UMass-Lowell Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UMass-Lowell Postgame Thread

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I am glad that we got to a see a wide variety of player combinations and most seemed to work together well. Of course we can point out some negativity but I was impressed a lot more than I was disappointed (mainly because I wasn't disappointed).
 
Great to finally see the team play. No doubt it was a glorified exhibition game although it goes in the books as a W. On the whole it looks like it will be a fun team to watch, with a lot of players that will contribute.

My impressions, with the understanding that this was one game against an over matched opponent:

After all the discussion as to whether/when Paige would start is over. She emphatically showed she deserved the start and will start every game she is healthy as long as she wears a UConn jersey.

It doesn't look like this will be a great 3 pt shooting team, but it's early so who knows. In general it looked like getting the ball into the post or penetrating for a short jumper or layup is what they are inclined to do.

Mir and Nika looked good.

Aubrey will have to fight for minutes with the depth we have.

Anna kind of got lost in the shuffle. She may be the designated 3 pt shooter via kick outs.
 
1. We still have the ability to go away in the third quarter.

2. CW still has the exasperating habit of slowing down the offense when she gets the ball at the head of the key. She stands there dribbling as if expecting the team to clear a lane for her. The notion of some that she can serve as PG if needed is hooey.

3. With about 3:50 to go in the 3rd for a moment it looked like Paige was going to put her arms up on defense. :)

4. Olivia looked so good for a half and then she couldn't hit the side of a barn.

5. Did you catch Paige's expression after a foul was called on her. She's got the DT thing; she never fouls.

6. Man, get Piath tuned up and she is a weapon!

7. A good number of outside shot opportunities were ignored, perhaps because that was the marching orders?

8. This is already Paige's team.
 
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I want to go back to the idea of a 9-player rotation, that’s heavy on long, quick guards & wings. UConn can press and trap teams all game long, and not worry about fatigue or foul trouble. Can’t wait to see how this team develops.
 
CL82 said:
Off the top of my head I would say 23 points better.
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You better hope the defense gets a whole lot better or there will be a lot of boneyarders who won’t be happy with the results against teams like Louisville, S. Carolina, Stanford, Oregon, NC State to name a few.
 
Bueckers was as advertised. Whoa. Edwards and Mclean are ready to contribute, as well. I don't know how long HCGA goes with a 9 player rotation, but I love the idea of suffocating pressure for forty minutes. He may have the horses now to NEVER take the foot off of the accelerator.

This is going to be fun. A lot of fun.
 
Blaneylover said:
Bueckers was as advertised. Whoa. Edwards and Mclean are ready to contribute, as well. I don't know how long HCGA goes with a 9 player rotation, but I love the idea of suffocating pressure for forty minutes. He may have the horses now to NEVER take the foot off of the accelerator.

This is going to be fun. A lot of fun.
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Well. when we contract the rotation, maybe CW will get less minutes. I hate to be negative but I do not see the jump I expected.
 
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The thing that stood out for me was the defensive intensity of all four of the freshmen who played significant minutes. That's something that Geno usually has to drive home again and again and again, but these kids have it from the get go.

I was pleasantly surprised by Mir and a tad underwhelmed by Nika, but she hadn't really practiced for several days. All four will be major contributors.

Disappointed Autumn didn't get into the game, but pleased Piath did.
 
oldhuskie said:
Agree on most everything. They were at times too unselfish, hesitating just a little then passing when a good shot was there. I went into this game hoping Mir would show some potential to ultimately make this a good 9 player rotation, and left it thinking we are already there.

Other observations were how Paige handled the end of a period. Run the clock down, drive and score, looking like she had been doing that for years. A last second finisher that you can just hand the ball to for a score or pass is something we didn't really have last year, and apparently she has that role from the first game.

I liked the overplaying and some pressing on defense, although we had too many fouls of aggression at the same time. With what Mir showed if we are truly 9 deep I would like to see more of that and more fast breaks.

