UCONN - SJU post-game thread [merged]

[my2cents]

Forget the opponent, I can watch Azzi Fudd shoot all day. It's a thing of beauty.

 

[jdote33]

I said earlier, AE and Dorka might be the best 4-5 combo in the country

I think there are some tough ones but I tend to agree. Some would be tough matchups if it happens in the tournament but overall, production wise I think Dorka and Aaliyah have the edge.

1. Stanford: Cameron Brink, Kiki
2. South Carolina: Saxton, Boston
3. Indiana: Garzon, Holmes
4. Arizona: Reese, Martinez
5. Utah: Johnson, Pili

 

[oldude]

Up close and personal with Azzi
View attachment 82925

Did you ask her to take a selfie?

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Shoutout to Rayven Peeples. She's not a quitter. She probably grabbed half of their rebounds, set most of their picks, and that after chasing around hot shooters who just kept torching her.

 

[Bald Husky]

I didn't see all the comments, too many, so I'm sure someone had to comment on this. Ines Bettencourt, where are you? This girl could be playing 35 minutes at the junior college she signed up for, but she answered UConns plea for help at the eleventh hour. She has improved with more minutes, and to me she has proved that she can be a contributor for this team. Why did Nika have to play 38 minutes in a game we won by 30 points? If we had not had Ines against Maryland, then we would not have had a point guard. With all the injuries we have had, hasn't Geno learned to try to take it easy on his best players and not taking a chance on wearing them out? He is the best, but he can learn something about keeping ALL his players happy and play them whenever it is possible. I'm sorry, but you could see the bland look on her face in some of the time outs. Come on Geno, you only had 8 players, give them some playing time and not playing your starters so many minutes in a game that was won in the first half.

 

[Argonaut]

In case anyone wants to watch the St. John's presser:

WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23

Video: WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23. Women's Basketball

redstormsports.com

 

[Rb335]

Is it possible that I somewhat forgot just how good Azzi is?! Her return will elevate this group to even greater heights. Her absence really allowed others to get more comfortable carrying bigger responsibilities. I think that will pay dividends if we get fully healthy.

A solid win. Looking forward to watching the team regain chemistry over the next stretch of big east games. Excited to see ourselves check in against SEC teams (Tennessee and SCar) and find out how we look ahead of postseason play.

 

[BRS24]

Unless Aubrey is willing to take the open shot (and she had many) I can't see how she will be able to move to the next level (WNBA) even with her athleticism.

Aubrey is a redshirt junior this year. She potentially has both a covid year and a redshirt year to use. Why panic? None of us have any idea if she wants to play professionally post-college.

 

[oldude]

I didn't see all the comments, too many, so I'm sure someone had to comment on this. Ines Bettencourt, where are you? This girl could be playing 35 minutes at the junior college she signed up for, but she answered UConns plea for help at the eleventh hour. She has improved with more minutes, and to me she has proved that she can be a contributor for this team. Why did Nika have to play 38 minutes in a game we won by 30 points? If we had not had Ines against Maryland, then we would not have had a point guard. With all the injuries we have had, hasn't Geno learned to try to take it easy on his best players and not taking a chance on wearing them out? He is the best, but he can learn something about keeping ALL his players happy and play them whenever it is possible. I'm sorry, but you could see the bland look on her face in some of the time outs. Come on Geno, you only had 8 players, give them some playing time and not playing your starters so many minutes in a game that was won in the first half.

Certainly, Ines has improved since arriving at UConn. But I don’t know that she’s ready for significant prime time minutes just yet. Her average of 10+ mpg has as much to do with UConn being shorthanded in the backcourt as anything to do with her level of play.

Last night, Ines got only 3 minutes of PT. Also last night, UConn had Azzi available for the first time in 5 weeks, along with Nika & Lou. As much as we all want to see Ines earn more PT, I’m pretty sure the plan against a good SJ team was to give the majority of PT to the 3 veterans, and get them used to playing together again.

As much as we all like Ines, I don’t see her PT increasing so long as UConn is relatively healthy. Once Caroline is back, UConn will have 4 talented, veteran guards available. In that situation, Ines will most likely be confined to late game PT during mop up time.

