2nd Round - NCAA Tournament - UConn vs South Dakota State | The Boneyard

2nd Round - NCAA Tournament - UConn vs South Dakota State

cferraro04

Sensei
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GENERAL COMMENTS:

Wow! Did UConn put the rest of the field on notice with their 103 to 34 win? Sarah Strong had an otherworldly game scoring 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks. Azzi looked like the player we knew we got when she committed to UConn. She had 27 points, 7 dimes and I thought the campus police were going to arrest her...she was stealing everything in sight with 6 steals on the game. Heck, I know we were playing a number 15 seed but it is the post season and it is one and done...anything could happen after all Sarah's mom playing for number 16 seed Harvard knocked off number one seed Stanford.

The jackrabbits had a few things going for them. They beat the number 7 seed Oklahoma State to advance into the 2nd round. Their season record is 30 and 3. They won their conference tournament. They beat Creighton when they were ranked number 20 and they beat Oregon when they were ranked number 21. They pull down close to 40 rebounds per game and they take care of the basketball only committing 12.8 turnovers per game. Now for a dose of reality. They lost to unranked Georgia Tech, they lost a close game to Duke (75-70) when they were ranked number 16 and they lost badly to Texas when they were ranked number 6 (103 to 57). They haven't faced a team like UConn whose defense is stifling.

PLAYER ANALYSIS:

Jana El-Alfy - 6'5" - R-Freshman - Center vs Mesa Byom - 6'2" Senior - Forward
- Mesa averages 6.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game. Jana averages 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and .6 blocks per game. Jana has faced stiffer competition and she has a better complement of players around her. Mesa gives up 3 inches to Jana. SLIGHT ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong - 6'2" - Freshman - Forward vs Brooklyn Meyer - 6'2" Junior - Forward
- Brooklyn is South Dakota State's most productive player. She averages 17.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and .8 blocks per game. Sarah Is playing like a top-ten player in the postseason. She averages 16.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks, and she hits 1.37 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers - 6'0" - R-Senior - Guard vs Haleigh Timmer 5'11" - R-Junior - Guard
- Haleigh averages 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.85 three-pointers per game. Paige averages 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, .7 blocks, and 1.73 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd - 5'11" - Graduate - Guard vs Madison Mathiowetz - 5'10" Junior - Guard
- Madison is averaging 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.45 three-pointers per game. Azzi is playing her best basketball right now and she averages 13.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.38 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Kaitlyn Chen - 5'9" Graduate - Guard vs Paige Meyer - 5'6" Senior - Guard
- Paige is averaging 12.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and hits 1.2 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn averages 6.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and hits ,8 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

BENCH:


UConn brings 29 points and 14.9 rebounds off the bench. South Dakota State brings 18 points and 12.4 rebounds off the bench
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

INTANGIBLES:


UConn is too big, too talented, and has too much post-season experience. They are dialed in and I expect them to build on their last game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING:


UConn is blessed with the experienced, hall-of-fame coaching staff that they have. They do their homework and they know how to win.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 95

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 54
MOV - 41
 
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Coach Johnston has been at SD St for 25 years, making him one of only 7 current HC’s in WBB who’ve been at the same school for at least 25 years. I’ll give you one guess who’s been at their current school the longest? ;)

The Jackrabbits are one of the most fundamentally sound teams in WBB. I was in awe watching them continually box out and outrebound the much taller OK St team in yesterday’s upset at Storrs.

Unfortunately for SD St, they will be facing a UConn team that can match their excellent fundamentals, along with superior talent.
 
SDS positives - impressive resume, played extremely well in 2nd half yesterday, experienced coaching, disciplined team. Negatives are 3 point shooting, lack of height and may be fatigued. No walk in the park for UConn, but with good shooting, pressure defense should pull away in 2nd half.
 
Thanks again, Sensei. Excellent analysis.

I haven’t seen any Jackrabbits games except in highlights this season. But what little I’ve seen suggests they should be a tough opponent. I’m with @oldude on this one. I’m not expecting a blowout. The Creighton games may be instructive here.

