This team is improving at a geometic rate

[alexrgct]

OK, it's easy to overreact on a night when everything goes so well. But jeez, I hope everyone appreciates how ridiculous it is that this team is this good at this stage. What this incarnation of UConn WBB lacks in super-duper-star power, it makes up for in raw intensity. Kelly won't always give you double digit scoring, but she'll always give you max effort. Same with Tiff. Same with Stef. Same with Bria. Same with KML. Same with Caroline. And that collective effort is going to be overwhelming and exhuasting for most opponents.

Bria supposedly moved to the two-guard, but she's still playing a ton of point. On a night when Geno didn't feel he could give Kiah and Buck too many minutes, Stef went out there and just battled. Caroline is giving everything she can and will have nights when she just goes off from three. KML- forget the scoring, and think about her diving for balls, being the best entry passer on the team, tapping rebounds to teammates, deftly fielding too-hard passes to her when she's trying to cut. Tiff is playing with a contagious level of energy. Even when her shots aren't falling, she's all over the court. And Kelly is just an absolute nightmare defensively. There's nothing she can't do on that end of the court.

I thought I saw improvement over the course of the World Vision tourney and against Towson, but I wanted to see it against a better level of competition before getting too excited. I saw it tonight. I am excited.

One other point I haven't seen discussed: in April, in the high altitudes of Denver, a team with this level of swarming intensity is going to be absolute hell to play.

 

[Sonny44]

I agree.
Baylor my beat us this time, but that will be the last time.

 

[Icebear]

Baylor had better not take a win for granted.

 

[Zorro]

They are obviously getting more used to each other, knowing where each other will be and what they will do. Some of those assist plays in the second half were Huskyball at its best. A real pleasure to watch.

 

[speedoo]

OK, it's easy to overreact on a night when everything goes so well. But jeez, I hope everyone appreciates how ridiculous it is that this team is this good at this stage. What this incarnation of UConn WBB lacks in super-duper-star power, it makes up for in raw intensity. Kelly won't always give you double digit scoring, but she'll always give you max effort. Same with Tiff. Same with Stef. Same with Bria. Same with KML. Same with Caroline. And that collective effort is going to be overwhelming and exhuasting for most opponents.

Bria supposedly moved to the two-guard, but she's still playing a ton of point. On a night when Geno didn't feel he could give Kiah and Buck too many minutes, Stef went out there and just battled. Caroline is giving everything she can and will have nights when she just goes off from three. KML- forget the scoring, and think about her diving for balls, being the best entry passer on the team, tapping rebounds to teammates, deftly fielding too-hard passes to her when she's trying to cut. Tiff is playing with a contagious level of energy. Even when her shots aren't falling, she's all over the court. And Kelly is just an absolute nightmare defensively. There's nothing she can't do on that end of the court.

I thought I saw improvement over the course of the World Vision tourney and against Towson, but I wanted to see it against a better level of competition before getting too excited. I saw it tonight. I am excited.

One other point I haven't seen discussed: in April, in the high altitudes of Denver, a team with this level of swarming intensity is going to be absolute hell to play.

Great post, and your last point is spot on. Kelly was incredible tonight. Well she's almost always incredible, but tonight she was just more so. Made Carolyn Peck look even less perceptive than usual.

 

[jsloanjr]

Geno has 8 days following the SH game this Friday to scout and defense Baylor.........I like our chances by double digits....

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Interestingly enough to me is that Geno coached BG this summer for the Olympic Team games. Having coached her may have enabled him a way to see how to beat her. Take her out of her game. Geno is a great coach and I am sure he was scouting her as much as he was coaching her up!!!

Should be exciting!

 

[tomcat]

This was just a wonderful game. Much better than expected, in that UConn took a very good team and simply handled them. The defensive intensity was immense, especially in the first half, and as TAMU wore down in the second half, there were some wonderful passing plays going on.

I'm still thinking that Baylor has horses that UConn does not have, but it should be a very interesting game.

 

[semper]

What I found amazing is the speed of execution. At first you think we're out of control, but no...we are just so fast, and what a press!

 

[Tonyc]

Baylor imo is not better then UConn. Griner will be a problem we have to deal with and we will have to stay out of foul trouble. If Im coaching UConn. I try to keep Griner away from the basket and we have the big bodies to do it. If she gets it underneath leave her alone and dont foul her. I would suffacate Simms and play everybody else tight. Griner cant beat you alone. I would use the same game plan as tonight with one exeception, keep Griner away from the basket and dont foul her if shes underneath. If we stay out of foul trouble I think we win.

