Xavier Postgame Thread

[pghhuskydoc]

Another thing I liked about this game?
Lou saying “Enough is enough!” When she got clocked on both ends of the floor. Don’t blame her at all for getting ticked.
Also loved Caroline sticking up for her teammate there.

 

[HuskyNan]

The team was up 18 and looked like it would run away with the game then Geno subbed in 2 freshmen and, boom, big turnaround. Then Amari, and Xavier went up 2 points. During tournament time, the team will need to be up 30 before Geno puts both in at the same time.

 

[pacific 44]

Congrats to Nika on breaking Sue Bird;s assist record. Hard to believe that she missed two lay-ups in a row or that Ms. Edwards sent two air-mail passes up into the crowd but senior night has always produced unusual Uconn performances. I guarantee that this team will be much sharper when the conference rolls around.

 

[topogigio]

That was just a painful game to watch. One can only hope the break this week will allow for some healing and get the team back on track, but there just seems to be something amiss with this group. Driving blindly into players in the paint, missing easy layups, throwing ridiculous passes, missing defensive assignments, no crisp passing and cutting, and on and on. Sure there were some bright spots, but lets face it, Xavier is a horrible team, and even with injuries and fatigue this should have been an easy 20+ point blowout. What the heck happened to Amari, she looks like she never played basketball in her life?

 

[Surly1]

Yes, congrats are in order after a taxing season. A regular season championship is never something to be taken for granted or assumed.

However, as Bill Maher opines, "I don't know it for a fact...I just know that it is true," the wheels are not calibrated. In watching the Indiana/Iowa yesterday, it was like watching past UConn offenses of old. Yes, the team picked up a win and gutted it out, but it was against bottom dweller Xavier.

it doesn't portend well moving forward if the team continues to struggle offensively in the half court offense given the their penchant for turning the ball over.

Hopefully, things will turn around, but they are aren't heading into the postseason riding a wave of momentum.

 

[Topdawg]

Congratulations to Dorka and Lou for their invaluable contributions through the season! Congratulations to Nika for breaking the single season assist record!

This was a win. Not the prettiest.

The positives:
1. We had a rebound advantage and defended well in stretches.
2. Aaliyah, Caroline, and Lou scored in double digits.
3. Nika made 7 assists to break Sue’s single season record.
4. We won the game

What did not look good
1. We had 17 turn overs.
2. We let them go on a few runs on account of defensive lapses
3. We missed too many easy shots
4. We did not take enough shots.
5. They “won” the second half

The bench helped with minutes. They struggled today too.

Hopefully the team can now get some rest and come back with Azzi in the rotation For the BE tournament.

 

[EasyEd]

Geno needs to solve the offensive problems before we get to post season. UConn shot arount 60% in first quarter wher Nika broke Sue's record. I'm not sure if Nika wasn't finding players at the right time after that or if UConn has totally lost their shooting touch. When we shoot 40% we're not an elite team. Even though they're still around 50% for the year, they haven't shot that for several weeks. We're a good team because we mostly play pretty good defense, But the team that scores the most points wins. And that is going to be a challenge going forward.

 

[LarryLegend]

Having a hard time understanding the lack of consideration for what these players have endured this season. Of course they arent playing to the normal UCONN standard. They are all exhausted and playing with injuries. And yet they keep winning. It may be ugly. But its courageous.

 

[Rb335]

A note about the fatigue. Team has failed to reach 70 points in 8 of the last 10 games. Averaging 64 ppg since we returned home from Knoxville. MOV less than 10 (or a loss) in 9 of the 10 games. Biggest MOV 10 points over Providence.

Today, the scoring by quarter was 20, 16, 14, 10. You can see the physical fatigue in the shot making. You can see the mental fatigue in the decision making.

I do hope this week brings some rejuvenation. Hopefully the post season environment will reenergize them. Tonight felt like a formality, glad to have won and walked away relatively in one piece.

 

[Centerstream]

I am waiting for a game where the announcers don't have to say that our opponent is very physical. I lost track on how many times players (both teams actually) were on the floor and no whistle was heard.

 

[Geesworld]

It's been one hell of a regular season. Hats of to the Big East competition that have pushed us to earn this title. Congrats to the Big East regular season champs

Now I got to say a win is a win....But this team should be better than a 9 point win against this Xavier team. It starts with the careless turnovers. The last game of the regular season, I was hoping for the kind of game that would carry us into the Big East tourney on a positive note. Lots of physical play this season and I think it's taken it's toll on the ladies. I feel bad for Lou as i think her frustrations finally reached the boiling point on her technical foul. Geno it's ok to lobby for justice from officials. I think your players have earned it.

Now the real season starts. Im so excited to watch this team fight their hearts out. GO UCONN!

 

[JBK]

2 points from the Bench; 17 turnovers; we beat Xavier, a team we should beat on our worst day, easily. Congrats to Nika for getting the season assist record, she deserves it. Thank you to Lou and Dorka for being important parts of our team. I don't have a lot to say that is positive about this game, maybe I expected more. On to the Big East Tournament. 40 percent from the field/29 percent from 3 pt. land. Lots of ups and downs.

