What is it going to take to beat UCONN this season?

[cbraarj]

Tenn. just lacks too much depth at the most important positions. DeSheilds would have to have a POY type year to take this team far

Depth is overrated at times! Last 3 Ncs the winning team played 6 or 7 players with none fouling out. As far as getting tired the players are 18 to 22 yrs old, My question would be why?

 

[SCspur]

38-8, 61-12, 81-18, 98-38 Mississippi St. really! Tenn. made the Elite 8. and they have a lot to prove this year. Plus the added incentive of playing for Pat Summit. Diamond Deshields plays and leads like she is capable of doing. Imo the best player in the SEC.

You of all people should know not to compare one of the best teams in history to Tenn. only UCONN could have completely shut down Victoria Vivians the girl is a monster with the ball in her hands and she dropped 30 and 26 on Tenn. last year and they also return their whole starting five. Now as good as a player Diamond is she is not the best in the SEC her all around game is weak in many areas and while they'll have fire under them by playing for Pat Summit I just don't see them doing it. Besides just mentioning Diamond who else on Tenn. can score it and score it well?? Certainly not Mercedes Russell at 6'6" she's just too soft and doesn't play with the heart and desire to win and she got completely destroyed by A'ja. Jaime Nared rated #6 out of High School but she hasn't lived up to the billing, Jordan Reynolds had a good freshman year but her output offensively and defensively has spiraled downward, Shaquilla Nunn was good for Winthrop but this is a different level tough competition night in and night out and their bench consists of 3 players who have yet to prove themselves in college and a *3 freshman.... So remind me again how much you think of them......

 

[SCspur]

Depth is overrated at times! Last 3 Ncs the winning team played 6 or 7 players with none fouling out. As far as getting tired the players are 18 to 22 yrs old, My question would be why?

That team also had the #1 player from 2011, #1 player from 2012, #2 player from 2016, #6 player from 2012, and the #33 player from 2014 with the addition of one of the best WBB coaches in history so you of all people should know how that was possible. Tenn. has #1 player 2013, #3 player 2013, #46 player 2013, #6 player 2014 and #8 player 2015 so their would be no excuse but their coach does not do a good job at Developing their players anymore like pat used to. With all the talent they have a NC or Final Four should have been achieved during the span these players came in up until this point but as you can see it's only Naiive coaching at best.

 

[CocoHusky]

38-8, 61-12, 81-18, 98-38 Mississippi St. really! Tenn. made the Elite 8. and they have a lot to prove this year. Plus the added incentive of playing for Pat Summit. Diamond Deshields plays and leads like she is capable of doing. Imo the best player in the SEC.

The best player in the SEC is the reining SEC POY who also happens to be SEC defensive POY. The defensive side of the ball is something that DD has yet to explore. If DD and A'Ja Wilson were in the same draft ( which could easily happen) and you picked DD over Wilson you would be correctly fire if you were a GM.

 

[stwainfan]

One difference Aja has been healthy Diamond has had injuries. Here's a link to what Holly said about Diamond at media days.
Warlick confident in 'leadership on the court'

 

[CocoHusky]

One difference Aja has been healthy Diamond has had injuries. Here's a link to what Holly said about Diamond at media days.
Warlick confident in 'leadership on the court'

The claim that Aja was more healthy than Diamond last year is not true. The claim that "if diamond stay healthy this will be her year" has a very familiar hollow ring to it.
Diamond was healthy enough to play 105 minutes more than A'ja did last year (965 vs 860).
The 965 minutes that Diamond played at UT last year were only 38 minutes less than she played as a Freshmen at UNC in the exact same number of games.
Statistically DD is much the same player at TN as she was at NC. I wish both players good health but good health is not what is separating DD and Aja-performance has.

 

[stwainfan]

The claim that Aja was more healthy than Diamond last year is not true. The claim that "if diamond stay healthy this will be her year" has a very familiar hollow ring to it.
Diamond was healthy enough to play 105 minutes more than A'ja did last year (965 vs 860).
The 965 minutes that Diamond played at UT last year were only 38 minutes less than she played as a Freshmen at UNC in the exact same number of games.
Statistically DD is much the same player at TN as she was at NC. I wish both players good health but good health is not what is separating DD and Aja-performance has.

