UNC Postgame Thread | Page 5 | The Boneyard

UNC Postgame Thread

Nope. UConn fans are the only fans who would view a 21-point win as a "squeaker."
It's not that some Uconn fans "view a 21 point win as a squeaker"

It's that some of us (myself definitely included) didn't think we looked good in that "21 point win"

Our game was off. Weaknesses in our armor were exposed. Yes we won but the next 3 opponents will definitely be better than NC.

HH is a lot better player than anyone NC has too.. Nobody wants to see HH go off with 45 points and make tomorrow's game a nail biter...

It could happen.
 
Some thoughts on the North Carolina game:
  • The Huskies dispatched most ranked teams they faced this season with relative ease. Today 15th ranked UNC played UConn tough on defense as UConn struggled to hit shots. The Huskies defense also played the Tar Heels tough, with UNC leading at the 1st qtr 12-11.
  • Initially, just about every Husky struggled to make shots with the exception of Blanca, who continues to demonstrate that she’s made for the Big Stage.
  • In the 2nd qtr, UConn made a mini-run on offense by going with the “Sarah Strong” package. But they didn’t get much from anyone else. With that said, the Huskies went into the locker room at half leading by just 8 pts, 28-20.
  • In the 3rd qtr UConn did what good teams do, shaking off a lackluster 1st half and playing with a purpose, Azzi started to find her shot and the Huskies basically put the game out of reach, going up by 23 pts.
  • Ash was all over the court hustling as usual, but she had a brutal shooting day. Hopefully she finds her shot on Sunday.
  • I don’t know if anyone is still voting for any of the NPOY awards, but if they watched the 2 games in Ft Worth today, Blakes did score 26 in a loss with a really tough shooting day, going 7/26. Sarah finally played BIG PT: 38 minutes, 21 points (9/17), 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals & 2 blocks. Case closed!! 😎
  • I’ve said it before. DEFENSE TRAVELS! For the first 3 qtrs of the game, UConn held UNC to 12 pts, 8 pts and 5 pts respectively.
  • I have no doubt that Geno loved seeing Blanca & Sarah diving on the floor for a loose ball, up 23 in the 4th qtr. 😁
  • Next up is a rematch with a revitalized ND team, led by HH, who stunned Vandy in the Elite 8. This is not the same ND team that UConn beat by 38 at Gampel in January. LETS GO HUSKIES!
One addition: in beginning of game when UConn seemed a step slow on both offense and defense, Serah blocked several shots that could have given NC a substantial lead. While a big Jana supporter, shot blocking has never been one of her assets. Unless the opponent is UCLA, expect Serah to get more minutes due to her athletic skills, particularly on defense.
 
KK and Ash are what they are at this point. They are basically seniors. Next season is going to be the Sarah and Blanca show, but they need to find a third star that can put the ball in the hoop reliably many times per game.
Until 2-3 games ago, Ash was one of the top shooters on the team and KK's offense was improved and her defense, and the points it created, were outstanding. Tough offensive game for both yesterday but there is a long history of great performance by both. Not an accident that NC only scored 42.
 
You are so right. I agree with Geno in that you need regionals that are actually REGIONAL and schools' fans could get to without going 1000+ miles. Let's assume that the NE Regional was in Philly or DC. How many more fans would have made the trip(by car) than passed up on taking flights to DFW. Same with a SE Regional in Atlanta or maybe Birmingham; SW in Phoenix or Las Vegas and NW in Denver or Boise or SLC. All of those locations have plenty of hotel rooms , restaurants, attractions and would give the Selection Committee the chance to get rid of the out of date "Conference rules" that are no longer feasible or justified in this new age of super-sized conferences.

Just give me the 64/68 teams and I would be glad to produce 4 REGIONALS that make sense, would cut travel and increase attendance
Agree, although the NCAA needs to book arenas far ahead of time.

