RebKell's Junkie Boards

[tfan]

UConn lost to Stanford this year, but it wasn't with the lineup they used as the season went on:

UConn versus Stanford (overtime loss)

Name..................Minutes
Mosqueda-Lewis.. 45
Stewart...............44
Stokes.................25
Jefferson..............36
Chong..................35
Tuck......................20
Nurse...................20

UConn versus Notre Dame NCAA final
Mosqueda-Lewis.. 40
Stewart...............39
Stokes.................10
Jefferson..............40
Chong..................0
Tuck......................40
Nurse...................28
Williams................3

[sammieee]

This may be one of the bigger upsets in a while no? Especially if you consider the talent.

UConn had 3 AA, a 1st round pick in Stokes, and Tuck (who, if it wasn't for the other 3, may have been an AA).

Stanford had 0 AA, and only a late 2nd round pick Orrange, where as UConn had 2 first rounders (one lottery).

[NickDMB]

[bballjunkie]

Chong was bounced because of a lack of understanding of game management and defensive scouting. Nurse, KML heck also had trouble but they are smarter basketball players.

Tuck did play but she also had trouble picking up fouls and struggled on offense as Stanford had probably one of the best game plans against Uconn I have seen. They had each player scouted to high water and it paid off. Could they do it again, I doubt it as Geno would have a better game plan for them. Who knew Stanford would have zero post offense!

[snichols]

Give TVD an entire offseason to devise a game plan, and she can plan a scout defense against almost anybody. She'll force you to your alternate scorers, and attack your weak defenders. Her defensive game plan limited Stewart and KML, and the offensive game plan attacked KML and Chong. Chong was a viable option to Stewie and KML offensively, but gave away as much defensively as she provided offensively. Tuck played well at times, but fouled out about the time she was starting to look like a legitimate third threat in the game.

Stewie and KML were being frustrated continually, and nobody else was ready to pick up the slack yet.

[ClayK]

And note that Geno was quoted in SI as saying he was frustrated with this year's team's practice mentality and effort, and that he didn't call a timeout in this close game.

Sometimes a loss is a great thing for a coach, as suddenly you have your players' attention again.

_________________
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[ucbart]

[dtsnms]

Not mentioned yet in this thread yet was the uneven play of Moriah Jefferson at that point in the season. Geno had turned the keys over to her from Hartley, and he had a quote early in the year about most of his players were used to sitting in the back seat and enjoying the ride as opposed to now driving this car.

It was not that long afterwards they went on break, she went home and came back an entirely different player. The MVP of this team.

[cthskzfn]

Is there a better game to lose than an early-Nov, OOC road game?

What I found interesting was Geno's post-game comment that he thought UConn had defended the Orrange 3 play well.

I couldn't disagree more. MJ made a mistake leaving Orrange to help on ?, who had picked up her dribble behind the arc and was already well-defended.

And so, like the 2000 team which lost one game, to Tenn, by 1, at Gampel in Feb on a 12-ft jumper by Semeka Randall (despite Bird getting a hand on the ball, and of which Randall said "I swear it was God who put it in the hole"), followed by an Abrosimova miss at the buzzer, this UConn team will never be in the conversation of "best team ever".

As ridiculous as UConn's record is over the years, which includes 5 undefeated seasons, to think they were very close to having had 2 more is mind-boggling.

This assumes '14-15 would have played out the same had UConn won at Maples, and I'm not sure that's a good assumption. On the other hand, I do think the 2000 team would have run the table had they won that Feb game vs. the LVs.

_________________
Silly, stupid white people might be waking up.

[bballjunkie]

I disagree with you, Geno had said he was concerned about the Samuelson shooters. Everyone thought that is who was going to take that shot. I don't think anyone thought it would be Orrange taking the 3. Actually smart move by whichever Samuelson it was and Orrange knocked it down. However that was just to get overtime.

[ewecon]

What difference does all this make? Is there anyone (besides Stanford fans) that wouldn't have put their money on UConn -15 in a post-season rematch? You can't even compare the very early season team to what Geno had on the floor at the end of the season.

That's my opinion, anyway.

[NickDMB]

[cthskzfn]

[beknighted]

[bballjunkie]

[quote="cthskzfn"][quote="bballjunkie"]I disagree with you, Geno had said he was concerned about the Samuelson shooters. Everyone thought that is who was going to take that shot. I don't think anyone thought it would be Orrange taking the 3. Actually smart move by whichever Samuelson it was and Orrange knocked it down. However that was just to get overtime.[/quote]

When was the last time you watched the play?

It's hard for me to believe it can be concluded UConn defended that play well.

Samuelson picked up her dribble and was guarded by Tuck. Jefferson unnecessarily left Orrange to help Tuck. Samuelson made the obvious pass to the now wide-open Orrange, who finished as the 2nd-best 3-pt shooter on the team, trailing Samuleson .438-.436. She had scored a then career-high 22 at UConn the year before. No one should have been surprised Orrange was a threat to take the shot.

Some people think Alison Bales defended the Toliver 3 well in the '06 NC, so I'm not surprised some think the same here.[/quote]

Have a ton of tape and just watched it. Geno expected Samuelson to take the shot no surprise there, I haven't seen any other game where a final 3 has been run for Orrange only drive to basket and pull ups. The dribble was picked up when she drew the 2 defenders and the smart pass was made to the open player who happened to be Orrange who is not a prolific 3 pt shooter but can knock them down and she did, OT. If Geno was unhappy with that I think he would have said so, I don't think he holds back!

[cthskzfn]

[cthskzfn]

[Nixtreefan]

You are basing your stats on end of year. The game was played at the beginning when Amber was not considered a 3 point threat, in fact she would have been 4th option. Amber improved her 3 point shooting over her senior year. Prior to that, teams were leaving her open at the 3 and sagging.

A great example of using stats when they are NOT pertinent.

[GEF34]

[linkster]

[GEF34]

[cthskzfn]

[Nixtreefan]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, well we all know how that works

[cthskzfn]

[summertime blues]

I cannot believe you people are still obsessing about this game.

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom