UConn - SC post game

[Dognusty]

But you don't and they literally put a graphic up talking about it however you complain about them talking about a player who is going to actually play in future games this year being missing. UConn injuries have been know for months now. Move on it is what it is, this is the team you have and will have barring no future injuries.

 

[MSGRET]

I just love the men’s board posters that can’t be bothered to visit when the Huskies win come over to share their thoughts on how awful the team is. Gee, thanks guys

Is that why I didn't recognize a lot of the posters? I've never been to the men's board because I like the women's game, it's below the rim.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Was expecting a loss but was also hoping it would be a closer game.

IMO, the game was lost in Q1 when UConn had many chances to score but simply struggled to put up points. Let SCar establish and dominate too early.

It sucks that for the last 3 seasons we have had to play “short handed” against South Carolina. How different things might have been for every game if we hadn’t been beset by multiple injuries. Not saying UConn would have won them all (or any of them), but it would have been a more even playing field.

We are average this year, unfortunately. Not unlike last year. Just gotta close out the BE, win the BE tourney, and hope for the best going into the Big Dance.

maple- - - I agree with you 100%!
UConn had approximately 70 points sitting on the bench!
It's a shame this wasn't played by 2 schools with complete lineups, who knows how it would have turned out!
But IMHO UConn would have won!
So sad!

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[FanFromMaine]

I just love the men’s board posters that can’t be bothered to visit when the Huskies win come over to share their thoughts on how awful the team is. Gee, thanks guys

I too wondered who all these new names were…

 

[Millenial23]

If Shade (or Paige) had just hit some more of their open shots, then this would be a much different discussion. It would have been a lot closer. It just seems as if Shade has hit a bit of the Freshman Wall - she's just in a bit of a shooting slump. If she had made just 3 more of those 3s, we're talking a single digit loss. So maybe it wasn't quite as bad as some folks think.

 

[hookshot]

And next year, while losing just two key players, they bring in three of the top 26 in the nation. And that's not considering that they might just attract some of the best players to come over as transfers.

We'll need a longer bench for all those

 

[Centerstream]

At this point, very likely......

And won't Dawn have to come up with game plans to keep all of these players happy/involved when it comes to playing time. She may get all these good/great players but keeping them happy, well....
And now thinking about this, what has this have to do with a post game thread?????? Boy, did I fall for it.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

If Shade (or Paige) had just hit some more of their open shots, then this would be a much different discussion. It would have been a lot closer. It just seems as if Shade has hit a bit of the Freshman Wall - she's just in a bit of a shooting slump. If she had made just 3 more of those 3s, we're talking a single digit loss. So maybe it wasn't quite as bad as some folks think.

The final score flattered the Huskies. It was 25 after three Q's.

Making more shots would've helped for sure, but still.....

 

[SLY63]

The most troubling stat is Ice (the biggest player on the floor), 1 rebound in 15 minutes!!

 

[JellyBean]

View attachment 96310

Wow. During this part of the season, that is something you don't want to hear or see. Yikes.

 

[msf22b]

A lot of talk about Paige...not her best game...wearing down...missed too many shots...

Perhaps all true;

Is it possible that she is still not all the way back and still has a lot of growth to go in her game? I would not be surprised.

Nika was not very effective today...Too bad, we needed an exemplary one from her.

I'm in the camp of desiring playing time for Ines...Q may be more gifted but is not ready for prime time; Ines started last season and gave some decent minutes.

 

[hookshot]

This is the reality of our injured season. The post Griffin era especially has highlighted the drop of between player 5 and 6 on the roster. It’s no margin for error.

Paige looked aggressive and battled. But was draped defensively and looks to be getting tired. Not rocket science that her efficiency is going down as the season progresses.

Aaliyah has been one of my favorite huskies. Reliable, steady. Wish she had played the full 40 as effectively as in the second half. But she was battling the boards especially in Q1.

Liked the confidence of Shade, but can’t help but feel like her many Q1 misses shot us into the initial hole. Would Azzi have been more efficient? Nobody knows but I liked the confidence.

Kk looks athletically like she belongs in these games. Just needs to refine her offensive game to score from all 3 levels. I hope next year she learns when to drive vs when not to drive.

Nika, oh boy. I’ve bitten my tongue on this for years. She’s just not athletically gifted enough. She’s the ultimate teammate, competitor, and energizer. Just doesn’t have the skills. She’s a defensive stopper yet in big games her mark goes off. She racks up assists in the big east but can’t create in big games. Doesn’t provide offense, is turnover prone, and foul prone. The irony, she’s still so much better than anybody on the bench. We need her, but in big games she consistently disappoints. Can she figure it out?

We just don’t have enough this year. I’ll still be watching every game, and rooting as hard as always. I can only pray that next season, we finally get healthy. It’s hard to stomach these losses when it feels like the injuries lost the games before we even had a chance to play the games. I’d like to see Paige and Aaliyah return. It’s doubtful, but I want a dominant season for them. They’re too good of players to not experience that.

Back to the big east we go. We’ll see if the team can figure things out before the tournament.

Yeah, its easy, you need people open to get assists, there were not

 

[Urshurak]

I too wondered who all these new names were…

I didn’t recognize half of the people
In the chat. Some were downright nasty.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Wow. During this part of the season, that is not something you don't want to hear or see. Yikes.

A lot of these players grew during the earlier part of the season when they were expected to be on the bench.

