UConn vs UCF post game thread

[Sargassoc]

Coombs does some very nice things on defense and does not look completely lost in the offense but OMG, her shooting.

I keep thinking that, last year, Mikayla played more consistently and aggressively than Megan did (which caused much angst here on the BY) and was really coming along until she got shut down because of a blood clot in March.

That means we know Mikayla has the goods; now it remains to be seen if she can build on last year's play. (And, apparently, she agrees with me. “'I finally felt like things were starting to come together, just adjusting,' she said." LINK to CT Post article.)

 

[Carnac]

ONO was by no means a project coming out of HS. Her improvement, though, validates for the umpteenth CD's status as a HOF coach. ONO obviously needs to get stronger and according to several reports, needs better effort in practice. It is fun watching her play now for extended periods at a consistent level.

Victor64, I could not agree more. ONO’s short comings are brought to light after ever game by fans disappointed in her play, and who expect her to play like an experienced junior or senior.

This will continue for the remainder of the season. While they know she’s a freshman, they don’t expect her to play like one, despite the fact that she's still learning, and still trying to figure things out.

This is as bad as we will see her play during her 4 years at UConn. No doubt her harshest critics will be happy with her play next year. I’m elated that we got Christyn too, but ONO was the one 2018 recruit I wanted most, especially after Charli Collier did that 180 on us. We needed her height desperately.

She was far from being a project coming out of HS. She was a McDonald’s All American, coveted by every top 25 program in the country. Teaira McCowan (Mississippi State) was a project.

 

[oldude]

I keep thinking that, last year, Mikayla played more consistently and aggressively than Megan did (which caused much angst here on the BY) and was really coming along until she got shut down because of a blood clot in March.

That means we know Mikayla has the goods; now it remains to be seen if she can build on last year's play. (And, apparently, she agrees with me. “'I finally felt like things were starting to come together, just adjusting,' she said." LINK to CT Post article.)

When I watch Mikayla on defense or handling the ball I get excited. When I watch her shoot the ball I get deflated. I have never seen a quicker more athletic player who is a great defender and ball handler with such a fundamentally bad shot. Frankly, I am baffled by it.

 

[UConnNick]

I believe that Lou is the only current player that was actually given a black eye during a game and this season was given a hip check (with the ref standing right there) and people question her "complaining". We all know that UConn always has a bullseye on their backs but Lou seems to be the only one with a bullseye on her front. Watch some replays and see how it is our opponents goal to make sure that Lou isn't the player that is going to beat them this season.

Shaq experienced the same thing during his three year college career at LSU. His coach Dale Brown encouraged him to forego his senior season because he feared Shaq would be seriously injured by some goon and never be able to cash in on NBA riches. Shaq took the advice and left.

 

[DEpup]

@tomcat I saw the same things with Coombs. She can't hit the side of a barn with a baseball stick. Yet, her defense was great, quick hands, and to top that no one--is going to trap her UCF tried hard thinking she was the Frosh and weakest link--she wasn't Her ball handing is great her shooting, will come but most likely over the summer. She today looked like the ONLY choice as a back up for Danger.
Terrible game, great game. 5 almost 6 in double figure, and 6 scoring well. This has to be a plus for Geno. The reserves need the addition of Touly to have any semblence of real fire power. If healthy she could be a wonderful addition/sub for one of the posts. I like Irwin too but Touly has an edge even with her limited mobility.

EDIT: I know Coombs is a Soph. Although it isn't always the most important thought as I write of her attributes.

I really wish we could merge Coombs and Bent into one player. Take the shot of Bent and merge it with the defense and all around bball IQ of Coombs. That would be one good player. Remember K. McClaren? A healthy BatCam could really be a difference maker.

 

['nuff sed]

Beat Lou up and get her frustrated seems to be a lot of teams gameplan the last couple years. I’m not saying she isn’t tough because that’s not true but she allows other players to get under her skin & usually it doesn’t help her overall game. ND will be 100x worse if we face them again.

I think the defensive book since Baylor has been to heavily pressure her. She's been exposed at the 3 line, but that's okay. There is a lot more to her game now.

