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Villanova Postgame Thread

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msf22b said:
You can’t see much in the box score
but in the first part of the 3rd quarter, especially when Sarah got her 4th,
Blanca made some good plays on both sides and helped steady the ship.

It’s been a few games now that Kayleigh hasn’t been much help; too bad.
And the Serah story continues…if nothing else, reduces her placement in the draft
(if there is one)…perhaps never was going to be a good fit….Surprised me and surely Geno and the staff…And she doesn’t seem very happy.
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I think that Kayleigh got the most Badass votes in the Marquette game. She only played 10 minutes today; the least of all 9 players.
 
Azzi had it right. Another game where they came out not ready to play. Seems like they are now bored with the season grind and are ready for post season play. It was painful to watch.
 
I said it last game and I'll say it again - winter doldrums! It used to be a thing where Uconn would go 2-4 games playing really lackluster games, usually the first or second week of January - Christmas was over, classes hadn't starter, cold, bad weather and the energy just wasn't there. Lot of people complaining about KK, but she went 6/1 A/TO on a day when Uconn was throwing the ball away, and a lot of their offense was individual play without assists. She took 6 shots with is pretty standard for her, going 1-3 with 3 2-shot fouls. That she with 33% from the line is not acceptable, maybe she needs to put the mask back on?

Heckel - one of her worst games. Needs to get back to it.

Glad to see Ash putting up 11 shots, she needs to be aggressive in taking shots. Would like to see Allie shoot more.

Do I want more from our bigs, of course, but playing against 5-out offenses is really tough for post players. At least they came up with 50% of our O-boards in a total of 25 floor minutes. Our offense isn't really focused on them, and our post passing aint great.

A week of home cooking and two games against .500 teams will hopefully break the cycle, and then a date at Madison Square Garden to end the season.

NB - I don't care what the NCAA says, LaTech's 54 game streak is bogus - they went undefeated their last year in AIAW for 32-0. Then they started playing in the NCAA and went 22-0 to start their season, before losing their 23 game. That to me is a 22 game NCAA DI winning streak. So, if we win the next three games, we will pass TN and move into a tie with Uconn vintage 2013-15 for the fourth longest streak! and be looking up at Uconn streaks of (70 2001-3), 90 (2008-11), and 111 (2014-17.) Interestingly that 90 game streak is the only one that included two undefeated seasons - the only time that back-to-back undefeated seasons has ever happened in DI.
 
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At the game with good seats. Team Jekyll and Team Hyde. The biggest difference in the second half was intensity and energy on both ends. Villanova is well coached and they knew where the passes were going in the half court offense and disrupted them. It's not an offense that is effective when the set is being run less than energetically. They specifically tried to stop the high post pass to Sarah and had hands in on her whenever she got the ball.

We were just plain flat in the first half and Bascoe had her way with 18 at the half. We were outrebounded in the first half which is just incomprehensible. In the second half, KK did a better job on Bascoe, holding her to 5 until she made a desperation 3 against Kayleigh. Villanova is a much better team than when we played them at home and Bascoe is legit All BE. Can't play that way when it really counts. Even against these BE teams they are not going to just roll over especially when so well prepared and having played us before. Lots of errors and negatives but it's hard to keep up the pace for so long. We have to though. There is no choice.
 
Okay pretty evident: Strong is irreplaceable but so is Azzi.

I was losing all my doubts on the team when Blanca wasn’t hurt and Allie was playing out of her mind. Now that we’ve seen two games in a row where to the eye test we are not as good in defensely and our bigs and pgs are being outplayed, I have some concern. For some reason KK seems to have dropped off a bit in her defensive intensity and willingness to shoot and K9 is cold and hot. If the bugs cannot dominate in this type of game I would be hard pressed to see them do much against the top teams.

Our bigs have fumbling hands and hold the ball too long before making any moves, which allows the defense to feast.

Today’s game should shed some light into potential problems in the tournament.

1. If Strong gets into foul trouble against the top teams we are in a world of trouble.
2. If Azzi gets into foul trouble or has a horrible shooting night we will be in for a tough night
3. If the refs do not call the physicality because I thought Sarah got fouled multiple times down low and there was definitely very physical play that wasn’t called, it could be an advantage to the bigger more physical top teams like SC. So in this scenario since we are not a free throw heavy team, we need athletes that can are willing to create contact which at this point outside of KK and Sarah we don’t necessarily have those type of hard driving players.
4. Outside of Azzi and Sarah, who can we consistently count on for scoring. It seems Ash, Balnca and Allie would be the candidates, but there’s so much inconsistency right now.

I still have lots of confidence in the team but over the last two games more doubt has creeped back into my mind. I’d love to see them get back to that dominant suffocating D and for those not named Azzi and Sarah to bring a consistency so that opposing teams can’t get away with just focusing on those two.
 
