My first post- random thoughts

[Kmoney]

Fortunate championship:
The 14-15 huskies were not as good as the 12-13 or 13-14 huskies. You don't lose two all-Americans and be better. Dolson and Hartley weren't just great, but they were Alpha-huskies. Their leadership, along with Farris (12-13), was exceptional. I feel that the 14/15 huskies would found it difficult to beat the 12/13 or 13/14 Fighting Irish. I feel that this years huskies had two weaknesses, but because of great coaching, the weaknesses could never be exploited. The 12/13 and the 13/14 Irish could of attacked these weaknesses. Oh yeah... I think their two weaknesses were 1. Being broken down with the dribble when isolated and 2. Not being in late game situations where every possession is critical. I think Geno tried to prepare for the late game situations by calling time out on the last possession of the half on several occasions. In most of the games I saw, UConn seldom even got off a good shot.

My Relationship with Basketball:
I have followed basketball for most of my life. I no longer follow men's basketball because it is unwatchable to me. It is no longer basketball but a game show played on a trampoline. The only thing missing is putting dollar signs on the scoreboard. I have followed women's basketball since when Cheney State and Immaculata College were national powers. My fear is that I see it slowly morphing into a poor imitation of the men's game. If basketball was my wife, she would be suffering from advanced Alzheimer's and a debilitating cancer. I would still love her madly because of the twinkle in her eye, that is UConn.

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

Next Year
Strengths: interior scoring, interior defense, forcing turnovers, rebounding
Could be Strengths: depth, shooting, recovery defense,
Weakness: Youth (7 freshman or sophomores, 4 juniors or seniors), screening

I think UConn will lose 2 games on their way to winning another Championship. I normally don't include freshman in any prediction because you never really know how they project to a new level. If next years freshmen perform like last years, then UConn will be phenomenal. As far as screening being a weakness, I think the teams best two screeners have graduated. Kalena was an exceptional screener. She often found her self open for 3 by stressing the defense with a perfect screen. Butler may be able to fill this role, but I've seen more footage of "Bigfoot" then of Butler playing basketball. Did Georgetown have players in the "Witness Protection Program" her freshman year? I have seen mix-tapes of infants learning to walk. It is shocking that no one at Georgetown or the Big East thought it would be a good idea to promote their "Freshman of the Year".

I am tired of hearing how UConn gets ALL the talent. Other teams get plenty of talent, but use it poorly. If you look at the strengths I listed above, none of them require super talent. They all require "Effort".

Luck with injuries
Besides Ekmarks injury, did anyone miss a game due to injury? I am guessing UConns "lost man hours" due to injury, was minuscule. I don't want to talk any further about this because it is bad "Mojo".


Why no Connecticut kids
This may be controversial. Parents/family can be a coaches biggest headache. Long distance recruits means that kids will rely on team mates or coaches more often. This is important when you are demanding kids buy into something that may seem unreasonable to an average 18 y/o.

Morgan Tuck
She went to the fridge, put in a DVD, let out the cat, and kept her pivot foot the whole time. Seriously, she has the best post foot work I have seen in a long time. She is undersized but often unbalances her opponent with quick decisive moves. I love her confidence when she takes a 3 pointer. She seems to be genuinely shocked when the ball jars the rim, skims the backboard and hits the shot clock. Once she becomes more consistent with her jumper, she will become an all time great. Morgan is a perfect example of what great coaching can do for a player. Elizabeth Williams was an excellent player at Duke, but I think at UConn she would of taken her game a couple levels higher. Williams is taller, faster, and more athletic than Morgan, but I would pick Morgan over Williams every time.

Life after Geno
I'm typeless.

 

[reno tony]

Fortunate championship:
The 14-15 huskies were not as good as the 12-13 or 13-14 huskies. You don't lose two all-Americans and be better. Dolson and Hartley weren't just great, but they were Alpha-huskies. Their leadership, along with Farris (12-13), was exceptional. I feel that the 14/15 huskies would found it difficult to beat the 12/13 or 13/14 Fighting Irish. I feel that this years huskies had two weaknesses, but because of great coaching, the weaknesses could never be exploited. The 12/13 and the 13/14 Irish could of attacked these weaknesses. Oh yeah... I think their two weaknesses were 1. Being broken down with the dribble when isolated and 2. Not being in late game situations where every possession is critical. I think Geno tried to prepare for the late game situations by calling time out on the last possession of the half on several occasions. In most of the games I saw, UConn seldom even got off a good shot.

