Simmer down. Uconn has fron court problems of their own. We regroup and take the title.
2024-2025 WBB Team (2022-present)
- Thread starter TN-Gamecock
- Start date
I'm certain that Staley and staff are busy evaluating the Mississippi and Kentucky games to address the shortcomings.
We outscored UCONN, Stanford, NC State, Maryland and Duke in the 4th quarter. So we haven't had this problem all year long. But the last two games are definitely concerning. The coaching staff needs to go back and see what the difference is between now and then.
Early on our issues were slow starts and strong 3rd quarters to push us ahead. I feel like our team knows how to play from being down but can't seem to find that same intensity when up at decent amount. We got to find that killer mentality for 40 minutes.
Very true. I will say this in coach's defense: the main reason opposing team came back in the 4th quarter during the regular season was because DS played lineups exclusively made up of bench players. At the same, it should be noted we managed to get to the NCAA tournament with a roster almost completely healthy, perhaps for that reason. Just look at what happened to Paige Bueckers late in a blowout win. After we lost Raven very early in the season, I was a bit worried this might be a season that the injuries piled up. It didn't happen.
Last year, we won the SEC tournament and lost Lele, and lack of depth was the main reason we lost to Stanford. I said to myself before the SEC tournament started I would be OK with losing as long as we came out healthy. I wish we were playing better, but I wouldn't trade our roster for another team's. All the pieces are there. We'll see how it works out.
A healthy team led to CWS titles in 2010 & 2011.
I believe it was during the post game show from Doug Kingsmore yesterday that Tommy Moody noted that 2010 was the last time that Clemron swept us on the diamond during the regular season.
But back to WBB. They've got 1.5 weeks to "right the ship".
Ironically, "win anyway" was the motto, even though I guess there weren't a lot of injuries. I honestly don't recall, so I'll take your word for it. I do remember Jackie Bradley Jr going down, but he was back for the post-season.
About WBB, yeah they have some time. It's a new season now. They've position themselves well. Just got to get it done.
I know the focus is obviously what is in front of us trying to go to final 4 and win.
But just a question about next year, will Boston be back? Or is she draft eligible?
But just a question about next year, will Boston be back? Or is she draft eligible?
She isn't draft eligible, she doesn't meet the age requirements and I know the education part is really important to her, so unless she's already got her undergrad by the end the season, I believe she would stay for another year regardless.
We will be pre-season #1 next basketball season...Hopefully we have a good recruiting class this year...
I think the three MUST pickups are Rosario, Fulwiley, and Stack...
She might go after another tall power forward in the portal if we don't get Stack...
I think the three MUST pickups are Rosario, Fulwiley, and Stack...
She might go after another tall power forward in the portal if we don't get Stack...
Ok guys and gals we’ve been slack and it’s tourney time
Buffalo vs UT halftime and I am calling upset alert
Calling Princeton to play a tight game with UK
8-38? What the.......
We win title with D
Buffalo vs UT halftime and I am calling upset alert
Calling Princeton to play a tight game with UK
8-38? What the.......
We win title with D
Here's hoping for Carolina vs. LSU final....
I just got back from Minneapolis last Monday...if we make it to the final four, I might take the quick trip back...easy flight from Asheville as it is direct to Minneapolis....1 hour 40 minute flight...Allegiant
I just got back from Minneapolis last Monday...if we make it to the final four, I might take the quick trip back...easy flight from Asheville as it is direct to Minneapolis....1 hour 40 minute flight...Allegiant
So #12 Belmont takes out Oregon!
Think back to the opening game of their season when they boat raced Ole Miss by 15
Think back to the opening game of their season when they boat raced Ole Miss by 15
May be a sellout in Knoxville Monday night between Belmont and UT...glad Belmont won over Ole Miss...
Her Hoop Stats predicted Princeton to beat UK. Can't say I saw that one coming.
LSU gave up 30 points to Jackson State in the 3rd quarter. Not a good sign for them going forward.
I saw some predict Princeton and JSU to win their games, many saw them as potential tossups. I think Kentucky cooled after the SEC championship with the week long break and got outplayed by a pretty good Princeton team. As for Jackson State, they should have won that game. They missed some key free throws and there was some "interesting" officiating once they had a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter that helped LSU win. They could still make it to the sweet 16 but I don't have faith in them beyond that. The SEC hasn't had a great tournament.
Could be that losing to Kentucky like we did might benefit us for the rest of the season.
Would have liked for Mizzou to have beaten Arky in SECT so that we could have gotten revenge. Focus on getting to Greensboro and then hopefully to Mpls.
I hoping the Kentucky loss was the wake-up call we needed. As for the Missouri, I'm glad they loss to Arkansas because if they won that game they would have been in the tournament. They had to settle for the WNIT and still lost in the first round.
Any power 5 team that is looking for a head coach, I have two words for you
Dawn Plitzuweit
Agreed re: the loss to Kentucky.
If only our disagreement re: Mizzou losing to Arkansas is the biggest disagreement ever in the history of the world.
