UCONN - Iowa post game

[Bama fan]

Someone mentioned that Caroline was originally scheduled to start? Who was she intended to start in place of? And why didn't she start if she was scheduled to start?

Are you sure that wasn't just wishful thinking on your part, given your unrelenting disparagement of Nika?

 

[darkstar1]

It must be noted that Caroline was slated to be one of the 5 starters before she began to have problems with her neck, forcing Lou to take her place. Lou has done such a wonderful job, Caroline's absence hasn't been that obvious. Of course she's been missed, but not to the point that it caused the outcome of our games to be in jeopardy.

When Caroline is ready, she should be starting again. Same with Dorka. But it really shouldn’t matter as Aubrey and Lou will get plenty of play, depending on the flow of the game.

 

[nastynatty]

(possibly dumb) question: am i right that Nika and Aaliyah both have an extra year of eligibility

Yes. Aubrey and Paige will both have 2 extra years of eligibility. Nika and Aaliyah will each have 1 extra.

 

[nastynatty]

I just watched the replay. As great a player as Clark is, no doubt I would rather have Fudd on my team. Clark takes a lot of high risk, high degree of difficulty shots. Fudd tends to take shots in the flow of the game.

They are both superstars in their own right and their teams’ offenses require different things from them. Azzi has enough support around her to be a star within the UConn system of motion offense. On the other hand, Clark IS the Iowa system and their offense largely depends on her ability to create.

 

[Bone Dog]

The thing is, Aubrey is not a scorer on the level of Azzi Caroline Lou in the half court offense. Yes, she’s working on a jump shot, and I love to see it, bu-u-ut… She’s simply a transcendent defender and rebounder who scores in transition like nobody’s business. Very few teams can run with her. When our defense is causing turnovers and transition baskets, that’s when you want Aubrey in the game, preferably along with Caroline, another crafty defender who turns rebounds and turnovers into quick passes down the court. She and Aubrey can feast on opposing teams. Nika and Azzi or Lou can come along for the ride.

 

[ballerfan]

Loved all the comments here.

Last year everything seemed to go wrong. This year, after the injuries to Paige and Ice, everything had to go right, and it amazingly has.

Today was such a team effort, with great play by everyone, that a poor performance by just one of the players could have lost the game. AE is unrecognizable from last year. It’s stunning how much she has improved.

I was surprised by how well Iowa did. This was a much closer game than last year’s tournament meeting, and Iowa is a much better team than I thought. They are potentially a FF team and can’t be taken for granted.

Anyway, overall I’m stoked.

 

[JellyBean]

Recommend that anyone who hasn't seen this game take a look. One of the most clutch performances by an entire Husky team I have seen. After being behind by 11, UConn regained and lost the lead twice in the 4th Q. Virtually everyone contributed when the game could have gotten out of hand. Caroline, Lou, Azzi, etc. all looked very relaxed and made shots when needed. One of the most exciting and clutch UConn games I have seen in 25+ years.

Yes! Clutch UConn game indeed! Azzi, Caroline, Lou, Nika, the whole team just played clutch when the moment called for it. Great game. These are the kinds of games, against top 10 teams, where a team's confidence is made or broken, and it could carry a team in other big games during the season. Just a great performance by everyone. Strength in Numbers.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I concur but with a slight difference of opinion... the refs were kinda invisible but I just don't like the disparity in the trips to the FT line. I just think that when one team is fouled a lot while taking a shot, odds are the same thing is happening on the other end.

nope. teams have different styles. there's no reason for there NOT to be a disparity,

 

[npignatjr]

True, and part of the adjustment to facing that defense was more Caroline and less Aubrey. Aaliyah and Aubrey were much quicker and mobile than their bigs, but when Iowa turned to zone we needed the perimeter shooters more and countered with that.

Geno sitting Aubrey half the 3rd and the 4th and keeping Caroline in was a key. Aubrey unfortunately was not good, yes 10 points but out of position on defense let the player she was guarding get open looks. She was
a minus 11 on the +/-. Caroline actually played more minutes.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Yes. Aubrey and Paige will both have 2 extra years of eligibility. Nika and Aaliyah will each have 1 extra.

I think Aubrey and Paige both have the option of the Covid year as 20-21 athletes. o if I'm right they have a redshirt Junior year, senior year and Covid year without impacting the roster size. If Geno can put up with Paige another year.

 

[Centerstream]

nope. teams have different styles. there's no reason for there NOT to be a disparity,

I just watched the replay and there is a reason for the disparity, imo.

 

[JBK]

Great game against a team who played their best game by far! Kate Martin with a career high 20 pts and 6-6 from the arc-just insane! In fact, anyone not named Clark was 11-23 from the arc! Iowa played incredible defense, better than I have ever seen them play.
As noted by others, this team was behind and listened to the coaching staff (yes, those were very good time outs by Geno!) and then executed. They are maturing right before our eyes. Everyone has stepped up in a huge way and I know I speak form many when I say we LOVE this team!

The trip home just became all that much nicer.

I wonder if they stay to watch the mens game. I think they flew out there together.

 

[npignatjr]

The thing is, Aubrey is not a scorer on the level of Azzi Caroline Lou in the half court offense. Yes, she’s working on a jump shot, and I love to see it, bu-u-ut… She’s simply a transcendent defender and rebounder who scores in transition like nobody’s business. Very few teams can run with her. When our defense is causing turnovers and transition baskets, that’s when you want Aubrey in the game, preferably along with Caroline, another crafty defender who turns rebounds and turnovers into quick passes down the court. She and Aubrey can feast on opposing teams. Nika and Azzi or Lou can come along for the ride.

