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GO UCONN!!!!!
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I really suggest you listen to the entire interview. It's Geno just saying it like it is. It's hard to take but it's just the situation this team is in. He doesn't back off.
He mentions the fact that they only have two guards and a player they are trying to make a guard. It makes it really hard to practice.
He did like how Amari DeBerry played. That is basically the only bright spot from the game Thursday night.
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No. 2 UCONN No. 25 UCLA
5-2 5-2
Saturday, December 11th
1:00 PM EST
Newark, NJ
Prudential Center
TV: ABC
Matchup History
UCLA | UCONN LEADS 6-0
H: 1-0 | A: 2-0 | N: 3-0
11/17/98 #2 UConn 113, UCLA 102 Los Angeles, Calif.
12/23/99 #1 UConn 106, UCLA 64 Storrs, Conn.
12/21/14 #2 UConn 86, UCLA 50 Uncasville, Conn.
03/25/17 #1 UConn 86, #15 UCLA 71 Bridgeport, Conn.
11/21/17 #1 UConn 78, #5 UCLA 60 Los Angeles, Calif.
03/29/19 #2 UConn 69, #20 UCLA 61 Albany, N.Y
UCLA has had a tough season to date. They were ranked the first three weeks of the season going 3-0 with wins over Pepperdine 78-69, CSU Northridge 73-46, and Virginia 69-57. All these games were at home.
Then they too a trip to Florida for a 3 day tournament, the Gulf Coast Classic. There they lost the first two games, 75-69 to Kent State and 76-66 to South Dakota State before sliding by St. John's 73-65. Games that they were favored in. In their most recent game they took out all their frustrations beating a way undermaned San Jose State 112-33. Yes, that is the real score. A 69 point win.
Here are the 8 players and their stats so far this season in order by scoring. Just looking at their roster, they have 15 players. Even in the blowout they only played 8 players. They have had a ton of injuries to just decimate the roster. But unlike UConn, they have had a few weeks to adjust.
No. 24 Llmar'l Thomas Grad Student 5'10" Forward
MGP 30.5, PPG 19.1, RPG 4.3, APG 2.0
No. 20 Charisma Osborne Junior 5'9" Guard
MGP 33.2, PPG 18.5, RPG 5.5, APG 3.1
No. 23 Natalie Chou Grad Student 6'1" Guard
MGP 33.8, PPG 13.4, RPG 2.9, APG 2.8
No. 31 Jaelynn Penn Grad Student 5'10" Guard
MGP 31.4, PPG 13.0, RPG 6.1, APG 2.9
No. 2 Dominique Onu Redshirt Freshman 5'9" Guard
MGP 22.2, PPG 7.0, RPG 3.1, APG 1.0
No. 0 Chantel Horvat Redshirt Senior 6'2" Guard
MGP 12.5, PPG 3.5, RPG 2.2, APG .4
No. 1 Kayla Owens Redshirt Senior 6'1" Guard
MGP 25.7, PPG 3.4, RPG 5.4, APG 2.0
No. 43 Izzy Anstey Freshman 6'4" Forward
MGP 17.2, PPG 2.3, RPG 4.7, APG 1.9
At this point, I'm not sure if I can put together a valid analysis. I only watched a few highlights for UCLA so I don't know much about them other than looking at the stats. And for UConn, I have no idea how they will play two games after such a horrible outing.
After watching Geno's post game interview, I'm pretty sure he has no idea how they will play either.
I can tell you that UCLA takes around 18 three point shots per game and hits 40% of those. A great percentage. With UConn starting three bigs, it will be tough to keep up with the four guard lineup that UCLA uses.
UConn has a distinct advantage in the post. Can they take advantage of that?
I'm as befuddled as anyone on what to expect. I'll just hope for the best and stay with the Huskies to win this game and keep their streak of not losing two games in a row and not losing to UCLA in tact.
Huskies by 5+
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UPSETS IN RED
MOST SCORES HAVE CLICKABLE LINKS TO A GAME STORY
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Straight from the Dog
It has been 4 weeks since there was an update on Rae Burrell's status, confirming there was no ACL injury.
— Cora Hall (@corahalll) December 10, 2021
Burrell is still out indefinitely, but Kellie Harper said she's hopeful they'll have "a clearer picture" next week on what Burrell's next steps are.https://t.co/lyQlKxQxaO
Paige Bueckers gets injured and as soon as they know UConn shares the information on her injusy. Pretty detailed info at that.
When Rae Burrell got injured, they put out nothing. No one knows what her injury is and what the prognosis is. They said "out indefinately.
Not that fans or anyone else has a right to know, but it's kinda weird how they handled it. A clearer picture next week? Clear as mud if you ask me.
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I've been a Sherry Coale fan for years. A beautiful woman and a very good coach over the years at Oklahoma. I still root for that team even after she retired.
Friday night the Sooners took on the rising BYU Cougars and it was a heck of a game. BYU had a 41-37 lead at the half but Oklahoma charged out in the third quarter to take a 58-56 lead.
The fourth quarter was a back and forth affair. Oklahoma opened an eight point lead with 7:25 remaining and then BYU used a seven point run over the next 1:25 to close to one point with six minutes left in the game. Slowly the Sooners pulled away again taking a 76-69 lead with 4:32 remaining on a basket and foul three point play by Robertson who is known for her long range shooting. BYU showed their grit and after a bunch trading baskets, the Cougars hit a three point basket to take an 83-81 lead with a minute left. You know what came next, right? Oklahomah tied it up on a basket with 49 seconds left. And they went into overtime. Whew. I'm exhausted!!!