My Relationship with Basketball:
I have followed basketball for most of my life. I no longer follow men's basketball because it is unwatchable to me. It is no longer basketball but a game show played on a trampoline. The only thing missing is putting dollar signs on the scoreboard. I have followed women's basketball since when Cheney State and Immaculata College were national powers. My fear is that I see it slowly morphing into a poor imitation of the men's game. If basketball was my wife, she would be suffering from advanced Alzheimer's and a debilitating cancer. I would still love her madly because of the twinkle in her eye, that is UConn.

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

Next Year
Strengths: interior scoring, interior defense, forcing turnovers, rebounding
Could be Strengths: depth, shooting, recovery defense,
Weakness: Youth (7 freshman or sophomores, 4 juniors or seniors), screening

I think UConn will lose 2 games on their way to winning another Championship. I normally don't include freshman in any prediction because you never really know how they project to a new level. If next years freshmen perform like last years, then UConn will be phenomenal. As far as screening being a weakness, I think the teams best two screeners have graduated. Kalena was an exceptional screener. She often found her self open for 3 by stressing the defense with a perfect screen. Butler may be able to fill this role, but I've seen more footage of "Bigfoot" then of Butler playing basketball. Did Georgetown have players in the "Witness Protection Program" her freshman year? I have seen mix-tapes of infants learning to walk. It is shocking that no one at Georgetown or the Big East thought it would be a good idea to promote their "Freshman of the Year".

I am tired of hearing how UConn gets ALL the talent. Other teams get plenty of talent, but use it poorly. If you look at the strengths I listed above, none of them require super talent. They all require "Effort".

Luck with injuries
Besides Ekmarks injury, did anyone miss a game due to injury? I am guessing UConns "lost man hours" due to injury, was minuscule. I don't want to talk any further about this because it is bad "Mojo".


Why no Connecticut kids
This may be controversial. Parents/family can be a coaches biggest headache. Long distance recruits means that kids will rely on team mates or coaches more often. This is important when you are demanding kids buy into something that may seem unreasonable to an average 18 y/o.

Morgan Tuck
She went to the fridge, put in a DVD, let out the cat, and kept her pivot foot the whole time. Seriously, she has the best post foot work I have seen in a long time. She is undersized but often unbalances her opponent with quick decisive moves. I love her confidence when she takes a 3 pointer. She seems to be genuinely shocked when the ball jars the rim, skims the backboard and hits the shot clock. Once she becomes more consistent with her jumper, she will become an all time great. Morgan is a perfect example of what great coaching can do for a player. Elizabeth Williams was an excellent player at Duke, but I think at UConn she would of taken her game a couple levels higher. Williams is taller, faster, and more athletic than Morgan, but I would pick Morgan over Williams every time.
Life after Geno
I'm typeless.

Welcome to The Boneyard and it was interesting to read your first post. I do have to ask the obvious question... which two teams have a chance at beating UCONN next year? Assuming you are going to say N.D. and S.C., what improvements will they make that will put them over the edge with UCONN?

 

[UcMiami]

Very interesting first post full of opinions, a few of which I will disagree with.
2013/2014 teams vs. 2015 team - no obvious 'answer' and no question that Dolson was not just an AA but a body type that the 2015 team did not have on the roster - a true center. And Dolson and Hartley as alpha leaders were certainly missed at the start of the year. BUT - By the end of the year 2015 had all the leadership it needed on the floor, and:
1. While Hartley had a very good senior year she had a pretty miserable final four going 4-12/2-6 with 4 A and 2 TO in the semis, and following that with a 4-15/2-9 with 3 A and 3 TO in the final - and a lot of her shots were bricks. Moriah was not shooting a whole lot better going a combined 7-18/0-4 though she did have 11 A and only 2 TO while collecting 7 steals. In 2015 Moriah was much better going 11-23/5-12 and while Kia was 5-15/2-7 which compares to Hartley percentage wise, she was taking a lot fewer shots in a lot fewer minutes.
2. Morgan Tuck, while not the same body type as Stef, played exceptionally well for Uconn and provided more offensive impact (36 pts to 27 pts) while playing great if different defense. Her better perimeter defense if weaker interior defense allowed for a more aggressive switching defensive system that was very effective. In fact the Stokes/Stewart/Dolson and Stokes/Stewart/Tuck combinations were statistically almost identical year to year in the final four.

