I just read through this entire thread. I think there are a few points made by multiple posters that are wrong and that need a response. So here goes:
- Many of you asked why Liv and Aubrey were taking outside shots early in the game. I am sure that Geno told them to take early jump shots, hoping and expecting that they would hit a few of them, and that TN would decide they had to guard them at that range. And Aubrey actually did make one early 3-point shot. But they didn't make enough to make the strategy work, and it wasn't continued for the rest of the game. I will bet that they were making similar shots in practice, and Olivia has shown in Big East games that she can make the shots that she was missing tonight.
- I think that the poor free throw shooting was a symptom rather than a fundamental disease. In recent Big East games (although not at the beginning of the year), free throw shooting (even by Liv) has been adequate (around 70%). The underlying disease is nervousness and the pressure of a big game against a better opponent than they have previously faced. I think that also explains why those jump shots by Liv and Aubrey were missed. I would argue that the reason why the game was unexpectedly close was not a bad strategy or inadequate athletic talent to deal with the size, but simply nervousness/pressure felt by a young team in a big situation. The fact that the 4th quarter was so much better (after they had finally gotten over the drama and were just playing basketball) supports this hypothesis.
- I think Paige's shot at the end of the game has not been adequately celebrated. To me, that was a Willis Reed moment. Perhaps a better comparison is to the Dodger player in the late 80s (was it Kirk Gibson??) who was too severely injured to run to first base, but he came up as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning and hit a home run, so he didn't have to run at all. For Paige, I think this game was like the Diana game against Notre Dame where she went 1-for-15, except that this one ended better for Paige and for UConn.
- As is often the case, looking at the box score gives a different impression (and leads to different conclusions) than the eye test during the game. Did you know that UConn got 7 offensive rebounds in the 4th quarter, and thus ended up with 11 for the game -- not so much less than Tennessee's 14? Did you know that UConn shot 41% for the game, compared to TN's 36.9%? What about UConn being 7-for-25 from 3-point land, compared to 7-for-20 for TN? Did you know that UConn got 21 free throw attempts (I realize they only made 10) compared to 10 free throw attempts for TN, even though UConn was on the road? Most surprisingly, did you know that UConn took 61 shots in the game, while TN took only 65 shots despite all those offensive rebounds?
I guess the conclusion I would draw from all of the above is that the closeness of the game was mainly attributable to nervous jitters by the young UConn team, particularly in the first half, and that the game would probably have been a 15-to-20 point game if UConn had made 17 or 18 of its 21 free throws, and a higher percentage of its open jump shots.
