Cardozo doesn't even start for SC

[GCKSFN4L]

Ah ok wasn’t aware of the defensive issues they were having. Surprising to me given Rivers reputation coming out of high school was that she was a superb defender. Good on Dawn to send a message right away.

She mentioned this in presser a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't like in a negative way, but she did state she's picking it up fairly well but just not to her standards. I'm sure we'll see a lot of Rivers once she does. She had the polar opposite opinion on Hall, in that she's a great defender but her offensive skills/awareness could be better. But all these Gamecock teams has always defensively focused first.

 

[eebmg]

defensively she's tough but from what I've seen so far Amihere has a pretty limited offensive game at the moment....

But what she does, she does very well. She is a dynamite slasher to the basket and she plays with a mean streak. Something Cardosa will need to develop. I saw her in the Syracuse game last year against UConn when they were getting their orange squeezed out of them and she just kept smiling. Uurgh.

 

[Charliebball]

But what she does, she does very well. She is a dynamite slasher to the basket and she plays with a mean streak. Something Cardosa will need to develop. I saw her in the Syracuse game last year against UConn when they were getting their orange squeezed out of them and she just kept smiling. Uurgh.

Amihere is tough but often lacks touch even around the basket...........Cardoso is a mystery to me, she can look great one minute and then disappear.........she would have driven Geno crazy........

 

[bballnut90]

It should also be noted that Liv can also defend Boston pretty well- I know, sounds strange especially coming from me but it is true. Liv actually did a very nice job defending Boston in SC the first matchup when UCONN was in a man to man defense.

Liv is an excellent defender, she just can't produce offensively against opponents with size. She's not as broad as Boston but has great length, blocks shots well and plays solid defense. Boston is a tough matchup for Liv when she's knocking down face up jumpers but in the paint Liv can defend Boston better than most posts in the country.

 

[oldude]

And ironically, the team did a lousy job defending Cardoso. She was open all game but her team didn't get her the ball. And it was more them than the perimeter D.

Not correct. Syracuse’s game plan against UConn was to jam the ball inside to Cardoso every time down the court. She scored 4 of their first 5 baskets. After that UConn made adjustments, specifically with Liv bodying up Cardoso further from the basket. For awhile Syracuse continued to try to jam the ball in to Cardoso, unsuccessfully, resulting in several turnovers. For the rest of the game Cardoso had 2 points. Liv outplayed Cardoso in that game and it really wasn’t close.

 

[Jmsdawg]

Imagine being an SC fan and posting on a UConn board. You people are so weird.

That is what makes the BY unique. By is more than a UConn board, the By is the closest thing WBB has to a National Message Board with highly skilled and dedicated moderators. I say it again. I LOVE THE BY!

 

[SimpleDawg]

This forum appears to be the home board for SC women's basketball fans.

rofl

It used to be equal here (maybe slightly leaning SC fans) between SC and MSU fans, but since Vic left some of our guys have jumped ship while Dawn's army kept multiplying.

 

[Alydar]

Well, it is CT fans who constantly bring up last season's game since.....last season's game. Oldude was waxing nostalgically about Edwards' effective defense against Boston at the end of regulation, just a few posts above. I guess HE doesn't think that it's time to let it go.....

I let Old Dude speak for himself. I'm sure if we examined the video of the end of the game we could find players displacing opponent's position somewhere under the glass. Or a hand on a shoulder? Uncalled fouls happen many times in almost all games. They suck when your team loses.

I know you feel differently but what I saw was your guard missing what should have been the final shot and then your center gets a couple of tip in attempts. All were missed and now you want to be bailed out with a whistle? You had many chances. You missed. Don't mean to sound harsh but there it is.

Hopefully everyone stays fairly healthy. Besides the possibility of 2 games between us I am looking forward to the Trees' trip east to play Tenn and then you guys. Lots of great games to watch before Christmas for a change. Even Brenda scheduled a few couple.

 

[visitingcock]

I let Old Dude speak for himself. I'm sure if we examined the video of the end of the game we could find players displacing opponent's position somewhere under the glass. Or a hand on a shoulder? Uncalled fouls happen many times in almost all games. They suck when your team loses.

I know you feel differently but what I saw was your guard missing what should have been the final shot and then your center gets a couple of tip in attempts. All were missed and now you want to be bailed out with a whistle? You had many chances. You missed. Don't mean to sound harsh but there it is.

Hopefully everyone stays fairly healthy. Besides the possibility of 2 games between us I am looking forward to the Trees' trip east to play Tenn and then you guys. Lots of great games to watch before Christmas for a change. Even Brenda scheduled a few couple.

Replace the 2 with a 3 while speaking of "possibilities."

