UConn-Dayton postgame thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UConn-Dayton postgame thread

David54 said:
Looks like they have three of the best point guards in the game!
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As I’d hoped, there were two on the floor for most of the game. At the end, they had KK and Ines both playing. It’s a lot easier to have fewer than 10 turnovers with this rotation than when you have one point guard playing 37 minutes a game.

This game was totally worth the 6-month wait.
 
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It was a nice start to the season. I was at the game and was impressed with what UConn did, especially considering it is the first game of the season. I was hoping for a larger crowd and I would give the enthusiasm level a B, but it is the XL Center and it was Dayton. The next home game is Maryland at Gampel and it will be full, louder and crazier.

Aaliyah is just a monster. Her inside moves are simply fantastic. She has put in an enormous amount of work on her post moves and is able to get to the hoop many times when you think there is no room there. Nice outside shot as well. Her game translates well to the next level.

It was nice to see us play a full court game defensively. Last season did not afford UConn the luxury of doing this. As I had predicted, ten players played in the first half, with a lot of interesting combinations. I thought that the defense looked solid early, even though some breakdowns early. led to open threes by Dayton. Hopefully they will clean that up. Fun to see the team play defense when KK, Nika and Aubrey are on the floor together. Suffocating.

What should be especially encouraging is that we looked dominant despite Paige and Azzi having pretty average games based on what we know they can do. The only injury concern I could see was Caroline at times favoring her left leg/hip. Hope that`s nothing. She did go back into the game after I noticed it, so she should be good to go.

The freshman were very good. KK clearly - she and Aubrey were the quickest players on the court tonight - KK will be a fan favorite and a factor in every game for the next four years. And I really like both Samuels and Shade. Brady as well.

Nika`s game has improved. She is playing like a Senior, which of course she is. Hope Yanna is in the mix soon, we did not need her tonight but I think we will over the next month.

It is clear that we are a guard oriented team. If we run into trouble over the next few weeks it will be because of our interior defensive/rebounding, especially if Aaliyah gets into foul trouble. But that is for another day, this was a nice win to get things rolling.
 
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I will never understand Amari. A top 10 recruit coming out of high school. She’s now a junior and it just seems she will never crack any significant minutes in her remaining career. With her size she’s been a non factor since at UConn. It’s sad cause she’s a lovely person and great teammate. I wish she could meet her potential but after all this time I just don’t see her making any impact.
 
I really wanted to see 10 or even 15 minutes of Aliyah and Ice playing together. I don't think I saw any minutes with that. One of them always substituted for the other until the last 5 minutes when Amari came in and both of them went to the bench.

As Geno said in his press conference after the SCSU game, there will be opponents against whom it is necessary to play two bigs. I wish we could see that in action before it actually happens out of necessity. Maybe he is waiting for Ayanna to return before he does this?

In Chris Dailey's postgame interview following the radio broadcast, she said (without even being prompted by the question) that this team is not as big as the coaches would like, and there will be a lot of games where the opponent is bigger, and rebounding will be a season-long struggle. As I write this, I'm watching an SNY show that is mainly about the summer European trip, but also includes a lot of practice footage. The issue of size and toughness is a major theme.

One thing that does encourage me is the appetite that the guards seem to have for rebounding. In both of the games so far, I've noticed that Paige is often the one to corral the defensive rebound after it slips through other hands. Nika, of course, is fearless in getting rebounds, and Qadence and Ashlynn among the freshmen seem to enjoy rebounding.

The return of Ayanna cannot come soon enough.
 
SportsFan92 said:
I will never understand Amari. A top 10 recruit coming out of high school. She’s now a junior and it just seems she will never crack any significant minutes in her remaining career. With her size she’s been a non factor since at UConn. It’s sad cause she’s a lovely person and great teammate. I wish she could meet her potential but after all this time I just don’t see her making any impact.
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She's coming off surgery I believe over summer, so like some of the other walking wounded from last season may need more time to get back into the swing of things.
 