On Morgan Tuck's footwork - very much agree - but more importantly her accuracy (with the exception of the final) around that basket is very good - not only does she figure out a way to get the shot off against generally larger players, but she hits the shots she takes. That is also something that truly impresses me with Gabby's interior work.

On the lack of CT kids - the CT high school system is set up for failure - the rules imposed prevent teams from playing many if any games outside their leagues or out of state, no shot clock I believe, restrictions on practice I think, etc. It isn't a large state to begin with and the lack of quality competition means there are not a lot of high level D1 recruits to start with and fewer that could play at Uconn's level. Some of the skilled kids like Edwards find a way to play for prep teams out of state to advance their game. New England as a whole is not a great breading ground for WCBB. Cross the Hudson or the Sound and things get very interesting very quickly.

 

[JavaMan]

Welcome!

I'll pass along some advice I received when I first participated on a board quite some time ago: "Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't be mean about it." It seems to me that you pulled that off with your first post here.

As far as "not as good as the 12-13 or 13-14 huskies," I suppose that depends on what your benchmark is.

I kinda like this one.

I also kinda like:

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

It brings back wonderful memories.

Again, welcome.

 

[mrmojack]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Boreifs]

I thought by the end of the season the 14-15 team was better. Stewart,Mosqueda-Lewis and Jefferson were obviously better players than they had been in 13-14 and Tuck and Nurse were faster and more athletic at their positions than Dolson and Hartley, though certainly not as experienced. The 14-15 team was deeper, although Geno chose to use essentially the same six-rotation for the Final Four as he had in 13-14. Stokes did not impact this past Final Four as much as she did the year previously, but no one could argue that she wasn't a much better player than she had been the previous year. The offense in `14-15 was much smoother and much more efficient, largely because all five players could run the floor (Dolson couldn't) and the guard penetration problems that surfaced in the Stanford game early in the season were totally resolved by March, largely through forcing the penetration to the baseline, where Stewart and Stokes could dominate the game defensively. I am not trying to minimize the importance of losing two great players to graduation, but that event forced the team to play a totally different style; by the end of the season, they had made that transition in a devastatingly wonderful fashion.

 

[Ron and Vida]

Welcome. Enjoyed.

 

[alexrgct]

I thought by the end of the season the 14-15 team was better. Stewart,Mosqueda-Lewis and Jefferson were obviously better players than they had been in 13-14 and Tuck and Nurse were faster and more athletic at their positions than Dolson and Hartley, though certainly not as experienced. The 14-15 team was deeper, although Geno chose to use essentially the same six-rotation for the Final Four as he had in 13-14. Stokes did not impact this past Final Four as much as she did the year previously, but no one could argue that she wasn't a much better player than she had been the previous year. The offense in `14-15 was much smoother and much more efficient, largely because all five players could run the floor (Dolson couldn't) and the guard penetration problems that surfaced in the Stanford game early in the season were totally resolved by March, largely through forcing the penetration to the baseline, where Stewart and Stokes could dominate the game defensively. I am not trying to minimize the importance of losing two great players to graduation, but that event forced the team to play a totally different style; by the end of the season, they had made that transition in a devastatingly wonderful fashion.

