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Baylor at ND tonite ESPN2

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easttexastrash said:
Baylor started off pretty bad, IMO. The tide actually turned when Mulkey put Hayden in toward the end of the game. Those 5 have been playing together and everything runs more smoothly when all 8 are on the court. I wish Prince were playing with a little more confidence. I was hope those early two baskets would increase her confidence but she still looks like she is hesitant and thinking too much and not following her instincts.

Someone made a previous comment about Pope that they were delaying judgement until they see more of her. She has made incredible strides since last year. It is obvious that she put in a tremendous amount of work.

Baylor still goes away from Griner too much. As Burke mentioned, there are too many possessions early in the game where she doesn't get a touch for multiple possessions. That cannot happen if Baylor wants to win a NC. She is shooting 65% for the year. She is typically going to score or get fouled.
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Yes Baylor needs to do a better job of getting the ball to Griner in their possessions but I also see part of it falling on BG. Her senior demeanor is a two-edged sword. Mulkey has clearly impressed upon her the importance of not rushing, not getting too excited, etc. For the most part, this pays dividends b/c she has more time to choose the right move or the right play. However it seems to be carrying over into her intensity level. I am not seeing enough intensity from BG when it comes to battling for position, refusing to be rooted, calling for the ball, and especially getting her body in better position for rebounds.

She has improved a lot but she still is content to stand her ground and attempt to reach over people and out into space to collect the ball rather than get to a better spot first. She still has almost no instinct for the offensive glass, simply because she has been able to rely on her length or so it would appear. Granted she's not as speedy as an Achonwa or a Pope but she is not slow. She actually has some pretty good foot speed and very good overall athleticism. This is where she has the biggest upside at the next level, if she chooses to focus on it.
 
VAMike23 said:
Yes Baylor needs to do a better job of getting the ball to Griner in their possessions but I also see part of it falling on BG. Her senior demeanor is a two-edged sword. Mulkey has clearly impressed upon her the importance of not rushing, not getting too excited, etc. For the most part, this pays dividends b/c she has more time to choose the right move or the right play. However it seems to be carrying over into her intensity level. I am not seeing enough intensity from BG when it comes to battling for position, refusing to be rooted, calling for the ball, and especially getting her body in better position for rebounds.

She has improved a lot but she still is content to stand her ground and attempt to reach over people and out into space to collect the ball rather than get to a better spot first. She still has almost no instinct for the offensive glass, simply because she has been able to rely on her length or so it would appear. Granted she's not as speedy as an Achonwa or a Pope but she is not slow. She actually has some pretty good foot speed and very good overall athleticism. This is where she has the biggest upside at the next level, if she chooses to focus on it.
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I agree. I do wish we would see more intensity out of Griner. I agree that she is too content to stand back and let the game come to her. I wish she would start and end the game with a greater passion.

BG does lack a nose for the ball when it comes to offensive rebounding. She simply doesn't seem to have the instincts that some players have. Maybe that comes from not playing organized ball until she was a freshman in high school.
 
easttexastrash said:
She simply doesn't seem to have the instincts that some players have. Maybe that comes from not playing organized ball until she was a freshman in high school.[/quote]

Seriously, how much organized ball do any girls play before they get to high school? Even in Texas.
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I would be willing to bet you that almost every top player was playing organized ball in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Do players in other states not play in those grades?

My school had girls playing other schools in 4th and 5th grade, and I mean full court games on regulation baskets.
 
easttexastrash said:
I would be willing to bet you that almost every top player was playing organized ball in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Do players in other states not play in those grades?
s.
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In North Carolina..... schools had organized basketball starting in 6th grade.
 
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triaddukefan said:
In North Carolina..... schools had organized basketball starting in 6th grade.
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I think that is the norm. And in Texas there is a program called Little Dribblers where players are on the court when they are in 1st grade.
 
easttexastrash said:
Baylor is practically the worst team in the nation. ;)

Which is more impressive, a 15 point win against Maryland at home or a 12 point win against ND on the road? Think about it before you answer.
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Uconn had a double digit lead almost the entire game.

ND was up 9 with 7 minutes left in the first half and it was tied with 7 minutes left in the game.

Think about it before you ask.
 
easttexastrash said:
Baylor is practically the worst team in the nation. ;)

Which is more impressive, a 15 point win against Maryland at home or a 12 point win against ND on the road? Think about it before you answer.
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First of all two different games. UConn had a 19 pt lead before Geno let up. Geno also subbed freshman early in the first half. The game was very physical.
ND BU was not physical. Little touches were called fouls. The BU ND was close the entire game and ND has no interior game. Dont get so defensive when someone points out weaknesses in your team. Use it as contrustive criticism and things they need to work on.
IMO I would like to see all refs get on the same page calling games so players know their boundries. One game they let things go and the next they dont is not consistency on the part of the refs. Baylor IMO last night did not play a good game. As was said on TV Griner didnt touch the ball. I love Kim but last nite she was out coached by Muffit. ND executed Muffits game plan and it was working. Give SImms credit for her D on Diggins. If Diggins had gone off the result may have been different.
 
Honestly, I think that Kim is often out coached. She is not creative with her use of Griner. Griner can flat out shoot the ball and could move around the court more.

