UCLA VS Maryland

[eebmg]

If we cant figure out how to slow down their offensive board work, it will be a very tough night.

 

[DefenseBB]

Let me state that I do think UCLA is very good and deserving of a Sweet 16 Appearance.
That said, they did have 9 losses this year so many teams figured out how to beat them.
Maryland is a fairly young team that learned and grew a lot this year and will be better next year. Austin, for all her talent struggled a bit yesterday against Burke and Oneywere and played in the high post far too much in the second have to let Jones and Fraser play down low with mixed results.
UCLA did struggle with Tenn in the 3rd/early 4th Quarters as their defense struggled against good talent (albeit raw and uncoached). UConn’s spacing will aid them quite a bit vs. UCLA and I am hopeful Liv gets more minutes to protect the middle.
Game is in Albany so UCLA taking a charter home last night to only fly out Wed night OR staying on the East coast for 3 days is also a problem they have to deal with. They had their pep band, cheerleaders and dance team, plus AD personnel with a lot of time on their hands. The Bracket scheduling was brutal to them no matter what. This group should either have played F/Sun or Albany should have been Sat/Mon.
Add in the Albany home crowd and I am not overly concerned.

 

[CocoHusky]

I watched the whole game. Neither team seemed too interested in playing defense. UCLA got into the lane at will. UCLA doesn't have much of a long-range game. UConn's help defense could shine. I think it will be a track meet, and that favors UConn.

I noticed that as well. UCLA always committed one player to the offensive rebound Burke, Oyenware, or Drunner. The other two player not committed to the offensive glass were not very interested in getting back on defense. Christyn Williams might have a field day leaking out as she did against ND.