Transcendent or inconsistent. Not a good defender in the team concept. Of the starters and Caroline only one with a negative +/-.

 

[AgStatesman]

I'm pretty good at reading lips and I think I saw Azzi using a couple new catch phrases today.

After every made 3 - "I am Azzi Fudd millionaire, I own a mansion and a yacht."

When she gets a steal - "Be vewwwy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits."

 

[Bone Dog]

Transcendent or inconsistent. Not a good defender in the team concept. Of the starters and Caroline only one with a negative +/-.

I noticed that, too. I'm not sure I want to blame her for it, though. She was defending on the perimeter for much of the time, which is what many here recommended for her before the game. Iowa typically plays 4-out which put a lot of pressure on her. I don't think it's the best use of her in the team concept. I think she makes more sense playing against the 4 (in this case, Warnock), or defending the high post and switching down to defend drives to the rim.

 

[TeamFirst!]

That whole plus / minus is probably not even statistically relevant for at least 50 games. Of course it can be an indicator but small sample sizes can really skew things and sometimes you can just happen to play with team A and benefit a lot. Sometimes you can even be regarded as TREMENDOUS as a result when you just happened to be on the floor when other players made plays. We have a lot of players who can make plays when we are shooting close to 55% for the year folks. Team A can really shoot. So be it. It happens.

 

[TeamFirst!]

I thought Caroline was particularly effective guarding Warnock. I don't get Iowa. They haven't recruited anyone who can crack this starting lineup in 3 years now?

 

[npignatjr]

I noticed that, too. I'm not sure I want to blame her for it, though. She was defending on the perimeter for much of the time, which is what many here recommended for her before the game. Iowa typically plays 4-out which put a lot of pressure on her. I don't think it's the best use of her in the team concept. I think she makes more sense playing against the 4 (in this case, Warnock), or defending the high post and switching down to defend drives to the rim.

Geno loudly called her out for being out of position during the game. Puts pressure on her to actually guard a shooter? She is good guarding one on one if switching not required, which UCONN does all picks, or laying off looking for a steal.

 

[MSGRET]

And I love the fact that LLS recognized Caroline at the end of the clip with a low five-this is a real team.

She low fived with Nika in the clip not Caroline.

 

[tchalla1]

Lazy passes, poor awareness on defense. We have to clean these things up before it costs us a game. They are mental lapses that I know were better than, we just lose focus too often. And Nika was right, she needs to be better and is hard on herself because she is a perfectionist and is damn near perfect when she plays the way she knows she can. I like that about her. 13 assists is incredible but she’s thinking about the 6 turnovers and our offense looking out of sorts at times. Those are easily fixable and she knows it. Without those small errors she’s a god and I think she will only get better, imagine that. Lou’s shot is good but she takes too long to shoot and tight defense on her and she has a huge problem. Scares me, this makes Caroline really important because I’m afraid Lou will have some games where she is a non factor. Love her and she’s a hell of a shooter but just my thought that that will be a problem against certain teams in the future. The refereeing was terrible, our girls couldn’t go near Clark without being called for a foul. Lots of fights and an incredibly gutsy win. All of the bad things I saw and to still fight back and get the win was really really impressive. I can help but think that we will only get better because the things I saw besides Lou’s low release can be fixed. I guess for Lou she just has to figure out how to get herself the space she needs to get her shot off be a she can shoot it, it just takes a year for her to release it.

Sure, Lou's shot is not as compact and quick as Azzi's, however it doesn't have to be. Lou will continue to get open shots because of all the defensive attention given to Azzi on the perimeter. Plus, Lou is 6'1", so she does not seem bothered by smaller guards. If you choose to put your stellar defender on Lou, good luck containing Azzi and Caroline from the perimeter and their mid-range jumpers...

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I'm really happy for Caroline Ducharme! It must be very rewarding for her to work so hard to come back from that stiff neck! A very courageous game for her!
And right before the season started some BYers were hard on Iowa being ranked so high when last year they were great on offense and defense, not so much! I made the comment that, "shame on the coaches & players if they don't work on improving their defense."
Well they've come a long way as they played really good defense all game and got beat by UCONN's many scorers and great defense!

 

[Mdoggie]

Someone mentioned that Caroline was originally scheduled to start? Who was she intended to start in place of? And why didn't she start if she was scheduled to start?

I got a better question. Who is “someone”

 

[Bills Fan]

I thought Caroline was particularly effective guarding Warnock. I don't get Iowa. They haven't recruited anyone who can crack this starting lineup in 3 years now?

They put a big push on to get Nika to put her name into the portal and then transfer to Iowa, but she decided to stay at UCONN, because we needed a good PG who could distribute the ball to all of our scorers!

 

[Bills Fan]

Watching the 7 players we used today and knowing that Dorka is only a few games away from returning, it looks like we will be using an 8 person rotation in all of our competitive games. With that in mind, I hope Geno gives some minutes to Amari and Ines in the games against the weaker Conference teams so as to not wear out our Elite Eight.

With the "tuff" (you're welcome Tony) schedule this team is facing, I think we need to look for chances to rest the core. I think we have a real chance to be in the FF again this year and we want to be as rested as possible.

We have 6 OOC games remaining on our schedule and none of them are cupcakes. The weakest one is probably Princeton in the next week or so and they are a good team where it might require the core 8 to get most, if not all, of the minutes. Other than that, the remaining 5 can be brutal.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think we need to look for chances to rest the core. I think we have a real chance to be in the FF again this year and we want to be as rested as possible.

There's a bit of a balancing act here between resting the core and perfecting the core. I tend to favor resting them, but that's probably the old man in me talking.