This team has been one of my favorite Uconn squads. So much fight and grit in them. No ego. All about team. I can only imagine what they would've been like had Paige, Azzi and Caroline all been healthy and playing. Imagine having 60 points sitting on the bench. Mind boggling. Basketball gods have been cruel.
I completely agree with you. This is a special team that has grit and played and supported each other. It's a real shame that both Lou and Dorka will have played their last season and (probably) not win a championship. A backcourt of Paige and Azzi might have scored enough points to offset their (fatal?) limitations in the frontcourt (eg SC , Stanford), but we will never know.
That inbounds play near the end where Aubrey blocked a shot and then just took it on the dribble was amazing. Not many players can do that. Defensively I think they did pretty well. There were only a couple of complete failures. One where the center was open and a G player just kinda drifted into it and took pass & layup. Mostly it was very good defense despite G having a very active mobile offense with a lot of switching.
And still, our players get beat up. It's hard to understand. Dorka was terrific and Aubrey did some amazing things. After the 1st qtr the defense picked up and the tide turned. Still, shooting needs to improve more. Where a SC has Boston and Cardoso to shoot layups, we depend a lot on 3s and when they foul out Lou, it puts a lot of stress on Aaliyah and Dorka. With help down low from Ayanna and Aubrey, it worked out. But it wasn't great.
"It worked out" is the key phrase. SC won over LSU by something like 24 pts. We all know LSU was undefeated, and played with a full squad. Both of us would rather have what UConn has...
I hope they can get a little break to be mentally ready. I hope Gino play everybody like Chris D does that might help for other play to came down and refresh their bodies a little. If they lose again. I think Gino should be responsible for that like in most lisent games most opponents haslowed down uconn I believe a player like Amari can play in that pace she is tall and can be a good big in the paint for rotation hope she get some minute for aliyaah to rest. Aliyaah deserves the most rest she have played almost every game since last season she needs a breath and this all is on Gino. He better start thinking like a human not a coach.
In the trenches! Resilience, and determination! That’s WHY you bust your behinds, in offseason! I am going to try to be positive for once with Ayanna…some good defense! I like to see the bench, a bit more serious, unlike other times, when they are horsing around, whilst, the team is getting beat. Some of those girls, have more games on the bench, than playing…
Dorka and Amari are the same height, almost identical in all aspects. Why the difference in playing ability? State of mind. Amari has so much skill, she just doesn't get it yet. I hope she comes on soon.
DeBerry gives 1/2 an effort to 1 effort per possession. Edwards, Juhasz, Griffin, Patterson, Muhl, Senechal - they all give 2, 3 and 4 efforts per possession (offensively and defensively). DeBerry does not have "so much skill," as you say. She is not effective when it comes to positioning, footwork, being in the right place at the right time. She does not have instincts for the game. Her hs and aau coaches were all using her for her length, they appear to have never expected her to actually learn bb. She dominated in hs simply and merely because of her height, not because she could move and take away parts of the floor because of hustle. She is not quick, nor does she possess speed. She was on U16 national teams and barely, if ever, played. She has been in the UConn program for over a year and has not made much improvement, if at all. She will not come on soon. My prediction is that she will not "come on" at all.
@@lastonestanding3417 IMO, she doesn't seem to make fast decisions when she has the ball and tends to make poor passes resulting in turnovers. She could have been an asset in the frontcourt to spell Aaliyah and Dorka, but she provides very little offense.
Those turnovers are killing UCONN this game and every game all season long and it is now creeping up on them and they cant just compensate it anymore. Nika and Aubrey play terrific defense but both of them MUST start shooting the ball more often as the Hukies are lacking an offense and scorers. Nika prefers to set up other shooters and Aubrey is hesitant on shooting because so far others have been the leading scorers but right now with the bigs missing sooo many open layups they have to shoot the ball way more often. Especially with that tactic of Geno to let Dorka AND Aaliyah playing on top of the key to spread the floor... for whom actually? Azzi? Caroline? Paige? They had a way better offensive game with either Dorka or Aaliyah or both of them in the low post. Also Lou can hit 3s - so can Aubrey and Nika - but not consistent. Her best weapon is her dribble pullup midrange jumper which works perfectly with a pick and roll or a simple screen which doesnt work with you 2 bigs stuck at the top of the key to stretch the floor for whom again?! And Amari needs more minutes to play. She immediatly impacted the game on the offensive end when she got into play. Yes Ayanna did some great work on defense but so did Amari but she actually scored and didnt even hesitate when she saw an opportunity to score. Dorka started bad but really got better after the first quarter when she lost the ball less on the offensive and stoped running into the defense headsup. A lot of offensive plays by the Huskies were just run into the defensive player, struggle with the ball and then lose the handles. Painful to watch. And then again those passes. Those lobs get intercepted so easily, they could aswell wrap the ball in wrapping paper with a nice bow on top and simply hand it over.
