Utah Postgame Thread | Page 3 | The Boneyard
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Utah Postgame Thread

oldude said:
A thought on Serah’s game today. She rebounded effectively and played really well on defense. Her shot misses from point blank range are mystifying. I’m hoping that she fixes that soon, because if and when Serah finds her offense, She elevates UConn to another level.
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Agreed! Her offense is going to come. Meanwhile, Serah's defense is EXCELLENT. That one play where she moved from defending the guard on the perimeter, to blocking the shot at the rim? Not many bigs can keep lateral pace with a player to the basket like that. Her offense will come, defensively she's very good and I was glad to see her rebounds step up today.
 
Stagnant said:
Also, I don’t know how other people feel about it. But I thought the commentary was just horrendous today. The commentators made claims or statements that are just easily disproven by anyone that watches UConn on the regular.
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These two had me gritting my teeth from the openig qtr. Watched with the mute on.
 
dtbtbtb said:
Few Thoughts:
*Fun game to watch especially after the nerve recking game against Michigan
*IMO Blanca is the key for UConn's ability to repeat as she is clearly the best option to be that 3rd scorer on this team. Great game today (aside than that 1 missed layup) and should give her a lot of confidence going forward and she can hit the open 3 which is very much needed for this team success against the top teams.
*The player who was supposed to be that 3rd scorer (Serah) is mystifying in her futility under the basket on offence especially considering her track record at Wisconsin.
*Azzi and Sarah were amazing as usual. Smart, fundamental, great basketball players.
*Concerned about Ash and Kayleigh Heckel inability to hit 3's and Allie's struggles in the first half hitting the 3's. It was good to see her hitting the 3's in the second half.
*Really liked the way the bench played in the second half. Disciplined on offense and tight defense.
*As was mentioned Geno seemed to be very patient with Serah and have to wonder when he will make changes ot the starting 5 if she continues to not find her game.
*A feel-good game for the team and the fans!
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With all due respect, missing one three in the first half is not exactly “struggling”! There is no question in my mind that Allie will be a very solid (at minimum) player for us ( maybe this year but certainly her final two). If she can get it going like she’s capable of from three, she’ll be a solid b/u for Azzi.

As for Serah, I’m seeing two things that are really holding her back imo, one, she always seems to rush things when she gets the ball down low, two, it seems to me that she gets a lot of ill-advised entry passes. By this, I mean she often gets the ball when there are two or three defenders around her already! I think the passers need to be more aware of this and avoid putting her in bad situations. Certainly, she is struggling but I continue to think what this team will be like if/when she can start giving us 16/8 per game!

Finally, the player I’m most concerned about, is K9! She seems (to me) to be really struggling, not just with her shot but with her decision making. Hopefully, she can get back on track as well as she is an important piece of the puzzle.

I’m very happy, hough not surprised, that Ash seems to be working her way out of her recent doldrums. This was a well-timed game and now gives the team a week of rest and practice after erasing whatever bad feelings some may have had from the Michigan game. I feel a bit sorry for Xavier next Sunday.
 
Alot of good comments as expected after a blow out. Two more that stood out to me.

1. While I appreciated Blanca's 3's, her drive to the basket relatively early in the game showed growth. After stealing the ball, instead of going full speed and trying to overpower the defender, she slowed down, gave a subtle push to gain room and made the shot much easier. After a tough Mich. game when it seemed she was trying to run over everyone, slowing down and making this layup without an offensive foul or missed shot showed she is listening and paying attention.
2. Serah may need some extended bench time to get her game back in shape. Particularly on offense, she has not looked like a Division 1 player. Yes, she has several blocks and a handful of rebounds each game but not offering any offense. Not sure if she is experiencing a mental or other issue but will leave this one to Geno.

Fun game for a UConn fan to watch.
 
DEpup said:
I'm really glad Blanca was able to come back swinging after looking like a freshman against Michigan.

I also walked away just amazed by their conditioning. Michigan clearly looked tired in their game against Syracuse but you couldn't tell at all that UConn had a tough game Friday night.

I felt just a tiny bit sorry for Utah. I think quite a few UConn players came out with something to prove after Friday night and it was great to see. Bodes well for the season even though my blood pressure could have done without that 3rd quarter Friday night.

BTW-KK totally reminded me of Renee today and I loved it. She was a menace on D.
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Despites Geno's calm demeanor, they probably got a tongue-lashing after Friday's game. Today they came out like they didn't want another tongue-lashing. The defense was once again like piranhas on a roast.
 