Really happy for the team and these dedicated ladies who try their best in a very demanding program.
I guess we are nervous for them because we kinda limped to the finish line and the last 3 weeks were probably the worst we have seen in decades. Based on points scored, losses and turnovers. I know many of us follow the men and they seem to be peaking at the right time.
With that said, we are excited for rest and time for the GOAT Geno to get it figured out and qe all have confidence he can.
We need Dorka
We need Azzi
We need to figure out how to score 80 points again.
Let the tournaments begin.
I love Gigi quote. “ when you think you can’t “ _______

 

[msf22b]

I said earlier
Let's see what they look like tonight
(before we complain about our ranking)

There were a few positives:

For a while...it was clear that a 2nd scorer would open up the UConn offense...and for periods...Caroline provided that 2nd scorer...even though Lou was not particularly sharp with the exception of a tiny period... it didn't matter...There was single coverage...That was a segment in which the bigs had more room to operate and Lou was not hounded unmercifully.

And there was a period in the 2nd half, that the defense looked good and the lead went back to double digits.

(That's the good part....)

But the defense became careless in the middle of the first quarter, Xavier took heart, and the UConn offense became stagnant and loose. The magic never really returned...a dogfight, a slog, the rest of the way...too bad.

The Lou episode in the 2nd half seemed pretty unfair as she clearly was being targeted, molested, jostled, as always (there is a prohibited word on this site, I'm not sure what has been occurring rises to that level, but there are plenty of synonyms)...And we don't know what impolite words she uttered to achieve the technical...I hope they were choice...

And so back to a conclusion...At this point in time (remember that stupid phrase), UConn does not look like a championship team...Much too much effort is required to get mediocre if relatively positive results...It's so much easier and requires much less energy. when the shooters shoot, the team moves and the entire procedure almost looks like a ballet.

The last couple of games more resembled a prize fight...players getting banged up and all the effort...(surely one recognizes the effort) is in a sense wasted energy...Much too much expended against an inferior opponent such as what we faced this evening.

But that's where they are right now; every game is a scrum...and a bunch in a row may be too much for even UConn to handle.

And bringing in another shooter; even an Azzi Fudd nay not make a substantial difference for this season at least.

Ed...later
Oh yes, the bench...which I have been bellyaching about...Not so useful tonight eh?

The 2 bigs confusion on D was pretty noticeable...
Ines was mostly unobjectionable, got back nicely on a fast break but was not included in the offense...(or didn't force her way in...she wouldn't would she...
Still looks athletic...
Deberry looked pretty lost...too bad

 

[maple]

And bringing in another shooter; even an Azzi Fudd nay not make a substantial difference for this season at least.

Geno just said in the post game that even if came back tomorrow she would need time to get back into the swing of things. She's not gonna come back from injury and start dropping 30 points every game. The biggest advantage to Azzi being back would just being able to put someone on the floor who could be a reliable sub.

 

[mudblood]

Geno needs to solve the offensive problems before we get to post season. UConn shot arount 60% in first quarter wher Nika broke Sue's record. I'm not sure if Nika wasn't finding players at the right time after that or if UConn has totally lost their shooting touch. When we shoot 40% we're not an elite team. Even though they're still around 50% for the year, they haven't shot that for several weeks. We're a good team because we mostly play pretty good defense, But the team that scores the most points wins. And that is going to be a challenge going forward.

It wend south as soon as Geno put the subs in. The reality is that we have a rotation of 6, of which one is currently injured (Dorka), and one is still lacking conditioning for extended minutes (Caroline). If they’ll be 7 by tourney time and all in good shape, we’ll be at the FF again. If not, not.

 

[fomalhaut]

In the first quarter they were playing well and I thought Muhl might get 20 assists (she had 6 in about 8 minutes). No idea what happened after that. Edwards made a couple of the worst passes I've seen all year. And she should be getting 20 pts and 10 rebounds in her sleep (Patterson had 3 rebounds in 10 minutes).

 

[UConnCat]

He's not wrong

 

[UConnCat]

Again, he's not wrong. This was against Xavier.

 

[BobbyJ]

Ugliest game of the season by far. Just some inexplicable things done on the court, missing point-blank layups, head-scratching passes, defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown. Xavier is all kinds of awful and UConn matched them tonight.

Bench was as bad as it's been all season and showed why they aren't reliable even against teams as awful as Xavier.

I say this while fully appreciating what this team has been through and accomplished. Despite all that, something is not right with this team. There isn't enough time before the BET for Geno to go back to training camp as he said post-game. Something like that may need to happen between the BET and NCAAT after a few days of rest.

I was thinking this is the first season in a long time when I don't feel confident penciling UConn in for the BET championship game. I'm now worried about Saturday's game.

You are right. Whether some people don't see it or don't want to believe it, the team they're putting on the floor right now has multiple athletic and skills challenges along with the depth problem and is not more talented than most of the teams they're playing at this stage of the season. The margin of error is so thin that they can't get away with playing dumb ball. They have people handling the ball in the open court and on the perimeter that shouldn't be but they have no options available. It's a recipe for TO's and it's just choking their offense which is without shooters to begin with.

 

[HuskyNan]

Taking his share of the blame

 

[Littlemin]

Honestly i don’t know what people expect.

Well one thing seems obvious, it is a fan base that clearly values style points over wins.

 

[and one]

Geno just said in the post game that even if came back tomorrow she would need time to get back into the swing of things. She's not gonna come back from injury and start dropping 30 points every game. The biggest advantage to Azzi being back would just being able to put someone on the floor who could be a reliable sub.

Having Azzi back on the floor can only be a good thing. However...she won't solve the systemic issues with this team. An additional scorer is a big help but she will not reduce the turnovers, lack of offensive flow, missed layups, and defensive lapses that have been on display for game after game.

UConn recruits players that aspire to win championships and most of them hope become pro players. Even tired and short-handed they should be able to clearly outplay a bad team. Xavier didn't look particularly worse than UConn and that is a problem.

 

[Cornell Lt]

Taking his share of the blame

BINGO