 

[baggerbob]

Yes-She is. I will stand by this. The absolute last place she should've transferred to, is South Carolina. Her and Boston play the exact same position and they're similar enough that they can't be on the floor together for long stretches.

If I'm Cardoso, I would've either gone to Vic at Texas or Kim at LSU.

Should have joined Kim, who is better with bigs then anyone else.

 

[Alydar]

The stats still don't tell the lie. Boston out-performed BOTH Edwards AND ONO in last year's game, COMBINED. All by herself. I would be perfectly fine with a repeat performance from her this season....

So will I if the rest of the team also plays like they did last year. Especially your starting guards.

 

[Alydar]

Replace the 2 with a 3 while speaking of "possibilities."

Not me. But you can jinx your own team if you like.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

.

Finally watched the game--not the prettiest of battles but a very solid win nonetheless by SC. The players who most stood out to me are Amihere and Cooke. Amihere looks like she's starting to put it together which is scary for opposing teams considering how quick she is for a 6-3 girl with decent handles. Defensively she is stellar and finished well around the basket last night.

Cooke played with a lot more discipline and control than I'm used to seeing from her. She took a number of tough shots but knocked down most of them and appears to be SC's go to player once again. If she stays grounded and isn't too trigger happy, SC is going to be lethal.

The Boston/Cunane matchup was a big bust, but based on last year's performance I don't think that's a big surprise. Boston is fantastic defensively and very capable offensively, but I don't see her ever becoming a dominant scoring player like A'ja Wilson was for them. Dawn appears to like Boston operating out of the high post, which to her credit I thought she did a fine job there and found Littleton for several open looks, but IMO Boston is far more effective just battling inside and muscling through players for baskets. Boston is maybe the best center to come along since Griner so they need to utilize her more. Cunane just did not look very good last night. I think she scored all of her points going up against Cardoso, I don't believe she scored a point being defended by Boston. Boston looks like she is in better shape than a year ago.

The oversupply of talent is going to be a storyline to watch for SC. I'll be surprised if Dawn can hold on to everyone form the 2021 class like she's been able to from her 2019 class. Limited minutes from Johnson (who Henderson got visibly frustrated with at the end of Q1), limited minutes from Beal and no appearance from Feagin and Rivers. Haven't read the thread but the no show by Rivers was very surprising to me...I thought she'd be a staple as a rotation player. I'm not sure what Cardoso's role is going to be this year for SC. She's a talented kid and moves well at 6-7, but defensively Amihere appears to be better and I'll be surprised if she gets more than 15-18 minutes a night. As someone else noted, I'm surprised she chose SC over the likes of LSU or Texas.

For NC State, they just looked bad IMO. Most of that was SC's stifling defense but a lot of their buckets came on bailout plays from Brown Turner or Perez. Neither Robinson nor Hayes impressed in their debuts. SC is a hard matchup for any team this year but I didn't think NC State competed well.

just a guess based on last season and past deep Staley teams: I think most schools are going to look pretty bad against our defense.

It's just one data point in 2021, but UConn has only managed 54 in regulation the last two seasons.

I wouldn't hold it too much against NC State. Particularly banged up adjusting to newcomers NC State.

I imagine Diamond will make some of those step backs going forward. Probably a lot of them. And get fouled or convert those blocks.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

It should also be noted that Liv can also defend Boston pretty well- I know, sounds strange especially coming from me but it is true. Liv actually did a very nice job defending Boston in SC the first matchup when UCONN was in a man to man defense.

ONO is a good defender.

She's just a very average offensive player against comparable size.

 

[ConwayGmck]

Happy to have such a large contingent of passionate SC fans join us here on the BY. But I would ask that if you’re going to reference any of my posts, you don’t create a fictional version of their context or content.

My post on Aaliyah was in response to someone else’s post suggesting that Aaliyah wasn’t anywhere near the player Boston was. In response I simply pointed out that Aaliyah did about “as a good a job” as any UConn player against Boston last year, adding an example.

If responding to someone else’s post constitutes “waxing nostalgically” then everyone on this forum is living in the past.

Congratulations on a nice win last night.

Yes. I just stated that you did. Here was the "example":

On both of Boston’s missed shots at the end of regulation Aaliyah was bodied up against Boston with a hand in her face, never letting Boston elevate.

It was specifically in regards to Edwards' defense at the end of regulation. I responded to that part also specifically. There was NO "fictional version of context or content" added with anything I posted. I didn't put words into your post. I responded to YOUR OWN words.

And thank you. Good luck in your next game....

 

[ConwayGmck]

I was a little bit disappointed with both Cardoso and Saxton: Cardoso played 16 minutes - she had several opportunities to score more, but when she was passed the ball, mostly she passed it back out. She had 2 pts on one shot attempt, a little sweet jumper at the high post. She had gotten the ball several times in that location, but passed it back out. She had 4 rebounds and a blocked shot or two, and impacted several other shot attempts.