UCF just broadcast it again. There is no denying that the UCF plan worked in that it erased Lou's points from the scoresheet. The fact that it was executed the way they did was simply that the UCF players lacked the skill to run it without the outright mugging that it turned into.

I'll claim it worked because we DID NOT break 80.

Moving forward I think Geno is accurate....defensively we are what we are, so not a lot of upside in improvement from that side of the ball. --- so we just nee to outscore people on offense.

If a team has the players who can "take Lou's points" off the board, then somebody has to make up for them----and IMO that MW and CW. Forget pts from ONO, if we get them then its gravy, ONO has to help defensively first.

I think we beat Baylor --- we came close playing 3v5 ----we play 5v5 now.

I think we beat ND on a rematch.

Oregon puts us in a bind, because we will need a supreme effort defending the 3, but I don't see them shutting Lou down. Otherwise I think we beat them in all other places.

Miss St. - not worried about them because they won't shut Lou down, not without giving up points somewhere else. Phee will outplay McGowan any day of the week. Our guards will outplay their guards.
And BTW, I think UConn can handle anyone in the SEC. I think its over rated

Louisville is a prob - they won't shut Lou down, but their guards will outscore our guards and we might get stuck trading 2's for 3's. This is where an at least "not cold" CW could make a diff. Give Asia her 30 but we can't allow the "second scorer".

Not overly worried about anybody else at this point ---- all possible opponents have weakness we can exploit just as well as they can exploit our own.

We can still win this. -- but we need all 5 spots on the floor on their A game every game.

 

[bbballfan23]

I think the defensive book since Baylor has been to heavily pressure her. She's been exposed at the 3 line, but that's okay.

UCF just broadcast it again. There is no denying that the UCF plan worked in that it erased Lou's points from the scoresheet. The fact that it was executed the way they did was simply that the UCF players lacked the skill to run it without the outright mugging that it turned into.

I'll claim it worked because we DID NOT break 80.

Moving forward I think Geno is accurate....defensively we are what we are, so not a lot of upside in improvement from that side of the ball. --- so we just nee to outscore people on offense.

If a team has the players who can "take Lou's points" off the board, then somebody has to make up for them----and IMO that MW and CW. Forget pts from ONO, if we get them then its gravy, ONO has to help defensively first.

I think we beat Baylor --- we came close playing 3v5 ----we play 5v5 now.
I think we beat ND on a rematch.
Oregon puts us in a bind, because we will need a supreme effort defending the 3, but I don't see them shutting Lou down. Otherwise I think we beat them in all other places.
Miss St. - not worried about them because they won't shut Lou down. Phee will outplay McGowan any day of the week.
Louisville is a prob - their guards will outscore our guards and we might get stuck trading 2's for 3's

Not overly worried about anybody else at this point ---- all possible opponents have weakness we can exploit as well as our own.

We can still win this. -- but we need all 5 spots on the floor on their A game every game.

Oregon is our toughest matchup I think because of their shooting ability but they don’t have those very quick guards we tend to struggle with so who knows.

ND scares me, everyone else, not so much. I think we match up well against Louisville honestly. Pheesa could score 30-40 on them with how she’s playing know. They struggled to defend Hof, what do you think Pheesa would do to them?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Tennessee or Vandy?

See you read my mind oh clever one.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Oregon is our toughest matchup I think because of their shooting ability but they don’t have those very quick guards we tend to struggle with so who knows.

ND scares me, everyone else, not so much. I think we match up well against Louisville honestly. Pheesa could score 30-40 on them with how she’s playing know. They struggled to defend Hof, what do you think Pheesa would do to them?

I think we can run them frankly and it may be in the memory of a certain guard.

 

[FridaFriend]

Olivia has greatly improved play recently. She has progressed from someone who comes in, gets in foul trouble, and leaves. She is now a player who knows how to block and defend without fouling. She has begun to look for her shot and her teammates have begun to look for her. She makes shots inside or gets fouled and she makes free throws. I think she has a lot of potential to effect games, especially defensively, by tournament time.