If you watched her early on last year. She was not healthy. She couldn't make some plays that normally she could make very easily. Like Andy Landers said in video she has a skill set that's second to none.

 

[cbraarj]

The best player in the SEC is the reining SEC POY who also happens to be SEC defensive POY. The defensive side of the ball is something that DD has yet to explore. If DD and A'Ja Wilson were in the same draft ( which could easily happen) and you picked DD over Wilson you would be correctly fire if you were a GM.

I would pick Wilson but I dont know if I would keep her. She isnt a franchise player yet but that could change by the time she graduates. IMO there was no improvement in her skill level from fr. to soph. year. Trade her for players and draft picks. It all depends on needs.

 

[CocoHusky]

If you watched her early on last year. She was not healthy. She couldn't make some plays that normally she could make very easily. Like Andy Landers said in video she has a skill set that's second to none.

I watched DD the entire season and at times though she was not healthy enough be on the floor. But she was on the floor. About her skill set I disagree with Andy. DD athleticism is second to none but measurable basketball skills like shooting accuracy , assists rate, and lack of turnovers have not been demonstrated by Diamond even when she was healthy.

 

[SCspur]

One difference Aja has been healthy Diamond has had injuries. Here's a link to what Holly said about Diamond at media days.
Warlick confident in 'leadership on the court'

A'ja was most certainly not healthy,she was dealing with shin splints the entire year that's why she was wearing those silly looking shin guards the whole year. If you watched the UCONN game last year she injured it even worst but played through it for the rest of the year. This summer she took some time off to rest so this season she is fully healthy along with DeSheilds.

 

[SCGamecock]

I would pick Wilson but I dont know if I would keep her. She isnt a franchise player yet but that could change by the time she graduates. IMO there was no improvement in her skill level from fr. to soph. year. Trade her for players and draft picks. It all depends on needs.

You keep saying this after people keep explaining the contrary to you. Do yourself and everybody else here a favor and actually watch some of A'ja's play from freshmen to sophomore year. HUGE improvement. Freshmen year, Wilson didn't play elite level defense, was typically lost on offense and never left the paint. And she was STILL very good her freshmen year. Fast forward to her sophomore year, Wilson is vastly improved on defense (obviously, since she won DPOY in a defensive league) and has expanded her range offensively to the elbow. Wilson will probably never be a regular 3 point shooter if that's what you're expecting (at SC at least, I'm very confident that will be a part of her game in WNBA just because of how bigs are used in that league) but her midrange game gets better and better every year and will be a weapon for her this coming season and should be elite level by her senior season.

 

[SCspur]

I would pick Wilson but I dont know if I would keep her. She isnt a franchise player yet but that could change by the time she graduates. IMO there was no improvement in her skill level from fr. to soph. year. Trade her for players and draft picks. It all depends on needs.

Honestly I don't know what you were watching because from her Fr. to So. Year she improved tremendously. Her first year she played very timid and fouled a lot, she didn't want to use her height and bang down low with the bigs. In the UCONN game in her first year to the ND game their was a huge transition she was more aggressive and once she got the feel for the College game she became better. Her second year she became a defensive killer she avg 4.5 blocks a game and was 5th in the nation in block shots, she also improved her jump shot out to about 8ft and I expect that to get even better and to be quite honest with you the only player in WCBB that was able to guard her was Breanna Stewart but Stewart is gone and I don't think their is a player this year who can guard her head to head and limit her like Stewart did IMHO.

 

[cbraarj]

You keep saying this after people keep explaining the contrary to you. Do yourself and everybody else here a favor and actually watch some of A'ja's play from freshmen to sophomore year. HUGE improvement. Freshmen year, Wilson didn't play elite level defense, was typically lost on offense and never left the paint. And she was STILL very good her freshmen year. Fast forward to her sophomore year, Wilson is vastly improved on defense (obviously, since she won DPOY in a defensive league) and has expanded her range offensively to the elbow. Wilson will probably never be a regular 3 point shooter if that's what you're expecting (at SC at least, I'm very confident that will be a part of her game in WNBA just because of how bigs are used in that league) but her midrange game gets better and better every year and will be a weapon for her this coming season and should be elite level by her senior season.

