Villanova Postgame Thread | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Villanova Postgame Thread

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Finally got to watch the game this morning...
Reaction after the 1st quarter...

-Villanova (aside from no height) a worthy opponent.

-UConn as a team, is getting comfortable with Geno's concepts about how to operate on the offensive side: movement, finding open shots, going to the hoop aggressively, pick and rolls....everything looks better. becoming a real dangerous team.

-Less so on the defensive side, but its coming. He's right, its not a great defensive team...but it will get there; at least make progress.

-The all-around court prowess of Mama E is a pleasure to behold; what
a terrific addition.

-I never thought I would say this...but for several moments, Paige disappeared a la CW, last season. Are my eyes deceiving me?
 
msf22b said:
Finally got to watch the game this morning...
Reaction after the 1st quarter...

-Villanova (aside from no height) a worthy opponent.

-UConn as a team, is getting comfortable with Geno's concepts about how to operate on the offensive side: movement, finding open shots, going to the hoop aggressively, pick and rolls....everything looks better. becoming a real dangerous team.

-Less so on the defensive side, but its coming. He's right, its not a great defensive team...but it will get there; at least make progress.

-The all-around court prowess of Mama E is a pleasure to behold; what
a terrific addition.

-I never thought I would say this...but for several moments, Paige disappeared a la CW, last season. Are my eyes deceiving me?
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No but I think "disappeared" is a little strong. There were sequences where Geno deliberately moved Paige off the ball and put the ball in Evina's hands. Clearly Paige is better with the ball in her hands but those sequences with Evina handling were pretty productive and IMO necessary for future opponents.
 
hart2hart said:
Next game can’t come soon enough! These gals are awesome! So psyched for the Baylor game!!!
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Baylor is going to be a big test. They are not as good as in prior years, but still a lot better than UCONN has seen thus far. They have some good and strong players. It will be great if this UCONN team can hold up to the big increase in competition. I feel good about how some our our players will respond. I'm mostly worried about Liv to me honest.
 
BostonBay said:
Evina is doing what Megan Walker couldnt do last year. Calm down the rest of the offense & take the pressure off of CW & ONO.
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Not another Megan Walker beat up. When will she ever RIP?

1608741484758.png
 
jazz said:
Baylor is going to be a big test. They are not as good as in prior years, but still a lot better than UCONN has seen thus far. They have some good and strong players. It will be great if this UCONN team can hold up to the big increase in competition. I feel good about how some our our players will respond. I'm mostly worried about Liv to me honest.
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I'm mostly worried about Aliyah's ankle for this game. Baylor is leading the country in APG and Rebounding margin without being blessed with many gifted passers. What that says is Baylor is dumping the ball inside and pounding the offensive glass.
 
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Argonaut said:
A few rebounds? Anna lead the team in rebounds tonight.

9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal

And she would have had a few more assists if the recipients didn’t miss the bunny...

While she didn’t have the shooting night that we all want (and she’s not off to the start we wish she would be), she’s not just standing around twiddling her thumbs.
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Finally!! Someone with a positive attitude toward Anna!!
 
Carnac said:
Watch it with an open mind, looking at the big picture. We handled a 7-0 team on their floor, and won by 38 with two of our rotation players out. There was more to like than not. We did not play a perfect game, but we won, and Geno left Philadelphia happy. :)
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Personally. I don’t worry about perfect games. That’s the coaches job. A win is a win. Every game is different. Players aren’t machines, for whatever reason some nights every shot even bad ones fall and others open shots are bricked by the same player. Match ups are different game to game.

It’s beginning to look like teams without either and maybe both of a very good D and a strong, physical inside game will have trouble beating us. Which as usual for Geno teams, amounts to just a few games on the schedule.
 
CocoHusky said:
I'm mostly worried about Aliyah's ankle for this game. Baylor is leading the country in APG and Rebounding margin without being blessed with many gifted passers. What that says is Baylor is dumping the ball inside and pounding the offensive glass.
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Hey Coco, I think that is exactly what they will do. They will 'dump and pound' and see if Liv holds up. GA said that Aliyah should be ready for the next game, so I hope that she will be ready for Baylor. We will need her physicality against Baylor!
 
Did anyone else notice that while some have mentioned that Paige seemed to disappear for stretches last night the team seemed to have a point guard by committee last night, except for Paige. Evina seemed to have the ball a lot more while I saw Paige on the wing for large parts of the game. I wonder if there is an experiment afoot, or am I just seeing something that wasn't there?
 
