Biggest shock of the Tournament

[Aluminny69]

Other than UConn losing to Arizona. Who saw that coming?

Overall, I felt the theme of the tourney was that good defense can shut down good offense, and is a great equalizer. This was most evident in the Texas win over Maryland. After watching Maryland in the Big Ten Tourney, and the first two games of the NCAA tourney, they seemed a juggernaut destined to score 100 every game. But Texas shut them down. So, that was the biggest "shock" to me. What, if anything, was a shock to you? The officiating was not a shock, we should be used to that by now, unfortunately.

 

[Centerstream]

This is really not about the officiating in general but a specific point.
That Dee Kantner was selected to referee another FF and was assigned to our game.

 

[Lynx23]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

 

[Gurleyman]

Troy going down to the wire with Texas A&M, Maryland and Arkansas being held to 60ish in losses, and Kentucky not even being competitive with Iowa.

I wasn’t all that surprised by Arizona beating us after watching them shut down a high powered, older and balanced A&M team. I knew points would be hard to come by and thought maybe we would score enough inside to win a 63-56 type of game, but wasn’t all that surprised it went the other way when they found offense early and we didn’t.

I was rooting hard for Indiana.

 

[Boreifs]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

Before the game, Geno said in an interview that he didn’t know how they were going to stop McDonald. In the second half, they contained her. That game was won by Arizona’s defense.

 

[Topdawg]

Simple Math. If players on the other team seem to be having career games and our players are putting out below (their) average performances, we lose. In the last game, Bueckers, Williams, and Westbrook were near average. The forwards were well below average Despite a clear height advantage. Missed layups and few fast breaks lowers he shooting average.

 

[Jim R]

As well as Maryland was playing, being taken down by Texas.

 

[uconnfan68]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

And did it with 4 distinctly different teams! Maybe that's our new legacy? Nah, 13 straight is the legacy. 11 NCs is the legacy.

 

[nwhoopfan]

we allowed an opponent to have a career game

Not even remotely close to being true. McDonald had scored 30+ in her 2 previous Tourney games. She had a 40 point game against Texas during the '19-'20 season. She scored 26 on 7-17 shooting against UConn. She had a whole bunch of similar games during her career. Go ahead and run with your narrative though.

 

[DaConn]

The biggest shock is the girls openly conceding they took Arizona lightly... That's gotta sting something special!

 

[dtbtbtb]

That defense ruled so convincingly and offenses struggled (especially after the first 2 rounds).

 

[ucbart]

The biggest shock to me was Maryland losing to Texas. I thought Maryland was going to play in the NC game, honestly. Of all the non-UCONN teams, I watched them the most and they were so good in the B1G. It was clear that the league was good, so I was surprised that they lost. Looking back on it though, that league was good offensively and not defensively, so they were never truly tested against elite D's.

 

[sweetspot]

The biggest shock to me was Maryland losing to Texas. I thought Maryland was going to play in the NC game, honestly. Of all the non-UCONN teams, I watched them the most and they were so good in the B1G. It was clear that the league was good, so I was surprised that they lost. Looking back on it though, that league was good offensively and not defensively, so they were never truly tested against elite D's.

Northwestern, Indiana and Rutgers finished #10, #11, and #12 in the Massey defensive ratings (which are better IMO than the raw PPG rankings), so the league wasn't totally lacking in defense.

But the Pac 12 and Big 12 had the truly elite defensive teams, and Maryland would've probably been better off facing Indiana again in the conference tournament instead of Iowa.

 

[skilz]

Seeding!

 

[Littlemin]

So for all who take any criticism of Bueckers as a personal affront, fair warning. Talking to a good friend of mine, a retired but ultra successful D3 coach for 2+ decades he offered his take on the Arizona game.
Backstory is he saw Bueckers play for the first time in the Iowa game, then watched the Baylor and Arizona games. He offered that he was very surprised against Arizona that Bueckers wasn’t in his words “very aggressive at all” in looking for her shot when it was obvious that the Arizona defense was dominating. As he put it, 13 shots was just not nearly enough in that kind of game for a player of her ability, if you are going to go down, make sure you go down after “firing all your bullets.” Made me wonder if that was at the root of Auriemma‘s post game comments. Obviously her hunting shots was an issue to some degree all season between them.

 

[triaddukefan]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

What Mississippi State player had a career game in 2017? Surely not Morgan William who dropped 40+ vs Baylor in the Regional Final. Not sure what ND player had career games in 2018 or 2019

 

[Centerstream]

What Mississippi State player had a career game in 2017? Surely not Morgan William who dropped 40+ vs Baylor in the Regional Final. Not sure what ND player had career games in 2018 or 2019

I guess 1 crazy shot equals a career game to some?

 

[triaddukefan]

That High Point held UConn to 102 points.... and didn't get blown out by 50. I was afraid it was gonna be like that UCONN-St Francis game of a few years back.

 

[bballnut90]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

Who were the 4 players you felt had career games? Ill give you Jackie Young but I'm not sure who the other 3 are.

 

[bballnut90]

I think Texas over Maryland was a bigger shock than Arizona over UCONN. Many thought Maryland may have been the title favorite and hottest team entering the tournament, and they lose to Texas who was pretty mediocre all year, in the Sweet 16 no less.

Arizona/UCONN was a solid upset too but it didn't feel as surprising to me considering UCONN nearly lost in the regionals and just didn't look like a championship UCONN squad.

 

[bballnut90]

Troy going down to the wire with Texas A&M, Maryland and Arkansas being held to 60ish in losses, and Kentucky not even being competitive with Iowa.

I wasn’t all that surprised by Arizona beating us after watching them shut down a high powered, older and balanced A&M team. I knew points would be hard to come by and thought maybe we would score enough inside to win a 63-56 type of game, but wasn’t all that surprised it went the other way when they found offense early and we didn’t.

I was rooting hard for Indiana.

A&M and Arkansas were prone to letting less than stellar teams hang around or ever beat them. A&M almost lost to DePaul for example. I didn't expect them to almost lose in the first round though. Same with Arkansas, too, who was inconsistent all year. I wasn't surprised at all by Kentucky getting slaughtered, they havent looked very good all year and Iowa was playing great basketball.

SEC laying a massive egg in the tournament was another surprise to me. They did well vs nonconference in the regular season and had some tough squads but no showed in the tournament.

 

[ucbart]

What Mississippi State player had a career game in 2017? Surely not Morgan William who dropped 40+ vs Baylor in the Regional Final. Not sure what ND player had career games in 2018 or 2019

Jackie Young used our perimeter D against dripple-penetration like a snot rag in 2018. I was sitting courtside-it was UGLY!

 

[Vowelguy]

1. 3 Ariz over 1 UConn
2. 6 Texas over 2 Md
3. Ariz almost beating Stan
4. 15 Troy almost beating 2 TAMU
5. 5 Iowa crushing 4 KY
6. 5 GaTech crushing 4 WV
7. 4 Indi over 1 NCSt

 

[GoUconn7961]

The biggest shock to me is that in four straight semi-finals we allowed an opponent to have a career game and were sent packing. In each case we probably knew what we had to do defensively and just didn't get the job done.

FIRE GENO!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Maybe the biggest surprise: Despite the pandemic, we had a complete tourney! Well done by the administrators and participants!