#2 Notre Dame @ #3 Louisville (poll & GAME THREAD)

[MilfordHusky]

With outcome of this game being what it was, Notre Dame should fall to #4 early next week, with Louisville and Mississippi State #2 and #3, respectively.

I believe one of the commentators said this will be the first time in school history that Louisville has been #2 in the country (although I'm not sure how that works when they played for a national championship on two occasions).

I think Louisville was #2 in the poll after the NC game, probably both times, but never #2 during the season.

 

[Bigpetunia]

I don't visit the fan sites for other teams, but, knowing ND fans, I'd be willing to bet they're blaming a lot on the refs, irrespective of the blowout!

 

[NOI33]

Sorta surprising. Keeps life interesting.

The margin, yes. The outcome, no.

I've been saying this over and over again this season- don't sleep on the Cards. Their chemistry this year is astounding, and they've all bought in (even after losing a key player in Moore). I know I probably sound like a broken record, but NO ONE in the league has Asia's offensive repertoire. No one. No one creates their own shot the way she can...and when you have a player like that at your disposal, a lot of good things can happen for the blue collar players like Fuehring and Carter.

 

[UcMiami]

If they lose by 50, which they may, you keep them in the top 10? I can think of 9 teams that would play Louisville better than this.

And let me say, Asia Durr would start on any team in the nation, including UCONN. That may apply to Hines-Allen. I guess we’ll see how they perform last month.

Ah, but can you think of 9 teams that could play UCLA better than Baylor did, or play better than SC did at Missouri, or ....
On any given night ...

No question this was a slaughter, but these things happen in sports and there are only a few teams in WCBB that do not have 'embarrassing losses already this year. And ND losing to an incredibly hot shooting, undefeated, and highly ranked Louisville is not that bad even if the score is crazy.

 

[Carnac]

Louisville by 3
It’s gonna be a dogfight, though.

If you had added another three to the score you would've nailed it

 

[NOI33]

Hines-Allen and Dur combine for 67, they will not do that against UConn.

Lol...the number of people who said that they would not do that against Notre Dame are too numerous to count. Enough said.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well Maryland is about to lose at home to an unranked Michigan St. team. They won't be moving up from #11. South Carolina only beat unranked Auburn by 8 tonight, and Notre Dame beat South Carolina earlier this year. Don't necessarily see them jumping Notre Dame either.

 

[Rixxx]

Did anyone notice that Muffet played one of her walk-ons in the final two minutes?

 

[Go/huskies]

Durr has had some big scoring games vs the better teams they have played, with both her and Hines-Allen capable of going off, it will be interesting to see who Geno has guard who.

 

[NOI33]

Man I'm soooo glad people are seeing Sam Fuehring shine. That girl rode the bench and kept working. Her incoming classmates all transferred and she kept working. Literally. Cole, Jones, and deGrate. Gone. She remained even when Shook was going to challenge her for playing time.

And her life story is amazing too (story). Just a tough, hard-working lady. I'm so so happy for her.

 

[the Q]

I voted Notre Dame because, honestly, I've been struggling to figure out whether Louisville really is as good as their current ranking. I think we'll for sure find out on Thursday.

I also think the Huskies will most likely have to go through the winner of Thursday night's game and Mississippi State to win it all this year.

I look forward to them burying miss st this year.

They got lucky on a wild and crazy night where anything that could go wrong did. Uconn is gonna level them in the rematch.

 

[Orangutan]

Did anyone notice that Muffet played one of her walk-ons in the final two minutes?

You mean ND's 1st guard off the bench, Kat Cole? Yeah, I saw her out there.

 

[Phil]

I think Louisville was #2 in the poll after the NC game, probably both times, but never #2 during the season.

See
2008–09 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings - Wikipedia

Louisville ended #2. Their best Coaches poll during the season was #7. Best AP was #5.

In 2013:
2012–13 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings - Wikipedia

They ended #3, moving up from #17

 

[todbo]

Look at the strength of schedule column, my friend.

No one said anything about significant. He said that ND has played the toughest schedule and they have.

ND played the toughest schedule because their schedule included UConn, which, barring a Star Trek plot twist, cannot play itself.

 

[Orangutan]

ND played the toughest schedule because their schedule included UConn, which, barring a Star Trek plot twist, cannot play itself.

Sure, was just noting that the ESPN announcer was technically correct (the best kind of correct).

