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Post by doggydaddy on Apr 2, 2024 15:58:38 GMT -5
Nah, didn't link this story. I usually don't do ESPN stuff. If you would read my blog you would know it.
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Post by doggydaddy on Apr 2, 2024 16:09:35 GMT -5
Anybody can have an off night or run out of steam at this junction. The Uconn starting five is better than Iowa's IMO. JuJU was a nightmare to guard because of her ability to put fouls on players. Nika is a seasoned PG, and KK and Ashlynn were both highly regarded coming out of HS. Ice was a top 5 in HS and Q doesn't even know what she is yet. Geno has never gone more than 8 players in tourney, realistically. I refuse to think about injured players in March. To me it's just an excuse when something doesn't work out. It is and has been like this for 3 months. Just to put some numbers with this. USC bench minutes in the Regional games - 48 / 400 UCONN bench minutes in the Regional games - 46 / 400 All the starters should have been tired. In their game against LSU, Iowa's starters played 40, 40, 39, 37, 21 minutes each. The bench played a total of 23 minutes. This will be a game that is around even in minutes played by the starters and the same issue with foul trouble. In fact, if both Ice and Q both get double digit minutes again, UConn will be deeper than Iowa.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Apr 2, 2024 16:25:20 GMT -5
One more time from a slightly different angle: Who needs Mt. Rushmore when you're on top of Mt. Everest? Yeah, I thought it was a nice start.
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Post by swash on Apr 2, 2024 17:11:04 GMT -5
Honestly, I find humor in the fact that Geno keeps downplaying his team that has two all americans. Some kind of KOOL AID . I'll give you the two AAs, but let's not get too crazy. Both are playing out of position and are undersized for the spots they are playing. Both are playing 40 minutes and are under duress to play very tight defense without fouling out. Neither gets star treatment from the stripes, either. Further, they are starting with two frosh (who have been beyond all reasonable expectations and most unreasonable ones, too). Their subs are another freshman and a red-shirt freshman, each of whom has struggled to get up to speed all season, and are finally getting there. Finally, there are three or four potential All Americans in street clothes on the bench. With a loss last night, this campaign would have been labeled nothing less than heroic. A credit to the program. Making the FF, elevates that even more
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Apr 2, 2024 19:05:18 GMT -5
I definitely think UConn can beat Iowa. They need to hound CC as much as possible with 1 on 1 coverage and essentially force her to try and win the game herself while making a ton of tough contested shots. The other option is to blitz the crap out of her and force the ball out of her hands, but that of course opens up her finding open teammates who move well off the ball. unconventional, but make CC beat you from deep. She scores and gets fouled all the time in the lane... dishes well, too. So, if she gets 20 threes... congrats. But that will offer a ton of rebounds. I think they should play her pretty much head's up, and try to deny her the ball when she's not bringing the ball up the floor. And they have to play really smart team defense, because - and this may come as a surprise - CC's 3-pt percentage (38.0% is only a tick better than Iowa's team's average (37.8). What you don't want to do, I think, is to drop off the supporting cast too much and allow *them* to shoot wide open threes from a much shorter distance than Caitlin often shoots from. I don't know who Clark will be guarding, but I think it' important that that player - if it's Ashlynn or KK - run and run and run when the Huskies are on offense and make CC exert a lot of energy on the defensive end, and, with luck, commit an early foul or two chasing the cutters. They're best big, Stuelke, is a very good player, but she *is* foul prone, and hopefully Aaliyah can put some pressure on her early.
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Apr 2, 2024 19:25:37 GMT -5
Classic Nika in the postgame. Everything about her - what she says, how she says it, her entire demeanor, oozes “Coach”. When Nika arrived on campus, I was like "who is this? Never heard of her? Is she any good?". Now I am like "Nika, don't go!!! Stay another year!" There will never be another Nika. She is charming, fierce, funny, sarcastic, confident, and wears her heart on her sleeve. She will go up on MY Huskies Wall of Honor. The Crafty Croatian. Nika's Wiki article states that she signed with UConn in part because Geno was the first coach to personally recruit her. One wonders if his trip to Croatia, to recruit a player who certainly wasn't the fastest, or tallest, or best-shooting guard in Europe, was occasioned, in part, by Croatia's proximity to Geno's beloved Italy, and, perhaps, worked a side trip to his homeland into that journey to the Adriatic crescent. Of such accidents of geography is history sometimes made.
