GONZAGA GAME DAY THREAD

[caveman]

Wow we look like we came off a four day bender

[redsteve]

We are getting pounded inside on every shot in the lane,  and few fouls called.  If that's the way we have to play...get to it.  

 

Our defense is  a couple of steps slow.......just not covering people.  They're bigger overall and more physically strong, and a roster full of upper classmen.

 

We're still in it...it's possible to close on them, just do what we can do all year.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by redsteve

[HuskerFever]

[Cazzie22]

Gonzaga has controlled the first 3 quarters. Simple as that. I am not optimistic we can come back in the 4th.  Everyone needs to step up. 

[Husker22]

Zags are the smarter, better coached team, they are controlling the pace.

[KarlHessEatMy....]

We are God awful whether we pull this out or not!!! Holy smokes. Freshman playing like Freshman. Bourne playing like her head is lost. And our best player has 4 fouls. The last 3 games the freshman have played like freshman not sure why they got so tense all of sudden. Not playing with any freedom what so ever

[Red Don]

Team Stats at the end of 3 Qtrs of Play!

 

[Cazzie22]

Our lack of movement on offense is making it easy for Gonzaga and they have been very effective getting free on offense in the post. 

[Cazzie22]

Well, we had a nice season. We have much to improve upon to reach a higher level.  Gonzaga was just better than us and IMO we were not prepared as well as they were. 

[Husker22]

5 minutes ago, Cazzie22 said:

Our lack of movement on offense is making it easy for Gonzaga and they have been very effective getting free on offense in the post. 

We're going 1on1 and taking some terrible shots, Zags are moving the ball and getting great looks. Really disappointing performance.

[HuskerFever]

Bummer. Well. Gonzaga has a solid team.

 

Not fun to lose, but we did have quite a season.

[Silverbacked1]

Look like we have the flu or food poisoning, no energy and no flow.

[redsteve]

3 minutes ago, Cazzie22 said:

Well, we had a nice season. We have much to improve upon to reach a higher level.  Gonzaga was just better than us and IMO we were not prepared as well as they were. 

 

We met a much older team, with several years of NCAA tourney recent experience. It shows. They knew what to expect.  And yes, give it to them... they're the better team today. Much more composed.

 

Like others here said.....just a great year. Coach Amy's best performance since she took the job.  We have to continue to recruit hard, and get bigger, stronger, more  skilled  players.  We have learned so much this year of how to play at a higher level. It will pay off next year. 

[hoop_head]

Basketball gods weren't on our side today. Getting there was a good start for next season. Go Big Red!

[Red Don]

Congratulations Zags!!! (For your prize you get to play #1 Seed Louisville - go get 'em. )

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Red Don

[Gamafn]

Very disappointing.  Outplayed on offense and defense, and badly outcoached.  Yes this team was younger than the Zags, but that was also true throughout the B1G season and we generally played much better even against the top teams.

Very good nucleus returning, but all the key returnees need to become much better than they showed today.

[Huskerpapa]

Yeah...disappointing.   

[mwm89]

Didn't get to watch today as I was at work for most of it, and don't have ESPNews anyway.  Listened to the latter half of the 4th.  Sounds like we were tired but both teams have played long seasons.  The worst part right now is realizing the season has come to an end.  I wished we could have given them more of a battle but that said we had a really, really good season.  Exceeded my expectations I would say.  Certainly there are things each player and the team overall need to work on, but the opportunity and potential is there for that growth to happen esp. with the youth.  I am at least as optimistic for next year and the future as I am disappointed in the result today.  Thanks again for the season ladies!  GO BIG RED!!  

[caveman]

Sam played well.

The rest of the team.  Most middle school teams play better.  They'd at least try.

[HUD]

38 minutes ago, Gamafn said:

Very disappointing.  Outplayed on offense and defense, and badly outcoached.  Yes this team was younger than the Zags, but that was also true throughout the B1G season and we generally played much better even against the top teams.

Very good nucleus returning, but all the key returnees need to become much better than they showed today.

 

 If you go back and review the schedule we didn't play well in road games.  So so on neutral sites.  Except for the Michigan win in the Big Ten Tourney all our great games were at home.  At this point we are not mentally tough enough.  A lot of that comes from coaching and experience.  The right new assistant coach can help in that area as well.   It's all about being mentally tough enough to take that next step.

[Cazzie22]

We need to become a strong enough team to play at home the first two rounds.  We need a dynamic player that can create her own shot.  We have nice players but we need a star.

[Red Don]

I thought we already had some.

[kansashusker]

I understand the frustration. But We have the big 12 freshman of the year.  There was only 1 of those.  That constitutes a star. Just a young one. Freshman to soph is biggest jump year for most kids. We have two major freshman contributors  and 2 other very good freshman.  We will be fine. Need to see what Sam and Bella do, and add a portal kid. Hopefully the Texas tech kid can get health and add an athletic shooter. Half of the ncaa tourney teams lost in the last two days. Wasn’t only us.  We were good enough to win a ncaa tourney game or two. Got a tough seed despite NET rating and played not great vs gonz. Those two factors bit us.  We will be just fine moving forward. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by kansashusker

[Redhac]

As the Lincoln Journal Star Brent Wagner reflected, "Huskers not strong enough at the hoop: Nebraska made just 8 of 25 layup attempts in the game."  The missed layups were a recurring event through the season.  Part of the misses were putting the all up too low on the glass;  smothering defense by the other team; and also not throwing the ball back out at times.   NE  had only 18 points in the paint versus 32 for the Zags. Being outrebounded in the game did not help as well.

Haiby had a very good game.

Nonetheless, overall it was an above average season and fun team to watch much of the time!   Hopefully,  defense and offensive fundamentals will see a lot of work before next season.

[Red Don]

Seems Fair!   Over and above the relative experience (read youth) on the teams, Gonzaga was just a better team, at least they Executed better.  Their offense was much more consistent (and patient) in the paint, outclassing us in Assists, PiP, Rebounding, and Second Chance Points.  Blocks were 4-3, but I'm not sure how they were counted because listening it seems like almost every third or fourth shot of ours was blocked.  Yet we lost by only 13 points (surely would have been much greater had we not shot 41% from three-land).  I, for one, will be very interested in seeing how the Zags play vs. #1 seed Louisville on Sunday.

 

No doubt we were out-coached!   But watching their team during Time Outs, they did have a full complement of coaches in the huddle.  It's easy to forget that we are down one coach (and have been for about the last third of the season).  This may be a good time for Coach Amy to make some changes, maybe leading to an upgrade in coaching skills; at the very least an infusion of some new blood/ideas regarding opponents that we see in the B1G.  

 

Pressure has historically always seemed to impact our performance, such as shooting, offenses and defenses, more so than our opponents.  I think progress is being made in our handling pressure, yet we rarely seem to attempt to apply pressure to opponents, making Them as 'Uncomfortable' and out of rhythm as they seem to be able to do to us.

 

Nonetheless I think significant progress has been made during the year, adding a solid class getting talented, enthusiastic recruits and solidifying our standing in the top half of the conference. 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Red Don