A Lesson Learned

[Tonyc]

Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and were expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better then they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from

 

[Steelerone]

It is what it is.

 

[cancontent]

Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and were expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better then they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from

All good points, however it should also be noted ND is a better team than you assumed they were. Even when things were going well for UConn, they were battling each step of the way.

This game helps UConn see where they need to get better and I believe it will also serve as motivation to prove to those waiting for them to fall apart wrong.

 

[Urshurak]

It is what it is. We have key players (a lot of them) on the bench. Two years in a row now. The team we field is what we have. It’s not an elite team. It just isn’t. Sorry.

This team will be lucky to get to the sweet 16. Very lucky. And if they do, very little chance of winning that game. Almost zero.

Hopefully next year they have no injuries and can field a complete team. Wouldn’t that be something?

 

[Topsail]

Are we a top 25 team, yes. Are we a top 10 team no. The only big wins we have are against Louisville and UNC. Maryland is a dumpster fire , Marquette and Creighton are not what we thought. We have no helpful bench against the top teams. We can ill afford foul trouble and poor shooting against the top teams and expect to succeed. I will consider this season a big success if we reach the sweet sixteen.

 

[Artifact]

Did ND. make us play a bad game ?

 

[Zonepress]

Are we a top 25 team, yes. Are we a top 10 team no. The only big wins we have are against Louisville and UNC. Maryland is a dumpster fire , Marquette and Creighton are not what we thought. We have no helpful bench against the top teams. We can ill afford foul trouble and poor shooting against the top teams and expect to succeed. I will consider this season a big success if we reach the sweet sixteen.

All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely

 

[Zonepress]

Alot went wrong for us and alot went right for ND. We have been playing really good with 13 wins in a row and we have 5 wins over top ranked teams and now 4 losses against top ranked teams. That not bad at all. We found yesterday we have some things we have to work on and clean up. They were exposed yesterday and now we go to practice and figure them out. This team has come along way this season. We're all disappointed and we’re expecting better. I dont need to mention what went wrong and what went right because everybody else has done a good job of that. What will be done at practice is we will pick up the pieces and take another step forward. This team is better than they showed yesterday. We arent as bad as we looked, we had a poor game. It was a good lesson to learn from

Again all good wins with Aubrey

 

[my2cents]

Big games are going to be very hard to win with only five players and no contributions from the bench. The team has shown a lot of grit but we are way too thin to go deep in the tourney.

 

[Rb335]

All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely

Agreed. What helped me last season was to evaluate the season as different teams based on who was injured. Very similar to how the committee evaluates teams bodies of work.

This year, you have the team with Azzi and CD, then the stretch before Aubrey’s injury, then post Aubrey.

Team A- 3-1 with wins over Maryland, Minnesota, and Dayton. Loss to NC State. Should note that the Maryland win continues to hold less weight as they aren’t close to being ranked.

Team B - 8-2, Best wins over UNC, Louisville, Kansas, Marquette, Creighton and losses to UCLA and Texas. The strongest win is arguably Louisville, and Aubrey torched them for 25.

Team C- the current squad - 6-1, 6 wins against unranked opponents, 1 loss against ND at home by 15. This was truly the first real test post Aubrey, and I thought her presence was missed greatly. Especially the defensive quickness from the post. Imagine swapping Aubrey for Ice in those Hidalgo ball screen actions.

This current squad, like previous years, gains confidence beating big east squads. But what many fail to want to admit is that the big east is really weak compared to the P5 conferences. Morrow, Park Lane, and Siegrest are all gone, the conference gets zero top 100 recruits besides Uconn. It’s easy to see the conference isn’t as strong this year.

I’d say us as fans remember the legacy of Uconn, and when we start rolling in conference we get excited. Last night was that wake up call, to showcase that unranked wins don’t necessarily provide accurate measurements of where we are at. For the first time post Aubrey, we played a top 25 team and got beat. A lot of the breakdowns weren’t new, it’s just that in the big east, most teams fail to take advantage like ND did. Geno can get on players about not switching, or poor shot selection. Sometimes you need to feel an opponent punish you for it to have it sink in.

We have one more chance to measure ourselves at South Carolina. Besides that, I fear we’ll get back to playing the small lineup that works in the big east, continue to draw confidence from that. But likely be exposed in the tournament when we face teams with the size, length, and athleticism to take advantage.

Think of how much tougher this team would be able to get if we were currently in the ACC. It would be a grind with likely some losses, but they’d be put in these types of games time and time again, and they’d have the chance to figure out how to win them.

 

[npignatjr]

All those good wins were with Aubrey
Her loss changed the team completely

In the 3 losses she scored 13 points total. Her strength man to man defense, weakness team switching defense.

 

[Huskygamble19]

This team had too many walkovers in the Big East and it showed in this game that was really competitive. Paige wasguarded tight as a drum and that team has size across the board.

This was not Geno's best coaching job either. Defense was very suspect. Aubrey's loss was very evident and Notre Dame just wore them down in the end. It would be nice to have a full complement of players just for one year, Don't you think?

