Saniya, Gabby, & Kiah - whaddaya think of this?

[HuskyNan]

From The State, the South Carolina newspaper:

BENCH VS. BENCH

UConn relies on three non-starters – Gabby Williams, Saniya Chong and Kiah Stokes – and the dropoff from starter to sub is substantial. Williams averages about nine points and 17 minutes per game; the fifth starter in terms of scoring, Moriah Jefferson, averages around 11 and 26. USC brings some of its best talent off the bench: center Alaina Coates (third-leading scorer; top rebounder), guard/forward A’ja Wilson (second in scoring and rebounding) and Bianca Cuevas (team-high in points, 21 and 16, in the past two games). Behind them are 3-point specialist Tina Roy, defensive bulldog Olivia Gaines, another 6-foot-4 McDonald’s All-American in Jatarie White and backup point guard Tiffany Davis.

Advantage: South Carolina

Hmm, didn't Gabby lead the team in scoring two games ago and Saniya one of the top scorers in the last game? And that Stokes kid, she's one of the team's top defenders. Irrelevant, you say?

That's right, pay no attention to the bench, they don't do much....

 

[DGHuskyFan]

Well that will be some good bulletin board fodder!

 

[Wbbfan1]

If we're objective, South Carolina has the better deeper bench.

While the writer is a homer, in this case IMHO he's accurate in his assessment.

 

[HuskyNan]

If we're objective, South Carolina has the better deeper bench.

While the writer is a homer, in this case IMHO he's accurate in his assessment.

I didn't object to the writer's picking USC's bench over UConn's, I object to the "substantial" drop off comment.

 

[S1836]

The Fun Thing is that in a mere 14 hours we will know they were wrong.

 

[Suebird10fan]

IMHO Gabby and Kiah are better than most of SC's starters (as are Coates and Wilson). Possibly all of them except for Mitchell.

Because they don't start their best players, SC's bench is a bit better but it's not dramatic. Yes, it's deeper but the #9, #10 and #11 players virtually never impact the outcome of a game.

As Nan points out, it's the comment that the dropoff is substantial that is offensive and incorrect (at least until you get to Saniya, but if she reverts to her play from earlier in the year her minutes will be scant).

 

[j66kicker]

Mr. Clonninger actually did go with UCONN having the advantage in "Starters vs. Starters." Isn't this the most important category? And, if 2 of SC's bench players are better than their starter counterparts, then "Our best 5 vs. your best 5" would seem to be more important than "Bench vs. Bench."

 

[EricLA]

From The State, the South Carolina newspaper:

BENCH VS. BENCH

That's right, pay no attention to the bench, they don't do much....

The thing is, even Lobo has bought into the hype. There's not a single analyst out there who doesn't give a fairly large advantage to SC for their bench. I have news for them - I'd match up Stokes against ANY center in the nation - starter or reserve. I'm not sure how to match Williams against any of them - she's not seen a team with that much size before. Oh, and Cuevas is averaging 6.6 PPG. Amazingly enough, Chong is averaging 6.7 PPG. You can only play 5 players at a time.

I don't disagree that their bench is much more productive than ours (Coates and Wilson as he 2nd and 3rd leading scorers on the team) which means their starters are that much less effective in scoring. My point about that is if you are going to give a big advantage nod to their bench because they bring the 2nd and 3rd leading scorers on the team OFF the bench, then you have to give our starters a huge advantage over theirs because aside from Mitchell, apparently their starters don't score much...

Dawn better be ready to go to her bench early before UCONN builds too much of a lead or it may be too late. I think SC is really going to struggle scoring against UCONN... And it will get worse for them when Kiah comes in...

 

[toadfoot]

Tina Roy, 3 point specialist at 38%. Granted not awful, but UConn has 3 starters and 1 bench player with much better 3 point shooting. David Cloninger is woefully uninformed.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I thought that ND and SC had better benches than us. But that was in December. I really like our #6-#8 players now and wouldn't trade them for any other bench.