Utah Postgame Thread

[iri10]

And Blanca's offensive talent is amazing -- the play I remember was in the first quarter, soon after she came in. She drove into two defenders, made some sort of fake that caused them to move in opposite directions, opening up the lane for her to get through the double team and score. I can't even imagine how a player's move could cause the defender on the left to move further to the left, and the defender on the right to move further to the right. But that's what happened -- it was an inverse elevator screen (or maybe you could call it an elevator unscreen) where the doors opened for the player on the drive instead of closing on the defender. I don't think anyone else on the team could have done that, including Sarah.

I'd have to look more closely at this play on a game replay. But the way you describe it, it almost sounds like fear. Fear of Blanca bearing down on them like a freight train. 🤣

 

[MilfordHusky]

I'd have to look more closely at this play on a game replay. But the way you describe it, it almost sounds like fear. Fear of Blanca bearing down on them like a freight train. 🤣

My thought today, once again, was "Blanca is a Freight Train."

 

[and one]

The consistent excellence of Sarah and Azzi is a wonder to behold.

Blanca seems to have shaken off the freshman jitters. Her play today, aside from a few blown layups, was solid and effective. She's turning into the big time player we hoped she would be. She is the best candidate right now to become the third consistent scorer.

Sareh is struggling on offense for sure
No complaints about the other parts of her game. Given her track record I would be surprised if she doesn't start making those shots around the basket.

All and all a good game. Utah isn't a bad team and Conn dominated them.

 

[DemonDeac22]

Whether Serah is rushing her shot is unclear to me. It's possible. But what I mainly see is that when she catches a pass in the low post she goes into her routines which often consists of several moves. It looks like she's working too hard to get a shot off. This routine is what worked for her at Wisconsin to the tune of nearly 20 pts/g. At UConn, however, she would be better served to go up a lot more quickly, maybe after a simple shoulder fake. What's more, when she makes three or more moves, she is quickly surrounded by a double or triple team, and they're now in better position to rebound a miss than her or the other Huskies.

Now this is a more detailed analysis than is reliable merely from watching a game on TV. Folks who were at the game can probably give a much better sense of what happens when she receives a post entry pass. But if what I think I can see is reliable, the situation seems to require quicker decisions on her part on whether to put up a quick shot or to pass out to the perimeter, and this is only possible if she doesn't make several moves each time. These are rhythm plays and it looks like she's not moving at the right pace for UConn's pace of play.

Agree - Serah seems to try too many moves once she gets the ball down low and this allows the other defenders to drop down and throw her off. It would be nice if she developed a jump hook that she could use with either her right or left hand. At 6’4” it would be almost impossible to block and it doesn’t require time-consuming footwork and pivoting.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I've been fortunate to see the Huskies in person 4x this season, including the last 3 games. Generally, I've been very impressed. I agree with Kim Barnes Arico--this may be one the best teams Geno has had.

After the Ohio State and Michigan games, my thoughts: Sara Strong is the best player in the country and maybe the best player in years. She does everything and makes it look easy. The leading NPOY candidate.

After the Michigan and Utah games, Azzi is at the top of her game and arguably the NPOY. I've been watching my local girl for 8 years, and her overall game has never been better. The midrange has been a little off by her standards, but her overall shooting has been great and her defense has been elite. Today, she had a career high 8 rebounds.

Blanca, as Geno said in today's presser, "is a pro." She makes things happen, like a bigger version of Milaysia Fulwiley. Not only is she fun, but she is really, really good. She will terrorize the Big East for 4 years.

I think we have found this season's Big 3. Both Azzi and Blanca are shooting better than 50/40/90!

 

[BobbyJ]

Agree - Serah seems to try too many moves once she gets the ball down low and this allows the other defenders to drop down and throw her off. It would be nice if she developed a jump hook that she could use with either her right or left hand. At 6’4” it would be almost impossible to block and it doesn’t require time-consuming footwork and pivoting.

Agree. All big kids should be working on that in HS. They just have to find someone that can show them how to shield with their body, extend and release. Instead a lot of them are wasting their time practicing dribbling between their legs.

 

[AzzisBraids]

Our half court vision is very one sided, not even a glance that somebody might in fact be open under the hoop. Were so into running the play that other possible options don't exist. This may change with more experience among the new players.

I agree with you friend

 

[Bone Dog]

Our half court vision is very one sided, not even a glance that somebody might in fact be open under the hoop. Were so into running the play that other possible options don't exist. This may change with more experience among the new players.

What I hear in your post is the difficulty new players face in learning the offense. Until they do, the half court vision will look blinkered.