Also, they beat OK St in the second half, so I’m not confident their conditioning will be a problem for them. This even looks like a game in which Paige Azzi and Sarah will be on the court in the 4th quarter. Sarah in particular may end up playing a lot of minutes.

They play a core of 7 players with a ‘big four’ all of whom are capable of going off in any given game. Brooklyn Meyer seems to be the pillar of their team and she struggled against the slower OK St bigs in the first half and then exploded in the third quarter. She was hampered by foul trouble in the 4th but still contributed several key plays. Their speedy little PG, Paige Meyer was also a problem for OK St. And Mathiowitz went 6-7. Haleigh Timmer was also able to step up with 11 points and 5 rebounds.

I suspect this is a game when Geno’s small ball lineup will be key. And a lot may depend on Aubrey getting key minutes. Maybe even Caroline, too. I also expect we’ll see quite a bit of Power Forward Paige against this team. This is a style of play Paige knows how to win, rather like playing against Creighton.

But most importantly, I think Kaitlyn and the “havoc twins,” KK and Ash may prove to be too much for the SDSU guards to deal with. This may be where the game is decided early on. I imagine coach Roberts is readying his guards to face-guard Paige and Azzi, and they may even try to press UConn at times despite seeing what happened to Ark St. And when KK and Ash enter the game all that preparation may go out the window. They may even crumple under any press Geno decides to run, though I expect he’ll be judicious about wearing out his own guards.

A 20 pt MoV seems possible to me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the game was closer than this. Again, like Creighton, the Jackrabbits are scrappy and know how to come back late. I expect to see a second half surge from them.
 
GENERAL COMMENTS:

Wow! Did UConn put the rest of the field on notice with their 103 to 34 win? Sarah Strong had an otherworldly game scoring 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks. Azzi looked like the player we knew we got when she committed to UConn. She had 27 points, 7 dimes and I thought the campus police were going to arrest her...she was stealing everything in sight with 6 steals on the game. Heck, I know we were playing a number 15 seed but it is the post season and it is one and done...anything could happen after all Sarah's mom playing for number 16 seed Harvard knocked off number one seed Duke.

The jackrabbits had a few things going for them. They beat the number 7 seed Oklahoma State to advance into the 2nd round. Their season record is 30 and 3. They won their conference tournament. They beat Creighton when they were ranked number 20 and they beat Oregon when they were ranked number 21. They pull down close to 40 rebounds per game and they take care of the basketball only committing 12.8 turnovers per game. Now for a dose of reality. They lost to unranked Georgia Tech, they lost a close game to Duke (75-70) when they were ranked number 16 and they lost badly to Texas when they were ranked number 6 (103 to 57). They haven't faced a team like UConn whose defense is stifling.

PLAYER ANALYSIS:

Jana El-Alfy - 6'5" - R-Freshman - Center vs Mesa Byom - 6'2" Senior - Forward
- Mesa averages 6.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game. Jana averages 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and .6 blocks per game. Jana has faced stiffer competition and she has a better complement of players around her. Mesa gives up 3 inches to Jana. SLIGHT ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong - 6'2" - Freshman - Forward vs Brooklyn Meyer - 6'2" Junior - Forward
- Brooklyn is South Dakota State's most productive player. She averages 17.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and .8 blocks per game. Sarah Is playing like a top-ten player in the postseason. She averages 16.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks, and she hits 1.37 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers - 6'0" - R-Senior - Guard vs Haleigh Timmer 5'11" - R-Junior - Guard
- Haleigh averages 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.85 three-pointers per game. Paige averages 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, .7 blocks, and 1.73 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd - 5'11" - Graduate - Guard vs Madison Mathiowetz - 5'10" Junior - Guard
- Madison is averaging 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.45 three-pointers per game. Azzi is playing her best basketball right now and she averages 13.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.38 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Kaitlyn Chen - 5'9" Graduate - Guard vs Paige Meyer - 5'6" Senior - Guard
- Paige is averaging 12.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and hits 1.2 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn averages 6.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and hits ,8 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

BENCH:


UConn brings 29 points and 14.9 rebounds off the bench. South Dakota State brings 18 points and 12.4 rebounds off the bench
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

INTANGIBLES:


UConn is too big, too talented, and has too much post-season experience. They are dialed in and I expect them to build on their last game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING:


UConn is blessed with the experienced, hall-of-fame coaching staff that they have. They do their homework and they know how to win.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 95

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 54
MOV - 41
Love your work and devotion to your game analysis's, just a slight correction though. It was #16 Harvard beating #1 Stanford, not Duke.
 
