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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:10:08 GMT -5
I have a new player to dislike, and I have never seen this before. Raven Johnson...every time there were free throws and Nika would go to talk to Geno, Raven Johnson was in Nikka's personal space, just behind and mostly to the side of Nika, listening into every conversation. If Nika moved away, so did Johnson. If Nika went back, Johnson was right there. I suppose there are no rules against this, but I have never seen any player or any other team do this. She was blatantly listing in, even looking from Geno to Nika as each spoke. I find it akin to stealing signs in baseball. I just didn't like the invasion.
Was completely unable to access the board after my earlier post. I will read the thread to see if the take her was the same as most of us at the game - that SC got away with a LOT of uncalled fouls.
The crowd gets an A+. They were awesome! I may not have a voice tomorrow. And it has been a LONG time since I left a game with my ears ringing from the noise. While Caroline participated in the earliest warmup, she didn't come out for the second or third. She did not look sharp in the warmup. Not passing to the right person in their well-established patterns, and completely missing a couple of passes to her. She is not yet ready to come back.
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:13:22 GMT -5
For you folks up there, Massey has SC by 5 points, 67-62. Probability 61%. UConn covered the spread!
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:16:03 GMT -5
I think I like these refs. Boy are our women playing aggressive! Keep it up! No, they were AWFUL
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Feb 5, 2023 15:23:37 GMT -5
Our guys showed great competitive fire, and fought to the end, but I don't think we're ever going to a beat as good as South Carolina with only 7 assists. It took some spectacular (and mostly contested) drives to the basket by Aaliyah, Aubrey and Lou to keep us in the game.
I don't understand the praise in some quarters here for Geno's throwing the water bottle. The possession and the two points that move cost us would sure have come in handy when we're own so many points in the last 60-90 seconds that Nika and Lou both feel obliged to commit their fifth foul to keep us in the game. In those must-foul situations shouldn't be there a designated fouler in the game, when several starters are in foul trouble? Maybe he thought that his outburst would buy us some favorable calls down the stretch, but it didn't seem to me that that happened. In South Carolina lore they'll probably be scornfully mocking that water bottle toss the way some here mock the infamous Mulkey garment divestiture.
Aubrey had some great moment offensively, but I didn't think either she or Dorka did much on the defensive boards. UConn plays a lot of teams who are so afraid of their transition game, that UConn's defensive rebounds are often pretty much uncontested. South Carolina does have an outstanding rebounding team, but they shouldn't have had the dominance they had today. Nika and Aaliyah were exceptional throughout, and Lou was sensational in the second half. In fairness, perhaps Dorka's and Aubrey's failings on the boards were the result of the extra burden they had to carry (and the resulting fatigue) with Aaliyah missing quite a few minutes.
This game was quite unlike most of the other losses against top teams in recent years -- they scored quite a few points, thanks to some spectacular drives to the basket. Unfortunately they conceded a few too many lay-ups on second shots at the other end. And while neither Azzi nor Caroline is a imposing force on the boards, they might have given our bigs enough rest to make a big difference.
Most impressive of all, I think, is that our Fabulous Five fought more tenaciously, it seemed to me, than our guys did in some other tough losses in the last few years.
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:27:51 GMT -5
I can see why they take Edwards out when Boston goes out. Boston has been killing Dorka since Edwards picked up #4. Dorka just isn't strong enough to give Boston trouble. BTW. There's no crying in basketball. Oh, there's plenty of crying! And Dawn was whining up a storm, claiming a UConn foul on every scramble under the rim. I was surprised she didn't get T'd up. She was pointing at one of the refs (who was truly awful, no doubt) and I was really shocked they let it go. Geno gets called for a T, but not Dawn? Something ain't right.
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Post by RoyDodger on Feb 5, 2023 15:28:20 GMT -5
In last year’s championship game and in today’s game South Carolina had the good fortune to play a UConn team ravaged by injuries. I can only believe that with a healthy Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme, UConn would have won today. Boston is graduating and hopefully UConn withPaige, Azzi and Caroline back healthy next year, plus some exciting newcomers, there will be a very different look in Division 1 WCBB next year. South Carolina, enjoy it while you can!
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Post by grrrrr on Feb 5, 2023 15:29:51 GMT -5
Wasn't it fabulous the way FOX rushed it over to God damn bowling after the game? Everything you said was spot-on, Ken. But this last line really made me smile! Go from high stress, fast paced basketball to slow-as-molasses, watching-paint-dry bowling was quite the dicotomy!
and I like to bowl, just not to watch.
Just be glad they didn't switch to bowling at 2pm and put the game on fs2. Once again subjected to clueless announcers, this time I did mute parts of it. No offense to Pheesa, it wasn't her fault, but what the HELL was that? Can you imagine them doing something like that in a big men's game? Competent announcers would have pointed out who the foul was on as soon as it happened and how many that player had, and said who left and entered the game when it happened. No these two, too busy trying out for The View. Alan and Meg Wednesday, thank the Gods.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Feb 5, 2023 15:44:37 GMT -5
For you folks up there, Massey has SC by 5 points, 67-62. Probability 61%. UConn covered the spread! In this God awful 2 years I am taking today's game as a win!