 

[Woof 101]

Fortunate championship? Really ? These girls worked their azzes off for everything they got period.
Jewel Loyd went first in the draft because she deserved it for a team that wanted her services. A good player that deserves no disrespect here. Mo Jeff will get her due and has for sure.
Luck with injuries? Like we have never had our share?
Life after Geno? Wow you really went out on a limb there....
Welcome Kmoney but I found your post somewhat different than many here. I am not a optimist nor a pessimist but a realist. Again I welcome you to the site and will respect your opinion but I totally disagree the UCONN woman have ever won anything because they were simply fortunate.

 

[Bonpland]

The nice thing about the board is we are all just stating our opinions, and none of us are Geno (or Muffet for that matter). If our gut tells us to go too far with a comment here and there, there is no harm done. The veterans here are expert on UCONN history and there is a lot of supportive information about other teams and the recruiting landscape. Of course you know this already, that's why you've joined. Have a good time taking part.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Fortunate championship:
The 14-15 huskies were not as good as the 12-13 or 13-14 huskies. You don't lose two all-Americans and be better. Dolson and Hartley weren't just great, but they were Alpha-huskies. Their leadership, along with Farris (12-13), was exceptional. I feel that the 14/15 huskies would found it difficult to beat the 12/13 or 13/14 Fighting Irish. I feel that this years huskies had two weaknesses, but because of great coaching, the weaknesses could never be exploited. The 12/13 and the 13/14 Irish could of attacked these weaknesses. Oh yeah... I think their two weaknesses were 1. Being broken down with the dribble when isolated and 2. Not being in late game situations where every possession is critical. I think Geno tried to prepare for the late game situations by calling time out on the last possession of the half on several occasions. In most of the games I saw, UConn seldom even got off a good shot.

My Relationship with Basketball:
I have followed basketball for most of my life. I no longer follow men's basketball because it is unwatchable to me. It is no longer basketball but a game show played on a trampoline. The only thing missing is putting dollar signs on the scoreboard. I have followed women's basketball since when Cheney State and Immaculata College were national powers. My fear is that I see it slowly morphing into a poor imitation of the men's game. If basketball was my wife, she would be suffering from advanced Alzheimer's and a debilitating cancer. I would still love her madly because of the twinkle in her eye, that is UConn.

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

Next Year
Strengths: interior scoring, interior defense, forcing turnovers, rebounding
Could be Strengths: depth, shooting, recovery defense,
Weakness: Youth (7 freshman or sophomores, 4 juniors or seniors), screening

I think UConn will lose 2 games on their way to winning another Championship. I normally don't include freshman in any prediction because you never really know how they project to a new level. If next years freshmen perform like last years, then UConn will be phenomenal. As far as screening being a weakness, I think the teams best two screeners have graduated. Kalena was an exceptional screener. She often found her self open for 3 by stressing the defense with a perfect screen. Butler may be able to fill this role, but I've seen more footage of "Bigfoot" then of Butler playing basketball. Did Georgetown have players in the "Witness Protection Program" her freshman year? I have seen mix-tapes of infants learning to walk. It is shocking that no one at Georgetown or the Big East thought it would be a good idea to promote their "Freshman of the Year".

I am tired of hearing how UConn gets ALL the talent. Other teams get plenty of talent, but use it poorly. If you look at the strengths I listed above, none of them require super talent. They all require "Effort".

Luck with injuries
Besides Ekmarks injury, did anyone miss a game due to injury? I am guessing UConns "lost man hours" due to injury, was minuscule. I don't want to talk any further about this because it is bad "Mojo".


Why no Connecticut kids
This may be controversial. Parents/family can be a coaches biggest headache. Long distance recruits means that kids will rely on team mates or coaches more often. This is important when you are demanding kids buy into something that may seem unreasonable to an average 18 y/o.

Morgan Tuck
She went to the fridge, put in a DVD, let out the cat, and kept her pivot foot the whole time. Seriously, she has the best post foot work I have seen in a long time. She is undersized but often unbalances her opponent with quick decisive moves. I love her confidence when she takes a 3 pointer. She seems to be genuinely shocked when the ball jars the rim, skims the backboard and hits the shot clock. Once she becomes more consistent with her jumper, she will become an all time great. Morgan is a perfect example of what great coaching can do for a player. Elizabeth Williams was an excellent player at Duke, but I think at UConn she would of taken her game a couple levels higher. Williams is taller, faster, and more athletic than Morgan, but I would pick Morgan over Williams every time.

