UConn vs Georgia Tech

#27
#27
Losing your best players to injury always hurts, but losing three top players within a week, and when one of those players you lose is the reigning NPOY, it's devastating. I'm going to refrain from gloating about them losing.

I'm going to gloat as much as possible. UCONN fans had been debating in preseason about where their 2nd string would be ranked if playing as a team (consensus was #15-20). That would still be more talented than Tech. And CONN still has at least three starters available to go with other elite recruits. Auriemma chose to leave the reserves on the bench. Now it's coming home to roost.

Yes, they'll be better when injured players return, and reserves will get needed experience by default. They're actually fortunate the injuries occurred early in the season and not near tournament time.

I'm sure Marquette and DePaul are not feeling sorry for them and are eager to see them this month.
 
#28
#28
You're right, luck might not be the correct term. It's actually kind of a miracle that so many players got better all at once. Especially in a program where almost no one has gotten better at all in a long time. Development busted out all over the place just when we needed it.
Luck isn’t part of the game when a team consistently comes from behind to win.
 
#30
#30
The difference is those other teams have not had to totally readjust everything in a week's time. With a couple of weeks of practice with the new main lineup, Connecticut will likely look a lot better than they did tonight. GT has practiced and played with a consistent roster for months now; CT has not. It IS different.
...under rated observation^
 
#31
#31
So much for their bragging....
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#32
#32
Losing your best players to injury always hurts, but losing three top players within a week, and when one of those players you lose is the reigning NPOY, it's devastating. I'm going to refrain from gloating about them losing.
We lost 2 starters, no one cut us any slack. They have a team of highly ranked recruits, many in the top 10. I don’t feel sorry for them.
 
#33
#33
The difference is those other teams have not had to totally readjust everything in a week's time. With a couple of weeks of practice with the new main lineup, Connecticut will likely look a lot better than they did tonight. GT has practiced and played with a consistent roster for months now; CT has not. It IS different.

That’s not the difference. We’re in the top 10 now, and we lost our top scorer, Rae, in the first game. We had also lost an experienced player in Marta. TWO Days after that first game we played an away game at UCF, and three days after that we played USF at home. The next game was Texas. I do not know how they stack up against GA Tech, but UCF has since beaten Arkansas, and USF has beaten Stanford.

Everyone knows UConn is loaded with 5 star rated players, and they are playing upperclassmen, but they couldn’t beat unranked GA Tech, who probably had no 5 star players. They can barely score in the fourth quarter. The difference in how Tennessee handled their adversity and how UConn was unable to, is the Coach. Kellie prepared her whole team, including the Freshmen, to be able to play, and Geno did not.

Kellie said our team is tough and strong minded, maybe that’s another difference.


I
 
#35
#35
Okay, with some new information I will offer a small criticism. Connecticut apparently didn't send any players to the post-game interviews. Now, I get that they were probably very upset, but I think it was disrespectful to Georgia Tech for them to fail to do the traditional interviews. I remember CT doing that another time after a loss, so I kinda think it might be Auriemma making that unfortunate call for the players. Yes, it sucks to lose and have to face reporters afterward, but it's also an important part of the growing process. God knows plenty of heartbroken players have faced the media after Connecticut beat them.

Auriemma should have said, "I know it hurts, but ya gotta do it. Every team that loses a game owes the winner of that game their comments."

Just like when Diana Taurasi refused the post game interviews after Candace Parker’s team beat hers for the WNBA Championship. Same attitude as her college Coach Geno.
 
#37
#37
That’s not the difference. We’re in the top 10 now, and we lost our top scorer, Rae, in the first game. We had also lost an experienced player in Marta. TWO Days after that first game we played an away game at UCF, and three days after that we played USF at home. The next game was Texas. I do not know how they stack up against GA Tech, but UCF has since beaten Arkansas, and USF has beaten Stanford.

Everyone knows UConn is loaded with 5 star rated players, and they are playing upperclassmen, but they couldn’t beat unranked GA Tech, who probably had no 5 star players. They can barely score in the fourth quarter. The difference in how Tennessee handled their adversity and how UConn was unable to, is the Coach. Kellie prepared her whole team, including the Freshmen, to be able to play, and Geno did not.

Kellie said our team is tough and strong minded, maybe that’s another difference.


I

Well, I'm going to have to disagree.

We knew even before official practices began that we wouldn't have Marta, so we can hardly count her as being someone we had to adjust to losing on the fly. We lost one player -- albeit our top-scoring all-American -- in Rae Burrell, and have done an AMAZING job of winning despite taking that heavy hit.

So I guess my point is, for that string of games you mentioned we had been forced to quickly adjust to losing one player. In that same span of time, Connecticut had to adjust to losing three top-rated players -- and one of them is a generational-type player. Also, they already were down Aubrey Griffin. As much as I adore and appreciate our Rae Burrell (and wouldn't trade her for ANYbody else!), I don't think of Rae as being a generational-level player.

If you try to look at it objectively, I don't think you could truly believe that the situations are the exactly same. They are not.

Don't get me confused with a Connecticut lover for having this opinion, either. I loathe them with the heat of a thousand suns, and I am never going to "feel sorry" for them for losses. But if I'm honest, I see there's a huge difference between "making excuses" for losses and "having compelling reasons" for losses. IMO, losing three of your best players within days of each other and then not having very much practice time for the new main lineup to gel, is a compelling reason and not an excuse.
 
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#39
#39
Well, I'm going to have to disagree.

We knew even before official practices began that we wouldn't have Marta, so we can hardly count her as being someone we had to adjust to losing on the fly. We lost one player -- albeit our top-scoring all-American -- in Rae Burrell, and have done an AMAZING job of winning despite taking that heavy hit.

So I guess my point is, for that string of games you mentioned we had been forced to adjusting to losing one player. In that same span of time, Connecticut had to adjust to losing three top-rated players -- and one of them is a generational-type player. Also, they already were down Aubrey Griffin. As much as I adore and appreciate our Rae Burrell (and wouldn't trade her for ANYbody else!), I don't think of Rae as being a generational-level player.

If you look at it objectively, I don't think you can conclude that the situations are the same.

Don't get me confused with a Connecticut lover for having this opinion, either. I loathe them with the heat of a thousand suns, and I am never going to "feel sorry" for them for losses. But if I'm honest, I see there's a huge difference between "making excuses" for losses and "having compelling reasons" for losses. IMO, losing three of your best players within days of each other and then not having very much practice time for the new main lineup to gel, is a compelling reason and not an excuse.

Maybe you have a sympathetic heart, and for some reason feel sorry for UConn. Even Geno said after today’s game, they had problems from before now. They scored 3 points in the fourth quarter when they lost to South Carolina, and no one was out for that game.

In our first game, Jordan Horston did not play, that was determined at the beginning of the game, Tamari barely played because of foul trouble, and Rae was injured before halftime, plus we had already lost Marta for the year. So when we went to Florida 2 days later to play UCF, three of our starters had basically not played together in a game with the team, and we also played Freshmen, and we beat a very good team.

All I am saying is that Geno depended totally on his star player Paige, to such an extent that he did not give his other highly rated players enough playing time for them to play well if she could not play. The fact that Paige was still playing the entire game against Notre Dame when she was injured, even though it was a 20 point blowout, is an example of this.

Uconn has probably only 5 star rated players through their whole roster including the bench, and many upperclassman, yet they are not ready to play together. There is no excuse for that. I’m sure Geno will get them ready now.
 
#40
#40
Not just 5-stars, but even the admin of the Boneyard pointed out the two #1's, a #2, and two #5 players...with others ranking in the Top 10-20, an Olympian, an All-Big Ten player, etc. This is not a team of a couple of stars, some mediocre players, and some scrubs. These were mostly elite, highly-sought-after players, and the starters tonight were mainly upperclassmen with Final Four experience.

Preparing your bench (most who would be starters at most other schools) by playing different combinations keeps players motivated, helps team chemistry, and helps avoid situations such as we saw tonight.
 
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#42
#42
Even full strength UCONN has struggled offensively which bogles my mind. Whatever voodoo or witchcraft is happening keep it coming.

Chemistry just isn’t there, been saying it for weeks. Honestly feels like Geno kinda gave the team to Paige. They go as she goes. If she’s happy it’s all good, if something is off? Its a problem. When she’s not on the court others aren’t stepping up. Just doesn’t seem like the usual product you see out of Storrs.

He was extremely frustrated last night. Skipping media after a loss is classless. If you can’t sit your butt up there and be respectful and answer questions after the L you do not deserve to do so after the Ws.
 
#43
#43
Maybe you have a sympathetic heart, and for some reason feel sorry for UConn. Even Geno said after today’s game, they had problems from before now. They scored 3 points in the fourth quarter when they lost to South Carolina, and no one was out for that game.

