UCONN - SJU post-game thread [merged] | Page 3 | The Boneyard

UCONN - SJU post-game thread [merged]

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I will admit it, St Johns game plan was brilliant. Get Lou off the floor early. She's a big threat. As soon as Azzi checked in, pretty sure the coach sat down.

Fudd still looks like the best player in the country, shooting, passing, defending: She's that girl
National Assist Leader Nika is looking for her shot, beware
Lopez-Senechal is shooting lights out, may be the best guard in the upcoming draft
Dorka's court vision is underrated and her versatility is insane
Aubrey is Aubreying
Aaliyah is returning to form
And Ayanna and Caroline didn't even play...
Geno realizing he can take a few days off because CD is around

last year Paige Bueckers came back in the St Johns game to UConn at home after a knee injury against Notre Dame. This year Azzi Fudd returns from injury in the Notre Dame game to a rout on the road in St Johns. UConn has had a tough few years but I still feel bad for St Johns ;)
 
Really love how Geno manages a game. The team has had issues with Turnovers so he keeps his core in to work on basic fundamentals. And it pays off. He doesn’t over-coach by over forcing substitutions; instead plays his core; which drills in more chemistry within the group. This has always been his strength how he manages minutes resulting in wins and maintaining super recruiting.

Azzi Fudd’s presence, the presence of a superstar is what makes UCONN a contender. An absolute joy to watch her and the team flow in such an efficient manner. The core’s chemistry is going to be the reason why UCONN gets to FF and wins a title or not. Not the 10th player on the bench.

Eagerly awaiting Caroline’s return and pray for good health the rest of the way. Also, hopeful that as season progresses Nika will show no fear in shooting the ball and knocking down outside shots in a consistent manner. Hit your free throws!:)

:)How the game has changed: In 2nd half- Edwards gets a rebound to lead a break with Azzi to her left and one defender back. She doesn't pass the ball to the guard which back in the Dark Ages a long, long, long time ago when I played--> a big gives up the ball to the guard on a fastbreak. Instead she takes the ball near all the way to the basket while Azzi instead of following towards the basket or stops at FT line then fades much wider left to 20 feet from the basket.

You then have your post player not looking to score inside, instead, from the paint, she throws the ball across the lane out to the 3-pt line. Then Azzi catches the ball and she passes to "The Trailer." Back in my day "The Trailer" was "the Center (ie Dave Cowens) taking a 15 footer. Instead "The Trailer" is a guard (Lou) who jacks up a 3; and ofc nails it. How the game has changed.:)
 
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I liked the game. I liked it when I saw Amari make two passes to an available UConn player that scored an easy layup. She has got good passing skills. There were so many things to like watching this game including the return of Azzi. Dorka, really doing a professional job. We will really miss what she can do next year including the 20 points from Lou.Too bad Paige could not be on the floor with them and the probabilities for a championship would increase. That's life.
 
dtbtbtb said:
Few Thoughts:
*Nice team win on a top BE opponent on their home court (even if it was not their real home court).
*St. Johns clearly was not looking at the 3 as a weapon and i found myself thinking that they have no chance of beating UConn with no 3 and limited bigs.
*Good to see Geno back. While CD maybe balances minutes better, Geno is the maestro. He recognized that the one player from SJ was keeping them in the game, changed to have Aubrey guarding her and that stopped that player from doing much after.
*Azzi: Looked really good! her Basketball iq is so ridiculously high and she's able to take any shot she needs to take. They should make videos of her to teach kids how to play and shoot.
*Dorka: wow. she was imposing her will on SJ in this game. Nice passes, defense and able to score from few different areas of the floor.
*Lou: now that's a shooter. Confident and highly efficient. Between Her and Azzi, we have 2 of the very best shooters in WBB.
*AE: i thought the 3rd foul called on her was a very bad call by the officials. SO strong and confident. the WBB scene needs to get used to it: AE is an AA!
*Aubrey: great on defense but very un-decisive on offense. She had countless opportunities for an open 3 shot and passed it. The one time she did shoot it, it had no chance as she was so unsure about it.
*Nika: loved her going strong to the basket! some of her turnovers are mind blowing but UConn this season depends on her to run the team as she does it so so well!
*Amari: some nice things on offense and defense. Can't miss an open lay up like she did and needs to move her feet better on defense. Must as well watch for the way she screens as she is called for fouls because she is moving out instead of standing.
*Ines: hoped she'll be in earlier and didn't hurt the team when she was out there. She passed on a 3 point shot that the team wanted her to take in the end of the game.
*This team when including CD and AP is no doubt when healthy, one of the top 3 teams in the country! if they do make it to the final 4 (which again, if healthy they should), can beat on any given night Stanford and yes, SC!
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I remain befuddled as to why after a 40-point win against a Top 25 opponent, it becomes necessary to criticize the offensive game of the player who totally shut down the opponent’s best player.
 
One stat that jumped out at me was that Connecticut shot 27-39 from 2-point range, over 69% (they're .575 for the season). Muhl and Lopez-Senechal were 8-8 combined, and the rest of the team was pretty good too.

Muhl didn't have her best passing game, but driving to the basket when it's open (she did it against Xavier too) can only help her overall game.
 
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Just like to second the praise for Griffin; obviously SJ strategy was to run Everett off multiple picks and it worked until Auriemma made the switch to Griffin and that ended that; tremendous one on one defensive versatility with Muhl and Griffin. Great adjustment by Auriemma, Griffin did her thing on Everett and Muhl kept Reid from being a factor.
 
