What did I just see?

[tomcat]

Just got back from the UCF game -- a two-hour drive. I went to the game with a friend who had never seen a WCBB game, which allowed me to see the game through fresh eyes.

Fresh or otherwise, these eyes saw some very new things. Maybe it has all been covered in the game thread, but I'd like to give you my reaction to things I saw, and maybe some of you will have different thoughts, because mine were not very happy ones.

No, I don't think the wheels have come off the bus. No, I realize UConn won the game by double digits. But neither of those were the point.
1. Is Azura ill? She came out looking grim and made numerous mistakes in the first half.
2. Has the team never before seen the trap UCF set at midcourt? They put three players there and put a chaser on the player bringing the ball up and UConn looked like someone was pointing a howitzer at them. Passes stolen again, and again. And more disturbing, when UCF did this, UConn's whole offense went into freeze mode. They seemed unable to set up a halfcourt offense unless they were running up the court.
3. How many bunnies can players miss?
4. Azura, who seemed to be a foot taller than anyone guarding her (not true, of course, but still...) should have had an open and easy shot a lot more than she did. The team fed her some of the time. The rest? See #1 above.
5. So the players went into the locker room at the half and stayed in there until almost the start of the second half, with no shooting practice before beginning., When emerging, they walked over in a bunch, not in a line, and they looked grim. Now, that's probably not surprising, because of what we all suspect Geno told them. But they did not respond. I repeat, they did not respond. Whatever he said, this team got measurably worse in the third quarter. I have never seen that happen before.

This was just plain disturbing, in part because of the way the team reacted. A guy sitting in the row ahead of me shouted, "Better not play this way against Louisville." Most of the time, things like that are just talk. This time, it was worth thinking about.

 

[donalddoowop]

Louisville better not play against UCONN the way they played tonight.

 

[cbraarj]

1st quarter Z had 7 pts and 3 blocks. Havent seen the rest yet. Flue kicking my butt.

 

[Sonny44]

Just got back from the UCF game -- a two-hour drive. I went to the game with a friend who had never seen a WCBB game, which allowed me to see the game through fresh eyes.

Fresh or otherwise, these eyes saw some very new things. Maybe it has all been covered in the game thread, but I'd like to give you my reaction to things I saw, and maybe some of you will have different thoughts, because mine were not very happy ones.

No, I don't think the wheels have come off the bus. No, I realize UConn won the game by double digits. But neither of those were the point.
1. Is Azura ill? She came out looking grim and made numerous mistakes in the first half.
2. Has the team never before seen the trap UCF set at midcourt? They put three players there and put a chaser on the player bringing the ball up and UConn looked like someone was pointing a howitzer at them. Passes stolen again, and again. And more disturbing, when UCF did this, UConn's whole offense went into freeze mode. They seemed unable to set up a halfcourt offense unless they were running up the court.
3. How many bunnies can players miss?
4. Azura, who seemed to be a foot taller than anyone guarding her (not true, of course, but still...) should have had an open and easy shot a lot more than she did. The team fed her some of the time. The rest? See #1 above.
5. So the players went into the locker room at the half and stayed in there until almost the start of the second half, with no shooting practice before beginning., When emerging, they walked over in a bunch, not in a line, and they looked grim. Now, that's probably not surprising, because of what we all suspect Geno told them. But they did not respond. I repeat, they did not respond. Whatever he said, this team got measurably worse in the third quarter. I have never seen that happen before.

This was just plain disturbing, in part because of the way the team reacted. A guy sitting in the row ahead of me shouted, "Better not play this way against Louisville." Most of the time, things like that are just talk. This time, it was worth thinking about.

We played without a point guard. We all love Kia and she may be an AA, but not as a point guard.

 

[JustinesGuy]

If this is the glass half empty thread I can add megan walker didn't play that great with a lot of minutes. Seemed like a handful of turnovers with one really nice layup.

 

[oldude]

My only real concern is the health of this team. When UConn’s starting 5 + Z & MW are at their best, no team in the country can stay with the Huskies.

Obviously, the injuries to the walking wounded have affected the availability of key players during games, but more importantly injuries have affected their ability to practice together. We know that Crystal, Gabby & Lou are all limited in practice. Even Kia, our warhorse, has been dealing with an increasing number of bumps and bruises.

It’s incredibly difficult for UConn to play at the level we’ve become accustomed to when the team cannot practice together regularly.

