UConn Will Beat ND

[EricLA]

ND will be the heavy favorite. They have beaten UConn 7 out of the last 8 times and three in-a-row. They have a quickness advantage at every position...only MoJeff is quicker than her corresponding ND player and Diggins' longer reach and favored status from the zebras tends to negate that. Stef is hurting. We are doomed, clearly DOOMED!
That being said, it is a very tough feat to beat a closely matched opponent four times in the a row. The pressure will be in their corner. Stewie and MoJeff are playing much better than in the previous matchups...as they say: it is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

Heavy favorite? No. ND beat UCONN by something like a combined 7 points in 3 games. It's not like they beat us by 10 each game. Still, I agree they will be favored. And people seem to think we have the advantage in the post - but in Stef's own words, god gave her 2 feet and neither are working. Plantar Fascitis completely derailed Morgan's career and I have no idea how it will affect Stef. Geno seems comfortable relying on Stewie as the 5 in Stef's absence. ND is not overly big so it's not like Stokes will see much PT even tho I really like her.

Still, I largely agree that UCONN is much improved over the past 3 weeks and it's mostly due to the increased confidence of the freshmen. Tuck is often overlooked a tad and I think she's been just terrific. I'm not sure what Geno's game plan will be, but IIRC he said a few weeks ago that UCONN would not lose to ND again...

 

[sparky]

UConn has jumped over the hurdle of being tenative and is not the same team they were a couple of weeks ago. With the emergence of our underclassman and our injuries pretty much healed we are playing with confidence. Injuries except for Stef have pretty much healed and UConn is almost 100%. The freshman have confidence and are playing with confidence. UConns guard play is much improved. With that being what it is Stewie is playing like a monster and General MoJeff has taken the reins allowing Bria to play her natural position. Alot of improvements since the last time UConn met ND in a game that UConn had in it grasps.
Tonyc, I love your optimism, but MoJeff is scary still. Yes it frees up Bria, but Jeff is uncontrolled speed. I too think we will win, but I see Stewie and Tuck as the catalysts.
ND will need a new game plan and the question can they put one together by Sunday nite. Even if they do UConn is firing on all cylinders. Barring injuries UConn will win this game.

UConns height advantage and shot blocking ability is going to be tuff to coach againest. With a much improved Stewie and Kiah I like our chances in the paint MoJeff running the point means we dont have to worry about breaking the press or having the ball stolen. We will not be tentative with the ball. MoJeff handleing the point brings confidence to the team and one less thing to worry about. On the other hand with MoJeff on defense ND does have to worry about the ball being stolen and defending her dribble drives whether scoring or dishing off.

I expect a hard fought game. I expect UConn to play with confidence now that they have MoJeff running the show. She dosnt have to score alot, her presence will bring calmness to the team knowing they can play their game. This is a big step towards our 8th National Championship. UConn 73 ND 67

 

[Kibitzer]

In the three preceding ND games, their back court (I count McBride with Diggins and Loyd) has outplayed ours. Meanwhile, we did not take advantage of our height advantage in the front court.

We can rationalize why these things happened (e.g., Stewie finding her way, Morgan and Moriah not yet ready, Bria playing hurt, etc.), but these justifications(or excuses) must now be put to rest, as it is now Stand and Deliver or Put Up or Shut Up time.

In the back court, Caroline and Bria and Kelly and Moriah must hold their own against their excellent adversarial counterparts with special emphasis on limiting turnovers. Meanwhile, Stef and Morgan and Stewie must dominate Achonwa, Braker et al inside.

I have delberately not slotted Kaleena into either category since I expect her to do damage both from the perimeter and the paint.

McBride and Diggins must be held in check somehow. I trust Geno to develop a suitable defensive scheme. On the one hand I favor a zone vs. McBride but I also like Bria or Moriah pressuring Diggins.

And please, ladies, make your free throws!

 

[Icebear]

ND will be the heavy favorite. They have beaten UConn 7 out of the last 8 times and three in-a-row. They have a quickness advantage at every position...only MoJeff is quicker than her corresponding ND player and Diggins' longer reach and favored status from the zebras tends to negate that. Stef is hurting. We are doomed, clearly DOOMED!
That being said, it is a very tough feat to beat a closely matched opponent four times in the a row. The pressure will be in their corner. Stewie and MoJeff are playing much better than in the previous matchups...as they say: it is ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!

Nice mojo. Keep it up.