 

[bballnut90]

Wow--that was not what I expected at all. That was far and away the best performance of any team this season. Louisville absolutely obliterated Notre Dame on both ends of the court. Wow. They were up 94-53 before Walz pulled Durr and Hines Allen. This is Notre Dame who was 66-2 in conference play since joining the ACC and has been the perennial #2 team in women's basketball for the last 6-7 years.

Quick thoughts/observations:
1. That was the weakest effort I've ever seen from a McGraw coached team. Zero ball movement, everyone looked frazzled, and there was no effort defensively. Hines Allen was fantastic, but she had way too many open midrange jumpers. She shot 15-20--put a body on her! Durr also had several looks that were wide open. Not sure what the ND guards were thinking, she shoots 50% from deep with a number of her looks being contested and they gave her wide open shots. She should be top priority on a scouting report and she had great looks all night. There were a few plays where Arike just looked straight up lazy, and several players in the 3rd quarter where no one got back defensively besides Mabrey to challenge Louisville. Horrible effort on both ends of the court. I'll give some sympathy since they don't have any depth, but they just gave up. Mabrey was the lone Notre Dame player who I thought really gave her best effort. She was extremely rattled and was pressured playing point guard against Louisville's quick guards, but I thought she battled out there....which brings me to my next point.

2. Notre Dame is going to have a very difficult time if they face teams with quick guards who can disrupt Mabrey. Without Thompson available to come in and alleviate Marina, the only other options are Arike, who is far from a PG, and Young, who is also far from a point guard. For that matter, Mabrey really isn't a point guard either. She's best utilized as a 2 or 3. She isn't a great decision maker and the role is definitely affecting her play.

3. I wouldn't count out Notre Dame yet. They did beat UCONN in 3/4 quarters and all 5 of their starters are very capable scorers, but I am very curious to see how they'll do in a rematch with Louisville in the ACC Tournament...assuming there's a rematch.

4. Louisville could not have played any better than they did tonight. Durr and Hines Allen were ridiculously good, but I thought Fuehring and Shook were the unsung heroes of the night. They did most of the dirty work and made things very difficult for Notre Dame when they drove the lane. Great defensive showing. Carter and Jones were also fantastic. The starting 5 shot 38-53...that's almost 72% from the field. That, combined with an incredible defensive performance led to a 41 point differential before the stars were pulled. I don't think that will ever happen again for Louisville, but wow that was incredible.

5. If I'm a UCONN fan, I'm not more nervous about matching up with Louisville. This game was an anomaly compared to the rest of their showings this year. This was their '2013 Baylor' game. The last 5 games they've scored 66, 62, 55, 74 and 67. Durr has a knack for playing great in big games, but I don't think they'll bring a similar effort next month.

6. I DO think Louisville is a major Final Four contender after tonight. Walz's teams in the past have struggled with consistency--they can bring a big effort like this and then they'll bring a lackluster effort in the next few games. It seems like that's been the case this year, as they've had some really great wins (tonight, Oregon, Michigan), but have had some poor efforts too (SDSU, GT, NC State). Curious to see how it shakes out. They blew me away tonight htough.

 

[noirwestern]

Man. One tough cookie. Reading this changes things a bit. Don't care much for her team or coach but can't feel too bad for her winning anything.

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...basketball-sam-fuehring-background/904764001/

 

[jennyo70]

Wow! So much fun. I predicted a 3 point win, I never saw this coming. In my wildest dreams, I thought maybe 9-10 point win.

So, here is the difference between tonights game and the poor second half showings. It is all in Walz's substitution patterns. He has had some crazy combos of players out there. He is building depth by letting his role players go in and have to be play makers. Sometimes he throws too many of them out there, and everything stalls.

When we opened the 2Q tonight, I was a bit concerned. He had 2 (or 3, I can't remember) subs in all at the same time. The opening minutes of the 2Q were slow, labored, not much scoring. He saw enough with a couple TO from Shook,a nd had 4 of the starters , and then all 5 out there. When the starting 5 play, we are very, very good. That being said, these kids were locked in tonight. Do I think we will shoot that well again, highly unlikely. But, we also played very good, clean defense. This is one of (2) 40 minute games where they played hard all night, on both sides of the ball. If that can become their habit, we can compete with anyone.