 

[trisailin]

Holy cow people. What I see is a bunch of people who like to complain no matter what.
What I saw (admittedly only over the TV) was a bunch of college kids trying their best. I also saw a team that allowed very few points scored against them. Pretty good defense. Maybe in real life they weren't trying? I'm sure the complainers have never ever made any errors in anything.
As long as I'm on my soapbox: Does it not occur to many that for everything one team tries to do, the other team tries to prevent them from doing it? As surprising as it is, the other team IS allowed scholarship players too!!!

 

[LasVegasYank]

Z's offensive game suffered because she allowed herself to be fronted by the UCF player guarding her for much of the time she was in. She has to do better in getting offensive position through better movement in and near the lane.

Also, the number of missed layups is frustrating. She tends to rush her shots.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Isn't Z usually pretty steady around the rim? Maybe it was just an off night for her. It happens.

 

[Charliebball]

that game was a mixed bag..................it's hard to look your best against a team like UCF...................playing without Crystal doesn't help matters...............hopefully it was a good learning experience which will serve them well later in the season.................bottom line is unlike most teams, when UConn doesn't play particularly well they still manage to win............

 

[Centerstream]

They are kids, what more can be said.

 

[eebmg]

Geno is usually a very good barometer for interpreting the game. My take on his take is that this was a good game to have and it highlights issues that we are aware of and need to get better at. My biggest issue is that I do not see why the bench cant be added (1 or 2 at a time ) a little more strategically for rest purposes. I would have thought some rest near end of first half for Kia (Mikayla) and a few minutes for Irwin who seemed to be playing well would have helped a little in the 2nd half? I did like how Batouly came in and helped remove a few fillings from UCF at the end.

 

[tomcat]

Holy cow people. What I see is a bunch of people who like to complain no matter what.
What I saw (admittedly only over the TV) was a bunch of college kids trying their best. I also saw a team that allowed very few points scored against them. Pretty good defense. Maybe in real life they weren't trying? I'm sure the complainers have never ever made any errors in anything.
As long as I'm on my soapbox: Does it not occur to many that for everything one team tries to do, the other team tries to prevent them from doing it? As surprising as it is, the other team IS allowed scholarship players too!!!

Well, yes to everything you said. BUT. the team they were playing against is a much smaller team of lesser talent. They dribble the ball incessantly. They have a guard who dribbles the ball and then leaps into the air, lands and then looks around for someone to pass to. They have a player whose every move is a double-dribble. They score mostly with shots from outside, which they make, sometimes. UCOnn's defensive effort was there, yes, but it came against a team that cannot find many ways to score, anyway. But UCF came in with a defensive scheme and they stuck with it, and it worked. Disrupted the #1 team in the country in the worst way. And worse, UConn came out in the second half and did nothing about it, and I refuse to believe it was because at halftime the coach said everything was fine.

Yes, they did not have Crystal. But UConn teams in the past have been more resilient than this. They have to learn how to play without any given player. It's not as if this is Kia's first rodeo. I am a huge Kia fan, but she had a terrible game, as if she had never run the point before. That was not the only problem, hut it was a big one.

My point is that of course there is an opponent, and many times that opponent rises above itself and plays well against UConn precisely because they are UConn, But usually UConn comes up with some things that turn it around, that counter the other guy's strategy, and they just did not do it. What's worse, throughout the game they all looked as though someone's sister had just died, and I have never seen that before. By the second half, their heads were down, and I have never seen that before.

As for the "they're just kids" remark, I think we have to stop being schizophrenic around here. Either they are just kids, and everything can be excused without comment, or this is women' college basketball, and they are (admittedly, young) women whose game has elevated far above the playground, and we have a reasonable expectation that we will see a game where the execution matches the talent and training. And if we don't, it is a fair subject for comment.

And for the record, I am a glass-half-empty kind of guy. It keeps my expectations within reason. But on this night, I was not viewing things through the gloom. I simply reported what I saw and mostly, it was not pretty.

