UConn has too much fire power

[oldude]

Doesn’t the game coming down to a ‘last play’ demonstrate that many times, over the past 39+ minutes, the opposing team has repeatedly prevented you from executing as you had planned?
To me-last play=crapshoot.

Yes, but that’s basketball. Paige showed that she has ice water in her veins in the close wins over TN, SC & Baylor. Even in the 2 losses vs AR & AZ, she made big shots down the stretch to give UConn a chance.

 

[CocoHusky]

Doesn’t the game coming down to a ‘last play’ demonstrate that many times, over the past 39+ minutes, the opposing team has repeatedly prevented you from executing as you had planned?
To me-last play=crapshoot.

The tribute was not to the situation it was a tribute to the confidence and ability of the player (in this case Paige) to handle it. Michael Jordan said he love the game ending situations where the other team was playing two for one because all he need was one shot-BTW he was a Freshman at NC and he was talking about one shot in a Championship game. San Fancisco gave Arron Rodgers 37 seconds to work with on Sunday night and he secured the game within those 37 seconds. Tom Brady has made a career of beating teams with the last drive. Some players shrink from those situations Paige doesn't- Just ask TN and South Carolina.

 

[Stymie]

Yes, but that’s basketball. Paige showed that she has ice water in her veins in the close wins over TN, SC & Baylor. Even in the 2 losses vs AR & AZ, she made big shots down the stretch to give UConn a chance.

Not conducive to my health to depend on a South Carolina ‘bounce’ to advance in the Tournament.
UCONN should be better than that.
See Boston and that SC loss.

 

[jchusky]

The tribute was not to the situation it was a tribute to the confidence and ability of the player (in this case Paige) to handle it. Michael Jordan said he love the game ending situations where the other team was playing two for one because all he need was one shot-BTW he was a Freshman at NC and he was talking about one shot in a Championship game. San Fancisco gave Arron Rodgers 37 seconds to work with on Sunday night and he secured the game within those 37 seconds. Tom Brady has made a career of beating teams with the last drive. Some players shrink from those situations Paige doesn't- Just ask TN and South Carolina.

How is having the lead pressure or ice in her veins? To me it would mean the team was tied or down and she hit the gw to win, all those games you mention Uconn was leading. Where she needed to be clutch was vs Arkansas and Arizona. Again just like in 17 and 18 can this team get a gw shot when the team is tied or if they are down

 

[oldude]

How is having the lead pressure or ice in her veins? To me it would mean the team was tied or down and she hit the gw to win, all those games you mention Uconn was leading. Where she needed to be clutch was vs Arkansas and Arizona. Again just like in 17 and 18 can this team get a gw shot when the team is tied or if they are down

Paige hit some big shots down the stretch in both the AR & AZ games. UConn lost those games, not because they couldn’t make clutch shots. They lost because they couldn’t get key stops on defense.

In fact, there were only 2 UConn games all season that actually came down to a last second shot to win the game: SC & Baylor. In those games UConn won because Boston missed multiple shots at the end of regulation sending the SC game into OT and Carrington missed a short jumper in the Elite 8 game.

 

[CocoHusky]

How is having the lead pressure or ice in her veins? To me it would mean the team was tied or down and she hit the gw to win, all those games you mention Uconn was leading. Where she needed to be clutch was vs Arkansas and Arizona. Again just like in 17 and 18 can this team get a gw shot when the team is tied or if they are down

That is not correct UCONN trailed TN by as much as 5 point into 3rd quarter of the game and it took a Paige basket in the 4th quarter to give UCONN the lead that it would not relinquish. In the South Carolina game, SC was up by 4 Points with less than 2 Minutes remaining in the game. From that point on which was 7:37 of game action Paige would score every single UCONN point. In the OT session SC went up by 3 points with less than 2 Minutes remaining and Paige again went to work and was the only player to make a single shot for either team. Considering this was #1 vs # 2 teams this might have been one of the greatest "clutch" performances in college basketball history.

