UCONN - Villanova Post-Game thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

UCONN - Villanova Post-Game thread

veryolddog said:
I watched a very good Villanova team play an exhausted and poorly playing UConn Team with little if any substitutions and UConn still won by shear grit.

The schedule for a 5 person Team or 7 if you count the ones on the bench ready to play is very, very tough and was visualized when this schedule was created. I would bet if Geno could do this all over again, this would schedule would be a little different.

I do hope that the Team gets some substantial rest and perhaps, even one player becomes available.
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3 starters played 40, 1 played 38, one 36. Massage tables and bed rest all around. What fighters we have.
 
HuskyNan said:
The Huskies were looking gassed from the tip-off. Villanova’s physical play didn’t help.

Poor Lou got beat up. No calls :(
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I believe Lou missed 10 straight shots after she was hammered in the head and had to leave game. Her shirt was rarely tucked in due to a Vill. player constantly holding on and pulling at her.
 
I vote for CD to do the substitutions against Providence. She is not afraid to play the subs early. I wouldn't be surprised if Geno didn't sub the starters until mid second quarter, with a 30 point lead. SMH
 
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I was there with 14,000 or so other nervous nellies, none more so than me.

Lots of pink colors throughout the building, and a tribute to a number of breast cancer survivors that was very well done. Touching.

I had underestimated Villanova, they are a much better team than I saw at Mohegan Sun in December when Iowa State trounced them. I thought they would play as a small finesse team but they are actually pretty physical. And Olsen is very good. In person, you can see she has very long arms. Dalce obviously gave Aaliyah some problems.

I thought we were done when it was 51-45, but Nika`s three that made it 51-50 really got the crowd into it. And it was a great crowd.

Gutsy three by Dorka. That was the shot that showed and she took it without hesitation.

Looked like Geno decided to go with individual isolations down low in the fourth quarter and that strategy won us the game. That, and some pretty tough defense down the stretch. Siegrist was held scoreless for the last 8 minutes, that is pretty remarkable.

Aubrey was special today. Really special.

She had four fouls for a long time and was able to stay on the floor and not foul out. Aaliyah did a nice job in that regard as well.

Aubrey`s fourth foul was in front of me and looked like a phantom foul in person but maybe the replay shows otherwise. I saw a couple of others like that as well (especially a foul against Lou on the baseline) but down the stretch, it seemed like the refs let the players decide the game.

I like how Nika is taking it to the hoop.

I saw that Stanford only beat Oregon State by three the other day. Ohio State (overrated IMHO) lost a couple recently. The Boston Celtics dropped three in a row recently before winning in overtime last night. A sportswriter friend of mine told me many years ago that at this time of year, late January to mid-February, strange things can happen in the basketball world. Win, and move on.
 
Blueballer said:
The same was so close I didn't even think of it. Just annoying hearing people says our players "Suck" When they are out there busting it on every play.
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Stop the complaining, these young ladies have busted their buts all season playing short handed almost the entire game. Caroline and Azzi haven’t been much help do to injury and it doesn’t look like either will be back anytime soon. Geno doesn’t seem to have any confidence in his bench. Seems to only play them when a starter gets in foul trouble or desperately needs s breather. Patterson has been a big disappointment to me. I thought she would be much further along in her development.
 
Huskee11 said:
Gutsy three by Dorka. That was the shot that showed and she took it without hesitation.

Looked like Geno decided to go with individual isolations down low in the fourth quarter and that strategy won us the game. That, and some pretty tough defense down the stretch. Siegrist was held scoreless for the last 8 minutes, that is pretty remarkable.

Aubrey was special today. Really special.
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A replay on TV show the three by Dorka was a designed play.

Geno has had to tell the team to go one on one a few times. Individually, the Huskies have some players that have shown they can’t be guarded.
 