There’s so much Anna discourse and here’s my take. I really don’t believe she can be a factor in our major games! For one all the major teams start athleticism and she simply isn’t athletic enough to make a difference in those games also she’s passive on shots and over half the time her shots are from the arc there’s no diversity in her offensive arsenal leading her to be an easy guard mainly due to the fact of her offense being predictable! So when we discuss the lack that AG has we have to be honest about the lack the AM has as well! Yes she is a capable rebounder against teams where nobody is over 6’1 but so is AG yes she knows the offense but to me her lack of not only confidence but diversity in attack makes her a one dimensional asset! Everyone on this team has a talent but we have to be honest and realistic and AM is simply not a top 5 player on this team! Also hi this is my first post on here I’ve been a fan since Mayas freshman year and have lurked on here for years lol.
 
jabstep said:
Liv dominates the middle in the Big East. The teams are now are figuring that flopping is a good strategy when Liv is on offense. Baylor will be her first test. Hopefully she passes I just watched last year's game and she did nothing for us on offense. She is better but as one other poster said she still has some trouble on contact.
Evina seemed to me to be playing the point for most of the game and they just to use Paige as a scorer. The offense reminded me of last year's. Not as much movement or back cuts. Villanova actually appeared to run their offense a little better. They just don't have the athletes. Evina is steady and a great player to have. Does a lot well.
Wished we had Aaliyah tonight.
Anna is going to have to score off the dribble someday.
Aubrey will get better because she works hard every play.

I think it is the reason she won't start but will play good minutes depending on the flow of the game. She will be trouble for all of our competition. We will need her physicality against Baylor and to help us beat them.
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If EW can hit her shot from 3 with regularity, then it makes the switch of AM for AE easier. I don't think scoring off the dribble is something AM will be very good at.
 
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Wbbfan1 said:
I've said this before, but I'm convinced now that Aaliyah will be in the starting lineup before season end. Anna is the player that will be out of the starting lineup. She did nothing last night on offense until the game was decided. She missed her first three point attempt and went into a shell not looking for her shot. I also don't think she had a good game on defense either.

Aaliyah like Live also picks up early fouls because of her aggressiveness. She'll need to get that under control as Geno can't afford to have both Liv and Aaliyah in foul trouble if Aaliyah is in the starting lineup.
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Which is why they both won't start. We need Aaliyah sitting on that bench with 0 fouls waiting to come in for Liv when the fouls happen....
 
MooseJaw said:
Did anyone else notice that while some have mentioned that Paige seemed to disappear for stretches last night the team seemed to have a point guard by committee last night, except for Paige. Evina seemed to have the ball a lot more while I saw Paige on the wing for large parts of the game. I wonder if there is an experiment afoot, or am I just seeing something that wasn't there?
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Duly noted. Not sure if it was by design but these two can be interchangeable even though EW actually plays the wing....The future possibilities are endless. GA is probably like a mad scientist in the lab drawing up all kinds of plays with all these interchangeable pieces he has!
 
MooseJaw said:
Did anyone else notice that while some have mentioned that Paige seemed to disappear for stretches last night the team seemed to have a point guard by committee last night, except for Paige. Evina seemed to have the ball a lot more while I saw Paige on the wing for large parts of the game. I wonder if there is an experiment afoot, or am I just seeing something that wasn't there?
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No you were not seeing things. Geno took the ball out of Paige hands in favor of Evina on many possessions last night. It was not an experiment, it is preparation for future games. The two primary reason are that Geno does not want the offensive to be entirely depended on Paige or any singular offensive player & Evina also needs to handle the ball to get herself going.
 
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I think it is a good strategy to have a two headed monster in the back court who can run offense. He's done it before at varying degrees and I think its absence has been a weakness the last couple years. KLS and Chrystin were/are not combo guards who can effectively run offense.

Sue and DT
DT and Maria
MoJeff and Hartley early
MoJeff and Kia late

This gives an opponent constant different looks. This also protects against an opponent trying to shut down the PG and stop offense. Opponents are going to try and rattle Paige since she is a freshman. A two headed monster strategy with the experienced Evina makes that more difficult for an opponent to execute.
 
MooseJaw said:
Did anyone else notice that while some have mentioned that Paige seemed to disappear for stretches last night the team seemed to have a point guard by committee last night, except for Paige. Evina seemed to have the ball a lot more while I saw Paige on the wing for large parts of the game. I wonder if there is an experiment afoot, or am I just seeing something that wasn't there?
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IMHO, Geno is just switching roles for Evina and Paige. Paige did not disappear as noted by some. Paige played the most minutes and was the team high scorer.
 
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Geno is also messing with Paige's head since he wants her to shoit more. I can envision him saying shoot more and her saying I need to run offense and him saying well Evina can run offense too so you have no excuse not to take shots...
 
BobbyJ said:
A little bit visually but Ducharme can put the ball on the floor and will play defense. Siegrist just spots up to shoot and scores off cuts because the defender turns their head. I didn’t see a double digit rebounder, especially against a good team.
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BobbyJ said:
Coaches are never candid with their public assessments of other team's players. Always positive comments.
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pvdoggy said:
Geno seems to disagree with your assessment of Siegrist in his postgame presser. He had high praise for her as a player, especially such a young player. It is more a function of the team she has around her. Put Siegrist in the Uconn system with a lot of good players around her and you probably will change your mind.
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Coaches are never candid with their public assessments of other team's players. Always positive comments.
Yeah, Geno edits his mouth ... NOT!
In case this was missed. Go to the 12:45 mark. He speaks with a flow. No hesitation, no pauses for the correct words. etc.
 
