South Carolina women's basketball: Monday morning musings

Thanksgiving week is over, and so are all the MTEs that come with it. In my Monday Morning Musings, aka: Walkabout with Wellbaum, I’ll break down some of the big takeaways.

What I didn’t like last week: The ACC, Tennessee vs ranked opponents,
What I’m not sure about: UCLA, Texas A&M, Colorado, Salty reunions
What I liked: The Players Era Championship, Ranked Matchups, Audi Crooks

Some popular preseason picks are in trouble

I’ll start with the ACC, where North Carolina, Louisville, and Wake Forest (who?) are propping up the league. 

North Carolina has one forgivable loss to UCLA, but hasn’t had another ranked win. Louisville has two good losses, Notre Dame has a good win over Southern Cal, but it is more than negated by the 40-point loss to Michigan. The Demon Deacons have played a weak schedule, but still Wake Forest is 9-0, its best start in 17 years, and Colorado transfer Grace Oliver is having a breakout season.

NC State beat Tennessee a month ago, when both were preseason top-ten teams. Both could be out of the top 25 after the rankings come out. Duke, the team expected to lead the ACC, is a train wreck with no end in sight. The ACC’s women’s basketball season is starting to look a lot like its football season: bad. 

Tennessee lost 99-77 to UCLA on Sunday despite the Bruins playing on short rest and with Lauren Betts less than 100%. The Lady Vols are now 0-2 this season against ranked opponents, including soon-to-be unranked NC State. Kim Caldwell is now 3-9 against ranked opponents at Tennessee and getting a lot of mileage out of beating UConn last season.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball! 🏀

You win some, you lose some

As we are still trying to figure out who is good this season, a lot of teams have had puzzling combinations of wins and losses.

UCLA trailed Texas by 20 for much of the game before a fourth-quarter comeback, and then turned around and routed Duke by 30 without Betts and Tennessee by 22. Texas A&M lost to UT Arlington and then beat Colorado (who then lost to Montana State, so maybe the Buffs aren’t good after all).

Notre Dame appears to be capable of beating anyone and losing to anyone, depending on whether Hannah Hidalgo is superhuman that day.

The only takeaway is that teams have so much offseason turnover that it takes a month or so to figure out who they are.

🏀 GamecocksW newsletter: WBB coverage delivered straight to your inbox!

Good on Good

Thanksgiving week always gives us a lot of good non-conference games because of the MTEs. Even LSU is usually forced to play a non-Quad 4 game. This year, it really started at the end of last week, with Southern Cal-Notre Dame and Michigan-UConn.

 UCLA and Tennessee had an old-fashioned home-and-home game. Maryland beat Kentucky in Puerto Rico in a great early-season test for both teams. The Players Era Championship was the highlight, with two games between top-five opponents that were each decided in the final minute.

It became popular last week to complain about the Players Era Championship, especially the men’s championship. Yes, the arenas were half-empty, and yes, the drama was forced. But let’s not pretend the Fort Myers Tipoff is played in front of 20,000 fans. Those complaints are true of every MTE.

The Players Era Championship was well organized, the games were good, and the setting was fan-friendly. It isn’t going away anyway, so enjoy it. 

Also, shoutout to Audi Crooks. Crooks and Iowa State were a preseason top-ten team last season and struggled all year. They seem to be living up to the hype a year later. Crooks scored 47 points against Indiana on Sunday, her second 40-point game this season (nine games). 

She is averaging 27.3 points, but that isn’t the impressive part: Crooks is shooting 73.8% from the field. She has been held under 63.6% just once, when she shot 57.1% against Marquette.

NEW! Message board for South Carolina Women’s Basketball!