.-.
Dang it...that is what happens when you try to do these things at 4:00 am. All fixed...thanks!
I know what you mean, I sometimes miss type the numbers on the Prognosticator's Predictions. I usually catch them in my end of page checks, but a couple have gotten through. In the military we would call that BRAIN FARTS.
 
Coach Johnston has been at SD St for 25 years, making him one of only 7 current HC’s in WBB who’ve been at the same school for at least 25 years. I’ll give you one guess who’s been at their current school the longest? ;)

The Jackrabbits are one of the most fundamentally sound teams in WBB. I was in awe watching them continually box out and outrebound the much taller OK St team in yesterday’s upset at Storrs.

Unfortunately for SD St, they will be facing a UConn team that can match their excellent fundamentals, along with superior talent.
Thanks for pointing all this out. I'll add a couple more points. Aaron Johnston has the second-most wins at one school of any active coach (in the 600's somewhere), although the Jacks were Division II till 2008. Under Johnston's tutelage, they won the DII championship twice, and they went to the DI Sweet Sixteen in 2019. A couple of years ago, when most of the current team was playing, they knocked USC out of the tournament.

The first round game was the only one in which both teams were currently ranked in the top 25 and gave the Jacks their third top-25 win of the season.

All that said, I agree with everyone that this game won't be close. This team is very much like Creighton. Played together a long time, well-coached, and what they lack up in size and speed, they make up with discipline, movement, and cuts. I think the margin will be closer to 20 than 40.

I like that UConn will be playing two VERY different teams in the first two rounds. SDSU won't be jacking up threes 10 seconds into the shot clock. The third-round opponent will have yet another style. It's good preparation for further rounds.
 
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Dang it...that is what happens when you try to do these things at 4:00 am. All fixed...thanks!
Actually you were both wrong--but you were closer. Harvard beat STANFORD as a number 16 seed beating number one.
 
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GENERAL COMMENTS:

Wow! Did UConn put the rest of the field on notice with their 103 to 34 win? Sarah Strong had an otherworldly game scoring 20 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks. Azzi looked like the player we knew we got when she committed to UConn. She had 27 points, 7 dimes and I thought the campus police were going to arrest her...she was stealing everything in sight with 6 steals on the game. Heck, I know we were playing a number 15 seed but it is the post season and it is one and done...anything could happen after all Sarah's mom playing for number 16 seed Harvard knocked off number one seed Stamford.

The jackrabbits had a few things going for them. They beat the number 7 seed Oklahoma State to advance into the 2nd round. Their season record is 30 and 3. They won their conference tournament. They beat Creighton when they were ranked number 20 and they beat Oregon when they were ranked number 21. They pull down close to 40 rebounds per game and they take care of the basketball only committing 12.8 turnovers per game. Now for a dose of reality. They lost to unranked Georgia Tech, they lost a close game to Duke (75-70) when they were ranked number 16 and they lost badly to Texas when they were ranked number 6 (103 to 57). They haven't faced a team like UConn whose defense is stifling.

PLAYER ANALYSIS:

Jana El-Alfy - 6'5" - R-Freshman - Center vs Mesa Byom - 6'2" Senior - Forward
- Mesa averages 6.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game. Jana averages 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and .6 blocks per game. Jana has faced stiffer competition and she has a better complement of players around her. Mesa gives up 3 inches to Jana. SLIGHT ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong - 6'2" - Freshman - Forward vs Brooklyn Meyer - 6'2" Junior - Forward
- Brooklyn is South Dakota State's most productive player. She averages 17.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and .8 blocks per game. Sarah Is playing like a top-ten player in the postseason. She averages 16.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.7 blocks, and she hits 1.37 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers - 6'0" - R-Senior - Guard vs Haleigh Timmer 5'11" - R-Junior - Guard
- Haleigh averages 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.85 three-pointers per game. Paige averages 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, .7 blocks, and 1.73 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd - 5'11" - Graduate - Guard vs Madison Mathiowetz - 5'10" Junior - Guard
- Madison is averaging 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.45 three-pointers per game. Azzi is playing her best basketball right now and she averages 13.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.38 three-pointers per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Kaitlyn Chen - 5'9" Graduate - Guard vs Paige Meyer - 5'6" Senior - Guard
- Paige is averaging 12.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and hits 1.2 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn averages 6.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and hits ,8 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE

BENCH:


UConn brings 29 points and 14.9 rebounds off the bench. South Dakota State brings 18 points and 12.4 rebounds off the bench
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

INTANGIBLES:


UConn is too big, too talented, and has too much post-season experience. They are dialed in and I expect them to build on their last game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING:


UConn is blessed with the experienced, hall-of-fame coaching staff that they have. They do their homework and they know how to win.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 95

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE - 54
MOV - 41
Interesting analysis, but I think your point spread ( final score) is far too wide. More like a 15 -20 point margin than 41.
 
Actually you were both wrong--but you were closer. Harvard beat STANFORD as a number 16 seed beating number one.
How am I wrong? We were talking about seeds during the Tournament, I stated #16 Harvard beat #1 Stanford.
 
.-.
How am I wrong? We were talking about seeds during the Tournament, I stated #16 Harvard beat #1 Stanford.
I am reading this thread for the first time. I noticed right away that it said Harvard beat Stamford, not Stanford. For me, it is not 4:00am, but 5:40pm EST. lol
 
How am I wrong? We were talking about seeds during the Tournament, I stated #16 Harvard beat #1 Stanford.
Maybe after you edited your error, but initially cferraro said Harvard beat Stamford which was what I thought you were correcting. But instead you said that Harvard beat Duke.

Now you corrected your mistake. Just the facts....
 
Maybe after you edited your error, but initially cferraro said Harvard beat Stamford which was what I thought you were correcting. But instead you said that Harvard beat Duke.

Now you corrected your mistake. Just the facts....
He edited his error, I never edited my post. So your facts were incorrect.
 
I am reading this thread for the first time. I noticed right away that it said Harvard beat Stamford, not Stanford. For me, it is not 4:00am, but 5:40pm EST. lol
cferraro04 had Stamford, I did not.
 
.-.
How am I wrong? We were talking about seeds during the Tournament, I stated #16 Harvard beat #1 Stanford.
Maybe after you edited your error, but initially cferraro said Harvard beat Stamford which was what I thought you were correcting. But instead you said that Harvard beat Duke.

Now you corrected your mistake. Just the facts
cferraro04 had Stamford, I did not.
Ok, fair enough, so you had Harvard beating Duke. Either way neither of you had it right or I wouldn't have corrected you.

No big deal, we all make mistakes.
 
It isn't a big deal...MSGRET works hard to bring information and provide this community an opportunity to opine. I think the fact-checking police can let him slide, especially since he informed me of my original error which was having Duke as the number one seed who lost to number 16 Harvard when it was StaNford (capital "N" for those who care). It was late when I made the original mistake (4:00 am)...the second mistake "Stamford" for "Stanford" was just stupid on my part. When I think of it, why would I want to deprive Stanford of that honor of being the only number one seed in Women's basketball history to lose to a number 16 seed...lol :) In any case, l have corrected the spelling in the original post. Now do you think we could discuss the actual match-up between the Huskies and the Jackrabbits? And, for the record, there are a lot of things that are correct in the original post. I can't wait for the game as I am sure it will be more fun than it was creating this thread. Go Huskies!
 
It isn't a big deal...MSGRET works hard to bring information and provide this community an opportunity to opine. I think the fact-checking police can let him slide, especially since he informed me of my original error which was having Duke as the number one seed who lost to number 16 Harvard when it was StaNford (capital "N" for those who care). It was late when I made the original mistake (4:00 am)...the second mistake "Stamford" for "Stanford" was just stupid on my part. When I think of it, why would I want to deprive Stanford of that honor of being the only number one seed in Women's basketball history to lose to a number 16 seed...lol :) In any case, l have corrected the spelling in the original post. Now do you think we could discuss the actual match-up between the Huskies and the Jackrabbits? And, for the record, there are a lot of things that are correct in the original post. I can't wait for the game as I am sure it will be more fun than it was creating this thread. Go Huskies!
Maybe a new sub-group for proofreaders? It's a thread about a game, not an engineering textbook...
Tough game tonight, hoping it breaks open early so i can sleep easy and have a sort-of productive day at work tomorrow.
 