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:47:45 GMT -5
Cardozo is one of the biggest whiners I have ever seen. The look of absolute SHOCK on her face every time a foul was called on her was comical. Dawn also works the officials probably harder than any other coach in recent memory, yet she has the ability to stay just behind the line of getting T'd up. Geno was not happy with the foul calls, but didn't do half the complaining that Dawn did until he lost his cool and got T'd up. While the four points that SC got off the technical (and possession) accounted for the final point spread, I do not blame him at all for losing his cool. And the team responded. Not that I encourage Geno to get technicals. But he is looking out for his team and I can't criticize him for that.
We were just an outside shooter, and player not afraid to drive, short to pull out the win.
Like others have said - we get Azzi and Caroline back before the tournament, and everyone else stays healthy, I like our changes in a rematch.
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Post by rukia on Feb 5, 2023 15:47:50 GMT -5
I don’t think it is so obvious that you just plug Caroline and Azzi in and have a different result.
UConn shot 52% from the field. How much better do you want them to shoot?
South Carolina won because they had 13 more shot attempts. We lost because of rebounding. If Dorka has a better game, UConn wins. It is that simple for me. And I am not blaming her that much. Everyone has bad games. I am just saying when you play 5 players against the #1 team in the country; there is no margin of error. Needed better from her. Didn’t get it today.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Feb 5, 2023 15:51:08 GMT -5
I have a new player to dislike, and I have never seen this before. Raven Johnson...every time there were free throws and Nika would go to talk to Geno, Raven Johnson was in Nikka's personal space, just behind and mostly to the side of Nika, listening into every conversation. If Nika moved away, so did Johnson. If Nika went back, Johnson was right there. I suppose there are no rules against this, but I have never seen any player or any other team do this. She was blatantly listing in, even looking from Geno to Nika as each spoke. I find it akin to stealing signs in baseball. I just didn't like the invasion. Was completely unable to access the board after my earlier post. I will read the thread to see if the take her was the same as most of us at the game - that SC got away with a LOT of uncalled fouls. The crowd gets an A+. They were awesome! I may not have a voice tomorrow. And it has been a LONG time since I left a game with my ears ringing from the noise. While Caroline participated in the earliest warmup, she didn't come out for the second or third. She did not look sharp in the warmup. Not passing to the right person in their well-established patterns, and completely missing a couple of passes to her. She is not yet ready to come back. Caroline may not be back at all this year. Her being in practice at all suggests I'm wrong of course. It's just a possibility.
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Post by tlayman on Feb 5, 2023 15:53:38 GMT -5
Cardozo is one of the biggest whiners I have ever seen. The look of absolute SHOCK on her face every time a foul was called on her was comical. Dawn also works the officials probably harder than any other coach in recent memory, yet she has the ability to stay just behind the line of getting T'd up. Geno was not happy with the foul calls, but didn't do half the complaining that Dawn did until he lost his cool and got T'd up. While the four points that SC got off the technical (and possession) accounted for the final point spread, I do not blame him at all for losing his cool. And the team responded. Not that I encourage Geno to get technicals. But he is looking out for his team and I can't criticize him for that. We were just an outside shooter, and player not afraid to drive, short to pull out the win. Like others have said - we get Azzi and Caroline back before the tournament, and everyone else stays healthy, I like our changes in a rematch. I think Dawn did get T-d up in this game. Just a few minutes after Geno's. Remember, Aaliyah got fouled, she shot two missed one and then Lou shot the T's and made 1-2? Edited to add: My bad, it was Cardoso that got the T.
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 15:55:04 GMT -5
I don’t think it is so obvious that you just plug Caroline and Azzi in and have a different result. UConn shot 52% from the field. How much better do you want them to shoot? South Carolina won because they had 13 more shot attempts. We lost because of rebounding. If Dorka has a better game, UConn wins. It is that simple for me. And I am not blaming her that much. Everyone has bad games. I am just saying when you play 5 players against the #1 team in the country; there is no margin of error. Needed better from her. Didn’t get it today. You make a good point about Azzi and Caroline not necessarily leading to a different outcome. For every change that is made, there are other impacts that may be for the better or may be for the worse. The offense needs to operate differently, as does the defense. Still, both Caroline and Azzi are good outside shooters, and also can take it to the rim, or drive into the lane and kick it out. I think it is more likely than not that the outcome would be impacted by their addition.
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Post by tlayman on Feb 5, 2023 15:55:44 GMT -5
Also note that Boston and Cooke both played *39* minutes in this game. When was the last time that happened? They had to give everything they had to win this game...
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Post by grrrrr on Feb 5, 2023 16:17:13 GMT -5
Two interesting stats. In the finals last year UCONN got outrebounded 25-49. Today they cut that in half, it was 30-42. That's a big improvement and probably as much as we could have hoped for. Also, turnovers completely flipped. Finals last year UCONN only had 7, SC had 16. Today, we had 13, they only had 6. The 3 killer turnovers were the out of bounds plays, can't have that.
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Post by justinesguy on Feb 5, 2023 16:36:07 GMT -5
So tough loss. My 2 cents.
We lost because we played their game. You can’t beat SC in 1/2 court.
We do not have the players available to spread the court and shoot threes. If we had Caroline and Azzi maybe. We have Lou but it’s just not enough cause SC plan was to bump, hit, grab and foul LOU.
They were overplaying Nika, to where she could not take the ball up and start our offense.
We got our rebounded.
We didn’t do a good enough job packing it in. They r an awful long distance shooting team.
I think we played well, never gave up, showed heart, fed off the crowd.
We couldn’t initiate the fast break and get some easy points.
Well fought game. We just played their game and lost.
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Post by bulkey on Feb 5, 2023 16:44:30 GMT -5
I don’t think it is so obvious that you just plug Caroline and Azzi in and have a different result. UConn shot 52% from the field. How much better do you want them to shoot? South Carolina won because they had 13 more shot attempts. We lost because of rebounding. If Dorka has a better game, UConn wins. It is that simple for me. And I am not blaming her that much. Everyone has bad games. I am just saying when you play 5 players against the #1 team in the country; there is no margin of error. Needed better from her. Didn’t get it today. You make a good point about Azzi and Caroline not necessarily leading to a different outcome. For every change that is made, there are other impacts that may be for the better or may be for the worse. The offense needs to operate differently, as does the defense. Still, both Caroline and Azzi are good outside shooters, and also can take it to the rim, or drive into the lane and kick it out. I think it is more likely than not that the outcome would be impacted by their addition. With Azzi out there, suddenly the middle opens wide. Sure, we shot "well enough." But if they have to cover the perimeter more, our bigs get a bigger presence underneath. It does make a huge difference.
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Post by magic on Feb 5, 2023 17:57:16 GMT -5
You make a good point about Azzi and Caroline not necessarily leading to a different outcome. For every change that is made, there are other impacts that may be for the better or may be for the worse. The offense needs to operate differently, as does the defense. Still, both Caroline and Azzi are good outside shooters, and also can take it to the rim, or drive into the lane and kick it out. I think it is more likely than not that the outcome would be impacted by their addition. With Azzi out there, suddenly the middle opens wide. Sure, we shot "well enough." But if they have to cover the perimeter more, our bigs get a bigger presence underneath. It does make a huge difference. Probably need both Azzi and Caroline along with Lou to really spread them out, or they'll just stay put. What we did learn is that they can be beaten of the dribble. Nika, Aubrey , Aaliyah and Lou all had success when they had their defender isolated. They killed us on the glass.
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Post by bulkey on Feb 5, 2023 18:02:20 GMT -5
With Azzi out there, suddenly the middle opens wide. Sure, we shot "well enough." But if they have to cover the perimeter more, our bigs get a bigger presence underneath. It does make a huge difference. Probably need both Azzi and Caroline along with Lou to really spread them out, or they'll just stay put. What we did learn is that they can be beaten of the dribble. Nika, Aubrey , Aaliyah and Lou all had success when they had their defender isolated. They killed us on the glass. Nope, just Azzi. She and Lou are a terrifying combination. They both can run the 3-man sets with Aubrey screening and Nika distributing--all day long...
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Post by huskyharper on Feb 5, 2023 18:25:09 GMT -5
I think I like these refs. Boy are our women playing aggressive! Keep it up! No, they were AWFUL that was the first 5 minutes... they stunk it up as the game went on...
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Post by UConnChapette on Feb 5, 2023 19:12:07 GMT -5
that was the first 5 minutes... they stunk it up as the game went on... Stunk is a nice way to say it.
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Post by McHuskyFan on Feb 5, 2023 19:15:05 GMT -5
Oh, there's plenty of crying! And Dawn was whining up a storm, claiming a UConn foul on every scramble under the rim. I was surprised she didn't get T'd up. She was pointing at one of the refs (who was truly awful, no doubt) and I was really shocked they let it go. Geno gets called for a T, but not Dawn? Something ain't right. Not only was Dawn whining the whole game, she basically lived outside the box. She was practically at mid court a few times. So terribly proud of this team!! Less impressed with SC & the grabbing/holding on defense. Boston got away with soooo much …. Along with Chappy, I practically lost my voice today!!! (Hopefully I can go on vocal rest and get it back by chorus rehearsal Tues. night)
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Post by swash on Feb 5, 2023 19:26:25 GMT -5
Nice to see Sue and Jen in the house! Napheesa, too. Also think I saw Quadence Samuels. Not sure how to spell that, yet
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Post by swash on Feb 5, 2023 19:36:53 GMT -5
the refs really blew that. It was a HAND OFF, not a pass. Should have been UCONN Ball, and the foul is bs. now I will say these refs a costing us a chance.
7points instead of 5
Aubrey was never out of bounds. It was a BS call.
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Post by rukia on Feb 5, 2023 19:46:28 GMT -5
Nice to see Sue and Jen in the house! Napheesa, too. Also think I saw Quadence Samuels. Not sure how to spell that, yet I wonder if Ziebell and Arnold will be at Marquette?
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