WBB: The Gamecocks survive at Louisville
- Thread starter Brian Shoemaker
- Start date
Whereas last year we were underachieving, this year we are truly only marginally good. The dominance is gone. The reasons why don't really matter.
Not certain about that but a deep run seems unlikely. Our bench play now is on a par with the teams whose @$$e$ we used to kick.
This team is an average team (IMO), they will lose 4 or 5 games in Conference. LSU is "hungry" it seems... I see them winning the SEC, maybe this team can improve enough to be a final four team, I just dont see it right now.... Losing Kittts for the season (and her sister in recruiting) was a Blow!!
Louisville is a really good program. Jeff Walz has his team in the tournament every year for like 15 years, been to 4 final fours, and played for 2 national titles. They are usually the top team in the ACC. This was a solid team we played, I would not get too bent out of shape about the ranking. It was a truly hostile road game against a high level opponent. The girls didnt play their best and they still came out with a W. I think this game will be a big time teaching moment for the coaching staff to the players.
No soup for us in '25-'26. If I'm mistaken, I'm not going anywhere. You can catch back up with me. No, I'm not saying we're bad. I'm saying we're inadequate.
I do think you are right, this is not a clear #1 dominate team and I think there are some glaring weaknesses on this team, mainly Raven's inability to score and not a lot of talent other than Okot and Edwards in the post. Dauda has been a bust and Tac is starting to look that way. I think we are really missing Kitt's ability to score although she was lacking when it came time to post up.
Going to be an interesting season. I am not sure there is a clear cut #1 favorite other than maybe UConn and thats just because of the name on their jersey instead of anything they have actually done.
Going to be an interesting season. I am not sure there is a clear cut #1 favorite other than maybe UConn and thats just because of the name on their jersey instead of anything they have actually done.
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I don't follow the girls team enough to know, but it seems like they are usually obliterating teams into oblivion this time of year.
It was tongue in cheek to indicate had she made half the close shots we win by 10. The missed foul shots were a bonus
Nah, more like Sweet 16 if they don't improve. They did just play buzzer beater game with a Final Four team with 4 starters returning.
We are not inadequate. We are just not a deep team right now. We have to play our starters high minutes to compete with the better teams. Also, some of our starters are cutting corners. Missed Rotations. Missed Block-Outs. Putting the ball on the Square for Layups. Team would still be undefeated if they just took care of details. Our problems are fixable and I think the two freshman will come along and won't look anything like they do now in March.
That's what I mean by inadequate. It's not that these aren't good players, but we don't have enough of them. I have less faith in the development of some of them than you do.
So two games in a row where we left significant points out there versus good opposition - one we lost and one we didn't quite manage to lose.
King, your faith has always been shaky. You were shaking in your boots during an undefeated season where we only had 1 or 2 close games. Give Makeer time. She has the length on the wing that we need. As a freshman, she is getting about 16 minutes a game and that's a lot of minutes for Dawn to give out to a freshman. McDowell was fine last night. Hit her only 3. Had a couple rebounds and didn't hurt on defense. Tac has even shown signs of improvement. Actually rebounds the ball better than Joyce and she has gotten some time in some pretty high level games this year. The only player I am really down on is Dauda. Nice girl. Just doesn't seem to have it to help on a high-level roster. Dawn needs to let her bench play more over these next two games. They need more confidence. You can't gain that in 2-3 minute stretches when you are playing the higher level teams. Finally, we are playing 4 new starters. You can't expect them to gel overnight just because they have a South Carolina jersey on. Okot has solved the problem of not having a big. Just needs to keep working in putting those bunnies off the square and of course knocking down her free throws late in games. I know Dawn doesn't want to hear it, but she may need to play a little more zone. You can't expect players to consistently play the defense she demands playing 36 minutes a night.
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You're correct about my not being confident about even our best teams. I've lived through too much to be swaggering.
You're a good and studious fan, but I don't see us getting through the minefield through which all good teams must pass on the way to the summit with the bench we have.
The team we have is the team we have but it is not the team we should have had. You know it as well as I do.
we have a roster of 10, anybody else gets hurt..we are cooked
Expect 4 to 5 losses this year, and no championship
Expect 4 to 5 losses this year, and no championship
FTs and bunnies have caused wbb to lose or almost lose over the years. Dawn’s teams seem to never be good FT shooters. Just been better than most teams so not a major issue to date. Got a feeling this year it may cost us several games
Missed bunnies probably cost us the national championship that year we lost to Stanford in the Final Four. They handed Stanford the ability to advance. I'd call that major.
I think it's much too early to be making any major assessments. We are really one of a few teams that have put themselves out there to see what we really have. I really see no threats besides UConn, UCLA, Texas, LSU, TCU and maybe Michigan. Yes, Louisville took us to a 2 point game. However, that was a true road game in early December. If they can't get us in that I don't see them getting us in March. They can't put all those teams in our region. So barring injury, I see us as an Elite 8 team at minimum with a practically new roster that will continue to gel and improve.
It may not be true but its something that is truly possible
Boston throws up rebound as time expired bc she had to go quick. We were in the final four. Not the same scenario. We miss 10 a game right now which may keep us from a final four. We are not going to simply out TALLENT everyone this year. Will need some breaks IMO
She knew the truth. It haunted her for a year because she is an accountable person.
She snd Raven are my all time favorites…they represent SC with class
She never said that. She may have had a problem with the AE commercial, but the quote was made up.