The box score reported attendance after the UConn game (no attendance was listed in the ND/Vandy game) was 9375. Dickies Arena's published capacity for basketball is 13,300. That's barely 70% of capacity. Put that game in Albany and it's sold out with 15.5K fans. Or sold out in just about any other major east coast city - Boston, Philly, NY, Washington, etc. which would draw in a ton of UConn fans alone. Heck I was at the Sweet Sixteen/Elite 8 games in Bridgeport (when Dorka broke her wrist) and 10,000 screaming fans packed that smaller venue.

I thought the NCAA had announced that they were going to go back to the four regionals format for the women because many teams complained about the current two regional format.
 
Well, you could probably start by throwing four darts at a map while blindfolded and do better than what we've got this year. 😉 I may be off slightly because I was eyeballing it on a map, but by my count, 52 of the 68 teams in the tournament are located east of Fort Worth (44 are located east of the Mississippi River). Yet, the NCAA placed the two regionals and the Final Four in the western half of the country (in Fort Worth, Sacramento, and Phoenix), thousands of miles away from the vast majority of tournament schools and their fans. I'd love to hear a justification that actually takes the athletes and the fans into account.
Agree that the location was less than ideal. Having lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for 10 years, women's basketball is well down the list behind the Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers, and multiple college teams in multiple sports. Rarely gets a mention in sports blogs and other social media. Paige has helped W some but women's sports is a tough sell in the area.
 


I heard this after the game and found it interesting. The implication that North Carolina came in second. Because I remember before Sarah chose that I was really concerned about Duke. I had convinced myself she was going to Duke. I wonder if banghart is speaking literally and North Carolina actually was second. 🤔
 
.-.
Let’s agree to disagree. KK, Ash will NEED to play better because Blanca is a freshman and we can’t expect her to play lights out in the biggest games even though she has this far. So in reality when we play the top teams like SC, Texas, UCLA and LSU it will be a tight game because those teams have the personnel to score even against our vaunted defense. So if we’re not playing well on offense at two our guard spots it will DEFINITELY be an issue. Another reality is NC lost to ND by 23 I believe during the season so it is absolutely important not to get too ahead our ourselves in thinking we can just weather any storm because YOU believe we have KK who can pass and defend and Ash plays a lot of minutes and we beat a top 15 team by 21. That’s why the eye test and watching all the games matter. Scoring margin doesn’t really tell the whole story.

Furthermore it’s not just me who has said KK needs to be more offensively and can show defenses she can hit a shot. Geno himself has said as much in interviews when talking about KKs development. So are you also calling Geno’s comments on KK needs to be a scorer and not let defenses sag and play off of her erroneous? Unfortunately nothing you’ve said changes my view and I don’t believe anything I’ve said is erroneous.

It looks like you’re relatively new to BY. However your usage of the word “erroneous”has me thinking of another poster here….hmmm 🤔
Ash was clutch in last year's championship and has been a solid shooter and great defender this year, particularly the last half of the season. Wondering if having to guard a player 2-3" taller, quicker and physically stronger much of the game made a difference. Always easy to pick on a player who has had such a horrid shooting game but inserting Blanca at the end of Q1 has injected energy into the lineup in almost every game. Having both Ash and Serah start games seems to have worked this year. Why would Geno change now?
 
2027 - Philly & Vegas regionals, Columbus OH FF
2028 - Portland OR & DC regionals, Indianapolis FF
2029 - San Antonio FF
2030 - Portland, OR FF
2031 - Dallas FF

Let's just hope for 2029-31 that they balance the regionals because this year was crazy.
I would love to see four regionals and I k is that we have to wait for that to possibly happen once again. As for the Final Fours I would like to see them take place in the center of the US. From Minneapolis to St. Louis to New Orleans there are plenty of places to play at. Hopefully at some point the women will get to play in football stadiums.
 
I think she is showing that she is ready, willing, and able as we head (hopefully) into these last three games but I’d be surprised if we see much of a change beyond a possible increase in minutes for Jana. I do think we’ll likely see that for sure. She, (Jana) is clearly much more confident and efficient around the basket now and is clearly the second best rebounder on this team. I think she may be a critical piece in this final push for the big prize!
Could being tired during the game have something to do with the fact that their shootaround that morning was at a ridiculous 6 a.m., as assigned by the tournament organizers? Horrible.
 
