Texas @ UConn 11/14/2022

So proud of this team. They never gave up, gonna be fun watching this group grow this season. I think Shaylee has been put in a tough situation but she is pushing through. I beleive she will be so much better playing off the ball instead of the point. Lots of Texas Fight tonight. Good job!
 
Very proud of this team. They will only get better! Second game with Texas and Vic for most of those players and only lost by 7. Azzi Fudd is good.

Shaylee will build confidence within the system and play better, having to run the point for a few games will do that and help her get in sync much faster. Jak is going to be a tremendous addition for us. Shay Holle is going to be important for us as well. Not sure why Faye was in instead of Taylor half of the 4th quarter, she gave up some easy looks and wasted a key offensive possession.

On to the next one..hook em
 
Under the circumstances (no Rori, a team with 7 newcomers), and considering the loss was to a top 5 team on the road, I thought the team did a good job. To be able to be competitive like this without Rori tells me that we belong in the discussion among the top teams in the country, and if Vic can get some things figured out, we very well could get where we want to go. I just want to see the team against top caliber competition with Rori running things.
 
Rori impacts the the game on both ends. I don't think she could have stopped Fudd, but I do think that she would make more difficult on her. I thought that they would get blown out without Rori, but they just need to try to steadily improve.
 
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brnkj said:
Irritating and frustrating that, without Rori in the game, we have zero guards capable of handling the ball just good enough to get us into our offense.
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Which is why I lobbied for a true backup PG all off season.

Vic talks about "recruiting to a fit". But, if his offense is best led by a quick athletic player like Rori, then he didn't really fill those qualities in the transfer guards he brought it in. I am truly glad we added both Gonzales and Morris, but neither is a true PG (in Vic's style of offense/defense).
 
Jacob Johnson said:
Morris is Vic’s type of player but not to sold on Gonzales. She’s a liability on defense and not contributing on offense. I’m going to contribute that to her not being a point guard. Maybe we’ll see more from her when Harmon returns.
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Vic preaches that he "recruits to a fit" . . .
 
Gonzales had 6 assists; that is great. The 5 turnovers she had were when she was dribbling too much. She played 37 hard minutes.

I think many folks on here have unrealistic expectations of her skill set. She's not Rori. She's not similar to Rori. She's who she is, and she gave it her all tonight. Even Rori has turnovers and makes mistakes dribbling the ball.
 
Moooooo said:
Which is why I lobbied for a true backup PG all off season.

Vic talks about "recruiting to a fit". But, if his offense is best led by a quick athletic player like Rori, then he didn't really fill those qualities in the transfer guards he brought it in. I am truly glad we added both Gonzales and Morris, but neither is a true PG (in Vic's style of offense/defense).
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You were obviously right to do so, and I foolishly thought that they didn't need one. I think that Vic needs to go away from the dribble drive offense and more towards the motion that he runs to try to limit the over dribbling.
 
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You have a point in my head I think we lost out on some good ones, along with KH being a question mark and Mathru leaving later wether he knew or not it was the perfect storm. At least now we know our weakness is lack of pg depth just don’t know how to address it. I also feel like the adjust I would have made with Harmon being out would be not to press and get back and set the 1/2 defense up solid. I think that would took some pressure off of Morris and Gonazales and allowed Holle, Jak, Amina, and Amo to me more disruptive and T Jones prob woulda got more blocks. I know I’m nobody but that’s what I woulda did w/o Harmon but not mad at this lost it will be good fuel.
 
Sincerely hookem said:
You have a point in my head I think we lost out on some good ones, along with KH being a question mark and Mathru leaving later wether he knew or not it was the perfect storm. At least now we know our weakness is lack of pg depth just don’t know how to address it. I also feel like the adjust I would have made with Harmon being out would be not to press and get back and set the 1/2 defense up solid. I think that would took some pressure off of Morris and Gonazales and allowed Holle, Jak, Amina, and Amo to me more disruptive and T Jones prob woulda got more blocks. I know I’m nobody but that’s what I woulda did w/o Harmon but not mad at this lost it will be good fuel.
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That's a great point.
 
