Will UConn bounce back after the Notre Dame debacle?

[@BrandonR-mg9xt]

in order for the big east beater UConn to show up against USC, players like Ice Brady and Ashlyn Shade need to not disappear offensively. They need to be consistent across the level of competition.

[@glennprucinsky7968]

Key is keeping Strong engaged, Sarah has to play with confidence and stay aggressive. Jana can be dominant down low but needs to play with patience. If the front court can attack then Paige can Slim Shady can hit their shots. Slim tends to shoot from the hip and needs more room to get her shot off. Chen will need to penetrate and attract some attention to allow Slim to get plenty of space. Jana and Ice will need to play smart and keep the fouls to a minimum. UConn can beat this team handedly but can’t shy away from any slow starts.

[@misterpatrick6126]

To be fair: the arc of Geno's coaching this year has to be focused on getting this team to gel *by Tournament Time*. He doesn’t have his veteran players right now. Look at what a difference having Azzi Fudd makes; does anyone think they couldn’t win that Notre Dame game with Azzi and Aubrey? Right now Geno has to make do with a very green lineup. Wait until the NCAA tournament happens: if things go their way UConn will have Azzi and Aubrey, Jana El Alfy continues to improve and Morgan Chelli continues to evolve into the next Katie Lou Samuelson.

[@glennprucinsky7968]

I like Morgan , she’s got some game but she needs to get more athletic and quicker. Needs to stand up stronger and be able to handle the ball better. Allie is going to be good also. Same with her about handling the ball better. Have you noticed that half of the girls as well as the men’s team have half of their players don’t handle the ball well. That’s a key part in college basketball, don’t have to be great at everything but if you can handle the ball well you can maneuver yourself around the court with ease and create chances for success!!!!!!!!!

[@Wennifer19]

It's interesting that before this season started, I mentioned in another KZbin channel that one of the teams UConn will have trouble with this year is Notre Dame

[@jordanperry96]

I think people just expect UConn to be something based of the name. Because some of the takes I saw pre game about UConn vs notre dame were just flat out ludicrous. UConn would tire them out and overwhelm them with depth? What depth does UConn have that plays in big games? Notre dame played @ USC and vs Texas with the same roster and didn’t get tired out playing against 9 and 10 players and going to overtime vs Texas. I think some people only watch UConn instead of watching all the teams to make decisions free of bias. However Azzi coming back will help cover a lot of deficiencies for UConn.

[@Viper-ln6yt]

The loss to Notre Dame, one of the most talented teams in the country, on the road, was hardly a debacle. People are getting sick of click-bait.

[@LockedOnUConn]

Yeah click bait good one 😂. Here you are though

[@morujmohammed7359]

9:17 exaaaactly!!! They are good against BE gaurds but Paige should been on Hannah. She got a steal from her inbounding the ball!! Paige is fast can keep up with Hannah and she is smart read the offense very well

[@brianhayes6825]

With all respect, are you joking?!? Sarah Strong is a very fine and intelligent player, but she could not keep up with Hannah Hildago. This was the problem for USC and Texas before it became UConn's problem. Hannah H. has a very high power "motor" and she moves suddenly and quickly. It would be a joke having Sarah, who is quick for a big, but plodding for a guard, defend Hildago. Paige would be better as a defender, because she has a quick step, but she is not as fast a Hildago, who would blow by her or wrong foot her so she could get an open 3-point shot. I get that the two players who were guarding her are not "the best defenders" but they were quicker than Paige and certainly far quicker than Sarah. It is also exhausting having to chase after a non-stop player like Hannah H., which very likely would tire out Paige or Sarah and risk having their offensive scoring suffer from that mental and physical fatigue. Particularly because, let's face it, Hannah H. would still get quite a bit of points. She is just quicker than anyone on UConn. Heck, Harmon from Texas, who is known for being quick and aggressive could not slow down Hildago. It is laughable to believe either Paige or Sarah could shut her down. Even at that, to limit Hildago's scoring would require either defender to likely give up their own scoring, as Citron from ND did, giving up her offensive game in order to defend Paige and slow her down a bit. Yes, I get you think anything would be better than what UConn ran at Hildago on Thursday, but there just might not be a better choice - unless you are willing to risk throwing UConn's offense off kilter as well. And remember, Olivia Miles and Citron and L. King of ND have scoring ability as well. If you slow down Hildago, you just might find it is Miles scoring 30 points. In fact, if Olivia Miles had not been injured, it is very likely ND would have won by 20. She came back in the 4th and got something like 10 points in just that quarter. So, Miles would likely step up if Hildago was "put in jail" by Paige or Sarah. I also don't think you give enough credit to the fact that ND's has a very mature team and they move the ball very well, which does cause players to chase the pass and, yes, sometimes come off their player, only to find that their player, Hannah H., is now open and about to shoot. UConn played fine. ND played with more intensity and it showed. That is why only Paige got into any sort of shooting rhythm. Again, because they are a maturer team. They know how to get up for a big game and manage their emotions, it is what experience does for you. If UConn hopes to win it all, they need to learn to play with that same type of intensity; which is unlikely to happen. At least, it is unlikely they can ever match ND's frenzy. ND runs a looser, adaptive offensive set while UConn runs a system offense. UConn has to rely on their system prevailing against most team, because most teams do not play at the speed and intensity of ND, which not only overwhelmed UConn, but also overwhelmed USC and Texas with that speed (It also overwhelmed TCU through 3 quarters, going up by something like 13 or so points, only to take its foot off the gas and see TCU out-score them by about 20 points in the 4th quarter. Presumably, that was a "lesson learned" for ND, so don't expect to luck into that happening if UConn meets ND in the future). UConn has to hope that ND plays hot and cold like they have so far and gets knocked out of the Tournament before the two teams meet again; or it has to find a way to slow down ND's speed and, otherwise, match its intensity. Because, when ND gets its big players back from injury reserve and up to speed, ND is not going to be a team anyone wants to face.

