UConn vs Arizona - Match-up and comments

[ShmiCO]

I like Aari's confidence and leadership in this video. Not disagreeing with any of the analysis in the posts above, and I think UConn will handle whatever Arizona brings. But I'm all for a competitive, entertaining game.

 

[Jingo]

According to McDonald, she will guard Paige.

Good! Paige will post her up, eh?

 

[oldude]

Good! Paige will post her up, eh?

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Paige has a really nice turnaround bank shot from the low post that she should be able to get off anytime she wants over the 5’6” McDonald.

 

[huskiemaniac]

Morgan William played for MS ST.

 

[AgStatesman]

According to McDonald, she will guard Paige.

Just what you want, your best offensive player running all around the defensive end of the court trying to stop the others teams best player. This sounds like it could really work for 4 quarters.

 

[Bjbod]

Arizona is not a great shooting team. For the year: 41% on FG's, 34% on 3's, 69% on FT's. This is subjective, but when I've watched them a lot of their misses aren't close. McDonald has been hot the past 2 games, but for the year she's 33% on 3's. They only have one player, Cate Reese, who shoots them at better than 39%...and she's only 13-29 for the year, so one trey every other game.

They only assist on 47% of their baskets (295/624); I know they score on turnovers but this is a low number. UConn assists on 64% (602/943). This points to less passing and more attempts on creating one's own shot.

Unless the Huskies lose discipline and get tired of playing solid defense I don't see this game as being close. Make their mediocre shooters beat you from outside and use your height advantage to control the boards. They may get a few runs on a few turnovers, but I see this as a game where UConn gradually grows the margin as the game plays out. Lead may approach 30 with a drop off the last few minutes.

UConn moves on 81-57.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I just watched the IU UA game on the tube. Almost every shot McDaniel took was uncontested. I don't think she will get those open looks against CW or AG orNM. Anyway it seems thatshe is a pretty normal shooter who just happened to way outshoot her acerage for a couple of games. Not t worry.

I've stated ad infinitum that there is a huge talent difference between UConn and Arizona which will make it virtually impossible for Arizona to win. That said, Aari is "special". I've seen her play in person and I will remind that she was the PAC12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year. She is projected by some sites as #3 in the WNBA draft.

She is an extremely streaky shooter. It would not shock me to see UConn hold her below her season average. It also wouldn't shock me if she got hers and UConn stopped almost every one else. 3 seasons ago, Arizona won 6 games. It is still in building mode.

 

[Gurleyman]

I think we are all underrating Arizona’s defense. It’d take some remarkable offensive execution to drop 80 or 90 on a team that has only given up 60 in regulation once in the last 15 games (when Stanford had 62).

They‘re going to defend hard and make like difficult, and we will have to do the same. Hopefully we can get in front and not have the pressure of playing from behind against a good defensive team, and then make enough plays to keep them an arm‘s length away. A hard-fought 60-53 type of win might not be good for the blood pressure, but this time of year that is just fine.

 

[Charliebball]

Wow Paige could post her up any time she wants.

that's the beauty of UConn..........they're not a one woman team............it just means her four teammates better be ready for her passes because they're coming...........if they are hitting their shots, PB could really care less if she scores ten or thirty.........

 

[Charliebball]

Arizona is not a great shooting team. For the year: 41% on FG's, 34% on 3's, 69% on FT's. This is subjective, but when I've watched them a lot of their misses aren't close. McDonald has been hot the past 2 games, but for the year she's 33% on 3's. They only have one player, Cate Reese, who shoots them at better than 39%...and she's only 13-29 for the year, so one trey every other game.

They only assist on 47% of their baskets (295/624); I know they score on turnovers but this is a low number. UConn assists on 64% (602/943). This points to less passing and more attempts on creating one's own shot.

Unless the Huskies lose discipline and get tired of playing solid defense I don't see this game as being close. Make their mediocre shooters beat you from outside and use your height advantage to control the boards. They may get a few runs on a few turnovers, but I see this as a game where UConn gradually grows the margin as the game plays out. Lead may approach 30 with a drop off the last few minutes.

UConn moves on 81-57.

depends which Arizona team shows up..............if they shoot as well as they did the other night the game could be far closer than that............

 

[MSGRET]

Arizona is not a great shooting team. For the year: 41% on FG's, 34% on 3's, 69% on FT's. This is subjective, but when I've watched them a lot of their misses aren't close. McDonald has been hot the past 2 games, but for the year she's 33% on 3's. They only have one player, Cate Reese, who shoots them at better than 39%...and she's only 13-29 for the year, so one trey every other game.

They only assist on 47% of their baskets (295/624); I know they score on turnovers but this is a low number. UConn assists on 64% (602/943). This points to less passing and more attempts on creating one's own shot.

Unless the Huskies lose discipline and get tired of playing solid defense I don't see this game as being close. Make their mediocre shooters beat you from outside and use your height advantage to control the boards. They may get a few runs on a few turnovers, but I see this as a game where UConn gradually grows the margin as the game plays out. Lead may approach 30 with a drop off the last few minutes.

UConn moves on 81-57.

Post the score on the Prognosticators Tournament thread to make it official.

 

[fomalhaut]

I wish we had a better opponent before the title game....we win easily but could lose a bit of edge/focus in the early part of the title game. I always prefer to play the best teams even if that means we have the tougher road. Then we know we are battle tested.

We did. It was just in the Elite 8 instead of the Final Four.

I'm actually not worried about Aari McDonald scoring 30 points, as long as we don't let the rest of Arizona score any more than 30.

 

[itsasport]

UConn is going to own the offensive and defensive boards and Liv and Edwards will be able to score at will. A&M was able to break Arizona's press and score, as will UConn.

Arizona beat A&M because the latter did not take enough advantage of the superiority of their forwards and center, were totally impatient on offense generally, were 2-8 on 3's vs 13-29 for Arizona, and did not made any real effort to control McDonald.

 

[Tonyc]

Remember one thing. Proceed with caution. This is a team that keeps the score in the 60s. They've done that all year. Expect that and proceed with caution. I'm hoping for a blowout but knowing how they play proceed with caution.