There was almost nothing I didn't like about this game. Winning was nice of course, but that was expected. One easy game doesn't tell you much on what this team will look like in February but it does look like 10 players will play regularly. KK is a shoo in to play a lot. Ash and Q played well and if they can still contribute against better teams - which are coming up real soon - they'll get their playing time. Ice wasn't a world beater today and she didn't need to be. She didn't seem lost or overwhelmed, which is a good start and enough to keep her subbing in for AE. When Patterson gets healthy it's likely she'll also get good minutes.

How Geno will manage his substitution patterns to take advantage of the wealth of talented and healthy bodies he has at his disposal will be interesting to see. Today the old guard started and the only frosh to play in the first quarter was KK. Q and Ash (and Ice too I think) subbed in the second quarter. I wouldn't be surprised if this is what we'll see going forward. One thing is for sure, Geno has enough talent this year to let him sit a player who needs quiet time to reflect on the error of their ways.

Two other thoughts:

I really, really like it when KK is playing. Her potential is huge. As with Nika (who showed her stuff today) her presence on the floor seems to bump the whole team energy and pace up a notch.

Paige is not going to have a high scoring average this year. Geno said in the post game presser that she is happy to have 10-5-5 game. So true. She is a great shooter but what she likes most is to direct a game and get the ball to open shooters. Her opportunities to do this will be unlimited.
 
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NYCHUSKIES said:
Quadence and Ashlyn really impressed tonight. Ashlyn is giving me Kelly Farris vibes, but with more strength. And I loved that both of these freshman were not scared to go up for a shot. Quadence can be an x factor with her three point shooting. Ice is just so smooth and I can't wait to see her come tournament time.
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He gave both Ash and Q considerable time with the starters tonight, which indicates that he is seriously considering a 10-person rotation. From what both of them showed tonight, the first test had a passing grade.
 
Huskee11 said:
It was a nice start to the season. I was at the game and was impressed with what UConn did, especially considering it is the first game of the season. I was hoping for a larger crowd and I would give the enthusiasm level a B, but it is the XL Center and it was Dayton. The next home game is Maryland at Gampel and it will be full, louder and crazier.

Aaliyah is just a monster. Her inside moves are simply fantastic. She has put in an enormous amount of work on her post moves and is able to get to the hoop many times when you think there is no room there. Nice outside shot as well. Her game translates well to the next level.

It was nice to see us play a full court game defensively. Last season did not afford UConn the luxury of doing this. As I had predicted, ten players played in the first half, with a lot of interesting combinations. I thought that the defense looked solid early, even though some breakdowns early. led to open threes by Dayton. Hopefully they will clean that up. Fun to see the team play defense when KK, Nika and Aubrey are on the floor together. Suffocating.

What should be especially encouraging is that we looked dominant despite Paige and Azzi having pretty average games based on what we know they can do. The only injury concern I could see was Caroline at times favoring her left leg/hip. Hope that`s nothing. She did go back into the game after I noticed it, so she should be good to go.

The freshman were very good. KK clearly - she and Aubrey were the quickest players on the court tonight - KK will be a fan favorite and a factor in every game for the next four years. And I really like both Samuels and Shade. Brady as well.

Nika`s game has improved. She is playing like a Senior, which of course she is. Hope Yanna is in the mix soon, we did not need her tonight but I think we will over the next month.

It is clear that we are a guard oriented team. If we run into trouble over the next few weeks it will be because of our interior defensive/rebounding, especially if Aaliyah gets into foul trouble. But that is for another day, this was a nice win to get things rolling.
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Glad that you noticed this. It's going to be the key to their season.
 
JoePgh said:
I really wanted to see 10 or even 15 minutes of Aliyah and Ice playing together. I don't think I saw any minutes with that. One of them always substituted for the other until the last 5 minutes when Amari came in and both of them went to the bench.

As Geno said in his press conference after the SCSU game, there will be opponents against whom it is necessary to play two bigs. I wish we could see that in action before it actually happens out of necessity. Maybe he is waiting for Ayanna to return before he does this?

In Chris Dailey's postgame interview following the radio broadcast, she said (without even being prompted by the question) that this team is not as big as the coaches would like, and there will be a lot of games where the opponent is bigger, and rebounding will be a season-long struggle. As I write this, I'm watching an SNY show that is mainly about the summer European trip, but also includes a lot of practice footage. The issue of size and toughness is a major theme.