 

[MilfordHusky]

At the beginning of the season, some of us were more optimistic than others. I predicted up to 4 losses. I think at Baylor, at ND, the BET, and the NCAAs will be tough, but I can't see us losing otherwise. I had confidence that most of the question marks would get answered in a positive way. I also had a sense that KML was an uber, uber player. Things are looking very good. The Baylor game will be another measuring stick. But think about how many ranked teams we have beaten by 30+ in the past 4 years! Amazing.

 

[cohenzone]

The rout didn't really surprise me after watching A&M against Purdue. They are not all that good. But, they aren't that bad either and the Husky defense shook them like Raggedy Anne in Cujo's jaws and the offensive execution was great. The best time to get a better read on this team will be when they face a team with a good and experienced ball handler with good talent at most positions. That means, of course, Baylor, ND and maybe a few others. Stanford didn't have the guards. A team without top notch guard play can't deal with UConn's D. While we all waited to see what this team could do to score without MM, Geno's D is a constant force. The O doesn't look too shabby either. Should be another fun ride.

 

[DieHardHusky]

It is just remarkable to see how far the team has come, just so far this season! I can not wait for the Baylor game, and it should be a real good one.

 

[rocky rococo]

Watched the way the ball moved, especially in the second half. This could end up the best passing Husky team since 2002, in both the half-court and in transition.

 

[CL82]

I'm looking forward to seeing Steph bang with Griner. Britany is terrific player but I like our chances. Who knows maybe Heather can repeat her decent performance against her?

 

[msf22b]

There was an excellence in this game that's hard to quantify but Kara Lawson picked up on the superlative spacing leaving a late arriving guard to defend the speedy cut to the hoop. in the second half, an attempt to strangle the UCONN guards led to astonishing but inevitable back door cuts.
What else?
The poor streaming in my Marina permitted a detailed examination of the classic UCONN positioning both on offense and defense. From my vantage point, there was only one truly uncontested shot by the Texans in the 2nd half.
The defensive switching was a thing of beauty and so natural and disciplined.
What a splendid game to watch and consider, Woman's BB at close to the the level of excellence that Geno strives for.

 

[cferraro04]

How about when late in the 2nd half...KML makes an athletic save to prevent the ball from going out of bounds... She looked Mayaest on that play. There was also a block that she made from behind the player that also reminded me of Maya. The rest of her game tonight reminded me of KML and how she is just a good player on her own.

 

[Icebear]

There was an excellence in this game that's hard to quantify but Kara Lawson picked up on the superlative spacing leaving a late arriving guard to defend the speedy cut to the hoop. in the second half, an attempt to strangle the UCONN guards led to astonishing but inevitable back door cuts.
What else?
The poor streaming in my Marina permitted a detailed examination of the classic UCONN positioning both on offense and defense. From my vantage point, there was only one truly uncontested shot by the Texans in the 2nd half.
The defensive switching was a thing of beauty and so natural and disciplined.
What a splendid game to watch and consider, Woman's BB at close to the the level of excellence that Geno strives for.

Bingo, the defensive switching on this team is simply stunning it is so fluid, quick and natural. There were a couple of times that I momentarily thought we were going to be caught out of position when poof the defense morphed and we either stopped an attack or made a steal.

 

[terif831]

Bingo, the defensive switching on this team is simply stunning it is so fluid, quick and natural. There were a couple of times that I momentarily thought we were going to be caught out of position when poof the defense morphed and we either stopped an attack or made a steal.

+1. My sister, my friend, & I were constantly poking each other saying, "Did you see that??? Did you see that?!!?"

 

[Icebear]

The geometric improvement may have to do with the triangle offense.

 

[Ouremblem]

At the beginning of the season, some of us were more optimistic than others. I predicted up to 4 losses. I think at Baylor, at ND, the BET, and the NCAAs will be tough, but I can't see us losing otherwise. I had confidence that most of the question marks would get answered in a positive way. I also had a sense that KML was an uber, uber player. Things are looking very good. The Baylor game will be another measuring stick. But think about how many ranked teams we have beaten by 30+ in the past 4 years! Amazing.

