ACC Regular Season 2023-24

[WBBTakeover]

Courtney Banghart is signed through 2028

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Try as they might, the refs couldn’t drag Banghart and the Heels to victory. A bad flagrant foul call late, a phantom travel with 7 seconds to give Chapel Hill another crack at it … didn’t matter.

The U moves on to face Va Tech. The Heels go out with a whimper.

That flagrant call was ridiculous. It was more of flop on the UNC player (Boyd i believe).

I might be in the minority (certainly with announcers and writers) but IMO UNCs problem is Deja Kelly. Yea she can score and assist but she does too much sometimes and her attempts to draw fouls causes turnovers and game slippage. I thought Donarski with Nivar or Reniya Kelly is a much better backcourt. Even McPherson before she was injured. It’s a weird look offensively sometimes with Deja.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Deja Kelly is a problem for UNC. She's not their main problem.

 

[Dillon77]

Try as they might, the refs couldn’t drag Banghart and the Heels to victory. A bad flagrant foul call late, a phantom travel with 7 seconds to give Chapel Hill another crack at it … didn’t matter.

The U moves on to face Va Tech. The Heels go out with a whimper.

I can't believe UNC went 0-3 on chances at the end. Or even get fouled.
However, I saw that a bit differently:

• Williams most certainly traveled twice at crunch time, particularly the second. She was off to the races with that step*
• Yes, that brush-aside by Spearman could've been ignored, but what the h+ll is she doing that for anyways?

(Then Spearman clanks two Free Throws that could've added breathing room.)

*(I'm watching Katie Meier at the press conference and Ja'leah Williams at the Post-game interview and both admitted she traveled.)

 

[FanInNC]

That flagrant call was ridiculous. It was more of flop on the UNC player (Boyd i believe).

I might be in the minority (certainly with announcers and writers) but IMO UNCs problem is Deja Kelly. Yea she can score and assist but she does too much sometimes and her attempts to draw fouls causes turnovers and game slippage. I thought Donarski with Nivar or Reniya Kelly is a much better backcourt. Even McPherson before she was injured. It’s a weird look offensively sometimes with Deja.

Agree.

Kelly does too much. When State played them in Chapel Hill she actually distributed and didn’t attempt nearly as many shots as normal and they played much better on offense than normal. She is a good ball handler. She’s strong with the ball. She CAN get her shot anytime, but just because she can doesn’t mean she should.

Their offense flows better when she is a distributor who can create for herself at the end of shot clocks on busted possessions. Not when she’s actively hunting shots.

 

[FanInNC]

I can't believe UNC went 0-3 on chances at the end. Or even get fouled.
However, I saw that a bit differently:

• Williams most certainly traveled twice at crunch time, particularly the second. She was off to the races with that step
• Yes, that brush-aside by Spearman could've been ignored, but what the h+ll is she doing that for anyways?

(Then Spearman clanks two Free Throws that could've added breathing room.)

(I'm watching Katie Meier at the press conference and Ja'leah Williams at the Post-game interview and both admitted she traveled.)

I’d have to watch the replay again. I thought the first was certainly a travel. She hesitated and shuffled. Although I thought Danarski fouled the girl who passed the ball to her a second before. The second travel I didn’t agree with but I could be wrong. I’d have to watch it again. In live action I didn’t see it. On the one replay they showed I didn’t see it. But perhaps it was and I am watching with anti baby blue glasses on.

The intentional was a total flop. And I recall the ncaa supposedly trying to crack down on flops and calling techs last year for flops. IMO it’s a no call. But I also think if you are trying to cut flops out of the game and that’s really the point of emphasis then it could have been a technical for a flop job.

The missed FTs were obviously huge but it was also a 44% shooter at the line. I’ve watched enough Chapel Hill games over the years to know they will get all the breaks both from calls and from choke jobs by the opponent. It is destiny it feels like often times. Glad to see unc-CHoke just as hard personally.

 

[Crazyhorse]

Courtney Banghart is signed through 2028

Five years and it has only gotten worse, that is WITH so called top tier recruits. Poor Carolina, bless their hearts.