While not funny, I laughed at a tactic Villanova was using against Edwards during the game. In high school, when we guarded a player significantly taller or more athletic than us, coach taught us to get position with one of our feet between the offensive player's legs and just hold our position. The offensive player typically tripped or shot off balance, and the refs rarely were looking at the floor and missed the call. I couldn't understand why Edwards looked so awkward in the beginning of the game, then caught on to how Vill. was guarding her. As they sometimes say, if the refs don't call it, its not a foul.
 
my2cents said:
This has to be the worst recap of a game , EVER.
They pretty much hacked us on every shot and drive. Mostly no calls. On top of it you have an ex Villanova player calling the game who saw none of it. Even the tie up of AE at the end, the Villanova player came across her arm.
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Viani is a Poughkeepsie girl like Siegrist. She went to high school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie as did Siegrist. Viani was part of 2 state championships under Brian Georges. She played her college ball at Marist College in Poughkeepsie under Brian Georges. Seigrist won one state championship at Lourdes.

Those of us who grew up in Poughkeepsie and played high school sports keep in touch with our old home town. Hard not to root for your own.
 
HuskyNan said:
Julianne went to Marist. Her sister Jenna went to Villanova. Julianne has always been complimentary of UConn and was today, too. She said several times the game was “only 2 points”. I have no issues with her play calling
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My only complaint abot the broadcast is that they both often ignored the game to tell redundant stories & to quote meaningless stats. Jason Horowitz is a talented play by play announcer, but he should leave the analysis & history lessons to his partner while focusing on the court action.
 
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Once again, turnovers and rebounds allow the opposition a chance. UConn -13 in FG attempts.

Take points per attempt and equalize the attempts and UConn is +18 on the scoreboard.
 
EricLA said:
Have to admit Q1 surprised me a bit in that Aubrey and Aaliyah had 4 shots blocked between them. And offensively, it seemed a few times like Plan A, then Plan B, then Plan C wasn't working, but UCONN was so patient and found the right players to get the ball to. Was really impressed at how good Villanova was on both offense and defense. Thought UCONN was on a good roll. But turnovers continue to be a problem. Some of them are butter-finger post players. Some brain-fart decisions by Nika (great steal, then home run pass to no one down the court). And foul trouble. Nova simply outplayed us in Q2. Our offense was just messy, and part of that was great defense by Nova.

More of the same in the 2nd half. Edwards getting blocked, missed shots, great Villanova defense, and Nova took the lead. Not sure what halftime changes Geno drew up, but nothing was working. I thought the Georgetown game was one of the worst of the season, but this one was harder to watch for me. 8 points scored in Q2. 10 points in Q3. They outplayed UCONN for long stretches of the game. Sigriest was the best player on the floor, altho Griffin was terrific for UCONN.

It sort of seemed like Geno kept expecting the players to figure it out, but it never really came.
  • Aaliyah - step backwards for her today. Got her shot blocked numerous times by a smaller younger player. And missed layups and jumpers when she did get a shot off. But those 2 clutch FT's late - ice water in her veins for sure. 1-2 the next time down. Oh well. Then got those last 2!!!
  • Dorka - too many butterfinger plays. Then I look up and she's got 16 points. That 3 that she took to give UCONN the lead late - I was like "NOOOOO"... then "YESSSSSS"... And that heads up play late saving a half court violation!
  • Nika - 1 assist thru 3 quarters. She did some scoring, but that bad pass in Q1 after getting the steal, then the pass to Dorka in Q4 to take the lead - Dorka was double teamed AND the pass was a bad one. Then followed it up with a beautiful pass to a streaking Aubrey for one of our few fast break baskets.
  • Lou - couldn't get anything going. I realize the old adage "shooters gotta shoot", but 2-13? At some point you gotta realize that taking contested shots is costing your team possessions.
  • Aubrey - Q2 really was the Aubrey show. That reverse layup under the basket with a defender in her face was special. I get that this is technically her 3rd season, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a player improve so much from one season to the next. Her confidence is what allows her to use her physical gifts AND basketball skills to not only be an elite defender, but to show her impressive offensive game. But that 4th foul was so dumb. AND her FT shooting. WOW. I thought those 2 missed FT's were gonna come back to haunt us but she did everything else exceptionally. POG for sure from UCONN's perspective.
That play in the last 30 seconds was just dumb. Couldn't get the ball in, then Edwards is tied up, then Nova drains a 3. Are you serious? SMH. It was like the team never worked on an inbounds play before. Up 5 with 30 seconds left and THAT'S what you do??? The last 30 seconds really was poorly played and mismanaged.