I did watch quite a few games last year and I stand by what I said. The SEC called itself a defensive league and alot of people including myself said the lack of offense league. Didnt Dawn (been a fan since 91) hire Melanie Balcomb to help with the offense. Miss. st. 15th in the country, very good defensively with a very good coach lost by 60 and gave up 98 pts. Syracuse scored what 80 againstthe best team in the SEC and knocked out SC in the Sweet 16 and then Tenn in the Elite 8. That is 3 teams in a defensive league that couldnt stop OOC teams. So being named DPOY in the SEC really dont mean much to me.

 

[BigBird]

Geno Auriemma is a "puppet master". Geno Auriemma teams don't only play basketball. When the team is on the court, they do ballet; play volleyball, baseball and soccer. Instead of throwing the kitchen sink, Geno throw in a mixture of things.

Ballet - The way the players move on the court
Volleyball- The way the players block and spike the ball to their teammates
Baseball- The way the players steal and pass the ball
Soccer - The footwork; speed and conditioning

Spot on, Dee. I have been attracted to UConn WBB because of the way they play the game. There are very few (if any) other teams that offer the visual impression you cite here. When the Huskies are "on," and that's most of the time, it's like watching a work of art come together.

 

[wallman]

Honestly I don't know what you were watching because from her Fr. to So. Year she improved tremendously. Her first year she played very timid and fouled a lot, she didn't want to use her height and bang down low with the bigs. In the UCONN game in her first year to the ND game their was a huge transition she was more aggressive and once she got the feel for the College game she became better. Her second year she became a defensive killer she avg 4.5 blocks a game and was 5th in the nation in block shots, she also improved her jump shot out to about 8ft and I expect that to get even better and to be quite honest with you the only player in WCBB that was able to guard her was Breanna Stewart but Stewart is gone and I don't think their is a player this year who can guard her head to head and limit her like Stewart did IMHO.

You keep saying this after people keep explaining the contrary to you. Do yourself and everybody else here a favor and actually watch some of A'ja's play from freshmen to sophomore year. HUGE improvement. Freshmen year, Wilson didn't play elite level defense, was typically lost on offense and never left the paint. And she was STILL very good her freshmen year. Fast forward to her sophomore year, Wilson is vastly improved on defense (obviously, since she won DPOY in a defensive league) and has expanded her range offensively to the elbow. Wilson will probably never be a regular 3 point shooter if that's what you're expecting (at SC at least, I'm very confident that will be a part of her game in WNBA just because of how bigs are used in that league) but her midrange game gets better and better every year and will be a weapon for her this coming season and should be elite level by her senior season.

I don't think you should be pointing out to a poster who is giving their opinion that one should take notice of what "people" are explaining. that person is entitled to their opinion as are you, but it is just your opinion.

Wilson has Coates in the paint which makes her life easier as Coates does a lot of the heavy lifting in MY opinion. I have yet to see any range from Wilson and Staley just stated in her recent media interviews that Wislon was awful from anywhere away from the basket and that she hopes she has improved in that area, i.e. we as in Staley and myself, lol, have yet to see if she has!

 

[SCGamecock]

I did watch quite a few games last year and I stand by what I said. The SEC called itself a defensive league and alot of people including myself said the lack of offense league. Didnt Dawn (been a fan since 91) hire Melanie Balcomb to help with the offense. Miss. st. 15th in the country, very good defensively with a very good coach lost by 60 and gave up 98 pts. Syracuse scored what 80 againstthe best team in the SEC and knocked out SC in the Sweet 16 and then Tenn in the Elite 8. That is 3 teams in a defensive league that couldnt stop OOC teams. So being named DPOY in the SEC really dont mean much to me.

Since according to you, Wilson has not improved and didn't make a sophomore leap (even though stats tell a completely different story and you all live and die by stats on The BY), where would you like to see her improve going into her junior year?