 

[Jeff H]

If I remember right UCF had one possession where they ran the shot clock down to under five twice and got two offensive boards. Then on the third try UConn held them to a clock violation. That's indicative of how much defense UConn was playing last night. I think with Lou and Kia playing almost the whole game along with no Crystal they wore down and that explains some of the offensive struggles. If Crystal is good to go against Louisville I think UConn will win fairly easily.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Well, yes to everything you said. BUT. the team they were playing against is a much smaller team of lesser talent. They dribble the ball incessantly. They have a guard who dribbles the ball and then leaps into the air, lands and then looks around for someone to pass to. They have a player whose every move is a double-dribble. They score mostly with shots from outside, which they make, sometimes. UCOnn's defensive effort was there, yes, but it came against a team that cannot find many ways to score, anyway. But UCF came in with a defensive scheme and they stuck with it, and it worked. Disrupted the #1 team in the country in the worst way. And worse, UConn came out in the second half and did nothing about it, and I refuse to believe it was because at halftime the coach said everything was fine.

Yes, they did not have Crystal. But UConn teams in the past have been more resilient than this. They have to learn how to play without any given player. It's not as if this is Kia's first rodeo. I am a huge Kia fan, but she had a terrible game, as if she had never run the point before. That was not the only problem, hut it was a big one.

My point is that of course there is an opponent, and many times that opponent rises above itself and plays well against UConn precisely because they are UConn, But usually UConn comes up with some things that turn it around, that counter the other guy's strategy, and they just did not do it. What's worse, throughout the game they all looked as though someone's sister had just died, and I have never seen that before. By the second half, their heads were down, and I have never seen that before.

As for the "they're just kids" remark, I think we have to stop being schizophrenic around here. Either they are just kids, and everything can be excused without comment, or this is women' college basketball, and they are (admittedly, young) women whose game has elevated far above the playground, and we have a reasonable expectation that we will see a game where the execution matches the talent and training. And if we don't, it is a fair subject for comment.

And for the record, I am a glass-half-empty kind of guy. It keeps my expectations within reason. But on this night, I was not viewing things through the gloom. I simply reported what I saw and mostly, it
was not pretty.

I agree with this. UCF's helter skelter push pull bump hold defense disrupts Uconn, had before and hopefully not again. This is NOT the first time the Core 4 have seen this defense. At least twice last year (remember tulane?) and a couple of times this year, including the previous UCF game. All teams in Division ONE practice how to escape the trap (Wooden perfected it). With our with out Crystal Uconn is not devoid of Guards: KLS, Kia, Gabby all played guard. If you look into Uconn's practices today the emphasis will be on escaping the trap and the practice players will be helter skelter defenders. Then they will move on to practice to play Louisville.
The Uconn WBB world did not end! Uconn was beating them by ogoover 30 until Geno let the Bench play for 3 minutes good experience all around.
The double dribble, and running jump stop appeared to be violations allowed by the Ref,why?, have they not see that before??

 

[pvdoggy]

Yes, it was an ugly game to watch, but for all the moaning and groaning that I see from the fans, I don't see Geno complaining too much in any of the write-ups after the game.

 

[Los24]

Holy cow people. What I see is a bunch of people who like to complain no matter what.
What I saw (admittedly only over the TV) was a bunch of college kids trying their best. I also saw a team that allowed very few points scored against them. Pretty good defense. Maybe in real life they weren't trying? I'm sure the complainers have never ever made any errors in anything.
As long as I'm on my soapbox: Does it not occur to many that for everything one team tries to do, the other team tries to prevent them from doing it? As surprising as it is, the other team IS allowed scholarship players too!!!

I like your point. While some have valid points about health and practice, the other team(s) we play are not all at full strength either. A big reason for last nights lack of production had to do with a great effort and play of UCF. Our players are not perfect but got through a tough challenge and mind you while the game was never in question.

 

[BostonCanuck]

If I remember right UCF had one possession where they ran the shot clock down to under five twice and got two offensive boards. Then on the third try UConn held them to a clock violation. That's indicative of how much defense UConn was playing last night. I think with Lou and Kia playing almost the whole game along with no Crystal they wore down and that explains some of the offensive struggles. If Crystal is good to go against Louisville I think UConn will win fairly easily.

And there was at lest one other occasion where the Huskies played three straight 30-second sets of defense, after they fouled late in one set and turned the ball over after the next one. They played A LOT of defense last night, and some of that was self-inflicted. I think this was the only time in four years I've seen Kia Nurse visibly tired, and the cumulative effects of that were seen later in the game when the team became ineffective at breaking UCF's back-court press.

What I'm not clear about is how UCF was able to keep up the intensity for so long. They must be either superbly conditioned, very deep off the bench, or both. They're one of the top defensive teams in the country, according to last night's commentators, and I believe it.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Hi - we won - by 18 points.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Hi - we won - by 18 points.

