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- Feb 19, 2017
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I, 100% agree.I'm going to get killed for posting this, but here goes:
Yes, I know it's early.
Yes, I know the team is tired after a loooong road trip.
Yes, I know the players are just getting used to each other. But,
Unlike past UConn teams, this is not a team that is searching for perfection. Its performance is so far from perfect that you might say that during the second half of games, it is searching for above average.
They seem to use their first team to destroy the opposition in the first quarter and a half. As soon as they get to that point, with or without starters, the quality of play lags considerably. They rely less on the extra pass and more on kicking it out to the three-point shooter, who may or may not be on target. If it's Kia, no problemo. Otherwise, the results are not very pretty. Their defense gets sloppy and forget about pinpoint passes.
Is it a chemistry thing? Well, it's hard to say how much the insertion of Azura has changed the way the rest of the starters do things, but it does seem that this starting five can more easily be thrown off-stride than the previous starting five. We'll know more when KLS comes back and plays herself into form.
Meanwhile, IMHO, it seems the coaching staff has not come up with a go-to way of getting the team back on track. That's fine now, but against Notre Dame and other such teams, it may not be. Especially come tournament time a few months down the road.
Does this mean UConn will lose games? Probably not. They are bigger, stronger, in better shape and better coached than almost everyone else. And yes, they are a work in progress. It's just that they offer us something we don't see very often --an obvious need for lots of progress. I have as much faith in the coaching staff as the next guy does, but this team does worry me. And somehow it's just not as fun winning games because your players and bigger and taller and longer and higher-rated (which means the folks who complain, 'UConn gets all the good players' appear to be right, even when, factually, they are not.)
It's much more fun winning because your team outplays the other guys. And right now, this team spends a lot of time getting by on talent -- who they are, rather than how they play.
Gabby Williams brought it up in her post game interview.
"We are a team that turns it on and off" That's why we lost last year to Miss St" Coach is working with us to keep it on"
The starters remain in because he wants to see them turn the focus, effort and execution back on.
Our bench is non existent, as they play like "deer in the headlights" and do more kicking the ball around then a soccer team.