 

[visitingcock]

That is not correct UCONN trailed TN by as much as 5 point into 3rd quarter of the game and it took a Paige basket in the 4th quarter to give UCONN the lead that it would not relinquish. In the South Carolina game, SC was up by 4 Points with less than 2 Minutes remaining in the game. From that point on which was 7:37 of game action Paige would score every single UCONN point. In the OT session SC went up by 3 points with less than 2 Minutes remaining and Paige again went to work and was the only player to make a single shot for either team. Considering this was #1 vs # 2 teams this might have been one of the greatest "clutch" performances in college basketball history.

Even a Gamecock cannot disagree with this post.

 

[JonathanXIV]

I know, it's difficult to process, eh?

Not difficult to process. Just pretentious and self-involved.

 

[DEpup]

That is not correct UCONN trailed TN by as much as 5 point into 3rd quarter of the game and it took a Paige basket in the 4th quarter to give UCONN the lead that it would not relinquish. In the South Carolina game, SC was up by 4 Points with less than 2 Minutes remaining in the game. From that point on which was 7:37 of game action Paige would score every single UCONN point. In the OT session SC went up by 3 points with less than 2 Minutes remaining and Paige again went to work and was the only player to make a single shot for either team. Considering this was #1 vs # 2 teams this might have been one of the greatest "clutch" performances in college basketball history.

So true and then I think in the Arkansas game everyone was waiting for Paige to bail them out instead of playing good defense.... and we return to defense. You can have all the firepower but if you are going to just trade baskets you run the risk of losing....

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Eric, overall I agree with your comments. But I’m not quite sure I would suggest that SC’s guards & wings are more athletic than ours. Paige, Evina & Christyn are exceptional athletes, and they have a size advantage over SC’s backcourt. SC does have some exceptionally athletic freshmen coming in, but they are just freshmen.

54-54 was the score.

Last year UConn's MOV was 29pts/gm. The top MOV in the last 12 years was the 2015 UConn team @ 41/gm. So there is a target. In fact in the last 12 years UConn led the country 9 times. Which takes me to my point which is that UConn has always dominated other teams with their defense. Last year they depended on 3 freshmen to make significant contributions. Defense is all about communications and I expect a huge improvement on defense. In addition to the expected freshman to sophomore jump they are adding a high quality and experienced post in Juhasz. Her presence will allow Geno to keep 2 bigs on the court (ONO, Juhasz, Edwards) at all times. Last year there were a lot of games when one of the two posts sat due to fouls and UConn got beat (Ark & Ariz are two examples).

I read a comment that SC's guards/wings are somehow better than UConn's. I guess that poster missed the UConn-SCar game where Bueckers used both Cooke and Henderson repeatedly. They are certainly quick but they are tiny and are not very good outside shooters. They score a lot on transition but UConn took that away. I haven't seen Stanford play much so I can't say much but UConn won't face them until April. I expect that Tara will invent some variation of a triangle plus 2 but even her genius won't help.

54-54 was the score.

Bueckers certainly had a night.

South Carolina is going to be bigger, deeper, and more athletic than last season (everywhere) but remains to be seen if the offense levels up.

UConn looks more stretchy but you have seasoned vets who are good vs freshman so that's an interesting balance to see who can get playing time.

 

[Zanzman]

54-54 was the score.

54-54 was the score.

Bueckers certainly had a night.

South Carolina is going to be bigger, deeper, and more athletic than last season (everywhere) but remains to be seen if the offense levels up.

UConn looks more stretchy but you have seasoned vets who are good vs freshman so that's an interesting balance to see who can get playing time.

What is more stretchy?

 

[Alydar]

Not conducive to my health to depend on a South Carolina ‘bounce’ to advance in the Tournament.
UCONN should be better than that.
See Boston and that SC loss.

Just to correct something, S Car had multiple shots on that last possession. Boston's was the last of 3 or 4. It was either Cooke or Henderson that missed. Do tip in attempts even count as fg attempts? The same thing happened in the Stanford game.

 

[Alydar]

54-54 was the score.

54-54 was the score.

Bueckers certainly had a night.

South Carolina is going to be bigger, deeper, and more athletic than last season (everywhere) but remains to be seen if the offense levels up.

