[natflblue]

What happened to the UCONN updates?  Forced me to look up the score.  Hah

72-59 Ducks final.

It really wasn't that close. Other than at the beginning of the game when the Ducks were down 10-0, the Ducks made UConn look like fools. Oregon eased up he last couple of minutes of the game, but for a while there it was looking like it was going to be a 30-point win.

Wow. Off year for the dawgs.

Missing 3 former #1 overall recruits due to injuries (2020 BUECKERS and 2021 AZZI) or covid protocol (2018 WILLIAMS) will obviously do that.

But the silver lining is that seniors SG WILLIAMS and post NELSON-ODADA have upped their games while 6'2 freshman SG/SF DUCHARME has become their primary go-to offense in star player BUECKERS' absence since mid-Dec. So when AZZI returns in early Feb and finally BUECKERS in mid- to late Feb, UConn might be more dangerous than ever before, especially during the NCAA Tournament, where they are predicted to be a regional 3-seed or 4-seed in what essentially is a homecourt Bridgeport Regional.

An interesting side note is that despite being down to 8 players for the Oregon game, Geno still only used 6 players while totally relegating post players DEBERRY and GABRIEL to the bench.  With GABRIEL I'm not that surprised, but 6'5 freshman DEBERRY is a 5-star recruit (ranked as high as #3 overall in the Class of 2021) who showed flashes of brilliance in the few games she played for UConn this season.

Post players were not a problem so the use of Gabriel and DeBerry would not make sense.  Which one would you put at the 2 position?  With Williams out the team had to play zone, which is not what they prefer to play, but to save their energy, man defense was out.  We had to use Ducharme at guard ( 40 min ), along with Westbrook ( 38 min ), and Muhl ( 40 min ).  Muhl is a pure PG and doesn't shoot much, so with the teams 3 best shooters on the bench Oregon was able to pack it in with a zone.  Not trying to make excuses, but with that line up it was hard for us to watch.  It's funny that it is recorded as an unranked team loss, but Oregon will probably be in the top 15 on the next poll.  We also expect to lose big when we play SC again in 9 days, and of course the one that will really hurt, Tennessee.  We are just hoping to get healthy for the tournament, probably as a 10 seed, but the number 1 team in their region may have to face us in the sweet 16.  Wouldn't that be a hoot!

[natflblue]

What happened to the UCONN updates?  Forced me to look up the score.  Hah

72-59 Ducks final.

It really wasn't that close. Other than at the beginning of the game when the Ducks were down 10-0, the Ducks made UConn look like fools. Oregon eased up he last couple of minutes of the game, but for a while there it was looking like it was going to be a 30-point win.

Wow. Off year for the dawgs.

Missing 3 former #1 overall recruits due to injuries (2020 BUECKERS and 2021 AZZI) or covid protocol (2018 WILLIAMS) will obviously do that.

But the silver lining is that seniors SG WILLIAMS and post NELSON-ODADA have upped their games while 6'2 freshman SG/SF DUCHARME has become their primary go-to offense in star player BUECKERS' absence since mid-Dec. So when AZZI returns in early Feb and finally BUECKERS in mid- to late Feb, UConn might be more dangerous than ever before, especially during the NCAA Tournament, where they are predicted to be a regional 3-seed or 4-seed in what essentially is a homecourt Bridgeport Regional.

An interesting side note is that despite being down to 8 players for the Oregon game, Geno still only used 6 players while totally relegating post players DEBERRY and GABRIEL to the bench.  With GABRIEL I'm not that surprised, but 6'5 freshman DEBERRY is a 5-star recruit (ranked as high as #3 overall in the Class of 2021) who showed flashes of brilliance in the few games she played for UConn this season.

Post players were not a problem so the use of Gabriel and DeBerry would not make sense.  Which one would you put at the 2 position?  With Williams out the team had to play zone, which is not what they prefer to play, but to save their energy, man defense was out.  We had to use Ducharme at guard ( 40 min ), along with Westbrook ( 38 min ), and Muhl ( 40 min ).  Muhl is a pure PG and doesn't shoot much, so with the teams 3 best shooters on the bench Oregon was able to pack it in with a zone.  Not trying to make excuses, but with that line up it was hard for us to watch.  It's funny that it is recorded as an unranked team loss, but Oregon will probably be in the top 15 on the next poll.  We also expect to lose big when we play SC again in 9 days, and of course the one that will really hurt, Tennessee.  We are just hoping to get healthy for the tournament, probably as a 10 seed, but the number 1 team in their region may have to face us in the sweet 16.  Wouldn't that be a hoot!