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Shades
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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 Posted: 11/19/23 5:27 pm ::: |
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UConn 11-9 at 1Q. Looks like two high school half court offenses. UConn's poor rebounding and excessive turnovers are junior high school.
Ducharme is apparently now an honorary starter rather than an earned starter because she does nothing and then KK Arnold comes in for her after four minutes.
UConn played three PG's for much of the 1Q, leaving Minn only having to guard Bueckers and Edwards. |
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GlennMacGrady
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| Posted: 11/19/23 5:54 pm ::: |
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UConn's insipid half court offense up 26-23 at the half. UConn has no one so far who can make or even take a 3pt shot (0-3) or make a contested layup. Minnesota's corn fed girls playing even up with UConn's Burger AA's.
In games like this, I get annoyed at UConn and ineluctably start rooting for the other team. Go Golden Gophers, unless and until UConn starts playing some sort of coherent and praiseworthy offense. Paige trying to be heroic, but she's off. |
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 11/19/23 6:28 pm ::: |
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Geno's two theories about what kind of players to recruit to have a dominant team:
1. Tall post players who are strong rebounders and have ambidextrous low post moves.
2. Quick guards who have deadly outside shots.
Ain't theories wonderful. (Dawn Staley says, Yes.) |
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mercfan3
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 11/19/23 6:46 pm ::: |
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We learned how to box out at the half, and Edwards stopped having butter fingers.
I appreciate that Muhl is willing to try and score now. She has a few basic offensive moves and shoots well enough to keep defenses honest.
That being said, We can’t continue to start Ducharme, Griffin and Muhl. Muhl is the only one of the three attempting to keep defenses honest. The obvious “sit down” candidate is Caroline. She doesn’t do anything…and it’s a shame because she showed a lot of promise as a freshman.
Fudd hasn’t had her MRI yet because her knee is still swollen. Awesome.
Freshman looked decent again. Not sure why Q got iced out of the first half though..we’re down shooters. But KK looked good. And ice Brady showed something today. Our season is clearly going to depend on them.
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 11/19/23 6:58 pm ::: |
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To me, though perhaps not to others, this was a yawn-inducing if not a root-canaling game for UConn. They definitively proved they could end up in the top half of the Big 14 Conference.
Popgun Paige profoundly underwhelmed the hometown crowd, the WNBA scouts and I'm sure herself, with her miserable shooting. However, she did lead the team with a prodigious four assists and was second in rebounds with eight (for whatever that portends).
The Huskies poured in three three-pointers, which will clue in opponents as to how to guard UConn.
The UConn defense was good, but it's hard to tell how good because Minny isn't that good. |
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Conway Gamecock
Joined: 23 Jan 2015
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 11/19/23 7:32 pm ::: |
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| Conway Gamecock wrote: |
| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
Geno's two theories about what kind of players to recruit to have a dominant team:
1. Tall post players who are strong rebounders and have ambidextrous low post moves.
2. Quick guards who have deadly outside shots.
Ain't theories wonderful. (Dawn Staley says, Yes.) |
You use "Ineluctably", then you use "ain't". You seem to be "wrestling" mightily with your grammatical choices today, in describing CT..... 8)
As for CT, they say it's always a good thing to be able to win while you're figuring out how to win. They have a lot of work to do, but at least the hole isn't getting deeper...... |
As to the wet dream theory that you quoted and every coach in the world believes in, UConn fans have been correctly complaining that Geno hasn't succeeded in #1 since 2012, but seem to be under some sort of Alice in Wonderland delusion that he has actually succeeded in #2. Dawn may have succeeded in both with this year's team.
For anyone who wants to claim that Caroline Ducharme has a good shooting touch, much less parrot that meme for 2+ years, I challenge you to meet me at Rick's Café Americain with her stats from any level—high school, AAU or college—and I'll bring my stats. |
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singinerd54
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
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| Posted: 11/19/23 8:06 pm ::: |
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| GlennMacGrady wrote: |
| To me, though perhaps not to others, this was a yawn-inducing if not a root-canaling game for UConn. |
If the first three games (sans Dayton, which I didn't watch) are any indication, it will be evident what version of UConn we're getting from the first few possessions. Today was much more NC State energy than Maryland energy. The difference was Minnesota played poorly/is not as good as NC State. But the unfocused, haphazard offense with no clear intent of what we're trying to do remained. Thoroughly uninspiring would probably be my choice of phrase, though both of yours fit, too.
It's clear Geno will not be playing Ducharme lots of minutes given her level of play, so I don't think it's worth harboring that point too much. I agree with mercfan3 - it really is a shame to see her play this after she showed a lot of promise as a freshman.
I hope Geno becomes more patient with/gives more minutes to Samuels; we're going to need her offense (with some better shot selection) to beat good teams, particularly if Fudd is out for a while.
