UCONN-Texas post game thread

[ClifSpliffy]

Dorka played terribly. It looks like in the big games she doesn't really show up. Yes, she had 9 rebounds but she looked awkward out there. Taylor Jones was giving her the business. Her lateral quickness leaves something to be desired as the forwards were going baseline on her all night long. When she was the relief person for the inbounds passes she looked really nervous and fumbled a lot of the passes.

dorka led all players from both teams in stealing the ball.
chief thief.
she did other dorka great stuff, too.
u really should take ur brain out of the freezer much earlier before u put it in ur noggin to speak. it clearly needs to thaw longer.

 

[boontonbomber]

Can't play Dorka,Azzi and Nika 38-39 minutes. He's looking for trouble. So Ayanna fouls,so Lou can't play defense, so Caroline can't( I don't know what); so what. Just looking for trouble. Can't sit Azzi and/ or Nika last minute of a quarter? Really looking for trouble playing that many minutes. It's a really long season.

 

[Brewski]

I saw a lot of Lou’s games last year. She was a below average defender in all of them. Now that she has stepped up a couple of levels, don’t expect that to change. She will contribute with her three point shooting, but at the other end she will not be a contributor, at least when they are playing man, since she can’t keep anyone in front of her.

On the contrary, I do expect Lou to get better playing defense. She now plays for the absolute best coach in women's basketball and he's emphatic that his players play defense at a high level. When Nika came here from Europe, her defense was pretty bad. Look at her now. She's pretty darn good at that defense thing.

Lou will quickly become a good defensive player. @stamfordhusky I suspect you are just out of UConn game shape and should start doing heavy optimism exercises every morning. You'll be looking on the bright side in no time

 

[Blue Huskie]

I’ve said it before, I love Dorka and she does a lot of good things but she is average on defense and terrible at finishing down low under pressure, Similar to ONO.

Well you know we all wanted to see Boston and /or L. Betts on the Huskies but things don't always work out that way. Neither Dorka or Edwards were top recruits by any means. So you take what you can get and turn them into blue collar types. We've had those people before and won National Championships. It can happen again. Are they All Americans? Of course not. As for terrible at finishing under pressure you mean can she score while getting fouled? Not tonight she couldn't. She got fouled at least 3 times working around the basket and that's the way it's going to be. Sometimes these AA players are not only very talented but they get preferential treatment from the refs. So when you play a team with Boston you do what you can and hope you don't foul out of the game. We don't have the type of team that's going to do the bulk of scoring in the paint. You try to minimize the damage from the "Boston" type players and hope the posts can chip in with few points. I'd say 17 points and 17 boards between AE and Dorka (Like tonight) is a pretty good contribution that can be good enough while the guards score the bulk of the points.

 

[Blue Huskie]

Can't play Dorka,Azzi and Nika 38-39 minutes. He's looking for trouble. So Ayanna fouls,so Lou can't play defense, so Caroline can't( I don't know what); so what. Just looking for trouble. Can't sit Azzi and/ or Nika last minute of a quarter? Really looking for trouble playing that many minutes. It's a really long season.

Yeah and when we get to the Big East they won't be playing that many minutes. Against top 5 teams of course they will. Nothing new here at all. Stars play a lot of minutes in big games.

 

[Bills Fan]

IMO, our best line up is Dorka, Azzi, Caroline (when healthy), Aubrey, and Lou. The nice thing is you get NO drop-off if you sub Edwards or Nika. In many match ups, Edwards and Nika will give a boost to the best 5. There is no denying the energy and grit they both bring to the team. But overall, the best line up that matches up well with the top teams, in terms of size, length, speed, shooting ability, off the ball movement, passing and rebounding is: Dorka, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, and Lou. Oh and BTW, by the end of the season add A. Patterson to the mix with no drop-off.

One thing for sure: You can't go wrong with any combination as long as you have Azzi in the mix. She is a special player.

