When Mississippi State beat them, remember that Geno smiled. Here Samuelson basically says that they knew they played poorly.

Against Notre Dame, they played as hard as they could and didn't play particularly badly and got beat. That's inconceivable for them.

The previous season they knew they were somewhat inexperienced and didn't necessarily expect to win the championship. Last year, they expected to win it all, they did their best, and they came up short.

Because I am a petty person my favorite thing about last season is that Oregon, UConn, and Mississippi State were all left thinking "We should have beat them". But they didn't.

ND was dominating them for almost 3 quarters and it wasn't until less than 4 minutes were left that UConn finally took the lead. My opinion of that game was that towards the end both teams were gassed from playing so hard, but since it was a UConn home game, they had their crowd in it to give them that extra boost of adrenaline to pull ahead.

The Final Four game, however, was on a neutral court, so they didn't have that extra boost at the end to finish ND.

They talk about how UConn gets into teams' heads before the game even starts, except for ND (and probably Stanford), but I think ND is starting to get into UConn's head, even in the games where they win (like the regular season game last year).

After Arike made her freakish shot, we started celebrating at mid-court. There was a small amount of time left. UCON threw a floor-length pass just over Jessica's hands, who seemed to be the only one aware of the clock. KLS caught it and almost made a short shot. That's going off memory.

Yep, I found the cloud in that silver lining.

Or at least close to it. They were all aware. The problem is that Marina hesitated slightly when she thought the ball was going to be tipped back towards her/KLS and the three point line. KLS kept going, which allowed her to get the ball when it was tipped towards the basket.

..what if they had made that relatively easy shot at the end of regulation.

We would have spent all summer remembering that ND had a 5 point lead with about 20 seconds to play and let them score 7 in a row.

Agree. Scary moment. I wasn’t sure if KLS got that last shot off in time. It was very close to being timely. Would it have counted if it went in? Thoughts?

...it was definitely out of her hands in time.

I was referring to the last shot of the game.

Texas A&M also! They were all leading, by double figures I think, but we finished and they didn't.

Stunning wins against all odds, they never knew what hit them, I'm petty also:)

Because I am a petty person, I love that they think we think Boston is coming to Notre Dame, while we all know that Boston is theirs to lose (or Brunelle's to gain).

I love that they can't understand why any decent woman basketball player, who wants to be great, would not want to spend 4 years listening to snarky, dismissive remarks, and being humiliated by a man in order that they may eventually regain some dignity and earn some respect back from that dominant male. I love that they think that is the proper way, indeed, the best way to coach.

I've never thought of it that way,

that is the fundamental difference between the two programs. Each seeks excellence through different paths. Geno is the alpha male who needs to demonstrate how inadequate each incoming player is with regards to effort and knowledge of the game. Muffet is the facilitator who gives attention to each player. She doesn't waste time tearing down her pupils, but demands responsibility and accountability from the start. I realize I'm being a bit simplistic, but we do see examples of the differences all the time.

For example, here's a quote by Geno: "The kid that's not there anymore: she's not there anymore, because I didn't want her there anymore. It had nothing to do with her not liking it here, not fitting in, or playing time. I just didn't want her here anymore. We have a simple rule at Connecticut. This is what I want you to do. If you don't do it, I'm gonna remind you again. And if you don't do it, I'm gonna remind you again. Until a point I don't remind you, and you're not here anymore."

McGraw tends to play freshmen fairly early, to get their feet wet and learn on the court.

Auriemma is much more stingy with the freshman playing time, even when UConn is way ahead, feeling that the freshmen need to earn the playing time more before he'll play them.

You can see the logic in both approaches. I'm just pointing it out as a difference between them.

Remember back before KLS and Marina even started college? They both played in the McDonald's Game, where defense -- like in most all-star games -- is a word you ignore.

What does Mabrey do? Get in KLS' grill and stay there. And she starts driving to the hoop hard. And takes home co-MVP.

Fast forward to the NCAA's and Mabrey flat our telling people "..we own the third quarter."

And during the semifinal when ND responded to every surge UConn had and pulled them back, KLS started visibly getting tighter. ND players meanwhile were telling themselves, "we got this..."

This UConn team has a number of very talented players right now and I fully expect that a Megan Walker can step it up. On the other hand, I wonder how they'll do without Gabby Williams and Kia Nurse, who I thought were the heart and guts of the team. I think they'll have that semi-final game in the back of their minds when it gets to tight games and crunch moments. In the meantime, Marina et al will get in their grilles and the rest of the team will say, "...we got this."

You know that is not true, I watched the film when I saw all of this speculation and she was hardly around KLS. Plus it is not like Mabrey was that good in the final four so just wondering why you are always pushing a narrative that she is more important than other players on this team.

Most of the speculation in this particular thread was about the ND-UConn semifinal game. Is that what you're referring to?

If so, I'll stand corrected if I inferred (to you) that Marina was man to man on KLS. That was rarely the case (if at all) in the semi since ND went zone.

I think I was referring to the makeup of the teams and how MM allows them to bring their qualities to the team (following Baba's comment). Sorry if the link was not made explicit enough.

