USF Postgame Thread

[oldude]

Some thoughts on the USF game:

• UConn starts another game just a little slow on offense, but the Husky defense smothers USF until the offense settles down and takes over. The Huskies held the Bulls to 8 pts in the 1st qtr and then followed it up by holding them to 6 pts in the 2nd qtr. UConn forced 15 to’s in the first half, holding USF to 13% shooting. Simply amazing.
• It seems like an eternity, but only a few weeks back USF was beating UConn at the half. Tonight, the game was all but over by the end of the 1st qtr, against one of the better teams in the conference. I know, the AAC isn’t that strong. But the relative improvement of the Huskies over a three-week period is stunning.
• Liv does a lot of things really well, but one of the things she doesn’t get nearly enough credit for is her ability to pass the ball. She has become an outstanding passer, particularly in tight quarters dropping pinpoint interior dimes.
• Megan also does a lot of things really well, but the one thing I love about Meg is her ability to go up in a crowd for a rebound and come down with the ball. At 6’1” Megan goes after a defensive rebound like a hawk after a pigeon.
• UConn once again ran a 7-player rotation when it counted, with solid contributions from everyone. There is nothing more enjoyable to me personally than watching the Huskies play the game of basketball with exuberance and pure joy, like I observed tonight.
• Finally, I decided that I don’t give a damn where UConn ends up, and who else is in their bracket. The last thing SC, Baylor or Oregon wants is to have to face the Huskies again to get to the FF. BRING IT ON!!!

 

[HuskyNan]

The announcers sucked. For most of the second half, they didn’t even pretend they were there to talk about the game

 

[Centerstream]

I felt like our bubble was burst when we came out for the second half and BAM!! Liv was called for 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes. The refs seemed determined to make their presence known.

Caveat: our great announcers completely ignored the first call, so I am guessing it was on Liv.

 

[Biff]

The announcers sucked. For most of the second half, they didn’t even pretend they were there to talk about the game

Bob and Debbie called a great game. Called all the action start to finish. Of course they didn't even know that Charlie was stealing screen space.

 

[Centerstream]

Oh, I am waiting for the posts about how USF played us almost even in the second half.

 

[pspr11]

Geno called off the dogs

 

[UcMiami]

Geno has always said the Elite 8 game is the hardest one to win and which ever bracket Uconn is in the other teams will need all they got.

Thought that first half was really solid - don't get that worried when if it is a slow start as long as the defense is working and this game the offense got fired up pretty quickly. 13-4 five minutes in is not bad especially when the next five is another 13-4 run. And then Q2 started on a 20-2 run.

 

[EricLA]

So... first half A+. 2nd half, C

Call it loss of focus, whatever, but we beat them by 2 in the 2nd half. It's to be expected but... against good teams, UCONN won't get transition points. Most of those games will be played in the half court. We have not excelled at that all season, and nothing about tonight's game changed any of that.

3 point shooting not bad, but not great. Meg and Christyn nice. Every one else, meh. Crystal, Anna, Kyla - 2-12.

I mean really - it was a total smackdown - up by almost 40 at the half. So really very little to complain about, but for UCONN purists, winning the 2nd half by only 2 points, while probably not unexpected, is also not very good...

Offense has been a problem all season, especially in big games. It's getting better, but Liv needs to be really involved. She's getting better and better, but not where the team needs to be to make a super deep run or go all the way...

To me, the players of the game were Megan and Aubrey. Megan because she was the most productive and accurate, and Aubrey because in less minutes, she had 13 points and was 5-6 from the floor and 3-3 from the FT line.

The rest of the team was great in the 1st half, and ultimately really solid for the game.

 

[Centerstream]

Bob and Debbie called a great game. Called all the action start to finish. Of course they didn't even know that Charlie was stealing screen space.

It would be so cool if the game replays could have Bob and Debbie dubbed over the ESPN "announcers"...for every ESPN game!!!

 

[Husky fanatic]

It took almost 2 and a half minutes before the fans could sit down at the beginning of the game . For some I'm sure it was an eternity. Another positive all around game by all.

 

[Centerstream]

Geno called off the dogs

True but the posts will ignore this.

 

[Urshurak]

Excellent analysis as always!

 

[GRIFFBIFF20]

Absolutely one solid game put in by Aubrey Griffin.

 

[UcMiami]

Second half Geno was slowing everything down and running specific plays and then the subs took over. Hard to play ball when really no one on the floor can make a jump shot.

One thing I would like the coaches to push in those cases is getting Aubrey to try taking jump shots - she had one in HS and has finally found her free throw shot the past few games. Time to get some plays for her to actually take some mid-range or further attempts.

Liv has started taking and making them which will make her much harder to guard.

 

[Centerstream]

Absolutely one solid game put in by Aubrey Griffin.

