[ti]GameDay[/ti]UCONN @ Villanova - 1.31.24 6:30 PM - TV: SNY

   
   I expected the 1st year players to start this game like they ended the last one. Shade didn't score like usual but I think opponents are starting to pay more attention and the opportunities are reduced. I loved her flying in to get that rebound that led to a 2nd chance 3. Arnold is starting to understand the importance of outside shooting. Q had 5 pts in 7 min. Brady kept her composure over the uneven whistles. Geno is going to keep giving her minutes because of what she can add. This group is still learning and that means their upside hasn't been reached.

   UConn was called for a few that the refs hallucinated. 


   A good game. Vill gave them a good test by playing well.  

Well, this might be different:

A lot of years during the school vacation time, the team will kind of go through a malaise. Just not look very good. Have a few tough games. It would seem this year, the team made it through the school vacation ok, but the malaise is hitting now. Hopefully they shake it off soon.

Dan Connolly newsletter:

“Villanova is the hardest team in the league, I think, to play and to prepare for because they make you have to make so many decisions on defense,” Auriemma said. “So our young guys have never played them before. They were in the dishwasher a couple of times running around.”

....

“[Nika] played great. We're a different team when Nika’s on the floor, no question about it,” Auriemma said. “As good as all our other players are — and as much as I love them — when Nika’s not on the floor, we can't function as well.”

Mühl’s value was clear on Saturday against Notre Dame because she spent most of the game on the bench with foul trouble. She played just 19 minutes but still ended up as the only player with a positive +/- at +13 on a night where the Huskies lost by 15.

After letting her team down, Mühl wanted to redeem herself.

“I personally played terrible,” she admitted. “You always have those two choices (between feeling sorry for yourself or bouncing back). I feel like so many times in my career, I’ve chosen the wrong one that I finally learned what to do.”

Every coach who ever lived says this. It's just courtesy toward the other team and protecting your own team.

Sure they had a game plan. They made sure they didn't get in foul trouble the first half (always a consideration with a razor thin bench playing away from home, especially in Philly), figured out how to stop Nova's offensive rebounding and shut down Olsen in the 2nd half. 

Nova wanted to do trench warfare. UConn allowed that to happen in the first half but without getting into difficulty. In the 2nd half, they picked up the pace and blew past them.

There is Boris Spassky chess and Bobby Fischer chess. Sometimes you gotta play like Boris, until you can play like Bobby. 

I get it , I really do, but would it hurt for someone to ask a pertinent question about the game , and then maybe get some insights about the game itself from the coach. Most fans following the team understand what he's talking about.

"every" team is a little strong.

Adversity is not unheard of in sports...good ebbs and flows...
I also say that you cannot expect the opposing team to not put up a fight.


Personally, as frustrated as  I may become (and believe me, I do), I am always game to see how UConn can work their way through adversity and solve the problem, and come up with the W.  I don't think I ever stopped watching a UConn women's game before completion in the decades I have been watching this team.

Although, one man's ceiling is another man's floor...

The point is , how is this team going to be ready for March if Geno refuses to give Ice and Q the minutes they need to improve. Let's start with the outlet pass that Q threw to Ice , and Ice wasn't even looking. That's right, Ice is running up the sideline where she should have been looking for the outlet. Instead Q gets taken out of the game and never returns, because it bounces off Ice. I've seen this before with Geno. Some players are allowed mistakes more than others. Right now there is no reliable person coming off the bench. Why not a lineup of Aaliyah, Ice, Ashlynn , Paige( at the point) and Nika. Let KK and Q spell the starters. There is one month to get Ice and Q going. Otherwise it won't matter anyway. And just maybe Paige won't get smacked around trying to play forward anymore.

Don't agree with your interpretation of the Ice/Q turnover. The person who has the ball makes the decision whether to dribble with it, or pass, and where to pass to. Other folks can debate whether choosing a post player, in general, is your best option, when you've got other, more adept ballhandlers on the floor. But, the person who has the ball is the one who decides what to do with it.

I coached fastpitch softball for 20 years, from Little League and Town Rec, to high school varsity and summer travel ball. You do not throw the ball to somebody who doesn't know its coming, to somebody who isn't looking for it.
Now, that's not to say that Ice, and anybody else, shouldn't be looking for it - they should. But, the person with the ball has to be cognizant of whether or not that's the case. And, if your preferred target isn't aware, you simply go to another option.

And, as far as the implication of bias, or favoritism, when it comes to "some players are allowed mistakes more than others", I think that's nonsense. Having said that, on a case-by-case basis, completely objectively, you're probably right, in the sense that the coaching staff doesn't have the same expectations of, say, an upperclassman ball-handler vs. a frosh post, or a player with whom the staff has been working on a particular issue or skill for weeks or months, as opposed to a player who hasn't had the attention in a particular area.

That's simply not so. Q needed to know who was a ball handler. She's in the middle. She either passes ahead to another ball handler or drives hard up the center while her wings (Ice in this case) are ahead. Yes, Ice might get the ball, but much closer to the UConn basket. What's the point of passing to a big in the backcourt? Do you think she'd advance the ball more quickly than could Q? 

Even Meghan Cuomo said immediately afterwards that Q recognized her mistake and wish she had it back.