Both games were excellent.Caught a pretty good game?? How did both teams look?
Awesome post and analysis, really enjoyed reading your takes on the game.Both games were excellent.
For the first game, both teams had stretches of great play. Both teams utilize great ball movement and have shooters. I really like Spencer for Arkansas, very quick and a good player. Poffenbarger plays hard and isn't shy to look for her shot, but it isn't a very pretty shot IMO. Vanslooten is a stud. Mobile, coordinated and good size at 6-3. Seems like an ideal college player with her size and skill set. I think she'll do great under Graves. Rodgers was very effective too, huge night. I thought it was a pretty game to watch and both teams played hard. Very back and forth with Oregon taking over the 4th. I think both squads are 15-20 range. Oregon has some nice upside with their young roster. Arkansas looks cohesive on the court but lacks size.
Second game was not as pretty but had a pretty remarkable ending. To be honest I have no idea how Ohio State pulled this off with almost zero contribution from their big 3. Sheldon was out injured which drastically changed their flow on both ends, and Mikesell/Mikulasikova shot something like 1-19 from the floor in regulation. Mikulasikova was absolutely dominated by Dulcy FM from USF. DFM is GOOD. Great at getting good position inside and has a bevy of nice post moves and good touch. 34 points, 17 boards compared to Mikulasikova's 2 points/7 boards on 1-8 shooting. She was the star of the night. Puisis has a really pretty shot and a quick release. Got some quick threes when USF broke Ohio State's press.
The rest of Ohio State played quite well. Cotie McMahon (almost the same name as former Tennessee Lady Vol Cait McMahon) was very effective at getting in the lane and getting buckets inside, Thierry was quite good too. Madison Greene was playing well but left with a knee injury that didn't look good. Hoping it isn't a dreaded ACL. Rikki Harris was really active defensively. Ohio State just looked sluggish/off for much of the game and then turned on the jets late. Happens with a lot of good teams where they seemingly "wake up" and realize they should win the game instead of coasting. The ending was pretty spectacular. USF seemingly had the game on lock up 6 with a minute to go and then OSU played brilliantly down the stretch and hit shots/forced TOs. Mikesell finally hit a 3 off an offensive rebound to tie the game with about 15 seconds to go.
Ohio State is not a top 5 team playing the way they did tonight, but it is a little scary that they can still win a game like this and put up 88 with almost no contribution from their big 3. Hoping Shelden gets healthy soon.
Admittedly as an east coaster, I fell asleep while watching between somewhere in the 3rd I think. Lol. I was impressed with Stanford though. Lepolo is one of my favorite players to watch and she was letting it fly which was great because the defense was playing so far off her. I thought Brink, Kiki, and Jones all played well, which I expected against a somewhat small Creighton team.No commentary on Stanford vs. Creighton?
That's really the attendance or are you kidding? That's really disappointing if true as that game sounds like it was a barn burner.I’m one of about 100 people at the USF/Ohio State game. Ohio State really missing Shelden. Amazed the score is relatively close considering 0 points so far from Mikesell/Mikulasikova.
“Jennah Isai has left the program for personal reasons,” Graves said during a pregame radio interview. “I don’t feel like I need to get into those now but her choice, we wish her the best, but she will no longer be part of our program.”Just as an FYI, the Oregon players had to deal with a real shocker prior to today's game, when, sometime between the team dinner Monday night and the game today (or maybe at the dinner), one of the freshmen, Jenna Isai, suddenly announced she was leaving the team. Apparently, even her 3 roommates (also freshmen) had no idea this was coming. And, so far, there has been no explanation as to why she chose to do so, and I suspect it's not basketball related. In any case, I hope she finds whatever she needs/is looking for.
I was glad that Michigan played well against UNC. Michigan had a nice lead and let UNC get close, but a win is a win.
True, but they can't afford to allow teams to get back into games like this. This is how they lost to Toledo when they shouldn't have. It could end up hurting them during Big 10 conference play.I was glad that Michigan played well against UNC. Michigan had a nice lead and let UNC get close, but a win is a win.
The listed attendance was 318. It is in a general use arena in San Diego. Not a hotbed for WBB, when Arizona played in the in-season tourney at San Diego (the University, in their arena) attendance was no better.That's really the attendance or are you kidding? That's really disappointing if true as that game sounds like it was a barn burner.
Genuine—it was empty, especially for the second game. Weekday sporting events at 1pm/3pm in San Diego are not a recipe for big attendance. There was a nice contingent of Oregon fans for the first game (homecoming game for Pao Pao) but the second game had maybe 100 fans there. It was actually pretty unique to hear everything going on the court though and to hear some of the coaching huddles.That's really the attendance or are you kidding? That's really disappointing if true as that game sounds like it was a barn burner.
