UCF postgame thread

[RockyMTblue2]

The other obvious evolution that is going unnoticed is how prepared “our” players are in handling press questions either before games or postgame. Think about how CD handled or answers questions when she was a freshman vs. now, not only is she more polished, her thoughts are deeper and more insightful as she has learned more about the games and what is needed. Meg has improved in this area as well, though note quite the finished product KLS, Pheesa or CD are.

As TonyC said above, they are showing the season evolution steps necessary to be a NC.

BTW, did Coach Abe do a presser and can anyone post it? I would love to hear her comments.

It's my understanding she hopped a cab and told the driver: "Poughkeepsie and step on it."

 

[UConnCat]

Carl's latest on CD and her assists (and turnovers), Lou and Pheesa, and the out-of-bounds play Lou and CD came up with on the fly.

Dangerfield dominates

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Not so sure. Check the rankings.

Wag!

 

[itsasport]

The "big three" have now become the "big four." And Christyn will be there by the end of the season.

Ono and Kyla gave solid minutes.

For all our concerns about no bench, look what happened to ND!

I was amused by the glee at Tenn by their win. An unranked team beating another unranked team by 9 points.

Holly's job no longer at risk and a return to greatness just around the corner with a #2 recruit coming in next year. Perhaps UConn should cancel the game.

I first mistyped unranked as "outranked." That is a good description of Tenn this year.

 

[Carnac]

"UConn had an impressive first half against UCF, opening the game with multiple steals and forcing 15 turnovers by halftime. Their fast-paced play and energy set the tone as soon as the game started, and Auriemma thought it was a big part of how they got out to such a quick lead. “The way we came out, the energy that we played with and the edginess we played with, I thought that was a big factor," Auriemma said. "When you play like that you have a tendency to be a little sharper on the offensive end when your defense is like that.”

The Huskies have struggled some with shooting recently, but all of those problems seemed to be put behind them on Sunday. They shot 71 percent from the field in the first half, and Walker didn’t miss a single shot until the third quarter. UConn ended the night at 52 percent after a slow start to the third third quarter, but overall they seemed to have less problems and be getting more open shots."

Was Uconn's performance against what many perceive to be "a higher quality" opponent (as opposed to SMU), enough to convince BY'ers that expressed some doubt about their turning the corner on their season?

Some had urged caution about anointing the Huskies after the SMU game because SMU (8-12/2-5) is at the bottom of the conference standings, and not considered a very good barometer? Uconn defeated SMU by 40. They beat UCF (17-3/6-1 ranked #2 in conference standings) by 36. Another way to ask this question is: How do you like me now?

While UCF is a rising program on the AAC landscape at 6-1, and replacing USF (11-9/2-4 and losers of 7 of their last 9) as the #2 team in the conference, they were not in the top 25. Some of the teams they defeated to achieve that mark are low unranked mid-majors such as Pitt, Delaware, Liberty and Chattanooga ALL of whom have sub .500 records. They do however posses a decent RPI rating of 17 through 1/26/19. UConn is rated #8. UConn was only the 2nd ranked team UCF has played this year. They lost to #15 Syracuse at home 57-52 on Dec 22.

I commented in a post last week that without looking past UCF, #4 Louisville would be UConn's next real "acid" test. I maintain that posture. While I throughly enjoyed yesterday's game, I don't think unranked UCF presented the challenges and level of play that #4 Louisville will. I doubt seriously UConn can beat Louisville by 36 points on the road.

Most UConn fans are singing their praises over the way the Huskies totally dismantled and humbled the Golden Knights by handing them their worse defeat of the season. Are the doubting Thomases convinced now, or do you still need to see more?

Challenge met - A good article written this morning by Carl Ademac in today's Journal Inquirer.

 

[j66kicker]

Nonsense -- you can bet that it was rehearsed for just that situation, an inbounds play with minimal time on either the shot clock or the game clock. Certainly, if Crystal saw that the defense was configured to take away that particular play, there would have been an Option B, but I am reasonably sure that was Option A.

It may have been something that the coaches saw on film about how UCF normally defends inbounds plays.

Lou and Crystal both said it was impromptu. Lou said she told Crystal who, (according to Crystal) never inbounds the ball, to "throw me a lob pass". Lou also said Christyn didn't know what was going on so she (Lou) told her to go over and stand in the corner.

“We’ve been working on that since the one-second mark of the half,” Auriemma said. “Lou and Crystal came up with that on their own. I wish they would come up with more stuff.”

 

[UConnCat]

KLS:

Loved Lou's description of the out-of-bounds play to end the first half. "Christyn didn't know what was going on so I just told her to get in the corner."

 

[augustaTC]

Hate to ruin it for you, but it was carefully planned.

“Me and Lou were on the same page about it,” Dangerfield said. “Before, she was like, ‘Throw the ball.’ … That was a good play.”

Added Samuelson: “Once she took it out, we saw that there was no one on her. So she just said, ‘Right to me, right back.’”

'Course it took all of a second to "plan" it.

UConn women dial up the intensity in rout of UCF

Planned but not practiced

 

[FridaFriend]

Was it Megan once again that prevented an escalation of an incident? A few games ago, she grabbed Crystal to prevent some trouble, and, last night, did she grab Olivia when she was exchanging pleasantries with a UCF player?

 

[DefenseBB]

Planned but not practiced

So here’s my theory:
Lou ALWAYS is the person who takes the ball out of bounds so when CD went to do it, due to only 1.7 seconds left, the play had to be called for Lou at 6’3” to put it back up, however with 2/3 UCF players crowding Lou, her and CD anticipated something to do...that’s my story and I am sticking with it

 

[j66kicker]

Was it Megan once again that prevented an escalation of an incident? A few games ago, she grabbed Crystal to prevent some trouble, and, last night, did she grab Olivia when she was exchanging pleasantries with a UCF player?

But I'm thinking somebody better look out if it's ever Megan who's the one who's pissed off...

 

[MilfordHusky]

But I'm thinking somebody better look out if it's ever Megan who's the one who's pissed off...

View attachment 38855

Don’t mess with Megatron!

 

[MilfordHusky]

I love Geno’s line: “I wish [Lou and Crystal] would come up with more stuff.”

Maybe they could have improvised at the end of the ND game in March.