DEpup said:
I think it is a good strategy to have a two headed monster in the back court who can run offense. He's done it before at varying degrees and I think its absence has been a weakness the last couple years. KLS and Chrystin were/are not combo guards who can effectively run offense.

Sue and DT
DT and Maria
MoJeff and Hartley early
MoJeff and Kia late
This gives an opponent constant different looks. This also protects against an opponent trying to shut down the PG and stop offense. Opponents are going to try and rattle Paige since she is a freshman. A two headed monster strategy with the experienced Evina makes that more difficult for an opponent to execute.
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It also highlights a weakness of the last two UCONN teams that were entirely dependent on Crystal to initiate the offense and lead transition. The transition offense of the last two years was grab a rebound, find Crystal, then push. Entirely different this year because you have 3 starters Evina, Paige, Anna that are all spectacular at advancing the ball. Despite the poor 3Pt shooting UCONN is still leading the nation in FG% and that is the reason.
 
jazz said:
Duly noted. Not sure if it was by design but these two can be interchangeable even though EW actually plays the wing....The future possibilities are endless. GA is probably like a mad scientist in the lab drawing up all kinds of plays with all these interchangeable pieces he has!
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Even if Evina does not return the future is indeed brighter than the present because in Azzi, Saylor and Caroline you will have 3 new perimeter players with similar ( potentially better) interchangeable skill sets. Potentially better is: Saylor being better perimeter defender than anyone on the current roster. Azzi a better mid range Shooter than anyone on the current roster and Caroline a better deep shooter than anyone on the current roster.
 
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If this was a perfect world we would have perfect players who could play a perfect game coached by all the people who like to second guess Geno. Why can't we just enjoy watching them play and grow??? I am (but I guess it's because I am not perfect) so I will just sit back and enjoy the fact that I get to watch a really great team who has really great coaches!!
 
I certainly agree with a lot of the posts but find some of the criticism of the team sounds like opponents rather than supporters. One frustrating thing that I saw as blatently obvious in this game as that the wing on the left facing the basket seems to never get passed to. We get on Anna for not shooting usually from that area but she almost never gets the ball in that location. Why did I say it was obvious? It is because when Evina took over the point and Paige went to the left wing she also never got the ball while in that location! Paige had a bit less patience than Anna when standing there wide open with no passes but the same thing occurred. Anna also get heat for being a bit slower than some of the smaller quicker guards. People want a big body under the basket but apparently don't like it when Anna is filling that position. A 6'2" wider body that can also pass, lead a fast break, and shoot the 3 ball. We are lucky to have her. I wonder if Geno was giving Paige a bit of a rest without taking her out of the game. She missed a few of her usually automatic 15' jumpers. It seemed like she didn't have the legs for it tonight. It was good to see her back to herself shooting FT.
 
CocoHusky said:
Even if Evina does not return the future is indeed brighter than the present because in Azzi, Saylor and Caroline you will have 3 new perimeter players with similar ( potentially better) interchangeable skill sets. Potentially better is: Saylor being better perimeter defender than anyone on the current roster. Azzi a better mid range Shooter than anyone on the current roster and Caroline a better deep shooter than anyone on the current roster.
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Yes Coco! The future next year is bright. This year's team is also bc there are lot of interchangeable parts with at least 5 players who can handle the ball. Lots of size and length. I'm impressed that EW has handled the wing well so far but against top competition is another story, especially on the defensive end.

GA can interchange EW for PB and feed PB in post ups...assuming EW can hit the three consistently. He can also run PB off the foul line curl which he has started to do.. He use to do that with DT a lot. This doesn't even speak to the players he has on the bench, who may be a bit more specialised but still nice pieces to have. This year looks good to me, especially since there is no dominate team or dominate guards out there. GA can interchange quite a bit and diagram specific plays as he has with PB and AG.

We have a chance this year, and next year, well, next year could be downright scary if all the players GA recruited can play up to what he must think they are and can be.

But we have this year to enjoy and I think we have a real chance to take it this year if the players take to the coaching and we get good (doesn't have to be great) games out of CW and Liv in big games....
 
Centerstream said:
Any idea why you didn't get the game? I had no problems streaming it with my Roku stick on Fox Sports.
Just curious...
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If I sign in to FoxSports I invariably get a schedule which does not include the game. Up until last night if I made the TV selection on the UConn Schedule web page at game time the Game page appeared. Last night the UConn page brought me to the same dismal brick wall as going directly to the FoxSports site.
 
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