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Message: [QUOTE="JoePgh, post: 3440482, member: 1131"] As usual, I think the tone of these postgame comments is unduly negative. Here are some positive things that (as far as I noticed) no one has commented on: [LIST=1] [*]UConn won the last three quarters by a margin of [B]54-28![/B] The 4th quarter score was 21-6 in UConn's favor. Where did all those posters go who were complaining about poor fourth quarters, and thought that UConn's starters were getting exhausted because of underutilization of the bench? [*]The main reason why USF won the first quarter was that they were 5-for-6 from 3 in that quarter. They then proceeded to shoot 1-12 for the rest of the game as the law of averages kicked in (plus some more effective UConn defense). [*]Olivia was amazing and is really showing game-by-game progress, including in her case the South Carolina game. Those who say that UConn coaches cannot develop post players (who have a short memory to begin with, considering what they did with Stef Dolson) should take notice of what she has accomplished this year. Although the minutes are not yet shown in the ESPN box score as I write this, I don't believe that she ever went to the bench -- and had plenty of stamina to play effectively for 40 minutes. [*]The offensive rebounding by USF, which was a major issue in the first half, became a non-issue in the second half. USF ended up with 17 offensive rebounds to UConn's 12, but the great majority of those came in the first half. I assume that was the result of some "X and O" adjustments done by the coaches at halftime. Another reason was that Aubrey was really effective on the boards at both ends, no mean achievement given that she started on the perimeter in every defensive possession. For the full game, the rebounding margin was only 37-34 in favor of USF, despite a much larger difference early in the game. [*]As in all recent games, Christyn earned her minutes despite her poor shooting with the rest of her game, particularly her contribution on the boards (5 rebounds). [*]For the full game, UConn shot 48% and USF shot 32% -- very creditable numbers against a team that was 7-3 in the AAC and was in second place at the start of the game. [*]UConn had 17 steals to USF's 5. Despite an orgy of turnovers in the first quarter, UConn ended up with only 12 turnovers for the game, compared with 22 for USF. [/LIST] [USER=9636]@Dokey[/USER]: I agree with you that Anna did not play poorly, but it was not one of her better games, and Geno needed to see if either Molly or Aubrey could make a greater contribution. It turned out that Aubrey had an outstanding game, so he "rode the hot hand", as any good coach would and should do in any sport. There have been games where Anna came off the bench to replace Kyla or someone else, played great, and got a ton of minutes for that reason (e.g., Oregon). Don't worry -- it won't break Anna any more than similar treatment broke Megan, Olivia, Tina Charles, or numerous other players in recent history. Even stalwarts like Kia Nurse and Kelly Faris got benched in games where they simply weren't playing as well as their teammates. Anna shouldn't see it as punishment, and I don't think she will. After all, she saw Olivia getting greatly reduced minutes when she wasn't playing well, and today she got 40. If and when Anna plays better (and better than her teammates), the minutes will be there. [/QUOTE]

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