Villanova Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Villanova Postgame Thread

jaydee602 said:
Interesting stat:
Both teams made 7 three point shots.
But UCONN attempted 22 while Villanova attempted 37 three pointers!
Villanova probably felt that the only way to beat the Huskies was by hitting an enormous amount of three point baskets.
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Hitting threes is one of Villanova's strong points, and wins them a lot of games. UCONN defense made it tough to get decent looks.
 
-When Sarah is chasing shots it opens more possibilities for everyone…look for some interesting new combos upcoming.

-Sarah was credited for 3 T/O’s (I thought it was 4)

-Last Sarah…Did anyone notice a never seen before shot?…Just before the half, She dusted off a baby hook…Went in of course.

-I really expected to see the starters more in the 2nd half
but Geno kept to his season style and in the 4th, we saw the 2nd squad (only)…and they totally outplayed the V starters. Good for them.
 
and one said:
😊As a general matter, when you are up by more points than the other team has scored at the half, you are likely to win right?

I wrote down that K-9's lay up was the shot of the game before the Peacock crew deemed it so. Blanca has a close second in the first half.

I like to hear people say nice things about UConn but Fanta's fawning is just annoying.

Allie - most improved player this year.

Some sloppy passing turnovers in the first half. There was a tendency to allow virtually uncontested 3s; I thought maybe it was a defensive decision to not go hard after the 3 shooters...until Geno in the half time interview indicated he noticed too and wasn't real happy about it. Still, a convincing win over a decent team and I'm not going to pick nits. OK, I did. Geno needs something to get on their case for during practice for the Big Dance.
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Fanta announces every game like it is the Super Bowl 😊
 
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UConn has been so dominant in tournaments lately that below fun facts about the historical dominance of this particular tournament are probably taken for granted:

In the 2026 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament,
UConn set a record for the largest cumulative margin of victory for an entire tournament run, outscoring their opponents by a total of 133 points across three games.

2026 Tournament Performance
UConn averaged a margin of 44.3 points per game during the tournament, the highest such average in league history.

Round OpponentFinal ScoreMargin
QuarterfinalsGeorgetown84–39+45
SemifinalsCreighton100–51+49
ChampionshipVillanova90–51+39
Total274–141+133

Historical Context
  • Most Points Scored: The 100 points scored against Creighton in the semifinals was the highest single-game point total in UConn's Big East Tournament history.
  • Program Dominance: This run secured UConn's 24th Big East Tournament title and their sixth consecutive since rejoining the conference in 2021.
  • Season Margin: The Huskies finished the 2025-26 regular season with an average scoring margin of +37.8, which ranks as the third-best in NCAA women's history.
  • Total Titles: UConn has won 24 Big East Tournament titles (and 31 conference tournament titles overall, including their time in the AAC).
  • Recent Precedent: The 2024 tournament run featured a similarly dominant +36 margin in the final alone (78-42 over Georgetown), part of a 12-year streak of consecutive conference tournament titles.
 
Congrats to the UConn women on another dominating BE Tourney title. ( The trophy still looks like plastic to me).
Sarah Strong is playing Stewie/ Maya next level stuff. Fun to watch for about a half.
All we heard was Boscoe, Boscoe, Boscoe....KK owned her tonight. I think KK is a better player.
Serah is playing better, but from a stat perspective, Jana is accomplishing significantly more.

My one concern. When our press doesn't work, we give up a lot of open threes. There is a team from LA, that won't miss that many open looks, just sayin.
 
EricSD said:
Well that was fun!

Congrats to the team on a well-deserved Big East Championship. 2 quick things at the end of the game.
  • Classy - UConn taking a shot clock violation with 36 seconds left giving the ball back to Villanova with 6 seconds left.
  • Not classy - Villanova running down the floor and taking a 3 with 2 seconds left.
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Thank you. I was going to post the same thing but with much less class.
 
Stagnant said:
Sarah Strong - MVP. Don’t take her greatness for granted. I still think she should have been tournament mvp last year too.
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There's no such thing as tournament MOP for the NCAA tournament: there are regional MOPs and a Final Four MOP. Azzi Fudd was well deserving of the latter.
 
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Great tournament by the ladies. Defense and offense were enjoyable to watch.

Loved that the bench outscored Nova 19 - 9.

For some perspective;
This was UConn's 24th BE tournament championships. Now add the 7 AAC tournament championships, that's 31 tournament championships in 41 years. That is unbelievable.

It is also a statement of the sustained excellence that no other program can claim.
 
oldude said:
Hate to break it to you. But UConn essentially stopped playing, giving the ball over to Villanova with about 5 seconds left. Villanova threw up a 3-pt shot to cut the margin to 39 points.
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I turned the game off after the shot clock violation and went to the Bone Yard and posted that . What a shock I got when I saw the final score. Not in good sportsmanship. GO HUSKIES!!!!
 
EricSD said:
Well that was fun!

Congrats to the team on a well-deserved Big East Championship. 2 quick things at the end of the game.
  • Classy - UConn taking a shot clock violation with 36 seconds left giving the ball back to Villanova with 6 seconds left.
  • Not classy - Villanova running down the floor and taking a 3 with 2 seconds left.
Sarah and Azzi led the way, but defensively, the tone was set by KK. What a great trio. I was glad to see Williams with a bit of a bounce back game. Blanca looked really good. Kayleigh and Allie were solid. Credit to Nova for a really good Q3. The bench was really solid in Q4 - a ton of missed layups by just about all of them, but 19-9 in Q4 is impressive.

It really was a team effort. I agree with Geno - Nova will be a nightmare for an 8-9 game or 7-10. I hope for their sake they are a 10 seed. getting a 2 seed in the 2nd round is a far cry from a 1 seed.