Life after Geno
I'm typeless.

Actually, I think 14-15 UCONN versus 13-14 Notre Dame at full strength would be a wonderfully intriguing game. Stewie versus Achonwa, Nurse versus Loyd, Jefferson versus McBride--good stuff.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I'm not basing this on watching the teams, but on Coach Stringer waxing positively poetic about UConn this year. Rutgers has been playing UConn since 1996 when CVS arrived (which coincided with RU joining the BE). If she pretty much feels this was the best UConn team she's seen, then they probably were.

 

[ndmb]

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

Funniest thing I've read in a while.

 

[stamfordhusky]

On the lack of CT kids - the CT high school system is set up for failure - the rules imposed prevent teams from playing many if any games outside their leagues or out of state, no shot clock I believe, restrictions on practice I think, etc. It isn't a large state to begin with and the lack of quality competition means there are not a lot of high level D1 recruits to start with and fewer that could play at Uconn's level. Some of the skilled kids like Edwards find a way to play for prep teams out of state to advance their game. New England as a whole is not a great breading ground for WCBB. Cross the Hudson or the Sound and things get very interesting very quickly.

Sadly the CIAC is largely an old boy's club who has no modern thoughts and no interest at all in developing any players or any sports. Every sport starts later than in virtually every other state and every sport has far fewer games. One sport where CT has tons of talent and great teams is lacrosse. But here too the CIAC does its best to hurt the teams and drives players to prep schools. Early in the year, many of the top CT schools play top LI schools who have played 4-5 more games and who have been practicing for several weeks longer. It's a very unlevel playing field - for no reason that makes any sense.

 

[HuskyNan]

I'm not basing this on watching the teams, but on Coach Stringer waxing positively poetic about UConn this year. Rutgers has been playing UConn since 1996 when CVS arrived (which coincided with RU joining the BE). If she pretty much feels this was the best UConn team she's seen, then they probably were.

Maybe one of the most talented but there were a lot of people still on the upslope of the learning curve.

 

[Kmoney]

Welcome to The Boneyard and it was interesting to read your first post. I do have to ask the obvious question... which two teams have a chance at beating UCONN next year? Assuming you are going to say N.D. and S.C., what improvements will they make that will put them over the edge with UCONN?

I think they could lose to USC. It is tough to win against a talented physical team in front of 20,000 of their fans. I think they will lose one other random game that will serve as their "Standford" next year. I don't think it will be ND, maybe USF.

 

[Kmoney]

Welcome!

I'll pass along some advice I received when I first participated on a board quite some time ago: "Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't be mean about it." It seems to me that you pulled that off with your first post here.

As far as "not as good as the 12-13 or 13-14 huskies," I suppose that depends on what your benchmark is.

I kinda like this one.

View attachment 9347

I also kinda like:

It brings back wonderful memories.

Again, welcome.

Don't get me wrong. I think the 14-15 team is great. I just think the previous two were better. The 12-13 team played better competition during the season and the 13-14 team played with basically 6 players. I really do like the chart. It speaks volumes. 42 point margin of victory is phenomenal. I suspect history will say they played no competive teams. In fact their margin was equally impressive against top 25 teams, probably one of the best ever. Bet you don't have a chart for that one!

 

[DobbsRover2]

Not sure in the second half of the year when the season really starts to count that "being broken down with the dribble when isolated" really means much of anything. All year we had posters whose definition of the season for the team and certain players was stuck on the second game of the year, and they never advanced beyond that point to see either the team or the players any differently. Was the shock of a loss too much for them after all the rosy undefeated predictions?

So you're saying from what you saw in the Tournament when UConn was going for an NC that presumably MoJeff and Kia were frequently being undressed by opposing guards who dribbled by them? This on a team that had the 3rd lowest FG% in UConn and NCAA history and the fourth lowest defensive scoring allowed for the Huskies. I can't say I saw that. I instead saw MoJeff harassing the hell out of top players like Loyd and Kia providing really solid defense most of the time. Even in a game like Dayton where the opponents' baskets were flying in for a while, it was because of crisp Flyer passes to open players, not some flash-by drives like MoJeff laid on the opposition. And in the MD and ND games I thought the UConn back court defense pretty much dominated the opponents, and that Mincy and Loyd \ Allen were pretty challenged with the dribbles.

