If you didn't see the game, it was a whole lot closer than it should have been. Georgia Tech ain't a bad team, but they shouldn't have been down three with five minutes left.
The Good:
*Tina Charles when not in foul trouble. She was active and played and was strong defensively as well as on the glass.
*The team stepped up in crunch time. As ugly as it was, this should be a character building type of game. If the message was sent and the team practices hard this week, San Diego State should be ready to fly home well before the half.
* Freshmen composure. There were more than enough mistakes by Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes, but both also showed some swagger (Doty bumping Alex Montgomery). They know they belong and in March, that's invaluable.
The Bad:
* Kaili McLaren. Honestly, I hate writing anything even semi-negative about her. She is one of the nicest people you could meet. But as Geno Auriemma said, she needs to be more of an active participant in practice. Look, with Heather Buck out a while and Cassie Kerns a better help on the bench, McLaren NEEDS to get in there and play like she knows how to.
It's a sensitive issue, but her weight is a big part of the problem. team sources say she conditions well in-season, but off-season all bets are off. If Kaili played the rest of her career the way she played last March, she's going to the WNBA. Maybe that's not what she wants, but if it is then she needs to get her act together.
*Maya's first half. It hurt to watch her at times because you know how amazing she is. I told Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant that she'd go 20-for-20 in the second half. for a few minutes, it looked as if she might. If you look at the stat sheet, you'd say she had a great game. She didn't. It was one of her worst at UConn.
* Thr__. I'd like to by a vowel. "E." Three, or missed threes, to be precise. The shooting shouldn't be that bad and probably never will be that bad. Nor will an opponent (maybe DePaul) score that many points on threes, either.
3 comments:
Joe,
The only criticism I would add is Geno's lack of a rotation. He only used six players in the 2nd half choosing to sit McLaren and Dixon. Where was Gardler? She's not a scorer, but she can rebound, play D and usually doesn't screw up. This team looks to lack depth and that will hurt in Feb and March.
Good to see Green back!
Geno said afterward that if he could play the game over again Dixon would get more PT. McLaren, he said, needed to become more of a participant.
The issue with Gardler is, especially against a team like Georgia Tech, she would be turnover prone with tech's pressure defense.
When all is right in the world, the starters, plus Tiffany Hayes, McLaren and Dixon are his top eight, which Geno calls his ideal number. Buck or Gardler would be the next off the bench depending upon what the need is for that game. You should see everyone except Buck Thursday night against San Diego State as Saturday against Rhode Island.
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