Now the team gets a well deserved rest. Any nagging injuries can be rested. Get ready for March Madness. 6 more wins to go!! Congrats team!!!
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Even less classy? Leaving most of your starters in the entire game when you are losing by 40 points. What was up with that?
 
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Amazing game by UConn. They essentially won by 40 with our bench playing the fourth quarter. It is also comforting to see that our pt guard position playing well ON BOTH ENDS OF TIE FLOOR with KK and K9. Blanca hasn’t been shooting it as well since she came back but what a difference maker on defense and her drives to the basket is electric.

Im excited to see what this team can do when they go full beast mode for all 40 minutes.
 
It's important to note that Nova was giving us all we could handle at Finneran in the first half only a little while ago. You would never know that by the beat down tonight. KK's defense on Bascoe immediately set the tone and shut her down. Geno had Sarah hanging around in the back court too forcing Bascoe to get rid of the ball. Losing their playmaking engine was a mortal blow.

While we talk about KK's defense, I just want to point out one of the most underrated defenders in America. Henry has the ball near half court waiting to run down the clock, she is protecting the ball as she dribbles. Azzi is faking her on defense. Yup, faking her on defense. Henry decides to put the ball between her legs. Done, Azzi pushes it, gets it and is gone. So solid and so overlooked.

We now will have a minimum of 10 days before the next game. I still think there will be some minor tweaking, some new emphasis, some ratcheting down. Geno always does. This team is all about their depth. So many weapons and so much energy.

One more thing. John Fanta's mixed metaphor of the night: "Geno Auriemma, like a fine merlot, these Huskies can't be stopped". Huh?
 
Congrats to the Huskies for a dominant win tonight and their run through the tournament!

Although UCONN caught a break in the 1st half tonight with Villanova missing so many open threes, I don't necessarily feel that it will be a major problem if they should face UCLA as I think they've demonstrated the ability to adapt and self correct during a game.

The entire team contributed tonight both in readily quantifiable and more subtle ways, but it seemed particularly encouraging seeing:
  • Serah having an effective 2nd half.
  • Jana having real impact (sometimes, literally) with her 4 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in just 13 minutes (I disagree with the poster who felt that she was a real defensive downgrade from Serah).
  • I loved that UCONN'S 6th thru 12th players dominated Villanova's mostly first string players in the 4th quarter 19 to 9 (really 19 to 6 until Villanova hit a last second 3 pointer after UCONN dribbled out a possession to bring the clock down to 5 seconds - and probably presumed that Villanova would do likewise).
  • I was delighted with the 4th quarter minutes when Serah and Jana shared the court.
  • I was a little concerned with the sloppiness in the 2nd quarter (6 TO's), but amazed that, when all was said and done, UCONN won the quarter 26 to 12.
  • I was thrilled but UCONN'S efforts on the offensive boards, gathering 13 (off 31 UCONN misses) as opposed to Villanova grabbing 12 (off of 48 of their misses).

Finally, for all those fans and evaluators who were properly impressed by UCLA's demolishment of Iowa yesterday, I would encourage them to factor in how little UCONN'S big guns played tonight (Sarah 22 minutes, KK 19, Azzi 27, Blanca 18, with no one else playing more than 19 minutes) against a really good team who might actually be able to beat (or, at least, play a tight game against) Iowa, as opposed to how many minutes UCLA's prime players were on the court in yesterday's game.
 
DEFCONN1 said:
That 3 pointer did irk me a bit, especially after we took the shot clock violation in the previous possession
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Dillon was hardly effusive in her praise of UConn in her presser. Understandable after a drubbing. But doesn't she realize that Geno didn't want to embarrass her team further. No press in the second half, KK played 19 minutes, Sarah 22,
Leave our big guns in we win by 70.
 
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Few Thoughts:
*If you remember how frustrating it was to watch the bench players in the 4th quarter, the improvement is amazing. The bench actually looks like a team that maybe is not top 25 but will be competitive against most of teams.
*KK was amazing. it seems she took it personally how good Bosco was in the last game between UConn and Vilanova and was determined to stop her. Great job!
*Sarah and Azzi played like AA's. how crazy is it that they barley even play in the 4th quarter...
*Loved the improvement we saw from Serah in this game and her ability to stay with small players far away from the basket is tribute to her nimbleness and athleticism.
*Blanca was fantastic. She just does things that practically no one on UConn (aside than Sarah who is a unicorn) can do with her size, quick hands and ball handling.
*While Jana is a real good rebounder, she can't defend under the basket..love her spirit.
*K9 is a perfect fit for UConn.
*The refs were bad and one where K9 was clearly fouled (actually run over) and they didn't whistle it, was ridicules..
*The Peacock announcers are terrible. If you see one game if is maybe not to bad but when you watch 3 games in a row and they repeat the same things again and again is irritating.
*Vilanova is a pretty good team and i hope they can win at least 2 games in the NCAA's to show that maybe the Big East is not only UConn.
*In theory, UConn in the NCAA's will need the SEC championship (i can see how UConn will need to win against Georgia (1 against 8/9 winner), Oklahoma (Sweat 16), Vandi (Elite 8), South Carolina in the final 4 and last TX in the final.
*Great fun game! cognates on the Big East Tournament, let's get healthy and ready to rock the NCAA! UConn! UConn! UConn!
 
PJCLaw said:
They deliberately took a shot clock violation to not run up the score, only to have Villanova go down and throw up a 3 pointer. That was classless after UConn showed class!
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They better hope they don't see us in the tournament. Of course, they won't because the NCAA won't put them in our bracket. But Geno will remember this.
 
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