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Post by semper on Mar 17, 2021 7:23:11 GMT -5
I hate this. My worst fears on parade:
"No. 2 Baylor will make the Final Four It’s easy to forget that the Lady Bears are the defending national champions. It feels like a generation ago that they knocked off Notre Dame in the 2019 title game. If they want to become the first team since Breanna Stewart’s UConn to repeat as champions, they’ll likely have to get past Paige Bueckers’ UConn in the Elite Eight first. Then again, assuming the Geno-less Huskies make it to the second weekend, they could have Rhyne Howard or Caitlin Clark waiting for them, so nothing is guaranteed. If UConn and Baylor do meet up in the Elite Eight, we’ll finally get to see a matchup that the pandemic robbed us of in January. UConn will be the favorite, and not just by virtue of their better seed, but DiDi Richards might be one of the few defenders in the country who can match up with Bueckers one-on-one. If she can turn it into a game of four-on-four, Baylor could end UConn’s run of 12 straight Final Fours." |
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Post by swash on Mar 17, 2021 8:38:26 GMT -5
I hate this. My worst fears on parade:
"No. 2 Baylor will make the Final Four It’s easy to forget that the Lady Bears are the defending national champions. It feels like a generation ago that they knocked off Notre Dame in the 2019 title game. If they want to become the first team since Breanna Stewart’s UConn to repeat as champions, they’ll likely have to get past Paige Bueckers’ UConn in the Elite Eight first. Then again, assuming the Geno-less Huskies make it to the second weekend, they could have Rhyne Howard or Caitlin Clark waiting for them, so nothing is guaranteed. If UConn and Baylor do meet up in the Elite Eight, we’ll finally get to see a matchup that the pandemic robbed us of in January. UConn will be the favorite, and not just by virtue of their better seed, but DiDi Richards might be one of the few defenders in the country who can match up with Bueckers one-on-one. If she can turn it into a game of four-on-four, Baylor could end UConn’s run of 12 straight Final Fours." DiDi is a top defender and deserves accolades for that and for her return from injury. But remember these critical points: - The top defenders can only be starters if they contribute effectively on the offensive end. Aubrey is also a stellar defender. If she could score more efficiently, she'd play more. In other words, Richards is not the best defender in the land. She's the best one that plays a ton of minutes
- In addition to Aubrey, Paige also has to battle Nika and Mir and Evina in practice
- Bueckers has been doubled and face-guarded and such all season (and in HS, too). We've seen her shot be off, but nobody has been able to stop her from getting the shot she wants
- As fantastic as Supergirl has been, the rest of the team has rounded into better shape of late, so a defensive plan focused only on stopping the one player will fail miserably
- Baylor Needs a low scoring affair - Their two stumbles gave up 83=Loss, 75=Loss. In fact, they are only 3-2 when giving up 70. Meanwhile, UCONN "struggled offensively" at TN and scored 67. The only other game under 70 was SCar ... with only 63, but there were many open looks that just refused to fall in that game. Further, that was the game where everyone except Paige was afraid to shoot at all. The Wunderkind took 26 shots. Christyn was next with only 11, Liv 10, and Aaliyah took 9 - most of which were put-backs
No one player is going to neutralize Paige. |
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Post by UConnChapette on Mar 17, 2021 9:03:12 GMT -5
It is all just talk. This is why they play the games :-)
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Post by grrrrr on Mar 17, 2021 9:03:20 GMT -5
100% agree. No one player can stop her, because of both her ungodly toolbox of offensive moves and the fact that her teammates set great screens for her. If they try help defense she will pick them apart with her passing.
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Post by bulkey on Mar 17, 2021 9:04:23 GMT -5
I read the same entry semper did, but swash's response is a lot better than what I thought at the time.
