View from Section 105

[sarals24]

Great game, well worth the hour drive from Dallas, even though I am exhausted today...

A few thoughts: Baylor's arena was fun and loud, great crowd. Very respectful of the Huskies, they gave Geno a really nice ovation when he walked in. No one aroudn me had anything but praise for UConn, (I had my UConn shirt on, so people were chatting with me) and they were pretty knowledgeable about our players. Every time Bria or KML shot, there was a groan from the fans around me.

Kelly Faris is amazing. She was just all over the place. I know stat-wise she didn't have the best game, but she was really disruptive on defense and made some great passes that would have resulted in easy buckets in any other game. (without a 6'8 shot-blocker in the middle)

Kim is...intense. When UConn got a few calls in the second half (legit, in my view...Griner plays VERY physically on the block and they rarely call much on her) Mulkey stomped out to halfcourt at one timeout and stood there with her hands on her hips glaring at the refs. Yikes.

UConn reinforced their status as my favorite team because of how disciplined they are. You guys who live up there are lucky that you get to see them all the time, but there really is a big difference in how they carry themselves. Every player is engaged during warmups and timeouts. They immediately huddle after plays. Timeouts they make a tight circle (during one of the games in a media timeout the guy shooting ran into Stef and she turned around and laughed at him).

Sims is so freaking quick in person. To me, Baylor lets teams like UConn back into the game because they get away from giving Griner the ball. I don't get it. I know Stef didn't have the best game, but she was really battling down there for position and did it relatively well. Heather played great, but just isn't a threat on offense.

Would have loved to see Banks get in there to guard Sims. Oh well. Next year.

All in all, a great atmosphere. I saw three or four other UConn fans and we all high-fived each other. I came away thinking that if we keep our cool and don't have stretches where we let Odyssey steal the ball, we can beat them.

 

[4ontheT]

Thanks for the report...glad it was worth the trip.
If there were "do overs" ...when we were up double digits in the second half ...I would love to replace Stef's two missed foul line area shots ...with two 3-point attempts by Bria or KML. We had the momentum at that point ....and then it shifted to Baylor.

 

[cferraro04]

Pretty much agree with all your observations.

 

[Fiftyish]

Great game, well worth the hour drive from Dallas, even though I am exhausted today...

A few thoughts: Baylor's arena was fun and loud, great crowd. Very respectful of the Huskies, they gave Geno a really nice ovation when he walked in. No one aroudn me had anything but praise for UConn, (I had my UConn shirt on, so people were chatting with me) and they were pretty knowledgeable about our players. Every time Bria or KML shot, there was a groan from the fans around me.

Kelly Faris is amazing. She was just all over the place. I know stat-wise she didn't have the best game, but she was really disruptive on defense and made some great passes that would have resulted in easy buckets in any other game. (without a 6'8 shot-blocker in the middle)

Kim is...intense. When UConn got a few calls in the second half (legit, in my view...Griner plays VERY physically on the block and they rarely call much on her) Mulkey stomped out to halfcourt at one timeout and stood there with her hands on her hips glaring at the refs. Yikes.

UConn reinforced their status as my favorite team because of how disciplined they are. You guys who live up there are lucky that you get to see them all the time, but there really is a big difference in how they carry themselves. Every player is engaged during warmups and timeouts. They immediately huddle after plays. Timeouts they make a tight circle (during one of the games in a media timeout the guy shooting ran into Stef and she turned around and laughed at him).

Sims is so freaking quick in person. To me, Baylor lets teams like UConn back into the game because they get away from giving Griner the ball. I don't get it. I know Stef didn't have the best game, but she was really battling down there for position and did it relatively well. Heather played great, but just isn't a threat on offense.

Would have loved to see Banks get in there to guard Sims. Oh well. Next year.

All in all, a great atmosphere. I saw three or four other UConn fans and we all high-fived each other. I came away thinking that if we keep our cool and don't have stretches where we let Odyssey steal the ball, we can beat them.

Thanks for the "in the house" report. Always good to hear what the atmoshpere was like. We may not have to wait until next year for a rematch although I think BG will only get better. She is one of kind right now in WCBB and I'm not sure if there is anyone that will be able to contain her for 40 minutes. I'm still happy that our team played great and almost pulled out a win against the #1 team on the road.