My point is that one of the qualities that Mabrey brings to this team is a very competitive, gritty approach to the game, which frequently is seen when she and the rest of the team get to play man on man defense. And she demonstrated that in high school, where I saw her play often, and at the McDonald's game, as mentioned. Hopefully we'll get the chance to see some aggressive man on man defense this year.

As for thinking Marina is more important than most? Hmmm, she's most certainly the current ND player I enjoy following the most, in part because of our respective ND roots. But I also loved Kat because we play similar roles on our respective hoops teams (albeit, she does it a lot better).

What I do think is that Mabrey brings a lot of savvy, grit and leadership and some solid scoring ability. But that meshes well with Arike's timely ability to score when needed and Jackie's natural ability to score from a lot of places. Quite a trio of guards.

Dillon, we / I all love your contributions (for me, including on UCONN’s board).
Unrelated, and likely unread (IGAS), I love the Mabrey’s attitude—I wish we had found room for ‘ shorty’ aka Dara. Forget the, ultimate ‘trust MM’, and Nixon’s/People’s potential, I’ll miss the chippiness.

are an asset. Jersey girls, tough, chippy, highly skilled, want to win. Not the most athletic or quickest. Dillon’s reports are fantastic. Please keep them up. Remember my candidates for the Notre Dame Ring of Honor: If Dara had committed—Mr. and Mrs. Mabrey!

ND will be the hunted and UConn will be the underdog.

It's easier to play as the underdog

the pressure is all on the champion

WE, Notre Dame has never entered a game without having a BIG BULLEYES on our players back.

long entering the tournament each year. When they get to the final 4 they are playing against teams that are much more battle tested than they are and mentally tougher at times.

UConn plays a lot of strong games out of conference, but early -- so before teams are at their best and long before the tournament begins.

case. Yes, UConn has a very easy conference schedule, but last season they scheduled a pretty decent second half of the season because they inserted two OOC games in the middle of their conference schedule. Those two games (South Carolina on 2/6) and (Louisville on 2/12) and their three games against South Florida (1/6, 2/26 and AAC tournament final on 3/6) made for a very good pre-NCAA warm-up.

Those games, coupled with their tough pre-conference OOC, made their schedule VERY formidable, nearly as hard as Notre Dame's overall pre-NCAA schedule. Sure ND's pre-NCAA tournament schedule had a higher RPI, but UConn played the same number of top 10 teams (5 each) and almost as many top 25 teams (11 for UConn vs. 12 for ND) but their schedule was ranked a bit lower because of the sad cupcakes that inhabit their AAC schedule.

Pre-NCAA schedule

Vs. Top 25 teams

UConn 11 teams with average rank 14.0 (median rank 13); record 11-0

Notre Dame 12 teams with average rank 12.1 (median rank 13); record 9-3

Vs. Top 10 teams

UConn 5 teams with average rank 5.6 (median rank 6); record 5-0

Notre Dame 5 teams with average rank 5.0 (median rank 4); record 2-3

Entire season schedule

Vs. Top 25 teams

UConn 14 teams with average rank 12.4 (median rank 11); record 13-1

Notre Dame 16 teams withe average rank 9.5 (median 9.5); record 13-3

Vs. Top 10 teams

UConn 7 teams with average rank 5.0 (median rank 6); record 6-1

Notre Dame 8 teams with average rank 4.4 (median 4); record 5-3

They are the best of the worst in that conference. The fact remains that UConn plays teams like ND long before we are at our best and the last half of their schedule virtually never challenges them.

Contrast that to the Big East where their final game before the NCAA tournament was almost always against ND for a conference title plus they played ND at the end of every regular season too - with the regular season conference title on the line most times.

They simply are not anywhere near as mentally tough as they used to be during Big East years. That doesn’t mean they can’t win because they are so loaded that they don’t have to be as tough as others - larger margin for error.

As you say four games against top 15 teams in February and March is not too shabby. We may have to revise that easy-schedule-before-the-tournament argument a bit.

- The pre-AAC schedule is very formidable, right up there with the Irish.
- And Geno is trying to play some tougher games on the back end, but there are only three teams and UConn seems to have South Florida's number.
- And the AAC is, indeed, a container of cupcakes for the likes of KLS and crew.

So, being in a tight contest is something UConn comes across infrequently (Tulane?), which is not something you can accuse the Irish of in ACC ball.

Also, I've read a bit over the summer that many UConn starters were sporting nagging injuries in the tail end of the season. Then why was Geno having his starters play so many minutes in what amounted to scrimmages in the second half? He's had one or two ehh years recruiting, but perhaps the "freshman have to earn their PT living up to my standards" is catching up, a bit. Maybe Geno's standards have been influenced by coaching the National team for years and/or having Stewie and MoJeff on the squad.

In any case, I think he's got to give more PT to frosh like Ono and Williams this year due to graduations and a bit of a talent dearth (for UConn). Stay tuned.

will they fill the pressure of a third straight year without a championship?

Does each year a team like that fails to win it all, they feel more pressure until they go by the way of ND football and it's not 1988 anymore.

The last time they had a 3 year drought was between 2004 & 2009 and it was 4 straight.

The first 3 years of that drought they failed to even get to the Final Four.

Even though we are the defending champs and pre-season #1, I think UConn is still the measuring stick for most people. We need to back to back for that to begin to change.

Exactly, they "NEED to win" this year, IMHO.