Every great player eventually runs into a team with a great defender. No one can predict who wins that particular battle. But it's an obvious one, and UConn, because of its offense (5-out motion, read and react) is certainly better equipped than most to free up Paige, should Baylor go man-to-man or box and 1, perhaps not to light up with 30 points, but at least to hand out 14 assists again.
The only team I lose sleep over is Stanford. They are not just very, very good, they are deserving. I hadn't realized that, in order to compete, they stayed away from campus for 63 straight days during the pandemic. That's really heroic, damn it!
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Post by swash on Mar 17, 2021 10:25:23 GMT -5
I read the same entry semper did, but swash's response is a lot better than what I thought at the time. Every great player eventually runs into a team with a great defender. No one can predict who wins that particular battle. But it's an obvious one, and UConn, because of its offense (5-out motion, read and react) is certainly better equipped than most to free up Paige, should Baylor go man-to-man or box and 1, perhaps not to light up with 30 points, but at least to hand out 14 assists again. The only team I lose sleep over is Stanford. They are not just very, very good, they are deserving. I hadn't realized that, in order to compete, they stayed away from campus for 63 straight days during the pandemic. That's really heroic, damn it! Stanford and ... gulp. I hate to say it ... Maryland are the two most dangerous teams for UCONN fans to worry about. If I read the brackets correctly, we will play at most one of those two. Others are certainly capable of threatening our gang, just that those two can out score you even if you have a good game. I'd be delighted to have someone else do the dirty work of eliminating those two. I still believe that Brenda's gang could fall in an upset much earlier than expected, as is their MO, but they have a very strong combination of players at the offensive end. Their defense is pretty terrible, as in - shout "MISS" when they take a shot. They gave up nearly a hundred in two signature wins. That's the trouble. They gave up 90+ and still won the game. Anther factoid: a bunch of top recruits were asked who was the toughest player to play against in AAU. Azzi and Paige both said Ashley Owusu. Everyone else said one of those three. |
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Post by doggydaddy on Mar 17, 2021 14:58:12 GMT -5
Sigh......
It's only Wednesday?
I hope they meet Baylor. Edwards vs Smith would be worth the price of admission.
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Post by doggydaddy on Mar 17, 2021 15:16:19 GMT -5
Also, who is Hoops Stats?
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Post by swash on Mar 17, 2021 15:25:32 GMT -5
Also, who is Hoops Stats? It's a pretty good data site, but there is a cost to get it all |
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Post by linkster on Mar 17, 2021 15:47:48 GMT -5
One thing in UConn's favor is that Baylor will likely be playing Tenn in the S16 and the winner gets UConn after 1 day off. Neither team has much outside shooting so it should be a battle royal under the glass and hopefully the winner will have burned themselves out. Most of UConn's losses in the tournament come when their opponent has 5 or 6 days to prepare. In the last 12 years of NCAA's UConn has either won it all or lost in the FF semis.
I was happy to see that they would meet Stanford in the final after Tara will have had but a day to prepare.
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BJ42
Purebred Husky
Posts: 458
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Post by BJ42 on Mar 17, 2021 16:41:40 GMT -5
Sigh...... It's only Wednesday? I hope they meet Baylor. Edwards vs Smith would be worth the price of admission. Same here. I'd be interested to see Richards play PG and try to find cutters with Muhl and CW up in her grill. |
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Post by bulkey on Mar 17, 2021 16:46:38 GMT -5
Also, who is Hoops Stats? the paywall is here: herhoopstats.com/but there's a free newsletter you can subscribe to: herhoopstats@substack.com |
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Post by doggydaddy on Mar 17, 2021 18:05:05 GMT -5
Just read my blog for 3/17. All questions will be answered.
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Post by rvwsleep on Mar 18, 2021 6:43:58 GMT -5
UConn has already beaten the 2 best defensive teams that they faced this year (South Carolina and Tennessee). Who also happen to be 2 of the best defensive teams in the country.
Baylor is a very good team, but there are other teams, with better offenses, that would worry me more.
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