Transcript 0:01 [upbeat music] Hello and welcome back to Chasing Perfection, a UConn women's basketball podcast. 0:18 I am Daniel Connolly here, as always, with Megan Gower. This podcast is presented by the UConn Women's Basketball Weekly. 0:27 For all your content for the Huskies all season long, go to www.uconnwbbweekly.com. It's been a little while since I did that URL. [laughs] I thought I was gonna miss a W. 0:42 But the regular season is officially underway for the Huskies, and as we predicted a little bit, it felt a lot more like an extension of the pre-season. 0:52 It was the least competitive game that the Huskies have played by a very wide margin this season. Cornell, with all due respect to that team, was just not up for the task. 1:02 They were not anywhere close to the level of UConn. Whereas like Army, which is clearly a mid-major program, at least could hang with UConn a little bit. Cornell could not. In the opening quarter, 1:15 UConn actually fell behind 3-2 at one point. They proceeded to rip off a 21-nothing run in which I don't really think Cornell even got a whole lot of shots off in that stretch. It was a lot of turnovers. 1:29 They had no answers for UConn's press. It took them almost eight minutes into the second period to finally score, and then UConn's highest scoring period. Like, Cornell comes out of the half with a little bit of juice. 1:43 They score 16 points after only having 13 in the first half in the third quarter. UConn only has a plus five margin in that period, but whereas like a lot of years, UConn would just kind of 1:56 coast to that finish in the fourth quarter, the fourth quarter was their highest scoring quarter of the game. They had 33 points, which is two less than Cornell had total. 2:05 Cornell only had six, and UConn closed the game on a 30 to two run. Did you learn anything on Monday night? Mm, absolutely nothing [laughs]. 2:17 I don't think you can learn anything when this team has played three, including Army, like legitimate teams, and then it's that. No offense to Cornell, just like you expected this game to be a blowout, but 2:31 I mean, I didn't expect it to be in the fashion that it was. It's just, yeah. It was really hard to take, I think, too much from it. 2:38 I think the one thing I learned is it's great that we have Blanka and Marine back on the floor. I don't know that I learned much about what either of them look like, but it, they're back out there. 2:47 [laughs] Yeah, you kinda nailed it. I, my big takeaway from this game was pretty much just this was super valuable. It was really important for them to play a game with pretty much everyone available. 3:02 Like you said, Blanka and Marine Durss were back after missing the whole preseason. Morgan Chelli did not play again. We'll get more into that later. But just getting a, another low stakes game to 3:16 have everyone available, figure out your rotations with those players. Give Blanka and Marine, 3:23 they both played right around, Blanka had 15 minutes, Marine played 17, like some good minutes under their belt to shake off some of the rust. Marine gets a chance to 3:34 play in a real college basketball game before they head out to Michigan. It just, 3:40 even what the final score was, even though we don't actually learn anything about this team in this game, I still felt like it was really important just as a tuneup to get before they now head out to Michigan and really get going into this non-conference gauntlet that we have talked so much about. 3:58 Yeah, particularly for Blanka and Marine to not have that Michigan game be your first game because, as we've talked about, that game's gonna be difficult. It's a tough game. It's a, a ranked opponent, top five game. 4:10 Like, it, it's gonna be a hard game. So to be able to shake off the rust, get out there, get some minutes under your belt, and then come back out again on Thursday, I think is huge. 4:20 For the rest of the team as well, just to get one more set of reps in because it's a gauntlet coming, as you said. 4:28 So, like, to get the easy game and to be able to just get out there and, and, and test it out, but now the real games start. Yeah. I, I think there are a few performances worth talking about. 4:39 We'll start with Blanka and Marine. I didn't really have any expectations for Blanka. Geno said after that the goal was just to get her on the floor. It kinda looked like I thought it would. There were... 4:52 I remember her first exhibition last year, I think it was Boston College, early in October. She had, what, like six or seven turnovers? 5:01 But in between her turning the ball over and following someone on every other possession, you could really see some flashes where it was like, oh wow, they really have something here. And it felt like you exclusively got 5:16 the former, where she had some bad fouls that, again, you chalk up to rust. I wonder her turnover numbers. She had two turnovers, so actually not that bad, all things considered. Only had four points. 5:28 Didn't really feel like she asserted herself. So I, I don't really feel strongly about her performance one way or another. I mean, if she came out guns blazing, then like, wow, that, that's a great thing. 