Would we have beaten ...

[CocoHusky]

No. Oregon didn't play their A game when they whooped UConn in Storrs. Would've won again in PDX.

I'm not sure I agree with you when you say Oregon didn't play their A game against UCONN.
Here is the reality of that game and what makes this thread so senseless. The Oregon offensive execution was almost flawless. Oregon got the shots they wanted from the spots they wanted and they dominated at the basket. Oregon won every positional matchup offensively and defensively. UCONN did not have a single good enough defender to even disrupt ANYTHING that Oregon was trying to do. The Oregon spacing was impeccable and rendered the thought of UCONN help defense from ANY position on the floor virtually useless. The Oregon length was decisive. The outcome would have been the same if this game was played 10 times on MARS, CT, Portland, Venus, Vagas it would not have mattered. If you don't believe me go watch the Geno post game presser.

 

[tomcat]

It would have been a helluva game, but no. UConn would not have won. Don't forget, Oregon was peaking now as well.

 

[willtalk]

I'm not sure I agree with you when you say Oregon didn't play their A game against UCONN.
Here is the reality of that game and what makes this thread so senseless. The Oregon offensive execution was almost flawless. Oregon got the shots they wanted from the spots they wanted and they dominated at the basket. Oregon won every positional matchup offensively and defensively. UCONN did not have a single good enough defender to even disrupt ANYTHING that Oregon was trying to do. The Oregon spacing was impeccable and rendered the thought of UCONN help defense from ANY position on the floor virtually useless. The Oregon length was decisive. The outcome would have been the same if this game was played 10 times on MARS, CT, Portland, Venus, Vagas it would not have mattered. If you don't believe me go watch the Geno post game presser.

You make some really rational points. I do think that what hoopfan was referring to with respect to Oregon not playing their A-game had to do with their shooting percentages. They hit considerably lower than their averages in that game. Especially on three's. They started the game strongly but tailed off quite a bit in the second half and fourth quarter. A lot might have had to do with a fatigue factor setting in since the UConn game was the third game of a five-day three-game road trip. The first two in the mountain states of Colorado and Utah-- a lot of travel on buses. You yourself mentioned that they got every look they wanted so UConn defense was not much of a factor in respect to the shooting percentage. They only shot 30% on three's about 10% less than their average. Definitely not their A-game in that area.

What some Uconn fans do not seem to understand that teams playing or not playing their A games is only a factor if there is not such a big match up disparity. For example, Oregon, the best 3pt shooting team in the nation, lost to Louisville because they shot 6-35 from three. Probably their worst effort in years. In other words, they played their F game and they still only lost by 10 to a team that matched up much better than Uconn. Teams can always figure that their teams could have played better, but they do not always consider that the other team could have played better as well. You can not always negate a bad matchup purely by stellar play. Oregon was the worst case matchup for UConn and it would have required an act of God to get them a win.

If they were going to have a shot at beating Oregon, that game at home after Oregon's tough road trip was their best chance to do so. Except for the matchup, they had all the other advantages going for them that game. So much so that many even predicted an upset.

 

[chrissaran]

More than likely we were not going to beat Oregon. Not enough front court depth. If Olivia got in foul trouble, Aubrey wouldn't be able to guard their bigs. Too many of them.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Geno was starting to feel more confident, and you could hear it in his voice and see it in his smile over the past 2-3 weeks. It would have been a really good game.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Thanks @CocoHusky and @willtalk for continuing the discussion. I'll clarify from my brief post. Oregon certainly dominated in the paint and executed well during the game. They simply looked like the superior team. Willtalk is correct that I'm referring to their shooting. Ionescu and Sabally both had sub par shooting performances, Ionescu didn't score much, they got zero bench points (Shelley and Chavez both proved throughout the season they can be dangerous), Boley hit some 3's early and then the team went really cold from the perimeter. If you've watched Oregon play this year, you know they can play much better than they did against UConn. The same can be said for UConn of course, but I just don't see Oregon losing to UConn this year, especially in Portland. All completely moot now.

 

[jabstep]

The sad thing is we will never know. We could have shot 16-24 for our 3's. Or we could have shot as we did in the first quarter of SC game. I will always think we would have shot 16-24.

 

[Monte]

NO

 

[Plebe]

I sure hope that none of those who are now saying we would've beaten Oregon are the same people who were kicking and screaming about being sent to Portland.

 

[Newfie]

No, I don’t think we would have. Didn’t really put a good game together against superior teams. We did not have the team this year, even though we did improve over the last few weeks.

 

[Urshurak]

No