UCONN has taller inside people. Dolson did a great job getting herself in shape for this year and her game has improved dramatically. Stewert, while a freshman, is a very good shooter. Her weakness is posting down low and playing through contact. Kia Stokes is a great shot blocker, but she doesn't get much game time.
But the discrepancy comes at the guard spots. Diggins, Lloyd, and McBride did a number on KML, Hartley and Faris. All scored in single digits and either turned the ball over or caused their team mates to do so in clutch situations. And ND forced UCONN to shoot goose eggs at the 3-pt range. That's the stunner from last night's stats.
But I think the edge is in the mental toughness of ND's guards over UCONN's at this point. ND never got rattled last night. They knew that UCONN on basically a UCONN home court was going to come back, but they weathered it well and forced UCONN's guards to make bad decisions. To me it's obvious that ND has gotten into Faris' and Hartley's heads. KML can have a great night shooting if ND doesn't guard her, but when they do and the other 2 guards can't help her, KML has a bad night.
In a way also, ND gave UCONN a taste of UCONN's own medicine. So is UCONN glad ND is going to the Big East? Maybe the UCONN fans are, but UCONN needs teams like ND to challenge them and test their mettle. UCONN actually made ND a national champion contender program. Instead of whining about UCONN, Muffet decided a few years ago to rise to the challenge. She recruited well and found players who wanted to beat UCONN. If ND keeps what they learned from UCONN, they should dominate the ACC. The ACC teams haven't been able to crack UCONN consistently. Once in a while they catch the Huskies in a lull between greatness but they can't match the daily grind-it-out intensity and demand for perfection that UCONN has.
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