I was one of the first to post my doubts about Gonzales fit on this team. Tonight, I will say this. Gonzales does not appear to be shying away from the challenge. She played 37 minutes tonight. I respect the effort she gave. I am officially off her case. I am going to enjoy what she does well; root for her and the team; and look for her and the team to adjust to one another.

Our freshmen are good ones! Mwenentanda. She has exciting potential. Based on tonight's game, she is settling in quickly. After difficult outings in one public exhibition and one official game, she came in tonight at UConn and produced. After looking good early tonight, Amina got schooled a bit. But she continues to look solid.

Transfers Morris and Taylor showed they are great additions to the team. In addition to being a solid player, Morris is a competitor, a gamer. And Tayor. Well, if we'd had her last year, we might have made that final four.

Moore having a surprisingly rough start to the season. Here's hoping she gets it going!

The team battled well tonight. I am looking forward to seeing how they progress through this season and beyond.

Azzi Fudd. Barring injury, she is going to be the difference maker in a lot of games this season plus two.
 
What an incredible effort from the ladies tonight. Based on what I saw against UL I can honestly say I expected us to lose by 15+. The line from Vegas was Uconn -13.5 so we certainly exceeded expectations based on Rori’s injury. I feel very good if we get a chance to see them again on a neutral court in March.

All of that being said, I have realized that my expectations for Shaylee were too high. Looking at her highlights and having seen some of her games at BYU, she was always on the break and always had an angle to the basket. I think at this level the game might be a bit faster with more athletic defenders and it’s presenting a challenge for her and Vic because he’s going to have to change too.

The one thing I am truly disappointed and surprised by is how poorly we defended in the paint and how poorly we rebounded. Have to get that cleaned up in a hurry!
 
Come on yall...this is the second game of the season! We should trust Coach and his decisions putting this team together. Didnt we learn anything the last 2 years? This team will be fine. Pg is not Shaylee natural position. This was a top 5 team we just played. Give it some time.
 
Major kudos to our training staff who must have provided significant treatment to Sonya's back over the weekend. I might have missed it, but she didn't show any lingering signs of pain tonight in her 33 minutes of play, including some time running the offense.
.
And, of course, major kudos to Sonya. She's played UConn several times before while at DePaul, so I knew she wouldn't be intimidated by the crowd or the "UConn" name. I recall someone posting a few days ago that they were waiting for her to have a breakout game at Texas (despite only having played 3 games at Texas). Well, 21 points with 5-10 three-point shooting exceeded my expectations for her, especially with Rori out.

Sonya is the one offensive player not named Rori who can explode offensively outside of the paint. I hope Vic gives her more offensive freedom with her shot as I think she's earned it; she really kept us in the game tonight on the biggest stage. Trust her to take good shots. Allow her to be the offensive catalyst she can be. We are going to need her as she seems to be our most reliable jump shooter from all areas of the court.
 
Sincerely hookem said:
You have a point in my head I think we lost out on some good ones, along with KH being a question mark and Mathru leaving later wether he knew or not it was the perfect storm. At least now we know our weakness is lack of pg depth just don’t know how to address it. I also feel like the adjust I would have made with Harmon being out would be not to press and get back and set the 1/2 defense up solid. I think that would took some pressure off of Morris and Gonazales and allowed Holle, Jak, Amina, and Amo to me more disruptive and T Jones prob woulda got more blocks. I know I’m nobody but that’s what I woulda did w/o Harmon but not mad at this lost it will be good fuel.
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I agree with you about getting back and calling off the press. All those fast breaks from UConn were embarrassing. The press often costs us more than it gains us. I hope Vic not having Taylor in for so long in the 4th is not a sign of things to come. She was really dominant inside. She needs to be on the floor about as much as Rori does. Overall though, we played great and have so much potential. I wouldn't mind another shot at them in the playoffs.
 
Jacob Johnson said:
Feed it inside! Every play needs to be going to Moore and Jones. Especially with Edwards in foul trouble.
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100% Agree. On nearly every possession, the ball needs to be touched by the bigs on the inside. Doesn't mean they have to shoot every time, just to move the defense. Vic emphasizes this but sometimes the guards go away from the game plan.
 
My expectations for Aaliyah Moore are really high this season. Two games into the regular season and she's averaging 7 points and 4.5 fouls while playing 18.5 minutes per game.

