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Post by radylady on Dec 4, 2023 0:15:58 GMT -5
know the feeling.
and thank you.
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Post by aubreyfan on Dec 4, 2023 1:47:43 GMT -5
I'm a fan. I'm just not a missionary to the Brazilian jungle in the 1600's. Maybe some people define fandom as obsequious compliance and support no matter what they do. Right or wrong. Win or lose. Complete support all the time. No matter how many times they beat their heads against the wall. I've watched every game for the last 3 years and that is unusual for me. I didn't watch sports pretty much at all for over 10 years. I root for this team no matter what. I just have some suggestions for how things can be improved. It's not a casual fandom. It's a highly involved fandom. It's still fandom.
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Post by radylady on Dec 4, 2023 4:41:05 GMT -5
LOL - your "fandom" involves not too subtle insults to people who do not agree with you. "Maybe some people define fandom as obsequious compliance and support no matter what they do. Right or wrong. Win or lose. Complete support all the time. No matter how many times they beat their heads against the wall." and "I root for this team no matter what. I just have some suggestions for how things can be improved. It's not a casual fandom. It's a highly involved fandom"
Truly your distain for the opinion of others is very clear. I guess the good I can pull from your comments is that you don't trouble to hide your distain of others. At least we know from where you are coming.
However
You may disagree strongly (clearly) with others. But the insults have no place here. Please tone it down.
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Post by justinesguy on Dec 4, 2023 8:13:53 GMT -5
I think the issue some posters have but maybe have not articulated it well, enough is that this team was supposed to be a contender for a national championship. We were supposed to have Paige Bueckers back to the top of her game, with Azzi leading the way with a group of players that had lots of experience(Nika, Edwards, Caroline, Aubrey)with some new young talented freshman(in essence Ice, KK, Shade etc).
But I would argue is that even when we had Azzi and Carolyn playing early this season, this team still did not look like it was going to be a national championship team. Azzi didn’t look great and Caroline was still dealing with medical issues. I feel like it’s so lazy to say well, If we just had these two players, things would look so much different. Sure if we had easy in the lineup, would we be better of course, but I still don’t think it would mean national championship for us. Regarding Caroline, she’s just not going to be the player we thought she was due to these injuries.
So really, this becomes almost a season to give the freshman experience and hope by the end of the year that they become great so we could challenge for a championship but right now we are nowhere close.
I really believe that in women’s college basketball right now, there is so much more talent that there was even when Stewart was here. There’s a new generation of talent out there and we haven’t recruited that type of talent. These top teams are so far ahead of us now even if we had all our players 100% healthy. It’s sad to see us like this. It’s sad Paige and Azzi have been injured. But we have seen this new generation of player since LOU was here. It’s no surprise anymore. If we want to be the best again consistently, that is the type of player, we need to start recruiting. Height, tough, more athletic , mean , lashes and tats in all. lol.