Also, I'm not sure what SC hiring Balcomb has to do with the SEC typically being a good defensive league, but yes she was hired.

You brought up interesting points about three SEC teams losing to OOC opponents.. and I'm also not sure what point you're making... just because you're good defensively doesn't mean you're incapable of losing a game. It's the NCAA tournament.. any team can catch fire and go far.

Mississippi State lost by 60 to UCONN.. and? UCONN has been on another planet the last few years. Not sure what that proves.

South Carolina and Tennessee lost to Syracuse... again, AND? In both instances those teams were failed by their defenses, but that doesn't mean they were OVERALL bad defensive teams. Those losses tend to happen in tournament environments where you play teams/styles you don't play often. For the record, only one 1-seed actually made it to the Final Four... upsets happen. That doesn't mean the SEC is full of bad defensive teams or that SC (who held UCONN below season average) is a bad defensive team. But I digress.

Wait.. what was this about again? Oh yeah, A'ja Wilson not improving the last few years. Lol, there you go making me go on tangents again.

 

[magic]

score 75 pointsUOTE]
I am thinking 80. Saniya will start, and add some offense. Her past defensive so called liabilities will not be as evident with this years team. Kia, Gabby, Natalie, and KLS will round out the starting five. Collier will be first off bench, and Crystal will spell Nurse and Chong . We'll see what the remaining newcomers can contribute. There are still only a hand full of teams capable of beating the huskies.

 

[Intpseeker]

Play for 40 minutes at the level at which UConn plays. It isn't just physical conditioning, although I'm always surprised by the top programs who are poorly conditioned, but also the in-the-moment relentless focus and mental toughness that UConn brings game in and game out.

 

[cbraarj]

Since according to you, Wilson has not improved and didn't make a sophomore leap (even though stats tell a completely different story and you all live and die by stats on The BY), where would you like to see her improve going into her junior year?

Also, I'm not sure what SC hiring Balcomb has to do with the SEC typically being a good defensive league, but yes she was hired.

You brought up interesting points about three SEC teams losing to OOC opponents.. and I'm also not sure what point you're making... just because you're good defensively doesn't mean you're incapable of losing a game. It's the NCAA tournament.. any team can catch fire and go far.

Mississippi State lost by 60 to UCONN.. and? UCONN has been on another planet the last few years. Not sure what that proves.

South Carolina and Tennessee lost to Syracuse... again, AND? In both instances those teams were failed by their defenses, but that doesn't mean they were OVERALL bad defensive teams. Those losses tend to happen in tournament environments where you play teams/styles you don't play often. For the record, only one 1-seed actually made it to the Final Four... upsets happen. That doesn't mean the SEC is full of bad defensive teams or that SC (who held UCONN below season average) is a bad defensive team. But I digress.

Wait.. what was this about again? Oh yeah, A'ja Wilson not improving the last few years. Lol, there you go making me go on tangents again.

Brionna Jones IMO is the best big in the country. Sorry to tell you I could care less about stats really or High School rankings. Uconn had a hard time with Jones last year and if she plays like that this year Maryland will be a tough out for anyone. This is from someone who has played and coached over 35 years and I just said in my 1st post responding to a Vol fan. I picked DD for POY and was picking Tenn.to win the SEC! That was it. Staley hired Balcomb to help wih the offense because at times it was stagnant and to much standing around. Those were her words and I agree. Since you brought up about holding Conn below their average ( Miss.St. 38 pts , LSU 46 pts , SC 64 pts.) it is easy to play defense in a league that doesnt have good offense.

 

[SCspur]

Brionna Jones IMO is the best big in the country. Sorry to tell you I could care less about stats really or High School rankings. Uconn had a hard time with Jones last year and if she plays like that this year Maryland will be a tough out for anyone. This is from someone who has played and coached over 35 years and I just said in my 1st post responding to a Vol fan. I picked DD for POY and was picking Tenn.to win the SEC! That was it. Staley hired Balcomb to help wih the offense because at times it was stagnant and to much standing around. Those were her words and I agree. Since you brought up about holding Conn below their average ( Miss.St. 38 pts , LSU 46 pts , SC 64 pts.) it is easy to play defense in a league that doesnt have good offense.

