Senior night for the women...

[mikewebb68]

And Pallas went out in style, with a 69-49 drubbing of a decent Indiana team, made all the more impressive by the fact that Jordan Hamilon (ankle) missed her second straight game. We held yet another team to under 40% shooting, this time 30% and 24% from 3, and forced 17 Indiana turovers while only turning the ball over 8 times Lindsey Pulliam once again led all scorers with 24 pts, and Pallas had another double-double with 11 pts, and 11 boards. Abbie Wolf, who played more minutes than usual with the game out of hand, also had 6 pts and 10 boards. We played 11 of our 12 healthy players, and it was good to see the return of our third-string but highly touted freshman center, Courtney Shaw, from injury

With the win, we move into sole possession of 6th place, at 9-8 and 16-12 overall, Probably will end up at 9-9 and 16-13 though entering the BTT, as our last game is on Sunday at #12 Iowa, who has not lost at home all season...

 

[Noah121]

Or, we'll stun the world and knock off Iowa in a 102-99 regulation slugfest reminiscent of 4 years ago.

 

[ricko6543211]

And Pallas went out in style, with a 69-49 drubbing of a decent Indiana team, made all the more impressive by the fact that Jordan Hamilon (ankle) missed her second straight game. We held yet another team to under 40% shooting, this time 30% and 24% from 3, and forced 17 Indiana turovers while only turning the ball over 8 times Lindsey Pulliam once again led all scorers with 24 pts, and Pallas had another double-double with 11 pts, and 11 boards. Abbie Wolf, who played more minutes than usual with the game out of hand, also had 6 pts and 10 boards. We played 11 of our 12 healthy players, and it was good to see the return of our third-string but highly touted freshman center, Courtney Shaw, from injury

With the win, we move into sole possession of 6th place, at 9-8 and 16-12 overall, Probably will end up at 9-9 and 16-13 though entering the BTT, as our last game is on Sunday at #12 Iowa, who has not lost at home all season...

By your description, I'm guessing we are probably on the outside looking in of the tournament, unless we make a splash in the BTT? Still a solid conference season though. Too bad about all the injuries earlier in the year.

Appreciate the continued updates, I wouldn't know about it otherwise.

 

[NJCat]

By your description, I'm guessing we are probably on the outside looking in of the tournament, unless we make a splash in the BTT? Still a solid conference season though. Too bad about all the injuries earlier in the year.

Appreciate the continued updates, I wouldn't know about it otherwise.

I saw a bracket yesterday that had 6 B1G teams in, including Indiana (!). NU might just sneak in with a couple of BTT wins.

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology

 

[pschatz25]

I saw a bracket yesterday that had 6 B1G teams in, including Indiana (!). NU might just sneak in with a couple of BTT wins.

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology

I believe selection for the women's tournament is still largely based on the RPI, where IU is 55 and we're 108. Anyone who has watched the women's team this season would know we're far closer to a tourney team than that RPI ranking would suggest. Unfortunately injuries and bad luck (I think we had 6 games come down to essentially the last possession and we lost 5) are probably going to keep us out of the NCAA Tournament.

The good news is we should be pretty good again next season. Losing PKA is big, but everyone else returns (hopefully healthy) and a year older. We'll be a little thin in the post, but maybe we can get a grad transfer.

 

[pschatz25]

Or, we'll stun the world and knock off Iowa in a 102-99 regulation slugfest reminiscent of 4 years ago.

I was there and I'll never forget it. The teams combined to shoot 32-46 (70%!) on 3s.

Box score

 

[NURoseBowl]

And Pallas went out in style, with a 69-49 drubbing of a decent Indiana team, made all the more impressive by the fact that Jordan Hamilon (ankle) missed her second straight game. We held yet another team to under 40% shooting, this time 30% and 24% from 3, and forced 17 Indiana turovers while only turning the ball over 8 times Lindsey Pulliam once again led all scorers with 24 pts, and Pallas had another double-double with 11 pts, and 11 boards. Abbie Wolf, who played more minutes than usual with the game out of hand, also had 6 pts and 10 boards. We played 11 of our 12 healthy players, and it was good to see the return of our third-string but highly touted freshman center, Courtney Shaw, from injury

With the win, we move into sole possession of 6th place, at 9-8 and 16-12 overall, Probably will end up at 9-9 and 16-13 though entering the BTT, as our last game is on Sunday at #12 Iowa, who has not lost at home all season...

Mike, it seems you'd be the guy to ask about this . . . how is the Big Ten regarded as a conference in women's basketball (both this year and typically?

 

[mikewebb68]

Mike, it seems you'd be the guy to ask about this . . . how is the Big Ten regarded as a conference in women's basketball (both this year and typically?