Bottom line is maybe the lack of bench is catching up with them. Didn't seem that way in the Seton Hall or Tennessee games. Not sure the reason this game went the way it did, but kudos to Villanova for outplaying UCONN for long stretches and imposing their will. I think they are much better than the 21st team in the nation. We really won the game at the FT line. What a gutty performance by Nova. And as much as I was pointing out things we did wrong, we kept our composure and gutted out a tremendous win against a really good team. REALLY proud of these guys.
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The difference in the games was Villanova has an excellent coach in Dixon who gave a coaching clinic on how to take UConn out of their offense. And they have kids smart enough and willing to sell out physically to implement the game plan she gave them. The other two teams don't have both. They have one or the other.
 
This was a gutty performance by the UConn warriors. Every college or professional athlete will experience “that off day”. Such was the case with Lou and Edwards. Heck, I once witnessed Willie Mays striking out three times in a National televised baseball game. Some of the comments from the peanut gallery criticizing are unwarranted.
 
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Huskee11 said:
Aubrey`s fourth foul was in front of me and looked like a phantom foul in person but maybe the replay shows otherwise. I saw a couple of others like that as well (especially a foul against Lou on the baseline) but down the stretch, it seemed like the refs let the players decide the game.
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Thanks as always for your in-person observations.

I was a little taken aback by the fourth foul on Aubrey. I rewound it and watched in slo-mo a couple of times and didn't see any contact.
 
This was from the Aubrey vs. Maddy game during their High School days against each other
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jaydee602 said:
How about the older folks at the game? They couldn't sit down for an eternity until UCONN finally scored in the 3rd quarter. I would have been calling for oxygen!
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Reminded me of some of the games from 2003 and 2004 when the team was more offensively challenged. Lots of long standing starts to the second half. But then we know how both those years ended, so maybe it's worth it.
 
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I have not seen the game but I am looking forward to watching a replay. This is the sort of game I love. UConn played a very good team that gave them all they could take and more. But in the end, as tired and beat up as they were, they sucked it up and won the game. For me it doesn't get any better than that.

Villanova obviously had a game plan and they executed it well. Get Seigreist the ball and play UConn physical to get them in foul trouble. In the end they paid a price. Seigreist got hers but they did not get UConn in serious foul trouble and the UConn free throws won the game.

Of course if you visit orange land it was all about the home cooking refs - "home cooking" by the way is a term coind by the orange people as excuses for their losses over the years.
 
Any decent team can win when they're having a good day. It takes a really good team to win when they're having a bad day. Especially when their top two scorers are having off days. Against a good defensive team with a couple of scorers.

The other thing is that Villanova came in knowing they've beaten UConn last year and thinking they could do it again. Most teams would just buckle midway through that first quarter. And Siegrist stuck to her game plan even after a really poor-shooting first half.

Kudos to Villanova for giving UConn a game and to UConn for gutting it out. This may benefit both teams in March.
 
BobbyJ said:
The difference in the games was Villanova has an excellent coach in Dixon who gave a coaching clinic on how to take UConn out of their offense. And they have kids smart enough and willing to sell out physically to implement the game plan she gave them. The other two teams don't have both. They have one or the other.
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Correction: Coach Dillon. Excellent job.
 
BobbyJ said:
The difference in the games was Villanova has an excellent coach in Dixon who gave a coaching clinic on how to take UConn out of their offense. And they have kids smart enough and willing to sell out physically to implement the game plan she gave them. The other two teams don't have both. They have one or the other.
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Sorry, no. I agree Nova played good D, had a good game plan but Senechal and Edwards missed shots they have made a good percentage on all year. It happens and both were due to have off days.
As I said in another post, Uconn made the same mistakes today they have all year, they were just accentuated by the poor shooting.
 
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