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Post by swash on Dec 4, 2023 9:16:54 GMT -5
Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way. At least they fought hard and came back several times. They have the heart of a champion. Just not the talent. Texas seemed to get some pretty ridiculous flop calls going their way. That hurt. Booker was hotter than normal. Harmon is pretty much unstopable with that pull up jumper from the top of the key. She's a great player no doubt. Texas deserved to win but I think on a neutral court maybe we had a good chance. Paige didn't have her normal game. Nika played 38 minutes yet again. I just don't get it. Of course she is going to put up some numbers if she plays the whole game. Put KK in for 38 minutes and you will see better numbers. And the possibility of expedited improvement. Ashlynn warrants more pt also. I know where I'd get those minutes. She's not God you know. Why not try something different? We start the game and get blown out over and over. Maybe it's who starts Geno. 4 steals in 7 games now for Nika. She shot well in part because it's a layup or a 3 point attempt with no one within 10 feet of her. 2 assists, Zero rebounds, 5 turnovers. 38 minutes pt. When the other team is great, and we don't have a ton of talent surrounding her, Nika is not our best option. Nika needs Azzi, Paige and someone like Lou to rack up those assist numbers. It's not happening this year. Ice is still struggling but we need her and at this point we might as well play her hoping the transition improves. Her hands are not ideal and she doesn't seem to rebound well. Misses more bunnies than Donald Duck. Gotta go with her though and hope she gets better. Lots of turnovers though. It was a disaster in the 1st half. We know what we have with the upper classmen. Play Paige and Aaliyah for sure but work the freshmen in for others. I would say play Aubrey also even though today wasn't her day. We are not winning this thing with so many people struggling to score. KK will help with more PT and against Harmon she looked like the best defender. Ashlynn doesn't hurt us when she's out there and helps a little offensively. It's our best shot to play the freshmen and Ice and hope they continue to improve. What do we have to lose? -I like your main thesis. -Still being overly hard on Nika... What more can she do for you? Her forte is defending and finding shooters. Unfortunately, we didn't have shooters to be found. Texas is very good defensively, Aaliyah doubled, Aubrey had a down day, KK isn't shooting much except layups, even Paige wasn't at her best .... Can we agree that it takes two to tango for an assist? -KK played 24 solid minutes. You say she needed more ... okay, but we didn't get a ton of scoring from her in 24, what makes you think 38 would make a radical difference? -I was encouraged by Ice's play yesterday. Better in nearly every category, despite playing more minutes. ---Able to stay out of foul trouble, inexplicable refereeing notwithstanding ---Shooting ... improving. ---Passing .... not a strength yet, but twice she had the right idea and it just didn't happen. ---For a RS freshman big? Her hands are very good ... and will continue to get better. ---Defending ... well... a work in progress ---Rebounding ... not great, but neither was anyone else. TX was trusting one player to stop the fast break and four were crashing the boards. Almost half of our shots were from Aaliyah or Ice, that leaves the other one surrounded. Because of the size disadvantage and worries about foul trouble, UCONN players were all trying to tap the ball to someone, rather than grabbing it for themselves. This played into Texas' game plan to have four players in the scrum.
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Post by swash on Dec 4, 2023 9:24:18 GMT -5
We need Paige to be the best player on the court when we play other teams with star players. It is up to the coaches to put her in a position where she can control and take over the game. And I just don’t really think this off the ball experiment is working. And it is never going to happen. That's just not how UCONN plays. It also isn't Paige's game. She's so stinking good that she can make it seem like she could put up forty per night. But her vision and passing are other-worldly. Geno is already asking her to shoot more than she feels she "should". She does turn-loose her inner Maravich for stretches now and again. Enjoy those.
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Post by rukia on Dec 4, 2023 9:31:47 GMT -5
Then it will be a long season with a lot more nights like last night swash.
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Post by meyers7 on Dec 4, 2023 9:40:20 GMT -5
Again, I am glad the ball state game is next. A nice homecoming game for Nika should help give the mentality of the team in a good place.
Don't forget Ball State V Tennessee. You know I thought of that when I saw Ball State up next on our schedule. Hmmmm, the way this year is going....hmmmm.
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Post by rukia on Dec 4, 2023 9:53:05 GMT -5
Meyers, you were pretty vocal after the nc state game that you thought it was a lost season. And I think your view was largely expectation driven.
I want to piggyback off of Justine’s opinion above, would you feel differently about the season if the coaches had declared that the goals were to reach the sweet 16 and win the big east? Curious to know what your stance is.
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Post by aubreyfan on Dec 4, 2023 9:56:25 GMT -5
Paige believes in passing to the open player. The open player needs to be able to hit the shot and catch the pass. When no one is a shooter on the team besides Aaliyah it's pretty easy to shut down Paige. Ergo radical solutions warrant consideration if we are to have a chance in March.
We don't have much to lose. We just lost 3 times now to teams which are contenders. We look like a 4 seed. We probably are going to have to beat at least 2 teams better than us on the road to even get to the final 4.
