Ind. paper: "No reason to think UConn won't beat Notre Dame in next year's NCAA Final Four"

[mhshuskies]

Granted notre dame was in the NC game but only by a last second put back. The NC could just as easily been between UCONN and SC. The loss of Loyd may hurt nd chances for a FF more than this article seems to think?

http://www.elkharttruth.com/sports/...re-Dame-in-next-year-s-NCAA-Final-Four-2.html

 

[HGN]

Great article......And what I liked most is that it was realistic in content and analysis. ND may indeed return to the title game next year. And there are some that think UConn will again be waiting. ND has its entire starting 5 returning , minus Loyd................... Which is a big MINUS.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Unless Brianna Turner becomes a go to player like Stewie or one the guards ND recruited becomes a Jewel Loyd type player, I predict ND will not make the Final Four. They have a very good team, but is there any player on ND that scares you say like a Kelsey Mitchell, Diamond DeShields or for that matter Tiffany Mitchell of South Carolina. Next Year is going to be the toughest year to make the Final Four maybe in the history of the NCAA WBB Tournament. There's at least 8 teams that have the talent level to make the Final Four. It shall be an interesting year.

 

[Sonny44]

Unless Brianna Turner becomes a go to player like Stewie or one the guards ND recruited becomes a Jewel Loyd type player, I predict ND will not make the Final Four. They have a very good team, but is there any player on ND that scares you say like a Kelsey Mitchell, Diamond DeShields or for that matter Tiffany Mitchell of South Carolina. Next Year is going to be the toughest year to make the Final Four maybe in the history of the NCAA WBB Tournament. There's at least 8 teams that have the talent level to make the Final Four. It shall be an interesting year.

But who's around to beat them? SCU and maybe Tenn, that's about it IMO.
LMM will beat all other coaches.

 

[johnnyc]

But who's around to beat them? SCU and maybe Tenn, that's about it IMO.
LMM will beat all other coaches.

I don't think Tenn but I'll add Baylor, Maryland and they won't get through the ACC undefeated.....NC, Florida St. But McGraw is good enough to have them in contention for a FF.

 

[alexrgct]

Lindsay Allen's emergence, Briana Turner's abilities, a good recruiting class, and a host of serviceable role-players, leads me to think ND isn't going anywhere. Especially given how gifted a coach Muffet is. That being said...I mean, UConn will be stacked...

 

[BigBird]

I'll bet that article played well among the Elkhart readership. But I agree with Geno, in that if you play in enough games, eventually you will lose one. That's just probability laws. Never mind that every opponent defines greatness as beating you. Some day, you'll lose.

My stats prof said that if you flip a nickel enough times, it will eventually land on edge. To me, this means that while UConn will certainly be defeated at some point, you won't get rich by betting against them!

 

[wire chief]

A one point victory over SC and the loss of Loyd augur strongly for a new competitor in the NC game.

 

[Striper69]

The title of the article should be: "No Reason To Think ND Will Be In The Final Four next Season".

 

[Suebird10fan]

Unless Brianna Turner becomes a go to player like Stewie or one the guards ND recruited becomes a Jewel Loyd type player, I predict ND will not make the Final Four. They have a very good team, but is there any player on ND that scares you say like a Kelsey Mitchell, Diamond DeShields or for that matter Tiffany Mitchell of South Carolina. Next Year is going to be the toughest year to make the Final Four maybe in the history of the NCAA WBB Tournament. There's at least 8 teams that have the talent level to make the Final Four. It shall be an interesting year.

I would take Turner over any of those three in a heartbeat.

In my view ND, SC and Baylor are all on a par next year. Md and Tn a bit behind those three, with maybe Louisville or FSU joining the Md/Tn tier.

Bottom line, anyone expecting ND to fall apart should take a look at how ND did vs. expectations this year and last year. McGraw gets more from her talent than any coach outside of Storrs.

 

[msf22b]

McGraw has surprised in the past with her instantaneous rebuilding.
No reason to think she won't do it again.
They'll either be at the top or nearby

But (as one poster put it…a different thread?) UConn is stacked.
Maybe the most talent around I've evr seen.
5 or more potential all-stars…it's not fair.

 

[Jronp]

Jewell loyd is not replaceable! She causes so much havoc on offense and defense. That's a HUGE loss. Turner is good, but she is not a game changer that can take over a game ND will struggle a little. But still might make FF.

 

[baggerbob]

Uconn also has size next year 6 players 6-1 or better, and 2 guards at 6-0, plus a few good outside shooters.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Lindsay Allen's emergence, Briana Turner's abilities, a good recruiting class, and a host of serviceable role-players, leads me to think ND isn't going anywhere. Especially given how gifted a coach Muffet is. That being said...I mean, UConn will be stacked...

I put them a close third, behind us and Baylor. The Bears have Nina Davis, Alexis Jones, et al.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The sportswriter works for the Elkhart TRUTH. Indeed!

 

[UcMiami]

ND has a lot of talent coming back. Allen is a really good point guard who proved during he NCAAs that you better guard her, Turner as a more mature player will be a beast and they have really good freshman coming in plus good returning pieces. They'll miss Allen, just like they missed Achonwa and McBride, and Skylar, and ...