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Post by swash on Apr 2, 2024 21:03:42 GMT -5
unconventional, but make CC beat you from deep. She scores and gets fouled all the time in the lane... dishes well, too. So, if she gets 20 threes... congrats. But that will offer a ton of rebounds. I think they should play her pretty much head's up, and try to deny her the ball when she's not bringing the ball up the floor. And they have to play really smart team defense, because - and this may come as a surprise - CC's 3-pt percentage (38.0% is only a tick better than Iowa's team's average (37.8). What you don't want to do, I think, is to drop off the supporting cast too much and allow *them* to shoot wide open threes from a much shorter distance than Caitlin often shoots from. I don't know who Clark will be guarding, but I think it' important that that player - if it's Ashlynn or KK - run and run and run when the Huskies are on offense and make CC exert a lot of energy on the defensive end, and, with luck, commit an early foul or two chasing the cutters. They're best big, Stuelke, is a very good player, but she *is* foul prone, and hopefully Aaliyah can put some pressure on her early. When CC drives, she usually scores or is fouled... often both. She also hits open cutters or teammates spotting up for threes. What essentially never happens is that there's a good outcome for the defense. LSU just let her go inside several times. I suspect that wasn't just Reese slacking. Giving up a two is better than 3 points and another foul. USC is a better rebounding team than Iowa. Make it nearly impossible to drive, at the peril of having her go nuts from deep. She rarely attempts a midrange shot. Even her best games only have 10-12 made threes. NCAA tournament record is 9 made threes. Give her that, and see how much disruption happens when that's all she can do. Fight like crazy to get all the rebounds.
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Post by huskyharper on Apr 2, 2024 23:19:03 GMT -5
Remember people, the last time UConn played Iowa, Nike "wore Caitlin's shorts" the whole game. That is what CC said in the huddle. I am going out on a limb here, and say UConn should just play straight up defense on all of them. The only player who shouldn't be switched on to CC is KK, because she's too short to be effective. Still, these young women have me believing.
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Post by magic on Apr 3, 2024 6:58:37 GMT -5
CC is going to get her points. Iowa has been getting help from their support players. More than I expected to this point. LSU was beaten down court several times on fast breaks and HVL was a poor choice as defender on CC. Keep Nika right in CC's grill from baseline to baseline. At this junction Aaliyah " must " be able to handle Stuelke . Martin is the X factor. She likes to go to spots for three's. Yes, CC will hit her logo thre's a few times. This rattles many teams. Remember , I don't think Iowa has anyone that can handle Paige. Anything can happen in FF , but I like the matchup, if Uconn has legs left. We won't know until the the game.
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tipin
Purebred Husky
Posts: 272
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Post by tipin on Apr 3, 2024 7:57:49 GMT -5
CC is going to get her points. Iowa has been getting help from their support players. More than I expected to this point. LSU was beaten down court several times on fast breaks and HVL was a poor choice as defender on CC. Keep Nika right in CC's grill from baseline to baseline. At this junction Aaliyah " must " be able to handle Stuelke . Martin is the X factor. She likes to go to spots for three's. Yes, CC will hit her logo thre's a few times. This rattles many teams. Remember , I don't think Iowa has anyone that can handle Paige. Anything can happen in FF , but I like the matchup, if Uconn has legs left. We won't know until the the game. +1
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Post by meyers7 on Apr 3, 2024 8:26:06 GMT -5
Just to put some numbers with this. USC bench minutes in the Regional games - 48 / 400 UCONN bench minutes in the Regional games - 46 / 400 All the starters should have been tired. In their game against LSU, Iowa's starters played 40, 40, 39, 37, 21 minutes each. The bench played a total of 23 minutes. This will be a game that is around even in minutes played by the starters and the same issue with foul trouble. In fact, if both Ice and Q both get double digit minutes again, UConn will be deeper than Iowa. True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery. Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN.
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Post by doggydaddy on Apr 3, 2024 9:44:43 GMT -5
In their game against LSU, Iowa's starters played 40, 40, 39, 37, 21 minutes each. The bench played a total of 23 minutes. This will be a game that is around even in minutes played by the starters and the same issue with foul trouble. In fact, if both Ice and Q both get double digit minutes again, UConn will be deeper than Iowa. True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery. Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN. I regards to Friday’s game, my point was in a competitive game Iowa will use minimal bench.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Apr 3, 2024 11:43:37 GMT -5
So much great stuff in Dan Connolly's just out free newsletter (uconnwbbweekly@mail.beehiiv.com) that I'm going to go a bit nuts here, but in snippets. To address Chappy's wish for a netcutting: While all other programs cut down the nets after advancing to the Final Four, UConn went into the locker room to continue its postgame celebration with the twine still intact.
That was the players’ decision.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Auriemma said. “I came off the court and they told me that they weren’t doing it.”
The Huskies haven’t done it since 2008. When they advanced the next season, Renee Montgomery said they had “unfinished business” at the Final Four, so they didn’t cut down the nets until they won the national championship. It’s since become tradition.I absolutely love this tradition. 'We came here for just one thing.'