I suggest you, Team First and I think its corndog should all drop a note to Geno, letting him know that his player evaluation skills have left him and that you folks would be glad to help him in that regard.

 

[tower1]

i'd say they are pretty tough right now!

That is a good team and well coached. He is one hell of a good recruiter too. Great win for our team !

 

[tower1]

Lou had a tough night on defense. That resulted in 3 fouls that put her on the bench. However, she was our third highest scorer and without her 12 points we don't win. She was our jump start for the first 5 minutes. She is one very important cog on our team.

I would not trade Lou ! She helps us allot .

 

[JoePgh]

To all those of you who are complaining about interior defense, Dorka and Aaliyah being "soft", etc., please consult the box score, which is often useful to puncturing myths:

• UConn won the "points in the paint" battle by 10, 44-34. Note that fact -- despite Azzi's brilliant shooting, over half of UConn's points (44 out of 83) were scored in the paint. Granted that a lot of them were layups on runouts, that still doesn't suggest a team getting out-toughed in the interior.
• On second chance points, UConn won the battle 13-10. On offensive rebounds, UConn won, 12-8; on total rebounds, UConn won 34-26.
• Dorka had 6 points and 9 rebounds, 3 of which were on the offensive glass; Aaliyah had 11 points and 8 rebounds. By contrast, for Texas, Taylor Jones had 13 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes (which was obviously all she could physically play) and Aaliyah Moore had 11 points, 4 fouls (!!), and 2 rebounds (!!!) in the 22 minutes that she was able to stay on the court.
• Ayanna played 6 minutes and had 4 rebounds and 2 fouls. She was not getting out-toughed by anybody. The only thing limiting her minutes at this point is her propensity to foul. When she overcomes that, she will greatly add to the interior toughness.

I watched the game in person, and I admit that in the first few minutes it did look as if Dorka and Aaliyah were being outplayed, that Dorka was fumbling the ball -- but that didn't last long. (In fact, Dorka only had 2 turnovers and Aaliyah had 3, and Dorka had 4 steals to offset her turnovers. The Texas post players had ZERO steals for the game.) Statistically, you would have to say that Dorka and Aaliyah outplayed their Longhorn counterparts in this game. Jones may have been the best interior player on either team individually, but overall UConn's front court was more dominating than dominated in this game.

Imagine if you were Texas fans using this game as a measuring stick for your team. I will bet that you would be just as critical of "your" post players as the posters in this thread have been of Dorka and Aaliyah, and you would have more statistical basis to support your criticisms.

 

[socal613ws]

these bigs have to be better, this will not get it done vs South Carolina.

 

[TeamFirst!]

No doubt it was a good game and no doubt that everyone contributed. I think it's also no doubt that we should put the ball in Azzi's hands as some of us have been clamoring for. I think Lou moves her feet pretty well and is not a major defensive liability. Let's give Texas some credit for actually being good. Personally I think Morris was fortunate to have the game she did. Last year she averaged about 1.5 3 pointers a game and today she made 5. I was most impressed with their freshmen and their post players, all of which should continue to improve over the course of the year. This was a win at home against a comparable team who didn't have their best player. We have areas of improvement but overall it was a good game early in the season. Our strength is our offense but we are going to need it maximized. Our defense is better than expected. We don't have a player who can shut down the paint like Stanford and SC but we may have superior shooters outside. We are in the discussion for a FF team. I don't think that is negative overall. I think it's a realistic self assessment.

 

[AzzisBraids]

Azzi was sublime - her play was great, first half she was feeling her team out, then she decided she saw enough and went off. Her play aside, did anyone else see the moment where she asked Paige "Where she going?" after the defender left her on the perimeter and she drained the shot. She may smile and laugh but there's a pitbull in there. She can raise her level depending on the moment and those turnovers aside - her ball handling skills are why UConn won.

Sorry but Aubrey changed the landscape of this game and I don't know if she starts, but if something goes wrong, put her in and she'll fix it. Rebounds. Sure. Fast Breaks. Yep. She just gets it and is the best two way forward right now.