There should be a bunch of solid teams - I doubt we will be talking about next year as an 'off' year like many did about this past year. TN gets healthy and reloads, SC loses a couple of players but learned a lot this year getting to the FF, Baylor gets some centers, etc. Looking forward to it.

 

[Sonny44]

I don't think Tenn but I'll add Baylor, Maryland and they won't get through the ACC undefeated.....NC, Florida St. But McGraw is good enough to have them in contention for a FF.

Fair enough. I think LMM will out coach SCU, MD and Baylor then.

 

[mhshuskies]

I'll bet that article played well among the Elkhart readership. But I agree with Geno, in that if you play in enough games, eventually you will lose one. That's just probability laws. Never mind that every opponent defines greatness as beating you. Some day, you'll lose.

My stats prof said that if you flip a nickel enough times, it will eventually land on edge. To me, this means that while UConn will certainly be defeated at some point, you won't get rich by betting against them!

There may be some familiarity between the teams, players, coaches but each game is a discreet occurrence especially since the lineups change. So I do not think the laws of probability would predict that UCONN would loose simply because they have played so many games. Geno prepares the team for that one particular game as if it was the only game.

 

[John Glass]

I put them a close third, behind us and Baylor. The Bears have Nina Davis, Alexis Jones, et al.

Notre Dame is going to need a lot of help from the freshman to make the final four. Baylor , Tennessee, and Louisville will be stronger. South Carolina, Ohio State, Texas,Duke, and MD will be in the mix as well.

UConn has a chance too

 

[DaddyChoc]

why cant Arike Ogunbowale come in and make up for some of Loyd's points?

 

[iri10]

Tennessee has the potential to (finally) make the Final Four again. But it's a question mark, based on how their new players perform. It's not just about whether Diamond can do her franchise player thing (I'm sure she can), but how well Te'a Cooper hits the ground running, IMO. Also how good Russell is this year.

South Carolina, despite adding nobody, can't be counted out, IMO. They nearly beat ND this year; next year I think that Wilson and Coates will be starters - something that perhaps should have happened this year. I think they stand a decent chance of being better than this year, especially if Wilson has a good frosh-to-sophomore jump.

ND can't be counted out either. But depending on how some other teams improve next year, they could easily fall back to 4th, which would likely set them on a path to meet UConn in the FF if both teams perform as expected.

There's also a chance that they'll fall back to the 2 seed level if SC, Baylor, Tenn, and/or others all overperform this year. But I don't think anybody wants to see them as the 2 seed in their region.

 

[MilfordHusky]

why cant Arike Ogunbowale come in and make up for some of Loyd's points?

Exactly. She's an aggressive offensive player.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Tennessee has the potential to (finally) make the Final Four again. But it's a question mark, based on how their new players perform. It's not just about whether Diamond can do her franchise player thing (I'm sure she can), but how well Te'a Cooper hits the ground running, IMO. Also how good Russell is this year.

South Carolina, despite adding nobody, can't be counted out, IMO. They nearly beat ND this year; next year I think that Wilson and Coates will be starters - something that perhaps should have happened this year. I think they stand a decent chance of being better than this year, especially if Wilson has a good frosh-to-sophomore jump.

ND can't be counted out either. But depending on how some other teams improve next year, they could easily fall back to 4th, which would likely set them on a path to meet UConn in the FF if both teams perform as expected.

There's also a chance that they'll fall back to the 2 seed level if SC, Baylor, Tenn, and/or others all overperform this year. But I don't think anybody wants to see them as the 2 seed in their region.

I think a lot of people will be surprised with Shay Colley at USC next year. Also, hopefully Jatarie White's injury and flu problems will be behind her. Kaydra Duckett will get more playing time and Doniyah Cliney will be a redshirt freshman. You can't really say we added nobody.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Jewell loyd is not replaceable! She causes so much havoc on offense and defense. That's a HUGE loss. Turner is good, but she is not a game changer that can take over a game ND will struggle a little. But still might make FF.

Loyd is overly talented but if you look at her stats in ANY UConn game, they've always reflected poorly. She had 31 points earlier in the year against UConn but her shooting percentage was awful. UConn's defense did their thing, particularly as the game progressed and it's been like that time after time after time. Maybe we did focus on her a bit more, thus leaving another ND player "less guarded" so as to be an advantage to the Irish but her performances against us statistically were anything but stellar. Just saying'!

 

[Buzzyboy]

I think a lot of people will be surprised with Shay Colley at USC next year. Also, hopefully Jatarie White's injury and flu problems will be behind her. Kaydra Duckett will get more playing time and Doniyah Cliney will be a redshirt freshman. You can't really say we added nobody.

Well, unless all three of our very highly rated freshman really play awfully, there's trouble brewing for all our adversaries next year. KLS and Collier, in particular, are expected to be total monsters and with our staff to push them to their limits and beyond, we are going to be seriously wonderful, particularly in the later part of the year. If you don't get us early, we'll have another undefeated season. JMHO!