I was concerned before the tournament about UConn, but I believed that we would win and still think we should have. But we had so many glaring problems. The loss can't be attributed to us not playing scrappy. Our players stole more balls out of hands of Uconn players as much as I have seen and no shortage of floor burns. And our typical bugaboo with TOs was not an issue. We only had 11 compared to 19 for Uconn and other than a couple of them, they weren't really bad ones.
Here's the glaring problems:
1. Lexie picked a bad time to have one of her worst games. I know that she got the bloody nose early, but still no excuse. She was way off on her shots or took crazy ones. Maybe the Hull sisters should reconsider and come back for a national title next year.
2. Other than Prechtel, probably Lacie and Jones, no other player played up to their potential. And Jone who was 20 and 11 could have done more.
3. We should have been working and scoring more in the paint. We didn't penetrate and drive as much as we should have. There were lanes open that we didn't take advantage of or too often we would drive and then stop rather than try to finish at the basket. Plus we did not feed the post enough. Considering the shortage of Uconn bigs and that they were in foul trouble all game, this was a huge mistake.
4. Obviously, our 3 pt shooting killed us. Gawd we were awful and there were many wide open looks. Unbelieveable that our shooters who normally knock down threes were simply terrible.
5. FT shooting - I can't emphasize enough how important those freebies are. We missed five and making those or 4 more would have changed the game. OTOH, Uconn had ice in their veins and hit 80% (8 more than us) especially down the stretch.
6. We played excellent defense overall except we let down critically on Westbrook with her threes, leaving her wide open. I think Belibi was the culprit, but perhaps it was a coaching mistake not to have someone else guarding Westbrook.
7. Our rebounding was not good. We got out rebounded and I noted several times where our players should have had the rebounds but messed up.
8. You have to give credit to Uconn for their defense, but their D wasn't defending our FTs or wide open looks from 3. That was on us. Uconn defense was actually best around the basket where they challenged everything.
9. Our ball movement was poor. Too often, we got locked into going one on one and our lower number of assists reflect that.
10. Really surprised how poorly Anna played (and through most of the tournament). Tara sat her a lot because she was so ineffective. She used to be money on a good percentage of threes, but that shot disappeared. And I was surprised Tara had her shoot Lexie's FTs because Anna has been poor at the line and sure enough she only made one of two.
11. Finally, I don't want to use the word choke or even wilted because everyone takes those as perjoratives and I don't mean to convey that kind of negative tone, but the mindset or emotions of our players didn't seem right. It wasn't a matter of not hustling, being aggressive, tough, or play with energy. They were fine and maybe even better than usual. Perhaps it was the pressure or expectations of winning and going after a repeat title that caused them to do things uncharacteristically or not be confident. The body language and demeanor just seemed off. Maybe somebody else who agrees that we were not ourselves can better describe what I'm trying to say.
Still a great season and other teams (besides those obviously there) would be absolutely thrilled to make the FF. The team gave us a great deal of excitement, fun, entertainment, and fan pleasure throughout the year. So despite the huge disappointment and the glaring problems in this game, IMO our team and our players are total winners. Thanks to all of them for a very enjoyable season and all their very hard work to get to the FF!
P.S. - I'm not kidding about wanting the Hull sisters to return. Don't know if it's even possible or realistic, but I sure would love seeing it happen and take us to a NC next year.
Here's the glaring problems:
1. Lexie picked a bad time to have one of her worst games. I know that she got the bloody nose early, but still no excuse. She was way off on her shots or took crazy ones. Maybe the Hull sisters should reconsider and come back for a national title next year.
2. Other than Prechtel, probably Lacie and Jones, no other player played up to their potential. And Jone who was 20 and 11 could have done more.
3. We should have been working and scoring more in the paint. We didn't penetrate and drive as much as we should have. There were lanes open that we didn't take advantage of or too often we would drive and then stop rather than try to finish at the basket. Plus we did not feed the post enough. Considering the shortage of Uconn bigs and that they were in foul trouble all game, this was a huge mistake.
4. Obviously, our 3 pt shooting killed us. Gawd we were awful and there were many wide open looks. Unbelieveable that our shooters who normally knock down threes were simply terrible.
5. FT shooting - I can't emphasize enough how important those freebies are. We missed five and making those or 4 more would have changed the game. OTOH, Uconn had ice in their veins and hit 80% (8 more than us) especially down the stretch.
6. We played excellent defense overall except we let down critically on Westbrook with her threes, leaving her wide open. I think Belibi was the culprit, but perhaps it was a coaching mistake not to have someone else guarding Westbrook.
7. Our rebounding was not good. We got out rebounded and I noted several times where our players should have had the rebounds but messed up.
8. You have to give credit to Uconn for their defense, but their D wasn't defending our FTs or wide open looks from 3. That was on us. Uconn defense was actually best around the basket where they challenged everything.
9. Our ball movement was poor. Too often, we got locked into going one on one and our lower number of assists reflect that.
10. Really surprised how poorly Anna played (and through most of the tournament). Tara sat her a lot because she was so ineffective. She used to be money on a good percentage of threes, but that shot disappeared. And I was surprised Tara had her shoot Lexie's FTs because Anna has been poor at the line and sure enough she only made one of two.
11. Finally, I don't want to use the word choke or even wilted because everyone takes those as perjoratives and I don't mean to convey that kind of negative tone, but the mindset or emotions of our players didn't seem right. It wasn't a matter of not hustling, being aggressive, tough, or play with energy. They were fine and maybe even better than usual. Perhaps it was the pressure or expectations of winning and going after a repeat title that caused them to do things uncharacteristically or not be confident. The body language and demeanor just seemed off. Maybe somebody else who agrees that we were not ourselves can better describe what I'm trying to say.
Still a great season and other teams (besides those obviously there) would be absolutely thrilled to make the FF. The team gave us a great deal of excitement, fun, entertainment, and fan pleasure throughout the year. So despite the huge disappointment and the glaring problems in this game, IMO our team and our players are total winners. Thanks to all of them for a very enjoyable season and all their very hard work to get to the FF!
P.S. - I'm not kidding about wanting the Hull sisters to return. Don't know if it's even possible or realistic, but I sure would love seeing it happen and take us to a NC next year.