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pvdoggy said:
Geez... Centerstream's comment was fair. It was not a pretty qtr and Utah outscored Uconn most of that qtr, with Sarah playing most of that qtr while Azzi played the entire qtr.
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People complain that Geno doesn’t develop the bench but when he does put them in and they don’t blow away the opponent, fans complain about the scoring, turnovers, etc.

Geno likes to leave an experienced player in with inexperienced ones, so Sarah played. She passed up shots to give the second team more opportunities. It’s valuable for the bench to get playing time against the opponent’s first team but it does cause a less attractive box score
 
Easy win for the group. Defense was super for first 30 min. Too many silly reach in fouls.Despite the impressive blow out the offense looked out of sync often. Too many missed layups!
S Strong - composed and in control. Would like to see more bursts of quickness and explosive strength.
Azzi- best game in a long time . Excelled in every aspect of play.
Kk- seems to be slimmer , less athletic than last year. Overall good. Stop dribbling into a blind ally. More assists please.
Ash- better game . Good defense. At times gets lost racing around. Still rushing some shots.
Sarah w- poor initial move with the ball. Spin move needs work. Must look around more to improve passing options and assists. Good energy.
Bianca- better game , better focus. Missing easy lay ups lack of focus.
Patterson- needs game time not garbage time
Jana- square up shoulder , hips under them . Too much leaning and drifting on shots. On other hand girl gets fouled a lot and no calls. Sets up well defender on her backside and Heckel and Shade don’t pass her the ball.
Heckel- finding her way. Like KK more assists please.
Fisher- freshman learning . Move your feen and stop reaching
Ziebell- drifts in and out of the game.more focus. Improve that first step on defense.
Ducharme - not in shape, poor defender. Shots missing rim . Bend knees and jump on offensive and on the defend. Can’t impact D1 jumping off your ankles.
Overall a positive energetic win but too sloppy and that’s concerning.
Would like to see minutes with both Jana and Sarah W.
 
Cuango said:
As for Serah, I’m seeing two things that are really holding her back imo, one, she always seems to rush things when she gets the ball down low, two, it seems to me that she gets a lot of ill-advised entry passes. By this, I mean she often gets the ball when there are two or three defenders around her already! I think the passers need to be more aware of this and avoid putting her in bad situations.
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The female announcer astutely mentioned that the Huskies’ spacing was not giving Serah the room she needed. UConn needs to space the court better to draw defenders out of the post. Too many times, Serah gets the ball while she’s surrounded by three defenders
 
Heres my take on Serah.
It looks to me like the coaching staff has messed with her footwork and maybe where shes supposed to be. It looks to me like shes thinking too much. She might have to unlearn things her former coaches taught her. Every now and then, in the heat of the battle, she'll just play and forget what they told her and do something good.
Jana is kinda the same way but Jana has had time enough to know what shes supposed to do.
 
oldude said:
Well that covers UConn, and apparently no Husky has shot 100% for the season, although Sue’s .942 is ridiculously good. But what about the rest of college basketball?
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According to Sports Reference, Haley Cavinder holds the FT percentage season record as a junior at Fresno State in 2021-22 at .973. Records only go back to 1981-82.
 
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I'm saying this tongue and cheek but maybe the coaching staff has forgotten how to teach the traditional center position. It's been a lot of years since we've had one. LoL.... Seriously though something is not right with what Serah, Jana, and Ayanna are doing down low. The centers seem to be able to get more points on the move than back to the basket. Every time they are back to the basket, they travel, miss a bunny, or get pushed off their block and lose the ball. I'm not an expert but something is not right when every time they are given the ball, they are surrounded and have to do so much work to get a shot off.
 
One thing that I find in Blanca game that really impresses me is that Geno is using her on the double team on full court pressure. She is very effective doing the double because she is very long and quick. I think Serah will come along in her offense once the guards figure out the best place for Serah to receive the entry pass, She seems to deep near the hoop when she receives the ball
. Allie will be a 3 point machine once she gets comfortable.
 