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Apr 3, 2024 11:47:44 GMT -5
CC is going to get her points. Iowa has been getting help from their support players. More than I expected to this point. LSU was beaten down court several times on fast breaks and HVL was a poor choice as defender on CC. Keep Nika right in CC's grill from baseline to baseline. At this junction Aaliyah " must " be able to handle Stuelke . Martin is the X factor. She likes to go to spots for three's. Yes, CC will hit her logo thre's a few times. This rattles many teams. Remember , I don't think Iowa has anyone that can handle Paige. Anything can happen in FF , but I like the matchup, if Uconn has legs left. We won't know until the the game. I thought Mulkey was a better coach. The logic of putting HVL on CC escapes me. I don't know who else HVL would gaurd, but you'd think there was someone else in that line up she would have a better shot at.
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BJ42
Purebred Husky
Posts: 452
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Post by BJ42 on Apr 3, 2024 11:58:44 GMT -5
In their game against LSU, Iowa's starters played 40, 40, 39, 37, 21 minutes each. The bench played a total of 23 minutes. This will be a game that is around even in minutes played by the starters and the same issue with foul trouble. In fact, if both Ice and Q both get double digit minutes again, UConn will be deeper than Iowa. True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery.
Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN. Brady says this fatigue thing is overrated and no problem after going 80 in 2 games back to back with no recovery day in the Big East tournament. And that was after many people questioned her conditioning level. A lot of folks have either never played competitive HS or college BB or have forgotten what it's like to be 20 yo and in real BB shape.
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Post by bulkey on Apr 3, 2024 12:08:35 GMT -5
True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery.
Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN. Brady says this fatigue thing is overrated and no problem after going 80 in 2 games back to back with no recovery day in the Big East tournament. And that was after many people questioned her conditioning level. A lot of folks have either never played competitive HS or college BB or have forgotten what it's like to be 20 yo and in real BB shape. Couldn't agree more! I'm certainly not an aerobic master with great VO2-max, but I used to play basketball--competitive and street ball--for hours and hours. There are so many breaks built into a 40 minute game that heart rate rarely redlines for more than a couple seconds and that's followed by lots of time to bring it down below the 80% level. Think of Tour de France riders who cycle for 6 hrs: they may redline up a mountain, but then they recover and can ride at pace for hours. The wall these players hit is mental. Playing highly competitive, super high stakes basketball is emotionally and mentally draining. Getting a couple of minutes of TLC from an assistant coach on the bench gives perspective and refreshes the spirit. That's what UConn can't do very much of this year. And that's why Nika, especially, occasionally does dumb things later in games, and why Paige can go through a cold streak. They are just mentally worn down.
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Post by meyers7 on Apr 3, 2024 12:10:31 GMT -5
True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery. Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN. I regards to Friday’s game, my point was in a competitive game Iowa will use minimal bench. Sure, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about the tiredness, particularly of 2 games in 3 days.
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Post by meyers7 on Apr 3, 2024 12:12:23 GMT -5
True, but it's more what happens over the 3 day 2 games. Most teams/players can go 40 minutes for a game. It's a lot harder going 80 minutes over 2 games with only 1 day recovery.
Iowa's bench put in 47 minutes in the 1st game (Colorado). Starters did 36, 35, 33, 26, 23. So to compare it with USC and UCONN, Iowa's bench had 70 minutes between the 2 games. Quite a bit more than USC and UCONN. Brady says this fatigue thing is overrated and no problem after going 80 in 2 games back to back with no recovery day in the Big East tournament. And that was after many people questioned her conditioning level. A lot of folks have either never played competitive HS or college BB or have forgotten what it's like to be 20 yo and in real BB shape. There's your answer.
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BJ42
Purebred Husky
Posts: 452
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Post by BJ42 on Apr 3, 2024 12:29:39 GMT -5
Brady says this fatigue thing is overrated and no problem after going 80 in 2 games back to back with no recovery day in the Big East tournament. And that was after many people questioned her conditioning level. A lot of folks have either never played competitive HS or college BB or have forgotten what it's like to be 20 yo and in real BB shape. Couldn't agree more! I'm certainly not an aerobic master with great VO2-max, but I used to play basketball--competitive and street ball--for hours and hours. There are so many breaks built into a 40 minute game that heart rate rarely redlines for more than a couple seconds and that's followed by lots of time to bring it down below the 80% level. Think of Tour de France riders who cycle for 6 hrs: they may redline up a mountain, but then they recover and can ride at pace for hours. The wall these players hit is mental. Playing highly competitive, super high stakes basketball is emotionally and mentally draining. Getting a couple of minutes of TLC from an assistant coach on the bench gives perspective and refreshes the spirit. That's what UConn can't do very much of this year. And that's why Nika, especially, occasionally does dumb things later in games, and why Paige can go through a cold streak. They are just mentally worn down. Agreed. And players never use it as an excuse, only fans do that. Being winded is different from being tired. Breathing difficulty can trick the mind into thinking you're tired. But it's amazing what you can do when the coach, as with Brady, says there's no breaks coming. That's when you learn toughness and it changes the way you play.
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