 

[hookshot]

And won't Dawn have to come up with game plans to keep all of these players happy/involved when it comes to playing time. She may get all these good/great players but keeping them happy, well....
And now thinking about this, what has this have to do with a post game thread?????? Boy, did I fall for it.

They looked pretty happy today

 

[Centerstream]

I just love the men’s board posters that can’t be bothered to visit when the Huskies win come over to share their thoughts on how awful the team is. Gee, thanks guys

Well said Nan. I have no idea which posters you are referring to because I don't visit the Men's board but I do notice many, many unfamiliar names in the post game thread and in the Chat Room during/after these types of games and the vast majority of them are not supportive of our players (or HOF Coach).

 

[HuskyNan]

Wow. During this part of the season, that is something you don't want to hear or see. Yikes.

He’s made similar comments before when he wanted more from his players. He’s notorious for using the press to make a point when he feels his players aren’t listening in practice

 

[Centerstream]

A lot of talk about Paige...not her best game...wearing down...missed too many shots...

Perhaps all true;

Is it possible that she is still not all the way back and still has a lot of growth to go in her game? I would not be surprised.

Nika was not very effective today...Too bad, we needed an exemplary one from her.

I'm in the camp of desiring playing time for Ines...Q may be more gifted but is not ready for prime time; Ines started last season and gave some decent minutes.

Today Geno needed scoring, and as good as Ines can be, she isn't a scorer, especially against athletic guards.

 

[Cuango]

We were completely outclassed

As we should have been! It would have required basically a miracle for us to win that game. SC is simply out of our league at this point. We could win against them but t would require many things to go right for us and many things to go wrong for them! I’m actually grateful it wasn’t worse! As bad as it was, there were a few encouraging things, Aaliyah, while not playing her best game, nevertheless was able to produce 20-12-3, Paige, though imo clearly not “right” produced her average, and Ash, though clearly overwhelmed with the “Bigness” of the game, kept shooting when most freshmen would have folded! As for the rest, it was pretty grim! Nika played very poorly imo, with 5 pretty bad turnovers, six points, and not the best defense I’ve seen from her. KK was simply overwhelmed and could not seem to adjust to the SC shotblocking! Q, while finally hitting a three in the waning moments, was a nonfactor, going 1/5 and was basically a swinging door on defense. Brady too, was a non factor, playing 14 minutes with one offensive rebound and zero shot attempts! However, the mere fact that she was able to stay on the floor for 14 minutes was somewhat encouraging.

The truth is, considering who is sitting on our bench, unable to play, the fact that we are 20-5 with a strong chance at an undefeated conference run, is practically a miracle! We have five wins against ranked teams and will likely finish the regular season with six. We admittedly have two bad losses, ND and NC State, though the NC State game is not so bad in retrospect. We will likely host for the NCAA tourney barring some epic collapse in the Big East tournament. We still are on track to accomplish the first two goals for every UConn team, winning both the regular season and the conference tourney title for the Big East! I think many look at our record and forget that the Big East is, with the exception of Marquette and Creighton, pretty much at our mercy, even in our compromised state!

We basically have five effective players, two of which are freshmen, one journeyman point guard, and two very good players to round it out! Our “bench”, two freshmen”, were outscored 19-0 by our opponent today!
Our job now, is to support our team and appreciate whatever they are able to accomplish given their obvious disadvantage in size and numbers against virtually every team we play. They are still capable of making us proud and remember, our freshman are getting better with every game they play. Although we still hope for a run this year, those fans that are frustrated and critical of this team should understand the magnitude of what we have sitting on our bench every game! Even SC, who are clearly in a class of their own at the top of women’s college basketball, and who dominated us in every way, might be hard pressed to deal with five of their top players being unable to play for the entire season!

Is it possible that our time has passed and we will not win another title? Yes! Of course it is! Is it possible that we will not beat SC again? Yes! However, before we allow them to start throwing dirt on our coffin, how about we wait til we have a full, healthy roster and are able to match up with these top teams on an even (numerically & talent wise) basis! Til then, though disappointing, none of these losses mean squat as does all the talk about Geno not being able to cut it anymore! All of that could be true, I suppose, but not til he (and we) have a healthy roster! I’m betting that if we actually have a healthy team next year, all these naysayers will have to eat a lot of crow!

 

[Pharos]

"The credit belongs to the [wo]man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends [her]self in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if [she] fails, at least [she] fails while daring greatly, so that [her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” (after Teddy Roosevelt, Paris, April 23, 1910)

 

[JBK]

I hate to be that guy, I'm a fan of everyone on the team but I do think this one is on Paige. They just don't have a great shot at winning these type of games if she doesn't play well. She missed a lot of clean looks. USC doesn't beat Stanford if Juju doesn't go crazy. Notre Dame doesn't win if Hidalgo doesn't go crazy. It's hard to win against a top 5 team if ur best player doesn't play well. I don't think it's for lack of effort but she struggled today.

Really hard on Paige when 2 starters were no threat today.
Even Clark is surrounded by 4 players that look to score.

 

[uconnever]

And if SC gets Strong?

Then they get her, the problem has been we are really just one or two players away. We’ve been off these past few years but not too far off. We need one of the elite players Strong or someone else because there are more out there. They’ve been going elsewhere lately, but we are still right there. I’ve been really down on this team but even I can see we are either a healthy team away and that’s it or a top player away, the pieces with health are definitely there. As I’ve said, these next two years of recruiting will tell us all we need to know.

 

[jandab]

The most troubling stat is Ice (the biggest player on the floor), 1 rebound in 15 minutes!!

Best not to speak if you offer little of value to Ice or the team!!