UConn - Villanova post game thread

[freshler40]

Ditto to comments above, I do see improvements in Jana, but that girl has to do a better job catching and holding on to the ball, along with finishing at the rim! You could see Geno screaming to her to "hold on to the ball"!

Totally agree with you about improving her catching. She continues to dribble first and brings the ball down where it can be slapped away. Our guards need to get her the ball up high, not bounce passes at her feet. She will easily be a mid-teens scorer on a regular basis. She has slowed down her shooting stoke with much improved accuracy.

On offence, Jana is moving well to the ball but needs to close out shooters she is being switched on. She plays well off them, perhaps favoring a rebounding position. Glad she is on our team. Love her enthusiasm.

 

[TUCBTUD]

Denise Dillon and Maddie Webber

 

[PJCLaw]

OT:
1. There were a couple of replay-closeups of players (of both teams)
stopping for shots---decelerating quickly...and if you watch closely...
There are many little extra hops...that might easily...actually should be called walking.

2. Often...again all teams ...almost never whistled...a player picks up a contested ball and dribbles...an opponent forces the dribble to stop by one means or another...and then the initial player just starts to dribble again...
By the rules-double dribble...but never called

They call that the gather step before the shot.

 

[Dugway]

OT:
1. There were a couple of replay-closeups of players (of both teams)
stopping for shots---decelerating quickly...and if you watch closely...
There are many little extra hops...that might easily...actually should be called walking.

2. Often...again all teams ...almost never whistled...a player picks up a contested ball and dribbles...an opponent forces the dribble to stop by one means or another...and then the initial player just starts to dribble again...
By the rules-double dribble...but never called

These violations are not necessarily called in the Big East, yet may very well be called all the time in say in the Big West.

Unfortunately, you can’t pick your referees; the kinda scary thought is that we might end up with a zebra crew further down the road that calls the game a little different. You get to the dance and referee groups come from all reaches of the country just like the teams.

I luv our team but have been of the opinion that we commit very few turnovers, partly due to the referee simply not calling them. Traveling and moving screens… ugh!

 

[ThisJustIn]

Totally agree with you about improving her catching. She continues to dribble first and brings the ball down where it can be slapped away. Our guards need to get her the ball up high, not bounce passes at her feet. She will easily be a mid-teens scorer on a regular basis. She has slowed down her shooting stoke with much improved accuracy.

On offence, Jana is moving well to the ball but needs to close out shooters she is being switched on. She plays well off them, perhaps favoring a rebounding position. Glad she is on our team. Love her enthusiasm.

Thought she did some great sealing on offense and played solid defense (felt like she got frustrated at the end and then just did a couple of Bam Bam thunks of people.

Couple of times her teammates did her a disservice on WHERE and WHEN they delivered her the ball. Makes me think about who our point guard will be next year....

 

[AzzisBraids]

Bueckers has her fire back. There was a point in the first half where Villanova was making noise but she scored so many buckets in a row to calm that down. Paige, Azzi and Sarah are lethal and took turns picking Nova apart. Sarah rebounded the leather off the ball.

Chen is doing what I hoped she would and being opportunistic with her scoring. Brady made the most timely three and besides some miscues looks to really help out in the post.

 

[ERWUC65]

Our big 3 came through, so we move on. Creighton won going away and will be a legitimate threat tomorrow. I am concerned that Ice, KK and Ash went missing in this one and hope it is not again due to lack of confidence in the big games. The defense is keeping us in the games, but with Aubrey out, we need more than 7 points from those 3.

 

[BRS24]

Paige hunting shots in the first half is exactly what the team needed, and once there was a cushion, she deferred to others. I think we'll see that a lot over the next game or so.

 

[Zarathustra]

Denise Dillon and Maddie Webber

Denise Dillon on Sarah's Defense: " She killing on the
boards...for sure". It was the last question in the Villanova
post-game presser.

 

[Fore!]

OT:
1. There were a couple of replay-closeups of players (of both teams)
stopping for shots---decelerating quickly...and if you watch closely...
There are many little extra hops...that might easily...actually should be called walking.

2. Often...again all teams ...almost never whistled...a player picks up a contested ball and dribbles...an opponent forces the dribble to stop by one means or another...and then the initial player just starts to dribble again...
By the rules-double dribble...but never called

I couldn’t agree more with #1; it is a travel, but apparently the rule books for the NCAA and NBA have been deemed irrelevant.

 

[Longtime fan]

What a game! No idea what was going on defensively in the first half - credit to 'Nova for coming TO PLAY, but Geno must have had "some words" at halftime cuz... the 2nd half was a totally different story. Side note - How did Villanova lose 14 games now this year? They seem like they should have been much better.

• Sarah and Paige - just wow. What more can you say? Incredible
• I wish Azzi would shoot more, but I suspect that she draws so much defensive attention that it makes life much easier for others. Solid game for her!
• I really liked what I saw from Jana today!! More please!!
• Cait seems like she has really quiet games, but she's just so solid out there and mostly makes really good decisions.

