USC Postgame Thread

[uconnfan68]

What I hate is the whistle that is called every time a player ends up on the floor. The assumption must be a foul has been committed. A lot of times the shooter is attempting a crazy, off-balance shot and fell because of their own clumsines, but they 99% of the time get a foul called on defender who often didn’t even touch the player but just happened to be nearest person.

Paige is always on the floor when she drives, and rarely gets the calls.

 

[cancontent]

Foul calls were ridiculous.

The fouls called were fairly even (UConn 17, USC 18). And there were missed calls for both teams. Sure, USC had the advantage with free throws, but defending someone like Marshall in the paint isn't easy to do.

 

[freshler40]

So true. I probably yell more than one of these pearls of wisdom at the TV screen at various moments in every game -- especially keeping the ball high. That one drives me crazy.

Jana is well sized for women's basketball but needs to make herself a big target for inside passes. One way is to widen her stance/ shoulders and hold it just outside of the lines. Establish this deep position for a quick turn with a pump fake if necessary and one step layup. Drill this and many eye hand grasping techniques and viola 15 points a game. She will get there and be a handful.

As were currently setup, a high or double high post makes it difficult for Jana to establish this low post position against good fives (5). Perhaps in the future she will be more engaged in the offense under a different Geno scheme. Setting high picks is the priority now and that works well with a Paige on the court.

 

[hussybulldog]

Jana is a beast but she doesn't keep the ball up and away from the little people on her shots and rebounds. She needs to get a personal coach to team her how to play the post in the offseason because she isn't getting it in practice with the team. She is young and will get it but Friday will be a big test for her.

Is this her third year at uconn (even though this is her freshman year as a player.)? What is she waiting for?

 

[Ozimoto]

Last night certainly was "interesting" to say the least. They showed me a lot, though, by not folding and never losing the lead when USC made their run in the third quarter. Every game is different but so far the team has done what was needed to win. Some days off will be welcomed, I'm sure.

I suspect Ashlyn may still have a headache from Saturday's game.

Paige is having a tournament for the ages, Sarah has begun weaving her own legendary career and UConn, and Kaitlyn Chen has entered Husky lore with her performance last night. Bringing home a 12th NC would be an extremely fitting end for this group.

 

[uconnever]

Great win in a game where you clearly didn't play your best. I thought the defense was good tonight but KK and Shade both were way less than usual on that end of the court which matters. Paige had a good night but missed several shots she usually doesn't miss and the rebounding outside of Sarah as poor to say the least.

Huge plus of the game was KC who in my opinion played her first good game when playing a quality team. She is good on offense yet often doesn't get engaged on that end of the floor buut last night she made some plays that were vital to the win and she will need to continue her play next weekend for UConn to beat UCLA.

Jana is a beast but she doesn't keep the ball up and away from the little people on her shots and rebounds. She needs to get a personal coach to team her how to play the post in the offseason because she isn't getting it in practice with the team. She is young and will get it but Friday will be a big test for her.

Jana is for me the most important player for this Friday and I knew this day was coming. She will get and need help but she just has to stay out of foul trouble and make Betts work really hard. Do the basics don’t get buried in the paint and keep her hands up and rebound her area. She also needs to control her emotions. I believe she is prepared and can do it. She won’t win the war with Betts, but we don’t need her to. They are dangerous too because they can shoot good. It’s not only Betts. This should be our toughest game.

 

[uconnever]

Jana needs to work on some fundamentals- footwork, positioning, keeping the ball high, boxing out, and she needs to stop dribbling in the paint before taking a shot. I’d like to see her use the backboard instead of flipping the ball towards the hoop, too

Didn’t see this, totally agree. Especially for this game. I think she can do enough for us this game. She has to stay calm also, Betts and UCLA will use her aggression against her. I like that she is like that and it helps her, but sometimes it hurts her when she over does it. I think that’s key in this game because UCLA plays smart.

 

[BBallF]

I wonder if USC overlooked Kaitlyn. After all, how many Huskies can they game plan for? They did great job minimizing Azzi & our bigs. They tried denying Paige.
Somehow, Chen sneaked under the radar!

She's very tough when she has a clear path to the basket because she can finish strong with both hands, something KK has to work on over the summer. She also has a good pull up J and a confident 3. Same as above for KK.

 

[jaydee602]

She's very tough when she has a clear path to the basket because she can finish strong with both hands, something KK has to work on over the summer. She also has a good pull up J and a confident 3. Same as above for KK.

Very true! And she never misses her layups.
That give & go with Sarah was a work of art. But Kaitlyn still had to convert the layup with two defenders converging on her!

 

[bbfanLA]

Paige won her 4th NCAA Tournament Regional MVP award. I can’t imagine that any other men’s or women’s player has done that.

