UConn at ND analysis | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UConn at ND analysis

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boontonbomber said:
defense wins close games. seems to me that nd's experience makes them the better defensive team at the moment.
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Against a tougher schedule, Uconn (statistically) is leading the country in defense.
 
ND- gave up 94 points to Baylor and 83 to Kentucky
UConn- gave up 66 to Baylor and 58 to Stanford

How can anyone possibly conclude ND is a better defensive team thus far???
 
Nice job Doggy. I will go with UConn and their defense 68-61
 
alexrgct said:
ND- gave up 94 points to Baylor and 83 to Kentucky
UConn- gave up 66 to Baylor and 58 to Stanford

How can anyone possibly conclude ND is a better defensive team thus far???
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hard to argue with that, though i think that big turn-over numbers and fast breaks led to a lot of those points, not their half-court defense. i guess i'm still having flashbacks to the job that nd did in the tournament last year, though aided by some questionable calls on dolson. nd's body-up defense in the half-court has caused uconn trouble at times in the past.
 
I think ND's offense is in better sync at the moment but our defense may be slightly better. Should be an interesting chess match. I still think we split the home & homes.
 
speedoo said:
Does anyone else think that both Muffett and Geno will keep some of their powder dry for this game? If I were Geno, I don't think I would be playing all my cards in this one. Lose the game, big deal, fall to #3 in the country vs. #2. Fall behind ND in the BE regular season race, bigger deal, but not worth going all out IMO.
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This game is our most important one of the season to date.
 
.-.
Sorry all to be late to the party, a messy day bashing from Utila to Roatan; thank goodness made it in one piece.

Daddy: I love your analysis but hate your first sentence, I was at two of the Notre Dame games last season and they were nail-biters, both could have gone either way, real dog fights. Yeah, we won but it wasn't easy. No domination.

Everything else is great!
 
msf22b said:
Sorry all to be late to the party, a messy day bashing from Utila to Roatan; thank goodness made it in one piece.

Daddy: I love your analysis but hate your first sentence, I was at two of the Notre Dame games last season and they were nail-biters, both could have gone either way, real dog fights. Yeah, we won but it wasn't easy. No domination.

Everything else is great!
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I caught that comment about Utila and Roatan. We need to talk! Check your pm...
 
msf22b said:
Sorry all to be late to the party, a messy day bashing from Utila to Roatan; thank goodness made it in one piece.

Daddy: I love your analysis but hate your first sentence, I was at two of the Notre Dame games last season and they were nail-biters, both could have gone either way, real dog fights. Yeah, we won but it wasn't easy. No domination.

Everything else is great!
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I did qualify my comment by saying "UConn dominated ND at times".

One game was domination and I was at that game. The BE tourney game had periods of UConn domination as well.

No big deal.
 
I'll be intrigued to what, if any, lessons both teams learned from WVa's strategy of packing the paint....
 
Great stuff DD and thank you for doing this.

I loved your point about fouls: ND draws a lot of fouls but UConn doesn't (typically) foul much; conversely, ND can foul a lot but UConn doesn't draw many fouls. The two ND players who get to the line the most are Novosel and Diggins. Both score about 25% of their points at the FT line. It will be really important to keep those two out of the lane and off the foul line, but that's a tough task. Faris defended Diggins in the FF loss and was very disappointed in her defense. I know she'd like to make up for that. I wonder whether Faris will spend more time defending Diggins or Novosel.

Mallory is ND's best on-ball defender. As you point out, she isn't the quickest player on the court but she is really smart and knows how to fight through screens better than most. I expect she'll spend some time guarding KML.

I can't really disagree with your bottom line, but UConn has always been a big game team...

I'm excited to watch this one.
 
Ruffian75 said:
This game is our most important one of the season to date.
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Not sure it's more important than the Baylor game, since both are on the road. As a home game for ND, it's more crucial for them than it is for UConn. Conversely the UConn home game will be more important for UConn. And a meeting in the FF would be by far more important, which is why I believe both coaches might hold some strategy option back.
 
.-.
Always enjoy your detailed analysis, DD...you obviously put a lot of thought and time into these posts. Can't find any nits to pick with your potential matchups, but I still think UConn wins.
 
speedoo said:
Not sure it's more important than the Baylor game, since both are on the road. As a home game for ND, it's more crucial for them than it is for UConn. Conversely the UConn home game will be more important for UConn. And a meeting in the FF would be by far more important, which is why I believe both coaches might hold some strategy option back.
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Winning the conference and the BET is more important than beating Baylor OOC. A couple losses to ND (in South bend and in the BET) combined with Stanford, Tennessee, and/or Maryland running their conference schedules and we could kiss a #1 seed goodbye. Maintaining our higher position over ND is important when it comes to who we draw as a 2 seed. I would rather get Duke or Kentucky over those listed above.
 
boontonbomber said:
nd's body-up defense in the half-court has caused uconn trouble at times in the past.
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As I recall, we did pretty good, defensively, when we pressed ND all over the floor.

Things began to go into the toilet when we went to a zone.

Does anyone know if the team even practices zone defenses?

In our last game Bob and Meghan both commented that they were surprised by the 1-3-1 zone we were trying to play.

Lastly, I see this game as being an excellent opportunity for us to play both Stef and Heather at the same time.

Stef could guard peters wherever she sets up and Heather would be primarily responsible for protecting the middle.

No more down the middle uncontested buckets for Ms. Diggins.

Oh, and very importantly, our guards should not try to help out on the boards. Guard Your Man!

Kelly will take good care of the rebounds that our bigs are unable to get.