Sam Feuhring means so much to this team. She does so much, all the stuff that doesn't show up in the stat line. She has become a great defender, an even better passer. She is the glue to this team. She doesn't put up huge offensive numbers, but her stat line is strong and she is not at all afraid to bang around in the paint. I love this kid's game so much. I am so, so very happy for her. Her first two years were not easy. She would come off the court crying. But she has worked long and hard, and it is now her time to shine. She and Asia are the only two left from their recruiting class. Both gems.

 

[DefenseBB]

There was a reason Asia Durr was ranked behind only Lou in her high school class.

Ok, how does that explain Shepard being #3?

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

It's good to be wary of Louisville, and prepare properly... dont take the gsme for granted. BUT, ND played very poorly in this game. Offense had no flow, way too much dribble /dribble, lots of standing around, they were very poor from 3pt range and they played poor defense. Mabry had big trouble at point guard. And they had trouble hanging on to the ball.

I am sure Geno and Staff will prepare Huskies for that future game and our team will not just show up... but they will actually play basketball.

 

[NOI33]

Ok, how does that explain Shepard being #3?

Huh? There is no question Shepard was the rightful #3/#4 coming out. Before her ACL tear in highschool, Shepard was very athletic for her size; she could even dunk. Her inside/outside game was quite strong. Dominated in USA basketball as well. The girl can ball. The ACL tear and subsequent recovery period really took a toll on her conditioning, and the lack of discipline/development at Nebraska did nothing to help.

 

[triaddukefan]

Totally stunned at the result and the margin.................... Had my phone off during the game....... turned it back on when I got back home... and couldnt believe my eyes when the ESPN notification came across...

 

[noirwestern]

Huh? There is no question Shepard was the rightful #3/#4 coming out. Before her ACL tear in highschool, Shepard was very athletic for her size; she could even dunk. Her inside/outside game was quite strong. Dominated in USA basketball as well. The girl can ball. The ACL tear and subsequent recovery period really took a toll on her conditioning, and the lack of discipline/development at Nebraska did nothing to help.

Erm, are we talking about the same person named Shepard?

 

[augustaTC]

Is that Feuhring (spelling?)? I was impressed w/ her during the Ohio St. game early in the season.

Yes, that's her (looked it up)!

 

[augustaTC]

Man I'm soooo glad people are seeing Sam Fuehring shine. That girl rode the bench and kept working. Her incoming classmates all transferred and she kept working. Literally. Cole, Jones, and deGrate. Gone. She remained even when Shook was going to challenge her for playing time.

And her life story is amazing too (story). Just a tough, hard-working lady. I'm so so happy for her.

Wow, what an amazing story. Can't say why she caught my eye, but she just seemed to be everywhere, doing the right thing. Gonna be interesting to watch how she and our post players match up in February.

 

[Carnac]

I don't visit the fan sites for other teams, but, knowing ND fans, I'd be willing to bet they're blaming a lot on the refs, irrespective of the blowout!

A 1-2 point loss, you can blame the refs. A 33 point loss, it was not your night. That one is on you!!!

 

[iri10]

A strange year, with teams like ND looking diminished (with good excuse), and Louisville looking dangerous. I would have put Tennessee in that surprisingly dangerous group too until today - now I need more evidence. S. Carolina is dangerous, but they look a bit worse than their championship team of last year.

I may be biased, but for now my tentative pick for most dangerous team is still MissSt.

 

[flncfan]

Gabby/Pheesa will shut down Hines-Allen and Kia will shut down Durr. UCONN wins by 20 + in Storrs.

 

[enigmatic]

Just watched the replay and that Louisville first half was the second best half of wcbb I saw this season so far (i personally think uconn's first half versus USF is the best). I thought Mabrey and Westbeld's opening treys to start the game would be indicative of how the game was gonna go but it changed oh so quickly in drastic fashion. It was like Durr, Hines-Allen and company couldn't miss a shot and it helped that ND sagged a bit on defense not to get into foul trouble. Despite the result, I wouldn't be surprised for Louisville to have some kind of let down after this considering their inconsistent outputs against opponents this season but I'm sure Geno took notice of this game and will cook up a gameplan when the Cards come to Gampel. As for ND and Muffet, I wouldn't write them off just yet. She's too good a coach to let her team have a dropoff. She's proven that she can coach deep into the postseason even with unfortunate circumstances but I agree that this season will be her most trying and toughest of all and look forward to see what she can do from here on out.

 

[Phil]

Louisville's margin of victory of 33 points is more than their margins of victory for their prior four games, Virginia Tech- 11, Duke – 6 NC State – 8, Georgia Tech – 3 COMBINED. (with five points to spare).