 

[DefenseBB]

In case anyone wants to watch the St. John's presser:

WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23

Video: WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23. Women's Basketball

redstormsports.com

The St.John's players for all of the now 3 years that they have been playing UConn back in the Big East are not used to the "exposure" that that entails. I did a quick look back at the SJU attendance during the past two year (2020-21 was COVID impacted without fans) and as I said earlier in this thread, this year they are averaging 343 fans at home. Last week at Seton Hall in Walsh, 1,000 fans showed up which was the largest, by far of the season. Last year, for the 10 home games that had fans, they averaged 406.3 which includes the 945 that went to Carnesecca Arena on Campus to see UConn. So when the question was posed to the players about the atmosphere AT HOME, these players had never experienced this type of support of 2,910 fans. I too, can be jaded when viewing how other teams support or don't support their teams but COVID and a few poor seasons have really hurt SJU. I do hope they continue to partner with this new arena and have a few games, including UConn at this venue to garner more fans. One last point, the mid-court seats for 12 rows are all corporate seats that those entities are not allowed to resell so they either have to give them away (and be pro-active about that) or they will be unused like last night. SJU said they would try to get UBS Arena to help communicate to those sponsors to get those seats filled in the future.

I was fortunate enough to get to meet the SJU AD and even the coach's wife (I had met Joe T earlier this year) and to put a human element to other teams is such a nice feeling (and empathetic aspect ) that I can't help but root for the "Johnny's" going forward.

 

[UConnCat]

"I feel like the knee is a lot more serious than my foot last year ... but I wanted to make sure I was really ready," Fudd said. " ... I didn't rush into it. I let my body get back into things at its own pace. So I felt good out there today."

"They're really a fun group to be around and I think once we get Carol (Ducharme) back and Ayanna back in the mix, it's just going to add to where we're going, what we're working towards," Dailey said. "So I just think everybody's in a good place now."

UConn women's basketball routs St. John's in return of Azzi Fudd, Geno Auriemma: 'Sense of excitement'

The UConn women's basketball team defeated St. John's as Azzi Fudd and Geno Auriemma returned for the fourth-ranked Huskies.

www.ctinsider.com

 

[sun]

This game was the1st WCBB game ever played at UBS Arena and it was scheduled with UConn in mind.
The court looked beautiful and the venue is spacious.
SJ's WBB last off-campus home game was in 2019 against DePaul @ Madison Square Garden.
Kudos to SJ's.

St. John’s University Women’s Basketball Team to Play at UBS Arena in 2023

The Red Storm will take on UConn in the venue’s first women’s college basketball showdown.

www.torchonline.com

 

[Carnac]

CONNCAN, I nominate this comment as our POD (Post of the day). You highlighted some salient points that some fans/interested observers don't understand or overlook. The job Griffin did on SJ's leading scorer was HUGE!!! As you mentioned did not necessarily show up in the box score.

The coaches and the players knew what she did. Shutting down their leading scorer did as much to help win the game as scoring 30 points would have. In short, Griffin made her "disapear." Everyone had a job to do last night. The coaches made sure each player knew their assignment. Everyone's assingment was different. Griffin will have a different assignment Sunday against Georgetown. Great post Conncan!!!

 

[Bone Dog]

I’d like to see Inês play more mins, too. But I expect Geno and CD were very upfront with her about what the p/t priorities would be this year. I doubt she’s surprised, even if she wants to play more. Also, in a presser last week, CD mentioned something about the pressure on Inês when she played a lot in earlier games, so more minutes may be a mixed blessing for her.

 

[Bone Dog]

CONNCAN, I nominate this comment as our POD (Post of the day). You highlighted some salient points that some fans/interested observers don't understand or overlook. The job Griffin did on SJ's leading scorer was HUGE!!! As you mentioned did not necessarily show up in the box score.

The coaches and the players knew what she did. Shutting down their leading scorer did as much to help win the game as scoring 30 points would have. In short, Griffin made her "disapear." Everyone had a job to do last night. The coaches made sure each player knew their assignment. Everyone's assingment was different. Griffin will have a different assignment Sunday against Georgetown. Great post Conncan!!!

In yesterdays in-game chat, someone (I won’t say it was me) said early on after Everett scored 8 points: “Put Aubrey on her. She’ll fix it.” And sure enough…

 

[Bald Husky]

Certainly, Ines has improved since arriving at UConn. But I don’t know that she’s ready for significant prime time minutes just yet. Her average of 10+ mpg has as much to do with UConn being shorthanded in the backcourt as anything to do with great ball handling skills with her level of play.

Last night, Ines got only 3 minutes of PT. Also last night, UConn had Azzi available for the first time in 5 weeks, along with Nika & Lou. As much as we all want to see Ines earn more PT, I’m pretty sure the plan against a good SJ team was to give the majority of PT to the 3 veterans, and get them used to playing together again.

As much as we all like Ines, I don’t see her PT increasing so long as UConn is relatively healthy. Once Caroline is back, UConn will have 4 talented, veteran guards available. In that situation, Ines will most likely be confined to late game PT during mop up time.