If she really is the best big in the country she will have no problem leading her team to a FF and National Championship, no doubt she is ONE of the best post in the country. I want you to mark and save this thread because when SC rips through the SEC I want you to explain why you pick DeSheilds. Yes SC was stagnant last year because Tiffany was the best guard and scorer on the team from the perimeter now we have multiple perimeter options with balcomb adding offensive schemes so if you or any other team think SC will struggle from the arch this year y'all are in for a rude awakening because we now have legit options from wing and post and everyone knows how that turned out against Kentucky in the SEC tournament when everyone was clicking on all cylinders.

 

[CocoHusky]

If she really is the best big in the country she will have no problem leading her team to a FF and National Championship, no doubt she is ONE of the best post in the country. I want you to mark and save this thread because when SC rips through the SEC I want you to explain why you pick DeSheilds. Yes SC was stagnant last year because Tiffany was the best guard and scorer on the team from the perimeter now we have multiple perimeter options with balcomb adding offensive schemes so if you or any other team think SC will struggle from the arch this year y'all are in for a rude awakening because we now have legit options from wing and post and everyone knows how that turned out against Kentucky in the SEC tournament when everyone was clicking on all cylinders.

Uhm......
Allisha Gray shot 41% on 3 balls for UNC on over 150 shot attempts- She's legit!
Kaela Davis shot 28% on 3 balls for Gerogia Tech on 235 attempts- She's NOT legit!
Bianca Cuevas shot 25% on 3 balls for South Carolina on 70 attempts-She was last seem trying Dawn's patience.
You have two very good post players but no post depth=weakest SC set of post players in 3 years.
Are you relying on your freshmen being among the wing & post options?

 

[BroadwayVa]

A subset of these is the conditioning of the competition. Living in Texas now and watched UConn physically wear down some talented but out of shape (at least compared to UConn's) guards last year at SMU. Saw the same thing on the many TV games I watched. By the 3rd Q, the competition was gassed. While I expect that there will be 3-4 teams with the same or better talent, few can keep up with this team physically. Having watched the Huskies for many years, Geno's conditioning always is good for 3-5 points in a tight game.

YOU just learned 1 of 3 Geno's dirty little secrets---Conditioning 2. Defense both team and individual 3. precision passing. 4 (for good measure--don't foul
Christine (usually) does the dissecting of the opponents
who to take out of the game (i guess that's 5)
Shows why Geno is successful--his three is really 5 or more.

 

[BroadwayVa]

That was true last year but does not apply to this team...yet. This team may win a championship but don't forget that you just lost the greatest class in WCBB history.

Whether UCONN had DT,Maya, Tina, Rene,or Tuck,moriah, Stewie--they played up to uconn standards--
In recent times the top dogs left --exited stage left--and a new crop of Uconn huskies emerged.
Collier, Katie Lou, Gabby, Butler are not new to Uconn or the game--or Geno's systems (that's the hard one) it's not reloading--it just using 16 inch naval weapons vs limited yield nuclear weapons. Both will get the job done.

 

[BroadwayVa]

SCGamecock---forgive my tag wrestling you.
.
Forgive me for jumping in---but you make a couple of FACTuAl statements that require the light of day-

YOUR statement.-
You brought up interesting points about three SEC teams losing to OOC opponents.. and I'm also not sure what point you're making... just because you'e good defensively doesn't mean you're incapable of losing a game. It's the NCAA tournament.. any team can catch fire and go far.

