[81alum]

As for the ending of the game, I would not be too down on the team for the 4th quarter run on us.  Once we were up by 22 I am sure that Tara told the team to run the clock down on every possession.  When you have 10 seconds in the half court to execute, you are not going to be as successful as if you take the first good open shot in your possession.  Several of those turnovers came on desperation passes at the end of the shot clock.  But so long as we were taking 25 seconds off the clock for every 2 points we gave up we were gong to win.  Would it have been better if we had executed our offense more successfully?  Of course.  But we did what the coaches wanted us to do the most--win the game by draining the clock.  We did not actually need any more points to do that so long as we made every possession a long one.

Thank you for explaining so clearly why UConn has won so many national championships in the last 25 years and we haven't won any.  I hope that changes with this group of players [and recruits].

I think UConn has won more championships over those years because they usually had better teams than we did--not because Tara made errors in strategy.  Geno also likes to run up the score on opponents in a way that Tara never has--not that that was a factor in today's game.  If we had played very well we would have consumed clock AND scored.  But we could have done worse--neither consumed clock nor scored, which was the only way to blow a 22 point 4th quarter lead.  Tara was just being very conservative in the 4th to guarantee a win after our recent two losses.

And yes, I think the future looks bright.  I'm not sure really who we are losing next year other than Fingall, but the entering class promises to help us right away, as this year's freshmen have.  And with Haley returning and who knows....maybe Wilson and maybe Carrington...next year's team could be the most talented overall in a decade or longer.

By the way, UCLA is pasting Utah, so it is looking increasingly like we will play the Oregon State/WSU winner in the quarterfinals on Friday.

[81alum]

As for the ending of the game, I would not be too down on the team for the 4th quarter run on us.  Once we were up by 22 I am sure that Tara told the team to run the clock down on every possession.  When you have 10 seconds in the half court to execute, you are not going to be as successful as if you take the first good open shot in your possession.  Several of those turnovers came on desperation passes at the end of the shot clock.  But so long as we were taking 25 seconds off the clock for every 2 points we gave up we were gong to win.  Would it have been better if we had executed our offense more successfully?  Of course.  But we did what the coaches wanted us to do the most--win the game by draining the clock.  We did not actually need any more points to do that so long as we made every possession a long one.

Thank you for explaining so clearly why UConn has won so many national championships in the last 25 years and we haven't won any.  I hope that changes with this group of players [and recruits].

I think UConn has won more championships over those years because they usually had better teams than we did--not because Tara made errors in strategy.  Geno also likes to run up the score on opponents in a way that Tara never has--not that that was a factor in today's game.  If we had played very well we would have consumed clock AND scored.  But we could have done worse--neither consumed clock nor scored, which was the only way to blow a 22 point 4th quarter lead.  Tara was just being very conservative in the 4th to guarantee a win after our recent two losses.

And yes, I think the future looks bright.  I'm not sure really who we are losing next year other than Fingall, but the entering class promises to help us right away, as this year's freshmen have.  And with Haley returning and who knows....maybe Wilson and maybe Carrington...next year's team could be the most talented overall in a decade or longer.

By the way, UCLA is pasting Utah, so it is looking increasingly like we will play the Oregon State/WSU winner in the quarterfinals on Friday.