Tulsa Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Tulsa Postgame Thread

oldude said:
Speaking of Aubrey, she had one of her very best games today. Her 11 pts were nice, but she was relentless on defense forcing turnovers, bad shots and just being an all-around pest to Tulsa.
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Could not have said it any better. Aubrey played a really effective game today (although she needs to work on her FT's). You can see allot of people didn't even realize that Aubrey scored 11 points today. But as you said, her defensive pressure was incredible. If it wasn't for the truly great game by Anna Makurat today, Aubrey's game would have gotten more notice. (PS - Molly's defensive game today was also very good).
 
A few comments from my perch in Section 220:

The defensive effort was superlative. Very aggressive yet amazingly, only committed three fouls! Geno had them press a bit to start the game, which struck me as a way of speeding up the tempo. Also did some trapping and double-teaming. Played a 2-3 zone almost all of the second half, which allowed Tulsa a few more open looks and points than in their 11 point first half nightmare. Sometimes UConn would start in the zone and then switch to man in the same possession, very clever.

Geno went 8 deep in the first half and I think that the best hope for this team is to be able to do that in big games. That will allow them to play more pressure defense at selected times without having to play the starters the whole game.

They made a concerted effort to get it inside to Olivia early, with only limited success. Fades away a lot. I`m thinking that rather than posting up, for the time being she might be better off facing up and either taking a short range jumper or put it on the floor, one dribble and put it up. Think Gabby Williams. She draws fouls when she goes up strong but she hasn`t been attacking lately.

We are at risk for taking Megan for granted, she is that consistently good. Excellent effort today, one of four Huskies with at least 3 threes. Crystal very good also and lighting it up from three.

Fair to assume that Geno told Anna to be more aggressive and look to shoot/create more and told Aubrey to exert 110% effort on the defensive end. The offense picks up when Anna came in, and in addition to shooting her threes with confidence Anna made some beautiful takes to the hoop. The defense was at its best in the second quarter when Aubrey was flying around out there. Good effort by Molly as well.

The team certainly did not play down to the competition, but I kinda felt like the crowd did. IMHO it was a pretty quiet, unenergetic effort by the UConn faithful. Student section was sparsely filled, must not be back yet. Hope the fans bring their A game against Tennessee!

Nice halftime ceremony honoring the 1989-1990 team on the 30th anniversary of Gampel. Oh, by the way, my all-time fav Katie Lou was in the house, graciously posing for numerous pics, must be working out here for the time being. Hope she`s gotten past her assorted injuries!
 
Seeing MBR's pix made me think of the past when starters sat at the end of a wining game
Godawful offense
Total confusion
Katzenjammer kids

Not this afternoon
Perhaps the bench is actually more useful (then we give it credit for).
 
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There was very little to complain about in this game. I thought that everyone that came into the game did an excellent job. Hoping UCONN plays the same type of game Thursday.
 
I found this humorous. They were "mocking" (friendly) Anna's string of underhand flip layups. Anna got a kick out of it too.

anna_flip.JPG
 
Huskee11 said:
A few comments from my perch in Section 220:

The defensive effort was superlative. Very aggressive yet amazingly, only committed three fouls! Geno had them press a bit to start the game, which struck me as a way of speeding up the tempo. Also did some trapping and double-teaming. Played a 2-3 zone almost all of the second half, which allowed Tulsa a few more open looks and points than in their 11 point first half nightmare. Sometimes UConn would start in the zone and then switch to man in the same possession, very clever.

Geno went 8 deep in the first half and I think that the best hope for this team is to be able to do that in big games. That will allow them to play more pressure defense at selected times without having to play the starters the whole game.

They made a concerted effort to get it inside to Olivia early, with only limited success. Fades away a lot. I`m thinking that rather than posting up, for the time being she might be better off facing up and either taking a short range jumper or put it on the floor, one dribble and put it up. Think Gabby Williams. She draws fouls when she goes up strong but she hasn`t been attacking lately.

We are at risk for taking Megan for granted, she is that consistently good. Excellent effort today, one of four Huskies with at least 3 threes. Crystal very good also and lighting it up from three.

Fair to assume that Geno told Anna to be more aggressive and look to shoot/create more and told Aubrey to exert 110% effort on the defensive end. The offense picks up when Anna came in, and in addition to shooting her threes with confidence Anna made some beautiful takes to the hoop. The defense was at its best in the second quarter when Aubrey was flying around out there. Good effort by Molly as well.

