Conference championship game - ACC - ND vs Syracuse

[HuskyNan]

Syracuse vs Notre Dame, 12:30 on ESPN, championship game

We're trying one thread per conference to see how this works. Hopefully it will eliminate confusion about which game is being discussed.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Will be interesting to see if Syracuse's press can do anything to slow down Notre Dame. They seemed relentless the past couple of games but I couldn't tell if the competition level made them look better than they really are. Today should tell us something about how good Syracuse really is and what if anything UCONN needs to concern themselves with if they should land in the same bracket.

 

[VA Huskie]

Louisville's a good team and the press did its job. But Louisville IS pretty young. I expect ND to be at the foul line even more than usual!

 

[HuskyFan1125]

ND and I don't think it will be close!

 

[Orangutan]

Syracuse's base D just doesn't work against ND. They should know that from the regular season game.

Easy buckets all day on the backside of the pressure. Their problem is that I don't think they can win a half-court game against ND either.

 

[VA Huskie]

ND handles the press like there is no press!

 

[ME Husky Fan]

So far that's no issue whatsoever.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

I want to see a ND/South Carolina match up. I think ND is the 2nd best team in the country. Period.

 

[Orangutan]

Ok, full-court man makes sense. They had some success in garbage time of the regular season game with that.

 

[OldAlum]

ND by 12 at the half!

 

[UcMiami]

And no one can score in the fourth - a very workman like performance by ND - 11 point scored through the first 8 minutes combine in the fourth.

 

[Orangutan]

ND went to slowdown offense, which didn't yield good shots but did effectively suck the life out of Syracuse.

No style points for the finish but it was effective. The Syracuse comeback was never on.

 

[UcMiami]

Orangutan - what is the story with the Syracuse roster - they played ten players but have an additional eight listed as DNP!? Do they have a bunch of walk-ons and injured players?

 

[Orangutan]

Orangutan - what is the story with the Syracuse roster - they played ten players but have an additional eight listed as DNP!? Do they have a bunch of walk-ons and injured players?

I don't know. Checked their website. They do list 18 players. I guess they have a few walk-ons? Like they 4'10 frosh point guard who score 4 points per game as a high school senior. Seems to me she probably isn't on scholarship.

 

[Carnac]

I'm not surprised Syracuse lost. Syracuse is not an elite team. If they were to have any chance of beating ND, they would have to take advantage of every scoring opportunity. Don't miss any lay-ups. Hit ALL of their free throws. No turn overs.
They would have to shoot at least 55% from the floor to have a chance to win. Notre Dame is like UConn. They make you pay for turning the ball over, and they get a lot of cheap easy baskets too. This game was never in doubt.

IMHO, there are only 3 teams that can beat ND. UConn, SC and Baylor. Look a Charlie Cream's bracket and tell me who in their bracket can (not might or should) beat them.

 

[Blueballer]

I'm not surprised Syracuse lost. Syracuse is not an elite team. If they were to have any chance of beating ND, they would have to take advantage of every scoring opportunity. Don't miss any lay-ups. Hit ALL of their free throws. No turn overs.
They would have to shoot at least 55% from the floor to have a chance to win. Notre Dame is like UConn. They make you pay for turning the ball over, and they get a lot of cheap easy baskets too. This game was never in doubt.

IMHO, there are only 3 teams that can beat ND. UConn, SC and Baylor. Look a Charlie Cream's bracket and tell me who in their bracket can (not might or should) beat them.

I don't know why Baylor is getting all this respect. They played a real soft OOC sched. They've done a great job in their League but I can't get a read on them as they have not played UCONN, MD, ND or SC. They played USF and won by 3 points!

 

[Carnac]

I don't know why Baylor is getting all this respect. They played a real soft OOC sched. They've done a great job in their League but I can't get a read on them as they have not played UCONN, MD, ND or SC. They played USF and won by 3 points!

Blueballer - They are getting respect because they've only lost 1 game all year, just like ND and South Carolina. They dominated the BIG 12 conference this season with an iron fist. Let's not forget.................If ND and SC had not played UConn, they'd both be undefeated this year.

I agree, Baylor played a very soft OOC schedule (Mulkey knew exactly what she was doing when she arranged that weak schedule, with most of those games in Waco. She did what she felt she needed to do to get her team ready for the season ahead), however that fact has not hurt them so far this year. In fact, it looks like it paid off.

I've been monitoring them all year. I know who they played, and their record. Their 7 point lost to Oklahoma State (52-45) was late in December on the road; their first conference game of the season. That 3 point (66-63) win against USF was their 3rd game of the season at home on Nov 19.

I'm not talking about THEN, I'm talking about NOW, TODAY. I'm not a Baylor fan. I'm not suggesting they can't be beat, because they can. But I do respect their ability to win, and put teams away. Did you notice how badly they beat the #5 Texas recently? They embarrassed and exposed Texas, and they made it look easy. They are well coached, and have the size to match up with ND's front court. They also don't turn the ball over a lot either. They have players that can knock down shots from behind the arc. ND's Brianna Turner (who is one of my favorite players not with UConn) would not dominate either of Baylor's bigs, both of whom are taller than she is.

If the over-all #1 seed and the #4 seed (I think that's the way the NCAA assigns the 1 seeds in their brackets, then we'll never know if Baylor can beat ND or not. Baylor should be on UConn's side of the bracket, and should play UConn in the semi-final game in April in Indiana. The #2 & 3 seeds (ND & South Carolina) should be on the other side of the bracket and square off in the other semi-final game. Right now Baylor is kicking A.., and taking names. They're beating everybody that gets in front of them.
I fully expect them to make the cut for the final 4. We'll see if my observations are correct, or if I'm just talkin' out of my A--.

 

[UcMiami]

I don't know why Baylor is getting all this respect. They played a real soft OOC sched. They've done a great job in their League but I can't get a read on them as they have not played UCONN, MD, ND or SC They played USF and won by 3 points!

Because they take care of their business, like ND, SC and Uconn do (and you can add MD into that group.) They don't beat themselves, and they don't lose games they should not. They lost one game with their starting PG injured. They didn't play any top ten team so there is a little question mark, but unlike Ohio State, and any of the Pac 12 - they didn't lose to teams outside the top ten.

 

[UConn79]

Caught the 2nd half of ND - Syracuse. Surprised SU (ranked 17) stayed within 10-12 points for most of 3rd and 4th quarters.

With some solid players already, my thought while watching was they could be a top 10 team had Stewie decided to stay close to home and play there. We are so blessed she came east to Storrs 4 yrs ago.