Quinnipiac vs Uconn

[oldude]

I agree. The other style they could face that worries me is a team with real bigs. Neither of those teams had any real inside defensive or offensive presence.

The Huskies will have a tuneup with a team with real BIGS when they beat SC for a 2nd time.

 

[HoopsFan21]

The Huskies will have a tuneup with a team with real BIGS when they beat SC for a 2nd time.

Assuming we both get that far. Buffalo may very well be that team Geno was talking about where you hope you get to play them at your own peril like a Dayton.

 

[oldude]

Assuming we both get that far. Buffalo may very well be that team Geno was talking about where you hope you get to play them at your own peril like a Dayton.

I really enjoyed watching Buffalo take down FSU last night. Would love to see them do the same vs SC, but I don’t think they’ll have any answers for Wilson.

 

[meyers7]

Credit to Quinnipiac and Coach Fabrri. Well executed game plan - take the air out of the ball. Very scrappy team.

Good game for UConn. Showed patience. Pheesa, Kia and Z - great games. Good defense on our part to take away Quinnipiac's 3 point game.

Win and Advance.

Agree. However I hate games like that where one team decides they don't want to play and they aren't gonna let the other team play either. Makes for a very disjointed, unappealing game. I completely understand why they did it, and they carried it out very well. And the refs helped by ignoring the holds and bumps on every cut.

But like you said, at this time of year. Win and Advance.

 

[OldAlum]

I was at the game. A person next to me commented "Kind of a 20 point lead nailbiter". Not as much fun to watch as Saturday's game but interesting. Q had really good perimeter defense which mad passes into the post difficult. And they were very careful not to turn it over. I do wish that Q had played to win later in the game. Towards the end of the 3rd they were still waiting until the end of the shot clock when it was apparent that they would run out of time even if they made their shots. Even one of the players commented that waiting that long messed with their offensive rhythm. I wish that the coach had let them play their usual style at least towards the end, rather than going for the "moral victory" (loss) of a 25 point loss.

Funny how your perception can deceive you. It seemed like Q was shooting well as they seemed to make a shot at the end of the shot clock early on. Then I would look at the stat board and see that they are shooting 33%. And of course the opposite for UConn.

It looked like Z had trouble with the quick smaller players harassing her at some points but did some great work too. Pheesa was great, Lou did well, and Kia was a rock. (She gave a goofy wave to the crowd when they cheered her after her interview). Dangerfield just didnt seem as in charge as usual. Gabby looked off from the start. She seemed to be moving okay, so I wondered about migraines. She was just out of sync. I thought the officiating was a bit uneven, but it is difficult from the stands.

It was a great crowd with fans and bands from both sides. There were some empty seats. I wondered about it, as they didnt show up on any of the sites I looked at when buying (and were not in blocks that could mean given to another school). I always figured during the regular season that some season ticket holders didnt make the game, but that cant be the case here. It was a lot for the "couldnt make the time or unexpected events" reasons. I did manage to upgrade my position! Only in the upper section, though - frustrating to see lovely lower seats go empty while guarded carefully. And, hey, I got free socks!

 

[huskeynut]

Agree. However I hate games like that where one team decides they don't want to play and they aren't gonna let the other team play either. Makes for a very disjointed, unappealing game. I completely understand why they did it, and they carried it out very well. And the refs helped by ignoring the holds and bumps on every cut.

But like you said, at this time of year. Win and Advance.

Expect it to continue. Every coach knows UConn is at its best when they run. They can run you into the ground and out of the gym. Your game plan is one to give you a chance to win. Some here have complained that a slow down game leaves UConn vulnerable. Last night proved that concept wrong. And it was done without a ton of 3's. UConn can play uptempo and the slow down game.

Duke is next. Duke is not going to want to run with us. They don't have the horses.

 

[Bronxjeff]

If I had invested my time and money to see this game in person...I would want a refund.

Quinnipiac played to not lose big, which imo, really makes for a fraud of a contest. I have much more respect for a team like St Francis which played to the spirit of the game and true to themselves.

Quinnipiac made a choice between losing big and losing bigger. The Quinnipiac players know this. Do you think it made them feel good about the nature of the loss? I don't think so.