This year it is not that strong, at least at the top, with only two top-25 teams, though both of those teams (Maryland and Iowa) are in the top-12. Historically it has been stronger, though very top-heavy (Maryland and OSU are generally top-10 teams year in and year out). What is different about this year are the worst teams; normally, there are a couple of bad, bad teams in conference that are among the worst in the country (Wisky has been perennially bad, and Illinois was flat-out terrible in recent years coming into this season), but this year the worst teams are not as terrible, which helps the overall conference a bit. This has helped the conference get five teams in the RPI top 50 (yes, the women still use RPI and it is still terrible), all of whom I am fairly confident will make the Dance.

 

[mikewebb68]

I believe selection for the women's tournament is still largely based on the RPI, where IU is 55 and we're 108. Anyone who has watched the women's team this season would know we're far closer to a tourney team than that RPI ranking would suggest. Unfortunately injuries and bad luck (I think we had 6 games come down to essentially the last possession and we lost 5) are probably going to keep us out of the NCAA Tournament.

The good news is we should be pretty good again next season. Losing PKA is big, but everyone else returns (hopefully healthy) and a year older. We'll be a little thin in the post, but maybe we can get a grad transfer.

RPI is absolutely ridiculous-- we're better than Indiana (we beat them twice and we are two games ahead of them in the BIG standings), yet somehow we're ranked 50 spots behind them. Duke, who we destroyed and is 12-14, is somehow ranked 20 SPOTS AHEAD OF US! It is just an absolute dumpster fire.

I truly believe that the committee will give less weight to RPI this year, since it has been totally been discredited on the men's side. Unfortunately, though, Sagarin (which did a much better job) stopped ranking women's teams.

I do agree that those close losses (and the bad loss to Pitt when we were missing THREE starters) will keep us out unless we beat Iowa and win at least 3 in the BTT,. Think we are a lock for the WNIT at this point, though.

 

[mikewebb68]

I saw a bracket yesterday that had 6 B1G teams in, including Indiana (!). NU might just sneak in with a couple of BTT wins.

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology

Yup, such a joke that Indiana has lost twice to us, is two full games behind us in the conference standings, yet is in the Dance and we're not! But this is good, since I had 5 BIG teams in; if we could somehow find a way to beat Iowa (nearly impossible) we might be back in the Dance discussion if there are 6 BIGs going in....

 

[mikewebb68]

By your description, I'm guessing we are probably on the outside looking in of the tournament, unless we make a splash in the BTT? Still a solid conference season though. Too bad about all the injuries earlier in the year.

Appreciate the continued updates, I wouldn't know about it otherwise.

Yup, probably.

 

[mikewebb68]

Just too much to ask to try to beat Iowa on Senior Day today without Jordan Hamilton. Nice 1st half, though. We play on Thursday at noon as the eight seed vs. 9th-seeded Michigan St. in the BTT, a team whom we beat earlier this season 70-62.

 

[Pukecat]

Just too much to ask to try to beat Iowa on Senior Day today without Jordan Hamilton. Nice 1st half, though. We play on Thursday at noon as the eight seed vs. 9th-seeded Michigan St. in the BTT, a team whom we beat earlier this season 70-62.

Yes, another disappointing season for the women's team. It looks like Jim Phillips can't pick good basketball coaches. I don't think his NIU hires were good either, at least his men's hire wasn't.

 

[mikewebb68]

Yes, another disappointing season for the women's team. It looks like Jim Phillips can't pick good basketball coaches. I don't think his NIU hires were good either, at least his men's hire wasn't.

Huh? We have THREE BIG seasons of .500 or better in the last 5, after having ZERO in the 15 seasons before that. Guessing that you don't remember that we lost 43 consecutive conference games under June...this program was dead, and Joe rescued it. He is a phenomenal coach who is closing in on 700 wins...

 

[Pukecat]

Huh? We have THREE BIG seasons of .500 or better in the last 5, after having ZERO in the 15 seasons before that. Guessing that you don't remember that we lost 43 consecutive conference games under June...this program was dead, and Joe rescued it. He is a phenomenal coach who is closing in on 700 wins...

What does it matter how we did under other coaches a decade plus ago? Answer: it doesn’t. If you felt Carmody deserved the heave ho, your support for this mediocrity is seriously misplaced. Then again we already know rationality went out the window with you a long time ago with your obsession with the cow town down south.

 

[mikewebb68]

What does it matter how we did under other coaches a decade plus ago? Answer: it doesn’t. If you felt Carmody deserved the heave ho, your support for this mediocrity is seriously misplaced. Then again we already know rationality went out the window with you a long time ago with your obsession with the cow town down south.

Again, he has had three seasons with a BIG record of .500 or better in the last 5. Were you expecting five seasons or something? Jeez. Are there any NU coaches that you actually like?