5:41 But she didn't play the entire summer due to that shoulder surgery. It's probably gonna take some time. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes some time against Michigan. I wouldn't be surprised if, 5:51 so if we split this non-conference schedule up into the little pods that with breaks in between, it's Michigan, Iowa, then they head out to Ohio State and Louisville 6:03 I wouldn't be stunned if even in that entire little stretch she doesn't really look like herself. But th- the closer you get to it, and better for her to do this. 6:13 Like, for all we know, she's, she is a gamer, so nothing affects her game to game. For all we know, she just needed to go out there against Cornell and just get the blood flowing again. 6:22 And against Michigan, it's gonna look like not a single second has passed from the end of last season. So I don't, I'm not concerned. I'm not encouraged. It was simply just a performance that happened. Yeah, I agree. 6:36 Like, obviously it wasn't anything great. It wasn't horrible. But she got out there, and I think that's what counts right now. And to your point, it's gonna take a little bit. 6:46 When you take that much time off, you're not gonna come out and look exactly like yourself on the first time back on the floor. So hopefully it gets better each game, right? 6:56 Hopefully it looks a little better against Michigan. It keeps stepping in the right direction, and in a few weeks it should look much better. Then what did you think of our first look at Marine Durss? 7:08 I think similar to Blanka, like it wasn't a ton of minutes. Well, not similar to Blanka 'cause I think she had a, a better performance. But it wasn't a ton of minutes. The competition obviously wasn't great. 7:20 I th- I thought she had a good game, but I just have a hard time taking much of anything from her first time out there. I thought it was notable Geno played 10 players in the first quarter, and none of them were Marine. 7:33 She didn't come in until the second quarter. So as I'm watching the game, my thought is kind of, "Okay, maybe we need to really pull back our expectations on her. Like, maybe we don't even... 7:48 Is, is this someone that's even going to play in the rotation?" Because in my head, you're playing Cornell. Wouldn't you wanna get her out there as soon as possible? But 7:58 after she ends up hitting her stride a little bit in the fourth quarter, makes three threes, finishes with 11 points. Geno said afterwards that she's just a scorer. That's what she, they brought her here to do. 8:11 That's what she's done in practice. That's what they kind of expect her to be. So, so yeah. I'm not going to... I, I should've prefaced it by saying my thoughts of her not coming into the second period 8:23 were overreactions. So I'm not gonna take too much from it. I just would've liked to see her be a little bit more noticeable out there. It felt like if she wasn't taking the shot, she was a little invisible. 8:34 But again, first game, first time in America playing at this level. So w- we'll see how it comes along. Yeah, agreed. Try not to overreact to it. 8:44 Not everyone is going to come out like Popovic did, and just make the instant impression. 8:49 I think that makes it harder to, like, not overreact to it because you're like, "Well, we just watched the freshman come out and do this for now four straight games." But, um, 9:01 first game back, first time out there, it's gonna take a little bit. I think you kinda have to give it a couple weeks and reevaluate. Yeah, Jovana Popovic may have ruined our evaluations of- [laughs]... 9:12 international freshmen for the rest of time, especially depending on how she keeps going. 19 points in this game, 8 of 12 shooting, three of four from three, three rebounds, three steals, an assist, no turnovers. 9:27 Again, leads the team in minutes. I feel like we're entering territory of like this, this... There's too much data at this point for it to be a complete fluke, for it to be like a Linsanity run. 9:42 And Geno said afterwards that, like, this is the way she played in Serbia when she won league MVP two years ago. So she would've been, what, like 16, 17? Mm-hmm. 9:54 She's by any measure, even at this point, so much better than I think we ever could've imagined. And 10:01 I don't think we can overstate how important that is given we don't know what we're gonna get from Blanka for who knows how long. 10:08 So going to Michigan, having Sarah Strong and someone like Jovana that's seems comfortable being a sidekick star, that just feels... It feels like right now she's with Sarah Strong holding up the floor for this team. 10:26 Yeah. 10:27 I think if, if it wasn't for her, I think you'd be a little lot more worried about this team going into this Michigan game, 'cause not knowing what you're gonna get from Blanka off the bat it would be, "Okay, who's the next man up?" 10:37 But I think she's kind of very quickly established herself as that, that player for the time being. And I know probably two weeks ago I was like, "Oh, we gotta wait till, like, the Iowa game to, to know for sure." 10:49 I feel like I already feel like it's for real. You watch it happen four times in a row with, like, she hasn't missed a beat. I don't know. It just... 10:56 I think they're gonna keep getting this from her, and that's gonna be huge going into this Michigan game that you kind of already have the second option that you can rely on while Blanka gets up to speed. 