UConn vs. Temple Game Thread!

[BigBird]

My mother told me if I have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all . I adhere to that with players, some of the boneyarders I bite my tongue a Little .harder

I've noticed that many of the player-bashers have rather low numbers of total posts. I don't pretend to be in charge of this board, but it's hard sometimes not to openly call for a thinning of the herd. We wouldn't be losing much, for the most part. It's not the BY way, I know. But neither is the ripping of your own players on an undefeated defending national champion team. This is just nuts.

 

[Carnac]

Well, I think shocked is too strong. Disappointed maybe but not shocked. If we are being objective, this team has been dodging bullets with our weak bench, potential fouling out and troubling injuries all year. It is clear as often stated by Geno that our margin has not been so thin for a long time.

I hear what you are saying eebmg, but...............If this were a horse race, we're at the point of the season where we're rounding the final turn, and heading for home. The finish line is still a ways off, but it's in sight, and Geno is going to the whip. At THIS point, this is the way I see UConn finishing the season:

1. We've got 2 conference games left. Memphis & USF. UConn should win BOTH of them with relative ease. Memphis (13-14/6-8) is in 8th place in the conference standings with a sub .500 record. They're having problems scoring points lately. They couldn't break 40 against SMU this past Saturday, who is not a defensive Juggernaut. USF (21-6/10-4) has already lost 4 conference games this year. One to UConn, and one to Memphis, UCF & Temple. They are not the dominant team they've been in years past. UConn should win this game in the same fashion they did the last game, 102-37 or there abouts.

2. AAC conference Tournament - March 3 - 6 at The Mohegan Sun Arena, CT. UConn should breeze through these 3 games with relative ease. These game are being played in UConn's backyard in the MSA, their home away from home. Expect lots of local UConn fans to be in attendance. Tulane is the only conference team to play them close. If a rematch occurs, I look for a completely different game (same result) from the Huskies. One similar to the first game the two played this year, 100-56.

3. NACC Tournament - UConn will be the overall #1 seed in the tournament.
First weekend - 1st & 2nd round games - March 17-20 Hosted by UConn in Gampel Arena. They'll be playing a #16 seed, and either the 8th or 9th seed in their bracket. They should have no trouble winning both games against two less talented teams.

Second weekend - 3rd & 4th round games - Venue: Bridgeport Connecticut (March 24-27) Another backyard venue for UConn. 90% of the fans in the arena for those games will be wearing UConn gear. The team will be feeding off of their energy and support. The highest seeded team they can play the first game is a #5 seed. If they win that one, and they should, now it gets a bit dicey. Now they play a top 10 team. They play for the regional final against the regional #2 or 3 seed, IF there are no upsets like there was last year. I see UConn coming out of their region as usual.

Third weekend - Final Four - Dallas Texas Venue: American Airlines Arena. Friday March 31 & Sunday April 2)
Two games over 3 days. Playing two more top 10 teams. They've already faced and beaten 5 top 10 teams this year. No fear here. This team (except for the freshmen) has been here before. They know exactly what to expect. Geno will have them ready to play. UConn must win it's last 6 games. The first 3 should not present that much of a problem. Our lack of depth has been a constant all season. Unless the starters get into early foul trouble, or sustain an injury, they should expect to play 35 - 40 minutes. This is not a new dynamic for team UConn. They've done this the past 4 years.

I fully expect UConn to get to the "Great 8". When (not if) they get to that point, I doubt they'll lose one of those last 3. Like last year, there's no guarantee they'll be facing #1 seeds, that remains to be seen. They may play two teams they played earlier in the year. One game at a time. Do not look ahead, do not assume anything, do not concede anything, do not under estimate your next opponent, be ready to play, and play hard/smart for 40 minutes. Ask no quarter, give none. That's how I see it. No smoke, no mirrors, no slight of hand tricks. That's the way I read the tea leaves. I'm standing hard and fast on these observations and expectations. So shall it be written, so shall it be done.

 

[huskeynut]

Carnac - well said.

