My season seats are behind the UConn bench and many, many times, Ice simply makes poor shot decisions and when she gets yanked out of the game, like last night, Geno or CD have a rather stern discussion with her. To me, for every step Ice takes forward, she takes 2 steps back. Her game is not strong enough yet to justify her taking 18 foot jumpers like she is often prone to do and the coaching staff let her know that again when she was removed.
I also disagree with a poster who says Q wasn't effective, I actually think she has improved and does well on defense now. She doesn't look to just hoist 3 point shots any more and looks to drive and take a mid-range shot AND she gets involved underneath in rebounding (not as successful as I would like but...).
We ultimately need Ice to give Aaliyah a breather and to defend the bigger front court players to allow Paige to focus more on offense. If Ice doesn't continue her development, we are sunk. Maybe last night's limited minutes were the "shot across the bow" to Ice that she needs to keep on working and a reward to Q that her hard work has earned earlier playing time.
Yes, the game was sloppy, yes our shooting from the freshman was atrocious but we still won by 21 points and despite 'Nova closing it to 7, no one felt this game was in jeopardy.
The long discussion with Denise at the end of the game was a "jovial" chat, as Geno and Denise do have a good relationship and despite the game getting a bit "chippy" this was not a "UCF style thugfest". What hurt Villanova the most was the poor fouling by Dalce who only played 6 minutes. Until she gets her propensity to foul under control, the Wildcats will struggle as she is their 2nd best player (albeit a non-popular opposition player-just ask the UConn student section).
Lastly, at halftime, the school honored all the student athletes who attained a 3.0 or higher GPA last semester and the Women's team had 11 members recognized. The Men's team had 5.
