Villanova Postgame Thread

[HuskyNan]

She was out there with Mir, Piath, Saylor and Aubrey. Autumn is hurt. Anna likely hit her minutes restriction (15 after 10 yesterday). There’s nobody left among bench players other than AE and trying to run plays without a guard.

What those minutes did do was give her some possessions running the offense without a point guard, so it’s helpful moving forward.

They needed an upperclassman to give the youngsters direction and maintain a sense of calmness

 

[hoophuskee]

Elated. Giddy regarding Nika.

Back on the bandwagon.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

The grey uniforms have been used at neutral sites for a while now

Aye @HuskyNan I gotcha... BUT, I put on my WHITE UCONN Shirt (for good luck ) before the game figuring as the top seed they would wear the "Home Whites"... I do recall seeing the Greys one other time this season.

 

[jaydee602]

It's Marquette vs. UCONN tomorrow night. Creighton had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 10 seconds, but turned it over.

 

[Boreifs]

One of the best first half's of the season. OK second half. Shocked by Nika playing at all.

You do realize that Geno takes the pedal off the metal when it’s over?

Totally Agree. But I am surprised Geno still put CW on the floor for last few minutes to make the shoot. I would rather give the opportunity to the bench players to feel the games.

Nika normally does that in blowout games; for obvious reasons, she didn’t do that today.

 

[hoophuskee]

Her passing incredible, isn't it? I just think anyone watching the games - we're all thinking the same "Of crap, another blown assist for Paige!" Some of them are doing the Swin cash thing of missing the shot so they could pad their offensive rebounding numbers. - Though the pity is - it ain't on purpose.!

The number of times I've said wow this year just from one player. . . Unbelievable.

And then these two other frosh-- speechless. . .

 

[darkstar1]

He had his bench in there and certainly wasn't running plays for Williams but the ball found her twice and she drain one as the shot clock expired and one on a kick out from an offensive rebound. She was the only starter on the floor cause there was no one else to put in at that point.

Not taking anything away from CW. She played great. But were we watching the same game at the end? It was out reach and she had many opportunities to set up her teammates...or at least pass to them when open. So she scores 6 less points and even if no one else scores, who cares at that point.

 

[DEpup]

Not taking anything away from CW. She played great. But were we watching the same game at the end? It was out reach and she had many opportunities to set up her teammates...or at least pass to them when open. So she scores 6 less points and even if no one else scores, who cares at that point.

Maybe not. I saw her trying to get the freshman running offense and then when they wouldn't take a shot and they dumped the ball back to her towards the end of the shot clock, she bailed them out....

 

[eebmg]

Not taking anything away from CW. She played great. But were we watching the same game at the end? It was out reach and she had many opportunities to set up her teammates...or at least pass to them when open. So she scores 6 less points and even if no one else scores, who cares at that point.

As Geno said in his presser, CW is a scorer. Scorers talk a certain way, walk a certain way, think a certain way. It is far more critical to get CW feeling like an elite uber confident scorer getting the smell of blood. CW is not a passer in general. We got enough of that

 

[hoophuskee]

Not taking anything away from CW. She played great. But were we watching the same game at the end? It was out reach and she had many opportunities to set up her teammates...or at least pass to them when open. So she scores 6 less points and even if no one else scores, who cares at that point.

So you are knocking CW for not passing to players who probably won't play in big games (or very little) and when she knocks down shots- which she struggles to do even when games are close and she is wide open- you are knocking her for taking those type of shots?

If the attitude is who cares because the game was won anyway-- then who cares if she passes or not to players who won't be playing much anyway?

You can't have it both ways here.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[j66kicker]

You think his players might watch this?

This is the kinder, gentler Geno, building his players up at tournament time. No sarcasm, no trashing, just praise. The fact that he's doing it this year tells me he thinks they can do it!!

 

[MD#12Fan]

I had the exact thought - where is the fix-my-hair-before-I-drain-the-three move?!

Uconn defense in the second quarter 8:43 before Villanova scored their lone basket. Of course it helps when they are just hoisting bricks from 3 point land.

What people don't realize is that Uconn is the only team that plays man to man and switches every screen. Most offenses are predicated on players being wide open coming off a screen with their defender trailing or dodging behind the screen. It really disrupts an offense, and while it occasionally leads to Nika defending a post player on the block, they are also really adept at switching off assignments when that happens.

100% Their switching looks awesome. I criticized it earlier in the season. I’ll gladly eat crow. A disadvantage of switching is you lose touch of an offensive player for a moment vs staying attached. But they are so locked in it has to be disconcerting to the ball handler. And they are in the passing lanes! Earlier in the year (1st SH game) they were just following people around. Heck yes!

 

[Happydad745]

I don't understand why folks are so up in arms over Chrystin being out there at the end. The freshmen and the high schooler needed an upperclassman or starting guard out there to hold them together. Anna is on minute restriction. Nika just turned her ankle yesterday. Evina's body needs the rest.

If I was coach, the one thing I would say is Chrystin ended up taking those shots at the end of the clock because the freshman couldn't get enough guts to take a shot. That wasn't Chrystin's fault.

Nika, Paige, Anna could all have done 2 more minutes on the floor.

 

[Boreifs]

Nika, Paige, Anna could all have done 2 more minutes on the floor.

Nika has a sprained ankle, Anna was on a minutes limit and Paige already plays too many minutes. I disagree with your assertion.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Nika has a sprained ankle, Anna was on a minutes limit and Paige already plays too many minutes. I disagree with your assertion.