 

[huskies29]

Bottom line is we lost all 3 games to nd. However, looking deeper you see the following: Game 1) The best girls 3 point shooter in womens college basketball misses a wide open 3 at the end of the game and lose by 1. Game 2) Have the game won in regulation but miss the front end of 2 1 and 1's. Have 3 pt lead at end of 1st ot and not only don't give a foul but allow an uncontested 3 that goes at the end to go into 2nd ot and eventually lose in 3 ot's. Game 3) Tied with 18 seconds left with the ball and instead of winning at the end of the game or at the worst go into ot we try a risky crosscourt backdoor to stewart who miraculously catches the ball and gets it to a guard who instead of calmly setting up a play progresses to handle the ball like its a hot potato leading to a desperate pass out of the corner which nd intercepts and then comes down and makes a layup with a second left to lose by 2. IMO we handed a good nd team the game all 3 times by not making the plays at the end we normally do. Can't see it happening a 4th time. However, a couple of things have to change. Our senior guards to do not handle the ball well against the nd pressure and mo jeff needs to be inserted in the starting line up over caroline to handle the ball and put defensive pressure on and not allow diggins to operate comfortably. The other thing Geno needs to do is figure out a way to stop Mcbride who plays like michael jordan against us. I would put kelly on her and a little stewart and tuck to keep her in check. We have a big advantage in frontcourt even with stef hobbled but need the guards to play under control and get them the ball. I feel a big U-Conn win coming sunday night in what for all intents and purposes will be the national title game as the final I think will be a walkover for either team. And if somehow ND prevails and beats us for the 4th straight time you just have to tip your hat to them and move on.

 

[HGN]

We will win it..........Someone on this Blog said that 'Diggins is our worse nightmare'. But the opposite may be true. We are Diggins and ND worse nightmare. If you asked ND and Diggins who would they rather face in the National Semi's , I don't believe UConn would be their 1st choice. They don't want no parts of UConn. Its very difficult to beat someone four(4) times in a season. Especially a Pride-filled and motivated UConn team. This game will be played like a Championship game. This is really the place to beat ND. This is the right time. Let the regular season losses go. Leave those losses behind us. Let the BE Conference Tournament loss go. That wasn't the Time.

NOW IS THE TIME !!

 

[Tonyc]

I don't think the regular season or the NCAA games have been tough to choose. Your predicitions of the ND games, however, have been very rough. Being positive is one thing failing establish reasonable balance is another. One has to believe but not to the point of gilding the lily.

Well Ice I guess I struck out the first 3 times. This is a new at bat.

 

[Icebear]

Well Ice I guess I struck out the first 3 times. This is a new at bat.

Oh yeah, time to step up with the home run.

 

[Kibitzer]

Well Ice I guess I struck out the first 3 times. This is a new at bat.

Consider the advice of the immortal W.C. Fields:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. . . . And if that doesn't work, Quit! No use being a damned fool!"​

 

[schmendrick]

Everyone talks about the x's and o's. I think this is all psychological. Both teams are evenly matched, it seems, from a physical standpoint. The difference in recent history is that ND believes they can win. If UConn can have the equivalent mindset, all else being equal, they win.

Agreed, and to add one more thing: we can talk all we want about our astounding improvement in the post-season. As in the other 3 games, it all comes down to crunch time. Do we have a Shoni-Shimmel Skylar-Diggins-Kayla McBride to finally put us over the top?

 

[Tonyc]

Consider the advice of the immortal W.C. Fields:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. . . . And if that doesn't work, Quit! No use being a damned fool!"​

Kib Vince Lombardi said something that went kinda like this. If you see a good loser, youve just seen a loser. "Quit" and "I cant" are not in my vocabulary. Thomas Edison tried to discover electricity 9,999 times. On the 10,000th time he discovered electricity. I will never quit and I will never say I cant.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Dinner in Bridgeport...good mojo for whupping ND

 

[slimmer56]

Let me start by saying my wife and I had a blast in Bridgeport. The team played better than they have all year, and everyone at the Holiday Inn were nice as they could be. Tonyc got us great seats and it was a pleasure to meet all the BY 'ers.
Skyler Diggens IS going to get all the 50/50 calls. We also have got to be very careful about how deep we take the ball in the paint, because they are going to try and draw the charge. Also, ND's interior passing is fabulous. But I think we can tip a bunch of those bounce passes they were using against Duke. One poster was absolutely correct saying that ND believes 100% that they can and will beat us.
We must change it Sunday night. We need to just overwhelm them from the get go and not let up.
It is supposed to be all set up for Skyler to win it all. I say this too shall pass. We take it to them and are Nat Champions AGAIN !
GO UCONN GO !

 

[wire chief]

I want an 8 point lead (at least!) with one minute left to mitigate vs. some Jesus factor.

 

[UConnChapette]

What officials need to watch is Skylar swatting down the arms of defenders and her hooking players when she drives on them. On defense they need to call her for arm slap fouls when she goes back door.

Bingo.

 

[Dove]

To quote Steve Martin..."I'm feelin' it. You feelin' it? I'm feelin' it."


I want to see Diggins crying her eyes out bad. Then I can yell "That's right! That's right!"