UConn is scary Good

[Tonyc]

Lookout here comes UConn. Finally they got their rest, their players back and if these past 3 games are any indication of what is coming then OMG. UConns a team that was running on fumes is now running on High Octane. We saw it, the announcers, said it. It was complete domination, overwhelming on both sides of the ball, and a complete shutdown of opponents offense. No other team has shown that. As good as UConn looked they werent firing on all cylinders. Azzi and Caroline can now use these next 10 days to get up to speed. Now thats really scary. With the ariel attack spot on this UConn team takes no prisoners' and there will be no mercy. They show that and they did that. We saw that during the BET. That wasnt just luck. That was the healthy UConn team that we saw early on before all the injuries. I think for me the most amazin thing was watching UConn shut down Maddy who I feel is just an amazin player. To listen to fans and pollsters say UConn is a 2 or 3 seed is mindboggling. What have you been watching. UConn has showed everybody why they are a 1 seed. Stop making excuses for why some other team is a 1 seed. UConn just proved it to you.

 

[Eweconn]

Well, I guess holding Maddy to 22 points can be considered "shut down". I told a friend before the game, hold her under 25 points and we win easily.

 

[Shenandoah]

Moe than the technical aspects of the tournament dominance, what I saw these last 3 days, was a joy in the players faces that I hadn't seen for the last 2/3 of the regular season. Timeouts, quarter and half time, the team just looked like they were not having fun. These last 3 days, the spark was back, and it showed in their play. UConn is back!

 

[hoopsfan22]

Offense still has issues. Hopefully Azzi can get going because we need 20 ppg Azzi.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

There's definitely a resurgence of sorts, but I'm not ready to proclaim them scary...unless we're talking strictly defense. Azzi still has some rust, Ducharme is touch and go, and Aubrey may or may not be injured. My definition of scary is playing poorly and you would still win. This team has already overachieved like 10 times this season. Proud of them, but realistically there's very little room for error going forward. Scoring 6 in a quarter won't do it.

 

[Nolefan]

The first quarter rebounding worries me a tad .. UConn should have been up double digits if the didn’t give up 10 offensive rebounds other than that the defense was fantastic .. switching was really good a tad slow once or twice but that was to Villanova’s credit .. Hopefully is the tournament it doesn’t take Azzi till the 3rd quarter to heat up .. but yea this team can be really dangerous if they are on and playing fast in transition

 

[Next 12]

I'm back! Uconn is 90% back. We will be 100% back when Paige plays. I was right, we won !!! They are a totally different team now and the next 10 days will be a healing and practice session blessing. You can't beat the Uconn spirit and legacy. WE ARE UCONN. The NCAA tournament is the next hurdle to overcome and we now have the tools to do it. GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[meyers7]

There's definitely a resurgence of sorts, but I'm not ready to proclaim them scary...unless we're talking strictly defense. Azzi still has some rust, Ducharme is touch and go, and Aubrey may or may not be injured. My definition of scary is playing poorly and you would still win. This team has already overachieved like 10 times this season. Proud of them, but realistically there's very little room for error going forward. Scoring 6 in a quarter won't do it.

Did it last night.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

The first quarter rebounding worries me a tad .. UConn should have been up double digits if the didn’t give up 10 offensive rebounds other than that the defense was fantastic .. switching was really good a tad slow once or twice but that was to Villanova’s credit .. Hopefully is the tournament it doesn’t take Azzi till the 3rd quarter to heat up .. but yea this team can be really dangerous if they are on and playing fast in transition

17 total offensive rebounds for Villanova. AND...we had the size advantage.

 

[Rowdy831]

There's definitely a resurgence of sorts, but I'm not ready to proclaim them scary...unless we're talking strictly defense. Azzi still has some rust, Ducharme is touch and go, and Aubrey may or may not be injured. My definition of scary is playing poorly and you would still win. This team has already overachieved like 10 times this season. Proud of them, but realistically there's very little room for error going forward. Scoring 6 in a quarter won't do it.

I mentioned in my guess on the score that Geno would call off the dogs if the game was out of reach. He really doesn't want to give the selection committee a reason to leave out a deserving Big East team and if they dominate all of them that might be the result. This game was a blowout, the final score just didn't show that way.

 

[Rowdy831]

The defense was fantastic, the inside game was fantastic, the outside shooting was average at best. If they get that aspect of their game nailed down they have a very good chance of making it to the Final Four. Most people who watched them at all this weekend know they are not a 2 or 3 seed but in the end it really doesn't matter to UCONN. But I sure would hate to be the team that gets them as a 2-3 seed in the their bracket.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I mentioned in my guess on the score that Geno would call off the dogs if the game was out of reach. He really doesn't want to give the selection committee a reason to leave out a deserving Big East team and if they dominate all of them that might be the result. This game was a blowout, the final score just didn't show that way.

I sensed that in the Marquette game, but this game he didn't play Ines, Ayanna or DeBerry. Everyone who played could have been a starter and the 6 points in the 4th ..ugh. They were up 25 at one point.

 

[Rowdy831]

UCONN was every bit as physical with Maddie last night as any team was with Lou this season. She makes a lot of very tough shots and has excellent BB instincts. The one area of her game that will be tested at the next level is her defense. She may have a difficult time defending the quicker athletes in the WNBA. But every team can use a player that scores 20 plus every night out.

 

[Rowdy831]

I sensed that in the Marquette game, but this game he didn't play Ines, Ayanna or DeBerry. Everyone who played could have been a starter and the 6 points in the 4th ..ugh. They were up 25 at one point.

They just played slower and seemed to be working on specific things not necessarily busting it inside like they did the rest of the game. But I agree they could have finished a lot stronger.