Saxton wasn't very engaged offensively. She also took a jump shot towards the top of the key and scored 2 pts on 1-2 shooting, with 0 rebounds and 1 block. in 15 minutes. Contrast these with Littleton who took 7 shots in 11 minutes of court time, scoring 7 pts and 4 rebounds. IMO, ANY starter for as deep and talented as this team is, is going to have to put in extra work to engage offensively from the tip-off and attack the basket.

I know a Dawn Staley team is defense first, and this team will have boatloads of defense, and both Cardoso and Saxton will be very strong defenders this season, but I see this team being one of 8-10 players all scoring around 8,9,10 pts each game, instead of 1 or 2 players always carrying the team offensively. Of course, some players won't score that EVERY game, and some players WILL score upwards of 20 pts like Cooke was heading towards vs NC State, but on average the talent is there to spread the offense, and when 2 or 3 players have off games, there will be 3-4 more players who can step up and fill in the offense.

I liked the improved scoring efficiency. Last year both teams completed south of 30% of their shooting. The Gamecocks' worst shooting quarter was the 2nd Period, but overall shot above 50% for the half, and only fell below 50% for the game towards the end, and still ended up shooting 49% for the game which was much better. NC State shot 33% in the 1st half but improved substantially in the 2nd, and both teams shot fairly equally (around 47%) for the 2nd half.

Staley keeps saying she wants the team to play up-tempo and attack the basket. Kryptonite for a fast-paced offensive attack is poor shot conversion. Just ask Matt Mitchell during his days at Kentucky. NC State actually took more attempts (58) than SC did (51) for the game.

But the game was a highly hyped up game to open the season, with both teams ranked in the top 5 and it being a "response" game and all from last season. NC State will still be a top 10 team all season and will be in the Final Four discussions at the end of the season, I have no doubt.....

 

[SCGamecock]

rofl

It used to be equal here (maybe slightly leaning SC fans) between SC and MSU fans, but since Vic left some of our guys have jumped ship while Dawn's army kept multiplying.

Lol tell me about it.. when I first started posting here there were maybe three of us that posted consistently.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I know it's early, but the shooting percentages for both teams were pretty sad.

Those were two top flight defenses, of course the offense is going to look ugly.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Those are nice percentages..., but as a TEAM...SC only hit 33%. I think SC as a team has a strong mid range game and it's bolstered by more than a couple of players. Those are the shots that should replace not only some of those 3s, but as you pointed out forcing the ball inside.

I think the extended 3 point line this season will lower 3 point percentages across the board and mean that a mid-range game will be more important. Just my take.

 

[Mdoggie]

Hopefully in Colonial Life Arena, should Edwards hit Boston's arm with her own while Boston is trying to make game-winning layups, the officials there will call it this time....

Weak sauce. Human error (refs) have been part of the game since the beginning of time. Baylor should have made it so they weren’t in that position. Very very typical and weak for any ball fan to say. Game is so yesterday’s news. I respect your team and coach but not weak arse fans both UConns and SC. Be better.

 

[ucbart]

ONO is a good defender.

She's just a very average offensive player against comparable size.

Yup-

Olivia is an excellent defender. Where ONO will help us this year, is that she won't have to be a low post option for scoring as much. ONO is just such a great passer from the high post. I think she will be second on the team in assists because of her ability to hit cutters and dump perfect passes into Alliyah and Dorka. I mean, 6'5" Olivia being able to pass the ball over the defense to a 6"5" Dorka or a 6'3" Alliyah is not something a lot of other teams have, nor can they defend.

 

[triaddukefan]

rofl

It used to be equal here (maybe slightly leaning SC fans) between SC and MSU fans, but since Vic left some of our guys have jumped ship while Dawn's army kept multiplying.

I may be out of line, but you should tell those guys that jumped ship, that they are not welcome back... go kick rocks and root for Ole Miss or Southern Miss.

 

[Creature]

I was surprised that she couldn't crack the starting lineup. She replaced Boston with 3+ minutes left in the opening quarter.

I expected SC to develop a twin towers approach and seeing Dorka and Aliyah take it on.

Why are you concerned? Oh..you wanted her to go to a crappy team so she just can log starters minutes without improving her game..

 

[CL82]

She (Cardoso) is just not as talented as people think she is, she will be a back up her entire time at SC.

I don’t know, but last year she seems raw to me. I think playing under Staley is likely to make her a considerably better player as an upperclassman.

 

[uconnfan68]

Did you watch the 4th quarter? Amihere and Boston were dominate as SC pulled away. Forget about Cardosa, Amihere is the real deal.

And Amihere got most of the Olympic minutes before Edwards.