 

[FanInNC]

Cal up on Stanford at the half in the conference tourney! Classic ACC battle brewing …

 

[LETTERL]

I’m not @LETTERL but from a NC State fans POV, Madison Hayes was perhaps the most important player on the team imo. She didn’t end the season well. But she still averaged 11 and 7 and shot over 40% from 3. She has many qualities that simply don’t show up in the box score, she is the team leader and the glue of the team. She won’t wow you with talent and flare on the court but I was disappointed she didn’t make a team.

I concur. Madison Hayes is just a good, all-around blue-collar player...like Kayla Jones was for the team during the Cunane era. Hayes does all the little things that need to be done...be it a rebound, setting a proper screen, dishing off an assist...and when she gets her feet set from the perimeter, her THREEs are beautiful. It is disappointing she was not recognized...but that is probably a by-product, and downside, from having such balanced scoring spread out among 6 main players.

 

[FanInNC]

Friday Funday in Greensboro!

11 am tip between the Irish and the Cards after Louisville survived BC in a nail-biter. These 2 split the regular season, both protecting home court. However ND has won 5 straight to close out the season with wins against VT, Louisville and Duke included in that run. Louisville was much shakier down the stretch going 4-6 in their last 10 it looks like.

Miami takes on the Hokies at 1:30. Big question is the status of Kitley, I’m assuming we won’t see her based on how the injury looked in real time and Coach Brooks’ post game press conference. The Hokies are a different team without the ACC POY, although Amoore will be the best player on the court by a good margin. The Hokies probably need a ACCT banner to have a shot at a 1 seed still and an early exit would most likely drop them to a 3 I’m guessing. Miami has punched their ticket with that win of the CHeats solidifying their spot. These teams met just once, in Blacksburg, and VT had their way led by Kitley going for 31 and 11.

5pm NC State vs Duke. Split in the regular season, each more or less blowing out the other at home. State has been shaky down the stretch, particularly on defense where they have given up some uncharacteristic point totals and 3 pt % to foes over the last 5 games. Both teams safely in the tournament, I’d assume the Pack would land a 2 seed if they could win the tournament, the Dukies could maybe climb as high as 4 or 5 if they were to do so.

Nightcap - FSU vs Syracuse. Syracuse won the only match up between the two this year, coming back from down 8 heading into the 4th to do so with Fair dropping in 31. I’m interested to watch this game for the Latson/Fair back and forth. Those two girls can ball. I’m no FSU expert, but I was thoroughly impressed by them when they came to Raleigh this year - I thought they had undersized, but fantastic guards. However it seems those guards outside of Latson are very much up and down from game to game. Bejedi particularly seems to be all over the map. She’s had several 3/15 type games but has also had 9 games this year where she made 3 or more 3 pointers. Clearly not afraid to shoot - just incredibly streaky.

 

[KY Card Fan]

Take this for what it's worth, but a regular poster on the most popular Louisville fan board is in Greensboro and says that Kitley was seen on crutches yesterday.

 

[FanInNC]

ND prevails. Blew the doors off the Cards early. TBH I quit paying attention it was so one sided. Louisville stormed back to cut it to 4 with about 2 minutes remaining but Hidalgo did what she does and made an acrobatic leader to push it back to 6 and the Cards never really seriously threatened after that. They had it to 4 again but that’s it. Some questionable calls I thought down the stretch both ways. Fouls that I didn’t really think were fouls on both sides so I suppose you could argue it all canceled out.

Walz got tossed in the final minute arguing for a foul which wasn’t called.

With Kitley out presumably for the tourney and ND playing well down the stretch here - are they the favorites to win the tournament ?

 

[Dillon77]

ND prevails. Blew the doors off the Cards early. TBH I quit paying attention it was so one sided. Louisville stormed back to cut it to 4 with about 2 minutes remaining but Hidalgo did what she does and made an acrobatic leader to push it back to 6 and the Cards never really seriously threatened after that. They had it to 4 again but that’s it. Some questionable calls I thought down the stretch both ways. Fouls that I didn’t really think were fouls on both sides so I suppose you could argue it all canceled out.

Walz got tossed in the final minute arguing for a foul which wasn’t called.

With Kitley out presumably for the tourney and ND playing well down the stretch here - are they the favorites to win the tournament ?

I think they're favorites to win the semi-final. As I type Va. Tech is leading Miami 27-24 halfway through the 3rd quarter.
ND and Louisville both scored more than 25 in the 4th quarter of their game alone.

