2018-19 WBB AAC Conference Games

[UCONN_Husky]

Geno Auriemma won't coach the game tonight, as he is battling a stomach virus. That kinda stinks.

Ya, he didn't make the trip to Tulsa a few days ago. He was gonna try to catch a flight to Wichita if he felt better, but no dice.

And forewarning to any Shockers watching the game tonight...UCONN WBB games not on ESPN/ESPN2 are produced by SNY. The commentators and broadcast will be very UCONN-centric, given their audience here in the Northeast.

[WstateU]

Here's hoping you have an off game and only beat us by 50. :)

[UCONN_Husky]

They didn't perform very well at Tulsa so who knows...

[1972Shocker]

UConn doesn't seem quite as dominant has they have been in previous years. I wonder if that lack of a real challenger in the AAC makes it difficult for them to keep their focus and intensity. Unfortunately, from what I have seen the AAC sure doesn't prepare them for the top teams they play and will face once they get to the Sweet 16.

The Shocks are not as good as they were last year either going from a senior dominated team to freshman and 1st year juco dominated team. That said I really don't expect UConn will match the 81 point demolition that they laid on the Shocks last year. WstateU may have it pegged just about right.

[1972Shocker]

UCONN_Husky commented above: They didn't perform very well at Tulsa so who knows...

Yeah, I'm sure UConn is just shaking in their boots. The Tulsa result actually is not a very good omen for the Shocks.

After beating St. John's by only 10 they came back the next day and beat Purdue by 46.
After beating Houston by only 20 they beat Cincinnati the following game by 44.
After beating USF by only 17 they followed up by edging Tulane by 42.
After beating Temple by only 19 they squeaked by SMU by 40.
After beating Cincy by only 10 they smashed ECU by 63.

Prior to Tulsa the Huskies beat Memphis by 57.
Tulsa played the Huskies surprisingly tough only losing by 19.

The trend certainly does not look like the Shockers friend from my vantage point.

The one team in the AAC that on paper looks like they might have a fighting chance against UConn is UCF. UCF is 22-5 overall and 11-3 in AAC play with 2 of its 3 losses to UConn and have an RPI rating of 16. Cincy at 81 and Houston at 90 are the only other top 100 teams in the AAC. After they the range from 132 to the Shockers 255. Apparently, UCF's numbers were just enough to pique the Huskies' interest. UConn beat UCF by 36 and 37 points.

[UCONN_Husky]

Although I think UCONN will win out in conference play this year, like you said, they're not as dominant as they once were.

[WuDrWu]

Hoping our program improves enough so that we can play this GREAT game in Wichita every year. Special event.

[1972Shocker]

I don't see this as a great game. It is a great team/program visiting Wichita. Even if the Shockers improve enough to get UConn twice a year it may or may not be a great game. UCF is in 2nd place this year and UConn beat them by 36 and 37. Not exactly what comes to mind when I think of great games.

As far as this particular game, unless the Shocks play way over their heads, I see it having little carryover effect for the Shocker WBB program. The majority of whatever crowd shows up tonight aren't showing up to see the Shockers. If the Shocks play poorly it could even hurt them among the casual fans showing up to see UConn. Now if the Shocks can stay within 20 of UConn like Tulsa did that could help the program. I am not expecting that but I guess stranger things have happened.

It would be nice to get good enough to play UConn every year. Giving them a great game may be more difficult.

[ShockTalk]

UConn wins 84-47. Probably could have been a lot worse as UConn led 27-5 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Surprised that UConn had some of their players in as long as they did. Four starters played between 29-34.5 minutes. Not sure I can think of a good reason for that.

Also noticed that Raven had over 20 minutes and had a plus 5 during her time in the game.

Attendance was put at 6,156.

[1972Shocker]

Not a bad showing by the Shocks all things considered. Their shooting numbers were more or less in line with their season averages as were their turnovers.

Sure beats the 81 point loss at UConn last year

Carla had a very good game. She's a keeper but needs the offense to work well to get her shots.

[1972Shocker]

UConn, which typically doesn't carry an extended roster (only 10 players this year), will be losing 2 outstanding players and their 2 leading scorers in Napheesa Collier and Katie Samuelson (47% of their scoring and 42% of their rebounding). Not that they don't have a bunch of very good players returning. But it did get me wondering a bit if it is getting a little harder for UConn to remain queen of the hill.

Here is an interesting article on UConn's 2019 1-player recruiting class. It's not so much that UConn won't be able to recruit good players, it's just that the are a bunch of other programs in the mix anymore having success with getting top level recruits.

From the article:

What may be more damaging than UConn's single signature is the multiple signatures that the other top contenders obtained.

Defending champion Notre Dame added a pair of potential stars in Samantha Brunelle and Anaya Peoples. The 2016 champion Gamecocks' class of Boston, Amihere, Zia Cooke, Breanna Beal and Olivia Thompson is among the best ever assembled. Stanford, Maryland, Ohio State and Mississippi State got a whole lot better, too.

So it could come down to how well UConn performs in recruiting the 2020 class. The Huskies already have proven they can withstand one off recruiting year. But what happens if it becomes two?

Perhaps this is just a natural progression of women's basketball along the lines of what happened in men's basketball at the tail end of the UCLA dynasty. Whether or not the pool of women's players will ever be as deep as we seen in the men's game is hard to predict although i see that as unlikely.

Furthermore, I wonder if UConn's recruiting compared to the teams mentioned above might be at a disadvantage because of their membership in the AAC which quite frankly, outside of UConn is a decent but not a top WBB Conference. I'm sure coaches competing for the top recruits are not shy about pointing that out to those recruits. Of course, it's up to the rest of the AAC teams to get better.