11:06 And then hopefully it's three options. Yeah. And even four good games in a row. It's not like we're even talking about moments in these games where she looks overwhelmed or she's really struggling with XYZ. 11:20 Yeah, she had some turnovers against, I think it was Texas, and Geno kinda wrote it off to you have to... 11:28 When you come from Europe over to America, they give you kind of an extra half step in Europe, and you don't get that, and you have to figure out how to move otherwise. 11:36 And I think Marine might've gotten one of those or a few of those turnovers against Cornell, so it kinda lends to that theory. But we're talking about pretty complete performances four games in a row, not just like... 11:53 This is not to knock Marine, but she has 11 points. Almost all of that is in the fourth quarter of a game that has long been decided. And 12:02 Jovana is doing it consistently from the first minute she's in there until the last every single game throughout. 12:09 I think that as much as the four-game sample size is as important, the consistency within the games in addition to the consistency across games Yeah, exactly. 12:20 To your point, it's not like she's good one quarter and then off the next quarter and then, you know, figures it out later in the game. 12:26 It is just she consistently comes out there and delivers and is able to do things, um, and look really comfortable out there. 12:33 I don't know that there's really been any kind of noticeable stretch where she looks off or looks like she's not comfortable. Probably not imminently, but I bet there's, like, some stretch in- Right... 12:43 December or January where it tails off a little bit, and then what does it look like when Blanca kind of becomes what we think she's going to become this season? And how does she fit in? 12:56 Just what does the lineup look like? Geno stuck with the same starting lineup as the preseason, so Blanca came off the bench. I, I'm not gonna read a ton into that. 13:04 Given how limited Blanca was, he said she was on a minutes restriction per quarter, and given how rusty she was. What if Blanca just comes off the bench again? [laughs] Have we considered that possibility? 13:17 I don't think we had because, I mean, we all think she's gonna be the second best player on this team, so, like, it hasn't really been a consideration. I don't know. I'm not ready to think that that's happening yet. 13:28 I think it literally is just that she's on a minutes restriction [laughs] and it didn't make sense for her to start. No, but if it's not broken- [laughs]... 13:39 why, why try and fix it by m- messing with your starting lineup? Doesn't mean she can't be on the floor late in the game, doesn't mean she's not playing 35- True... minutes a game. She's used to coming off the bench. 13:48 I'm not saying I am endorsing this plan, but- [laughs]... I don't think it's, it's nothing. No. [laughs] Be wild for you to have an All-American that came off the bench. [laughs] I wonder if that's ever happened. 14:02 If that has happened before. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. I was like, I don't know if that's happened. [laughs] No, there's no way. I, I- let's see if Google gives us anything. [laughs] I don't wanna trust the Google AI. 14:15 [laughs] Has a, let's just do men's or women's- Mm-hmm... All-American ever come off the bench? This is all giving me, like, NBA results. Yeah. [laughs] Not helpful, Google AI. 14:30 [laughs] Well, actually, Google AI says... No. It says Jason Terry in Arizona, but it says he started his career as a reserve and didn't crack their full-time, uh, the starting lineup full-time until later. 14:46 But he went on to win consensus first team All-American honors. Like, yeah, okay, that's not the point though. Yeah. [laughs] And then, uh, I don't know how I would search that quick enough, at least at this moment. 14:56 Yeah, I don't either. [laughs] But yeah, that would be, that would be something. If nothing else, just hand the Sixth Woman of the Year award [laughs] and the page to her. Yeah. 15:05 [laughs] Last player I really wanna talk about in this game is Sarah Strong, and we talked about during the preseason how she wasn't really the Sarah Strong we anticipated. And I thought this game, 15:21 obviously given the caveat of who they played, but it at least looked like we thought it was going to. 19 points, 8 of 14 shooting, career high eight steals. 15:31 It was funny looking at the stats for this game, and I had to be like, "Oh crap, I need to, like, pay attention to career highs and- [laughs]... and things like that," because this one actually counts. 15:40 [laughs] Which it felt weird given how much stronger the competition was in the other games. Anyways, back to the point. Five assists, four rebounds. 15:49 I, I've probably referenced this a few times, or I probably reference this once a year on this podcast, but I remember Olivia Nelson-Odota had this monster game against I believe it was Southern Connecticut her freshman year in a snowstorm in Hartford. 