We are Really Really Good

[Alydar]

A November game is always a B- game in absolute terms. As November games go, though, it was pretty good, and made that much better for what you say, that the team was critical of their own play. That gets an A+ from me.

And Azzi gave us a preview of the tournament with a second half like Paige’s against SC two years ago.

She hit a 3 with under a minute left in the 3rd period. 20 pts in the last 10.5 minutes on 9 shots! I think Vic liked his chances with a minute left in the 3rd but as Geno said a week before, top teams take away each others' offenses and it's up to players to adjust and create. UConn has one of those players.

 

[billnaples]

The refs called that game tight. Other refs may well let lots of those "fouls" go in the future. Especially in the tournament.

40 fouls in 40 minutes in a game not between two hated programs etc. The old days of Geno vs. Pat and maybe to some degree with Muffet you might get that level of aggression. Not this game. calling it "tight" gives lip service to the job these three collectively failed. Just hope they never get another UConn game.

 

[tomcat]

It is hard not to bask in the aftermath of this victory. Even granted that Texas was without one of their best players, UConn did really well. But they are a work in progress. How far they go will depend not on their playing the way they did against Texas, but how much they improve between now and the end of the season. For example, the team needs to get more from its young centers, whose performances were spotty at best. And I am really, really afraid of what happens when foulitis sets in. If both Lou and Nika get into foul trouble, as they threatened to do at one point, things could get rough. And they just cannot get in the position where Azzi thinks she has to do it all. It looked like she was headed in that direction at one point, and she seemed to be rushing her play a little. Later in the game, when things calmed down, she seemed to as well, and hit shot after shot.
I'm one of those who generally sees the glass as half-empty, but I think this is a very promising start for a team that was facing adversity even before the first tipoff. Things are looking pretty darn good.