 

[Eweconn]

The first quarter rebounding worries me a tad .. UConn should have been up double digits if the didn’t give up 10 offensive rebounds other than that the defense was fantastic .. switching was really good a tad slow once or twice but that was to Villanova’s credit .. Hopefully is the tournament it doesn’t take Azzi till the 3rd quarter to heat up .. but yea this team can be really dangerous if they are on and playing fast in transition

I'd like to go back and look at how many were long rebounds off of missed 3-pointers. They were jacking up a lot of long shots. Didn't seem like many of their offensive rebounds were under the basket. I could be wrong.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Well, I guess holding Maddy to 22 points can be considered "shut down". I told a friend before the game, hold her under 25 points and we win easily.

The shutting down was based on her efficiency, as well as when the points were scored. She had to take a lot of shots to score 20 last night, something which is unusual for her. Additionally, a healthy portion of her points were in the 4th quarter after UConn had taken a 25 point lead.

 

[mhshuskies]

They just played slower and seemed to be working on specific things not necessarily busting it inside like they did the rest of the game. But I agree they could have finished a lot stronger.

They had the game easily in hand at the end of the third and took their foot off the peddle. Coach Dillon, in her post game, said she was pleased with the way her team fought in the 4th and nearly cut it to single digits. That all sounds good, but UCONN just coasted, no real doubt about the outcome.

 

[Nolefan]

I'd like to go back and look at how many were long rebounds off of missed 3-pointers. They were jacking up a lot of long shots. Didn't seem like many of their offensive rebounds were under the basket. I could be wrong.

2-4 were really long rebounds but more than half was right under the basket and just not boxing out ..

 

[Jokerman619]

And here is the new Massey ratings.

 

[Nolefan]

They had the game easily in hand at the end of the third and took their foot off the peddle. Coach Dillon, in her post game, said she was pleased with the way her team fought in the 4th and nearly cut it to single digits. That all sounds good, but UCONN just coasted, no real doubt about the outcome.

Trying to make her team feel better about themselves going into the tournament ,me personally I would have kept playing on until they pulled their starters than do likewise

 

[Jokerman619]

And here is the new Massey ratings. View attachment 84806

New net.

 

[Jokerman619]

Trying to make her team feel better about themselves going into the tournament ,me personally I would have kept playing on until they pulled their starters than do likewise

Agree

 

[todbo]

17 total offensive rebounds for Villanova. AND...we had the size advantage.

All those offensive rebounds came as a result of missed field goals, many of which came as a result of a stifling defense. Observe the silver lining!

 

[mhshuskies]

Trying to make her team feel better about themselves going into the tournament ,me personally I would have kept playing on until they pulled their starters than do likewise

Yes, I think Nova can do some damage in the tournament. There maybe only a few teams that can hold Maddie to less than 25.

 

[socalhusky]

The shutting down was based on her efficiency, as well as when the points were scored. She had to take a lot of shots to score 20 last night, something which is unusual for her. Additionally, a healthy portion of her points were in the 4th quarter after UConn had taken a 25 point lead.

This is spot on. If you watched the game instead of just looking at the box score, she was absolutely shut down.

 

[Jokerman619]

And here is the new Massey ratings. View attachment 84806

Which with thier great win should put them on #1

 

[LwrcasefaN]

2-4 were really long rebounds but more than half was right under the basket and just not boxing out ..

They got long rebounds so not sure why UCONN couldn't. Giving up 17 OF rebounds is a lot. No way around that. The good thing is Villanova didn't score off of a lot of them. Plus they took a mind-boggling 29 3-pointers.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

The shutting down was based on her efficiency, as well as when the points were scored. She had to take a lot of shots to score 20 last night, something which is unusual for her. Additionally, a healthy portion of her points were in the 4th quarter after UConn had taken a 25 point lead.

In the 4th I thought she was just trying to keep that streak alive. The game was over.

 

[CL82]

As good as UConn looked they werent firing on all cylinders. Azzi and Caroline can now use these next 10 days to get up to speed. Now thats really scary

This! We’ve looked terrific the past three games, and we aren’t playing anywhere near our best basketball yet.

The renewed commitment to driving to the basket has energized us, gotten us easy buckets, and gotten us on the foul line. And all of that happened while Azzi and Caroline aren’t back to 100%. Every step they make to getting back to form makes us an even more dangerous team.

Aaliyah is playing amazing basketball and seems like she can get her shot whenever she wants it. If she can eliminate those head scratching missed bunnies, she can add another 6 points or so per game.

Dorka is playing amazing basketball, right now. Her defense is good, she’s always a threat to block, and she can score under the basket or behind the arc. That’s awfully nice to have from a 6’5” kid.

Aubrey is an absolute pleasure to watch. I’ve said this before, but she reminds me of Gabby in that it’s worth a rewatch of the game just isolating on her to see everything she does with him without the ball. My only quibble is I wish she had a little more confidence in her three-point shot. She passes up on some really good luxe. I’m sure the trainers will get her back spasms worked out and she can be a one woman wrecking crew during the tournament.

What an amazing addition Lou was for us! Right now, she’s getting an awful lot of attention. Hopefully the referees in the NCAA tournament won’t allow all the grabbing and hitting she has to endure in the big east. In any event, the addition of Azzi and Caroline has spread the floor for her making everyone’s life a little easier, but Lou should especially benefit.

We are, potentially, a very, very good team. We just need to keep our focus through the grind of the tournament and this has the chance to be a special year.

All of that said, we are, of course, still doomed.

 

[NYCHUSKIES]

Yes, I think Nova can do some damage in the tournament. There maybe only a few teams that can hold Maddie to less than 25.

I think Nova will get knocked out in the second round, third at best. They really aren't a good defensive team. Maddie is literally their entire offense. And Nova fouls a lot. A lot of coaches on Novas side of the bracket will expose that.