29 11/2 ? Seriously? Not if they play like tonight.
UConn had 18 steals and only 10 TOs, it wasn't their play that made the game uncomfortable, it was their shooting. If UConn had its typical shooting day, they'd won by 30-40 points. When was the last time Azzi was 2-9 from TWO (she was 2-3 from three). Their defense gave up only 42 points, and that is what will allow us to win on Sunday.
 
.-.
In the postgame interviews, the UNC players all said they managed to defend well for half the game by forcing UConn to play at their pace and to face their halfcourt defense. This probably reflects what they heard from their coach and matches what many of us saw. And they said their defense faltered when they had more TOs and missed baskets allowing UConn to avoid the halfcourt defense.

When asked about this same difference between the two halves, the UConn players focused on getting their confidence back at halftime and being able to ratchet up their defense and play better overall.

I’m struck by this difference in perception. When a traditional team plays solid halfcourt defense, they don’t get a ton of emotional support from it. It’s a workmanlike task and the experience doesn’t bring an emotional charge with it. When a pressing team like UConn succeeds in forcing TOs and getting transition baskets, it seems to carry a strong emotional charge and reinforces their entire effort.

This is reflected in their differing perceptions of what happened. They’re both right. They simply experienced the game from opposite perspectives. It was a grind to face UNC’s halfcourt offense and the UConn players experienced this as a challenge to their confidence. When they forced TOs, they experienced this in terms of their confidence rising. But their perceptions are also asymmetrical. When UConn forced TOs and ran in transition, the UNC players must have felt their confidence slipping. It must have taken a heroic effort to recover that confidence in the final quarter.
Ddi they also mention that they weren't trying to win in the 4th qtr? Because what I saw they were down by 20 or so and they weren't pressing and they were fine with UCONN holding the ball.
 
Poor shooting, got out rebounded. Still won by 20+. Not pretty, but win and advance time of year.

If we win 3 more, nobody will remember this game.
I believe if UConn wins Sunday, nobody will remember that game.
 
2027 - Philly & Vegas regionals, Columbus OH FF
2028 - Portland OR & DC regionals, Indianapolis FF
-------------------

What’s so bad about that!


-Next season: Philly and Columbus, both on this side of the Mississippi...

-28: DC, Indianapolis also fine

Plenty of husky fans will flock to those sites.
 
2027 - Philly & Vegas regionals, Columbus OH FF
2028 - Portland OR & DC regionals, Indianapolis FF
-------------------

What’s so bad about that!

-Next season: Philly and Columbus, both on this side of the Mississippi...

-28: DC, Indianapolis also fine

Plenty of husky fans will flock to those sites.
Nothing, I think? I was just putting the info out there. This year's sites might be the most egregious.
 
.-.
2027 - Philly & Vegas regionals, Columbus OH FF
2028 - Portland OR & DC regionals, Indianapolis FF
-------------------

What’s so bad about that!

-Next season: Philly and Columbus, both on this side of the Mississippi...

-28: DC, Indianapolis also fine

Plenty of husky fans will flock to those sites.
Great for UConn. Not so great if you’re UCLA or USC.
 
It's not that some Uconn fans "view a 21 point win as a squeaker"

It's that some of us (myself definitely included) didn't think we looked good in that "21 point win"

Our game was off. Weaknesses in our armor were exposed. Yes we won but the next 3 opponents will definitely be better than NC.

HH is a lot better player than anyone NC has too.. Nobody wants to see HH go off with 45 points and make tomorrow's game a nail biter...

It could happen.
It was hyperbole, of course.

The point is that nothing in reality was “exposed.” It’s just that some UConn fans have it in their nature to worry about everything.

1---- For example Someone posted after this game that KK and Shade are “realistically seniors,” and through implication the poster is suggesting they need to be replaced. Think about how absurd that is.

As freshmen, they were starters who reached the Final Four and were one awful call away from possibly reaching the finals. Then, coming off the bench the next year, they won a national title. And this year they’re starting on an amazing team — yet after this win, the poster is already looking for replacements?