I remember a video clip of a practice from a few years back in which Geno urges the team to look for the moment when they can “break off the play and just go,” ie go to the hoop. The same would apply to reversing the ball.

These decisions are hard to make if you’re still struggling to fit into a complicated read-and-react scheme. But the new kids will get there soon enough. This also shows why Geno is likely to stick with KK and Ash in the starting lineup for a while longer. They know the schemes and can recognize when to “break off the play and just go.”

 

[The Deuce]

How in the world did Williams average almost 20 pts at Wisconsin?

 

[psconn]

I have now seen Blanca play two fantastic games and one where she was a non-factor. The hope is that what we saw today can be replicated against the top teams. She certainly has the athletic ability to make it happen. Occasionally out of control, but that is a price I am happy to ...

Inconsistancy and out-of-control moments are very much a freshman thing. It's going to be fun to watch her development. Geno seems to love her potential and her moxie... "she's got a lot of Svetlana in her".

 

[Doctor G]

How in the world did Williams average almost 20 pts at Wisconsin?

She was one of the few good players on a bad team and was their leading scorer with as many touches as she needed. That is not the case on this team, thank goodness. It’s a big deal to change offensive and defensive systems after 3 years of playing a certain way with an different caliber of players, and it’s hard to learn how to play with great players in a read and react system. It’s equally hard to play boldly in a large rotation. She will be fine in a few months because she has awesome coaches and she has plenty of talent. Her strengths will emerge. Confidence comes from demonstrated ability, as Bill Parcells once said. I enjoyed seeing Serah getting rebounds today and it was great to see her finally make a move to her left (though she bricked the shot). Hopefully she will become better at screens and picks soon, too.

 

[uconnever]

If Williams isnt what we thought, we’re in trouble. Ive never seen someone who has experience and played well, go somewhere new and be so far off. Heckel makes poor decisions on offense. She’s rough and tough and I like that but she needs to hone it in. Blanca heard me saying she can’t shoot I guess. I fully expect her to be really good sooner or later anyways. I also expect Allie to step up. I love her game and we need her. I hope I’m wrong because it’s early but I don’t think this teams shoots it as well as expected. That would be a problem because that’s what separates us from a lot of teams. The pieces are there and Geno can only do so much, some of these ladies are going to have to step up on their own. For me it’s mostly Allie, she could change everything, I think that’s why she is playing more, we really need her to be that other consistent shot maker and she’s always mostly making the right decisions with the ball. Once she gets comfortable I think she will be really good.

 

[mainerhuski]

How in the world did Williams average almost 20 pts at Wisconsin?

She took a lot of shots

 

[Stagnant]

How in the world did Williams average almost 20 pts at Wisconsin?

It makes me wonder how much Jana would score on a bad team.

 

[1974yankees]

Blanca is going to be really good. (A little wild at times) but I think we just found our 3rd 20 point a game scorer....

I am not quite sure who she reminds me of yet.

 

[Gael]

The team played great and I, like everyone else here, was extremely heartened by Blanca's performance. I have nothing really to add on those scores.

I'd like to narrow my focus to Serah Williams, and react to comments about her less-than-expected play that many members have made over the first seven games similar to the following two that I'll quote as examples.

It’s a big deal to change offensive and defensive systems after 3 years of playing a certain way with an different caliber of players, and it’s hard to learn how to play with great players in a read and react system. It’s equally hard to play boldly in a large rotation.

The team's system, size of rotation and the caliber of other players have nothing to do with it once a post player has the ball in her hands three feet from the basket. At that point, putting the ball into the basket is all up to the player's individual talent, skills, experience, judgment and basketball IQ.

It would be nice if she developed a jump hook that she could use with either her right or left hand.

It's too late for her to develop significant new individual skills. She'll be 22 in January and has only 4+ months left in her college career.

Given her current individual talent and skills, whatever and how immutable they may now be, there are at least three things that could improve Serah's productivity.

1. Teaching the perimeter feeders to make more intelligent entry passes to her on the low block, such as when she's in her strongest positions and when she's not easily surround-able and hound-able by a pack of defenders.

2. Positioning her differently on the court other than buried on the low block. I've seen her make decent looking drives from the high post, and maybe she could be an effective passer from there to body-control cutters such as Sarah and Blanca.

3. Calming down psychologically and hence becoming more confident in employing her physical skills. These mental improvements could flow, for example, from success with 1 and 2 above.

Serah can be more effective if the coaching staff and her teammates become more experienced in adapting themselves to her strengths, rather than expecting or demanding that she cure her weaknesses in the literal winter of her college career. That will help to better "get her head into the game."

In my opinion.