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UConn WBB vs. Arkansas

KhalidShockedTheWorld

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Mar 28, 2009
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The UConn women will open Sunday against Arkansas, which will be a pure revenge game against the only team that beat UConn regular season last year. Arkansas lost their best player to the WNBA draft but return a very good team with size. They already have 1 game under their belts, a win against Tarleton (a team I have never heard of), and in that game went 6'5", 6'2", and 6'1" across their frontline, meaning it's very likely that a 2 big lineup with 2 of Dorka, Olivia and Aaliyah will likely be necessary to match up with them (as I mentioned elsewhere I would start Dorka over Olivia based on what I saw in the exhibition against Fort Hays, but I do not think that will happen). Arkansas's top recruit is 6'5" McDonald's All American Jersey Wolfenbarger, who was the #7 national recruit. However, she is more of a wing than a 5, and is actually listed as a guard in the boxscore against Tarleton, a game in which she had 10 points and 5 boards. Arkansas was led in that game by starting guard Makayla Daniels with 15 points.

Arkansas plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff this afternoon and therefore will have 2 regular season games under their belts when they face UConn.

From what I saw of Arkansas last year, they were an aggressive offensive team that likes to push the ball up the Court and they were extremely aggressive with dribble drives. They beat UConn last year primarily due to an uncharacteristic poor defensive showing by UConn, which was continually beaten off the dribble and looked flat footed most of the game. Arkansas finished the season 19-8 overall and 9-6 in the SEC.

The SEC coaches have picked Arkansas to finish 7th in the 14 team SEC this season:

This game will be a good opening test for the UConn women against a quality upper echelon Division 1 team.
 
I posted this in the Mora thread. Jim seems pretty hyped about the Uconn job, Gottlieb caught him in Atlanta at the airport and he mentioned starting his job at the Clemson game to evaluate then flying back home with the FB team after it and talked about Geno and going to the WBB game tomorrow with his Uconn gear on.

 
I like Mora's cheerleader mentality- it goes over well with fans. I also took note of the Gampel victory lap that Danny Hurley took after the win over CCSU, slapping high 5s and talking to many student fans. That was an awesome spectacle to watch. He and the team feed off of the fans as they feed off of him.
 
Here's another Courant article on recruiting( with injury updates) by way of Yahoo( not behind a paywall)

 
I thought this comment on Brady was funny:

“She’s a big body, tough kid. I mean, as tough as a kid from California can be.”

I can think of 2 top rated girls they got from California not really known for their toughness.......Katie Lou Samuelson and Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis......
 
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I posted this in the Mora thread. Jim seems pretty hyped about the Uconn job, Gottlieb caught him in Atlanta at the airport and he mentioned starting his job at the Clemson game to evaluate then flying back home with the FB team after it and talked about Geno and going to the WBB game tomorrow with his Uconn gear on.

 
Yeah and he got to watch a lousy defensive performance by UConn. But at least he got a photo op with Jonathan.
 
I was busy KEA and only watched a little.

are Griffin and Mir still out/injured? It seems like we went from paper thin to possibly too deep over night. Good problem to have, but you worry about chemistry and transfers.
 
I was busy KEA and only watched a little.

are Griffin and Mir still out/injured? It seems like we went from paper thin to possibly too deep over night. Good problem to have, but you worry about chemistry and transfers.
Griffin is out with an injury, I think a high ankle sprain. McLean played in the exhibition (was actually the 10th girl) and I was surprised she didn't get minutes today, as her defense could have been used.
 
During the game I was aware that a lot of fouling was going on, but 19 fouls is really not what you want:
It was mostly bad defense. Fudd was bad, the bigs were bad, and they really need to fix the defense because this type of defensive performance isn't going to cut it in the Final 4 or even the Sweet 16.
 
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Geno: "Good Players Don't Foul", more in the Register Report:
“We thought we had a really huge advantage in the lane and when those guys started getting into foul trouble we kinda lost that,” Auriemma said. “To me that’s fundamental in basketball. You can’t foul. Like for 100 years we fouled less than any other team in the country, now because we can score so easily, we just foul more. I don’t get it. I just don’t think good players foul people. They just don’t, that’s what makes them good players.”
 
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