But But But we have to win by 40!!@!?!?!!
HELP! HELP! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

 

[skilz]

Basketball season is LONG and teams are getting tired - ALL teams. Most high scoring games are gone at this time of the season. Players are wearing out mentally; body parts are starting to really hurt. We may not win by 30+, but we are still winning.

 

[Jaybird65]

This was an ole Big East UConn-Rutgers match up...

 

[huskies29]

If this is the glass half empty thread I can add megan walker didn't play that great with a lot of minutes. Seemed like a handful of turnovers with one really nice layup.

To take a page out of Bill parcells book in how he handled dave meggets constant fumbling and if he was going to bench him responded I'm going to play him until i can't stand it anymore. Megan is by far the best of what looks so far to be a weak freshman class and he needs to keep her out there, let her make her mistakes and then reap the benefits from the number one HS recruit from last year

 

[Los24]

Well, yes to everything you said. BUT. the team they were playing against is a much smaller team of lesser talent. They dribble the ball incessantly. They have a guard who dribbles the ball and then leaps into the air, lands and then looks around for someone to pass to. They have a player whose every move is a double-dribble. They score mostly with shots from outside, which they make, sometimes. UCOnn's defensive effort was there, yes, but it came against a team that cannot find many ways to score, anyway. But UCF came in with a defensive scheme and they stuck with it, and it worked. Disrupted the #1 team in the country in the worst way. And worse, UConn came out in the second half and did nothing about it, and I refuse to believe it was because at halftime the coach said everything was fine.

Yes, they did not have Crystal. But UConn teams in the past have been more resilient than this. They have to learn how to play without any given player. It's not as if this is Kia's first rodeo. I am a huge Kia fan, but she had a terrible game, as if she had never run the point before. That was not the only problem, hut it was a big one.

My point is that of course there is an opponent, and many times that opponent rises above itself and plays well against UConn precisely because they are UConn, But usually UConn comes up with some things that turn it around, that counter the other guy's strategy, and they just did not do it. What's worse, throughout the game they all looked as though someone's sister had just died, and I have never seen that before. By the second half, their heads were down, and I have never seen that before.

As for the "they're just kids" remark, I think we have to stop being schizophrenic around here. Either they are just kids, and everything can be excused without comment, or this is women' college basketball, and they are (admittedly, young) women whose game has elevated far above the playground, and we have a reasonable expectation that we will see a game where the execution matches the talent and training. And if we don't, it is a fair subject for comment.

And for the record, I am a glass-half-empty kind of guy. It keeps my expectations within reason. But on this night, I was not viewing things through the gloom. I simply reported what I saw and mostly, it was not pretty.

I really enjoyed your post and especially parts about Crystal and all the excuses of not having a PG. The most important part of Crystal playing would have been another quality ball handling body. To elaborate, in the first half (at home) of game 1 UConn scored less points in that first half with Crystal. I thought in the second half of yesterday's game that physically, but even more so mentally, they we tired and frustrated with the whole style of play.

Regarding "kids" comment..... And this will be my last post on that subject.... Your comments I thought brought out two very important points although you did not call them out separately which is probably important (in my eyes.) There is #1 whole PC "do not call them kids" and then there is #2 "they are to young to criticise."

Regarding #1... The definition of "kid" is simply = a young person. So its open for interpretation because many here could be these players parents. Also it was not used in malice, in fact it was in their defense so even though I was not the person using the term I really am tired of people policing how we express ourselves. If there was an obvious malice/slandering involved I can understand but not the case here.

#2 I believe the original comment from HuskyNan was made referring to the fact that despite all the players' talent, they still are "young people" and learning. They are students and still have other areas of their life to be concerned about too (fulltime students.) So while they can obviously handle criticism otherwise they would not be at UConn, the redundant sky is falling when they don't win by 50 is tiring.

That said, this is a Basketball forum so I think it is okay to bring up points of improvement too.

 

[Geew1992]

Holy cow people. What I see is a bunch of people who like to complain no matter what.
What I saw (admittedly only over the TV) was a bunch of college kids trying their best. I also saw a team that allowed very few points scored against them. Pretty good defense. Maybe in real life they weren't trying? I'm sure the complainers have never ever made any errors in anything.
As long as I'm on my soapbox: Does it not occur to many that for everything one team tries to do, the other team tries to prevent them from doing it? As surprising as it is, the other team IS allowed scholarship players too!!!

All that and they won by 20 something!!