Seeing Breanna Stewart at the game got me thinking about next year ...having seen her play in person, I think Kevin Garnett is a VERY good comparison by Geno of her abilities. With Moriah and Tuck coming, with Breanna Banks & Kiah improving, I really cannot imagine this team losing again for several years once Breanna shows up. KML is just SO far ahead of what any of us could have hoped for at this stage. They are all just SO tough mentally.
EDD was mentioned on the board recently. EDD will be playing at Hofstra on Long Island February 16th. Bad news is it's a Thursday night game. I was SO hoping for Friday-Sunday so I could spend the weekend down there and finally see her play in person. I guess there's always next year.

 

[meyers7]

I really liked how they played tonight. Very tough defensively. Got a lot of layups.

Baylor game is gonna be tough though. Real tough.

1. Baylor is much better than anyone we've played.
2. This will be the first long road game (Seton Hall isn't much of a road game or trip) of the season and of the career for some.
3. This will be our first game after finals. We are always rusty in that game every year.

Not gonna be easy.

 

[EricLA]

a lot of people, including some UCONN fans, think Baylor is head and shoulders better than UCONN. maybe they are - there will be a game shortly to determine at this point in the season who is better. but while i realize Baylor has a really solid to very good supporting cast, it's really the Griner/Simms show. Griner with 23 PPG and Simms with 18 PPG. Williams, Hayden and Pope are all around 10 PPG. According to their stats, as a team they are averaging over 90 PPG. i guess the key will be to take away what you can. maybe try to slow Griner and Simms as much as possible, but really focus on taking away Williams, Pope and Hayden? glad Geno's on it and not me!

if they score 90 against us (they scored 92 against ND) no way do we win. i think our defense is better than tennessee's and they held Baylor to 76 points. they have a high octane offense. as Tony said, we need to keep Griner away from the basket but they have so many scoring options, like UCONN does, that i think it will be difficult to do everything well defensively.

having said that, while we have no one like Griner, they have no one like KML. on the other hand, they are much bigger than we are. their only starter under 6' tall is Simms and she's 5'9". gonna be a tough task. at least tennessee could start baugh (6'4"), Johnson (6'2"), and Stricklen (6') not to mention Spani who's 6'1". on paper they match up better size-wise against Baylor.

 

[Icebear]

having said that, while we have no one like Griner, they have no one like KML. on the other hand, they are much bigger than we are. their only starter under 6' tall is Simms and she's 5'9". gonna be a tough task. at least tennessee could start baugh (6'4"), Johnson (6'2"), and Stricklen (6') not to mention Spani who's 6'1". on paper they match up better size-wise against Baylor.

As Gary Blair noted last night going small seems to be the best way to play UConn. I worry less about giving up size than many other things. Great fundamentals can do a lot to offset that. On the other hand our speed may well give problems to bigger players.

Gary Blair on how to beat UConn:​

"I think you've got to play small to be able to beat them," Blair said. "One big​

Center and you might have to play four guards to stay with them or a 4 who can play like a guard."​

 

[magical2]

OK, it's easy to overreact on a night when everything goes so well. But jeez, I hope everyone appreciates how ridiculous it is that this team is this good at this stage. What this incarnation of UConn WBB lacks in super-duper-star power, it makes up for in raw intensity. Kelly won't always give you double digit scoring, but she'll always give you max effort. Same with Tiff. Same with Stef. Same with Bria. Same with KML. Same with Caroline. And that collective effort is going to be overwhelming and exhuasting for most opponents.

Bria supposedly moved to the two-guard, but she's still playing a ton of point. On a night when Geno didn't feel he could give Kiah and Buck too many minutes, Stef went out there and just battled. Caroline is giving everything she can and will have nights when she just goes off from three. KML- forget the scoring, and think about her diving for balls, being the best entry passer on the team, tapping rebounds to teammates, deftly fielding too-hard passes to her when she's trying to cut. Tiff is playing with a contagious level of energy. Even when her shots aren't falling, she's all over the court. And Kelly is just an absolute nightmare defensively. There's nothing she can't do on that end of the court.

I thought I saw improvement over the course of the World Vision tourney and against Towson, but I wanted to see it against a better level of competition before getting too excited. I saw it tonight. I am excited.

One other point I haven't seen discussed: in April, in the high altitudes of Denver, a team with this level of swarming intensity is going to be absolute hell to play.

Love your post and I found along with you so much to be happy about Remember the #s 6,6 1/2,7,8,9 It is something that I have wanted to write about for a while.