GT has historically chosen to foul this UCONN roster consistently to disrupt their bigs inside. It's a tactic, a gamble, that they hope works in their favor. UCONN also uses tactical fouls, just historically less often. Lou's biggest issue and adjustment to playing at UCONN is not getting into foul trouble. Reminds me of Nika the previous years.
I am hoping for the best with DeBerry, but even with 1 shot made, she is not yet a net positive. Turnovers per touch and poor defensive positioning and adjustment still plagues her on the court. Patterson had way more positive than negative impact during her playing minutes, plenty of assists and rebounds.. and she is improving on defensive. Not sure if Geno hasn't given her the green light to shoot short shots... something she may be struggling with during practice. UCONN tracks everything in practice like the do in games. Players earn their spots during practice.
If for no other reason than to rest the starters. She sure isn't perfect, but she does show potential. I personally think she's more productive than Patterson. Why Patterson gets the nod over Deberry is beyond me.
@@lastonestanding3417 lol OK, keyboard warrior, explain it to me. Patterson plays good defense, but her offense is trash. She either has no post moves and gets blocked, or too many post moves and travels. Deberry plays pretty good defense and can hit some shots. She's not perfect, but she offers more than Patterson.
@@hamiltzp All you had to say, "pretty good" she's been in the program over a year and hasn't improved one bit, mistakes on offense, out of position on defense; you are not watching the games, expert; apparently you didn't hear Coach A's interview, he gave credit to Patterson for giving the team a lift, didn't say anything about DeBerry, that should tell you something, oh, but of course, you know more than a hall of fame coach, right?! Of course you do.
Is Caroline a secret MMA fighter that was beat on the head for three rounds and finally brutally knocked out with a blast to the head? There is/are NFL players with less time on concussion protocol. There’s actually MMA ladies that get knocked out not on protocol this long. If she didn’t get KTFO obtaining the injury, then WTF?
She got concussed in practice apparently. It has been a little more than a month. So, this is comparable to Tua. His sport is a little more high contact though imo. I do wonder a bit about her background. Did she have a bunch of concussions in high school? None of my business. But I can’t help but be curious.
She apparently has post-concussion syndrome. Symptoms can be dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound, etc. She's been wearing those earplugs a lot, and Geno said that sometimes she would leave the bench if the lights got to her. Contrary to what Geno said recently, I'm not expecting her back anytime soon given that she's still wearing earplugs. 😞
@@frankiek2269 lol Another keyboard warrior with an attitude. Your comment says more about you than anything else. First, despite your snark, you raised some good points, and not a lot of people have mentioned post-concussion syndrome, so I "shed some light". Vindicated or real? Is English a second language for you? Oh, and the word you're looking for is "drivel", not "dribble". "Drivel" is what you posted. Thanks for playing. Have a nice day.
The lady is the worst commentator I have ever seen. She is pro Uconn as am I, but she makes statements about players that are so far out there no one can believe it. Like last years comments on Nelson Ododa?
UConn no tiene las super buenas jugadoras del pasado. Pero su Coach continúa dirigiendo los jugos como en esa época... Por lo consiguiente, UConn, es candidato a perder.
Honestly, kinda hoping Georgetown would’ve won this. That would’ve pointed out a glaring fact that when you recruit #1 ranked athletes, that are injury prone in HS, chances are, they’ll be injured. I wonder what their games played vs games sat out ratio is. This squad with #1’s is breaking a lot of UConn records. They’re always on the bench. They broke the ‘no conference loss’ one, the ‘undefeated National appearance’ one, the ‘unranked opp. loss’ one, and the ‘back-to-back losses’ one. Weird, hunh? They’re phenomenal players, but they’re injured so much. If rather an employee that puts out 80% efficiency [and never calls off] all the time, than one that puts out 99%, but calls off, sometimes at the last minute. Just saying.