Happy to see that she improved on 3 points against Louisiana to 11 points tonight at UConn. I don't like seeing her dribble so much with her back to the basket and a defender guarding her tightly; turnovers are the result. Vic needs to find a way to get her the ball deeper in the paint so she can go up strong to the basket without needing to dribble the ball more than once or twice.

Each of our players has their strengths offensively. It's Vic's job to get each player to take the shots they are most comfortable taking and making. Tonight, it seemed like Aaliyah was getting the ball on the perimeter way too much for her to be effective offensively.
 
I've read a few comments about our dribble drive offense, and some not thinking it's best for this team. Personnel wise, I think it's better suited to this team than last season's team. Audrey Warren was a bit too slow for it, IMO. But, it seems well-suited for Amina and Ndjakalenga. So far, we don't seem to have the same number of "shooters" after losing Matharu and Allen-Taylor.

For Shaylee to be more effective offensively (even when Rori returns), I think we need to spread the floor more to allow her the chance to slash to the basket. Just seemed to me that the lane is too crowded for her to find her way unimpeded towards the basket where she can get some layups or get fouled.
 
Moooooo said:
Vic preaches that he "recruits to a fit" . . .
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Maybe that’s why we were trying to get Lauren Fields from the transfer portal this past summer. Her defensive skills would’ve come in handy tonight.

It may not be a popular opinion but Audrey Warren could have helped us win tonight. She wasn’t the most athletic player and her turnovers could be costly, but she was one of our clutch defensive players. She had an uncanny way of getting a couple of steals each game. I’m confident she would have got herself in position tonight for 1-2 charges from UConn. I looked up her stats from the three games Georgia has played and she’s playing a lot of minutes but not getting many points.
 
hoopsalot said:
Our freshmen are good ones! Mwenentanda. She has exciting potential. Based on tonight's game, she is settling in quickly. After difficult outings in one public exhibition and one official game, she came in tonight at UConn and produced.
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Previous games Jak looked lost. Tonight the freshman comes into one of the most hostile environments you can play in and goes 5 for 7, 1 for 1 from three, 3 boards, 1 steal, 13 points, only 1 turnover and 2 fouls. Wasn't afraid at all. Great game and huge improvement from the freshman. We've got a great one in the making, the future looks very bright.
 
hoopsalot said:
I was one of the first to post my doubts about Gonzales fit on this team. Tonight, I will say this. Gonzales does not appear to be shying away from the challenge. She played 37 minutes tonight. I respect the effort she gave. I am officially off her case. I am going to enjoy what she does well; root for her and the team; and look for her and the team to adjust to one another.
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I was fussing at her during the game but you are completely right. I'm going to follow your lead and I'm off her case now too. She played her heart out while one of our scholarship off-guards won't even show up to practice. I'm on Team Shaylee now.
 
LutherIsMyDog said:
Maybe that’s why we were trying to get Lauren Fields from the transfer portal this past summer. Her defensive skills would’ve come in handy tonight.

It may not be a popular opinion but Audrey Warren could have helped us win tonight. She wasn’t the most athletic player and her turnovers could be costly, but she was one of our clutch defensive players. She had an uncanny way of getting a couple of steals each game. I’m confident she would have got herself in position tonight for 1-2 charges from UConn. I looked up her stats from the three games Georgia has played and she’s playing a lot of minutes but not getting many points.
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We pursued Fields early out of the transfer portal, so she must have been a high priority. Once she selected Arizona, I wasn't sure what we'd do. But, getting Sonya, followed by Shaylee so late in the process were key additions as the options decreased late in the off season.

I'm still surprised Joanne Allen-Taylor decided not to come back for her fifth season; as a mechanical engineering major, she just struck me as someone who'd value an opportunity to pursue her graduate degree. Tonight, she'd have been invaluable running the offense and guarding Fudd; so, I'd opt for her over Audrey Warren (for tonight). As I mentioned the other day, she played so well against Ohio State while Rori was on the bench in foul trouble.
 
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Not. At. All. Concerned. Play #5 Connecticut to a 7 point game on their home court, without starting point guard and All-American candidate Rori Harmon, and yet Connecticut needed a heroic 32-point effort from Azzi Fudd to win.
The team acquitted themselves well. This team will be totally different in March.
 
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