tOSU postgame Thread | Page 7 | The Boneyard

tOSU postgame Thread

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Twolf said:
Good analysis of the game, just a couple of thoughts I might add:
  • As soon as UConn got sped up midway through the first quarter things went south quickly. Anyone who has ever played has had it happen to them, & when it does poor decision making, rushing shots, and hesitation are soon to follow.
  • As in any game when it’s over asking yourself which team got the best shots will usually give you the winner. Today that was OSU without a doubt.
*When is the last time an opponent fielded a team that appeared to be more athletic than UConn? I believe this was more of a mental issue with many UConn players than a physical deficit because OSU was playing loose, confident, and aggressive, while UConn was playing tight as the favorite.
* Players, like teams, have to build momentum as the season progresses, and and CD simply didn’t have that luxury which made them look a lot less like the players they truly are in a pressure situation as the vise tightened today
*. Lastly, the common criticism that Geno was outcoached today is laughable at best, and a comment I would politely describe as a load of horse puckey. JMO
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Should read and CD
 
Bald Huskie said:
The only player that was calm enough to make plays. Why did Azzi not take the open 3's that she had when we were behind? Dorka did not play well, but at least she tried. The rest of the team looked like they never played before, really embarrassing, but that's the way the season went. They deserve credit for making it this far, and maybe we all were a little too optimistic. Wait until next year, we will be back.
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Dorka 13 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks (and a relatively meager 2 TOs). Not great, but better than 'did not play well.'
 
Yup. We'd have been "in the game," not necesarily "win the game." 7/15 FT vs 22/30 for OSU. Unlikely as it seemed from watching the game, we outscored OSU from the field.
 
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As I contemplate the game I thought that Ohio State looked like we used to when we pressed every opponents possession after a made basket. My only question is, with 10 players healthy, why didn't we press the whole game too?
 
hayman522 said:
While I agree that Muhl is a net positive she is very turnover prone which haunts you against good teams.
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Muhl can be TO prone period. She also gets the team easy baskets. But tell me this, how did Uconn beat so many good teams this year with her being so TO prone? So let’s look at the stats; I took the “good teams” we played -

OOC - Texas, NC State, Duke, Iowa, ND, Princeton, Fla. St., Tenn., SC (9 games)
BE - took the 4 teams that made the NCAA tournament (10 games)
NCAA - Baylor, OSU (2 games)

So, a total of 21 games; in those Muhl had 161 assists (7.7 per game) and 73 TOs (3.5) or a 2.2 assist to TO ratio, pretty good for someone with the ball in her hand as much as she did. In addition, Muhl had 2 games of 7 TOs, one of 6, and one of 5. Of those 4 games, Uconn won 3 of them, Iowa (6), Fla. St. (5), and Nova (7). Obviously, she also had 7 today. But the bottom line is, your premise of the TOs “haunting” Uconn just doesn’t fly. Just another point of reference, Bueckers has averaged a 2.3 assist to TO ratio for her two years and that is not omitting the stats for “bad teams.” Muhl plays a high risk, high reward game but the bottom line is it yields more than just a net positive and outside of today, has not “haunted“ Uconn.
 
Littlemin said:
Neither does Bueckers sometimes or did you miss her not hunting shots against Arizona and SC the last 2 years? Both games begged for that and she didn’t do it in either of them. It happens, they are human.
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I disagree, Paige I believe just off of memory scored at least 20 against AZ and fought really hard against SC. She was one of the more aggressive if not the most aggressive against SC. They both are killers anyways. Injuries have hindered their growth. It’s coming next year if healthy.
 
NC28604 said:
As I contemplate the game I thought that Ohio State looked like we used to when we pressed every opponents possession after a made basket. My only question is, with 10 players healthy, why didn't we press the whole game too?
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I was wondering about that. In the last game vs UNC, tOSU had 23 turnovers to UNC’s 18.
 
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Geno has said it before, winning these games is hard but they make it look easy. This just wasn't our year. I felt we were good enough to be there in the end but we would need some help/luck too. I want us to be bad for basketball again, reinforcements coming next year.
 
veryolddog said:
Ohio State played the way UConn use to and should have played today. They just outplayed UConn women at just about every facet of the game. It almost lookd like UConn was not prepared for this game. Well....here's to next season and every player healthy, happy and dedicated to an exceptional season. Good job to all UConn players who provided great basketball entertainment for this old man all season long. I would like to be around to see next season when Paige B will hopefully play again.
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That makes two of us VOD. :) I hope to hear from you then.
 
SARG 2011 said:
Geno has said it before, winning these games is hard but they make it look easy. This just wasn't our year. I felt we were good enough to be there in the end but we would need some help/luck too. I want us to be bad for basketball again, reinforcements coming next year.
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Welcome to the club Sarg. :cool: If you get bounced out of the tournament, it's nice to win a few games before you do. But unless you win all six games, you go home empty-handed. 68 teams make the field. 67 of them go home sad and disappointed. Only one team raises the trophy and cuts down the nets. There are no duplicate NC trophies or "participation" trophies. I thoroughly enjoyed this season. Now I'm getting pumped about our fortunes next year with our returnees and the new freshmen coming in.
 
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Carnac said:
Me too. I could see where it was going. Ohio State's press was working. McGuff was going to keep it on the entire game, or until we proved we could break it. I figured if we won, I'd just watch the replay. I recorded it, but I won't watch it.