One thing that does encourage me is the appetite that the guards seem to have for rebounding. In both of the games so far, I've noticed that Paige is often the one to corral the defensive rebound after it slips through other hands. Nika, of course, is fearless in getting rebounds, and Qadence and Ashlynn among the freshmen seem to enjoy rebounding.

The return of Ayanna cannot come soon enough.
Expand ...
I believe the medical staff might be having Auriemma manage her PT for awhile. The kinesiology tape under her knee pad could indicate some residual tendinitis. He knows what she's going to be capable of.
 
It is going to be hard to keep this team from scoring 100 points. Tonight's offense was a very relaxed journey to 100. They pretty much got the shots they wanted. Aliyah and Aubrey had their way in the paint and multiple players got good looks at threes.

As they start to meet better defensive teams. The starters will see more minutes, Azzi and Paige will create more shots for themselves and they will set up the front court for some easy baskets. UConn's defense will continue to get better and it will be hard for teams to score. The freshmen are looking good...I can't remember the last time we had multiple freshmen come in and look comfortable in the early season...this bodes well for the rest of the season.

I think Qadence is the biggest surprise...her game is much better than I expected it to be at this stage of her college basketball career. KK...is doing exactly what I expected her to do...she is a spark plug who I figured would have an immediate impact. Ashlynn Shade is a solid defender and a solid guard...her shot will become more consistent as her confidence continues to improve.

I have to wonder with all the three-point shooters on this team and the offensive juggernaut that UConn appears to be this season..."Willl there be enough basketballs to go around?" If Azzi averages 3 threes per game, Bueckers averages 3 per game, Ducharme averages 2 per game, Muhl averages 1 per game and the bench averages 2 per game...Will UConn average 10-11 3-pointers per game...let's face it folks that is insane! Not to mention with that many outside threats it is sure to open things up in the middle for our front-court players.

I know that it is early and we weren't playing a top-ten team but you have to like what you saw tonight. No more sitting on the edge of the chair wondering who is going to get hurt next? Are we going to be able to field a full team next game? Can our players continue to play such long minutes each game and sustain their competitiveness? No more of that... We now have one of the deepest benches in WCBB...If we stay healthy we are going to see some real sloppy play in the 4th quarter from our opponents. Their players will be exhausted and UConn will be able to keep fresh bodies on the floor all capable of scoring. I think by March if UConn stays healthy they will be an absolute nightmare for teams to have to play...no one will be looking forward to playing UConn in March.

Keep in mind we are not even playing Ayanna Patterson yet...that is another weapon just waiting to be unleashed. I know there are many who might be thinking that Amari DeBerry is a disappointment and that she will never live up to her hype...but, my question to those who are thinking this is, "What if you are wrong?" Having 6'6" playing well...why there would be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" amongst the players and coaching of our opposing teams...the silver lining for them is that they could aways console their teams after a devastating loss to UConn...that they were actually lucky that Jana El-Alfy is on the IR list.

All in all...as UConn fans, we have a lot to be thankful for...
 
Happydad745 said:
Lots of talent, KK looks like the real deal....could have been a little more fluid at times, but mostly look really good for the first game. Fudd looks great shooting, and Paige is restarting her engine. Aubrey Griffin made a lot of wow plays.
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I am replying to my own feed.....I didn't mention that Edwards was so good I wasn't surprised by her play, hence, no mention due to old age.
 
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As I was driving home from the game on I-84 East, I saw a license plate UCONNWBB although I couldn`t make out the state.

Anyone here want to take credit?
 
Geno’s Angels at the Dailey Planet!

SuperMühl
Captain Aaliy-ica
Flash Griffin
Duch Vader
The Inêsible Hulk
PattMan
Captain Amarvel
Avatar-nold
Hannibal Bueckers
Samurai
Slim Shady
Azzi the Vampire Slayer
The Ice Maiden
Jana Nirvana
 
I watched highlights of the Texas-Southern game and it occurred to me that KK reminds me of Rori Harmon. KK is a bit bigger and appears to be a better passer, but they have that same quick first step and they both finish well at the rim. Rori has more confidence in her game, but KK will develop that same confidence soon enough.
 
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