16:03 And after the game, Geno made the point of, yeah, it's a division two team. You can only take so much for that, but you would much rather her do it against bad competition than not do it at all. 16:17 I mean, it, it's the team that's in front of her, and she did it. So I, I'm not holding Sarah Strong to the same standard as a freshman- [laughs]... Olivia Nelson-Odota. 16:24 I just think, okay, we, we saw the vision in this game, regardless of who's on the other side. I think she played and acted the way we were kind of hoping for. Yeah. 16:35 It was that kind of, like, all around big game that we expect from her, right? Like, it wasn't just the scoring. Like, yes, she did have n- 19 points, so she scored the best of all bunch, but she shot the ball well. 16:45 She did all the other things, the assists, the steals, the rebounds. Um, so we think that was really positive to see and hoping something that carries into the Michigan game and going forward. Certainly. 17:00 Any leftover thoughts from this Cornell game? No. I mean, they scored 100 points. I, I know the competition doesn't count, but that's worth something. 17:10 [laughs] They've gotten there four times every year the past two years. They got there three times last year. Or they, uh, I'm, I'm sorry. Each of the last two years they got there four times. 17:22 The year prior to that, they got there three times. Then there was a stretch, it must have been before that season, I thought it was a little more recent, where they didn't get to 100 for a little while. 17:31 So yeah, it's not, again, whoever you play, 100 is a nice number to get to. Mm-hmm. I also think there's, like, a pretty good chance Cornell's the worst team they play all season. Yeah. 17:42 That, that feels likely at the moment. [laughs] So 17:47 we will take a quick break, go to an ad break, and then come back and look ahead to the upcoming non-conference gauntlet, what we think we know about this team, and Michigan. All right. 17:59 So effectively, even though Monday was the start of the regular season, effectively the preseason is over, and now this is when we really figure out who this UConn team is and what they're made of. 18:11 I think it would be fun. We've seen them play four times now against varying levels of competition. What do we think we know about this UConn team? What- Because I don't, I don't think I can say for certainty 18:26 a whole lot. I, I don't think I can say with certainty X, Y, or Z from what we've seen in the preseason, given exhibitions are kind of their own category and Cornell was overmatched. 18:40 So as we enter Michigan, Iowa, Louisville, Ohio State, Ohio State, then Louisville, what, what do you, what do we think we know about this team right now? You start. 18:54 Kind of cheating 'cause we already started talking about this, but I think we know that Popovich is very good [laughs] and going to be a- Yeah... a big part of this team this year. And maybe something that 19:04 three weeks ago before an exhibition game was played we didn't really know so, or expect. Um, but I, I think she's going to be a big piece of what this team looks like. Yeah. 19:14 We don't need to continue drilling down there. I think we're gonna spend plenty of minutes on this podcast- [laughs]... over the next few months talking about Jovana Popovich. Mine is 19:24 I feel, I think, better than the offen- about the offense than the defense at this point. It feels like they have a lot more scoring options that you can trust this season compared to last year. Like, last year you, 19:40 I know the tournament was weird, but like generally you knew you were gonna get a good game from Sarah and Azzi and Blanca. Those three you could build the foundation off. And then after that, it was kinda hit or miss. 19:55 There wasn't a whole lot of consistency, whether it be Ashlynn Shade, KK Arnold, you know, Kaylee Heckel, Ali Zabel. I don't think it was... 20:05 It just wasn't consistent from anyone, aside from those three that we mentioned. I think they just have enough options this year that this offense is gonna be hard to slow down. So obviously Sarah Strong. 20:17 Now you've got Jovana Popovich. Maybe not right now with Blanca Quinones, but I'm confident she will eventually get there. And boom, one, two, three. We talked all summer, or maybe we didn't talk all summer. 20:30 [laughs] But I wrote all summer that UConn doesn't have a one-for-one replacement of Azzi Fudd. And Jovana Popovich is not Azzi Fudd. It's a pretty good replacement for her- Yeah... from what we've seen so far right now. 20:44 So you got those three. I just think Ashlynn Shade is going to... I, I still really believe that she's played really well in these four games. She only had five points, but when you score 100 points, like, 20:56 and ev- and everyone but Gandy scores, I don't, I'm not worried about Ashlynn. I think she's consistently gonna give you 10 points a game. KK Arnold finishes with 11. 21:08 Marine Durss is a scorer, so in theory if they're having some trouble on offense, she's gonna be in the game. I think Ali Zabel has been fairly consistent, despite not playing the entire preseason. And then 21:19 I think Olivia Vucosa and Janelle Alfee are kind of bonuses if you're getting a lotta points from them. Not that they can't help you other places, but I just feel a lot better about that group. 21:30 And then the defense, I don't know if it's anything I've seen with my eyes, but Geno has spent basically every single availability and time we've talked with him saying that he's not really thrilled with where the defense is at the, this point. 21:43 So I'm largely just gonna defer to him here. Yeah, that's fair. 21:48 I mean, I think the offense, uh, 100 points, like the amount of points that, I'm forgetting the exact number off the top of my head, that they put up against Texas in the 80s. 21:56 Like, there have been some impressive offensive performances to date, and I think that was something that 22:01 this team struggled with at times last year, the times the year before where it felt like they were just standing around on offense sometimes. 22:09 So I think it's positive to see that look so good early on when it's maybe their half-court offense has really not been great in the past. Not that there was a lot of half-court offense against Cornell. 22:19 There was a lot of transition offense. Yeah. Um. [laughs] They did call off the dogs in the second half. Yeah. [laughs] So I, I do think that's positive. 22:27 Defense also just feels like one of those things, like it'll probably come. This is a fair- a newer group. Like, they've gotta figure it out. Um, so it probably does need some work, like Geno has said, but 22:43 they can't have everything figured out on November 4th. [laughs] No. And he did say he doesn't need their defense to be where it needs to be on Thursday. He needs it to be where it needs to be in March. Mm-hmm. 22:57 And I mean, defense was not the problem down the stretch by any means. It was that half-court offense. So I think, I don't know, I... They bring back basically everyone from last year except Azzi. 23:09 And that's not to minimize Azzi's defensive ability. She was a really good defender. Probably didn't get the credit- No... that she deserved as a defender. 23:16 I just don't see the, see it being a huge, like losing one piece. Even if she is a pretty central piece, I don't see that completely unraveling everything else they have on that end. Agreed. What else you got? 23:31 I feel like when we talked about this team kinda going into the season and how a lot of people have talked about this team, it's about Sarah and it's about Blanca. 23:39 But I think the thing that's been kind of clear in the first few games here is that the guard depth on this team is probably one of its biggest strengths. 23:47 And it's somewhat the scoring, but it's just everything else that they can bring too in having Popovich, plus KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade. But then you also have Ali Zabel and 23:59 Kaylee Heckel, and now you're adding Marine Durss to that. 24:02 Like, there's just a lotta guards on this team that can do different things, that can throw a lotta different looks at teams, and I think that's gonna be a big strength. And Khalece Fisher I thought played- Yes... 24:13 a pretty solid game on Monday- Yes... after an iffy preseason. So I think, I think Geno's gonna try and find a way to get her minutes. I think they like, I think she has a unique skill set, that speed that she has. 24:25 She plays downhill, plays good defense. I think they're gonna try and find ways to get her in the lineup. So just where, where does it break if you have 24:35 12 players that can all reasonably contribute and contribute at a high level? Exactly. I think, like you said, she did look a lot better on, on Monday, so. I, I think last year I had the... 24:51 I presented a, a, not a theory. I had an idea where every first quarter after the under four time- or under five timeout, that is the Ka- Kalise Fisher time. 25:04 [laughs] She goes in the game, and you give her two possessions, and she is going to tell you whether she's gonna help you that game or not. And just like that, boom, you know if you, you've got her. Because 25:15 it really just feels like it's so clear so quickly what kind of day it's gonna be for Kalise. And if she can help you, great. And if she can't, you, you gotta pull the hook. 25:28 You gotta hook her pretty quick because that means turnovers, that means fouls. But yeah, I am... It feels more, like more of a concern this year of where do all these minutes get spread around. 25:41 Because I think the, the floor of everyone's a lot higher than it was last year. Yeah, agreed. 25:48 It's just there's so many talented players on this team, and there's only so many minutes in a game that you can, can play people. 25:56 So it'll be interesting to see how that goes, and I think also how it changes throughout the season. 'Cause I don't think it's gonna look the same on Thursday against Michigan as it is going to 26:09 later in the season against Big East teams, but also when we get to March. Yeah. That's a good point. I think this team is not going to shoot 2 for 20 or whatever it was against Syracuse in that first exhibition. 