Marco
Husky4ever
Posts: 2,587
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Post by Marco on Mar 24, 2024 18:16:31 GMT
With the loss by Ohio State ESPN gives UConn almost an 80% chance of making the elite eight. And about a 61% chance of making the final four. At that link you can see a table or the chart. www.espn.com/espn/feature/story?id=39603240 |
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Post by momandapplepie on Mar 24, 2024 18:35:34 GMT
With the loss by Ohio State ESPN gives UConn almost an 80% chance of making the elite eight. And about a 61% chance of making the final four. At that link you can see a table or the chart. www.espn.com/espn/feature/story?id=39603240 Good win for Kara Lawson's Blue Devils. I did not see Ohio State losing at home in the second round. Am a little disappointed that we were not the ones to end their season in the tourney like they did to us last year. But rather than look a gift horse in the mouth, I am just going to enjoy Ohio State losing at home to a team that on paper was a weaker team than them. |
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Post by storygordon on Mar 24, 2024 20:47:38 GMT
Our vulnerabilities are: Having an off game (which can happen to everyone) and foul trouble.
Still, I believe we will make the E8 and have a good shot at the FF. Making it to the NC is my dream. Winning the NC could put me in the ICU.
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Post by ismhuskyfan on Mar 24, 2024 21:47:00 GMT
With the loss by Ohio State ESPN gives UConn almost an 80% chance of making the elite eight. And about a 61% chance of making the final four. At that link you can see a table or the chart. www.espn.com/espn/feature/story?id=39603240 I have UCONN definitely making the E8 round. From there we will need a 30+ performance from Buckets coupled with AE and one of the freshman going off for 20. It’s happening peoples, fasten your seat belts!! |
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Post by momandapplepie on Mar 25, 2024 17:45:25 GMT
I have UCONN definitely making the E8 round. From there we will need a 30+ performance from Buckets coupled with AE and one of the freshman going off for 20. It’s happening peoples, fasten your seat belts!! If there is any mathematical way to lead to victory, no matter how improbable, you will point it out and embrace it! In my eyes, that is your enduring legacy among the horde ISM...your eternal and unflinching optimism! I consider myself to be more of a realist but I do admire your enthusiastic sunshine! It does help burn away some of my clouds of doubt! |
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Marco
Husky4ever
Posts: 2,587
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Post by Marco on Mar 29, 2024 15:45:09 GMT
UConn women's basketball back in Sweet 16 with healthy Paige Bueckers
Last year's loss in the Sweet 16 snapped the Huskies' streak of 14-straight appearances...
By Maggie Vanoni
Mar 28, 2024 06:56 PM6 min. readView original
STORRS, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 25:
PORTLAND, ORE. — The UConn women’s basketball team's loss to Ohio State in last year’s Sweet 16 in Seattle was historic.
It was the earliest the Huskies had exited the NCAA Tournament since 2005, snapping the program’s NCAA record of 14-straight Final Four appearances. The headlines read: "UConn’s dynasty is over."
But that was last year.
The 2021 National Player of the Year is back from missing all last season with an ACL injury and playing better than ever. She’s averaging career-highs across the stat sheet and has expanded her game on all fronts — all while playing out of her normal position.
Bueckers leads the No. 3 seeded Huskies as they look to avenge last year’s upset by facing No. 7 Duke in Saturday’s Sweet 16 at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. (8 p.m. on ESPN). The winner will advance to Monday night’s Elite Eight and face the winner of No. 1 USC-No. 5 Baylor game for a chance to move on to the Final Four.
“We have the best player in America,” Huskies’ head coach Geno Auriemma said Monday. “Just saying that because the numbers in this world of analytics, the numbers say that she is. The whole stat sheet says that she is and everybody that watched knows it. We're fortunate. We get to go back to where it ended for us last year. I think we're a different team, different mindset and we're hoping for a different outcome.”
Bueckers led UConn to the Final Four as its star freshman point guard in the 2020-21 season. But then came the knee injuries.
STORRS, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 23: Paige Bueckers #5 of the Connecticut Huskies reacts against the Jackson State Tigers during the first half of a first round NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament game at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on March 23, 2024 in Storrs, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
STORRS, CONNECTICUT - MARCH 23: Paige Bueckers #5 of the Connecticut Huskies reacts against the Jackson State Tigers during the first half of a first round NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament game at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on March 23, 2024 in Storrs, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
She missed over two months as sophomore due to a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee. She came back just in time for the postseason and still led the Huskies to the 2022 National Championship game (lost to South Carolina for the title). But four months later, Bueckers tore her ACL in the same knee, sidelining her for the entire 2022-23 season.
Now, she’s back healthy and playing the best basketball of her career – this time as a point-forward instead of a true point guard.
UConn has lost a single-season program record six players to season-ending injuries this year, including star guard Azzi Fudd. This is the third straight year the team has had its roster decimated by injuries.
In both 2021-2022 and 2022-23, 10 players missed at least one game or more due to injury or illness.
The Huskies had 10 players available for last year’s NCAA Tournament run, however both Aubrey Griffin (back) and Lou Lopez Sénéchal (knee) were nursing ongoing injuries. With Bueckers out, Lopez Sénéchal (a graduate transfer guard from Fairfield) led UConn’s offense alongside Aaliyah Edwards in the post.
But no one compares to Bueckers.
The star is averaging career-highs in points (21.7 per game), field goal percentage (54.8), rebounds (5.2 pg), blocks (47) and steals (70). Her 695 points this season is good for No. 10 on UConn’s all-time single season scoring list. Bueckers is stronger, quicker and more shooting even more than what she showed her freshman and sophomore seasons.
UConn guards KK Arnold, left, and Paige Bueckers, right, celebrate during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgetown in the finals of the Big East Conference tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena, Monday, March 11, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
UConn guards KK Arnold, left, and Paige Bueckers, right, celebrate during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgetown in the finals of the Big East Conference tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena, Monday, March 11, 2024, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Jessica Hill/Associated Press
Because of UConn’s lack of available forwards (it has just one experience big this year), Auriemma has moved Bueckers over into a typical power forward position. She’s still able to facilitate and run the offense, but now she’s become an even bigger threat under the hoop on defense. The role change has allowed Bueckers to play less selfless basketball and take over games – something unnatural to the pass-first point guard who first stepped foot in Storrs.
“I think that the really conscientious players, the great players that have so much confidence in themselves understand the difference between what I want and what our team needs,” Auriemma said. “This is the most shots this year probably that she's taken and rightly so. She's doing what we need her to do to win games … This team will go as far as she's able to carry that kind of a lead.”
Plus, the duo of Bueckers and Edwards has proven hugely beneficial as their two-man game runs UConn’s offense. Edwards is second on the team with 17.6 points per game and leads with 9.4 rebounds per game.
While UConn is looking to return to the Elite Eight and restart its Final Four Streak, the Blue Devils have not advanced to the Elite Eight since 2013.
The winner will either face a JuJu Watkins-led USC squad or a tough Baylor team looking to prove its finally found its grove under Nicki Collen.
The Trojans are having their best season since 1993-94 when longtime great and USC alumni Cheryl Miller was the coach – the team was then in the Pac-10, not Pac-12. That was also the last season USC advanced to the Elite Eight. Watkins leads the current team with 26.9 points per game and, like Bueckers, is also a top-four finalist for this year’s Player of the Year awards.
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