Give some credit to Miami. They are a good defensive team and they went big and then packed the paint. By Miami playing big Dawn was able to counter by playing Boston and Cardoso together.
Personally, I never felt the game was in doubt. Playing big against us will help an opposing team's defense, but good luck scoring on the other end. The two teams that beat us this year -- Mizzou, UK -- were able to go small, which caused problems for us defensively.
Building on the above point: Carolina outscored Miami 28-8 in the paint. If an opposing team can't draw our bigs away from the basket, they will struggle to score.
I’m going to post this on Insider Forum also
I know everybody is worried about our offense, especially outside shooting. We should be concerned. That said, Y’all need to realize the historic significance of what our D did this weekend.
We set the record for fewest points in a half 4, the previous record was 8.
Fewest points in a game 21, previous was 28.
Fewest points in the first two rounds 54, the previous was 71!!!!!
If you count Texas from last year in the Elite 8, 34 points, we have 3 of the top 10 defensive performances of ALL TIME in our last 4 tournament games.
Before you discount that by saying it was against a 16 & 8. Remember those seeds are so much better than they were 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago.
I’ll SCREAM it again, this may be the best overall defensive team in WBB over the last two decades!
That is all, as you were and carry on Gamecocks.
I know everybody is worried about our offense, especially outside shooting. We should be concerned. That said, Y’all need to realize the historic significance of what our D did this weekend.
We set the record for fewest points in a half 4, the previous record was 8.
Fewest points in a game 21, previous was 28.
Fewest points in the first two rounds 54, the previous was 71!!!!!
If you count Texas from last year in the Elite 8, 34 points, we have 3 of the top 10 defensive performances of ALL TIME in our last 4 tournament games.
Before you discount that by saying it was against a 16 & 8. Remember those seeds are so much better than they were 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago.
I’ll SCREAM it again, this may be the best overall defensive team in WBB over the last two decades!
That is all, as you were and carry on Gamecocks.
in fact take away the two fourth quarters and we only gave up 23 POINTS IN SIX QUARTERS!!! That is only 3.83 points a quarter, a damn fine GPA
Last edited:
This defense is historically elite. Aliyah got frustated yesterday and had an off game. She is a student of the game and will not have a repeat performance like that. Teams have been packing the paint all season and she has still found ways to score. The good news, Kamilla looked great. Get Boston back to being Boston and get at least 1 of our guards going and we will be fine.
I think those early missed free throws set the tone. She's usually money. Aliyah will bounce back and be fine.
I knew things were off when She first set of free throws and grew really concerned when she missed her second set. It just wasn't her day, so many shots rimmed our and she got inside her own head with shot selection as the game progressed. This game shows why she's a great player, despite having a poor shooting night she was just as impactful I'm other ways with her rebounding and defense. I believe she forced 4 to 5 turnovers on her own with her defense.
Unfortunately when she's off our offense is off as well. I think she'll be fine and back on track in our next game. The one plus side of this is that Cardoso shown that when needed she can step up. If we can add that dynamic for the rest of the tournament with a consistent Boston, this team becomes that much better.
I saw several comments in the game thread that our offensive performance yesterday wouldn't have gotten it done against Stanford, UCONN or even NC State. I think that's a fair statement, but all those teams are on the other side of the bracket.
Dawn's tough scheduling definitely paid off in terms of positioning the team to do well in the NCAA tournament. Of course, the team has to go out and perform. Nothing is a given.
Dawn's tough scheduling definitely paid off in terms of positioning the team to do well in the NCAA tournament. Of course, the team has to go out and perform. Nothing is a given.
If we do end up with a rematch vs the Cardinal and/or Pack, I'm sure they'll be studying Miami's defense against us.
Yeah all the big contenders are on the other side of the bracket. Our offense hasn't been that great all season. I just checked and we beat both Maryland and Stanford shooting at around 35% but all the other big games we were in the 40's. Also worth noting is that we only needed about four to five 3's a game. Keep up the elite defense and get our shooting closer to 40-45% and we should be really hard to beat. I trust Dawn and Boston to show up. Part of me thinks the underdog narrative with the recent offensive showings could be a good thing for the team.
Boston went 4 for 17 (mostly easy layups) and 2 for 6 from the free throw line where she usually shoots about 80%. That is about 24 more points to an already 16 point victory. With Boston's Consistency, I don't foresee that happening again. I think it was more of an uncharacteristic off night for Aaliyah than any defense Miami played though I gave them credit for getting into our players' heads a little. We are more than capable of scoring more as we average 72pts a game for the season and now are holding teams to record low shooting and scoring percentages setting four NCAA records for defense in the first weekend of the tourney. Our team has seen every type of defense imaginable so they will just have to do what they do and continue to win.
Wow...I hope she builds a dynasty at South Dakota...She is proving a point that those midwestern girls know how to play basketball...also, Iowa State, Iowa...Paige Bueckers at UCONN is from Minnesota....Imagine for a moment that Bueckers and Clark had both signed at the same school...espically a school like Iowa State?
Dawn Staley is always commenting about backing folks that look like her...I starting to pull for those teams that look like my sisters and nieces....