Why Final Four loss can give UConn women’s basketball the edge it lacked this season

[BRS24]

Passing the torch, and finding the fire for next season -

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According to ESPN, the Gamecocks displayed the score of the 2025 national title game — UConn 82, South Carolina 59 — on screens around their weight room during offseason workouts last summer. That 23-point deficit lit a fire under the team, and though South Carolina players denied they were thinking about revenge heading into the Final Four, it was clear from the Gamecocks’ lackluster performance two days later in the national championship that they had more hunger in the matchup with the Huskies.​

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Every team competing in March Madness wants to win a championship, but finding something personal to fight for is a separator. UCLA, which routed the Gamecocks 79-51 to win its first NCAA championship on Sunday, got its motivation from last year’s historic Final Four loss to UConn, from its eight seniors hungry to end their careers on a high.​

 

[cullaville]

You shouldn't need outside motivation to play your best and hardest, especially a Final Four or championship game.

 

[Ozimoto]

And sometimes you play you --s off and things just don't go your way.

 

[jaundicedeye]

I feel for Geno and the players. I don't know how he can address this team about the loss and what needs to be done when so much of it was what the officials wrongly permitted. I doubt he would tell them, "Well, if this is the way they are letting teams play against us then I guess we have to play that way too."

 

[willtalk]

I feel for Geno and the players. I don't know how he can address this team about the loss and what needs to be done when so much of it was what the officials wrongly permitted. I doubt he would tell them, "Well, if this is the way they are letting teams play against us then I guess we have to play that way too."

Match ups and how officials call the games have always influenced the outcome of games. Its what all teams much face in the NCAA tournament. Its not a perfect system but it is what it is. The reality was that UConn got the easiest road to the final four based on their top ranking. SC was the first real competition they faced. Objectively, they were the forth best team behind SC, Texas and UCLA based on their perfect season and media reputation. In reality they were a good team, but still unknown with how good they actually were in relation to the other top teams.

 

[jaundicedeye]

Match ups and how officials call the games have always influenced the outcome of games. Its what all teams much face in the NCAA tournament. Its not a perfect system but it is what it is. The reality was that UConn got the easiest road to the final four based on their top ranking. SC was the first real competition they faced. Objectively, they were the forth best team behind SC, Texas and UCLA based on their perfect season and media reputation. In reality they were a good team, but still unknown with how good they actually were in relation to the other top teams.

Case in point: UCLA vs SC did not look like or was officiated as the UConn vs SC game. The officiating was not acceptable as it is unacceptable to say, "it's not a perfect system". That is a tough one for Geno to explain. Nobody from the NCAA or anywhere else is addressing what was so egregiously wrong.

 

[browns]

Uconn doesn't need to make excuses..If you want to blame it on the refs..fine but the bottom like is they were out played and out coached..and IMHO if they would have played this UCLA team they would have lost..much different team than last year
Let's see how the big O fits in along with hopefully Ice and Morgan if their healthy.
They have the best player in the country along with Blanka having a year under her belt playing college ball and Shade and KK having played in 3 final fours..Add in Heckle who I was excited when they got her and she played great
S Williams never lived up to her hype but who knows why..you can't win them all
So they have 2 open spots and lets see what Geno does in the portal..if nothing they still have a top 5 team that will compete for a championship

 

[BBallF]

Case in point: UCLA vs SC did not look like or was officiated as the UConn vs SC game. The officiating was not acceptable as it is unacceptable to say, "it's not a perfect system". That is a tough one for Geno to explain. Nobody from the NCAA or anywhere else is addressing what was so egregiously wrong.

I think the real cause , whatever it is, has to be identified first.

 

[Husky fanatic]

Uconn doesn't need to make excuses..If you want to blame it on the refs..fine but the bottom like is they were out played and out coached..and IMHO if they would have played this UCLA team they would have lost..much different team than last year
Let's see how the big O fits in along with hopefully Ice and Morgan if their healthy.
They have the best player in the country along with Blanka having a year under her belt playing college ball and Shade and KK having played in 3 final fours..Add in Heckle who I was excited when they got her and she played great
S Williams never lived up to her hype but who knows why..you can't win them all
So they have 2 open spots and lets see what Geno does in the portal..if nothing they still have a top 5 team that will compete for a championship

Out shot”yes” out coached out played “I don’t think so”

 

[my2cents]

No matter how much talent you have or how many points you beat your opponents by, when you can't make a basket , you lose.
As UConn fans, we understand the Final Four is the worst time to have those bad shooting nights.
The only thing that saves you from these bad nights is dominant rebounding.
Rebounding we didn't have.

 

[hoopsfan22]

I think playing half the season on autopilot is part of the problem. Being in a conference where you get to play a lot of tough, high pressure games late in the season and through your conference tournament is a really nice tune up to have going into the NCAA tourney.

 

[Skeets]

Something might have been off with the refs, but let's be honest here. The refs didn't cause UConn to put up air balls or give SC multiple chances to score on seemly every possession. K9 missing an uncontested layup towards the end of the game didn't cause the loss, but it did demonstrate how the rest of the game went. Burn the tape and move on.

 

[Cuango]

I think playing half the season on autopilot is part of the problem. Being in a conference where you get to play a lot of tough, high pressure games late in the season and through your conference tournament is a really nice tune up to have going into the NCAA tourney.

12 titles and 25? Final Fours are sufficient evidence to me that our conference affiliation is not the culprit here! We had three critical players who had not shot well in multiple games going into the championship! We simply could not score enough points! They played and were allowed to play, very well defensively and when we pressed the gas pedal there was water in the fuel system! Even Geno cannot win when his finely tuned engine is sputtering instead of roaring!

 

[Centerstream]

I think playing half the season on autopilot is part of the problem. Being in a conference where you get to play a lot of tough, high pressure games late in the season and through your conference tournament is a really nice tune up to have going into the NCAA tourney.

So making the Final Four every year, except one, since the original BE broke up doesn't really justify your post. How many teams from a conference "where you get to play a lot of tough, high pressure games late in the season and through your conference tournament" have the same record of reaching the Final Four? Why aren't there?

 

[jaundicedeye]

No matter how much talent you have or how many points you beat your opponents by, when you can't make a basket , you lose.
As UConn fans, we understand the Final Four is the worst time to have those bad shooting nights.
The only thing that saves you from these bad nights is dominant rebounding.
Rebounding we didn't have.

And defense.

 

[jaundicedeye]

Uconn doesn't need to make excuses..If you want to blame it on the refs..fine but the bottom like is they were out played and out coached..and IMHO if they would have played this UCLA team they would have lost..much different team than last year
Let's see how the big O fits in along with hopefully Ice and Morgan if their healthy.
They have the best player in the country along with Blanka having a year under her belt playing college ball and Shade and KK having played in 3 final fours..Add in Heckle who I was excited when they got her and she played great
S Williams never lived up to her hype but who knows why..you can't win them all
So they have 2 open spots and lets see what Geno does in the portal..if nothing they still have a top 5 team that will compete for a championship

Out coached? I disagree. I really don't think Dawn could ever out coach Geno.

 

[my2cents]

And defense.

Grabbing the defensive rebound that prevents the opposition from getting another shot is the best defense there is.

 

[Spaceman213J]

You shouldn't need outside motivation to play your best and hardest, especially a Final Four or championship game.

I never got or will get how a team can show up flat for a big game or the need for 'bulletin board material' at times. If you aren't up for a big game, you don't have the heart of a champion to begin with.

This team had hit a bit of a lull in recent games anyways. I know they came out blazing for the first round game, but in some of the recent games they struggled (for them with the bar they had set) delivering that knockout blow. It sounds crazy, but watching them, they didn't seem like the same team of just a month and a half ago. Maybe the new streak, or pressure of an undefeated season got to them a little. Or a few flaws were starting to show.
I will miss Serah, but I don't think she had quite the impact that Geno was hoping for. I thought El Afy looked like a better center the last month. Serah would get displaced from underneath too easily and wasn't the inside scoring threat they needed against some teams.
In another thread, I talked about how KK seemed to lose confidence in her outside shot the last half dozen games. I can't remember her taking much from outside. She has to be a willing shooter to completely maximize her other skills and the UConn offense.
Shade hit a mini-slump.
Blanca looked like a freshman in the FF game for the first time in a long time.
And in general, they did not run their offense in the last game. There was a lot of watching by off ball players and it was so unlike them.
Still, these girls/young women worked hard all season and hopefully, those who are returning come back hungry and build from this.

 

[Woof]

We did NOT lack an edge this year. We got robbed by a reffing crew that let SC beat the snot out of our players. We took 6 FTs and SC was called for only 7 fouls. They were called for 17 against UCLA and look what happened. They were called for 17 last year against us and look what happened. Do we think Sarah ripped her own jersey out of frustration with herself or the refs? How many times have we seen Geno lose it after a game, despite what is being said on social media? Maybe it was the pre-game handshake but I suspect it was really frustration at the refs and how Dawn was abusing them.

The truth is, we need to be WAY better than everyone else in order to keep the game out of the hands of the refs and we were not way better. It is sad because this was actually one of our best teams. But NIL and the portal allowed all the top teams to get better too. I have tracked this for a long time. We need to be about 14-15 points better in the power ratings to be safe. We were nowhere close to that. Ironically, last year we weren't even the top team in the power ratings coming into the tournament. But we were rapidly improving and we got good enough reffing crews. Maybe I am just a cynic at this point but, if you were to ask me what was the biggest factor in us winning it last year, I would say the refs. Yes, we had evolved into the best team by the end of the year but that is never good enough for us. We need fair reffing or at least something that resembles it. An impact of 14-15 points is HUGE!!!

 

[Steelerone]

When you've gone undefeated during an entire season, including the playoffs, and you've made it to the Final Four, I think it's a little premature to say you need to get your edge. Give it a break people, We lost one game to a team that has won multiple national championships.