But I guess we all see different games. If I was to pick any UConn weaknesses for a team that gave up an average of 55.5 points to two #1 seeds in the FF (second best for the Huskies ever behind only the 2010 team), it would not be a defensive chink in the armor, because that defense really seemed pretty good. But then again, I know I'm no expert.

 

[meyers7]

I no longer follow men's basketball because it is unwatchable to me. It is no longer basketball but a game show played on a trampoline.

Not quite. There actually is/was a game like that.

Why Jewel Loyd went first in the draft
After seeing the championship game, they thought that Mariah Jefferson might come attached to her.

 

[meyers7]

Jewel Loyd went first in the draft because she deserved it for a team that wanted her services. A good player that deserves no disrespect here.

No disrespect that. Chill out, that was a good one.

 

[UcMiami]

Dobbs - agree about the guards being 'broken down'. But I will carry it further. There are very few defenders in the women's game that can consistently keep any guard good quick guard in front of them. reaction times and rules have made it almost impossible - Kelly stands out in my mind and Moriah can match that sometimes. The trick to defense is angles, and overplaying to steer offensive players into your help - basically team defense. And early in any year, the quality of team defense is not close to what it becomes by the end of the year.
The men's game has been here for years - one of the reasons I don't watch much - the offensive players are so good they can break down any defender and teams don't tend to play great team defense. The women are getting to the same place, at least in terms of ball handling and quickness.

 

[DobbsRover2]

No disrespect that. Chill out, that was a good one.

Talking about chilling, who knows, but maybe there will be an extended attachment if the Storm pick up MoJeff in the draft next year with Sue now at 34. Sue, Renee, and MoJeff all on the same team would be kind of cool.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Dobbs - agree about the guards being 'broken down'. But I will carry it further. There are very few defenders in the women's game that can consistently keep any guard good quick guard in front of them. reaction times and rules have made it almost impossible - Kelly stands out in my mind and Moriah can match that sometimes. The trick to defense is angles, and overplaying to steer offensive players into your help - basically team defense. And early in any year, the quality of team defense is not close to what it becomes by the end of the year.
The men's game has been here for years - one of the reasons I don't watch much - the offensive players are so good they can break down any defender and teams don't tend to play great team defense. The women are getting to the same place, at least in terms of ball handling and quickness.

That is correct, and the ability to handle fast speedy guards is all a relative matter in WCBB that is hugely based on the defense behind you. If you have a weak drive-by-shooting post-defense behind you and you are facing MoJeff, you can be made to look very bad even if you are one of the best defenders. The ball handler knows when and where she is going and is looking for any small opening with many feints to help her get space. The defender's job in these cases is to stay close enough to eliminate an overly good opportunity and try to steer a player to helping defense. But it is virtually impossible except in extremely short and tiring spurts to really put any kind clamp on a player like MoJeff or to keep her from ranging around with the dribble if that's what she wants to do (though mainly she looks to do a modest amount of dribbling while she looks for the pass and assist opportunity).

I thought the UConn guards did an excellent job of this later in the year, and with MoJeff's incredible penchant for thievery, the back court defense really can't be looked at as a liability.

 

[UConnCat]

Dobbs - agree about the guards being 'broken down'. But I will carry it further. There are very few defenders in the women's game that can consistently keep any guard good quick guard in front of them. reaction times and rules have made it almost impossible

Very true, though based on what I heard and read after the Stanford game, only UConn defenders couldn't keep opposing guards in front of them.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The offensive weaponry of this year's team went through the roof when Morgan got untracked and MoJeff found confidence in her shot making skills. Having 5 more than reliable scorers on the floor exhausted other teams physically and mentally. I have no trouble at all naming this year's team one of UConn's best. The one loss and the ugly championship game obscure this team's rank for some.