Some of the players like to get up and go, but Paige seems more inclined to bring it up at a more casual pace but Geno may try to get her to push it more. This teams passing in the open court should be a joy to watch if we can do it more often.
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Paige's Hopkins team was a 40 minutes of run and press team, so she surely knows how to do it.
 
not wanting to be a downer but:
18 turnovers against UMass Lowell????? Better be first game jitters.
Once again the other team played great free throw defense against Liv. She got bailed out of one miss by a UConn lane violation. As Geno said, "I don't know why the other team doesn't foul her all the time." I kept hoping she could move from a 50% shooter to at least 60% or maybe 65%. Nope. Remember when we all said Charlie Collier's great games were against weak teams. But she did shoot 90%, averaged over 30 points, etc. Liv missed 4 or 5 shots on one possession. The type of sequence when Geno says she was building up her rebound numbers.
If Paige cannot overcome bias against a freshman AA, I don't see an AA on the floor today.
UMass Lowell got a number of wide open shots, defense just broke down.
Seemed like a lot of dribbling at times.
Some long stretches with no points.
UMass Lowell is a team that past UConn teams would score 110 points on. This team would not have won us free wings if we were allowed in the stands.
I think we need to see big improvement on Tuesday, and more on Thursday. But I will settle for just seeing us play.

but with all that, they all played better than I could, even Chassion.
 
Jordy said:
Edwards is a beast, to be sure, but if she started she would foul out every game. She is much more effective right now as Olivia’s backup, particularly with Aubrey and Mir on the team.
Paige is already the best player on this team; how she plays will determine how successful they are. Having a nine-person rotation will help her tremendously.
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Edwards was a freshman playing in her 1st game and was overly aggressive. Liv is a Junior in her second year of starting and should not have been driving a struggle bus against UMASS-Lowell. I’ll take the aggression every time.
 
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Hey its ONE game, but they look way better than a year ago, in terms of size, passing ,defense and depth.
I know the announcers want to to minimize expectations regarding Bueckers but that girl has played a lot of hoops. Has Maya Moore ability to see where the ball is going and gets there. Her passing is better than I have seen in a long time. Her passing hits her team mates in the head, and the ball does not stick in her hands. Really impressive debut.
 
Bueckers, Edwards and Mir were all impressive. Westbrook was solid and I liked that Olivia was more aggressive. Would like to of see more of Aubrey and just curious if she worked on her outside shooting this summer
 
Wbbfan1 said:
I wasn't impressed with Christyn and LIv's play today. They should dominate this level of competition. I thought Evina's play was good considering she hasn't played for two years. Paige was the best player on the court today. She played under control and should have had a double/double if not a triple double.
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Agree, it’s like they overthink everything. There were some glimpses that Liv could be a factor but then she reverted back to fade always and missing layups. I was very impressed with Edwards despite the fouls. E played a steady game and didn’t try to do too much.
 
My initial impressions are:
Except maybe Piath, none of the freshmen looked overwhelmed or lost. All of them have justified continued minutes and seem ready to play at this level. Very mature group. They make this the deepest UConn team in a really long time.

I had hoped for more from Anna and CW. They were good, but not the big step up from last season that I anticipated. It's very early though. Not giving up on that yet.

Three players in particular caught my attention:
Paige - Just blended in as a natural leader by example, didn't force anything and still showed her skills and put up some good numbers. Great job.
Aaliyah - Welcome back Asjha Jones? All she needs is that little mid-range J. She looks totally ready to be a major contributor.
Mir - Active, disruptive and a finisher. Aubrey II? I know some here have touted her for a while. I'm a believer.
 
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I'm glad you folks got to see Mir in action. She goes and gets rebounds and can finish among the trees. She also makes FTs.

Aubrey also makes things happen. Opposing players hate to be defended by her.

I think Paige is the best player on the team.
 
I am amazed by long range conclusions about anything after one game in a weird season against a team that has no player better than our 10th player. The next week will tell us much more. The best thing is they finally got to play in real game situations.
 