Mikayla has gone from a player that Geno won't even talk about, to someone who plays good defense and has really good ball handling skills. As with Olivia, I see Mikayla contributing to an improved defense for the rest of the year. Every time she looks at the basket, I hope that she shoots and it goes in.

The problems with Lou getting beat up remind me of Stewart's problems at the beginning of her junior year. She was beaten and bruised almost every game. She was having trouble dealing with the absence of Dolson, who absorbed the punishment under the basket. Gene seemed to solve that problem by setting up screens and specific plays for Stewart and sending Tuck inside, where she handled the physicality. He also found that KML really liked to slam bodies and mix it up under the basket. Maybe, Geno can find similar ways to take the focus off of Lou. There's no Tuck and KML, of course, but I have seen bodies flying off of Walker and Collier lately, and Olivia is becoming a big presence.

 

[hugefan]

It must be nice for our players getting open looks and not being the focus of the defense but I wonder how many of them realize why they are getting those open looks? Hopefully they are not as selfish as some of the posters on here who only care that it is not their favorite player who is getting black eyes, undercut, hit in the face, elbowed in the ribs etc. Hopefully we have a team who actually cares about their teammates!

 

['nuff sed]

Oregon is our toughest matchup I think because of their shooting ability but they don’t have those very quick guards we tend to struggle with so who knows.

ND scares me, everyone else, not so much. I think we match up well against Louisville honestly. Pheesa could score 30-40 on them with how she’s playing know. They struggled to defend Hof, what do you think Pheesa would do to them?

It's the quick guard matchup's that I see as the biggest problem....KLS is a prob defensively there

Besides in tournaments, its usually the good guard play that carries you though these games. We are vulnerable to those type players.

Asia will get her points, but its Evans, Carter or Jones can kill us against LV.

Jackson/Landrum for Baylor set up everything. Cox can't cover 3 players if she's busy with Lou.

Denbury is a prob with MSU for us, not Howard, and the other one is a Statue of Liberty imitation in red against Phee.

 

[ochoopsfan]

It must be nice for our players getting open looks and not being the focus of the defense but I wonder how many of them realize why they are getting those open looks? Hopefully they are not as selfish as some of the posters on here who only care that it is not their favorite player who is getting black eyes, undercut, hit in the face, elbowed in the ribs etc. Hopefully we have a team who actually cares about their teammates!

100% correct

 

['nuff sed]

It must be nice for our players getting open looks and not being the focus of the defense but I wonder how many of them realize why they are getting those open looks? Hopefully they are not as selfish as some of the posters on here who only care that it is not their favorite player who is getting black eyes, undercut, hit in the face, elbowed in the ribs etc. Hopefully we have a team who actually cares about their teammates!

Ugh ---- clearly there is a faction on this board that roots more for one player ---- but credit is given to somebody who "takes one for the team" ---- but that said, you can sorta tell who spent some time growing up on the city courts where you learn how to handle such things

So who is not fair ? ---- Pheesa was the go to star from the start, the POY candidate from the start ---the one with the better game, not perfect but less relative weaknesses ---- and IMO, all other things being equal, should be the higher draft pick ---- but the "selfish" fans wouldn't see it that way, and still don't.

And I already suspect Molly will be the inheritor of that single player fan club next year.

 

[SVCBeercats]

ONO was by no means a project coming out of HS.

According to Geno all freshman posts are projects. He has said it is easier to get acclimated as a guard than as a post. Much more to learn. It took Dolson two years to get it. Even the wunderkind Stewart struggled. A significant part of Stewart's freshman year was project time. Not from foundation up project but a getting her head right and starting to listen to CD and Geno. Freshman posts are all projects compared to freshman guards. Although last year's freshman guards gave evidence to the contrary.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Ugh ---- clearly there is a faction on this board that roots more for one player ---- but credit is given to somebody who "takes one for the team" ---- but that said, you can sorta tell who spent some time growing up on the city courts where you learn how to handle such things

So who is not fair ? ---- Pheesa was the go to star from the start, the POY candidate from the start ---the one with the better game, not perfect but less relative weaknesses ---- and IMO, all other things being equal, should be the higher draft pick ---- but the "selfish" fans wouldn't see it that way, and still don't.

