Looks like our 3 shooters were pretty much all off.
All except Lou, she was 3 for 6 in the first half and in the second half she was 1 for 3 with the 2 misses coming of bad time management and she had to hoist them up with the clock expiring. Both times she hit the rim. It looked like the team forgot that she was on the court in the 3rd and 4th quarters.
Stevens had 8 points and 4 rebounds in the 4th quarter.
To be honest, with the play of Z earlier in the game, I thought she would (and should) be tethered to the bench. I am glad Geno kept his cool and allowed her to play through the bad game and really ran plays to give her as many easy shots as possible. If she was yanked, it could have set her back mentally before the tournament.
The new Gampel ceiling looks great.
Play of the game was me catching the cheese covered pretzel bite I almost dropped on the girl in front of me.
Too many jumpers in the second half, and they went cold, but that's gonna happen at times. Shutting down Louisville's O was more impressive.
Yep. If you can't stop her, and not too many teams can, punch her in the eyeball.
I loved the dance moves they did on Lou in the first half; nothing like a nice hold and then release to have her twirl around the middle of the floor with no call. I believe she spoke to the ref about it. Ridiculous.
somebody help me out here: besides hoisting up lots of shots, what else is so good about Asia Durr's game? I saw very little ballhandling, passing( 2 assists in 40 minutes), rebounding. certainly can shoot, but ????? I looked at her season stats, and she has almost as many turnovers as assists. not even in the same ballpark as Samuelson.
Or an unconscious let down. Meg got some minutes and Crystal took long breaks in the 4th.
That's what I said in the game thread. There's more than just stats. Showing up in big games has to count for something.
Congratulations UConn Huskies!! Congratulations Chris "C.D." Dailey!! Chris Dailey has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and it is well deserved!! What a game. Kia held Durr scoreless for a while, and when she loss her Gabby was there. Gabby is truly amazing. Lou is a baller, but she might want to think about a mask, her face is taking a pounding. I love the chemistry of this team. Napheesa is a very quiet scorer, you think she isn't doing anything, and you look up, she has scored in double figures on a team . The only complaints are Azura need to stop shooting 3's, and she need to become a beast taking her shot at the rim.
Any post game press conference?
Your points are well taken but Kia usually has the tougher assignment, chasing the opponent's best shooter all over the floor all game long, which may explain why her offensive production suffers. However, the remaining four on the floor are all shooters and don't ordinarily require her points so this is rarely an issue. Kia simply does her job as a defender, which becomes her primary role on the floor. She played great tonight and wasn't personally responsible for many of Durr's points, which came when she was either on the bench or after she had switched off to another player on defense.
I hear you. My comment was that Gabby contributes in more ways defensively. However you bring up an interesting point. I ask if Durr scores her avg 20 but Kia only scores 4 instead her avg 14/15 is that a great game? While she had 4 dimes, she also had only 1 rebound, 0 steals and lead with 3 fouls. When the team is in half court offense, which they were quite a bit, she is not guarding Durr. Lou still has to play defense even if she drops 26.
Don't get me wrong I appreciate Kia's game (and her grit and style) but great players are two way. It seems many times she has a tough assignment she scores in low single digits. Gabby, especially last year, had many tough matchups against bigs but she not only handled the assignment she also contributed in many other ways was my point. I just think its an interesting perspective to consider when evaluating all these conversations about AA and NPOY awards.
To be fair she getting most of the defenses attention so she helps her teammates by getting double teamed. Also she is playing a top 5 defense in UConn. Lastly, she is able to create her own offense. Many of those shots she hit were pretty amazing. I didn't think she stood out on defense at all but could have missed something.
Funny, but that's not how games are decided.
Durr took 19 shots and was 3-12 on 3-pointers. Of course she's good, we knew that. But she had to work extremely hard for her shots and 3-12 on three-pointers is not a winning formula for her team. Oh, and Lou is pretty good too. In fact, Lou was better tonight.
I'm sure Louisville will take positives from this game. That's what losing teams try to do. If these teams meet again this season it won't be on Louisville's home court (last I checked) and it will be with a lot more pressure so we'll see who makes shots and who doesn't. Overall, UConn's defense was pretty good.
All that said, folks here still need to lower the expectations a bit. There's a lot of talent on this team but there's an obvious weakness in the lane. Azura isn't a strong finisher at the rim and doesn't have back-to-the-basket moves. I wish she did but she doesn't. Funny, I watched some video today of Stewie over in China and she made a couple of jump-hooks. My first thought was: why doesn't Azura have that move? The answer probably goes back a few years but maybe she can develop one by next year.
We should enjoy the tremendous success of this team while understanding that there are weaknesses that can be exposed down the road.
Just about 4 years of college ball in the books for Z. At this point in her college basketball career she is what she is. I think we need to be practical in our expectations.
Asia really is a terrific player but if she doesn't hit her shots she normally doesn't impact a game other ways. Did you notice she didn't "blow by" anyone to the rim?She is not really fast on her feet. In fact she and Arica Carter are actually a bit slow running WITH the ball. Asia depends on her quick release but she wasn't going to be able to shake Kia and UConn gave her few good looks. Playing a box and one was an obviously good strategy. L'ville needed Asia to counter the onslaught in the first quarter. She was scoreless and the game was over. The whole team was shell shocked.
Wasn't it 26-4 at one point?
Louisville stepped up their physical game from that point on, witness the umber of fouls they committed (and a few more that should have been called).
UConn needs to develop a strategy to deal with that, including some "payback" work. Just a little nasty is all I'm looking for. Maybe a bench player who can "give" a foul or two would send a message.
While UConn MIGHT have the most talented starting five, I think Baylor and Miss St will cause this team serious problems. Mainly due to their Superior Size in the Post and the physicality of their game. Azura' Stevens was supposed to be the player that would help counteract Baylor and Miss St's superior size. So far she's fallen short in that role.
Also I was hoping Camara would provide minutes and be a rebounding presence, but she's also been a disappointment. At the beginning of the year, didn't think I would say this, but the team could really use Natalie Butler. Her size and physicality is missed even if it was at the same level as she played at UConn.
Not saying the team can't beat Baylor or Miss St, but they'll give this team the most match up problems. Hopefully they'll be in the same region and team will only have to face one of them if they make it to the F4. I"m thinking the #1 seeds in order are UConn, Miss St, Notre Dame or Louisville and Baylor. If seeds held, UConn would first face Baylor and if they won, then have to face Miss St for the Championship.
I agree about the starters. Our starting five look good and I don't think there is a better starting five out there. But when you sub, and even Geno has to at some point, yikes. I like the starting five being roughly the same height, 4 of the 5 can shoot the 3, they can all defend, spacing tends to very good, everyone is fast enough to run the fast break, or cut for back doors, etc. When they sub in Z everything is disrupted.
She is heavily endorsed by the media (specifically ESPN analysts and broadcasters) and has been since last year's NC game. IMO.