UCONN-Creighton Post game thread
- Thread starter EricLA
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Not your comment, olddude, but Geno could have characterized Caroline a bit differently.Some thoughts on the Creighton game:
- UNBELIEVABLY GUTSY WIN!!!
- Unlike the last game in Omaha, Creighton came to play tonight, and the Bluejays gave the Huskies all they wanted. Creighton shot it much better from the arc, swarmed UConn’s Bigs in the paint and battled UConn on the boards.
- Unless and until UConn can field a team with better shooting, enabling the Huskies to spread the floor on offense, this is exactly how every other opponent will play UConn for the rest of the season.
- Getting Caroline back feels as if it should be a really BIG deal for the Huskies. She was somewhat rusty, to be sure, but she finished strong and will get better each and every game she plays.
- Lou looked much sharper tonight then she has in prior games. But like many of her teammates, she’s banged up and hanging in there the best she can with few options available to give her a break.
- Stat of the game: UConn was +32 rebounding the first time these teams met. Tonight UConn was -8.........
- Geno's postgame characterization of Caroline: "She's one tough mother!"
- It's been many years since UConn was not favored in a conference matchup. The Huskies could be an underdog Saturday at Villanova. Time for an upset!
Another reason this wonderful team of student athletes is so easy to cheer for!
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OK, boys and girls, by a show of hands, how many honestly believed, when we were down by 11 and on the ropes early in Q4, that we would pull this one out?
Forget about who picked an MOV of 2 in the prognosticators' thread. Who -- in the "3 things you'd like to see" thread -- picked 1) a W, 2) reduction of TO's, and 3) return of CD big-time?
Forget about who picked an MOV of 2 in the prognosticators' thread. Who -- in the "3 things you'd like to see" thread -- picked 1) a W, 2) reduction of TO's, and 3) return of CD big-time?
Bama fan
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You and Mike to the rescue, again! I think Mike is in the running for Most Valuable Potable.
Nope, the Creighton player's hand met Caroline's as she was releasing the ball, that's why it was short. I couldn't see it at first but did finally catch it upon subsequent viewing. The ref couldn't have been closer and had perfect view of it too. But the charge call against Creighton when Senechal was defending should have been a foul on Senechal- Lou moved right into the Creighton player.
HuskyNan
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The charge was a good call. The defensive player doesn’t have to be statue-still, she just needs to establish position. The offensive player was out of control - how many times have we seen Nika called for that?
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"Tough" would have been sufficient, and appropriate.
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Be prepared for a rockfight in Omaha next year.
HuskyNan
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I know you mean well but Geno is talking about Caroline as an athlete not a girl basketball player. Altering his descriptions to talk about the players in a more genteel way would be paternalistic of him
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I decided to watch the game tonight in bed. I saw the first quarter when UConn was ahead by 6 or 7 going into the second quarter and then I fell asleep. I woke up just when the announcer said UConn wins by two and Geno made a comment about gutting out a win. I went out to tell my wife and she said that it was a good thing that I did not watch that game as I might have had a heart attack. I'll try to watch a replay. I am glad they won and I am glad that Caroline came back and was a clutch player.
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We'll have Paige and Azzi back. Let them throw as many rocks as they want because it ain't gonna do them a bit of good.
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Lot of games left, have to believe the other bench players will be needed before the tourney to rest the starting five some. Great win however.
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Just doing what I can to help out the Huskies.
oldude
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I saw Jana’s reaction during the game. She won’t play a minute this season, but she already bleeds Husky blue!!!
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They looked far less tired. Especially in the fourth quarter, I think the could have gone another game.
cferraro04
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Hats off to Creighton after suffering a 25 point loss in their gym earlier this year...they came into Storrs (not an easy place to come and win) and they gave UConn all they could handle...in fact, I would go as far as to say that they had this game won.
If it wasn't for Caroline's unbelievable 4th quarter UConn doesn't win this game. Her timely return...her will to win, that smile on her face when she sunk that first free throw with only 4 seconds left on the clock to give UConn the lead made me believe that she knew she had just earned her way into Husky history. Her play in the fourth quarter was inspirational especially after missing 12 games. You couldn't have scripted it any better. UConn was lucky to dodge this bullet and while it was a team effort they got to give Caroline the kudos on this one.
4th quarter
8:06 - Creighton up by 8...Caroline Ducharme hits her first basket a 3 pointer...cuts the lead to 5.
7:49 - Morgan Maly hits two free throws...Creighton by 7
7:27 - Caroline Ducharme makes a driving step through scoop lay-up...Creighton up 5
6:15 - Lauren Jensen hits a three....Creighton by 8
5:53 - ika Muhl drives in for a lay-up....Creighton by 6
5:23 - Aaliyah Edwards makes two free throws....Creighton by 4
4:26 - Carly Bachelor lay-up....Creighton by 6
2:57 - Caroline Ducharme with another step through lay-up....Creighton by 4
2:57 - Caroline Ducharme makes a free-throw....Creighton by 3
2:21 - Aaliyah Edwards makes a lay-up....Creighton by 1
1:43 - Lou Lopez-Senechal makes a lay-up...UConn by 1
1:18 - Morgan Maly makes a three pointer....Creighton up by 2
0:47 - Lou Lopez-Senechal makes a two point jumper....Tie ball game.