I also agree that Baylor did not play it's best game last night but they played as well as UCONN played most of the game against MD. Maryland was within striking distance most of the game. And MD is not nearly the team ND is.
 
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doggydaddy said:
Uconn had a double digit lead almost the entire game.

ND was up 9 with 7 minutes left in the first half and it was tied with 7 minutes left in the game.

Think about it before you ask.
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And how many starters had MD lost in the last two months? What would the game have looked like had they been at full strength? It was not an impressive win based on the personnel that MD had lost.

IMO, neither Baylor nor UCONN had games that would lead anyone to say that either team demonstrated that they are a favorite to win a head to head matchup.
 
easttexastrash said:
And how many starters had MD lost in the last two months? What would the game have looked like had they been at full strength? It was not an impressive win based on the personnel that MD had lost.

IMO, neither Baylor nor UCONN had games that would lead anyone to say that either team demonstrated that they are a favorite to win a head to head matchup.
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Woah UConn just got Hartley back and shes not anywhere 100% and UConns top scorer KML was out. So all this talk about MD having 2 guards out is just as important that UConn had their 2 best outside shooters ineffective. Healthly UConn wins big.

As far as choosing who is better. From the games I take a healthly UCOnn over Baylor for a couple of reasons. ND without much height rebounded alot better then I thought and got alot of baskets underneath. That was a huge surprise for me. UConns Twin Towers will cause havoc for every opponet. Opponets will have to deal with Breanna out front and she does have instincts to help out. Stef down low this season will create a problem for Griner. Griner had 4 fouls last nite and ND had little height. UConn has height and depth. Another point Baylor is not a good outside shooting team and maybe the most important aspect is Geno and Muffit coached together as assts under Debbie Ryan at Virginia. Makes you realize why Va was so-o good when they were there. Geno will learn from Muffit and NDs loss.
 
The big thing I learned from this game was that ND is a legit top 10 team.

And KM clearly is taking the long view -- showing her kids that they all need to respond and be ready. And they're slowly responding (eg, Pope & Hayden last night).
 
Try as I might, I just can't warm up to KM. She is a good coach but her incessant histrionics on the sideline are a joke. She complains about every single foul call and non-call. Why she isn't t'd up every game is a mystery to me. The contrast last night between her and Muffet was obvious.
 
Tonyc said:
Woah UConn just got Hartley back and shes not anywhere 100% and UConns top scorer KML was out. So all this talk about MD having 2 guards out is just as important that UConn had their 2 best outside shooters ineffective. Healthly UConn wins big.

As far as choosing who is better. From the games I take a healthly UCOnn over Baylor for a couple of reasons. ND without much height rebounded alot better then I thought and got alot of baskets underneath. That was a huge surprise for me. UConns Twin Towers will cause havoc for every opponet. Opponets will have to deal with Breanna out front and she does have instincts to help out. Stef down low this season will create a problem for Griner. Griner had 4 fouls last nite and ND had little height. UConn has height and depth. Another point Baylor is not a good outside shooting team and maybe the most important aspect is Geno and Muffit coached together as assts under Debbie Ryan at Virginia. Makes you realize why Va was so-o good when they were there. Geno will learn from Muffit and NDs loss.
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I don't think Muffit ever coached at Virginia. She graduated from St. Joes then coached at Philly's Archbishop Carroll HS for a couple of years. She left Carroll and played pro for a year before joining Jim Foster's St. Joes coaching staff ( I thought taking Geno's vacated position) for two seasons. She then became head coach at Lehigh until hired at ND.
 
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jplotinus said:
100+ responses already. Wow. Has anyone commented that Kim Mulkey looks 20 years younger, not that different from when she was running circles around everyone else at LaTech? If so, cool. If not, well, it's now been said that Botox really works :-0
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Actually I thought she looked much, much older. And not in a good way.
 
UConnCat said:
Were there some who doubted that?
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Uhh ... I guess you missed the pre-season ranking discussions. There were many who said ND had no basis for being in the top 10 -- that they had lost everyone, that Diggins was only good b/c of the good players around her last year, etc.
 
vowelguy said:
Uhh ... I guess you missed the pre-season ranking discussions. There were many who said ND had no basis for being in the top 10 -- that they had lost everyone, that Diggins was only good b/c of the good players around her last year, etc.
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Maybe I did miss them. Or, maybe I read and then dismissed them as meaningless, preseason posts that are best forgotten once the games actually begin and we see what teams look like.
 
UConnCat said:
Maybe I did miss them. Or, maybe I read and then dismissed them as meaningless, preseason posts that are best forgotten once the games actually begin and we see what teams look like.
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Well, Vowelguy said he just learned that. So maybe he was making some of those meaningless preseason posts?
 
doggydaddy said:
Well, Vowelguy said he just learned that. So maybe he was making some of those meaningless preseason posts?
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Vowelguy? Did you say ND would not be a top 10 team?

I didn't make a prediction cuz I had no idea what to expect from ND this year and I'm not good at predicting anyway.
 
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meyers7 said:
They looked a lot better than I thought they would be considering what they lost. On the other hand Baylor doesn't look as good as I thought they would considering what they returned. But it's early in the season, things will change.
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And you posted about ND looking better without drudging up opinions from the past.
 
I'm not sure if I said it in any previous posts but before the season started I didn't think ND was going to be a top-10 team. They showed me a lot last night.
 
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