Stop making sense.

 

[cbraarj]

With UConn up by 40 plus and less that 2 minutes left, why is Christy Williams still playing? To pad her stats? Lots of players on bench who should get a little time on the floor.

She should have been feeding her teammates the ball.

 

[jazz]

GA = Geno, CD = Chris Dailey, J = Jamelle, PB= Paige, NM = Nika, EW = Evina, Liv = Liv, CW = Christyn, AE = Aaliyah, AG = ‘The great Aubrey Griffin’, Mir = Mir, PG= Piath, AM = Anna, the Polish Rifle, PS or Poff = Saylor, AC = Autumn.

My 2 cents on the guard play:

We played some serious defense in this game! The switching in man was consistently perfectly timed. Terrific defensive game. There appears to be an increase in intensity with this team the last 2 games. This may be the best passing team I’ve seen. We have 2 terrific passers with PB and NM and three very good passers in AM, Liv and EW. Most teams don’t have but maybe one or two good passers.

CW - I’m happy to give credit where credit is due, CW was a dog in this game! Defense was very good against a good player as well. Solid on the boards. Terrific job getting to the basket. Hitting her 3s as well.

CW knows full well that there is nobody on Nova’s team that can keep her from going to the rim. For the most part, she finished all night. Great scoring game by CW! We are a different team completely when she can score like this…but can she do it against top teams??….6 pts against SC will not cut it unless we get a herculean effort from PB. But, on this night, she was great!

NM – she is a hound on defense. Relentless. I’m afraid some whistle-happy refs will call her for some fouls in the future. Black eye, bum ankle, no problem! Tough kid! She has to calm down and play smarter….can’t pick up your second foul in the 1st quarter, 35 feet from the basket.

PB – every single game, she picks off a pass or two and takes it to the house. Her disruption of passing lanes really helps our offensive production. Just before the half: nifty little wrinkle GA must have put in on the inbounds: PB fakes like she is going to the three-point line in the corner as she has done all season, but instead fakes and then goes to the hoop with another pinpoint pass from Liv. That was pretty!

 

[chrissaran]

One of their best games of the year. Play like that against Marquette and UConn will win no problem.

 

[jazz]

GA = Geno, CD = Chris Dailey, J = Jamelle, PB= Paige, NM = Nika, EW = Evina, Liv = Liv, CW = Christyn, AE = Aaliyah, AG = ‘The great Aubrey Griffin’, Mir = Mir, PG= Piath, AM = Anna, the Polish Rifle, PS or Poff = Saylor, AC = Autumn.

My two cents on the wings and bigs:

EW – She didn’t score a ton, but she did a terrific job on the boards and had some really nice passes, steals, etc, to help the team out in ways other than shooting. Even when she isn’t shooting well and tonight she was ok, she still finds other ways to help us win.

Liv – She may not be strong enough to finish consistently through contact, but she is still tough and persistent. Terrific hands on a poor low pass at her ankles from CW and then spots CW on the backdoor. Nice recognition and dropped the dime perfectly. Playing well and then fades on another shot jumper with the ball hitting the front of the rim. She is a really good passer.

AG – what a catch and finish on the high pass from EW. Two strong takes to the rim. Weakside help disrupted her the first time, but she finished on the next one. Rebounding and defending well, as usual. AG running the floor hard and PB finding her..looked like she was bumped, but regardless she needs to finish that. First possession, less than 10 secs in on offense, she gets the drive, bucket and FT to cap the 3 point play. Ten seconds later, she forces a TO. She makes a difference every single time she steps on the court! She may not give us offense as far as shooting the ball, but it sure helps to get additional possessions. Explosive take to the hoop but couldn’t finish. I thought she could have finished better overall, although once she was bumped and once the weakside help got to her.

AE – she adds even more to the offense if she can continue to hit that 12-15 footer. This makes her darn near impossible to defend. You guard her close, she puts you in the rear-view mirror, you lag off, she nails the jumper. Missed some bunnies and didn’t finish twice with point blank shots at the rim. It happens….

 

[darkstar1]

So you are knocking CW for not passing to players who probably won't play in big games (or very little) and when she knocks down shots- which she struggles to do even when games are close and she is wide open- you are knocking her for taking those type of shots?

If the attitude is who cares because the game was won anyway-- then who cares if she passes or not to players who won't be playing much anyway?

You can't have it both ways here.

Yes, no and no. I just would have liked CW to facilitate others at the end of the game when subs were in and the game decided. Thought she was terrific otherwise. Hadn’t thought, as another commenter noted, that maybe Geno wanted to build up her confidence against Nova subs even though game out of reach.

 

[Skeets]

The grey uniforms have been used at neutral sites for a while now

I don't particularly like the grey uniforms. I think of them as the "home away from home" uniforms since they always wear them at the XL center. Hopefully being the #1 in Texas they get to wear white every game. The goods guys always wear white

Geno did burn the satin/silver uniforms right? Selling tickets to that burning would have made for a good fund raiser...

 

[Bald Husky]

Nika has a lovely smile, but I don't think I like the idea of her smiling right before the game. It sends the wrong message.......

Maybe to our opponents. "I'm just a girl far away from home just happy to play basketball". We are not that naive. Does she have a hidden sneaky personality? We love her, but do we know her? Time will tell. I think we are going to have a lot of fun with this girl, like multiple NCs. Stay tuned.