UConn Vs ECU game thread

[bschwartz]

I do not know if it has been mentioned yet but for all the talk of the tale of two halves, the 1st half Huskies outscored the 2nd half huskies 45 to 44. Yes, I know there is more to it than points, but I thought it was an interesting stat.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I was trying really hard not to think about that...

Guess winter (aka bear hibernation season) is coming late to Pennsylvania! Somebody give Ice some pine nuts please.

 

[pvdoggy]

I do not know if it has been mentioned yet but for all the talk of the tale of two halves, the 1st half Huskies outscored the 2nd half huskies 45 to 44. Yes, I know there is more to it than points, but I thought it was an interesting stat.

Not really... the starters effectively only played 15 min of the second half. Look again at who is on the floor the last 5 min of the game.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Let's recall Geno called Saniya the most improved player at the beginning of the season. I refuse to give up on her until Geno, CD, et al give up on her. For the record, I don't expect this to happen.

I'm sure it'll be a cold day in hell before Geno and CD rip apart Saniya for anything. That isn't their style and yet, anyone with eyes can see in many ways that Saniya is struggling. It's possible that he was trying to give her a psychological lift in the preseason because I surely don't see much improvement in her game. Maybe she's a little better distributing the ball but if so, it's a somewhat minute improvement. I continue to hope to see the improvement he referred to but so far, it isn't evident.

 

[Huskies Rule]

Her shot starts low and comes out flat which means she must shoot from further out or get a more wide open spot up. The good news is that as long as the pass is delivered to her correctly her release is very quick. If she want to play beyond college she needs to change her shot which is not that hard to do with good coaching and a lot of shot repetition.

- I was a BIG early supporter of Saniya's, to the point that I posited she could start over KNurse... yikes !

- "If she wants to play beyond college..." ????? Really? I'm afraid it's more like ... if she ever wants to play IN college.

- And her defense (the neat steal vs. Duke's big notwithstanding) is poor and not getting any better. She practically stands erect while trying to defend, she doesn't get into an effective, low crouch with a wide base, so her lateral movement is limited, and she tends to take bad angles when going after her man.

- Mistakenly, she plays defense mostly by waving her arms, rather than by moving her feet.

- For many reasons, she is a major project, and I'm dubious of the outcome.

 

[xHunt3r]

What is looks like to me is... she is trying to not make any "mistakes" so she can stay on the floor. Her 8 fouls and 11 turnovers are lowest/close to lowest (Kiah has 9 turnovers) on the team for anyone playing major minutes. So yes defensively she is very quick to move to standing straight up (hands/arm straight up) and not moving, so she doesn't foul. Arms straight up and don't move is something that the coaches are clearly teaching the team to do, as Saniya is not the only one that does it.... The issue with Sanyia is, she often does this to soon/to much and the defense can easily maneuver around her. On the offensive end she always makes the safe pass (doesn't want a turnover). The team has had a lot more turnovers you would expect a UConn team to have and I'm sure Geno is letting them know that. So safe passes always, less assist though...

 

[Hongster]

It's possible that he was trying to give her a psychological lift in the preseason because I surely don't see much improvement in her game. Maybe she's a little better distributing the ball but if so, it's a somewhat minute improvement. I continue to hope to see the improvement he referred to but so far, it isn't evident.

Exactomon!!!

 

[EricLA]

I do not know if it has been mentioned yet but for all the talk of the tale of two halves, the 1st half Huskies outscored the 2nd half huskies 45 to 44. Yes, I know there is more to it than points, but I thought it was an interesting stat.

More than that. ECU scored 22 in the first half and 16 in the 2nd half.

I will readily acknowledge that we put our walk ons in the game at just under the 4 minute mark, BUT it's not like they were out there all alone.

I went back and watched the game and Geno was flat out wrong at halftime. It was not even close to the worst 30 minutes of basketball played by a UCONN WCBB team in his 30 years. But being the master of hyperbole as well as motivation, I'm sure he told the kids that. Heck, Lobo was the worst post player in America for her 4 then it was Wolters, then it was Swin, then it was Tina etc etc. I get he was trying to make a point but there were some terrific things that happened in the first half...