I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of UCONN_Husky about this and if their are any such concerns in Husky Nation.

[UCONN_Husky]

Next season is a big concern. If our Final 4 streak isn't snapped this year, it most definitely will next season. The 2019 class simply didn't come together. Boston committing to South Carolina was a pretty big surprise, probably more likely due to USA Basketball than the AAC. If Geno was still Head Coach of USA Women's Basketball (instead of handing over the reins to Dawn Staley), we probably would have landed her and another. With that said, we are in the mix for some of the top 2020 players. Geno is picky when it comes to recruits. He doesn't just want all the top ranked players. He wants the best players who fit his particular system. But if the 2020 class fails to impress, it will be panic time in Connecticut.

As far as Geno's age (64) and retirement is concerned, he'll be here at least into his 70s. Calhoun retired at 70, but I think Geno is far more ambitious.

[WuShock16]

Geno isn’t young either. We aren’t too far from the point where competing coaches can use his age against him. “He won’t be there by the time you graduate.”

[1972Shocker]

Geno isn't young. 64 I think. And ignoring the fact that he has missed two games (hopefully just a virus that he'll recover fully from) he looks pretty darn good. I don't know if he has ever talked about his future. He could easily go another 10 year if he wants to. The question is when will he not want to.

Here is an article on that subject in the Hartford Currant form last July:

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/hc-sp-geno-auriemma-column-20180718-story.html

[1972Shocker]

Shocks continue to struggle scoring as they fall at Temple this afternoon 68-52, A 21-16 4th quarter advantage behind 12 points for seldom use Juco transfer Maya Brewer made the final score a bit closer than the game really was. Temple lead 52-31 after 3 quarters and it sounded like they may have took their foot off the gas a bit in the final quarter as they had the game pretty much locked up.

Maya ended up leading the Shocks in scoring with her 12 4th quarter points. No other Shocker was in double figures. Sabrina could only manage 5 points today but grabbed 14 rebounds, had a couple of assists and 3 blocked shots. Carla was 3-6 from the floor (1-2 from 3) and 2-2 from the line for 9 points plus she had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot and only 2 turnovers in 34 minutes of play. Need to figure out how to get Carla more shots. However, AAC defenses seem to be keying on Carla and that may be difficult to do.

The Shocks fall to 11-17 overall and 4-11 in AAC plays which gives them sole possession of 12th place. They have one game remaining in the regular season hosting Tulsa (12-16, 6-9) at Koch Arena on Monday. The Shocks are pretty much guaranteed to finish last. The only question is will they have company. If the Shock beat Tulsa and if any of Tulane, ECU, SMU or Memphis loses they will have company. There is a good chance 3 of these teams will lose their final games.

UConn, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston have locked up 1st round byes for the AAC Tournament.

[1972Shocker]

After a closely contested 1st quarter the Shockers pretty much dominated Tulsa on senior night for Sabrina and Cesaria as they rolled to a 71-49 point win. This was the 1st AAC game this year where the Shocks were able to break the 70 point barrier. In fact, there only other game where they scored 60 or more was a 62-44 win at Tulane. Not real sure what to read into this.

The Shocks shot the ball very well from the field hitting 46.4% overall and a very good for them 38.1% on 8-21 three pointers. Not so much from the line where they were only 11-22 but that mattered little as Tulsa was only 6-16 from the line. The Shocks only turned the ball over 12 times after averaging right around 20 turnovers a game for the season coming in to tonight.

Freshman Seraphine Bastin lead the way with a career high 19 points on 7-13 shooting, Sabrina had 13 points on 5-11 shooting plus 6 rebounds to close out her Koch Arena career and freshman Carla Bremaud chipped in 11 points on 4-10 shooting and also grabbed 6 rebounds.

Maya Brewer scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting and secured 3 rebounds in only 14 minutes of play. At the beginning of the year I though Maya might be a juco transfer who could make a contribution this year. However, that has not been in evidence until the last 2 games. Hopefully, that is a harbinger of better things to come for Maya next year.

Jaida Hampton, who has been struggling did not play tonight, nor did Jada Peacock although she has not played much over the 2nd half of the season.

The win allows the Shockers to climb out of sole possession of last place (12th). The Shocks move to 5-11 on the season and SMU, Memphis and Tulane all lost tonight to fall to 5-11. So instead of sole possession of 12th place the Shocks end up in a 4-way tie for 9th. I guess that means that since they were picked to finish 10th that they outperformed expectations.

Not going to try to figure out the tiebreakers but the Shocks will play either USF, Temple, ECU or Tulsa in the 1st round of the AAC Tournament on Friday. ECU and Tulsa would be the best draws for the Shocks.

BTW, UConn only beat USF by a scored of 57-47 tonight in Tampa.

[flyingMoose]

In the post-game lap of the arena, was it Jaida who was limping on a bad ankle? A bad lower extremity of some sort it appeared.

[1972Shocker]

Yeah, I was watching the replay of the 3rd quarter and Jaida did look like she was limping a bit when she joined the huddle during a timeout.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks ended up as a 10 seed and will play Tulsa again on Friday. Based on tonight's result this is about as good a draw as the Shocks could hope for in the 1st round.

https://goshockers.com/news/2019/3/4/womens-basketball-shockers-enter-conference-tournament-as-10-seed.aspx

[Pigman]

Jaida was on the bench with ice on her knee in the first half