2---- Another poster instead of celebrating the win, felt the need to take a mild snipe at people who have been generally positive about Geno’s use of Sarah and her minutes. UConn won the game by 21 points in the Sweet 16 — and that’s what you’re thinking about and felt was important enough to post?

3---- Another person asked what happens if Sarah and Azzi get shut down. I mean… are they kidding?

What have we heard Geno say all the time? He wants Sarah and Azzi to be more selfish. So if both get shut down, isn’t it reasonable to think they’re probably going to lose unless the defense is unreal? And how easy is it to shut down both the No. 1 player in the country and another who is a probable top 3 draft pick? Who exactly is UConn playing — the defending WNBA champions?

4---- Someone on this thread said KK Arnold is a below‑average 3‑point shooter. She isn’t, if the stats provided were correct. A player who shoots 33.9% from three is equivalent to slightly over 50% from two. And specifically in WCBB, 33.9% is average to slightly above average — whether overall or for a point guard.

The point is that some UConn fans look at this team and its players as if: if you aren’t “great,” then you’re “below average” and/or “need to be replaced.”

In my opinion, that’s what you’re doing here. Nothing was exposed. They just didn’t live up to your personal high expectations for this one game.

But try to remember — these are 20‑year‑old kids. Performance isn’t linear from game to game.
 
3---- Another person asked what happens if Sarah and Azzi get shut down. I mean… are they kidding?
This brings up a very interesting question - are there any remaining teams that have at least two lock down defenders, that can defend at all three levels - outside, drive, inside? ¯\(ツ)
 
It was hyperbole, of course.

The point is that nothing in reality was “exposed.” It’s just that some UConn fans have it in their nature to worry about everything.

1---- For example Someone posted after this game that KK and Shade are “realistically seniors,” and through implication the poster is suggesting they need to be replaced. Think about how absurd that is.
I'm only going to reply to one of your "points".
I doubt that the poster that you cite intended to say what you are interpreting. In my mind, I took the senior statement to mean that they should be playing like a senior now and was not suggesting that they be replaced.
If I am wrong about that meaning, I apologize.
 
Is it just me or has anyone noticed Shade is often a step slow defensively. She gets blown by far more frequently than I’d like to see. With her experience I’d expect her to adjust, anticipate and use angles to cut off the dribble.
She is going to get beat by quicker players bc she overplays on the perimeter...like nika used to do. uconn help defense was there.
 
.-.
Not to be a smarty pants, but could Ash need eyeglasses? She had good looks and ihas been a pretty good shooter not only from 3 but 2's also. When she has open looks, she should shoot it unless somebody has an easier or better opportunity. She's a very important player. I'd encourage her to keep shooting. Never know when those points will be really needed.
She has not shot well most of the year. I think she spends so much energy on defense and trapping that she just can't get shots to drop. She also has to battle bigger players playing in a 3 guard lineup, which can be exhausting. A few of her shots hit the front of the rim, which is a sign of being tired and a couple were off left to right which means she is rushed on the shot. I worry about this too bc with her and KK not being consistent enough in scoring, it puts more pressure on Azzi and Sarah to hit their shots and teams lag off of Ash and Kk to help on Azzi and Sarah.

I noticed a couple times in the second half that Ash deferred a good shot for a pass, which also means it is getting in her head a bit as well. I think GA may try to reduce her time a little and increase Blanca, just bc Ash is running all game all the time, and well, Blanca is pretty good.
 
Last edited:
Win and advance. Doesn’t have to be pretty, or a blowout.
It also gives them some recent experience with adversity, which is really good and can't be under-estimated. They had to dig down and really run their stuff well to get shots (while missing at least 10 that they should have hit), while playing full on defense and keeping their head straight..... and still grind it out for an ugly 20 point win.

There are going to be some tough moments in the FF (assuming we beat ND) and this bodes well for them to know and feel that they have the recent experience of going through some tough moments and still pulling it together for a win.
 
Flush the offense from the first half. The defense kept them in the game at that point. The second half was much better. Not fantastic, but solid.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
168,008
Messages
4,549,164
Members
10,431
Latest member
TeganK


Top Bottom