The team certainly did not play down to the competition, but I kinda felt like the crowd did. IMHO it was a pretty quiet, unenergetic effort by the UConn faithful. Student section was sparsely filled, must not be back yet. Hope the fans bring their A game against Tennessee!

Nice halftime ceremony honoring the 1989-1990 team on the 30th anniversary of Gampel. Oh, by the way, my all-time fav Katie Lou was in the house, graciously posing for numerous pics, must be working out here for the time being. Hope she`s gotten past her assorted injuries!
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I don’t think Geno will go 8 deep in big games. However, being able to bring in the bench in AAC games and knowing they won’t be terrible allows Geno to rest the starters, give the freshmen more playing time, and reduces the risk of injury to key players. It’s a big deal
 
HuskyNan said:
I don’t think Geno will go 8 deep in big games. However, being able to bring in the bench in AAC games and knowing they won’t be terrible allows Geno to rest the starters, give the freshmen more playing time, and reduces the risk of injury to key players. It’s a big deal
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I agree that Geno won't go 8 deep in the playoffs, but he will definitely go 7 deep (Evelyn and Molly won't see time, but absolutely Anna and Aubrey)
 
RogueDave said:
Add In Very Good Game by Officials, let them play and game flowed, very enjoyable to watch.
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Those three always have a good game together. The woman, in particular, is an excellent official,
 
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HuskyNan said:
I don’t think Geno will go 8 deep in big games. However, being able to bring in the bench in AAC games and knowing they won’t be terrible allows Geno to rest the starters, give the freshmen more playing time, and reduces the risk of injury to key players. It’s a big deal
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I found Geno's talk about being able to rest starters interesting. He centered it around Crystal, but he said he felt playing people constantly did not wear them down physically, but it was a mental strain - I have to be out here on the ball constantly. Me, I suspect it is a combination of both taking a toll.
 
I am a big Kyla fan but if players are awarded a start because of how well they play in practice. should not they be awarded when they play well in games. Anna plays better in games than Kyla but has not won a starting spot. Well, what do I know?
 
donalddoowop said:
I am a big Kyla fan but if players are awarded a start because of how well they play in practice. should not they be awarded when they play well in games. Anna plays better in games than Kyla but has not won a starting spot. Well, what do I know?
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Ironically, Ana is also taller than Kyla. My seat is courtside; when they lined up pre-game, that was an obvious observation. She is taller, more athletic, a better shooter, rebounder, passer and ball handler. Of course, it doesn’t really matter whether she starts or not; when the game is close at the end, she will be on the court.
 
Jordy said:
Ironically, Ana is also taller than Kyla. My seat is courtside; when they lined up pre-game, that was an obvious observation. She is taller, more athletic, a better shooter, rebounder, passer and ball handler. Of course, it doesn’t really matter whether she starts or not; when the game is close at the end, she will be on the court.
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Anna enters at 5 minute point at start and half and generally after that almost never leaves court, so while she officially isn’t a starter, it’s damn close. She is very much the sixth “man” and might well win that award in AAC this year. In big games I wish Geno would start her but...
When Meg sat, Anna took over game, as if to say, “no more passing, guess I have to do it myself.” She did pass up a late trey, charged to basket, and made a great assist to Aubrey. She explained that Geno told her at this point in the game it was okay to pass now.
 
Jordy said:
Ironically, Ana is also taller than Kyla. My seat is courtside; when they lined up pre-game, that was an obvious observation. She is taller, more athletic, a better shooter, rebounder, passer and ball handler. Of course, it doesn’t really matter whether she starts or not; when the game is close at the end, she will be on the court.
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My reasoning is that if she started the offense would get going faster and she would have more time to make an impact on the game. Maybe if she started, the game would not be close at the end.;)
 
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I think that the situation with Kyla and Anna today is similar to the one that existed between Caroline Doty and Bria Hartley when Caroline was a 5th year senior and Bria was a freshman. Caroline started, stayed in for a few minutes, and then Bria came in and played most of the game. That is what happened with Kyla and Anna today. Anna's minutes (even without starting) have been significantly higher than Kyla's in each of the last two games, and I would expect that to continue.

It's also possible that Geno thinks that Kyla will be less likely to make mistakes or misread the defense than Anna, so there is a benefit in letting Kyla play long enough to see what the opponent is doing. I thought that Kyla played well today in her limited minutes.
 
