[TheFarm07]

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.

To each their own I guess, but a) I don't think being very conservative was unique to this game, it is a frequent occurrence to burn clock rather than try to put opponents away, b) I disagree with people's opposition to running up the score, if one is so worried about it, with a big lead, I rather have our B-team run our offense normally rather than our A-team go through the motions, if a team can't stop our B-team from scoring, then that is their problem, not ours; and c) it wouldn't be such a problem if we didn't struggle with these types of offenses, yes, use clock, but our execution is so bad and predictable that it's either Kiana attempting the shot or someone else throwing up a desperation shot or getting called for a travel or charge, surely we can execute or find other plays to use

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 I still love the days when we won our Pac-12 games by 20

I (for one?), didn't. I agree with someone (I don't know who) who said something along the lines of, athletic competition is only meaningful if there is an appreciable risk of losing. Back in those good ole days of conference domination, we did not have a significant risk of loss for most of our conference games. No thrill in attending for me (and I didn't). Now, almost every game's worth watching!

I'll have to disagree. I enjoyed the domination we have, when it was a question of how much we would win by, rather than if we won. It was a joy watching our team run roughshed over the competition.

Yes, the competition has gotten better and a lot of programs have drastically improved, notably the Oregon schools, but we also dropped a level as well. I think our teams of the late '00s and early teens with Appel, Pohlen, Pedersen and the Ogwumike sisters would have a tougher time than they did when they played, but also would not be blown out by Oregon or lose the Arizona game like we did.

Those teams during that period was missing a mobile, scoring guard. Imagine if Kiana and DiJonai played on those teams. Kiana already scores plenty nowadays, just think about her playing the #1 on that '10-'11 squad with Pohlen, Pedersen and the Ogwumikes. She would have been the 3rd or 4th scoring option on that team and would have an absolute terror for opposing teams to defend when they already had to worry about everyone else.

[TheFarm07]

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.

To each their own I guess, but a) I don't think being very conservative was unique to this game, it is a frequent occurrence to burn clock rather than try to put opponents away, b) I disagree with people's opposition to running up the score, if one is so worried about it, with a big lead, I rather have our B-team run our offense normally rather than our A-team go through the motions, if a team can't stop our B-team from scoring, then that is their problem, not ours; and c) it wouldn't be such a problem if we didn't struggle with these types of offenses, yes, use clock, but our execution is so bad and predictable that it's either Kiana attempting the shot or someone else throwing up a desperation shot or getting called for a travel or charge, surely we can execute or find other plays to use

---

 I still love the days when we won our Pac-12 games by 20

I (for one?), didn't. I agree with someone (I don't know who) who said something along the lines of, athletic competition is only meaningful if there is an appreciable risk of losing. Back in those good ole days of conference domination, we did not have a significant risk of loss for most of our conference games. No thrill in attending for me (and I didn't). Now, almost every game's worth watching!

I'll have to disagree. I enjoyed the domination we have, when it was a question of how much we would win by, rather than if we won. It was a joy watching our team run roughshed over the competition.

Yes, the competition has gotten better and a lot of programs have drastically improved, notably the Oregon schools, but we also dropped a level as well. I think our teams of the late '00s and early teens with Appel, Pohlen, Pedersen and the Ogwumike sisters would have a tougher time than they did when they played, but also would not be blown out by Oregon or lose the Arizona game like we did.

Those teams during that period was missing a mobile, scoring guard. Imagine if Kiana and DiJonai played on those teams. Kiana already scores plenty nowadays, just think about her playing the #1 on that '10-'11 squad with Pohlen, Pedersen and the Ogwumikes. She would have been the 3rd or 4th scoring option on that team and would have an absolute terror for opposing teams to defend when they already had to worry about everyone else.