First of all, as we have seen, Caroline is not a guard with great ball handling skills, and I hate to say this, with her history this year who knows when she will be back and how competent she will be. Same with Lou, as far as ball handling, so Nika, Azzi, and Ines are the guards to bring up the ball and break presses. We want Azzi, Lou, and Caroline to look for their shot, not looking to pass as a point guard. Granted, Ines isn't as good as the other players, but she will be needed at some point and the more she plays the better she will be. Blowouts, come on, this is where she can practice for a big moment that may come our way going forward.

 

[Geew1992]

In yesterdays in-game chat, someone (I won’t say it was me) said early on after Everett scored 8 points: “Put Aubrey on her. She’ll fix it.” And sure enough…

Smart's someone

 

[Fossil]

Aubrey was completely invisible?! I think you need to watch the team play defense. She held their best player scoreless for almost three quarters.

I went to the game and agree completely about Aubrey. She completely shut down their best shooter and probably their second best shooter at one point Aubrey denied her the ball so completely that the St. John’s player just stood in the corner not even attempting to move without the ball yes, maybe it affected Aubrey’s offense but she clearly Contributed in a big way. She may have seemed invisible, because the camera goes to the shooter and the people making the play, which was not the player Aubrey was guarding.

 

[Bone Dog]

First of all, as we have seen, Caroline is not a guard with great ball handling skills, and I hate to say this, with her history this year who knows when she will be back and how competent she will be. Same with Lou, as far as ball handling, so Nika, Azzi, and Ines are the guards to bring up the ball and break presses. We want Azzi, Lou, and Caroline to look for their shot, not looking to pass as a point guard. Granted, Ines isn't as good as the other players, but she will be needed at some point and the more she plays the better she will be. Blowouts, come on, this is where she can practice for a big moment that may come our way going forward.

Good assessment of Caroline and Lou. They can both handle the ball well enough, even bring it up the floor. But handles is not their superpower, and there are better uses for them than this. Azzi is that rare mix of a shooter with awesome handles, the best on the team by quite a margin. This came in handy against the Texas press. But again I don’t think this is the best use of her other skills. Nika’s handles are good, better than Inês’, but both of them can make mistakes when pressed. This just means helping them out occasionally.

 

[Bald Husky]

I went to the game and agree completely about Aubrey. She completely shut down their best shooter and probably their second best shooter at one point Aubrey denied her the ball so completely that the St. John’s player just stood in the corner not even attempting to move without the ball yes, maybe it affected Aubrey’s offense but she clearly Contributed in a big way. She may have seemed invisible, because the camera goes to the shooter and the people making the play, which was not the player Aubrey was guarding.

I had to laugh, as I also noticed a play going on in and around the paint, and while this was happening, the St Johns player was just standing in the corner with Aubrey staring her down, with that player acting like a by stander. Aubrey never took her eyes off that player, completely locked in. Now, that is defensive intensity.

 

[Greenfan]

Our first in person UCONN game. Here are my impression, no xs and os, others take care of that very well.

We saw most boxes checked;

Geno back on the sideline, Azzi in the game, solid win, low turnovers, good defense.
Lots of UCONN fans, which we noted when standing before the tip- off and until the first score.

Dorka was definitely shortchanged one assist.

One ref was a bit whistle happy.

There was a row of screaming little girl basketball players, St.Johns fans, behind us, they were kind of ear piercingly loud, but still added to the excitement.

UBS Arena is a brand new and beautiful venue, easy access,( 1.5 hour drive for us), train access from east and west. Well marked directional signs and helpful staff.

Got home a little before midnight, rare for us as we get up before 6, but went to sleep happy.

 

[oldude]

First of all, as we have seen, Caroline is not a guard with great ball handling skills, and I hate to say this, with her history this year who knows when she will be back and how competent she will be. Same with Lou, as far as ball handling, so Nika, Azzi, and Ines are the guards to bring up the ball and break presses. We want Azzi, Lou, and Caroline to look for their shot, not looking to pass as a point guard. Granted, Ines isn't as good as the other players, but she will be needed at some point and the more she plays the better she will be. Blowouts, come on, this is where she can practice for a big moment that may come our way going forward.

The decision on how much prime time PT to give Ines really comes down to the Big Dance, and whether or not she’ll be a contributor against the gauntlet of NCAA playoff teams the Huskies will face. With everyone healthy, UConn has a solid 7 player rotation. After that, Geno will try to coach up Amari or Ayanna, or both to provide depth against the towering frontlines of SC & Stanford, should UConn run into them in the Tournament.

While I love Ines’s work ethic and attitude, I just don’t see her as a viable alternative against the ball pressure she would face vs many of the top defenses in the Big Dance just yet. If that should change, I will be ecstatic.