What did Miss State do?

[the Q]

We've heard.

I'm not gonna be a homer. Sorry if you that's what you expect here.

 

[j66kicker]

It may be my imagination, but Geno mentioned the tight rims before the game. That stuck with me the whole game. Kia's three late in the game, I think, was half way down before it bounced out like a ping pong ball. Could this have had an effect on Napheesa's shots? I know, someone mentioned that her attempts dwindled late in the game. I still can't get "tight rims" out of my mind.

He did mention that before the game, but I don't think Mark Cuban was in the control room softening the rims whenever Miss State had the ball...

 

[Buzzyboy]

Agree with MDakota. My snap shot is 17 UConn turnovers, a flock of missed free throws and lay-ups, and MSU's effective denial of the high-low pass.

Take away any ONE of these ills, and we're having a very different conversation.

UConn started off very, very slowly and then for the latter part of the first period and most of the second period, totally lost their composure, unlike just about any UConn team I've ever seen. The sloppiness in handling the ball and silly mistakes were beyond description. I think the only period of time I've ever seen anything like it was when we lost a game to Duke that we were totally in control of late in the second half when we just fell apart and I think the winning shot, a 3 point shot, was by some girl either originally from Connecticut or someone UConn had recruited very hard. I'm pretty certain that Diana Taurasi was with the Huskies when they lost that one and it was at the Civic Center. I think the only three Huskies that didn't play poorly (by their standards) were Gabby who played pretty well and Saniya and KLS who play okay. Not one Huskie played what I would call their "A" game though Gabby might have been a B+ with her extraordinary hustle throughout. You must give the Mississippi State game plan and their kids hustle and energy quite a bit of credit but the team wasn't close to playing to their potential. It took quite a bit of fortitude to come back from that 16 point deficit but once they came back, they seemed to run out of juice and then it was a back and forth, possession by possession game.

 

[Buzzyboy]

They played their A++ game and we played out B+/A- game... I think the biggest reason they won was they had 6'7" who ripped the rebounds out of the hands of Collier and then put it back up for 2. I wish we had some height this past season....

I think you give the Huskies too much credit in giving them anything close to a B+/A- game. It was a B- game for the Huskies, at best and maybe not even that good. The only thing I'll really give them is they made an impressive comeback from a big deficit (that never should have been) and that might have exacted a toll in their energy because after that comeback, they didn't seem to get any traction or play with any consistency.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Uhm.. MSU had 21 more shot attempts than UConn and shot a lower percentage (37% to 44%), MSU missed more layups than UConn. Try again!

Who shoots what percentage? I'm pretty sure that MSU shot the ball at a far lower percentage this year than did the Huskies. What is the norm for either team? UConn typically holds their opponents (even top ten type) at less than 40% from the field so that was pretty normal. What we also do is typically don't allow them as many shots. Meanwhile, how often has UConn shot less than 50% in a game and how often did we ever have fewer assists? Meanwhile, not shooting free throws very well didn't help and MSU didn't have much to do with that! MSU played tough and slowed our offense but we shot ourselves in the foot pretty badly, as well!

 

[Buzzyboy]

MSU played the best defense UConn has seen in years. A little credit where due. We could have won, but we didn't.

Really??? I've read post after post after post and the common theme has been to give MSU credit and even credit plus. Their defense was tenacious and had a big impact on the game but there is also a lot of things that UConn did or didn't do that had nothing to do with MSU that changed the outcome of the game. We lost composure for an extended period of the first and second period which is totally uncharacteristic of this team regardless of who we play (meaning top flight teams) and fell into a deep, deep hole and that was the difference in the game. We came back to tie and actually go ahead briefly but couldn't ever pull ahead, missing shots and free throws that we customarily make. The emotional impact of that big deficit and how it happened, stayed in our heads even after our comeback. I laud the kids for pulling themselves together but it taken it's toll.

 

[Buzzyboy]

It's pretty simple.

They played with heart and toughness.

6 of the 7 girls UConn played that night stained their shorts. Except Gabby, who was just incredible. Cannot say enough good things about Gabby.

MSU also moved on offense.

Lou and Nurse basically stood around most of the night.

And Nurse gave less effort on D once he shots didn't fall.

They also beat up UConn on the boards and flat out out-hustled them.

Bottom line, UConn played scared and soft, MSU played like the team who had been to 11 straight Final Fours. UConn played like the team there for the first time and was just happy to be there.

Don't agree about Lou standing around. I think some people here are watching an alternate universe rendition of this game, to continue to say that. Without KLS, the game doesn't come close to going to overtime. I agree that Gabby played well but KLS wasn't chopped liver.

