[CTcard]

I mean, players have bad nights, but tonight McDonald >> Buekers

McDonald had 26 points on 7/17 shooting, and was 4/9 from 3 pts and 8/11 from the line.  As impressive, she had 7 rebounds.  And after getting her second foul in the second quarter, she had no others.

Buekers had 18 points on 5/13 shooting, and was 2/3 from 3 and a perfect 6/6 from the line.  She also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but 3 turnovers.  To be honest, it was not a bad line, but it wasn't better than McDonald.

More importantly, Arizona's supporting cast was better than UConn's, which nobody expected.  In particular Nelson-Ododa had a night to forget: 0/7 with 1 point, 1 turnover, and 3 fouls, despite (I believe) being the biggest player on the floor.  Hell, she was outrebounded by McDonald, who was the smallest.

BC

No doubt McDonald was better than Bueckers in that game, by a lot.
Interestingly, the stats were less clear on the matter. McDonald's FG% was only 2.7% better, she had one more rebound but 4 fewer assists. From those numbers alone one might think they played a similar quality game but Bueckers chose a little more to feed teammates instead of shooting. But, that's not what happened. McDonald took control of the game where Bueckers did not.

Still, as BC noted, the proximate cause of UConn losing was the disappearance of their supposedly far superior front court. UA's front court outscored UConn's by 31-9 (plus or minus a bit, as they play different team structures, with more guards on the court for UConn most of the time).

Saying UConn can't get ready for the tournament or that Bueckers wasn't prepared doesn't seem well founded to me. UConn's tournament record over the past 30 years is second to none, and they've managed to eke out 11 National Championships. Bueckers has averaged 21.6 points in the tournament, better than her season average pre-tournament of 19.7. But, in one game, we did see a freshman unable to carry and lead her team at the same level that McDonald, a senior, could. 
[And Taurasi in the 2001 semifinal was 1-15 shooting and fouled out. If she wasn't flustered, it didn't help her out at all.]

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More on point for us.
Dana Evans: 24 points, 6-8 3PT
Zia Cooke: 25 points, 5-8 3PT
Aari McDonald: ??

[CTcard]

I mean, players have bad nights, but tonight McDonald >> Buekers

McDonald had 26 points on 7/17 shooting, and was 4/9 from 3 pts and 8/11 from the line.  As impressive, she had 7 rebounds.  And after getting her second foul in the second quarter, she had no others.

Buekers had 18 points on 5/13 shooting, and was 2/3 from 3 and a perfect 6/6 from the line.  She also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but 3 turnovers.  To be honest, it was not a bad line, but it wasn't better than McDonald.

More importantly, Arizona's supporting cast was better than UConn's, which nobody expected.  In particular Nelson-Ododa had a night to forget: 0/7 with 1 point, 1 turnover, and 3 fouls, despite (I believe) being the biggest player on the floor.  Hell, she was outrebounded by McDonald, who was the smallest.

BC

No doubt McDonald was better than Bueckers in that game, by a lot.
Interestingly, the stats were less clear on the matter. McDonald's FG% was only 2.7% better, she had one more rebound but 4 fewer assists. From those numbers alone one might think they played a similar quality game but Bueckers chose a little more to feed teammates instead of shooting. But, that's not what happened. McDonald took control of the game where Bueckers did not.

Still, as BC noted, the proximate cause of UConn losing was the disappearance of their supposedly far superior front court. UA's front court outscored UConn's by 31-9 (plus or minus a bit, as they play different team structures, with more guards on the court for UConn most of the time).

Saying UConn can't get ready for the tournament or that Bueckers wasn't prepared doesn't seem well founded to me. UConn's tournament record over the past 30 years is second to none, and they've managed to eke out 11 National Championships. Bueckers has averaged 21.6 points in the tournament, better than her season average pre-tournament of 19.7. But, in one game, we did see a freshman unable to carry and lead her team at the same level that McDonald, a senior, could. 
[And Taurasi in the 2001 semifinal was 1-15 shooting and fouled out. If she wasn't flustered, it didn't help her out at all.]

------
More on point for us.
Dana Evans: 24 points, 6-8 3PT
Zia Cooke: 25 points, 5-8 3PT
Aari McDonald: ??