26:23 I think they can shoot the three pretty well. I think we've had enough evidence by now that it's not only going to be something they can lean on, but it's going to be a strength of their game. 26:33 And they're gonna be able to get it from a lot of different people, like Marine going 3 of 4, Ivana Popovic going 3 of 4. But Ivana's had games where I don't even think she's made a three. Sarah goes 2 for 4, but then 26:44 a- Ash only hits one. Isabelle goes 1 for 4. There's enough shooters on this team. That first game, more and more was just such a fluke. I'm, I'm pretty confident in this team's three-point shooting ability. Yeah. 27:01 Like you said, it feels like that first game was just fluke. You know, rust, shaking it off, first time out on the court. I don't know. You can make what you want of it. But it does feel like this team has 27:11 a lot of weapons that can shoot the three-pointer, and I think that makes for it being a success as well. Because it's not... 27:18 When you're relying on one or two people, if they have an off night, the three ball can go away. But when you've got three, four, five people that can shoot the three, you're gonna see more consistency there. Yeah. 27:30 You have anything else? 'Cause I've exhausted all mine. You stole my depth one. [laughs] I don't know that I have anything else either. [laughs] Okay. We'll move on. Let's look at Michigan. 27:40 First big game of the year for this UConn team. Number five team in the country. Would you believe that UConn's never played a game in the state of Michigan? That seems kind of wild. I guess it... I don't know. 27:52 Like, you have Michigan, Michigan State, Central Michigan. Like, there's enough, like, decent programs that it is kinda wild. [laughs] Right. It's not some, like, backwater state. 28:04 Like, it makes sense that they've never played a game in Wyoming or North Dakota- Mm-hmm... or South Dakota or Montana or Idaho or Alaska. I'll just name the rest. 28:12 [laughs] It's New Mexico, Mississippi, and actually, the one that I thought was a little funny was Delaware. 28:17 I guess they never played Elena Delle Donne down there, and the only chance you have to play in Delle D- in Delaware is to play the, the Fighting Hens, I think is their name. So 28:30 it just, it, it felt like the most obvious one where they should've played a game and hadn't. But then again, they also had never played Michigan somehow up until last year, which just didn't seem right. Yeah. 28:42 Kind of bizarre. But anyways, last year Michigan gave them their toughest challenge during the regular season. It was a three-point game at Mohegan Sun. 28:55 I still just wanna reiterate that I don't personally think that game was as close as the final score indicated. UConn came out, I think it was a 22 to five run, then UConn only scored four points in the third quarter. 29:08 Michigan got it back within four, but then pretty quickly in the fourth quarter UConn put it away. And then the only reason it ended up being close at the end was Silas Swords just caught an unbelievable 29:20 heater and could not miss. But every single time she hit a three, UConn came back and answered the other way. I know that I was looking up some of my stories from last year, and 29:35 Kim Barnes-Arico, the Michigan coach, said, "We just ran out of time." And, like, yeah, that certainly would've been interesting if there were another couple minutes. 29:43 I just think inevitably, like, Silas Swords was not going to make every single three-pointer the rest of her life. And 29:51 UConn played pretty substantially better than Michigan for a lot of stretches, and it felt more fluky that Michigan came back. So 30:00 I, I just, uh, maybe my big point is I don't really think last year's game is going to be a great indicator of what happens on Thursday night. That's fair. They're also just... 30:11 I mean, actually Michigan's a pretty similar team. [laughs] But different teams to an extent, um, as well. And I mean, it really was a tale of, like, two halves in that game last season too, right? 30:23 Like, U- UConn completely blew Michigan out in the first half of that game, and it looked like they were just gonna run away with it. 30:31 And then to your point, Swords had the, the crazy, um, second half, and, like, UConn really laid an egg in the third quarter. All those things are things that can happen again, but it kinda all has to come happen. 30:43 I don't know. I don't think that they will Have like a first half like they had in that game. 30:48 Like, I don't think they're gonna be up 20 points at the half, but I also don't think they'll like totally lay an egg in the third quarter or Swords will hit 15 threes or whatever ridiculous number it was that's over-exaggerating it, but still. 31:00 [laughs] Yeah. I envision it as one of those like classic UConn wins, where it's never a, a huge margin throughout the game, but at no point do you feel like there's any chance UConn loses either. Yeah. Like, a 76 to 31:20 68 result where maybe the biggest lead UConn has is 12. Like, that, that's kinda where I'm sitting for this game, what I think it's gonna end up being. Yeah. I don't know. 31:34 I go both ways because I do think there's an element of like, you know what you're gonna get from Sarah. Not knowing what you're gonna get from Blanca I think 31:44 makes this game a little bit more interesting in that if like they don't get a ton from her, I think it's probably closer, um, than maybe we expect because of that. 31:55 And I think what you're gonna start seeing with Popovic, like I still think she's gonna be good, but she's gonna start, stop, or start losing the ability to surprise everyone. 