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Post by meyers7 on Dec 4, 2023 10:03:27 GMT -5
Well that wasn't fun. But then I didn't expect it to be. Actually I was anticipating a loss by more then 12. I didn't expect us to shoot as well as we did. But I didn't expect us to turn the ball over as much either. Kind of evened out. 68-44 in shots is just scary. Luckily we shot 60%/40%. That's really, really good.
Edwards had a nice game. What we should be expecting. Nobody else though had a great game though, or even a good game. Bueckers doesn't seem to be anywhere near where she was a couple years ago.
Looked like they were trying some new stuff offensively. Didn't always work (would explain why some of the TOs where so odd), but they did get some better shots, eventually. Just not enough of them. Might be one reason Geno wants Muhl in there so much. She probably understands what they are trying to do (what the offense should look like) as well as anyone. Just a guess though.
This is going to be a tough season. Not sure how good they'll be next year either. Losing a lot, probably (Bueckers, Edwards, Griffin, Muhl). No idea how Fudd and Ducharme will be next year. Everyone else will still be pretty young.
This year was the year all the blocks were supposed to fall into place. But somebody (NOT implying the trainer) knocked them all over the place.
Guess we're kind of like every other team now. Sigh.
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Post by meyers7 on Dec 4, 2023 10:14:34 GMT -5
Meyers, you were pretty vocal after the nc state game that you thought it was a lost season. And I think your view was largely expectation driven. I want to piggyback off of Justine’s opinion above, would you feel differently about the season if the coaches had declared that the goals were to reach the sweet 16 and win the big east? Curious to know what your stance is. Yea, is was/is. Like I just posted, this was supposed to be the year when everything lined up (all the blocks lined up). 3 great 3 pt threats, some depth in the post. 3 potential AA's. Some good recruits to add in. It all looked good. Now it's all gone. Not sure why the coaches would have declared S16 and BE?? I think they had similar expectations of the team as we did (or some of us anyway). Least they were talking like it. But no, my stance is still the same.
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Post by chicagogg on Dec 4, 2023 10:41:16 GMT -5
"Nika played 38 minutes yet again. I just don't get it. Of course she is going to put up some numbers if she plays the whole game. Put KK in for 38 minutes and you will see better numbers. And the possibility of expedited improvement. Ashlynn warrants more pt also. I know where I'd get those minutes. She's not God you know. Why not try something different? We start the game and get blown out over and over. Maybe it's who starts Geno. 4 steals in 7 games now for Nika. She shot well in part because it's a layup or a 3 point attempt with no one within 10 feet of her. 2 assists, Zero rebounds, 5 turnovers. 38 minutes pt. When the other team is great, and we don't have a ton of talent surrounding her, Nika is not our best option. Nika needs Azzi, Paige and someone like Lou to rack up those assist numbers. It's not happening this year."
Aubreyfan - Do you work hard at being offensive and belittling or is it an art form? You have said more offensive things about Nika than an entire board has said in 3+ years. Of course, you have not been around that long, or it most likely would be even more out of proportion. The point of this board is to discuss, share and learn about our team. We try to be a community. Your incredibly belabored opinion on Nika is obviously not shared by many, so why do you insist on trying to jam it down our throats?
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Post by justinesguy on Dec 4, 2023 12:51:25 GMT -5
"Nika played 38 minutes yet again. I just don't get it. Of course she is going to put up some numbers if she plays the whole game. Put KK in for 38 minutes and you will see better numbers. And the possibility of expedited improvement. Ashlynn warrants more pt also. I know where I'd get those minutes. She's not God you know. Why not try something different? We start the game and get blown out over and over. Maybe it's who starts Geno. 4 steals in 7 games now for Nika. She shot well in part because it's a layup or a 3 point attempt with no one within 10 feet of her. 2 assists, Zero rebounds, 5 turnovers. 38 minutes pt. When the other team is great, and we don't have a ton of talent surrounding her, Nika is not our best option. Nika needs Azzi, Paige and someone like Lou to rack up those assist numbers. It's not happening this year." Aubreyfan - Do you work hard at being offensive and belittling or is it an art form? You have said more offensive things about Nika than an entire board has said in 3+ years. Of course, you have not been around that long, or it most likely would be even more out of proportion. The point of this board is to discuss, share and learn about our team. We try to be a community. Your incredibly belabored opinion on Nika is obviously not shared by many, so why do you insist on trying to jam it down our throats? I love Nikas game! She’s not part of the problem. She’s everything right about this team. She’s tough, and skilled. She will be missed.