HuskyNan said:
This is going to cause a few comments, I’m guessing

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Too bad, Dan, that a game is four quarters long and the season has been 112 quarters long. Williams had 6 points in the third quarter, not 8. Geno gave Williams zero minutes in the second and fourth quarters.
 
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Gael said:
Too bad, Dan, that a game is four quarters long and the season has been 112 quarters long. Williams had 6 points in the third quarter, not 8. Geno gave Williams zero minutes in the second and fourth quarters.
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That’s the point. It was her best quarter- that’s literally what he said
 
I am glad (in a roundabout way) to hear that Sarah has been sick. I've been worried the past two games. She has missed a bunch of layups, which she never does, and I can't count the number of 3 pt shots she gave up on D today. Still, she manages to show up big in the second half of these games where we needed her.
 
It may not have happened as much this game, but over the previous few games, Kayleigh has literally been knocked to floor many, many times. A couple of those times, it took her a couple seconds to actually get back up and return to her position. One time she was limping and there was no opportunity to get a sub in and she managed to do her job. I am guessing that maybe with the travel to Philly, it caught up to her tonight?
 
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Bone Dog said:
Villanova played the Huskies tough on their home court. And we played poorly in the first half. After that, it was all UConn thanks to Azzi and Sarah... and Ash.

The one worrisome thing for me wasn't the sloppy first half play. It was the narrowing of the scoring. Azzi had 25, Sarah scored 21, and Ash scored 13. No one else scored in double figures though 5 others did score.

Azzi had the right assessment after the game -- "we needed to settle." They were very unsettled at the beginning. "We didn't match their energy" in the first half.
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Missed shots happen, but the first half effort was surprising - particularly because Geno has said that they don’t coach effort at UConn.
 
Same as Marquette: Team is stale and center play is not close to Final Four quality. Jana looked terrible tonight. Completely lost. Serah woke up in the second half, but she has trouble working under the basket. Strength, confidence, jumping ability, I'm not sure. In any case, if they meet up, Okot and Betts will push her around like a twiddly wink.

Stale: I think Geno (and many supporters) is wrong about the quality of their schedule this year (compare it to last year's). It's not just about meeting the challenge of playing top teams, but more important it's about his team having some challenging games during the season to look forward to and get up for. There's not much motivation or excitement in repeating blow after blow out. The tournament out there becomes abstract, not just a continuation of what they've been doing. If they don't watch out, they're going to get caught out.
 
ccwarrior said:
Missed shots happen, but the first half effort was surprising - particularly because Geno has said that they don’t coach effort at UConn.
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Not at all surprising. Consider my comment about the schedule and being stale.
 
freshler40 said:
Good points all. KK has to be more of an offensive threat. Here finishes need polish and determination, not a hail Mary at this time of year. She started out with strong moves to the hoop then goes unground. Why?
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In my opinion, KK is a very good defensive player, but needs to work harder, harder on learning to shoot. She would be awesome. A point guard needs to be a good quarterback to manage overall team play. K Chen from last year did an excellent job. Jana & Serah
W. needs to learn to keep the ball up high to pass or shoot. They get in trouble when they lower it. This is my opinion. I am a little afraid that we might be in trouble come March Madness.
 
I suppose the plague could be to blame but, damn, they looked very pedestrian. This is 3 out of the last four games.

1. Way too little off-ball movement
2. Slow to loose balls
3. Anemic defensive effort
4. Way too little communication which leads to way too many lost players and wide open shots
5. Jogging on cuts
6. Passes are coming after hesitation and then they too soft
 
AmeriConn said:
How did Serah average 19 points a game while she was at Wisconsin and struggle here at UConn. Maybe she is better coming off the bench. Geno seems to pull her out early anyway.
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Probably because she was the center of the offense on a not very good team. She was taking 15 shots per game making half plus a few foul shots....
 
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In the second quarter, with almost no ball movement, I think we had 4-5 drives to the basket which all got stuffed or missed completely. Some were because there was no one trying to get open, some were simply rushed decisions. Nova's offense, though, looked exactly like ours was supposed to look. Quick passes around the perimeter, inside out, outside in, always finding the open shooter. Our mojo is based on quick passes, confusing defenses and hitting open shots, and it can all be corrected with a little health and recommitment. Defensively, Nova was sharp, we were flat. Same thing, just buckle up and get on it.
 
Monte said:
I think that Kayleigh got the most Badass votes in the Marquette game. She only played 10 minutes today; the least of all 9 players.
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K9 played well against Marquette, but last night seemed out of it. One thing she has to learn is that she is not KK when she goes to the hoop.
 
Duncan Idaho said:
Probably because she was the center of the offense on a not very good team. She was taking 15 shots per game making half plus a few foul shots....
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Serah with only 2 rebounds against a team that plays with 6'1" or less in height. Thank goodness Blanca is back because we will need the small lineup with Sarah at the 5 if we are going to win. Against UCLA, OK, SC or Texas, our bigs are going to get eaten alive.
 
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