Xavier Postgame Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Xavier Postgame Thread

Bone Dog said:
Rewatching the game I noticed one of the analysts, Meghan McKeown, observed that one effect of unselfish basketball is that it makes the opposing defense frantic. Every extra pass forces another rotation.

She’s absolutely right about this. Some of us complain about how too many passes sometimes costs the team other open looks — and this is fair. But that’s only looking at it from the point of view of the scoreboard. Meghan’s point is that it has a an impact beyond scoring by wearing out the defense. It’s sort of like in football when a team keeps running the ball even if they don’t get a breakout run. Part of the point is to wear out the defensive lineman and this typically pays off in the 4th quarter.
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I think most of the complaints about 'over-passing' relate to players making really high-difficulty pass attempts that have a high likelihood of not being completed. Passing around the court from a semi-open player to a more open player (or a better/hotter shooter) is not a problem for most unless the shot clock is winding down. This team, more than previous years, has had more of the head-scratching variety of thread a needle passes early in the shot clock. Blanca is the obvious culprit, but everyone has had their moments including both Azzi and Sarah.

But your/the announcer's point is very true - the more the ball moves the harder the defense has to work and the more often they lose a player. And part of the beauty of Uconn basketball over the ages is how little they rely on dribbling (slow movement) vs passing (fast movement.) Any time you see a Uconn player dribbling in place you know the offense is stalling and in trouble.

Side Note:
I think this is the best Uconn defensive team in terms of off ball defenders dropping down to harass an opponent with the ball - and not part of planned double teams, nor just in the paint, but all over the front court while keeping themselves between the ball and their assigned player. Lots of steals on those moves, not just on anticipated passes or poke-checks (which they are also very good at!)
 
Allie has such a high ceiling and I'd also like to see what she has for a mid-range game.
I wou;dn't mind seeing her (or Azzi) step inside the arc to shoot if closely guarded.
Sarah really made smart plays by sticking with the mid-range when the team was missing so many 3's.
It was only fitting for the announcer to count down Allie's 3's considering how he counted down all of the missed 3's earlier in the game.
I think that Allie must have really fed off the crowd frenzy as she was making shots.
She didn't buckle under the pressure of the moment, a very good sign regarding her having a mature composure.
 
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Bone Dog said:
This was Allie's night. What else is there to say. Lots of other great performances, but 10 3 ptrs is really something. Go Allie.

The other usual suspects were pretty awesome too. Kayleigh was tough as nails. Ash Was everywhere. And Sarah was a rock the team could rest on when necessary.

And another lesson in lineup construction: What do you do if you don't have 2 main rotation players? Easy. Ash plays 36 minutes, Allie plays 29, and Kayleigh plays 25. Problem solved.
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Allie is a great all around player. She is a lot like ASH. Can do everything well. She doesn't quite yet have the defensive intensity and smarts of ASH, but she is learning. Her shooting, as we have seen, can be superior. As coach says'. the big thing here is the confidence it took for Allie to take all those shots, and the confidence gained by their success. Now let's see her do it against Tennessee.
 
Of course, she was open for all those threes (as well as Azzi on her attempts) because Sarah was so proficient in the midrange. The middle gets crowded really quickly, so I have no problem with Azzi, Allie and at times Ash pulling defenders out so Sarah and hopefully Serah have more room to move. Allie could move in more if Sarah moves out on designed plays, but I doubt you'll see any pressure to have Allie move in to the basket as long as Sarah's there. There's nothing to gain. It's all ball movement, and when it confuses the defenders, as with Xavier's lack of ability to close on Allie, it's sweet to watch.
 
As with all UConn kids, I noticed the Allie immediately looked for her defensive assignment as soon as she saw the shot was going in. No celebrations until a stoppage of play. So nice to see. After this performance I suspect she will see a more attention and closeouts to prevent another rain of threes. She has shown that she can get a defender on her hip and drive to the basket. Now we may get to see what she offers in the mid range game if her drives are cut off by help defense.
 
Ozimoto said:
As with all UConn kids, I noticed the Allie immediately looked for her defensive assignment as soon as she saw the shot was going in. No celebrations until a stoppage of play. So nice to see. After this performance I suspect she will see a more attention and closeouts to prevent another rain of threes. She has shown that she can get a defender on her hip and drive to the basket. Now we may get to see what she offers in the mid range game if her drives are cut off by help defense.
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As I was reading your post I could not help but think that any team that is forced to put that much of its defensive focus on Allie, including help-side defense is going to open up opportunities for Azzi, Ash, Sarah, Blanca, etc. When defending UConn, a team truly has to pick their poison.
 
Ball handling against LadyVol pressure will be important...KK/K9/Azzie will do most of it...with Sarah
a big help...Ash as well. I hope Geno gives Allie some early PT...both as a reward for her game against
Xavier and to see how she performs against a talented team. I don't see her ball handling a lot...Just constantly move...and shoot or pass when it comes to her.

Note: LadyVol was leading the SEC...undefeated in conference...till last night. Lost by
double digits to unranked Miss. St....on LadyVol's home court. Now have 4 losses.
Tall/athletic/24/7 full court press...erratic offense....still dangerous but they don't seem as good as
normal LadyVol teams.
 
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Blakeon18 said:
Tall/athletic/24/7 full court press.
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This describes UConn better than it does Tennessee. And Geno does it without ‘hockey line substitutions.’

Pressing teams don’t often respond well to being pressed, and Louisville showed this when they pressed Tennessee. We have too many excellent ball handlers to be bothered much by anyone’s press.

And speaking of ball handlers and passers, some of ours are so good opposing guards give up once they get the ball. Sarah’s like this. It’s too dangerous to challenge her because she’ll pick a press apart with passes. Surprisingly, Ash is another. Once either of them gets the ball anywhere near midcourt, the defense backs off. They have to try with KK because she always has the ball. If they don’t at least try to trap her there’s no point pressing at all.
 
I can't help but to think that Shade's extra defensive effort in this game was prompted in part by Blanca's absence.
Shade seemed to be even more fiesty than usual.
She knew before the game that she would need to step it up to help try to compensate for both Serah & Blanca being out.
No one else on the team could have done that any better,
 
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