They play good defense because Nika tells them to. She leads the team in effort and when Dorka fell on the floor for that rebound late, I got the UConn, "play hard regardless of the score" vibes of old. Anytime UConn is outscored in the 4th I get nervous but they had Azzi.

Drama aside - Sonya Morris prevented this from being a rout, kudos to her.

 

[Notyetready]

Auriemma is right…defense right now is not very good. Will need to improve dramatically to make a deep run.

???????

 

[hoophuskee]

You must have missed that charge LOU took early on. Wonderful defensive play. I don't think labeling her as "Not a good defensive player" is a valid tag in her 2nd game on the team against a top 5 taem in a game where the refs were blowing the whistle every 20 seconds. Let's see how it develops.

I expect her to be better, and as a fan she was fine. If we want to pretend like we are a coach then we could find 100 things to complain about. I never read the game day thread but it appears a lot of posters think they are Geno? That’s fine. That’s what makes it fun for them as long as they could take counter views --it’s all fun. Anyhow, regarding Lou, as a fan, Lou's 1st foul was due to reaching in on a Offensive Rebound. Her 2nd foul okay UCONN was pressing and she didn't get to the sideline quick enough. But her 3rd foul imo was a joke. So one of her 3 fouls were directed specifically for her Defense. But its not like she was frequently isolated and exposed.

And in the 2nd half they tried to bust her just twice. Once she stood the Texas guard Morris up, and with that, Morris committed a Turnover. No other time did she get busted off the dribble. Instead a taller player got her in the lane and just shot over her. Griffin was a better Defensive matchup when Texas brought that bigger kid in.

The issue isn’t that Lou is a bad defender. It's more of fans recalling seasons of perfection that there is a tendency to expect that perfection the way a top coach would (such as when certain coaches called Lobo and Wolters the worst posts in America) thus they exaggerate the negative.(the same coach once said I believe that Collier can't guard a chair).


Lou will be fine.

 

[gold2323]

Just an observation….we did play the number 3 ranked team in the Nation….and “They are what we thought they were” quoting the late Dennis Green.
And what I liked unlike past years when pressure in the perimeter came ; instead of settling for jumps shots all our players including the bigs drove to the basket and attacked the rim.
For the first real early test we passed

 

[hoophuskee]

Let’s thank Vic for parking Morris and Jones on the bench as we pulled away. Morris had done a great job on Azzi defensively and was Texas’ best scoring threat. Jones could have fouled out our bigs.

The point in bold is absolutely false. Not even close. In fact the point of which Azzi started to score with about over a minute left in the 3rd quarter, she scored UCONN's 14 of UCONN's next 18 points, while assisting on another basket. While Morris was in the game. And the lead went from about 8 to 16 despite Morris "great job and best scoring threat." When the lead went to 16 Vic pulled her with 6:42 left.

In fact, the UCONN lead dropped when Morris was out.

And please can we stop the exaggeration of Jones? She's a good player but she is not a great player at least not yet. In the 1st half she allowed three layups and the 4th layup imo she was mostly responsible. In the 2nd half with game pretty much decided Edwards drove toward her and Jones fouled her. Another play she fouled Griffin inside and got the benefit of the no-call.

And she is not much on Transition Defense.

Good player for sure but please let's stop the exaggerations.

 

[Zarathustra]

special KUDOS to the refs for not falling for TEXAS' attempt to
get Azzi into FOUL trouble with all those FLOPS . Watched
the AZZI highlights or the whole game. I counted so many,
that I lost count!

 

[JellyBean]

Ooooowee!! Already a 7 pager and #167 comments...6am! I loved this game. This Texas game was a huge test for our girls, especially dealing with the rebounds and the physical nature of Texas and other teams going forward. Edwards, Dorka, Patterson, and AG did a wonderful job on the glass and dealing with a lot of the physical play in the post. Great job, ladies!