She is truly a very solid player and I am so looking forward to her getting her outside shot working, which will certainly make her drives to the rim that much more exciting!!!

 

[oldude]

Second half Geno was slowing everything down and running specific plays and then the subs took over. Hard to play ball when really no one on the floor can make a jump shot.

One thing I would like the coaches to push in those cases is getting Aubrey to try taking jump shots - she had one in HS and has finally found her free throw shot the past few games. Time to get some plays for her to actually take some mid-range or further attempts.

Liv has started taking and making them which will make her much harder to guard.

Nice observations. Liv keeps knocking down shots from farther and farther out. Her shot from the arc was tantalizingly close to going down. If she had made it, the XL center would have erupted, and Kyla would have probably hurt herself cheering.

 

[BBallF]

A big highlight for me was Liv's jump hook. I expect to see that a lot from here on in and certainly next year. Meg is playing with great confidence and she is clearly the Conference POY. The posts are correct. Geno put the brakes on. We stopped running not by instinct but rather by direction. He told CD to slow it down. Let's see what Coach says about the game to see if we are right about him pulling the strings. He won't say it directly but there surely will be clues.

 

[wbball novice]

Meg did it all; nuff said.

CD excellent in transition, mostly in the first half. Her 3 pt shooting in the last few games has been tailing off. But, shooters keep shooting (and cutting in to make layups and making 5 assists).

CW shooting efficiency improved. Some of her finishes were partly lucky (where she tripped over a player without getting a foul, somehow, and then doing a step or two before completing the layup), but I recall one really hard finish where the defenders got pretty physical, a definite "and 1." The hard finishes are her signature move, I think. Continues to be good in defense with steals and rebounds.

My impression was that the team in general was not as competitive as it could be with rebounds, especially offensive ones. USF did a little better.

Team 3 pt shooting percentage wasn't that good for the team. That game where they were 70% was an outlier, but as noted, the efficiency percentage would be closer to UConn "good" if CD was making her shots again. Nice to see CW make her 2 threes. USF's dismal 3 pt percentage at 10% made UConn look like a powerhouse.

Defense was excellent and led to the offensive outburst in the first half that the team could use for a little load management in the second half. I really didn't think Geno would trample his friend's players in the second half with the lead already at around 40. Still, the bench players were better against Houston.

Anna didn't have a particularly good game relative to her past few. Shooting was a little off, 3 turnovers, couple snazzy assists but other ones that resulted in turnovers.

Aubrey used her speed & didn't get wild with the layups; big scoring contributor (she scored 13 to ONO's 10), and again made her FTs.

Liv seems to be perfecting her set shot away from the basket, but kind of erratic close in; she's been better. The USF defenders were tougher than some other AAC teams, but the top teams from the other conferences in the NCAA tournament will be defending the basket even better, so I hope she can use conference tournament play to improve.

And UConn thumped USF by 40 to the extent that it allowed the commentators to talk of shoes and ships and other things in the second half; and UConn fans could contemplate the prospect of playing in Portland (maybe in an empty stadium?)

 

[msf22b]

All together, a pretty satisfying game
There was just enough variety in the outside shooting resulting in the team being tough to guard.
The transition game and the D that caused it was impressive

I imagine Geno called off the dogs in the 3rd quarter, slowed down the running game, had the team work on half-court offense...There is still work to do on that aspect; it was less than stellar.

Like many of our fans, I am fascinated by the team's progress and wondering what its ceiling is ....not necessarily rankings or even geographical placement, but in the more significant measure of excellent, consistent BB. (resulting in our winning our early contests in the NCAA's, at least through the regional's).

And my optimistic thought is that this team could yet develop into the 2nd best in the country, which opens up the possibility of another banner.

I'm not predicting this outcome and the improvements, confidence, and toughness have to continue apace.

But it's possible and I will continue to observe their continued progress with interest.

God, do I sound like Tony?...Me?

 

[Longtime fan]

The announcers sucked. For most of the second half, they didn’t even pretend they were there to talk about the game

You got that right.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[victor64]

The first half reminded me of the UConn teams of previous years. Tons of great looks in transition with open looks being knocked down.

The second half, they executed well (ten turnovers for the game), they just missed a ton of open looks.

Aubrey has now made 9 straight foul shots. Whoda thunk it.

 

[Woof 101]

The announcers sucked. For most of the second half, they didn’t even pretend they were there to talk about the game

Debbie Antonelli is insufferable and simply takes a game that is being dominated by one team to mean it is time for her to non stop preach. Actually any game she gives the viewer absolutely no time to absorb the play without her over analyzing it.
I can't be wrong, the better half working on the lap top and semi watching the game agreed.

 

[Dokey]

The first half was the game. Everyone was just going through the motions in second half, otherwise it might have been truly rubbing it in Jose’s face.

 

[itsasport]

Geno got what he wanted in the first half, but did not want to embarrass Jose in his final game against him.