[@glennprucinsky7968]

ND game showed what good ball handling can do for creating chances. Hilda go, Miles and Cintron all handle the ball effectively and create havoc anywhere on the court. Slim Shady and Morgan need to get better at this in order to be more effective.!!!!

[@morujmohammed7359]

What’s concerning about uconn is that they are not playing good defense and rebounds. KK and Kaitlyn have a lot of flaws in their defense getting under screens, overhelping and fouling. I believe Paige is the vest defender, she had a steal from Hannah inbounding the ball. Understand that you don’t want to exhaust your best player on defense but Geno shouldve put paige on her for at least for few minutes. Rebounds issue is desire and hunger. Geno is not tough anymore on the players I guess

[@nwarner616]

If ND and Uconn see each other again this season, Aubrey Griffin will be sitting right there waiting for Hidalgo. AG could cause a big problem for Hidalgo.

[@jordanperry96]

Also, Notre dame has injuries as well. Starters Westbeld out, karlen was out the whole season until that game and is not in game shape. Miles played on a hurt ankle. However all I heard and saw was Azzi is injured, thats why they lost 🙄

[@michaellebradford6662]

UConn is missing more than Azzi, though - Ayanna and Aubrey are out with injuries and are much needed because UConn's frontcourt needs help especially on the boards.

[@jordanperry96]

@ I’ll give you Aubrey. Ayanna I won’t agree with because I think Aubrey, Ice, Jana, and Sarah are above her in the rotation, so I don’t see the minutes for her. However just about everyone had UConn winning that game without Azzi, and how they would dominate the paint against a freshman koval and undersized king. Now I’m hearing after they lost because no Aubrey, Azzi, and Ayanna. ND has no Westbeld, half injured miles, minutes restricted karlen, no Bransford, no Watson. So injuries don’t matter to me for this game.

[@bjtesch9571]

Not only will Sarah and Paige need to be on but also the rest of the team. The bigs are key beside Sarah. Love Emily on the pod!!!

[@00126601528]

You have to play Hanna hard, I think they slept on her a little bit.. witch I don't get.. That buzzer beater took the air out of them. The talk about Gino, to me is the biggest joke. I think the loss was a good loss for them. Uconn is the standard.. every team wants to beat them and play there best, just like NE in football back in the day

[@tjkelly197759]

Paige being your best player, you want here to exert extra energy guarding Hildago? I get it in clutch moments but all game. Her offense would suffer. Sarah can move pretty well, but guarding Hildago? Yall are tripping.

[@chewymatchewy]

Not sure what game you were watching. Kaitlyn did fine at the beginning of the game. The team broke down with coverages later in the game especially since ND couldn't miss an outside shot later. You want PAIGE to cover Hannah?????? What the hell? Sorry to say that is stupid. Lets tire Paige out and get her in foul trouble with a quicker guard. Not smart. It has to be a KK or Kaitlyn who are quick and pesky.

[@LockedOnUConn]

To quote the great Big Lebowski,. That’s just like your opinion man, And it should have been Ashlynn she wasn’t doing a damn thing against ND offensively. Did join notice Sonia Citron sacrifice her offense for covering page largely all night. Emily is correct they should have switched up coverages.. and if your team doesn’t know Hannah’s game By now that’s on the coaching staff

[@brianhayes6825]

Thank you! Finely, some common sense. ND covered Paige with Citron who tried to play lock down defense on Paige and Citron's offense dropped to about half her average. You cannot play lock down defense and be the main scorer at the same time - even if you are Paige. And, as noted, Paige may be quick but Hildago is fast and relentless. Putting Paige (or Sarah) on her and hoping for the best is a very risky idea.

[@glennprucinsky7968]

But the greatest players aka MJ were able to play both sides of the game.

[@StoryGordon]

I am surprised a channel as knowledgeable as this does not recognize the UConn developmenmt challenge, especially after they made it to within 3 points of the NC last year with 3 vets and four Freshmen.

[@LockedOnUConn]

Did you actually listen to the episode? I said I don’t agree with questions surrounding Geno. I asked a beat reporter if it was fair but I’m sure this makes you feel better having said something entirely not true.✅🤷🏼‍♂️