 

[DaddyChoc]

It may be my imagination, but Geno mentioned the tight rims before the game. That stuck with me the whole game. Kia's three late in the game, I think, was half way down before it bounced out like a ping pong ball. Could this have had an effect on Napheesa's shots? I know, someone mentioned that her attempts dwindled late in the game. I still can't get "tight rims" out of my mind.

MSU had to use those tight rims as well

 

[the Q]

Don't agree about Lou standing around. I think some people here are watching an alternate universe rendition of this game, to continue to say that. Without KLS, the game doesn't come close to going to overtime. I agree that Gabby played well but KLS wasn't chopped liver.

It wasn't there entire game, she definitely made a few adjustments late in the 4th. Hit some big shots. No doubting that.

but most of the game she was standing in that corner or wing area just waiting for someone to throw her the ball.

And no one (not just KLS) ran many backdoor cuts, when their defensive style was begging for those to be run for many easy baskets.

 

[mhshuskies]

It looked like Miss. St was ready to play right from the start whereas UCONN needed some time to get going. Could that have been a reaction to a blowout win in the Elite Eight game? Geno always says that is the toughest game of the tourney, to get to the FF. I could see where the young players are thinking "oh, that was the toughest game, the rest should be easier"?

 

[RogueDave]

UConn started off very, very slowly and then for the latter part of the first period and most of the second period, totally lost their composure, unlike just about any UConn team I've ever seen. The sloppiness in handling the ball and silly mistakes were beyond description. I think the only period of time I've ever seen anything like it was when we lost a game to Duke that we were totally in control of late in the second half when we just fell apart and I think the winning shot, a 3 point shot, was by some girl either originally from Connecticut or someone UConn had recruited very hard. I'm pretty certain that Diana Taurasi was with the Huskies when they lost that one and it was at the Civic Center. I think the only three Huskies that didn't play poorly (by their standards) were Gabby who played pretty well and Saniya and KLS who play okay. Not one Huskie played what I would call their "A" game though Gabby might have been a B+ with her extraordinary hustle throughout. You must give the Mississippi State game plan and their kids hustle and energy quite a bit of credit but the team wasn't close to playing to their potential. It took quite a bit of fortitude to come back from that 16 point deficit but once they came back, they seemed to run out of juice and then it was a back and forth, possession by possession game.

Jessica Foley...hit the shot for Duke...She was recruited heavily by Uconn...

Always felt the officiating brought Duke back into the game at the end...

Duke could foul at will defensively, Uconn wasnt allowed to even give a dirty look...

 

[AdamOwe]

Other than Gabby- we were rattled from the beginning. They dominated us- and we were in shock.

Psst, Uconn overcame a 16 point deficit to take the lead. Only way to reconcile your position is with drugs.

 

[the Q]

UConn started off very, very slowly and then for the latter part of the first period and most of the second period, totally lost their composure, unlike just about any UConn team I've ever seen. The sloppiness in handling the ball and silly mistakes were beyond description. I think the only period of time I've ever seen anything like it was when we lost a game to Duke that we were totally in control of late in the second half when we just fell apart and I think the winning shot, a 3 point shot, was by some girl either originally from Connecticut or someone UConn had recruited very hard. I'm pretty certain that Diana Taurasi was with the Huskies when they lost that one and it was at the Civic Center. I think the only three Huskies that didn't play poorly (by their standards) were Gabby who played pretty well and Saniya and KLS who play okay. Not one Huskie played what I would call their "A" game though Gabby might have been a B+ with her extraordinary hustle throughout. You must give the Mississippi State game plan and their kids hustle and energy quite a bit of credit but the team wasn't close to playing to their potential. It took quite a bit of fortitude to come back from that 16 point deficit but once they came back, they seemed to run out of juice and then it was a back and forth, possession by possession game.

Outside of one 5 minute spurt in the 2nd qtr Chong was a big negative too. Her and nurse were both awful defensively.

 

[the Q]

MSU played the best defense UConn has seen in years. A little credit where due. We could have won, but we didn't.

The msu defense didn't cause those uncontested layups or FTs to be missed.

 

[the Q]

Mr. Q-- I really should have stopped reading once you claimed that the problem was "simple." Simple solutions are, by nature, suspect. But then you basically called out the UConn women for being "scared and soft," of giving insufficient effort, and allowing themselves to be outhustled. In other words, you accused them of losing because of character flaws. It would be a fine experiment for you to sign up for a single UConn practice session to see how you would fare trying to meet the coaches' demands.

I don't question they work hard in practice.

But they didn't that night.

Take the men against Cincy, couldn't have been more proud of that team and their effort. They played their hearts out and left everything they had on the court.

You can't say that about the girls against msu. Except gabby.