 

[BBallF]

Jana needs to work on some fundamentals- footwork, positioning, keeping the ball high, boxing out, and she needs to stop dribbling in the paint before taking a shot. I’d like to see her use the backboard instead of flipping the ball towards the hoop, too

All true 100%. My biggest concern though are that these are also mental mistakes of which there are far too many. I would just also add to your list of skill/mental fundamentals that it's not always the right move to try to score just because you get an offensive rebound. Odds are a defender is out of place somewhere and with Azzi, Paige, KC, Sarah and maybe Ash, you have very good outside shooters and somebody might be open. You get a rebound you now have 20 new seconds on the clock.. Hold the rebound high, make space and pass the ball out. She rarely does that. Whatever she was used to doing 3 years ago will not work at this level.

 

[NYFan]

Interesting to note that of the three teams that beat us during the season (Tennesse, USC and Notre Dame) not one of them is still playing.

Also to note... of the three teams that beat South Carolina during the season (UCLA, Texas, and UConn), all of them are still playing...

 

[BBallF]

Very true! And she never misses her layups.
That give & go with Sarah was a work of art. But Kaitlyn still had to convert the layup with two defenders converging on her!

I realize what Paige and Sarah did last night but in my mind, KC and Azzi won that game. It's interesting how KC seemed to be overrated coming into UCONN based on the earlier games. I think a lot of that was because she is the PG and starts the offense. When Paige brings it up she has more of an open floor and is very quick. Not blow by quick like KK, but first step either direction quick and she can really finish. To me , once her 3 point shot started to fall, she was just a different player.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Jana needs to work on some fundamentals- footwork, positioning, keeping the ball high, boxing out, and she needs to stop dribbling in the paint before taking a shot. I’d like to see her use the backboard instead of flipping the ball towards the hoop, too

I concur. KK also needs to use that square on the backboard every time.

 

[Jonathan14]

Paige won her 4th NCAA Tournament Regional MVP award. I can’t imagine that any other men’s or women’s player has done that.

The only other candidate who comes immediately to mind is Breanna Stweart, who won four NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. Not sure if she won the regional MVP awards as well.

 

[oldude]

Paige won her 4th NCAA Tournament Regional MVP award. I can’t imagine that any other men’s or women’s player has done that.

You didn’t happen to catch the All-Region team?

 

[bbfanLA]

The only other candidate who comes immediately to mind is Breanna Stweart, who won four NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. Not sure if she won the regional MVP awards as well.

She won 2 and KML won the other 2

 

[bbfanLA]

You didn’t happen to catch the All-Region team?

I didn’t

 

[browns]

Now on a positive note. This is one terrific team. Sarah is so poised, and talented. She knows how to get position against bigger players. She knows how to fake and shoot and shows absolutely no emotion. Paige is the GOAT maybe of all time. As Great as Diana Stewie and Maya were Paige is some efficient. Great game for Chen. She stepped up big and was huge the entire game.
The defense was suffocating and USC hung in and kept making shots. They will be a tuff out next season. Theyre gonna be really good. UCLA next. We will see what Genos game plan is. Our defense will make the difference.

If she was the goat they would've won last year against Iowa instead of her being passive in the 4th quarter scoring 4 points to CC's 8 points..DT would never have let that happen and she didn't 3 years in a row

 

[BBallF]

The only other candidate who comes immediately to mind is Breanna Stweart, who won four NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player awards. Not sure if she won the regional MVP awards as well.

I don't know about her freshman year. I would not be surprised with her sophomore , junior and senior years.

 

[Dogstar]

When KK drove the lane & scored on a layup, I thought, "Great. The bench will give us some scoring tonight!"
I never figured that those were the only points from the reserves. None of the other bench players scored a point. In fact, there was only one other shot attempted!!
I guess that proves there are several ways to win a game!

Exactly!!......like I always say " good defense will keep you in the game"

 

[Henry]

Paige and Sarah were tremendous in the game. We're accustomed to their greatness. Azzi finally scored when it mattered in the 4thQ. Aubrey brought fresh legs to the defense when we really needed it.

But, for me, the X factor was Kaitlyn. There's a reason Geno wanted her and trusts her. She didn't play scared. She was poised. She was aggressive. She secured the ball when USC was pressing. She scored 15 necessary points. We wouldn't be going to the FF without her.

 

[MSGRET]

Paige and Sarah never came off the floor

They did during timeouts and the halftime break.

 

[oldude]

They did during timeouts and the halftime break.

Yes, but during most of the timeouts, Paige was also doing commercials for Nike or Gatorade…..

 

[MSGRET]

I didn't say "in Final Four games." They are under .500 in going to and coming home champs.

Not a week from today if I have anything to say about it. Unfortunately....

Here is a copy of your statement, the bold portion shows that you did. There is the Final Four and the Championship game.

"24 Final Fours and 12 National Titles looks far prettier than 24 and 11.

Tired of being under .500 in Final Fours."