I would point out that for at least the next two games, UConn will not have its normal starting 5. Kia will still be in a boot, which I am fine with. Her health comes first. But this means, as we have seen, a different chemistry is evolving. This is a good thing. Crystal will be better prepared for the tournament run and the team will be comfrtable with her on the floor.

As to our opponents, time will tell.

 

[OldAlum]

Noticed something interesting this morning. Turned to ESPN and, as usual, they run news and scores across the bottom. Upcoming categories are listed: NFL, MCBB, UConn, etc. I waited for the section to come up. Of course it was the details of UConn's win against Temple and a mention of the streak.
So UConn WBB gets its own category rather than a generic WCBB. Transcending the sport!

 

[j66kicker]

We should be getting our own ESPN channel soon

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Carnac - well said.

I would point out that for at least the next two games, UConn will not have its normal starting 5. Kia will still be in a boot, which I am fine with. Her health comes first. But this means, as we have seen, a different chemistry is evolving. This is a good thing. Crystal will be better prepared for the tournament run and the team will be comfrtable with her on the floor.

As to our opponents, time will tell.

For all her many gifts Crystal still does some frankly juvenile stuff that she should be over by this point. One of them is to get ahead of herself and her team and, rather than draw the ball back out, she'll charge ahead into a wall down low. Saw it last night. Crystal, you are not Moses. The wall of bigs/forwards will not divide and let you in to the promised land. When I see this still happening I get a little nervous about the growth going forward.

 

[oldude]

I've noticed that many of the player-bashers have rather low numbers of total posts. I don't pretend to be in charge of this board, but it's hard sometimes not to openly call for a thinning of the herd. We wouldn't be losing much, for the most part. It's not the BY way, I know. But neither is the ripping of your own players on an undefeated defending national champion team. This is just nuts.

I would suggest we just attribute the negative posts to misguided youth, with the sincere hope that such posters accumulate both age and wisdom in "dog years."

 

[JustinesGuy]

Very excited to be a first time poster. Ive followed the board for awhile, its a good place. I was lucky enough to score 2 tickets 8th row dead center for the temple game. It was really amazing watching the game so close up.

A few observations:

It was nice seeing us rebound from a tough game. The offense was crisp, and the energy was very high. I felt the short bench and pressure of the Tulane game left us a bit fatigued, physically and mentally.

Pheesa is amazing. The board might not agree but when its all said and done she may be talked about with Stewie, Bird, Maya etc. For her size, the things she can do on the court are amazing. With the addition of a legit three point shot, she can do it all.

The minute they had to take Gabby out with foul trouble the level of play decreased right away. Its going to be key that we stay out of foul trouble at least in the big tournament games.

I feel badly for Molly Bent, shes just got getting it. Her minutes have gone way down and we really can use another solid guard with Kia out. I was watching Geno when she was in and he was just leaning on the scorers table and shaking his head at her. There was one series where she had a wide open shot, passed on it, eventually turned the ball over and then committed a foul at the other end.

The crowd was amazing, the building was like 85% full, and there as a ton of energy. I really feel like the girls feed off it. I think the home cooking helped Lou. I think she had a nice bounce back game..

Kia- Looks like she beyond hates to not be out there. The look on her face says it all. She was very stone faced on the bench. Kia was wearing this wrap around shall like shirt like she was freezing.. Kinda funny..

Lastly and not least, Justine looked amazing in person. Yes a bit of a crush haha. Only negative of being is person is missing her updates haha..

Very proud of this team. People dont give Geno enough credit, what he has done this year is amazing. I am really enjoying the ride.

 

[oldude]

Very excited to be a first time poster. Ive followed the board for awhile, its a good place. I was lucky enough to score 2 tickets 8th row dead center for the temple game. It was really amazing watching the game so close up.

A few observations:

It was nice seeing us rebound from a tough game. The offense was crisp, and the energy was very high. I felt the short bench and pressure of the Tulane game left us a bit fatigued, physically and mentally.

Pheesa is amazing. The board might not agree but when its all said and done she may be talked about with Stewie, Bird, Maya etc. For her size, the things she can do on the court are amazing. With the addition of a legit three point shot, she can do it all.