Peace,

John Fryer
 
Some things I learned from yesterday's game beyond the lack of maturity and poise shown by the UConn players that prevented them from closing out the game:
  • Notre Dame is capable of playing better on-ball defense in the half-court than I expected based on previous games;
  • ND's decision to double/trap KML on the on-ball screens and hand-offs in the half-court was a very good strategy as they must have seen something on film; the coaches and KML will need to be prepared in future games;
  • UConn was able to beat ND down the court in transition a lot; in some instances, ND was beaten badly by 2-3 UConn players
  • Novosel, Diggins and McBride took 53 of ND's 67 shots (79%) and made a combined 16, which is 30%;
  • But as we feared, Diggins and Novosel showed a knack for getting in the lane and drawing fouls, particularly in the 2nd half;
  • As we expected, Mallory guarded KML and did an excellent job fighting through screens and defending her;
  • I saw some positives from Stokes and Dolson yesterday;
  • I don't have any doubt that UConn can and will beat ND in Hartford and if they meet on a neutral court.
 
UConnCat said:
Some things I learned from yesterday's game beyond the lack of maturity and poise shown by the UConn players that prevented them from closing out the game:
  • Notre Dame is capable of playing better on-ball defense in the half-court than I expected based on previous games;
ND, UConn and Baylor are the best half court defensive teams in the country. no one else is close.
  • ND's decision to double/trap KML on the on-ball screens and hand-offs in the half-court was a very good strategy as they must have seen something on film; the coaches and KML will need to be prepared in future games;
Yup that was my thought also. Obvious fix: have Kaleena be ready to quickly pass out of the double team.
  • UConn was able to beat ND down the court in transition a lot; in some instances, ND was beaten badly by 2-3 UConn players
  • Novosel, Diggins and McBride took 53 of ND's 67 shots (79%) and made a combined 16, which is 30%;
  • But as we feared, Diggins and Novosel showed a knack for getting in the lane and drawing fouls, particularly in the 2nd half;
Obvious fix here as well: when Diggins or Novasel starts a drive to the paint, a UConn defender has to move into the lane to draw a charge.
  • As we expected, Mallory guarded KML and did an excellent job fighting through screens and defending her;
  • I saw some positives from Stokes and Dolson yesterday;
Banks also, IMO.
  • I don't have any doubt that UConn can and will beat ND in Hartford and if they meet on a neutral court.
Agreed. ND will not beat UConn again for a while.
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I just realized that 6 of Novosel's 11 FT attempts were in overtime. She was 6-6 in OT. That means UConn held her to 5-20 shooting and she was 4-5 from the FT line in regulation play. Diggins was held to 6-16 on FGs and 4-5 on FTs in regulation. Nothing wrong with that defensive effort on two of the toughest guards in the country to defend. But these stats just make the loss all the more painful.
 
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With his team exhausted and distressed at their own performance, Geno chose to scream at them instead of refocusing plan and attention on the OT period, as it looked to me.

Perhaps someone can spin that one for me.
 
Ozzie Nelson said:
With his team exhausted and distressed at their own performance, Geno chose to scream at them instead of refocusing plan and attention on the OT period, as it looked to me.

Perhaps someone can spin that one for me.
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No spin. He's certainly not perfect, but he is the best at what he does. And while he's not changing the way he does it, he may think he erred in that situation and adjust going forward.
 
Actually I'm a fan of Geno the screamer. "Exhausted and distressed"??? Do you think that the ND team may have felt the same? They executed and UConn folded.

Judging from the team's performance last nite a little screaming was deserved.
 
I was critical of Geno on that very point in another thread. Nice try, though.

BTW, it turns out KML went to the wrong spot on the play which no doubt heightened his frustration. He had a very human reaction. I'm sure he regrets it.
 
If he had drawn up a play and KML went to the wrong place I don't blame him for screaming. She won't make the same mistake in the Final Four.
 
Ozzie Nelson said:
With his team exhausted and distressed at their own performance, Geno chose to scream at them instead of refocusing plan and attention on the OT period, as it looked to me.

Perhaps someone can spin that one for me.
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Let's see, lost 6 games in 4 1/2 years, imagine if he didn't yell . Wow
 
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phil sampieri said:
Let's see, lost 6 games in 4 1/2 years, imagine if he didn't yell . Wow
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Yep, Geno's really changed this year. In years past he would have given her a hug and told her it'll be okay. I don't understand what's gotten into him.
 
pap49cba said:
If he had drawn up a play and KML went to the wrong place I don't blame him for screaming. She won't make the same mistake in the Final Four.
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it was interesting to watch the final pay of regulation... Geno and Faris was telling KML to run the baseline to the other side, she ran to the paint and up the middle to the foul line. As I mention somewhere around here I think if she had we all the way over to the other side Bria would have flashed to the basket and Dolson would have set a screen for KML to "launch" a 3 to end the game.

maybe KML was denied the baseline... (I'll take another look if its possible to see)
 
speedoo said:
Not sure it's more important than the Baylor game, since both are on the road. As a home game for ND, it's more crucial for them than it is for UConn. Conversely the UConn home game will be more important for UConn. And a meeting in the FF would be by far more important, which is why I believe both coaches might hold some strategy option back.
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I think the importance that is not being thought about is the confidence gained by Baylor and ND that they can beat UCONN. Regardless of the rankings, Baylor had never beaten UCONN and until they did there was a hint of doubt if they really could. It is kind of the same with ND recently. To have beaten UCONN two times in a row is huge for their confidence.

Many teams feel beaten by UCONN before they ever even take the court. Part of it is the UCONN mystique. To walk on the court knowing that you can beat a team is paramount.
 
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