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Did ND. make us play a bad game ?

You could make that argument with respect to Paige. She did not have a good game, one of the worst games I can remember her having. Not trying to make excuses for her but the refs did allow ND to manhandle her for most of the game. That being said, she seemed just worn out by ND’s heavy handed defense by the end of the game. If that doesn’t happen, Shade and KK would’ve been wide open for some shots. Also, as the op said, we definitely miss AG. Nika also didn’t play well, and her early 4th foul seemed to be a turning point.

 

[npignatjr]

Just remember what league that they are playing that makes them look good. Look at what is left for players. Shouldn't that tell you something.

I have been criticized for pointing out that moving to the NBE was in the long term a dead end move for the athletic department.
Besides the fact having to pay the AAC 17 million dollars.

 

[SLY63]

I agree that this will be a learning experience, and although today we look like a Sweet 16 team (but not Elite 8), that can change. IMO, the biggest issue with the loss is that unless we perform really well at SC, we will be a 3 or 4 seed, which puts us against a 2 or 1 seed in the Sweet 16. If we end up a 4 seed, I don't see us getting past the 1 seed.

 

[oldhusky]

I think it is too optimistic to just look at this as a learning experience, we go back to the drawing board and fix things in practice. Of course we will try to do that as any good program would, but some things are un-fixable and probably unavoidable.

We are not deep and we won't be. If we are lucky from this point on, we won't lose anybody else, but if we do we don't have answers. Right now we use seven because we have to, not because we want to. The team is not as good when either Ice or Q is on the court vs. one of our starters.

I'm not down on Q, I think she has probably exceeded expectations, but if this team was healthy she would be gaining her experience mostly in mop up minutes, this would be a learning year and maybe by next year she could be counted on to make more of a contribution.

Ice is more of an enigma and disappointment. She is playing more than Q not because of how she is performing, but because we are hurting even more for bigs and it is Ice or Amari. She is obviously nervous, makes a lot of mistakes and is far from a Uconn level backup, at least for now.

We have no margin for error with fouls. If any starter gets in foul trouble it is a big deal. We don't have the flexibility for strategic situational substitutions, because managing minutes for rest is a bigger priority. Whether small ball works or not against a particular opponent, it is who we have to be now, regardless of results.

For the most part the players have handled the situation very well given the circumstances, and I'm sure some things will be fixed in practice, but injuries have lowered the ceiling for this year's team substantially, the talent is reduced, the bench is shallow, the vulnerability to foul trouble or further injuries is huge, and our situational strategies and flexibility are largely gone.

With all of those negatives it is pretty impressive that this team is ranked, dominating it's conference, and maybe heading for a #3 or #4 seed, With a couple of freshmen starting and two off the bench they can eliminate some mistakes but the limitations due to injuries are real. This team might be playing to their potential better than most Uconn teams.

 

[Centerstream]

It will be very interesting to see how the Huskies defend Olsen Wednesday night. She's another guard that seems to score a lot against quite a few teams. Can Nika be Nika against her?????

 

[Charliebball]

Sad to say the results of last night's game were not totally unexpected...........everything has to go right for this year's team to beat really good competition.........certainly not a lack of effort, just a lack of offensive firepower and defensive aggression........I can still envision this team making it to the round of eight in the big tournament but with so many games in a short timeframe that's likely to be the end of the road.......I hesitate to say wait till next year when the team will be loaded because as we've learned, things don't always work out as planned.....

 

[Cornell Lt]

ND was the better team for one night. I hope a rematch can occur in the NCAA tournament.

 

[boscolino]

No answer to Hidalgo.

 

[tomcat]

No answer to Hidalgo.

Or Westbeld, it seemed to me. Or Citron.

 

[HuskyNan]

“When Nika wasn't in the game, it hurt us on both ends,” Auriemma said. “… On the defensive end, the communication breakdowns, they happen mostly when you're younger. The game is moving real fast, and things are happening real quick. … How do you learn? How do you become an experienced player? You just have to play more games.”

Why UConn women's basketball loss could be learning opportunity

The UConn women's basketball team came up short in its latest test, but the Huskies have time to learn from the loss to Notre Dame.

www.ctinsider.com

 

[Zonepress]

Yes, and they were against two teams currently in the top five or six in the country and another one before Harmon got hurt was undefeated and ranked in the top five before she got hurt
And two of these games were on the road

Even with a healthy team winning, those games would have been difficult

I

 

[Tonyc]

A couple of things I did notice. When Nika sat with 2 fouls ND got going. Hidalgo gots right alot. Why not double team her going right?? When Nika fouled out ND went on another roll. I read somewhere Geno mentioned he want to get Paige more involved. Well Edwards was getting her way and Shade and KK were scoring on pull ups and dribble drives. Geno said later that may have been a mistake. Re watching the game it seemed Edwards slowed down. With 8 minutes left in the 4th we were tied. Geno has some work to do.