0:04 - Caroline Ducharme steps to the foul line and cold as ice" sinks two free throws....UConn wins by 2
If it wasn't for Caroline's unbelievable 4th quarter UConn doesn't win this game. Her timely return...her will to win, that smile on her face when she sunk that first free throw with only 4 seconds left on the clock to give UConn the lead made me believe that she knew she had just earned her way into Husky history. Her play in the fourth quarter was inspirational especially after missing 12 games. You couldn't have scripted it any better. UConn was lucky to dodge this bullet and while it was a team effort they got to give Caroline the kudos on this one.
4th quarter
8:06 - Creighton up by 8...Caroline Ducharme hits her first basket a 3 pointer...cuts the lead to 5.
7:49 - Morgan Maly hits two free throws...Creighton by 7
7:27 - Caroline Ducharme makes a driving step through scoop lay-up...Creighton up 5
6:15 - Lauren Jensen hits a three....Creighton by 8
5:53 - ika Muhl drives in for a lay-up....Creighton by 6
5:23 - Aaliyah Edwards makes two free throws....Creighton by 4
4:26 - Carly Bachelor lay-up....Creighton by 6
2:57 - Caroline Ducharme with another step through lay-up....Creighton by 4
2:57 - Caroline Ducharme makes a free-throw....Creighton by 3
2:21 - Aaliyah Edwards makes a lay-up....Creighton by 1
1:43 - Lou Lopez-Senechal makes a lay-up...UConn by 1
1:18 - Morgan Maly makes a three pointer....Creighton up by 2
0:47 - Lou Lopez-Senechal makes a two point jumper....Tie ball game.
0:04 - Caroline Ducharme steps to the foul line and cold as ice" sinks two free throws....UConn wins by 2
The 40 rebound reversal is very hard to comprehend along with the inability to finish inside vs. dominating inside the last game.. I have to think fatigue is a major factor here. I know Creighton doesn't play traditional low post bigs, but with Caroline back, Geno stuck with a 6 player rotation keeping Ayanna on the bench.Some thoughts on the Creighton game:
- UNBELIEVABLY GUTSY WIN!!!
- Unlike the last game in Omaha, Creighton came to play tonight, and the Bluejays gave the Huskies all they wanted. Creighton shot it much better from the arc, swarmed UConn’s Bigs in the paint and battled UConn on the boards.
- Unless and until UConn can field a team with better shooting, enabling the Huskies to spread the floor on offense, this is exactly how every other opponent will play UConn for the rest of the season.
- Getting Caroline back feels as if it should be a really BIG deal for the Huskies. She was somewhat rusty, to be sure, but she finished strong and will get better each and every game she plays.
- Lou looked much sharper tonight then she has in prior games. But like many of her teammates, she’s banged up and hanging in there the best she can with few options available to give her a break.
- Stat of the game: UConn was +32 rebounding the first time these teams met. Tonight UConn was -8.........
- Geno's postgame characterization of Caroline: "She's one tough mother!"
- It's been many years since UConn was not favored in a conference matchup. The Huskies could be an underdog Saturday at Villanova. Time for an upset!
That doesn't help much regarding fatigue. Caroline might play more minutes than Ayanna would, particularly in the upcoming games, but with a 6 player rotation your team will be tired period. Considering the benefit that just two or three minutes each half by Ayanna could provide, getting starters minutes maybe just down to the lower 30's, could make them more effective, even if Ayanna's personal production is just mediocre.
Geno must think that Ayanna is unplayable, basically joining Amari and Ines as players who are only included in his gameplan when he has absolutely no choice, or the game has been decided. I pretty much expected that to be the role for Ines, and was not terribly surprised that Amari has not yet earned his trust yet, but with Ayanna it really surprises me.
I can't see what practices are like, but I haven't heard negatives about her approach or effort, and even though she is raw as could be, and makes a ton of mistakes, you can also see potential there. Maybe she would be terrible if he played her more, I don't know. But I think most of us can see with our own eyes that these girls are gassed and running on fumes. It is not the Nika, Lou, Aubrey, Aaliyah and Dorka that we know, instead they are all significantly worse players due to fatigue.
Now with Caroline back for maybe 20-25 minutes a game or so, with another 5-10 from Ayanna you could get the starters to 34-35 minutes a game, and increase the effectiveness of all the starters. It could be Amari instead of Ayanna if Geno thought that would be better option, but at least for minimal minutes, we need a 7th player in the rotation that is a big.
Think about it, a 40 rebound turnaround from plus 32 to minus 8, and our two bigs completely dominated Creighton inside last time, but this game had trouble finishing at the rim. Also remember that bigs don't usually play as many minutes anyway. There are plenty of star bigs that don't even play 30 minutes a game, much less near 40.
The conditioning of our players is remarkable and a testament to them, but there is a limit to everything. I'm not buying the he has no choice argument. There are two big candidates on the bench that may be pretty big disappointments at this stage, at least by Uconn standards, but despite their mistakes I believe they would be starters on most of the division 1 programs. To me that is good enough for one of them to get 5-10 minutes spelling players that have shown over quite a few games, that they are nowhere near their normal production playing the extremely heavy minutes Geno saddles them with.
At least try it, and if that totally fails ok go back to his 6 man rotation, but the 6 player rotation is not working, and hasn't been for some time. You know what they say about trying the same thing over and over and somehow expecting different results. OK I have vented enough for now!