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Post by bulkey on Dec 4, 2023 13:02:03 GMT -5
I love Nika's game, too. One of her greatest strengths is her predictability. She's extremely reliable, having worked through her initial belief that she could run through brick walls (and opponents).
For me, she's an invaluable part of the team.
But it's certainly a fair thing for other fans to question whether there aren't more effective combinations right now, given the loss of Azzi (and the unpredictability of Caroline).
Maybe those fans who do want to suggest different combinations can do so without criticizing Nika: just accent the positive of other players.
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Post by meyers7 on Dec 4, 2023 13:23:52 GMT -5
"Nika played 38 minutes yet again. I just don't get it. Of course she is going to put up some numbers if she plays the whole game. Put KK in for 38 minutes and you will see better numbers. And the possibility of expedited improvement. Ashlynn warrants more pt also. I know where I'd get those minutes. She's not God you know. Why not try something different? We start the game and get blown out over and over. Maybe it's who starts Geno. 4 steals in 7 games now for Nika. She shot well in part because it's a layup or a 3 point attempt with no one within 10 feet of her. 2 assists, Zero rebounds, 5 turnovers. 38 minutes pt. When the other team is great, and we don't have a ton of talent surrounding her, Nika is not our best option. Nika needs Azzi, Paige and someone like Lou to rack up those assist numbers. It's not happening this year." Aubreyfan - Do you work hard at being offensive and belittling or is it an art form? You have said more offensive things about Nika than an entire board has said in 3+ years. Of course, you have not been around that long, or it most likely would be even more out of proportion. The point of this board is to discuss, share and learn about our team. We try to be a community. Your incredibly belabored opinion on Nika is obviously not shared by many, so why do you insist on trying to jam it down our throats? Well to be truthful, Muhl didn't have a very good game. But neither did anyone except Edwards. If we sat everyone who didn't have a good game against Texas, we wouldn't have enough players to have a starting lineup. Muhl still has the best A/TO ratio on the team (she's also shooting 57%/40% - she just not shooting enough). Yes better than Bueckers and better than Arnold. Can she improve. Absolutely. But everyone can improve. Everyone HAS to improve or it's gonna be a real long, rather depressing season.
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Post by aubreyfan on Dec 4, 2023 16:01:05 GMT -5
On a team with great shooters Nika has a more important role. As Swash said, it takes 2 to tango to create an assist. Well if one of the 2 isn't there doesn't that reduce the effectiveness of the player who is all about assists? We don't have the complementary players to help Nika maximize her effectiveness. As good a defender as she is, especially a team defender, I'd still rather see KK both offensively and defensively. Or Aubrey. Or Ashlynn. Or even Q I think.
Nika's shooting a great percentage and playing well overall. She's a great supplementary player. Somehow we need to find another offensive threat.
It looked like the idea was last game for Ice to put up more shots. After a horrendous first half her 2nd half was better. I know Ice can shoot. I think she will get more confidence if they run with her for a while. We really have little choice.
Most of the time on message boards there is always someone who gets excited about the rookies and wants to play them more when they are really not ready. This year it actually makes sense to play the rookies more. From day one I've advocated for that. It looks like now even Geno is coming around.
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Post by magic on Dec 4, 2023 17:32:35 GMT -5
Look Nika has been the one constant during her whole time here. I certainly didn't envision when she first got here that she would be a possibility at the next level. There has been improvement every season regardless of changes. Bulkey asked me last night during the game what change I would want Geno to make at halftime? I was distracted by my furry friend, but the answer is Q. I thought she could have started the second half.
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