Key stat for me is 10 team turnovers. That means 7-10 more possessions with shots than has been the usual bill of fare for us. With our shooting percentage last night, 62%, and with 25% of our shots being 3s, that means approximately 8 more shots, with 5 more baskets, with 2 of those being 3s, or 12 more points not being given away. Changes everything. Just need Caroline and Ay now to add more depth and even more scoring punch from the wing slot.
 
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Someone commented on the lower amount turnovers - I'm pretty sure Azzi, both as a ball handler and just being on the court to shoot the ball, helps with that A LOT. She rarely loses control, and if someone passes the ball to her, she scores. Also, just being able to have 3 ball handlers on the court helps a lot - her, Lou, Nika. Ball movement in general is much better with 3 (experienced) guards than with 2 (or with inexperienced guards).

And I agree! Aubrey did have a quiet night, but that was because she shut down Everett completely! Great D!
 
I sort of agree, @Viet Vet , but only sort of. The problem for most BE teams is the lack of true bigs. As a tandem, Dorka and Aaliyah are an impossible matchup for the rest of the conference. The same was true of Liv. SJU has some really good guards in Everett, Bailey and Drake. This is also true of Marquette and Villanova, Creighton too. Seton Hall has a great pg and one big in Sydney Cooks, who can be a force in the post but they lack a second big. The same is true of DePaul. Morrow is a great post player but there’s no one else. This means, like Creighton, they have to scramble for all the loose balls to win against us.

There are still challenges for us in the conference. It would be a significant upset for any of them to beat us when healthy in any season so far. But some teams have played us tough, forced us to develop some part of our game that had gone slack. In this respect, the conference schedule feels a bit like practice sometimes, or like much of the SEC.

Is there a path forward for the conference? If more BE teams regularly make the NCAA tournament and get the sort of exposure Creighton and even Villanova got last year, I think recruiting will begin to improve and more talented bigs will start to show up in the conference. This is also one of the reasons sloppy tournament projections and early season rankings, while trivial in terms of a single season, cost us in the long run. They undermine recruiting for the rest of the BE.
 
Bone Dog said:
I sort of agree, @Viet Vet , but only sort of. The problem for most BE teams is the lack of true bigs. As a tandem, Dorka and Aaliyah are an impossible matchup for the rest of the conference. The same was true of Liv. SJU has some really good guards in Everett, Bailey and Drake. This is also true of Marquette and Villanova, Creighton too. Seton Hall has a great pg and one big in Sydney Cooks, who can be a force in the post but they lack a second big. The same is true of DePaul. Morrow is a great post player but there’s no one else. This means, like Creighton, they have to scramble for all the loose balls to win against us.
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I said earlier, AE and Dorka might be the best 4-5 combo in the country
 
Remember folks. The statistics that often standout the most and in some cases, the best, aren't always on the UCONN side of the scorecard. In my opinion, for last evening's game, one of the "Biggest" statistics was on the St. John's ledger, where their best scorer was essentially "Shut Down" by UCONN's more prolific and BEST defensive player, Aubrey Griffin. Aubrey doesn't necessarily have to have great offensive numbers, to have a "GREAT GAME". Yes, she only scored 6 points and yes, she passed up some 3 pointers that she 'could have' taken. BUT, she deferred to others on her team to take up the scoring and concentrated on the defensive assignment she was given by the Coaching Staff and she did one GREAT JOB doing it. Yes, we have AE, LLP, Dorka and now Azzi being back, but I feel that this season's UCONN Team would be in a "Heap of Serious Trouble" if we didn't have Aubrey Griffin out on the court.
 
SLY63 said:
I said earlier, AE and Dorka might be the best 4-5 combo in the country
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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
 
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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.
 
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.
 
CONNCAN said:
Remember folks. The statistics that often standout the most and in some cases, the best, aren't always on the UCONN side of the scorecard. In my opinion, for last evening's game, one of the "Biggest" statistics was on the St. John's ledger, where their best scorer was essentially "Shut Down" by UCONN's more prolific and BEST defensive player, Aubrey Griffin. Aubrey doesn't necessarily have to have great offensive numbers, to have a "GREAT GAME". Yes, she only scored 6 points and yes, she passed up some 3 pointers that she 'could have' taken. BUT, she deferred to others on her team to take up the scoring and concentrated on the defensive assignment she was given by the Coaching Staff and she did one GREAT JOB doing it. Yes, we have AE, LLP, Dorka and now Azzi being back, but I feel that this season's UCONN Team would be in a "Heap of Serious Trouble" if we didn't have Aubrey Griffin out on the court.
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Thing is when Azzi is completly back Aubrey goes back to the bench and when Caroline comes back she'll be behind her
 
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pvdoggy said:
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.
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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.
 
Bald Huskie said:
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.
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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.
 
Argonaut said:
In case anyone wants to watch the St. John's presser:
redstormsports.com

WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23

Video: WBB vs UCONN Press Conference 1.11.23. Women's Basketball
redstormsports.com redstormsports.com
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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 :rolleyes:) that I can't help but root for the "Johnny's" going forward.
 
Bald Huskie said:
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.
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Agree completely with regard to Ines and Nika. We have a busy next few weeks so why in the world would we play Nika 38 minutes in a blowout? I would say the same thing with regard to Dorka. It seems like she played just about every minute with no need for that. I know we are missing a Guard/Shooting forward in CD and a backup 4/5 in Yanna so that makes it tougher to spread the minutes, but not impossible in a 30 point win.
 
"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."

www.ctinsider.com

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 www.ctinsider.com
 
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.

www.torchonline.com

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 www.torchonline.com
 
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