to suggest we hit our stride between the Arkansas and South Carolina, and that may be true, but don't we have to then conclude that we took at least a modest step backwards in the last two games. I think in both of those games we underachieved expectations, closer than they should have been. I look at the next couple of games more as bouncing back.

 

[huskeynut]

The article and responses seem to suggest we hit our stride between the Arkansas and South Carolina, and that may be true, but don't we have to then conclude that we took at least a modest step backwards in the last two games. I think in both of those games we underachieved expectations, closer than they should have been. I look at the next couple of games more as bouncing back.

I don't thing the team has underachieved. We beat SH by 21. SH is a respectable team with some talent. We beat a game Georgetown by 24. Both of those games came after the SC. SH two days after SC. Georgetown two days after SH. That was the end of a 5 games in 10 day stretch. You cannot discount the schedule.

You say the two games were closer than they should have been. You need to define close. For the SH game, you have a point deficit, but only for the first half. Second half we doubled them up. For Georgetown, 1 point lead after the first quarter then it was lights for the Hoyas.

 

[oldhusky]

I don't thing the team has underachieved. We beat SH by 21. SH is a respectable team with some talent. We beat a game Georgetown by 24. Both of those games came after the SC. SH two days after SC. Georgetown two days after SH. That was the end of a 5 games in 10 day stretch. You cannot discount the schedule.

You say the two games were closer than they should have been. You need to define close. For the SH game, you have a point deficit, but only for the first half. Second half we doubled them up. For Georgetown, 1 point lead after the first quarter then it was lights for the Hoyas.

The fatigue factor is probably a good point, that could be it, but I expected to beat Georgetown by more than 40 and Seton Hall by around 30. They were not terrible games, but less than expectations for me. I also expected both of these games to offer more opportunities for the tail end of the bench to get more minutes.