I commented in the chat room that McGuff showed the world today how to beat UConn. I'm pretty sure that will be something Geno will have the team work on once official practice begins again in mid-October.
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There are plenty of coaches that know how to beat UConn. Their problem is that they don't have the tough, physical athletes able to play the full time, in the face, pressure defense needed to do it. UConn's sloppy ballhandling, passing, and inability to handle that pressure are well known to most competent coaches but you need the right talent and speed to cover the floor end to end to be able to expose it and OSU had it.
 
JBK said:
Did you watch the NC state game last year and Paige ( injured by the way ) carried them to the NC game not a sweet 16 loss . Phenomenal players make the entire “ team” better and are singled out in every sport.
She worked so hard in the off season to become so much stronger and would have made a huge difference in getting UConn to the finish line. I guess time will tell.
Why do you think we set the UConn record for the most turnovers this entire year.
Remember. We were “ somewhat” healthy today.
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Yes I did, I also saw her not TRY to do the same against Arizona and SC when that’s what the team obviously needed. See here’s the deal, I acknowledge Bueckers ability and her great games but so many if you will not even entertain the thought that she is human and has come up short too. And I am not interested in the nonsense of what might have happened; Bueckers is a really good player but hero worship is for children; adults deal with reality, not conjecture about what might have been. The reality is no one knows what might have been because she couldn’t play.
 
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baggerbob said:
Do you really think Ohio St wouldn't have been destroyed by halftime by any of Stewie's teams?
Hartley, Dolson, Tuck , Nurse, and others would have run through or over that press.
And then they would have turned around and pressed them.
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Don't think 'Stewie's team' is in the tournament, are they? We had a really good team to root for as it was... just sad they lost today.
 
Congratulations to the starting lineup that carried them though most the season Lou, Dorka, AE, AG, NM!! And to the rest of the team with all their supporting roles! Congratulations to the Geno, the coaches and entire staff who gave it their all to get the entire team ready for the NCAA! It was a challenging year full of ups and downs!! Let's all regroup and then begin plotting for next season! Lou and Dorka we will miss you both !!
 
NC28604 said:
As I contemplate the game I thought that Ohio State looked like we used to when we pressed every opponents possession after a made basket. My only question is, with 10 players healthy, why didn't we press the whole game too?
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Because as the opponent begins to advance the ball over halfcourt, you need to have athletes with the speed and lateral quickness to retreat very quickly into your base defense ahead of the ball. UConn only had 2-3 of those type kids in their current 7 man rotation. Edwards, Muhl, and maybe Fudd.
 
Ohio State waited until UConn got comfortable then deployed their press. Smart tactic. The surprise element through them off entirely. UConn may have practiced how to beat a press but it did not appear that they noted the nuances of how Ohio State deployed theirs. They trapped ball screens, trapped the high posts, congested the middle of the floor and UConn was not prepared for that.

Credit to the freshman McMahon who had more pep in her step than anyone in white. UConn's offense never looked on balance and

1. There was no leader on the court. Muhl's loud voice on offense and defense was absent. She was flustered. Azzi was flustered. Dorka at 6'5 couldn't see any targets. Lou tried but she was hurt. No one was cutting or coming towards the ball to help their handlers or calling out traps, they were just 5 pieces out there, not a cohesive unit.
2. Whomever had the scout for this game missed some assignments in the details of the press, trapping, personnel and schemes.
3. Game management was off. Instead of reorganizing the group, Geno and co let them commit turnover after turnover while they just shrugged or yelled on the sideline. This team needed to be micromanaged to success in this game. He needed to call a timeout until they figured out how to break the press. Halftime was too late, by that time Ohio State had the element of fear.

Onward towards next year. Considering what these ladies have went through they should be proud. The better team won today and that was not us.
 
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hoopsfan22 said:
They have Caitlin Clark and we don't.
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Can't also discount the benefit of seeing them every year in the conference, and twice this year. The longer you get to see something, no matter how disruptive it may be, the easier it is to adjust.

Even in this game, UConn managed it better in the last 20 minutes of the game than they did between minutes 5 and 20. They didn't defeat it, but that probably would have come in any hypothetical future games we had with Ohio St. this season.

A defense that's anchored in a great full court press tends towards extremes in its effectiveness. It can lead to results like today's, or it can become a liability when well countered (as in that 2nd OSU-Iowa game).
 
UConn set the record for consecutive final fours with 14. The old record was 5! UConn set the record with 16 consecutive elite eights. I believe the old record was 7. Those records are statistical anomalies and will probably never be broken. Next year UConn can pursue its quest for their record extending 30th straight sweet sixteen.
 
Florida Atlantic just beat Kansas State to make the final four. Note that FAU had 22 Turnovers to 12 for KState (minus 10 vs our minus 11). Our TOs may be bad but you can overcome that with good play in other areas. Obviously we didn’t, but don’t just say “TOs are the reason we lost”.
 
baggerbob said:
Do you really think Ohio St wouldn't have been destroyed by halftime by any of Stewie's teams?
Hartley, Dolson, Tuck , Nurse, and others would have run through or over that press.
And then they would have turned around and pressed them.
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Yep. Any of the 2014-16 teams would beat every single team in this tourney, South Carolina included, by double digits. There's only parity because there aren't any truly great teams like that anymore.
 
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