32:03 Like, she's gonna be on everyone's scouting reports. [laughs] That's, that's gonna go away. It's not gonna be the, [laughs] the freshman no one knew about after two weeks, right? 32:12 Like, she's gonna be on the scouting report and it, things are gonna start to get a little tougher for her. Um, 32:19 and I also think you're coming up against a Michigan team that's got their kind of core three back, and that's an experienced group, um, where UConn's maybe figuring out a little bit more what their core three is. 32:32 I mean, I think we all know it's Blanca. It's just, like that's not there yet. Yeah. I think another factor in this game is how UConn reacts to a hostile road environment. 32:45 Jovana Popovic has talked a few times about how she isn't really used to playing in front of crowds in Serbia and has really enjoyed it so far. 32:55 They have all been obviously very pro-UConn crowds or just like quiet crowds to begin with, given it's the pre-season. 33:02 Does suddenly it look a little different when there's, I don't know how much the Chrysler Center holds, but let's say 10,000 screaming fans going against you? Does she react differently? 33:13 Does the team just collectively react differently? Does that road environment just throw them off in some way that they weren't ready for? I'm looking up last year, and they really never played a legitimate road game. 33:29 Not- [laughs] Like, obviously they played real home games, but like they never played against a hostile environment- Yeah... is the w- correct way to put it. Like, they opened the season against Louisville and Maryland. 33:40 Uh, that crowd wasn't anything special. Then home, home, home, Uncasville, Uncasville. Then they go to at S- at Xavier, at South Florida, which was probably mostly UConn fans anyways. 33:53 [laughs] The USC game was at worst 50/50 UConn, USC, even though it was in LA. They never really played a true road game. A, a true hostile environment, I should keep saying. 34:05 So that's, it's not gonna be a first for everyone. Like, Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold and Sarah Strong are used to it. But for everyone else, that is going to be new. So that, I think, would be the 34:20 thing that's most likely to throw a wrinkle in it because, yes, I think Michigan's a good team. I don't think they're some, like, pushover. I don't think UConn blows them out by any means. 34:30 But if UConn is a little rattled just coming out, and Michigan punches them in the face and can go out on a 20 to five run, then obviously things look a lot different. Yeah, exactly. 34:42 I think they're gonna have to be prepared for that environment. 34:44 And to your point, you've, it's kind of a place where having KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade that have been through this 100 times and S- and Sarah Strong as well, like there's players on this team that have been in those environments. 34:54 Even, I mean, Jenna Alle, Alfie has done it. True. Kaylee Heckle maybe not at UConn, but she's certainly done it when she was at USC. So 35:04 there's a lot of players on this team that have that experience, and they're gonna have to leverage that experience and come out and be the calming force for maybe some of the players that, I mean, Popovic hasn't been rattled at all, but maybe that is the environment that rattles her or others on the team. 35:21 Yeah, just the experience. It's gonna be like nothing she's ever seen before, and that probably shouldn't be discounted. Yeah. I mean, she's never been in an arena where [laughs] 35:35 10,000 plus people are rooting for you to lose. [laughs] And they're, uh, even if it doesn't go well on Thursday, they're gonna get plenty of hostile environments- Yes... coming up. 35:49 Why, why does the quick Google search not immediately say what the capacity of the arena is? [laughs] Come on. It is, okay, 12,000. Okay. 2.7K, so I, I'd expect that to be a full house. Mm-hmm. 36:05 And yeah, so then they're gonna go to Ohio State, to Louisville, to Notre Dame, where they have, again, have not won since- [laughs]... 36:14 Christyn Williams was a freshman, and it has been four seasons since Christyn Williams played ball at UConn. [laughs] Oh, God, worse hold. [laughs] Ah, yeah. That, that's a whole other thing. [laughs] Then, 36:31 yeah, so those are gonna be the, the big non-conference games. That certainly is not going to... I mean, it wasn't a factor last year in the end. Mm-hmm. 36:40 But it'll be interesting to see how, how they react to it, how just they deal with being in a tighter game. Like, I would love if this was close at the end because I wanna see how UConn performs when- 36:54 They're in a high-stress situation. I remember last year, the opener against Louisville. 