Twice ECU had a shot clock violation. There was some terrific on ball defense being played and UCONN racked up a bunch of steals. Sometimes the offense looked really good. BUT, there were at least a pair of 3 minute stretches where it looked like a pickup game and the UCONN players behaved like they'd never seen each other before. And give credit to ECU, especially in the last 4 minutes of the half. Their energy and intensity were both really good.

Also it is interesting that the game thread vs. top 10 Duke has less posts than the thread vs. ECU...

 

[DobbsRover2]

It's rare when Geno is not upset about something at the half. And in a game against a hard-hitting scrappy top 40 squad like ECU, there is going to be some disjointed play before all the X's and O's are put together in the players' minds about what they need to do. The fact is, when you're getting pushed and whacked way more than usual, it does take a while to adjust and focus on how to effectively put the ball in the basket instead of just shoving back.

I get more frustrated when they play a soft team and perform with less intensity in a 30 point halftime lead. Yesterday the Huskies learned that they couldn't telegraph their passes so much and need to maybe throw in a few more fakes so that the TOs aren't so abundant.

 

[Buzzyboy]

More than that. ECU scored 22 in the first half and 16 in the 2nd half.

I will readily acknowledge that we put our walk ons in the game at just under the 4 minute mark, BUT it's not like they were out there all alone.

I went back and watched the game and Geno was flat out wrong at halftime. It was not even close to the worst 30 minutes of basketball played by a UCONN WCBB team in his 30 years. But being the master of hyperbole as well as motivation, I'm sure he told the kids that. Heck, Lobo was the worst post player in America for her 4 then it was Wolters, then it was Swin, then it was Tina etc etc. I get he was trying to make a point but there were some terrific things that happened in the first half...

Twice ECU had a shot clock violation. There was some terrific on ball defense being played and UCONN racked up a bunch of steals. Sometimes the offense looked really good. BUT, there were at least a pair of 3 minute stretches where it looked like a pickup game and the UCONN players behaved like they'd never seen each other before. And give credit to ECU, especially in the last 4 minutes of the half. Their energy and intensity were both really good.

Also it is interesting that the game thread vs. top 10 Duke has less posts than the thread vs. ECU...

Maybe Geno was focused on those two 3 minute stretches that you refer to. It's true that he has a tendency of sometimes being a little over the top with his criticisms and this may have been one of those times. I haven't seen the game and I'm relying mostly on past situations and feed back from people who saw the game. In any case, I think most coaches are always looking for something to critique and I guess it wasn't that hard in this particular game. We had a good outcome and the second half seemed to be appreciably better, based on most peoples remarks, so I guess he got what he wanted, a better performance from his kids. You mentioned cohesiveness or lack thereof during those three minutes sessions and that's not really small stuff. These kids practice together all the time and for them to play as if they hadn't ever done so before is a little bit scary in my mind. Not such a small thing!

 

[CCinCT]

More than that. ECU scored 22 in the first half and 16 in the 2nd half.

I will readily acknowledge that we put our walk ons in the game at just under the 4 minute mark, BUT it's not like they were out there all alone.

I went back and watched the game and Geno was flat out wrong at halftime. It was not even close to the worst 30 minutes of basketball played by a UCONN WCBB team in his 30 years. But being the master of hyperbole as well as motivation, I'm sure he told the kids that. Heck, Lobo was the worst post player in America for her 4 then it was Wolters, then it was Swin, then it was Tina etc etc. I get he was trying to make a point but there were some terrific things that happened in the first half...

Twice ECU had a shot clock violation. There was some terrific on ball defense being played and UCONN racked up a bunch of steals. Sometimes the offense looked really good. BUT, there were at least a pair of 3 minute stretches where it looked like a pickup game and the UCONN players behaved like they'd never seen each other before. And give credit to ECU, especially in the last 4 minutes of the half. Their energy and intensity were both really good.

Also it is interesting that the game thread vs. top 10 Duke has less posts than the thread vs. ECU...

I thought about that also, Eric. Away game (and not a reasonable drive either). Sometimes during a home game I find myself refreshing game threads to no avail. A lot of our regular contributors are AT the game.

 

[daisha]

The rest of the season belongs to Moriah.

Spitfire is on a roll ........