Obviously you are correct in that --just because you are defensive --you cannot lose. That has the ring of truth to it---but if you belong to a league that calls itself a DEFENSIVE league--wouldn't at least one of them stop say---a Syracuse?? The myth of the NCAA tourney --any team can catch fire and go far (like win it all??) When was the last them a #16 team won it all?? After (I'm guessing-) nearly 70 years or more of the NCAA--if the myth was fact wouldn't at least one of them win it all// You can correct any error--i'm not a STATs/DATA Boneyard.er

I'm not one to disrespect the SEC--they've put out some great teams--also i've been waiting for Dawn to take all those high level transfers and recruits and at least get to the final 4. Dawn is high energy, and dedicated--an assistant to Geno for the last couple of usa's or olympics--.

you seem to put a lot of stock in that uconn had Stewie, moriah, Tuck for 4 years---the first year moriah and Tuck --and even Stewie to some extent--were not the 3 of this past year--look at the teams beaten that frosh year --you can dig that out--i don't--why didn't they kick the Tail of uconn that year--while those 3 were learning WCBB div 1? Even Stewie wasn't picked from an exceptional team on mars and plunked down at uconn ready to hit the floor running. She hit a dry spell and couldn't take being bounced around---didn't uSC play uconn during that time, even moriah was sitting on the bench. Not much of the golden 3 that first year..[[/QUOTE]

 

[SCspur]

Uhm.
Allisha Gray shot 41% on 3 balls for UNC on over 150 shot attempts- She's legit!
Kaela Davis shot 28% on 3 balls for Gerogia Tech on 235 attempts- She's NOT legit!
Bianca Cuevas shot 25% on 3 balls for South Carolina on 70 attempts-She was last seem trying Dawn's patience.
You have two very good post players but no post depth=weakest SC set of post players in 3 years.
Are you relying on your freshmen being among the wing & post options?

I like you CocoHusky you seem to have a good BBall mind but do you think for a second that those numbers going to reflect how these players are going to play this year? Allisha is more than just a offensive weapon she can also play ball hawking defense and is the best rebounding guard in the country, Kaela did bombs away at GT but now she's at a better school with players around her so she's not the #1 option, I for one am not the one who shows total bias to my team so I have the same questions for the team this year, but I have a feeling she's going to prove the doubters wrong for sure I seen her in person in the ProAm this summer and she can light it up, if she becomes a presence on defense she'll be the real deal( Dawn already stated that she's going to be the defensive stopper this year so I won't doubt she's going to improve that part of her game drastically). Cuevas needs improvement for sure but three point shooting is not her specialty she loves to take players off the dribble to the rack or dish for an assist and with Kaela and Allisha on the wings should open room up for her. The freshman class is a bit underrated IMO they'll contribute from day 1. Ty Harris is the most underrated pg in the class she should have been ranked above Ramirez(who's really not a pg) , Landrum, and Sutton, and Slocum. Crystal would be the only pg I would rank above her. But she's poised and knows how to win, at 6'0" she's a nightmare for smaller pg's in the backcourt and a monster in the midrange game(which is something SC needed). If cuevas is incapable this season I can see her stepping in and doing pretty well. Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan is another underrated player for us she completes our post depth and I think she'll be ready from the jump. She's about 6'3" and a 3/4( Dawn labels her as a stretch 4). She shoots the 3 ball very well and has a quick first step. She's the kind of player that will balance A'ja out as far as her perimeter game goes. She dominates on the wing but needs work in the post, while A'ja dominates the post but needs work on the wing. I think they'll compliment and learn from each other very well. While it was good having 4 to 5 6'4 players it really held us back from getting to that next step. We practically ran our offense through the post and that really limited our chances on getting elite guards in recruiting classes, now we have good guards to compliment two good posts and that betters our chances offensively IMO. Our other 2 freshmen are very good role players. Victoria Patrick shoots the 3 well and has a high motor while Araion Bradshaw is a good defensive player and a complimentary backup to Ty and Bianca. We also have two experienced guards in Doniyah Cliney and Tiffany Davis. Both has improved their game tremendously! Tiffany despite being hurt most of career is a good shooter and leader, she's not the scorer Mitchell was but she'll provide that leadership in the floor that Asia Dozier did. Cliney has great court vision and a very high BBall IQ, she's going to surprised everyone this year with her play on both ends of the floor. Defensively she can guard the 1-4 and offensively she's improved her 3 point shot and slashing. This team has immense potential to be really good but it's in Dawns hands to take this team to the next level.