36:57 Louisville made a, like, 10-0 run late, and the game was, it was really never in danger because I think UConn was up double di- digits at this point with under a minute to play. 37:06 But the first possession after a timeout, the ball goes right to Sarah, and Sarah scores. And that kinda ended the comeback hopes there. So if this game's tight down the stretch, who's UConn going to? How do they look? 37:20 How are they handling the moment? Those are all gonna be important things to keep an eye on just in addition to the X's and O's between, between the lines. Yeah, and I think those experiences would be good for them. 37:35 We've talked at length about how once you get through this non-conference stretch, it's just straight Big East play. So they need those opportunities to figure out how to play in those tough situations 37:46 in this first half because it's not gonna come in Big East play most likely. They are then gonna take on Iowa. 37:55 We wanna cover that game too, given that we will not be recording between Michigan on Thursday and Iowa on Sunday. I just can't get myself to take this game seriously. The way UConn- [laughs]... 38:07 just waxed them in Barclays last year, and they still earned a two seed, I just, I really don't see a path to this being a good game. Yeah. This game doesn't do anything for me. 38:21 I think Iowa's quite frankly a bit over-hyped right now. I don't think they're going to be even as g- good as they were last year. And, like, I know they were a two seed last year, but, like, that team was not good. Um, 38:37 I mean, they were good, but they were just not, they were not the caliber of the other teams that were on the one and two line. They were, they were at a, a, a large difference there. Um, so 38:50 yeah, I, I mean, they lost Hannah Stuelke. I think that's a huge piece to lose from last year's team. They brought back, uh, Ava Heiden, who was really, really good for them last year. But, uh, I don't know. 39:04 I just, this game doesn't do a lot for me. Were they the ones that got got by Illinois? Were they? I can't remember what happened. The two seeds were Michigan, Vanderbilt, Iowa. 39:21 Who was that last one? LSU. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, they must've been the one that got got by. Yeah. You know? Or LSU or Duke. I forget which one, but they played each other, so. [laughs] Yeah. 39:33 [laughs] It's also gonna be Azzi Fudd's Huskies of Honor night. I, uh, I'm not complaining about it happening. It's just, like, 39:43 funny trying to retrain my brain into that mode of like, "Oh yeah, Azzi Fudd never got to be inducted into the Huskies of Honor 'cause she didn't get named to be an All-American until after she had played her... 39:55 Or a d- a, a first team All-American until- Mm-hmm... after she had played her last game at Gampel. Uh, it, it feels longer than that. That's more my takeaway is it just feels like it, 40:08 like you forget how coming into the year they won the national championship, she was such an unknown quantity. You didn't know if you could rely on her for anything, especially after she picked up that injury 40:20 against Louisville and just the, the last year plus two games of her college career. She was just so good. [laughs] First team All-American, Final Four Most Outstanding Player. 40:36 It really makes it a little more difficult to forget everything that led up to all that. Yeah. I agree. It's just, like, the way she ended her college career was 40:47 so much better than how it started, which is obviously what she deserved. It was so many injuries to start it all. Um, but comes out a national champion, Final Four MVP, an All-American, and now she's going on the wall. 41:01 Yeah. So that'll be fun. Two big games, and then obviously out to number 18 Ohio State, and then from there to number 7 Louisville. It's fun that we... 41:16 Feels like so much the first couple weeks we've just talked about like, "Yeah, this game happened. We can't- Mm-hmm... really take a whole lot from it because XYZ." And 41:26 we're, we're not gonna be able to have any caveats against Michigan. What we see is going to be the real deal, and I'm excited for it. It's gonna be a really fun next couple weeks. 41:38 It's gonna be a really fun next couple months. Yeah. No, it should be a really fun game on Thursday and kind of one of the best ones of the week. 41:46 I feel like my gripe with the women's college basketball schedule this week is, like, all the good games were in the middle of the workday on Monday, and now there's been no good basketball since then. 41:55 It's rather disappointing. [laughs] Um, but great game and then, yeah, should be a good start to the stretch for UConn and a fun season. Yeah, so a lot to look forward to. 42:07 We'll be back next week to cover the Michigan and Iowa games and look ahead to finishing this first little pod of the non-conference gauntlet. 42:17 I think if nothing else, we are going to learn just how difficult this non-conference schedule is going to be based on these two games. 42:24 Because if, you know, there's a loss in here, if there's a really competitive game, then I think that indicates there's gonna be a lot more to follow. And if they come out and just blitz Michigan, 42:34 I think it might disappoint a little bit outside of South Carolina. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It will be, I think we will get a good pulse check on where this team is at on Thursday. For sure. Anyways, that'll do it from us. 42:51 Thanks for listening