Dokey said:
Anna enters at 5 minute point at start and half and generally after that almost never leaves court, so while she officially isn’t a starter, it’s damn close. She is very much the sixth “man” and might well win that award in AAC this year. In big games I wish Geno would start her but...
When Meg sat, Anna took over game, as if to say, “no more passing, guess I have to do it myself.” She did pass up a late trey, charged to basket, and made a great assist to Aubrey. She explained that Geno told her at this point in the game it was okay to pass now.
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To back up your point, Anna played 29 minutes today vs Kyla’s 17.
 
Dokey said:
Anna enters at 5 minute point at start and half and generally after that almost never leaves court, so while she officially isn’t a starter, it’s damn close. She is very much the sixth “man” and might well win that award in AAC this year. In big games I wish Geno would start her but...
When Meg sat, Anna took over game, as if to say, “no more passing, guess I have to do it myself.” She did pass up a late trey, charged to basket, and made a great assist to Aubrey. She explained that Geno told her at this point in the game it was okay to pass now.
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She was second on the team, today, in minutes played.
 
donalddoowop said:
I am a big Kyla fan but if players are awarded a start because of how well they play in practice. should not they be awarded when they play well in games. Anna plays better in games than Kyla but has not won a starting spot. Well, what do I know?
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And maybe, just maybe, right now Anna is one of those players who needs to watch/ observe the game before coming in. By observing she gets a feel for the flow of the game. Then when she comes in, she's mentally ready to go.
 
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JoePgh said:
I think that the situation with Kyla and Anna today is similar to the one that existed between Caroline Doty and Bria Hartley when Caroline was a 5th year senior and Bria was a freshman. Caroline started, stayed in for a few minutes, and then Bria came in and played most of the game. That is what happened with Kyla and Anna today. Anna's minutes (even without starting) have been significantly higher than Kyla's in each of the last two games, and I would expect that to continue.

It's also possible that Geno thinks that Kyla will be less likely to make mistakes or misread the defense than Anna, so there is a benefit in letting Kyla play long enough to see what the opponent is doing. I thought that Kyla played well today in her limited minutes.
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This comes close to my view of things. I also would add, again, that Webber started over the extremely talented Sales. My preference would be for Makurat to start come tournament time, but I see three advantages to Irwin continuing to start even as her minutes dwindle:
1. While she may not be one to make things happen, she is also less likely to make mistakes, providing Auriemma a better view of what needs to be done given the opponent.
2. The still young freshmen Makurat gets a better idea of what she needs to do once she enters the game.
3. I never see a fan ever mention this, but team chemistry is important, including the chemistry of enjoying each other and having fun playing the game. If Makurat was a junior or even a sophomore this may not apply, but as a freshmen I do not think neither she nor any other player begrudges the senior Irwin, who knows what she is doing, starting the game. Instead, I suspect the entire team feels good about that, which helps their play.

By the way Joe, if Irwin starts the majority of the games, should this mean we split the pizza?
 
Centerstream said:
Very good game with nothing to really complain about...except...
I was kinda bummed that because it was such a blowout AND the need for others to be on the court, that Liv didn't get to stay in the game and work on her offense, especially working down low. Tulsa's 00 (Elliott??) had enough size to make Liv work on both ends of the court and more work could always help.

But other than that, GREAT GAME on the home court.
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As I sit in my easy chair watching the game replay on uconnhushygames, I am satisfied with the effort by Liv and she deserved to get some bench time. I guess that the reason that it appeared to me that her minutes were limited was the fact that Allen and Meghan didn't really talk about her offense in the second half. But if wasn't for her missed ste back shots, she played great too.
 
oldude said:
Some thoughts on the Tulsa game:
  • With students back on campus for the start of classes tomorrow, it had to be a good feeling for the Huskies to be home again at Gampel.
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Oh my old friend, you nailed 5 of the 6 bullet points, however the students can go back tomorrow and classes start back up on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a state holiday.
So close, yet so far...:rolleyes:
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
Anna speaks post game about her game and how Geno slowed her down!

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So solid and composed. She could be the key to the season if she maintains her work ethic on "the little things" and the confidence in her shot. She's shown all season she's a great passer and rebounder.
 
I guess this is where the bench got their dance last night. :p

 
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