I agree with much of what people have said - 1st game of the season. We will know much more after next week. to echo @Hayven , I'll not be overly critical but... my $.02...

Paige - as good as advertised. She will continue to get better and better. Seems like she could score at will. 1st game of her career, and the best player on the floor. Is she the best player on the team? Today she played like it. 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals. WOW.

Mir and Aubrey - both were like energizer bunnies. Aubrey picking up where she left off last season, and Mir much better than I anticipated. Both scored double figures, neither had over 12 minutes. EFFICIENT. Mir could easily lead the team in rebounding if she played more minutes. Kid has HOPS and a great eye for how the ball is going to come off the rim. As Geno said, she GOES after rebounds.

Aaliyah - showed flashes of what she's capable of. Incredibly strong and as Geno said, aggressive.

Evina - limited minutes but did some good things. About what I expected. But less fouls please.

Anna - glad to see her not start the season 0 for America. But she passed up too many open shots. Still, 8 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists - very solid.

Nika - did very little that was noticeably good while on the floor. 5 turnovers and only 1 assist not a good stat line for a kid who doesn't have an outside shot and is a pure PG.

Olivia (good first half) and Christyn - not sure I saw ANY improvement from last year. Not sure what Geno, or anyone else has been going on about. Did Liv work on FT's at ALL over the summer? Did Christyn work on 3 point shooting at all over the summer?

Piath - poor kid must have been nervous. Completely missed a pass from Paige that zipped behind her, and shanked a point blank layup from another nice Paige feed. But at least she had 2 boards and an assist. Good day for a low ranked kid coming out of HS in her very first UCONN game.

Bottom line is there were several players I was more than pleasantly surprised with and a few I was flat out disappointed with. BUT 1st game of the season. So gotta give them a chance. Doesn't take away from what I saw with my uneducated eyes tho.

Way too much passing up of open shots. It seemed like everyone was trying to be too unselfish. Pretty impressed with our defense. Lots to work on with offense. I knew we didn't have a great 3 point shooting team, but Christyn simply cannot pitch shutouts from beyond the arc. Paige needs to take a few IMHO. This team will just get better and better. Obviously some very good things, but also LOTS for the staff to focus on for each and every player.
 
Ralph said:
not wanting to be a downer but:
18 turnovers against UMass Lowell????? Better be first game jitters.
Once again the other team played great free throw defense against Liv. She got bailed out of one miss by a UConn lane violation. As Geno said, "I don't know why the other team doesn't foul her all the time." I kept hoping she could move from a 50% shooter to at least 60% or maybe 65%. Nope. Remember when we all said Charlie Collier's great games were against weak teams. But she did shoot 90%, averaged over 30 points, etc. Liv missed 4 or 5 shots on one possession. The type of sequence when Geno says she was building up her rebound numbers.
If Paige cannot overcome bias against a freshman AA, I don't see an AA on the floor today.
UMass Lowell got a number of wide open shots, defense just broke down.
Seemed like a lot of dribbling at times.
Some long stretches with no points.
UMass Lowell is a team that past UConn teams would score 110 points on. This team would not have won us free wings if we were allowed in the stands.
I think we need to see big improvement on Tuesday, and more on Thursday. But I will settle for just seeing us play.

but with all that, they all played better than I could, even Chassion.
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I am fairly sure that we didn’t score 100+ by design. There is no way that Geno would allow a humiliating score line when they are playing Shea’s husband’s team. I’m sure Geno is extremely grateful that he accepted the game at all. I thank him as well! We finally got to see what we have been waiting for.
 
concerns for Tuesday: Seton Hall lost by 3 last year to DePaul in the Big East Tournament, so they are a good team. Finished up 19-12 in the Big East. Beat St Peters in their opener, shot over 50% from 3, scored over 100. We need to step up, I think we will. Maybe Liv was just gassed in the second half, If so we will need to get Edwards in for more minutes, or maybe Griffin. Seton Hall does not look to have anyone over 6 foot 1.
 
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