 

[Dillon77]

ND rode their zone to a 22-pt. lead, then switched back to man-to-man. Curry got red hot, taking it to the hoop and/or getting fouled and going to the line. Irish got a little tight but Louisville's aggressiveness landed the Irish in the bonus and with Soni Citron and Hidalgo, that's curtains: HH went 10-14 and Citron 10-11, including 3-4 on the 4 fouls gifted to them by Coach Walz's two technicals. Note to other teams and coaches: wanna blow a catch up attempt using fouls? Foul Soni.

 

[triaddukefan]

oh boy

 

[FanInNC]

oh boy

A lot to unpack there! Wow.

 

[FanInNC]

I think they're favorites to win the semi-final. As I type Va. Tech is leading Miami 27-24 halfway through the 3rd quarter.
ND and Louisville both scored more than 25 in the 4th quarter of their game alone.

I think they are the overall favorites.

VT is obviously still a dangerous team if Amoore is hot. FSU is in a one game setting is dangerous. NC State obviously can be very good. But right now ND I think is playing the best.

I think ND will be favored against VT and certainly would be vs FSU. State beat them in South Bend not long ago, but those two teams seem to be on different trajectories ever since. ND has been on a nice run and State has been highly inconsistent from playing well offensively but poor defensively - to a game like today play better defensively but struggling mightily on offense.

Every game since that ND game has been a massive struggle for the Pack.

 

[Dillon77]

oh boy

Ben Pickman of the Athletic covered this and here's his take (I've excerpted to avoid cut-and-paste guidelines of many blogs)

Turnover issues? Lack of effort? Or just a coach’s rant?​

- “If you don’t give a sh— then it’s hard,” he said. “We think of new ways to turn the ball over. We have turned the ball over five straight games on an inbounds pass after a made basket. It’s special.” He facetiously suggested that fining a player $500 per turnover could lead to changes. “I’ll guarantee you we wouldn’t turn that thing over one time. They’d care,” he said. “But they get all this good stuff, it’s all great, but let’s make it pay for play. The game will get cleaned up, I promise you. Our game will get better.”

- "Cardinals players at the post-game news conference agreed on the importance of ball control — and playing with more spirit. “If we want to go deep in March, we know what we have to do,” guard Jayda Curry said. “We have to have some personal pride, some team pride, and listen to our coaches.”

- "...despite their 20-turnover, 9-assist performance on Friday, Walz added that he thought this season’s team could still reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. He’s coached the Cardinals since 2007, leading them to the Sweet 16 or beyond in 12 seasons. Louisville (24-9) is projected as an NCAA Tournament lock, possibly drawing a No. 6 seed."

“Once you get (to the Sweet 16), anything can happen,” Walz said. “Anything can happen. It’s who’s playing the best that night and then what crew you’ve got on the game.” — Ben Pickman

 

[Crazyhorse]

How about Florida State waxing Syracuse's you know what? Talk about domination!

 

[Crazyhorse]

Jeff Walz sad and angry is my favorite Jeff Walz.

 

[cancontent]

A lot to unpack there! Wow.

Boy is there ever. The fines idea though, I'm not too mad at that idea. How it came up in conversation as he was calling out the team, yikes though.

 

[triaddukefan]

State, you need to win the championship for Tobacco Road. If yall lose, I might petition the state to move yalls campus to North Dakota or somewhere

 

[Dillon77]

State, you need to win the championship for Tobacco Road. If yall lose, I might petition the state to move yalls campus to North Dakota or somewhere

Better get the petition ready and call a realtor!

 

[Dillon77]

ND Wins First ACC Tourney Trophy Since 2019, 55-51; Punch Ticket for NCAA

- Hannah Hidalgo, Maddy Westbeld, Sonia Citron Score 49 of Irish 55 points, who played 6.
- Those three all named to ACC Tourney First Team, along with NC State's Aziaha James & Saniya Rivers

Irish Topple Wolfpack, 55-51, For 2024 ACC Women’s Title

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Star freshman Hannah Hidalgo had 22 points — including a pair of baskets for the lead down the stretch — as No. 14 Notre Dame held off No. 10 NC State, 55-51, in Sunday's championship game at the 2024 Ally Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament.

theacc.com

 

[WBBTakeover]

Congrats to ND, especially Niele, Hannah, and Sonia!