Bracketology 12/12

[Bone Dog]

I'm glad that ESPN isn't in charge of the selection. Currently they are fawning all over the LSU drubbing of McNeese State 133 - 44, what they don't tell you that Massey has McNeese State rated #352 out of the 360 Div 1 basketball teams.

I actually watched that game -- I must have had nothing else to do. It was a laugher, in part because McNeese St. has almost no defensive scheme other than a zone and a non-switching man-to-man and they were too slow to make either one work. So, just your basic Mulkey Cupcake Stomping. The plus side for LSU is that Rosario got to play 20 mins and scored 27 on 10-14. that's got to help her confidence, though shooting 7-14 on FTs wasn't very encouraging. All of her scoring was on lobs into the paint and all her defenders could do was foul her.

In a Kansas St UConn matchup. Ayoka Lee would probably go off with 40 pts and 20 rebounds as UConn would have no answer for her.

To quote Meghan Culmo, in games against teams like K St, "You just have to make it a track meet." Lee is quite slow of foot these days, which is perfectly understandable given her recuperation. So, unless she shows marked improvement in foot speed by March, they won't go far in the tournament, and Paige and Aaliyah and the freshmen should run away with it in such a matchup. K St. would have absolutely no answer for Paige. Who does, after all?

You expect Lee to score 20 or so, and you shut down the rest of the team. I'd have Aubrey on her playing deny defense on the lobs into the post and don't waste time and energy trying to muscle Lee out of there. Let Aaliyah and Paige and the freshmen shut down everything else. This is what was so peculiar about their win over Iowa, who should have just run away with it. But Caitlin & Co had not really coalesced at that point.

 

[ucbart]

What I don't understand is how Texas and NC State have been given so much credit for quality wins against us, but we've dropped as far as we have? Like, if we aren't that good, how can NC State and Texas vaulted up so far in the polls with our win being the best one on their resume?

 

[LETTERL]

What I don't understand is how Texas and NC State have been given so much credit for quality wins against us, but we've dropped as far as we have? Like, if we aren't that good, how can NC State and Texas vaulted up so far in the polls with our win being the best one on their resume?

NC State also has a win over Colorado; only a handful of teams have multiple wins over ranked teams. But, I see what you're saying.

 

[Plebe]

What I don't understand is how Texas and NC State have been given so much credit for quality wins against us, but we've dropped as far as we have? Like, if we aren't that good, how can NC State and Texas vaulted up so far in the polls with our win being the best one on their resume?

So where should they be ranked? Which teams currently ranked below them have shown they deserve to be ranked ahead of them?

Also, the poll voters likely noticed that those teams didn't just beat UConn, but they did so convincingly.

 

[sun]

What I don't understand is how Texas and NC State have been given so much credit for quality wins against us, but we've dropped as far as we have? Like, if we aren't that good, how can NC State and Texas vaulted up so far in the polls with our win being the best one on their resume?

Because once a team beats UConn, it's hard to prove that it was a fluke.
After 3 teams beat UConn it's even harder to prove that they were all flukes.

 

[Rowdy831]

Just how good UConn can become, or how far they can go depends almost completely on the Development of Ashlynn, KK, Q and Ice over the 20 games or so left this year.

The thing is I don't think any of them are going to grow 3-4 inches before March. UConn can compete against teams their size but they are going really struggle against any team with length. In this bracket though they could manage the teams ahead of them until they get back to the final 8

 

[CajunHusky]

The thing is I don't think any of them are going to grow 3-4 inches before March. UConn can compete against teams their size but they are going really struggle against any team with length. In this bracket though they could manage the teams ahead of them until they get back to the final 8

I'd rather not throw in the towel now ... its supposed to be fun.

UConn has to make the opposition play UConn's game and stop trying to match up to bigs with bigs they don't have. (Berube knows how)