Question for the BY on the true National title contenders

[DefenseBB]

I am looking at the statistical analysis of the teams I view as National contenders vs. the Husky's and how we stack up. So far I have collected the data for
1. SC
2. UCLA
3. Iowa
4. Stanford
5. Colorado
6. LSU
7. Baylor
8. NC State
9. Utah

Am I am missing anyone? The current stats confirm our big gap in rebounding AND the fact we need to take more shots as we are also last in number of Field goals attempted. Yes our FG% is #2 and our 3-FG% is #3 but considering how bad our rebouding is, we need to constantly push the ball up the court for shots. Our rebounding margin is 3.9 which is abysmal with the next worse being Colorado at 7.0 and everyone else in double digits.

Let me know.

 

[Centerstream]

Once a game starts, previous stats don't matter, except for people that really follow and rely on stats. IMO

 

[Bone Dog]

I am looking at the statistical analysis of the teams I view as National contenders vs. the Husky's and how we stack up. So far I have collected the data for
1. SC
2. UCLA
3. Iowa
4. Stanford
5. Colorado
6. LSU
7. Baylor
8. NC State
9. Utah

Am I am missing anyone? The current stats confirm our big gap in rebounding AND the fact we need to take more shots as we are also last in number of Field goals attempted. Yes our FG% is #2 and our 3-FG% is #3 but considering how bad our rebouding is, we need to constantly push the ball up the court for shots. Our rebounding margin is 3.9 which is abysmal with the next worse being Colorado at 7.0 and everyone else in double digits.

Let me know.

Should there be some sort of defensive rating too?

 

[JRRRJ]

I am looking at the statistical analysis of the teams I view as National contenders vs. the Husky's and how we stack up. So far I have collected the data for
1. SC
2. UCLA
3. Iowa
4. Stanford
5. Colorado
6. LSU
7. Baylor
8. NC State
9. Utah

Am I am missing anyone? The current stats confirm our big gap in rebounding AND the fact we need to take more shots as we are also last in number of Field goals attempted. Yes our FG% is #2 and our 3-FG% is #3 but considering how bad our rebouding is, we need to constantly push the ball up the court for shots. Our rebounding margin is 3.9 which is abysmal with the next worse being Colorado at 7.0 and everyone else in double digits.

Let me know.

I keep hearing this "gotta shoot more" mantra, and I can't not my head in agreement. It doesn't matter how many shots you take, it's how many points you (and your opponent) score.

Here are the made FG for UConn the last 5 games against significant opponents:
32, 33, 38, 32, 32
Here are the made FG for our opponents in the same games:
25, 25, 21, 14, 21
Made 3FG for UConn:
8, 7, 12, 8, 9, 7
Made 3FG for opponents:
3, 4, 10, 6, 4, 6

I do agree somewhat about hoping for more rebounding. But I think that the disruption of passing and shooting on the perimeter is more important than crashing the boards. I say leave it alone as long as it's working.

 

[Twelve]

I keep hearing this "gotta shoot more" mantra, and I can't not my head in agreement. It doesn't matter how many shots you take, it's how many points you (and your opponent) score.

Here are the made FG for UConn the last 5 games against significant opponents:
32, 33, 38, 32, 32
Here are the made FG for our opponents in the same games:
25, 25, 21, 14, 21
Made 3FG for UConn:
8, 7, 12, 8, 9, 7
Made 3FG for opponents:
3, 4, 10, 6, 4, 6

I do agree somewhat about hoping for more rebounding. But I think that the disruption of passing and shooting on the perimeter is more important than crashing the boards. I say leave it alone as long as it's working.

Rebounds do not tell the entire story of every game, of course. Scoring is the name of the game. But here is small sample from this season so far.


UConn was out rebounded 41 to 29 in loss to NC State.
UConn was out rebounded 44 to 36 in loss to UCLA.
UConn was out rebounded 32 to 29 in loss to Texas.

UConn won rebound battle 47 to 32 in big MOV win over Marquette.
UConn won rebound battle 45 to 29 in big MOV win over Creighton.
UConn won rebound battle 44 to 27 in big MOV win over Georgetown.


Stewie, Dolson, and Stokes helped give UConn the rebounding and shot blocking edge during UConn's 4 straight NC. Which might partially explain the "we need more bigs" frequently see on the BY.

 

[DefenseBB]

I keep hearing this "gotta shoot more" mantra, and I can't not my head in agreement. It doesn't matter how many shots you take, it's how many points you (and your opponent) score.

Here are the made FG for UConn the last 5 games against significant opponents:
32, 33, 38, 32, 32
Here are the made FG for our opponents in the same games:
25, 25, 21, 14, 21
Made 3FG for UConn:
8, 7, 12, 8, 9, 7
Made 3FG for opponents:
3, 4, 10, 6, 4, 6

I do agree somewhat about hoping for more rebounding. But I think that the disruption of passing and shooting on the perimeter is more important than crashing the boards. I say leave it alone as long as it's working.

I am not sure who or how you qualified your "last 5 games against significant opponents" as none of those numbers seem to represent UCLA, Texas or NC State, teams ranked ahead of us and to whom we have lost.

The fact of the matter is we shoot the ball better than all but South Carolina (who is having an outstanding shooting season). So yes, more shots for us by pushing the pace, means we score more vs. opponents with lower shooting percentages. We will struggle mightily on the rebounding effort so we need to limit turnovers, create turnovers and shoot more to make more.

In the 3 games I mentioned, we made less shots-89 to 81, made less 3's 25-20 and lost the free throws made 47-34, resulting in being outscored 250-216. And we were out rebounded 117-94. The good new for me is the line-up has changed to push the pace with point guards but we do lose our best open court player in Aubrey. Ultimately, we will need Ice to continue to develop her game to get us 15-20 min a game and help with the rebounding.

And yes, we need to have Paige, Nika, Q and KK take more 3 point shots as we are averaging 19.3 shots per game which is less shots than Iowa (26.7), Stanford, (24.4), UCLA (22.4) and Colorado (21.7). Considering we make 38.3% that would help us. Ash, Ice and Aaliyah need to resist taking 3s as their percentages are not so good.

 

[OldSchooler]

Is it possible that taking fewer shots but making a much higher percentage of them means UConn is being more selective in its shooting? Pushing the pace, just to take more shots, might lower that percentage.

 

[Rowdy831]

Five teams on that list will pose significant problems for UConn in the tournament and four will be games UConn will win. The issue early and the issue late will be the same thing and that is matching up with teams with length and decent guard play. UConn (Geno) has decided to be the best small team in the country and I think that he has accomplished that much like Ohio State last year. They will need a lot of help to win it all but LSU showed sometime you can get it.

The roster right now has 5 players who are consistent contributors and 4 that are not consistent or just don't play. The two options are play with the starting five as much as possible or pick a couple that need to grow into the role even if they slow the team down right now. Geno tends to play players 40 minutes if these are his choices and I think that option wins the Big East hands down and gets them at least into the second week of the tournament. After that match ups will be important.