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
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| Posted: 11/19/23 8:06 pm ::: |
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UConn outscored a P5 team, on the road by 40% on a day when their scoring was inefficient. If Clark puts up 30 against them no one will say it was against a bad team.
Right now UConn's problem is that both Muhl and Griffin are starting and they aren't much scoring help in a half-court offense. Then, if Ducharme isn't shooting it comes down to Bueckers and Edwards to do most of the scoring. Edwards is a great 4 and less than that at the 5, playing low post. Today she was double-teamed every time she touched the ball. Brady displayed her range today and if she can do that consistently she can force players like Betts and Cardoso leave their cozy spot in the paint. When Patterson is back Geno can play Brady and Edwards together.
It's a long season. Drawing conclusions after 4 games?
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linkster
Joined: 27 Jul 2012
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| Posted: 11/19/23 8:06 pm ::: |
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UConn outscored a P5 team, on the road by 40% on a day when their scoring was inefficient. If Clark puts up 30 against them no one will say it was against a bad team.
Right now UConn's problem is that both Muhl and Griffin are starting and they aren't much scoring help in a half-court offense. Then, if Ducharme isn't shooting it comes down to Bueckers and Edwards to do most of the scoring. Edwards is a great 4 and less than that at the 5, playing low post. Today she was double-teamed every time she touched the ball. Brady displayed her range today and if she can do that consistently she can force players like Betts and Cardoso leave their cozy spot in the paint. When Patterson is back Geno can play Brady and Edwards together.
It's a long season. Drawing conclusions after 4 games?
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GlennMacGrady
Joined: 03 Jan 2005
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| Posted: 11/19/23 11:53 pm ::: |
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| linkster wrote: |
| UConn outscored a P5 team, on the road by 40% on a day when their scoring was inefficient. |
Are you being inconsistent, linkster? No one has been more outspoken, and generally persuasive, in arguing that the bottom halves of the so-called P5 conferences are no better than the bottom halves of many mid-majors than you have been. Minnesota is a bottom half Big 14 team. Beating them with a 62 point offense is no achievement for a supposedly elite program.
| linkster wrote: |
| Drawing conclusions after 4 games? |
I can draw conclusions a lot quicker than that.
Ducharme is a below average shooter. Patterson and DeBerry are not good basketball players relative to UConn's high performance bar. Brady shows no low post moves and is not an effective rebounder for her size. Arnold does not show a consistent outside shot; too many concerning airballs; but she has an excellent handle and speed, and above average passing potential. Fudd is an above average but not great outside shooter, is not an effective rebounder or assister, and in general has been way overhyped since her sophomore year in high school; but, that said, she is overall an above average player who can go on shooting streaks.
At the team level, this year's UConn team will likely be undone in the end by its lack of height, lack of rebounding power, and lack of ability to individually defend talented post players who are 6-3 or bigger—unless, against those kind of opponents, UConn has statistically anomalous three-point production and luck. Of course, that end may not come until the Final Four.
Those are my conclusions until facts make me change them. I mean, nothing in the universe is absolutely concluded. Well, maybe gravity, but no one knows what it is at the Planck scale. |
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RavenDog
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
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| Posted: 11/20/23 11:21 am ::: |
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Not getting the super talent like before, they are going to other teams.
Unfortunately, it looks like the end of the UConn and Auriemma big time reins. If Geno didn't get Paige who recruited Azzi, UConn today may not even be in the top 25.
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readyAIMfire53
Joined: 20 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 11/20/23 6:08 pm ::: |
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| RavenDog wrote: |
Not getting the super talent like before, they are going to other teams.
Unfortunately, it looks like the end of the UConn and Auriemma big time reins. If Geno didn't get Paige who recruited Azzi, UConn today may not even be in the top 25. |
And it doesn't get better next year, with Duke scooping up two post players Geno wanted: Fournier and Roberson. It seems that the biggest college choice to determine the future of wcbb was Aja Wilson choosing S.Carolina over UConn. The fact that Aja dominated in college and has continued dominating in the WNBA has tilted the scale in favor of Dawn Staley over Geno.
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RavenDog
Joined: 19 Feb 2007
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| Posted: 11/20/23 7:11 pm ::: |
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| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| RavenDog wrote: |
Not getting the super talent like before, they are going to other teams.
Unfortunately, it looks like the end of the UConn and Auriemma big time reins. If Geno didn't get Paige who recruited Azzi, UConn today may not even be in the top 25. |
And it doesn't get better next year, with Duke scooping up two post players Geno wanted: Fournier and Roberson. It seems that the biggest college choice to determine the future of wcbb was Aja Wilson choosing S.Carolina over UConn. The fact that Aja dominated in college and has continued dominating in the WNBA has tilted the scale in favor of Dawn Staley over Geno. |
Exactly, it began when he didn't get Aja. Good call!
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