The minute they had to take Gabby out with foul trouble the level of play decreased right away. Its going to be key that we stay out of foul trouble at least in the big tournament games.

I feel badly for Molly Bent, shes just got getting it. Her minutes have gone way down and we really can use another solid guard with Kia out. I was watching Geno when she was in and he was just leaning on the scorers table and shaking his head at her. There was one series where she had a wide open shot, passed on it, eventually turned the ball over and then committed a foul at the other end.

The crowd was amazing, the building was like 85% full, and there as a ton of energy. I really feel like the girls feed off it. I think the home cooking helped Lou. I think she had a nice bounce back game..

Kia- Looks like she beyond hates to not be out there. The look on her face says it all. She was very stone faced on the bench. Kia was wearing this wrap around shall like shirt like she was freezing.. Kinda funny..

Lastly and not least, Justine looked amazing in person. Yes a bit of a crush haha. Only negative of being is person is missing her updates haha..

Very proud of this team. People dont give Geno enough credit, what he has done this year is amazing. I am really enjoying the ride.

Welcome to the BY. As an Oldude, I fully concur with your assessment of Justine.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Lastly and not least, Justine looked amazing in person. Yes a bit of a crush haha. Only negative of being is person is missing her updates haha..

Yes, welcome aboard. I did think the choker was a little over the top for a side line reporter though.

 

[wire chief]

I would describe Natalie as having been poorly coached in her first two years in college. Geno has said he won't take JUCos because it takes two years for them to unlearn bad habits and Nat is, essentially, the same as a JUCO.

She brings the ball down after catching it or tries to dribble when she should just go back up. That's a bad habit from bad coaching. She tries to use her size instead of positioning for rebounds or defense. Ditto the coaching thing. Natalie got to UConn and had to unlearn the bad stuff and start learning some pretty fundamental things that even freshman Kyla, a coach's kid, knew a long time ago. You can SEE Natalie thinking too much out there sometimes but she's trying hard, really hard, much too hard to take potshots from fans.

Sometimes Nat's teammates toss her the ball too low, and that does not lead to a good outcome.

 

[herbiep]

I've noticed that many of the player-bashers have rather low numbers of total posts. I don't pretend to be in charge of this board, but it's hard sometimes not to openly call for a thinning of the herd. We wouldn't be losing much, for the most part. It's not the BY way, I know. But neither is the ripping of your own players on an undefeated defending national champion team. This is just nuts.

So, if they don't agree with you, drop them from the Boneyard. I don't think anyone was "ripping" the players, pretty much just stating facts. Have you ever watched a Geno practice.

 

[Carnac]

Very excited to be a first time poster. Ive followed the board for awhile, its a good place. I was lucky enough to score 2 tickets 8th row dead center for the temple game. It was really amazing watching the game so close up.

A few observations:

It was nice seeing us rebound from a tough game. The offense was crisp, and the energy was very high. I felt the short bench and pressure of the Tulane game left us a bit fatigued, physically and mentally.

Pheesa is amazing. The board might not agree but when its all said and done she may be talked about with Stewie, Bird, Maya etc. For her size, the things she can do on the court are amazing. With the addition of a legit three point shot, she can do it all.

The minute they had to take Gabby out with foul trouble the level of play decreased right away. Its going to be key that we stay out of foul trouble at least in the big tournament games.

I feel badly for Molly Bent, shes just got getting it. Her minutes have gone way down and we really can use another solid guard with Kia out. I was watching Geno when she was in and he was just leaning on the scorers table and shaking his head at her. There was one series where she had a wide open shot, passed on it, eventually turned the ball over and then committed a foul at the other end.

The crowd was amazing, the building was like 85% full, and there as a ton of energy. I really feel like the girls feed off it. I think the home cooking helped Lou. I think she had a nice bounce back game..

Kia- Looks like she beyond hates to not be out there. The look on her face says it all. She was very stone faced on the bench. Kia was wearing this wrap around shall like shirt like she was freezing.. Kinda funny..

Lastly and not least, Justine looked amazing in person. Yes a bit of a crush haha. Only negative of being is person is missing her updates haha..

Very proud of this team. People don't give Geno enough credit, what he has done this year is amazing. I am really enjoying the ride.