The game was a turnoff.

You expressed what I didn’t realize I was trying to say above. Thank you! I think I particularly the St Francis team deserves more credit for their effort but also their plan and execution.

 

[oldude]

I was really impressed with UConn’s patience on offense, particularly in the 3rd Qtr when the Huskies shot 77%. It’s not always easy for a high scoring team like UConn to “gear down” and painstakingly run their half-court offense.

After the game Geno commented that the type of game UConn was forced to play vs the Q was extremely beneficial for the Huskies. If JPM, Dawn or any other coach in the tournament attempts to “take the air out of the ball” the Huskies will be ready.

 

[UcMiami]

I really don't see how anyone can blame either of the coaches or teams Uconn faced this year. Neither of them had a legitimate chance to beat Uconn (Uconn is 25-0 in the second round over the last 25 years.) SF went with what they always do - run, while Q changed their style and slowed the game down. The only chance either team had was to get red hot from three and then pray Uconn couldn't find the basket. And neither of those two things happened. And whether they had a plan B ... it just didn't make a difference, because they didn't have the talent.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Agree. However I hate games like that where one team decides they don't want to play and they aren't gonna let the other team play either. Makes for a very disjointed, unappealing game. I completely understand why they did it, and they carried it out very well. And the refs helped by ignoring the holds and bumps on every cut.

But like you said, at this time of year. Win and Advance.

Though I enjoyed the win - this is my sentiment exactly. I prefer an uptempo game. But kudos to Quinn.

 

[Centerstream]

In the 1st quarter at about the 7:40 mark, it looked like Lou got head butted in the chin as McClure was backing into her with the ball. Lou grabbed her chin immediately and then afterwards she was moving her jaw as if it was hurting. Was this ever mentioned? I guess it's just another example of Lou taking one for the team.

 

[cohenzone]

I'm a tad baffled. Isn't the object of the game to win? StFran decided to play up-tempo because that's how they play. They lost by about 80. Coach was proud of them. Quinn. decided to play slowly to limit UConn's opportunities. They lost by 25. How does either approach make any sense? Once an opponent is down by mucho, wouldn't a good team adjust? Try something else? Quinn. supposedly can gear it up whenever they choose. But weren't they so far down by the time they switched tempo that it really didn't matter? If A doesn't work and B doesn't work, then what? I'm afraid their coach will be proud of them as well for losing by less than they might have. Anyway, it's on to Albany and a fun chance to topple Duke and then the pretending champions.

There is no strategy St.Francis or QU could have devised to beat UConn short of kidnapping the team. None. The talent, size and quickness differential is too big. St. Francis’s style was the stupid one.

How much does UConn’s success change perspective?QU played as well as I think they could. One of their players commented that they gave UConn a run for their money. I know what she was thinking but, uh sorry, you didn’t. They lost by 25. In a normal basketball world that’s a rout. All they did was the opposite of St. Francis by holding the ball and not going for offensive rebounds in order to stop UConn from fast breaking. It was their only hope. Good well coached team, but not anywhere near giving UConn a hard time.

 

[drweo]

In the 1st quarter at about the 7:40 mark, it looked like Lou got head butted in the chin as McClure was backing into her with the ball. Lou grabbed her chin immediately and then afterwards she was moving her jaw as if it was hurting. Was this ever mentioned? I guess it's just another example of Lou taking one for the team.

I noticed that too, though I didnt see the contact. The camera was on her as she rubbed her chin several times as she went down the court, but the announcers never commented on it so the incident (whatever it was) never got played back. That was only one of several times they were talking about something besides what was happening on the court.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

UConn scored more points per possession than they average during the season. Projected to their normal shot output they were on pace for 96 points. Seen in that light UConn actually executed really well offensively. But you can see the advantages for an opponent that takes 25+ seconds off every possession.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

I wonder where the purists are with these past two games. St Francis a reminder of (to use Geno's comparison) Westhead's Loyola Marymount teams and then the Quinnipiac game, more Dean Smith style where you minimize possessions to the opposition. I suppose we won't hear from USA Today complaining about Quinnipiac's approach from last night, and how it ruins the women's game, will we?