UConn looks more stretchy but you have seasoned vets who are good vs freshman so that's an interesting balance to see who can get playing time.

S Car's experienced guards are quick but they are small and Bueckers exposed that. It will be interesting to see Dawn choose between experience and size.

 

[Inthepaint]

I know it sort of defies the conventional wisdom, but the points scored or not scored in the first half are as important as the ones in the last 2 minutes. of the 4th quarter. It's just more intense in a close game to see "Bueckets" do her thing.
I didn't mind seeing her dribble out the last 10 seconds with UCONN up by 25.
I admit, I'm not immune to melodrama.
My 2 favorite games of 2020-2021 were SC and Baylor. Although Destini Henderson and Dijonei Carrington (please forgive spelling) made them a little more exciting for comfort.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

S Car's experienced guards are quick but they are small and Bueckers exposed that. It will be interesting to see Dawn choose between experience and size.

Beal is not that small and she was shooting over her too. That was a hat tipping game for sure.

Though that back rim high bounce three probably was tough to swallow.

 

[CocoHusky]

Just to correct something, S Car had multiple shots on that last possession. Boston's was the last of 3 or 4. It was either Cooke or Henderson that missed. Do tip in attempts even count as fg attempts? The same thing happened in the Stanford game.

Yes tip ins count as FG attempts and offensive rebound in the stat sheet.
The correct 10 second sequence was:

1. Henderson missed Jumper from the foul line extended.
2. Saxton offense rebound and missed FGA
3. Boston offense rebound and missed FGA
4. Boston offense rebound and missed 2nd FGA
5. Clock expired.

SC had 4 FG attempts and missed them all. Additional observations: I though Dawn waited too late in the sequence to initiate that played and it gave UCONN time to diagnose the play. SC ran 12 seconds off the clock and initiated the played with 10 seconds remaining. The UCONN defense in those last 10 seconds was solid. It started with Evina fighting over a the Saxon high ball screen to contest Henderson's jumper. After setting the high ball screen Saxton crashed the offensive board like a maniac but Aubrey did not give up on the play and it appears that Aubrey either go a piece of the Saxton put back or did enough to bother Saxton's shot. Boston was just quicker to the Saxton miss but again our Aaliyah stay in the play enough to bother the first Boston miss. The last Boston miss was a clean miss although Boston might have been thinking of the prior play because there were bodies all around her. UCONN didn't just get lucky at the end of regulation. Those 10 seconds were the culmination of many little things that Geno is always emphasizing such as not giving up on a play, contesting the jumper with high hands & second effort even when you are beat.

One more observation and this is really a pet peeve. Dawn tipped this entire play. First she used hand signal to tell Henderson to slow down telling the defense that she was playing for one shot. Second she tapped her head which is one of the universal signals for high ball screen. Then she used hand signals for Beal to switch sides of the floor along the based line. Then she pointed directly at both Saxton and the exact spot on the floor where she wanted the high ball screen set. That's a lot of pointing, communications and things to cover in a critical situation. Why not just take a time out draw up the play and get everyone on the same page? Yes SC did have a time out remaining for those that are wondering.

 

[Alydar]

If Henderson's missed shot was rebounded by UConn she would have been the goat/choke. Offensive rebounds are hardly guaranteed and the fact that her team mates got more attempts is not a reason to lay the loss on them. Too many teams almost expect the last shot from outside to be a miss and count on physicality under the boards to win the game for them. If it was UConn and a player had an open 15 foot shot that missed I would say that that missed shot was why they lost. In this game everyone put it on Boston who almost saved the game but to me it was Henderson who missed the big shot.

 

[Inthepaint]

I'm going to apply the same yardstick to Azzi as I did with Paige.
Until the UMASS-Lowell game I had no clue as to what the hoopla was all about.
I mean, here was a highly touted high school player who hadn't played a minute of college ball.
I gradually came to the realization that she was a phenomenon and really appreciated her ability to kick it up a notch at crunch time.
With Azzi, however much she deserves the anticipation of great play, I will be "from Missouri".
I will be happy to be just as pleasantly surprised and picking my lower jaw off the floor as I was last year with "Bueckets"