UConn Tennessee

[Tonyc]

Paige's leadership will play big going forward. Her ability to calm her team down and take control is huge. It reminds me a lot of what Diana was able to do. The biggest difference is Diana not only took over games but was depended on to doing most of the scoring. Paige has a lot of help in both those areas.

Paige will get everybody involved in the game which will calm everybody down. I expect she will draw a lot of attention from defenses. Azzi Sarah and Ash will play big in this game because of Paige's leadership. Paige will score when it presents itself. Lets face it Paige Azzi and Sarah are a hand full and very difficult to stop. Our Big 3 along with Ash KK and Griff will make life difficult for Tenn.

Tenn is depending on their press. Their press causes problems for opponents. I am very confident we have been practicing how to handle their press. We have the ball handlers and I expect UConn to fair well against their press because we will be well prepared. A big plus is when we go small, Sarah can handle the ball. Can her defender handle Sarah? Sarah creates a problem for Tenn.

We will be up for this game. There may be some jitters early on however I am confident with Paiges leadership we will settle in pretty quickly. This game will prove to fans and the sports media that UConn is back. Fans talk about how weak the Big East is.....well Tenn has played a lot of very weak teams which pads their stats. My only fear is we're playing down there and funny things happen late in the game down there. There has been talk about how Tenn comes back late in games. There has also been talk about you better have a double digit lead with 2 minutes left and hope.

Key in the game will be to stay out of foul trouble. If the refs are calling it close or not we will have to adjust.

We are a very good shooting team, we dont foul, and we dont turn the ball over at a high rate. We should win this game by double digits and that will depend on how we adjust to the game. They most likely will out rebound us but if we shoot like we can that may not be a big factor. In any event this game will be a measuring stick to show us where we are. Barring injuries and crazy foul trouble I think we win.

 

[Bone Dog]

Key in the game will be to stay out of foul trouble. If the refs are calling it close or not we will have to adjust.

Last time we went down to TBA, even Geno complained about the refs. I assumed he was sending a message. He said something to the effect of "You never know what you're going to get down here." That was after the first half, and then in the 2nd half Joe Vasily made an egregiously bad call against Aaliyah when the replays showed Rickea Jackson had clearly pulled her down on a rebound and then shoved her down again as they were getting up.

These things aren't conspiracies, though. It's just that really loud arenas can distract the refs too. It's hard to concentrate on tiny details sometimes.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The refs are my greatest concern in this game. There are years of evidence supporting Tenn having undo influence over the refs who work in TB arena.

 

[Tonyc]

Last time we went down to TBA, even Geno complained about the refs. I assumed he was sending a message. He said something to the effect of "You never know what you're going to get down here." That was after the first half, and then in the 2nd half Joe Vasily made an egregiously bad call against Aaliyah when the replays showed Rickea Jackson had clearly pulled her down on a rebound and then shoved her down again as they were getting up.

These things aren't conspiracies, though. It's just that really loud arenas can distract the refs too. It's hard to concentrate on tiny details sometimes.

There's a reason why Tenn seems to come back when theyre trailing in a game. Its been going on since Pat was coaching there. I referred to the Rutgers Tenn game with a couple of seconds left when the refs forgot to turn on the clock and it wasnt until after the game people were talking about it That I called Clockwork Orange. Or the game against Baylor with time running out and a loose ball and a Tenn player pushed a Baylor player out of the way and the call went against Baylor and Tenn made the foul shots. Or the time UConn was at Tenn and Tenn went to the foul line 43 times and UConn 8 . Yeah the refs have a hard job thats why I should be reffing the game. LOL Those of you who have been on this board for over 30 years know I could write a book about what has happened.

 

[oldude]

It’s funny. There’s a similar thread, albeit quite a bit longer, on VolNation. The biggest concern that many Lady Vol fans have about the game on Thursday is getting screwed by the refs.

I’m not worried about the refs. What I am worried about is, in order: turnovers, rebounds and making open shots. If the Huskies take care of the ball, hold their own on the boards and make their open shots all will be well.

 

[Centerstream]

The refs are my greatest concern in this game. There are years of evidence supporting Tenn having undo influence over the refs who work in TB arena.

And because the game is on ESPN in (almost) prime time, I am expecting to see Dee Kantner and/or Joe Vaszily.