Azzi, Nika, and Lou: Great crew right there. Lou got things going on offense and she is such a joy to watch. So glad that we have her here at UConn. Same with Nika. She is the engine. Love her pace and flow. She gets better every year, which is what you want to see out there as a coach, player, and fan. Her decision making is so underrated. I forgot which play it was but there was moment where Azzi was pushing the ball up the court, hit Nika with a bounce pass. Nika could have forced a shot and gotten some contact from a Texas player, blocked, or miss but she hit Dorka with a nice soft pass for the easy bucket. That is next level type stuff right there! Nika is awesome!!

Azzi. What more needs to be said. She had a coming out party!! She let the game come to her rather than forcing things. Like Nika, that is next level type of playing. We all know that she can score and shoot the ball. Azzi just felt the rhythm and timing of the game and just took off from there. It was a joy to watch.

Glad to see Caroline getting back out there. Glad that coach limited her minutes. I am sure she probably wanted more minutes out there. Her fans (me included) probably wanted more minutes as well but we understand the nature of it all and want the best for the players, especially when it comes to their health.

Great game, ladies and we just have to learn from this and build on it.

Go, UConn!!

 

[Stymie]

My observations.
*Vic is one of the best coaches in NCAA WBB.
*Fans on this board projecting a 30 point win, well…?
*Aaliyah played a ‘marginal’ first half, thank God she found her mojo in the second.
*Coach needs to fast track Ayanna- going to REALLY need her to go far in the Big Dance.
*CAROLINE is smooth a silk. Need her back badly.
*UCONN gave up wayyy to many open 3’s.
*Needing to look to Aubrey (playing great) to cover up the deficiencies of our bigs is not a recipe for the title.
*NIKA, true to her word, put in the off-season work, and damn, does it show!
*AMARI put in off-season work, and…
*If we need to ‘count’ on Azzi getting that hot against every top team we play against, well , that may be a bit much to ask.

 

[chazone]

I felt that Azzi played timid or nervous the first half . She committed quite a few errors during that span. If it wasn't for Nika and Aubrey the end result might have been different. Also her defense needs a lot of work . She was guarding Sonya whom torched her the whole game. It was as if Azzi was playing a Matador defense

 

[CL82]

Dorka played terribly. It looks like in the big games she doesn't really show up. Yes, she had 9 rebounds but she looked awkward out there. Taylor Jones was giving her the business. Her lateral quickness leaves something to be desired as the forwards were going baseline on her all night long. When she was the relief person for the inbounds passes she looked really nervous and fumbled a lot of the passes.

9 assist and 3 steals say different.

 

[KingKong139]

We did shoot well and it was a great win but it took a career night from Azzi to beat Texas without Rori Harmon. Notice that Harmon’s replacement had a horrible game. With Harmon, this game would be tied. We should score well overall but to optimize our chance of winning the NC I still think we need Lou, Azzi and Caroline in the primary minutes lineup. Caroline has shown that she can score against any team.

This was the first take I’ve seen here that references Harmon, thank you. Most people are touting the win as the should, but neglecting to make note of the terrible game Texas’ backup PG had. Harmon may not increase their shooting %, but she damn sure would reduce their turnovers.

 

[GardenState]

And the first to do it against a top team where pretty much every point really mattered.

 

[HuskyNan]

If you think these posts were negative here, you should have been in the chat room during the game.
I'm watching UCONN score & pull away by 17, but I'm reading endless complaints about: Lou not playing, poor foul shooting, Geno's coaching incompetence, nobody scoring except Azzi, etc.
Can you imagine if UCONN lost? YIKES!

Now you know why we don’t have game threads on the board.

 

[eebmg]

special KUDOS to the refs for not falling for TEXAS' attempt to
get Azzi into FOUL trouble with all those FLOPS . Watched
the AZZI highlights or the whole game. I counted so many,
that I lost count!

Absolutely, the distance and air those TX kids got is impressive.