Pretty quiet game from KK and Ash - can't fault their effort, but not a lot of production in the stats columns. Have to keep it real - not a good game at all for Ice. Bad play exacerbated by bad decisions.

Great seeing the subs in and scoring from Allie and Carol!!

Congrats to the team and on to the finals!!

I thought ICE played pretty well and made some fine plays ( including her three). AZZI is pretty well covered . She cannot often create her own space for a three. But she can drive to the hoop anytime.

 

[Geew1992]

I can't remember seeing any game, at any level, where a team was held to zero baskets in a quarter. I watched as good a level of defense as this team has played in a long, long time. 17 points in the second half and Villanova is a pretty good team.
Defense will win #12!

last year in the Big East tournament. Forgot who UCONN played, I think Marquette, held them scoreless for a quarter and a half.

 

[Rowdy831]

One of the big things in the second half versus second half was UConn limiting 2nd chance points. At halftime Villanova had 9 offensive rebounds, they ended with 11 for the game.

Thought Jana did a really nice job sealing off her defender allowing herself to get some better looks inside.

Paige/Sarah I honestly feel is getting harder to stop as the season goes on. It’s like they share the same mind on the court.

Two last comments -

1) Seems when Chen and KK are in together Chen still brings the ball up and KK sits out past the 3 point line. To me this should be the other way around. KK is not a strong shooter so getting her an open 3 doesn’t help much, Chen is a much better shooter, would rather her take an open 3.

2) Villanova face guarded Paige in the second half with some success, if other teams do that we just need a way to keep Paige involved and make sure she can still get the ball into her hands.

I think they were trying to face guard her the whole game but when Paige wants to get past you she is going past you.

 

[Rowdy831]

Ditto to comments above, I do see improvements in Jana, but that girl has to do a better job catching and holding on to the ball, along with finishing at the rim! You could see Geno screaming to her to "hold on to the ball"!

I think it would help if she didn't have to catch bounce passes every time. She is 6'5 so get her the ball up top to reduce the number of hands that can reach it.

 

[Rowdy831]

I didn't think it was a very smooth game for UConn against an over matched Villanova team. The played good and that was plenty but I don't think they have really played their best ball this weekend, yet.

Sarah has been a ball hawk lately and I think she could score 20 every night if that was her objective. She has amazing hands and rebounds extremely well for her size. Paige is playing good ball right now and she appears to have moved to the next gear in this tournament. With that attitude it makes UConn a very difficult team to stay with for a whole game. Azzi is the one I think needs to notch it up a little on offense. She is missing a few shots that she is usually automatic with but her defensive effort is off the charts. Jana has done a great job on the boards in limited action after she goes out for the first time. Her offense is getting better and she had a couple nice passes when the defense collapsed on her.

The supporting cast yesterday coming off the bench was so so on offense but they all played hard on defense. Villanova had several long open threes that went in early but eventually they stopped hitting those and the game was over. UConn will most likely win comfortably tonight and be in good shape to make another run at number 12.

 

[ERWUC65]

I didn't think it was a very smooth game for UConn against an over matched Villanova team. The played good and that was plenty but I don't think they have really played their best ball this weekend, yet.

Sarah has been a ball hawk lately and I think she could score 20 every night if that was her objective. She has amazing hands and rebounds extremely well for her size. Paige is playing good ball right now and she appears to have moved to the next gear in this tournament. With that attitude it makes UConn a very difficult team to stay with for a whole game. Azzi is the one I think needs to notch it up a little on offense. She is missing a few shots that she is usually automatic with but her defensive effort is off the charts. Jana has done a great job on the boards in limited action after she goes out for the first time. Her offense is getting better and she had a couple nice passes when the defense collapsed on her.

The supporting cast yesterday coming off the bench was so so on offense but they all played hard on defense. Villanova had several long open threes that went in early but eventually they stopped hitting those and the game was over. UConn will most likely win comfortably tonight and be in good shape to make another run at number 12.

You are being too kind to the "supporting cast". 7 points between Ice, Ash and KK isn't going to win in the tournament or even against Creighton. These 3 need to get their mojo back or we are in trouble.

 

[AnonChoice]

I can't remember seeing any game, at any level, where a team was held to zero baskets in a quarter. I watched as good a level of defense as this team has played in a long, long time. 17 points in the second half and Villanova is a pretty good team.
Defense will win #12!

I believe that in last year's Big East tournament semi-final, when we played Marquette, Marquette was held completely scoreless for the entire fourth quarter -- no baskets, no foul shots.

 

[Ozimoto]

They got pushed yesterday. I think they needed that to remind them that no one is going to lay down and hand the game to them. It also shows that the third time teams play there are no surprises and it comes down to execution and following the game plan. Creighton will pose a challenge tonight as well. They shut down Seton Hall last night as Jensen, Maly and Mogenson had a good game and their supporting cast did their jobs.