#10 Oregon @ #11 Arizona - 1/14/21

[Figurehead]

That is surprising about Mikesell. I believe their were some on this board who thought she would be a positive game changer for Oregon when she chose to transfer there.

Mikesell is a one trick pony and even the tricks are not there all the time. Should not be a starter.

 

[Figurehead]

This is a great point. Barnes will use that first quarter video in both her recruiting and teaching her team to come together.

What is interesting is the wildcats maintained the lead after that first quarter but I thought really played down to the level of Oregon throughout the remainder of the game.

When McDonald's hits the three-pointer it makes Uarizona extremely dangerous because if they come out to guard her it opens up her ability to find cutters and to drive.

Oregon is in a position of having to replace three first round WNBA picks. Games like this can provide motivation and a turning point as Graves prepares his team for the big dance. I guarantee you he'll have the team ready to avoid another disastrous first quarter.

The wildcats defensive intensity in that first quarter was reminiscent of their last two games with the ASU Sun Devils. When they're locked in on that man to man defense and pressing their quickness is extremely disruptive.

I guess if there is anything to take away from this is with Oregons team there is lot of room for improvement for the freshmen and Arizona is close to their ceiling. They will do well but in a couple of years it will be different.

 

[willtalk]

Oregon, and to some degree Arizona, played like they had blinding lights shining in their eyes. One could also see they were a bit too amped up by those layups off the back board that did not even hit the rim. I have seen teams have jittery reactions to being on National TV before, but never to this degree. Having watched Oregon play a lot of games this season it is obvious to me that they alowed their appearence on national TV to affect their game. A player or team is never as bad as their worst game or as good as their best, but this game took it to a whole new level of stink.

I wouldn't call their game totally a result of being scared. Some of it was also attempting to look good in front of a national audience. Either way it totaly threw them off their game and they never got it back. It does refect badly on Greaves because he should have seen what was happening early /on and instead of making a wholesale change on the court, he should have worked on getting their heads on straight with an early time out.

 

[newfrontier]

Oregon will prove they should be more than 1 spot above Arizona in the rankings.

Good call.

 

[Jorislove]

Nah...as bad as Oregon played there will be plenty easy to correct. Probably good to realize that the last three quarters were just AZ 35 to ORE 34 despite a 5 point (!) 3rd Quarter. Defense was stout, offense horrible. Shooting % about equivalent but the 23-12 TO margin was the difference and FTs.

Very true, I mean Oregon played rock-bottom bad and looked like high school freshman (including upperclassmen). A D1 team could not have played any worse. It was the strangest thing, since they played so much better against Stanford.

 

[willtalk]

Very true, I mean Oregon played rock-bottom bad and looked like high school freshman (including upperclassmen). A D1 team could not have played any worse. It was the strangest thing, since they played so much better against Stanford.

In this game they were much much worse than any game they have ever played before. It seems logical that playing on National TV ( ESPN ) got into their heads and they never got their sync back through the entire game. This often happens to inexperienced players but they usually shake it off as the game progresses. Oregon never did. I think initially it was the bright lights, but as the game wore on it was their horrible showing that got to them as well.

 

[Jorislove]

In this game they were much much worse than any game they have ever played before. It seems logical that playing on National TV ( ESPN ) got into their heads and they never got their sync back through the entire game. This often happens to inexperienced players but they usually shake it off as the game progresses. Oregon never did. I think initially it was the bright lights, but as the game wore on it was their horrible showing that got to them as well.

But it's not like this team is full of shy people with no attention. By now most are used to big media. Just strange how poorly they performed.