 

[mhshuskies]

I didn't find the effort to be very spirited. Except for Gabby.

In spite of the last offensive play, I thought Saniya played pretty well. At one point she scored 7 straight points to keep us in the game and she was pretty scrappy on D.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Don't agree about Lou standing around. I think some people here are watching an alternate universe rendition of this game, to continue to say that. Without KLS, the game doesn't come close to going to overtime. I agree that Gabby played well but KLS wasn't chopped liver.

I'm with you. I watched the game agsinlast night (uggh painful) and in my opinion Lou was working hard most of the game. She did not hit her season average in points, but neither did the Team as a whole. Lou scored 24 percent of the teams points, Gabby got nearly 34percent. Lou hit 50 percent of her shots from 3 and overall, and the 2 big free throws to tie the game. It was a struggle for the whole team all night, bad passes, losing out on 50/50 chances, multiple missed short shots/lay ups and some of the worst foul shooting of the season. I can't explain the turnovers and missed shots to the extent they happened. Was it big stag nerves, or not being able to react to the early aggressiveness of MSST..M or ???? ... Gabby played great no doubt.. but IMHO, Lou played a decent game and hit shots at critical times to keep us in it... if the team hit just one more free throw or layup, we will in regulation!!! But it is what it is. I still support our Huskies and am excited for what next year will bring. GO HUSKIES!!

 

[Woof 101]

Outside of one 5 minute spurt in the 2nd qtr Chong was a big negative too. Her and nurse were both awful defensively.

The msu defense didn't cause those uncontested layups or FTs to be missed.

I gave her credit for that solid 5 minute spurt in the 2nd quarter.


. And the fact that she never realized that William had less than zero interest in going left was also a problem.

The reality is those last 30 seconds were a summation of Chong's first 3 years in the program.
low basketball IQ
poor shot selection
abysmal defense

Points in the paint-MS 28,UCONN 20. Points off turnovers-MS 12,UCONN 10.
2nd chance points-MS 18,UCONN 4. Fast break points-MS 7,UCONN 4.
Bench points-MS 12,UCONN 1. Score tied-11 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-MS OT-00:00, UCONN OT-01:35.
Largest lead-MS by 16 2nd-07:36, UCONN by 3 4th-02:30.
MS led for 31:14. UCONN led for 02:57. Game was tied for 10:49.

Your bashing of Chong is totally unwarranted and silly to the point of saying Geno was ignorant for having her on the floor. This was a TEAM loss and a win by a deserving team that should not be discounted. To agree with your statement is saying Geno has a low basketball IQ.
You have hammered the team in post after post with mostly statements lacking knowledge of the game or the team whatsoever...... BB IQ?
"But she had no chance against MSU's guards" you finally admit there was another team on the floor....

 

[housekeys]

Miss St controlled the tempo by having William slowly bring the ball up. UConn's failure was to counter that by pressing and getting the ball out of William's hands. Of course the danger is UConn would get tired (as it seemed they where even without pressing), but it was the only thing that could have "messed" up Miss St game plan. In retrospect, that is what I would have wanted to see. I was disappointed they did not try that.

 

[BigBird]

The reality is those last 30 seconds were a summation of Chong's first 3 years in the program.

low basketball IQ
poor shot selection
abysmal defense

Do you feel better now? Does posting this kind of rubbish make you appreciate that person you see in the mirror? Sheesh.

 

[the Q]

Do you feel better now? Does posting this kind of rubbish make you appreciate that person you see in the mirror? Sheesh.

Factual assessments of a player's abilities is rubbish?

I'm sorry, i guess every player is perfect, has no holes in their game, and whoever started the what do you think the returning players need to improve upon thread is just outside their mind crazy.

That sound better?

 

[Buzzyboy]

It wasn't there entire game, she definitely made a few adjustments late in the 4th. Hit some big shots. No doubting that.

but most of the game she was standing in that corner or wing area just waiting for someone to throw her the ball.

And no one (not just KLS) ran many backdoor cuts, when their defensive style was begging for those to be run for many easy baskets.

I think to an extent, she is reactive most of the time to her teammates movements and if they're inactive, that creates a completely new environment for her to deal with. I guess you'd call it a "flow offense" that Geno has. In any case, I think there were a lot of people that diminished what she did in that game, particularly in the second half.

 

[the Q]

I think to an extent, she is reactive most of the time to her teammates movements and if they're inactive, that creates a completely new environment for her to deal with. I guess you'd call it a "flow offense" that Geno has. In any case, I think there were a lot of people that diminished what she did in that game, particularly in the second half.

The only person who looked comfortable on the offensive end was Gabby. So you're probably on to something.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Factual assessments of a player's abilities is rubbish?

I'm sorry, i guess every player is perfect, has no holes in their game, and whoever started the what do you think the returning players need to improve upon thread is just outside their mind crazy.

That sound better?

I concur that there are people on this board who take every criticism of any of the girls for any reason as an attack on their own kids. It's like almost anything else, anything to the extreme is too much but what's wrong with a bit of constructive criticism. These kids are just that, not robots and they make mistakes and have flaws but to mention them is verboten. Saniya would probably tell you that a whole lot of her three years here was affected by a lack of confidence and a bit of intimidation but what should be noted is that she started really turning the corner part way through her junior year and was very solid and a pretty big contributor to the success of this team this year. I still think there are people around who think every kid deserves a trophy at the end of each season so they don't take things personally and as has been mentioned, that thinking is a little extreme. I think every team member contributes something and that should be noted and respected but some kids are more talented and are more intuitive and have better instincts and make better decisions under pressure while others fall short. That is reality, isn't it?

 

[the Q]

I concur that there are people on this board who take every criticism of any of the girls for any reason as an attack on their own kids. It's like almost anything else, anything to the extreme is too much but what's wrong with a bit of constructive criticism. These kids are just that, not robots and they make mistakes and have flaws but to mention them is verboten. Saniya would probably tell you that a whole lot of her three years here was affected by a lack of confidence and a bit of intimidation but what should be noted is that she started really turning the corner part way through her junior year and was very solid and a pretty big contributor to the success of this team this year. I still think there are people around who think every kid deserves a trophy at the end of each season so they don't take things personally and as has been mentioned, that thinking is a little extreme. I think every team member contributes something and that should be noted and respected but some kids are more talented and are more intuitive and have better instincts and make better decisions under pressure while others fall short. That is reality, isn't it?

Exactly. Well put.

It's just interesting comparing Chong to say, the Enoch discussions on the MBB board.

 

[bertieboy]

Regarding constructive criticism of our players in this game, two points: (1) If we had scored three more points and won the game we would not be hearing any of it on this board. (2) It's fine to say that so and so should have done or not done this or that but the time is now passed and what you cannot see at this point is how the this or that you propose would have worked out. Maybe it would not have worked and perhaps MS could have countered it. But we don't know any of this after the game has ended.

One last point: I am quite certain Geno gave them plenty of criticism, constructive and otherwise, during the game.

 

[the Q]

Regarding constructive criticism of our players in this game, two points: (1) If we had scored three more points and won the game we would not be hearing any of it on this board. (2) It's fine to say that so and so should have done or not done this or that but the time is now passed and what you cannot see at this point is how the this or that you propose would have worked out. Maybe it would not have worked and perhaps MS could have countered it. But we don't know any of this after the game has ended.

One last point: I am quite certain Geno gave them plenty of criticism, constructive and otherwise, during the game.

For the record, I did post during the 2nd half that win or lose UConn really doesn't deserve this game solely based on their poor effort up until that point.

But when you lose to a 22 point underdog, someone did something wrong. Especially since MSU frankly didn't shoot that well.

The defining play for the quality of that game was the chong play and miss st throwing the ball to their HC on the sidelines. It was just an ugly performance all around.

 

[the Q]

While not possible because of how poor Butler was, but it really would've been fun to try and see Gabby guard Itty Bitty one on one. Frankly there's no on else on the floor i would've trusted to stop her.

I guess Geno could've done that for the final 15 seconds, but I also get why he didn't. No gonna question that one. I just really thought the above matchup would've been fun to watch in general.

If he had BC or Z available he would've been able to try that out.

 

[Bronx]

Me and others have thrown some pebbles/some stones at everyone other than Gabby (Gabby did all she could do)---
Here is what I sincerely believe---Miss St didn't do much to force UConn to lose! Which would normally mean UConn did something to cause the loss--UConn lost the game--but not by anything they could emotionally physically control.
Gabby missed Free throws and a couple of shots she normally would make--many with minimal defense on her.
Napheesa--during the season it became almost expected that she would make 100 percent or at least 90 percent of her shots--
and all of her Ft's---look at how many OPEN shots she missed---Saniya hit's typically 80 percent (or close) of her Free Throws
and too often missed both or at least one. Katie Lou and Kia had opportunities to take over the game and didn't---why???

Point of all the above---some emotional issue enveloped the entire starting 5---Nerves?? but to me it was less Miss St than UConn;s
emotions. I.e. UConn beat UConn.

If UConn plays that team in 5 more games---out of the six (including the FF) they will have won 5. Miss st was good but not that good.[/QU

 

[Bronx]

FYI - Saniya made 5 out of 6 free throws, so what are you talking about???