And I already suspect Molly will be the inheritor of that single player fan club next year.

Who on Uconn played ball on the city courts and knows how to handle it?
How exactly do "they" handle it?

 

['nuff sed]

Who on Uconn played ball on the city courts and knows how to handle it?
How exactly do "they" handle it?

I don't know, maybe nobody, they are kinda soft as a team though. You give what u get and you don't cry to a ref.

In UConn's case, where they are clearly the kings of the sport, you just shrug it off and play.You take the high road.

I don't like crying and complaining, especially when your so much better than the opposition. Just suck it up and move on. Everybody hates sore losers, but they hate sore winners even more. So what, the other team is dirty, big deal, they're nothing.

But some element of this is the players allowing it to happen.

 

[bbballfan23]

It must be nice for our players getting open looks and not being the focus of the defense but I wonder how many of them realize why they are getting those open looks? Hopefully they are not as selfish as some of the posters on here who only care that it is not their favorite player who is getting black eyes, undercut, hit in the face, elbowed in the ribs etc. Hopefully we have a team who actually cares about their teammates!

No one is saying she isn’t a focus of the other team because she certainly is and a major plan is pushing her around bc if she gets hot we are unbeatable. But THE FOCUS is Pheesa, let’s not mistake this. The focus is don’t give Lou any open looks but the focus for Pheesa is don’t let her get the ball. If either happen, usually the other team is in deep trouble.

 

[bbballfan23]

Btw, lets not make this about Pheesa vs Lou again, I was hoping that was done with. Both need to play GREAT for us to win. Can’t get a title without both.

 

[PhanTom]

If Lou can't handle UCF's defense how is she going to handle the speed and contact in the WNBA? She needs to figure it out now.

You couldn't have watched this game if you made this absurd comment. She got smacked in the face 3 or 4 times in addition to all kinds of holding, grabbing and other sxxt, and as far as the WNBA, all those things would have been called fouls. I don't think KLS is bothered by the normal physicality, it's the dirty stuff that she commented on clearly, as everyone heard on TV. That coach should be ashamed of herself for what she prescribed for her team, as they just couldn't keep their hands off of her. Little things had to be annoying to her as well, like when she would pass someone heading back up court without the ball, someone just swats her in the back. They did get called for one of them late in the game (unsportsmanlike was the call) but I saw many of them on TV, just BS IMHO!

 

[UConnCat]

 

[RockyMTblue2]

You couldn't have watched this game if you made this absurd comment. She got smacked in the face 3 or 4 times in addition to all kinds of holding, grabbing and other sxxt, and as far as the WNBA, all those things would have been called fouls. I don't think KLS is bothered by the normal physicality, it's the dirty stuff that she commented on clearly, as everyone heard on TV. That coach should be ashamed of herself for what she prescribed for her team, as they just couldn't keep their hands off of her. Little things had to be annoying to her as well, like when she would pass someone heading back up court without the ball, someone just swats her in the back. They did get called for one of them late in the game (unsportsmanlike was the call) but I saw many of them on TV, just BS IMHO!

Uh oh ...

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I hope that coaching wasn't Ms. Sales in action.

 

[MD#12Fan]

I don't know, maybe nobody, they are kinda soft as a team though. You give what u get and you don't cry to a ref.

In UConn's case, where they are clearly the kings of the sport, you just shrug it off and play.You take the high road.

I don't like crying and complaining, especially when your so much better than the opposition. Just suck it up and move on. Everybody hates sore losers, but they hate sore winners even more. So what, the other team is dirty, big deal, they're nothing.

But some element of this is the players allowing it to happen.

Tough post, but I like it!

 

[FridaFriend]

This kind of game is hard to watch. The UCF players seemed to believe that they were so overmatched that their only chance was to push and hit and foul so much that the referees gave up calling them. I thought in mid2nd quarter, that, if the game were called accurately, the entire UCF team would have been disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct.