Xavier Postgame Thread

[jazz]

Nice work Littlemin. So who was the starter in 83-84 and 84-85?

In the 83-84 and 84-85 seasons McHale averaged over 30 mpg off the bench. He became a starter in 85-86 after coming off the bench for five years. That same year, Walton joined the Celtics and averaged 19 mpg off the bench, 11 the next; he went on injured reserve for a year or two and then retired.

maxwell was the starter. in 84-5, KM took over for most of the last 25 games and into the playoffs.

 

[Littlemin]

Nice work Littlemin. So who was the starter in 83-84 and 84-85?

Cedric Maxwell who was part of the trade with the Clippers that brought Walton to the Celtics

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Replay link?

 

[DEpup]

Just got done watching the game and here is my 2 cents worth. Tell me if you agree or not...

One of the things I tried to focus on during this game was defense against dribble penetration. It looks to me that UCONN needs some work in this area. Xavier is not a good team, but they had some success with this and more as the game wore on.

By my count- beaten by dribble penetration: CW-4, AM-3, PG-2, EW-4, MM-1.

In addition, CW was beaten by two backdoors and EW was beaten twice in succession by not fighting through the screen. PB did a better job fighting through screens. Not much beat by EW. EW doesn’t look to have much lateral quickness on defense. This is a worry to me. Hopefully she gets better..Geno is sure having patience with her on the defensive side!

This matters little against Xavier but if Xavier guards can do this to us, then how well can really good and quick guards on elite teams do against us? This will also get Liv in foul trouble having to cover for these defensive lapses.

EW and CW were both hitting their shots today which for me, means that Geno can sub in AE and AG more for AM. This gives Geno more options. I like the isolation plays with AG getting the ball down low, but that only works if you can spread the floor.

AE took a step forward in this game. She has a fantastic low post BB body to make things happen. She is quick too…hard to defend if she gets the ball down low. Too bad she missed on a nice, quick drive and an easy 10 footer. She didn’t look comfortable on the 10 footer. I think she gets better and better and makes a big difference once we get to the post season!

Geno didn’t use PB on that curl and foul line jumper until late in the game(once and she missed)…but she did play pretty well. She had 9 assists bc her teammates were hitting more shots when PB passed them the ball. But 6 TOs?? I didn’t see this but that is what the box score had. Did she really have 6 TOs????

AM went almost half the game without taking a shot. But her presence does open things up for others. She missed a couple easy ones.

Solid game by Liv but I still worry if she can do it against top competition. She just loses her balance too easily on contact. I do like her as the distributer to cutters and this will work as it did to EW if Liv is a threat to hit the jumper and brings out the low post defender.

Great block by MM and in getting down the floor. She has some bounce! She looks a little hesitant on where she should go on offense. She got there but after a bit of hesitation. Not sure why Geno took her out with 2 minutes to go. That seemed a bit counter-productive to me. I liked what she did in the 5 minutes she played.

It's all the walks that make up most of those turnovers...

 

[jazz]

It's all the walks that make up most of those turnovers...

I just don't remember 6 TOs. Maybe 2-3 but not 6. I usually remember everything, especially if the PG has 6 TOs.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Not strange at all. Once Mir figures out how to play defense and figures out the offense in practice she will earn more playing time. Geno said from day one that she and Piath weren’t ready to really contribute and will require significant practice.

The problem is that Piath really isn't ready to "contribute." But Mir comes in and is a dynamo. To leave her out for virtually the entire blow-out game is disturbing. Yes, she's being sent a message. But it's an ominous one. Difficult to see what else she has to do to impress when she is explosive whenever she gets in. Perhaps Coach Geno has made a decision about her. But have never seen as productive a player sat like that before.

 

[pvdoggy]

I just don't remember 6 TOs. Maybe 2-3 but not 6. I usually remember everything, especially if the PG has 6 TOs.

A lot of Paige's TO were in the last 6-7 min when she was trying to force pass inside to get to 10 assists, whether she is aware of it or not.

 

[CocoHusky]

Worth noting that after taking a 38-7 lead in the 1st qtr, largely as a result of full court pressure, Geno went to a 2-3 zone in the second qtr, and never pressured Xavier again. Scary to think what the final score might have been had Geno not called off the dogs after 1 qtr.

Many people believed early on that this would be a full-court pressing, 40 minutes of hell type team. The rotation would be continuous, with fresh bodies changing shifts like hockey. This is the type of team I would love to see, and we got a glimpse of such the first quarter. Only problem is that Geno is not one to run-up a score and try to humiliate another team, so we are left with a half court, over passing, offense and a half assed defense. Gotta' find a way to keep these kids aggressive the entire 40 minutes. Side bar - Evina is finding her groove, and will prove to be invaluable.

That 1st quarter was not full court press. It was a diamond 3/4 press with Paige at the top. The objective was for Paige to take away the middle of the floor and force the Xavier to pick left (weak) side of the floor and to double on the first pass after half court. It was masterfully executed and here is what took it to the next level. Most teams fall out that press into a zone defense. UCONN came out of the diamond and matchup man to man, then the 1/2 court defense intensified. Love the back ground audio where you can hear Geno intensity and coaching. From Xavier's perspective it was kind of like finding yourself being carried by a tide in a direction you don't want to go, just when you think you can come up for air you find you are in deeper waters. 1/2 court defense of the Creighton game and 1/st quarter of Xavier were a dress rehearsal for Baylor.

 

[CocoHusky]

The problem is that Piath really isn't ready to "contribute." But Mir comes in and is a dynamo. To leave her out for virtually the entire blow-out game is disturbing. Yes, she's being sent a message. But it's an ominous one. Difficult to see what else she has to do to impress when she is explosive whenever she gets in. Perhaps Coach Geno has made a decision about her. But have never seen as productive a player sat like that before.

It not difficult at all. Here is the Rx for Mir: 1) Learn and execute the plays . There are no plays in the UCONN playbook where any player does as much standing around as Mir is doing when she gets in the game. 2) Understand that body language matters very much at UCONN (aka fix your face) leave some of the expressions you are displaying on the court at home in the DMV.

 

[donalddoowop]

As often as it has been stated on the BY, some people still don't understand.

 

[CTBballfan243]

The problem is that Piath really isn't ready to "contribute." But Mir comes in and is a dynamo. To leave her out for virtually the entire blow-out game is disturbing. Yes, she's being sent a message. But it's an ominous one. Difficult to see what else she has to do to impress when she is explosive whenever she gets in. Perhaps Coach Geno has made a decision about her. But have never seen as productive a player sat like that before.

It’s not really difficult to see. Mir struggles with where to be on offense, which screws up the flow of the offense, and struggles with the same thing on defense. In high school she was able to get by on pure athleticism. In college, BBall IQ is really important. She needs a lot more work in the lab (practice) before she’s ready to see any meaningful minutes in a game.

 

[topogigio]

I agree that they didn't play as well. I don't look at it though as "lackluster."

For me one of the most exciting programs on the men's side was the old John Thompson Georgetown Hoyas. They played a soft schedule early then once they got into the Big East they were susceptible to get beat early in Big East season but as season went on-- you could start to see their domination. They really didn't sustain much early in the Big East but you could see how they were playing and what their plan of style of play was going to be. But it took a while before they got consistent. But it seemed every year - for around 5+ years straight- every year- his team was playing peak at tourney time.

Could be that this team is doing exactly that and just needs time. There are two brand new pg's and their two top leading scorers from last year are gone. And they are much different than last year on the defensive end too. I look at this as the type of team that won't play peak for a while. This team imo is just so different than last year or year before.

Agree, I just have too much time on my hands with this CV stuff. Watching the games are one of the few vices left, along with over analyzing every detail of the game and replying to the Boneyard. I need to get life, at least that is what Mrs. Gigio says!

 

[Dillon77]

Agree, I just have too much time on my hands with this CV stuff. Watching the games are one of the few vices left, along with over analyzing every detail of the game and replying to the Boneyard. I need to get life, at least that is what Mrs. Gigio says!

I hear you, having just written a preview of the Clemson-ND game. The stretch between this game and the next one (nearly New Years) will be long....Like your Mrs. said, Mrs. Dillon will recommend other things!

 

[JordyG]

Just got done watching the game and here is my 2 cents worth. Tell me if you agree or not...

One of the things I tried to focus on during this game was defense against dribble penetration. It looks to me that UCONN needs some work in this area. Xavier is not a good team, but they had some success with this and more as the game wore on.

By my count- beaten by dribble penetration: CW-4, AM-3, PG-2, EW-4, MM-1.

In addition, CW was beaten by two backdoors and EW was beaten twice in succession by not fighting through the screen. PB did a better job fighting through screens. Not much beat by EW. EW doesn’t look to have much lateral quickness on defense. This is a worry to me. Hopefully she gets better..Geno is sure having patience with her on the defensive side!

This matters little against Xavier but if Xavier guards can do this to us, then how well can really good and quick guards on elite teams do against us? This will also get Liv in foul trouble having to cover for these defensive lapses.

EW and CW were both hitting their shots today which for me, means that Geno can sub in AE and AG more for AM. This gives Geno more options. I like the isolation plays with AG getting the ball down low, but that only works if you can spread the floor.

AE took a step forward in this game. She has a fantastic low post BB body to make things happen. She is quick too…hard to defend if she gets the ball down low. Too bad she missed on a nice, quick drive and an easy 10 footer. She didn’t look comfortable on the 10 footer. I think she gets better and better and makes a big difference once we get to the post season!

Geno didn’t use PB on that curl and foul line jumper until late in the game(once and she missed)…but she did play pretty well. She had 9 assists bc her teammates were hitting more shots when PB passed them the ball. But 6 TOs?? I didn’t see this but that is what the box score had. Did she really have 6 TOs????

AM went almost half the game without taking a shot. But her presence does open things up for others. She missed a couple easy ones.

Solid game by Liv but I still worry if she can do it against top competition. She just loses her balance too easily on contact. I do like her as the distributer to cutters and this will work as it did to EW if Liv is a threat to hit the jumper and brings out the low post defender.

Great block by MM and in getting down the floor. She has some bounce! She looks a little hesitant on where she should go on offense. She got there but after a bit of hesitation. Not sure why Geno took her out with 2 minutes to go. That seemed a bit counter-productive to me. I liked what she did in the 5 minutes she played.

I saw CW beaten 3 times backdoor.

 

[JordyG]

It not difficult at all. Here is the Rx for Mir: 1) Learn and execute the plays . There are no plays in the UCONN playbook where any player does as much standing around as Mir is doing when she gets in the game. 2) Understand that body language matters very much at UCONN (aka fix your face) leave some of the expressions you are displaying on the court at home in the DMV.

Didn't you discuss this before? Didn't we discuss this before? You have more patience than I Coco. Mir was benched for body language and not leaving the last play behind. Geno says it best:

 

[jazz]

Cedric Maxwell who was part of the trade with the Clippers that brought Walton to the Celtics

wow! i forgot that. I really liked Cedric. got one great year out of walton though

 

[jazz]

It not difficult at all. Here is the Rx for Mir: 1) Learn and execute the plays . There are no plays in the UCONN playbook where any player does as much standing around as Mir is doing when she gets in the game. 2) Understand that body language matters very much at UCONN (aka fix your face) leave some of the expressions you are displaying on the court at home in the DMV.

She looked hesitant to me and a little uncertain at first on what to do on offense, but she did get it although it took an extra tick or two for her to get it. I didn't see her just standing around and I didn't see any blown defensive assignments or bad body language for that matter. She did get beat to the baseline once and possibly didn't help a teammate out as much on a dribble drive, but that wasn't her man. I did see most players, especially the guards, getting beat to the basket.

But it very well could be that the camera isn't on MM the entire time and I'm missing something.

 

[CocoHusky]

Agree, I just have too much time on my hands with this CV stuff. Watching the games are one of the few vices left, along with over analyzing every detail of the game and replying to the Boneyard. I need to get life, at least that is what Mrs. Gigio says!

Mrs. Gigio is a very smart woman.

 

[JordyG]

Agree, I just have too much time on my hands with this CV stuff. Watching the games are one of the few vices left, along with over analyzing every detail of the game and replying to the Boneyard. I need to get life, at least that is what Mrs. Gigio says!

You have it good. My ex always said I was a sock puppet.

 

[Majic Hands]

Love IT!

I've seen it before.
During the season this clip should be "pinned" at the top of the page.

Can't help myself, let's push the envelope and make it required viewing before being allowed to post on the BY.

 

[Zinethar]

A couple things I noticed in the game: Evina without the knee protection - She was far quicker and looked much more free. A good sign that her confidence in the knee is getting better.

CW can shoot! Just needs to be more consistent. That takes game time.

Liv sure looks better to me. AE also looking better. That combo will go far.

Paige is still Paige. I think she might be thinking too much instead of reacting. Normal with new teammates. Her sudden foul shooting problems are strange. She was extremely good in HS and USA.

AG is beginning to look like she knows where to be. Still great athlete. Love her game.

Game flow is still better when Anna is in game. She still needs to shoot more and not pass up open shots.

I now understand what Geno meant about Mir. Can do great things but need to harness her emotions. When things don't go right for her she tends to shut down and show her frustration. Have to nip that in the bud.

I hope when Nika can return that she can fulfill the needed backup PG role. Others can do it but that then removes them from the things they are in the game to do.

The team is developing faster than I expected. Conditioning seems better but that will come with more time on the court in practice. I was very concerned that the 2nd and 4th quarters we noticeably different in the box score and to the eyes. Today I saw why as Geno was using that time to work on the half court zone defense that will be needed later. That work is obviously needed.

Lastly I think at using emojis. I definitely wish the like button here would work like the one on Facebook! Sometime I like or love what someone has posted, other times it makes me laugh hard or elicits different emotions. It just seems weird to me to like something which I agree with but actually isn't actually liked.

 

[MooseJaw]

On one of Paige's travel calls, when she came to the ball in the corner after inbounding it, you could read Gens's lips say "Dribble first".

Think what it would be like if every violation was called. Games would take hours. The philosophy I hope is let the bigs get a bit more physical they are fighting in crowds and have to have some leeway. Palming the ball calls have virtually disappeared good or bad you decide. One of the best changes to the game was adding the restricted zone, never knew when a charge was a charge or a block, now we know.
Think back even 10 years ago the refs have gotten so much better for the most part, over 20 years ago many games were actually painful to watch because of officiating. It's also important to note that there are more competent teams playing today as well as competent officials. For the most part the games are much better, I'm glad for that. I love after watching a game when I don't think about the ref's.

 

[MD#12Fan]

Think what it would be like if every violation was called. Games would take hours. The philosophy I hope is let the bigs get a bit more physical they are fighting in crowds and have to have some leeway. Palming the ball calls have virtually disappeared good or bad you decide. One of the best changes to the game was adding the restricted zone, never knew when a charge was a charge or a block, now we know.
Think back even 10 years ago the refs have gotten so much better for the most part, over 20 years ago many games were actually painful to watch because of officiating. It's also important to note that there are more competent teams playing today as well as competent officials. For the most part the games are much better, I'm glad for that. I love after watching a game when I don't think about the ref's.

I think the rule of thumb is still offense vs defense and one or the other gaining an unfair advantage. I think most fouls fall into this category. Idea of verticality, using your arms to push, defense getting set on a charge, offense traveling, etc. You're right, ballhandlers are required to strike the ball with their hand on top of the ball, not under the ball. Unfair advantage for the offense. I think the clearest the rules can be, obviously the better for refs, players, and coaches, and the better for fans and the sport.
Something I struggle with bigtime is the pass interference rules in pro and college football. Sometimes unwatchable.

 

[Zinethar]

Playoff season refs generally are selected from the best ranked refs from the conferences. No one wants games decided by refs so it gets at time reduced to no harm no foul attitude. I'm personally glad traveling is eing called this early as it gives players and coaches time to correct the problem as that would still be called in a big game. It is the constant "ticky-tack" type fould that are annoying and could be called every play (and in my humble opinion was in the last game). The constant parade to the foul line interrupts the flow. Fortunately for high profile games better refs are chosen.

 

[donalddoowop]

No one should get on the officials about fouls or traveling. Get on the players. For one thing, unless one has attended an officials rules meeting where points of emphasis' are discussed, you don't know what they have been told to watch for. Some posters are complaining about the number of traveling calls made this season. I don't think enough are being called. I watched the Nebraska-Indiana game today and the officials missed a number of traveling calls. KLS used to do it quite often. She would catch a pass, hop, and then shoot. Watch how many players are doing it, women and men. However, officiating so far could be better.

 

[Bigboote]

Think what it would be like if every violation was called. Games would take hours.

BBallF was talking about traveling calls. It's JUST NOT THAT COMPLICATED to begin bouncing the ball before you move your feet. Whence Geno's remark Dribble First. A top-level player should really know not to hop or deke with the feet before bouncing the ball.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The travel bug has not just hit our Huskies. Other teams are having the same problem. Guess the players just forgot how to play the game.

 

[cbraarj]

In the 83-84 and 84-85 seasons McHale averaged over 30 mpg off the bench. He became a starter in 85-86 after coming off the bench for five years. That same year, Walton joined the Celtics and averaged 19 mpg off the bench, 11 the next; he went on injured reserve for a year or two and then retired.

Maxwell was the starter

 

[DEpup]

It's getting to be a bit much and taking all the fun out of watching the game. Every game I watch is littered with walk calls. It totally breaks up the flow of the game.

 

[cbraarj]

BBallF was talking about traveling calls. It's JUST NOT THAT COMPLICATED to begin bouncing the ball before you move your feet. Whence Geno's remark Dribble First. A top-level player should really know not to hop or deke with the feet before bouncing the ball.

Have you watched the NBA.