In our first game, Jordan Horston did not play, that was determined at the beginning of the game, Tamari barely played because of foul trouble, and Rae was injured before halftime, plus we had already lost Marta for the year. So when we went to Florida 2 days later to play UCF, three of our starters had basically not played together in a game with the team, and we also played Freshmen, and we beat a very good team.

All I am saying is that Geno depended totally on his star player Paige, to such an extent that he did not give his other highly rated players enough playing time for them to play well if she could not play. The fact that Paige was still playing the entire game against Notre Dame when she was injured, even though it was a 20 point blowout, is an example of this.

Uconn has probably only 5 star rated players through their whole roster including the bench, and many upperclassman, yet they are not ready to play together. There is no excuse for that. I’m sure Geno will get them ready now.

More and more the last few years he seems to enjoy just collecting top talent and putting it on the shelf. My take? It’s a control thing. He loves to have the best players and then mess with their head keeping them on a string and making them watch for 3 years. It’s totally senseless.

Does it in the name of keeping a tight rotation, but we just saw that blow up in their face. As you mentioned, the chemistry isn’t there because they’ve had no live game experience to build any!

Practice is obviously what he cares about, but I think that’s a sad existence for a college athlete. Some of those young ladies are going to be looking elsewhere.
 
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#44
#44
The difference is those other teams have not had to totally readjust everything in a week's time. With a couple of weeks of practice with the new main lineup, Connecticut will likely look a lot better than they did tonight. GT has practiced and played with a consistent roster for months now; CT has not. It IS different.

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#45
#45
Weird season this is the Ga Tech team that lost to Auburn. Kind of shocked that a team of five stars all rated in the top 20 of their class would lose by 13 points. Was always high on Edwards looks like she has regressed at UConn. The transfer from Ohio State is playing just about like I thought she would. 44 points is the surprise thought he was an offensive genius. I don't think he is putting in the time he used to with his teams. Old age looks to be closing in on him quickly.
 
#47
#47
As much as I adore and appreciate our Rae Burrell (and wouldn't trade her for ANYbody else!), I don't think of Rae as being a generational-level player.
Generational level player? Rae averaged 16 ppg and Paige 20 ppg those 4 more points a game make her a “generational player” tbh Paige is pretty average to me lol generational players are players who have won multiple championships. Breanna Stewart is a generational player. Maya Moore is a generational player. Candace Parker is a generational player. Until Paige wins a natty she is just another all-American like Rae Marie Burrell
 
#48
#48
Going to see more upsets this season than ever. Women's basketball is reaching parity and 100 top recruit lists are becoming less and less reliable in recognizing all the top players. You better be ready to play against everybody this season any game could see you go down in defeat.
 
#49
#49
Well, I'm going to have to disagree.

We knew even before official practices began that we wouldn't have Marta, so we can hardly count her as being someone we had to adjust to losing on the fly. We lost one player -- albeit our top-scoring all-American -- in Rae Burrell, and have done an AMAZING job of winning despite taking that heavy hit.

So I guess my point is, for that string of games you mentioned we had been forced to quickly adjust to losing one player. In that same span of time, Connecticut had to adjust to losing three top-rated players -- and one of them is a generational-type player. Also, they already were down Aubrey Griffin. As much as I adore and appreciate our Rae Burrell (and wouldn't trade her for ANYbody else!), I don't think of Rae as being a generational-level player.

If you try to look at it objectively, I don't think you could truly believe that the situations are the exactly same. They are not.

Don't get me confused with a Connecticut lover for having this opinion, either. I loathe them with the heat of a thousand suns, and I am never going to "feel sorry" for them for losses. But if I'm honest, I see there's a huge difference between "making excuses" for losses and "having compelling reasons" for losses. IMO, losing three of your best players within days of each other and then not having very much practice time for the new main lineup to gel, is a compelling reason and not an excuse.
Then you don't agree with Hoopgurlz ratings of players because they put players ranked 1, 2, 4, as three of their starters last night. They were also seniors. They also had several top ten to twenty players on the bench. So their talent level even with the loss of two players is supposedly higher than anyone except maybe three or four teams. These players can either play or they can't and last night they got defeated by a group that didn't include many top 100 players. The point being we don't have any players ranked as high as players on their bench except Horston. So even if they have losses of two players they still should be able to beat almost everyone they play so no excuses for them they have problems other than talent on the team.
 

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