First of all JustinesGuy, welcome to the yard. It's always nice to get new fans/posters into the fold. I'm already jealous of you for having a great seat for a UConn home game, and being able to witness them at their best.
Allow me to piggyback on some of your observations - I think your observation of the short bench and UConn's inability to shake Tulane off of them was accurate. Cold shooting will do that. The fact that Tulane was playing on adrenaline didn't hurt either. Going into the last 10 days of the regular season, UConn needed a game of that nature. A game they had to work hard for, and figure some things out on the fly to win. A game that came down to the final shot. The experience they gleaned in that game will serve them well in the coming weeks. You don't learn much from 40 point blowouts. One of the players said after the game (I'm paraphrasing), "We learned what it felt like to lose a game without actually losing one".

Gabby Williams - If UConn is going to go all the way, Gabby MUST be on the floor. As you stated, her absence is conspicuous. Gabby plays the game all out, she a warrior. Warriors attack. There's no one on the bench that can come in, and do the things she does. When she goes out, that puts additional pressure and stress on the other starters. No doubt the coaches have been drilling that fact into Gabby's head all year. Williams must understand that she has to play smart, learn how/when to pick her battles (pace her aggressiveness) so as to maximize her potential contribution(s) to the team. She can't help the team from the bench. If she can play without fouls being an issue, the world will be her oyster. If she's only got 1-2 fouls late in the game, she can be more aggressive than if she has 3-4. They can't win it without her. Going into the post season, Williams and Collier cannot be out of the lineup for an extended period of time.

Kia Nurse - We knew she was a key component of the starting unit. She is the straw that stirs the drink. Sometimes you don't miss someone until they're not there. They've been playing with her all season, when he's not out there, it's different. The flow of the game changes when Crystal comes in. One positive about Kia being out is that her injury can heal completely, she'll be rested and have fresh legs when she comes back. Speaking of Crystal, she's just about ready to ditch the training wheels. Being able to fill in for Nurse as the season closes gives her the extra time and experience she needs to make adjustments, get use to playing with the starters in meaningful games, and get into the flow of the game. She still has a tendency to go 100 MPH at times, when 50 would do. She's getting better with every game, and she's learning from her mistakes. She's still got a ways to go, but she's a lot closer now than she was a month ago. Crystal will be OK. She will be the player Geno wants her to be come October.

Napheesa Collier - Yes, she is amazing. I'm can be long winded when I get carried away. Brevity is not my strong suite. I could write a novel length narrative about Collier, and still not touch on all of the attributes and positives she brings to the table. Gabby is the most athletic player on the team. Collier is the most consistent player on the team. She's a double-double every night! She rarely gets in foul trouble, and she does not get hurt. Napheesa's best ability is her availability!! She's also got the best hands on the team. She rarely fumbles or loses an entry pass on the block.

Your reference to the number of fans in attendance is noted. Players always feed off the energy and enthusiasm of the home crowd. It's one of the reasons (there are others) it's hard to win on the road. Hopefully the UConn faithful will come out and support the team in person, as they make this final push for this year's championship. They'll be watching history in the making if they do.

Geno - Geno gets plenty of credit and respect here in the yard. In Geno we trust!! He's doing one of the finest coaching jobs of his career. He's doing a lot with a little, a young team with no bench depth. In the Tulane game, he got zero points from his bench.

Again, welcome to the yard. We'll look for your comments and observations in the future.

Tip in - We (the Boneyard collective) are enjoying the ride along with you.

 

[JustinesGuy]

First of all JustinesGuy, welcome to the yard. It's always nice to get new fans/posters into the fold. I'm already jealous of you for having a great seat for a UConn home game, and being able to witness them at their best.
Allow me to piggyback on some of your observations - I think your observation of the short bench and UConn's inability to shake Tulane off of them was accurate. Cold shooting will do that. The fact that Tulane was playing on adrenaline didn't hurt either. Going into the last 10 days of the regular season, UConn needed a game of that nature. A game they had to work hard for, and figure some things out on the fly to win. A game that came down to the final shot. The experience they gleaned in that game will serve them well in the coming weeks. You don't learn much from 40 point blowouts. One of the players said after the game (I'm paraphrasing), "We learned what it felt like to lose a game without actually losing one".

Gabby Williams - If UConn is going to go all the way, Gabby MUST be on the floor. As you stated, her absence is conspicuous. Gabby plays the game all out, she a warrior. Warriors attack. There's no one on the bench that can come in, and do the things she does. When she goes out, that puts additional pressure and stress on the other starters. No doubt the coaches have been drilling that fact into Gabby's head all year. Williams must understand that she has to play smart, learn how/when to pick her battles (pace her aggressiveness) so as to maximize her potential contribution(s) to the team. She can't help the team from the bench. If she can play without fouls being an issue, the world will be her oyster. If she's only got 1-2 fouls late in the game, she can be more aggressive than if she has 3-4. They can't win it without her. Going into the post season, Williams and Collier cannot be out of the lineup for an extended period of time.

Kia Nurse - We knew she was a key component of the starting unit. She is the straw that stirs the drink. Sometimes you don't miss someone until they're not there. They've been playing with her all season, when he's not out there, it's different. The flow of the game changes when Crystal comes in. One positive about Kia being out is that her injury can heal completely, she'll be rested and have fresh legs when she comes back. Speaking of Crystal, she's just about ready to ditch the training wheels. Being able to fill in for Nurse as the season closes gives her the extra time and experience she needs to make adjustments, get use to playing with the starters in meaningful games, and get into the flow of the game. She still has a tendency to go 100 MPH at times, when 50 would do. She's getting better with every game, and she's learning from her mistakes. She's still got a ways to go, but she's a lot closer now than she was a month ago. Crystal will be OK. She will be the player Geno wants her to be come October.

Napheesa Collier - Yes, she is amazing. I'm can be long winded when I get carried away. Brevity is not my strong suite. I could write a novel length narrative about Collier, and still not touch on all of the attributes and positives she brings to the table. Gabby is the most athletic player on the team. Collier is the most consistent player on the team. She's a double-double every night! She rarely gets in foul trouble, and she does not get hurt. Napheesa's best ability is her availability!! She's also got the best hands on the team. She rarely fumbles or loses an entry pass on the block.

Your reference to the number of fans in attendance is noted. Players always feed off the energy and enthusiasm of the home crowd. It's one of the reasons (there are others) it's hard to win on the road. Hopefully the UConn faithful will come out and support the team in person, as they make this final push for this year's championship. They'll be watching history in the making if they do.

Geno - Geno gets plenty of credit and respect here in the yard. In Geno we trust!! He's doing one of the finest coaching jobs of his career. He's doing a lot with a little, a young team with no bench depth. In the Tulane game, he got zero points from his bench.

Again, welcome to the yard. We'll look for your comments and observations in the future.

Tip in - We (the Boneyard collective) are enjoying the ride along with you.

Thank u so much for the kind post. The other thing I forgot to mention was being so close it was neat hearing the girls communicate on switches/ defense etc.
Also the girls were smiling a lot and having fun. On tv you clearly just see what they show u. Lou in particular was all smiles, a real team player.

I graduated uconn 01 and have been lurking here for the past few years. Great to participate.

 

[oldude]

Thank u so much for the kind post. The other thing I forgot to mention was being so close it was neat hearing the girls communicate on switches/ defense etc.
Also the girls were smiling a lot and having fun. On tv you clearly just see what they show u. Lou in particular was all smiles, a real team player.

I graduated uconn 01 and have been lurking here for the past few years. Great to participate.

Now that we know you have "Spike Lee" seats at Husky games, the BY will expect a "post game courtside writeup" after every home game.

 

[JustinesGuy]

Now that we know you have "Spike Lee" seats at Husky games, the BY will expect a "post game courtside writeup" after every home game.

Funny u say that. I just got great seats at Mohegan for Sunday's games. I will certainly give a nice report! I can give you the report of my linder at ballo too!

 

[OldAlum]

See I'm too cheap to get primo seats. Just scored some nice upper bowl seats for the entire tourney for well below face value on StubHub!