Villanova Postgame Thread

[oldude]

A comment about Serah & Jana’s uneven performance. On the videos I have seen of Serah at WI and Jana at Fiba tournaments, both players were far more comfortable playing “face up” on offense rather than with their backs to the basket. Jana had even demonstrated some proficiency from 3-pt. It’s really difficult for a Big to learn how to play with their back to the basket at the college level: establish strong position in the blocks, catch the ball, feel the defense and make a quick scoring move. They are both on a crash course with inconsistent results.

Now let’s talk about the best post scorers in UConn’s history. In order, from top to bottom: Pheesa, Sarah, Tuck, Paige & DT, none of whom were centers. Even Stewie, one of UConn’s all time greats was far more comfortable facing up on offense.

 

[Linart]

Receipts and/or proof of this? Jana was injured in preseason, and depending on the severity of it, just maybe she's still working back to form. None of us know any details, and none of us are privy to what happens in practice. Nada. Dim byd. Dad. Rud ar bith.

It's also Ramadan, so imagine being a college athlete and not being able to eat until 5:40 pm yesterday, after fasting since 6:49 am. I know I'd be a wreck.

Actually it's even longer than that. Ramadan fasting begins at first light (fajr) which is over an hour before sunrise. She can't even drink water during the fast.

 

[sun]

Actually it's even longer than that. Ramadan fasting begins at first light (fajr) which is over an hour before sunrise. She can't even drink water during the fast.

I'm reading that there are exemptions from fasting such as for travel over 48 miles during the day & illness.
There's also a way to compensate for missed fasting days by fasting an equal number of days later in the year before the next Ramadan.
Or for people with the inability to fast due to traveling a lot, by feeding the needy for each day missed.

 

[BBallF]

I assume you are talking about Breya Cunningham and Kyla Oldacre. So, to get some insight and actual data into this comparison, I posed the following question to Gemini (the AI component of Google Chrome). After some tuning, my specific query was this:


How do Kyla Oldacre and Breya Cunningham of Texas compare in offensive production per 40 minutes this season to Serah Williams and Jana El Alfy of UConn?


And here is the verbatim AI response that I got:

Based on 2025-26 season statistics, Texas forwards Kyla Oldacre and Breya Cunningham are producing at a similar offensive rate per minute to UConn's Serah Williams, while both sets are significantly outproducing Jana El Alfy in scoring efficiency.

• Kyla Oldacre (Texas): Averaging 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds on 62.7% shooting.
• Breya Cunningham (Texas): Averaging 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds on 59.2% shooting.
• Serah Williams (UConn): Averaging 7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 58.5% shooting.
• Jana El Alfy (UConn): Averaging 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds on 58.7% shooting.

Offensive Comparison (Per 40 Minute Metric):

• Oldacre is the most productive scorer of the group on a per-minute basis, frequently acting as a high-efficiency scorer off the bench for Texas.
• Williams (UConn) has a higher assist rate (3.6 per 40 min in 2025-26) compared to the Texas duo, making her a more versatile offensive threat despite lower raw scoring numbers in UConn's system.
• Cunningham (Texas) and Williams (UConn) have similar field goal percentages (around 59%), but Cunningham plays in a slightly more frontcourt-dominant role.
• El Alfy (UConn) has the lowest scoring output per 40 minutes among the four, focusing more on rebounding and high-percentage inside shots.

In summary, Oldacre provides the highest scoring production, while Williams offers the best all-around offensive efficiency (scoring + passing) per 40 minutes.

I think that is a pretty fair and unbiased assessment from our cyber friend Gemini. And while it gives some advantage to the two Texas players, it is by no means an endorsement of your "has no answers" assessment.

If your point is that UConn is not going to beat Texas based on the production of its primary and backup center, I think anyone would agree with that. But is Texas going to have such a large advantage in the interior that it can offset the production of Azzi and Sarah? How well do you think Booker and Harmon match up against Azzi and Sarah? (If you say "about even", then I doubt your credibility.)

If UConn vs. Texas actually happens in the Final Four (which is almost certainly where it would happen), it will come down to UConn's largely perimeter-based offense vs. Texas rebounding and shot blocking. It will be a close game (as a Final Four match-up should be), but I would give a small advantage to UConn. If Serah and Jana succeed in neutralizing (not dominating) Cunningham and Oldacre, UConn should win by double digits.

What makes you think Cunningham and Oldacre are going to get the ball underneath? If the press is working, they will rarely see it.