Ok, I caught my breath. BYU took early control in the OT outscoring Oklahoma 8-5 and taking a 91-88 lead with with 2:47 remaing in OT. Yes, we all know what comes next. The Sooners went on an 11-0 run to end the game and cement the upset 99-91. Wow...what a friggin' game.
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I tried, I really tried. I tried to stay away from the message boards. The negativity is palpable. Geno stinks, the players don't care, this season is over.....blah, blah, blah. I thought about replying to some of those posts, but I don't want to get into the back and forth. So I'll take the cowards way out and post their idiocy here where I can slap them around with them replying back to me.
"she is why we went from a very mediocre team 2 years ago to a final four team last year. The improvement was all her."
Yes, Paige is a difference maker. I agree with that. However, I take issue with the "very mediocre team" comment. That team had no chance to get to the final four due to Covid causing the season to be cancelled. However they destroyed every team they played after the South Carolina loss and looked to be playing their best basketball of the season. 29-3. How is that very mediocre?
Williams has been too busy being a victim on social media rather than working on her game and body in the off season. And Muhl! This is truly baffling. Maybe they saw the upper classmen do nothing in the off season and followed along?
Wow, talk about nasty. This particular poster has no issues taking his perceptions and posting as if they are fact. Williams let her social media activity impact her preperation for this season? Bullshit. And then he brings in Westbrook and Nelson-Ododa and accuses them of doing nothing in the off season?
I just don't get what kind of person feels the need to be so nasty about young women who we are lucky enough to watch entertain us for the dreary winter months.
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Historical Perspective
I thought I would look at how the loss affect the rankings in 2012, to see if it would provide any insight into what’s likely to happen next Monday and Tuesday.
UConn was ranked number two in the nation going into the St. John’s game, in both the AP and Coaches Poll. In both cases, they had recently moved up one spot after spending five weeks in third place. The loss to St. John’s resulted in UConn dropping two spots to fourth in each poll.
In both polls, they fell behind both Stanford and Notre Dame.
So, what might we expect next Monday and Tuesday when the pollsters evaluate this team?
I anticipate a drop of significantly more, perhaps flirting with double digits.
There are two main reasons why this situation is different than in 2012.
There’s a phrase in football, “any given Sunday” (immortalized in the movie) expressing the belief that even if two teams mismatched on paper meet up in a game, almost anything can happen. The phrasing as stated doesn’t exactly apply to basketball and is less likely to be true (the weakest NFL team is pretty darn good), but stuff does happen. I guess the basketball phrase is “that’s why they play the games”. When pollsters assess a game in which one team was expected to win but did not, they must decide whether this data point causes them to fundamentally rethink the strength of the team or whether it was just one of those things that can happen. Even if they lean toward the latter explanation, they sometimes feel compelled to ding a team for an unexpected loss.
In 2012, the season was in week 16. Pollsters felt they had a good sense of this relative strength of teams, and they largely assess that the loss to St. John’s was an any given Sunday event. Yes, it happened, and yes, they deserve to be dinged a bit, but it did not cause them to reassess whether UConn was one of the top four teams in the nation. You sometimes see this when a team loses due to a player being out for a single game perhaps due to the flu and expected to return shortly. We know what was different in this game we had no Paige Bueckers, and she’s going to be out for a while and who knows how quickly she will return to 100% after she returns. However, she is expected to return, so pollsters might view this loss differently than had been an ACL and out for the season. However, I think to a large extent they assess how the team is, rather than a projected team with a return of a player or two.
The second difference arises from the respective records at the time. In 2012, UConn was 24-2 going into the game, and 24 –3 after the game. At the time, almost all the teams ranked below UConn had three or more losses (Delaware at 24 – 1 being an exception but they had an especially easy schedule). UConn fell behind the three teams with zero, one, and two losses, and stayed ahead of the teams with 3, 4 and more losses.
This time is different. UConn’s record went from 5–1 to 5–2. Most of the top 25 have fewer than two losses. Frankly, the decision in 2012 was a lot easier, as they just pushed UConn down to the top of the group with three losses. They can’t do that this time. Maryland is down there with two losses. If I were Maryland, I’m going to point out that the losses are to two 10 teams, and be quite vocal if UConn ends up ahead of them. Just beyond that is Tennessee, who almost certainly is licking their chops at the possibility of being ranked ahead of UConn. I don’t think that’s happened since the second week of the 2011 – 12 season.
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By David in Naples
In their last 1,030 games, UConn has lost 68 times.
That means they win 93.4% of the time.
Those losing their minds or wanting to question Geno's coaching after the Georgia Tech loss, need to calm down and see the big picture.
The very, very big picture.
Go Huskies..!!
That means they win 93.4% of the time.
Those losing their minds or wanting to question Geno's coaching after the Georgia Tech loss, need to calm down and see the big picture.
The very, very big picture.
Go Huskies..!!
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UCONN RELEVANT LINKS
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Message Boards
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
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The over reaction by alleged experts is shown by less-than an expert Creme who immediately dropped UConn from the second #1-seed in Bracketology to a #3-seed. Really, Chuckie Buckets, a game with 4 injuries by UConn on the road against a team that played very well, you think that is UConn in March?! ND about 10+ years ago lost 6 games, and 3 were to UConn so those were discounted and the other had 2 with I believe Diggins injured and they got a #2-seed in March. So Creme is over reacting and quite early in the season.
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