Jalan2121 said:
Easy win for the group. Defense was super for first 30 min. Too many silly reach in fouls.Despite the impressive blow out the offense looked out of sync often. Too many missed layups!
S Strong - composed and in control. Would like to see more bursts of quickness and explosive strength.
Azzi- best game in a long time . Excelled in every aspect of play.
Kk- seems to be slimmer , less athletic than last year. Overall good. Stop dribbling into a blind ally. More assists please.
Ash- better game . Good defense. At times gets lost racing around. Still rushing some shots.
Sarah w- poor initial move with the ball. Spin move needs work. Must look around more to improve passing options and assists. Good energy.
Bianca- better game , better focus. Missing easy lay ups lack of focus.
Patterson- needs game time not garbage time
Jana- square up shoulder , hips under them . Too much leaning and drifting on shots. On other hand girl gets fouled a lot and no calls. Sets up well defender on her backside and Heckel and Shade don’t pass her the ball.
Heckel- finding her way. Like KK more assists please.
Fisher- freshman learning . Move your feen and stop reaching
Ziebell- drifts in and out of the game.more focus. Improve that first step on defense.
Ducharme - not in shape, poor defender. Shots missing rim . Bend knees and jump on offensive and on the defend. Can’t impact D1 jumping off your ankles.
Overall a positive energetic win but too sloppy and that’s concerning.
Would like to see minutes with both Jana and Sarah W.
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B-L-a-n-c-a.
 
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YKCornelius said:
According to Sports Reference, Haley Cavinder holds the FT percentage season record as a junior at Fresno State in 2021-22 at .973. Records only go back to 1981-82.
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Yes. Also, Azzi isn't qualified at the moment: you need 2.5 makes per game. Players with fewer attempts have made 100%. The only thing I can get from the free version of HerHoopStats (which only goes back to 2009-2010) is that Brooke Walker, who played today, went 11-11 for the whole season for Utah last year, and they listed four others who went 2-2. (Several players are 16-16 so far this year.)
 
jabstep said:
One thing that I find in Blanca game that really impresses me is that Geno is using her on the double team on full court pressure. She is very effective doing the double because she is very long and quick. I think Serah will come along in her offense once the guards figure out the best place for Serah to receive the entry pass, She seems to deep near the hoop when she receives the ball
. Allie will be a 3 point machine once she gets comfortable.
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Very Aaliyah Edwards like. She reminds me a lot of Edwards with her defense on the perimeter and bully ball mindset. The added 3pt shot is like an Edwards 2.0.
 
My wife and I just got back from the game…what a fun game to watch.

The athleticism these girls have is amazing to see up close. The size, strength and speed is everywhere on the court. They played confident and loose the whole game and their play showed.

I have a new found appreciation for Shade, I found myself after the first handful of games being frustrated with her shot and having seen her today I am not paying attention to all the things that make her such a strong player. Her awareness on defense is second to none. Constantly moving, looking, and communicating. She is always dialed in. On offense, while her shot is still inconsistent, she is always moving which is opening things up for her teammates. Pleasure to watch.

KK speed on the court is different level. Azzi was born to shoot a basketball. Blanca is sneaky quick and stronger than you may think. Sarah has IT and her presence on the court is as imposing as her actual skill.

Nice seeing so many players get minutes. Crowd loves CD!
 
Topdawg said:
Good game overall. Azzi, Blanca and Sarah played very well and sealed the victory.

KK, K9, and Kelis were strong on defense and took 4,2, and 3 shots, respectively. Ashlyn and Allie contributed meaningful minutes and points.

The 5-position is where the focus needs to be over the next several games. They need to improve to the level they were last year and then go well beyond. We have the talent to have a strong inside-out game and spread the floor better. Serah contributed 8 rebounds and Jana 2, out of a total of 41. Sarah had 4 and Blanca 5.

A good 2 days. Lots to reflect on and lots to work on. Go team!!
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How about Azzi with 8 rebounds? That has to be at least a season high if not a college career high! Not a bad two games in less than 48 hours: 55 pts and 13 rebounds. Great averages on shooting to start the year: FG% = 51.1%; 3 pt % = 54.8%; FT % = 100% (11/11).

I guess Paige had to move on to the W, for Azzi to be perfect on the line. 😍 🔥 😍

Looks like Sarah's competition for the player of the year is Azzi. Hope they push each other to continue to improve and bring a third UConn player into the discussion as well.

Go Huskies!!!
 
oldude said:
Well that covers UConn, and apparently no Husky has shot 100% for the season, although Sue’s .942 is ridiculously good. But what about the rest of college basketball?
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No, there is no record of it.
 
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HuskyNan said:
People complain that Geno doesn’t develop the bench but when he does put them in and they don’t blow away the opponent, fans complain about the scoring, turnovers, etc.

Geno likes to leave an experienced player in with inexperienced ones, so Sarah played. She passed up shots to give the second team more opportunities. It’s valuable for the bench to get playing time against the opponent’s first team but it does cause a less attractive box score
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I was replying/commenting specifically to someone stating that the second quarter being "pretty basketball and execution." Nothing to do with Geno’s coaching or who was in the game. Only 12 points is not pretty basketball for this team.
 
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