Cripes. I forgot to factor the time difference into this. That's tough to manage.Genuine—it was empty, especially for the second game. Weekday sporting events at 1pm/3pm in San Diego are not a recipe for big attendance. There was a nice contingent of Oregon fans for the first game (homecoming game for Pao Pao) but the second game had maybe 100 fans there. It was actually pretty unique to hear everything going on the court though and to hear some of the coaching huddles.
Yes...it makes NC State's win over them look better. USF should win its conference.USF is a good team though. Gave Ohio St all they could handle and more
Ohio State over Oregon by 17. Clearly the better team, at this point, won, but I also think 3 games in 4 days is asking too much of a roster of 9, then 8, that starts 2 freshmen and an inexperienced sophomore. Thus, I think, the Ducks shot about 21% from 3 (well below their season average of around 40%) vs. OSU at 54%. I'd love to see how a rested Oregon team might have done. I'm concerned that the same thing may also happen in the Pac12 Tournament.
On the plus side VanSlooten had another terrific game against a quality opponent: 29 points (11-16), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks. Even better than yesterday. She's a keeper.
And not much of a greeting between Mikesell and Graves after the game. No surprise there.
Not surprised by the loss. The team is young and is still short about another two or so high profile recruits to compete with the higher echelon teams at this point.Ohio State over Oregon by 17. Clearly the better team, at this point, won, but I also think 3 games in 4 days is asking too much of a roster of 9, then 8, that starts 2 freshmen and an inexperienced sophomore. Thus, I think, the Ducks shot about 21% from 3 (well below their season average of around 40%) vs. OSU at 54%. I'd love to see how a rested Oregon team might have done. I'm concerned that the same thing may also happen in the Pac12 Tournament.
On the plus side VanSlooten had another terrific game against a quality opponent: 29 points (11-16), 9 rebounds, 3 blocks. Even better than yesterday. She's a keeper.
And not much of a greeting between Mikesell and Graves after the game. No surprise there.
PaoPao is not the best player or second best player on the Oregon team and won't be any better at the end of the season. She has reached her ceiling as a junior I'm afraid Another one of those Graves over hyped on paper products (Prince was another one). One of the bad habits Graves has is over hyping someone and not letting the court work do the talking. I am not saying PaoPao is bad at all but she is just too inconsistent and what you saw today is more common than not. Oregon has had many good point guards over the years and Paopao is not a special standout from some of the better ones Oregon has had.Oregon just seemed outmatch most of the game. They pulled within 7 on a Rogers 3 at 59-52, and then she had a clean look at another one that would've cut it to 4 but she missed, OSU runs back down and nails a 3 and that was pretty much how the night went for Oregon. Not the best showing for Pao Pao in front of some home fans. She scored well but had a ton of turnovers and struggled finding a rhythm. The other Oregon guards struggled too. VanSlooten was brilliant. Just an absolute workhorse and great skills at 6-3. I've been trying to think of a good comparison...this isn't the best, but maybe like a part Taylor Jones in her ability to just have a knack for knowing where the basket it and being able to score, and also a bit of Nina Davis from Baylor several years back with her workhorse attitude and ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. At any rate, really good player and the best freshman I've seen this season. Also found out she/McMahon/Gray are from the same area and played AAU together. Also, Chance Gray's older sister is Amber Gray who used to play for Tennessee during the Pat Summitt era (former top 5 recruit) but had severe health issues. Good family genes there.
Ohio State's stars came to play today after no-showing yesterday. Mikesell shot extremely well against her old team, Mikulasikova was a bit up and down but hit a barrage of shots in the 4th and finished with 20+. The form doesn't look textbook but it suits her pretty well and she can hit a lot of shots. Definitely a non-traditional post player but her styles fits Ohio State perfectly. Greene wasn't in the arena, Sheldon was still on crutches/boot.
First game was more entertaining down the stretch. The game was a toss up but USF came out with the W. DFM vs. Barnum was a fun matchup. DFM picked up fouls but finished the game strong. Barnum was quite good and took it at DFM a few times when she had 4 fouls. Tsineke was quite good today, played much better than yesterday's game for USF. It was pretty much a 2 woman show for USF but they got the job done. For Arkansas it just wasn't a very pretty game for them. Spencer didn't play well today and got injured, I'm not sure if she returned or not. Poffenbarger looked about the same as yesterday, a lot of hustle but not a great looking shot, Daniels scored 20 but missed a lot of shots. Langerman is a hard worker but made a couple of bonehead plays today and yesterday. Today she fouled a shooter on a 3pt shot when they were up 3 at the end of regulation, and yesterday she passed the ball to her coach relatively late in the game. I was happy to see USF pull out the win, their coach was much more composed on the sideline and actively coaching players all game. Neighbors was irate at the refs seemingly all night and borderline obnoxious with how demonstrative he is. Same with McGuff in the second game, and he picked up a T but I think it was rescinded. Good couple of days of basketball in San Diego.