I continue to be amazed at the BY’s penchant to focus on a knat on an elephant’s ass. In this instance, whether Harvard beat Stanford or Stamford or Duke or Carlisle when Jim Thorpe played or …….

As a public service announcement, UConn plays South Dakota St today in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament……or maybe it’s North Dakota St or Southwest Missouri St or…… ;)
 
I continue to be amazed at the BY’s penchant to focus on a knat on an elephant’s ass. In this instance, whether Harvard beat Stanford or Stamford or Duke or Carlisle when Jim Thorpe played or …….

As a public service announcement, UConn plays South Dakota St today in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament……or maybe it’s North Dakota St or Southwest Missouri St or…… ;)
Don't you mean gnat?
:D
 
I continue to be amazed at the BY’s penchant to focus on a knat on an elephant’s ass. In this instance, whether Harvard beat Stanford or Stamford or Duke or Carlisle when Jim Thorpe played or …….

As a public service announcement, UConn plays South Dakota St today in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament……or maybe it’s North Dakota St or Southwest Missouri St or…… ;)
I thought UConn was playing North Dakota St's :) little sister school
 
.-.
Just for the record on that Harvard upset of #1 Stanford back in the day.
I think my recollections are essentially correct.

There was considerable controversy regarding Stanford's #1 seed.
They had a couple of injuries to key players very close to the opening round.
Coach Tara did not inform the committee that those players would not play in the
16-1 matchup.

With them in the mix Stanford clearly was a one seed. Would the committee
have moved them to a 2 seed if they had known of their absence? Who knows?
If they moved them to a 2 seed, I don't recall who would have taken their place
as a 1 seed. Harvard was clearly talented led by Sarah's Mom...but would
they have beaten a different one seed? Who knows?

Even with the injuries a Harvard victory over even a somewhat depleted
Stanford was a huge upset.

There was some considerable jabber about Tara and her silence about
a couple of players not playing.
 
South Dakota State's sports team are pretty much known for being incredibly tough and fearless which is also the culture of the whole state. We, on the other hand, as illustrated by this thread, can be an insane bunch of nit pickers. Thankfully we aren't allowed in Werth.
 
kristin folkl and vanessa nygaard were the injured starters, a major blow
 
Maybe after you edited your error, but initially cferraro said Harvard beat Stamford which was what I thought you were correcting. But instead you said that Harvard beat Duke.

Now you corrected your mistake. Just the facts

Ok, fair enough, so you had Harvard beating Duke. Either way neither of you had it right or I wouldn't have corrected you.

No big deal, we all make mistakes.
Go back and read my initial post to @cferraro04, I stated he had a mistake in who Harvard beat, below is my original statement. There was no corrections done on my original statement. If there had been any corrections done there would be a "Last edited:" notice on the bottom right. Just like the one you have in post #10.

"Love your work and devotion to your game analysis's, just a slight correction though. It was #16 Harvard beating #1 Stanford, not Duke."

You either have a problem with english or have a reading comprehension problem. I don't know which one it is but you need to have someone check you out.
 
South Dakota State's sports team are pretty much known for being incredibly tough and fearless which is also the culture of the whole state. We, on the other hand, as illustrated by this thread, can be an insane bunch of nit pickers. Thankfully we aren't allowed in Werth.
I admit sometime I can be a nit picker, but I hate it when some misconstrues a statement and then basically calls me a liar. I will try to do better and just stick to this thread for the remainder of it's duration.:rolleyes:
 
I admit sometime I can be a nit picker, but I hate it when some misconstrues a statement and then basically calls me a liar. I will try to do better and just stick to this thread for the remainder of it's duration.:rolleyes:
Did you think I was being negative about nit picking and pickers. I love nit picking. It supplies maybe half the content of every sports channel!
 
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