Gamecocks 2022, part III

[Gamecockfan77]

A "Wilson/Boston" type?" Those are the two best players that you've ever had. That's like a UConn fan looking for a Moore/Stewart type. These players come only once every ten years. If that. But hey, aim for the stars.

I think it's a reasonable expectation.

Great programs line them up.

It's how they stay great.

Not sure who has a better argument in recruiting bigs than Dawn Staley.

Boston really is what makes this team go. Glad there is another year to go after this one.

 

[JDuro]

 

[visitingcock]

Okay. 2021/2022, Dawn has defeated:

Geno
Brenda
Kim
Tara
Gary

Gotta beat Geno again in a couple of weeks to claim a regular season sweep of all active coaches who have won NCs.

 

[GamecockFam]

A few observations from the game...

I love the chemistry that is developing between Cardoso and Boston on offense! As the season progresses I think we'll see an increase in their time together on the floor, especially if teams swarm Boston -- the big-to-big high-low action is practically unstoppable.

Rivers is starting to come into her own on defense. I don't think we have another player on the roster with her fast twitch talents. Her quickness reminds me of Jadeveon Clowney and how he can go from standing to full speed with the snap of a finger. Her measurables are off-the-charts but she needs to refine her skills on offense. I think she needs an off-season to work on her shot.

I'm really proud how Saxton is taking ownership of her role with Amihere out. It's like she needs to be needed to be able to motivate herself to elevate her game. Without Amihere, she feels that need and is looking for her shot on offense.

 

[Creature]

Wow! This thread has become complacent. Resting own our past accomplishments. Just like the current women’s basketball team. Where is everybody? We have holes on our WBB team. For whatever reason the guards can’t keep players in front of them anymore. Also! The offense is way too stagnant for that much talent. Like the Arkansas game. In the first half we had Ford turnovers total. We in the game with 18 turnovers. WTF?The freshman who we all thought would help especially on our bench scoring. Have been non-exists except for Bree Hall. I think combined the freshman all four have less than 50 points on the year. Is nobody else concerned?

 

[JDuro]

Wow! This thread has become complacent. Resting own our past accomplishments. Just like the current women’s basketball team. Where is everybody? We have holes on our WBB team. For whatever reason the guards can’t keep players in front of them anymore. Also! The offense is way too stagnant for that much talent. Like the Arkansas game. In the first half we had Ford turnovers total. We in the game with 18 turnovers. ?The freshman who we all thought would help especially on our bench scoring. Have been non-exists except for Bree Hall. I think combined the freshman all four have less than 50 points on the year. Is nobody else concerned?

Yes, I’m concerned. This team is not as good as the ‘19-20 squad. Raven’s injury has hurt this team as we have zero depth at the point. Sorry, L.A. is not a PG. She needs to concentrate on her post play. I feel better with Eniya or Destiny handling the ball. Wish they got more playing time. And yes, the ‘21 class has yet to show they are ready for primetime like the ‘19 squad was. Lele is still getting her legs after the long layoff and there’s Zia’s inconsistency which is most confounding and problematic. Just have to hope thi team continues to gel through the SEC schedule and are hitting all cylinders come March Madness. I believe this 8 day layoff will be good. Get on the practice court and dust off some fundamentals.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Yes, I’m concerned. This team is not as good as the ‘19-20 squad. Raven’s injury has hurt this team as we have zero depth at the point. Sorry, L.A. is not a PG. She needs to concentrate on her post play. I feel better with Eniya or Destiny handling the ball. Wish they got more playing time. And yes, the ‘21 class has yet to show they are ready for primetime like the ‘19 squad was. Lele is still getting her legs after the long layoff and there’s Zia’s inconsistency which is most confounding and problematic. Just have to hope thi team continues to gel through the SEC schedule and are hitting all cylinders come March Madness. I believe this 8 day layoff will be good. Get on the practice court and dust off some fundamentals.

It’s a long season but it’s about getting hot at the right time.

What do y’all think is contributing to Zia’s shooting inconsistencies lately?

 

[GamecockFam]

Coach Staley mentioned in her post-game interview that they are in the middle of some changes on offense and that they're going through some growing pains while trying to understand the changes. I don't exactly know what she meant by that, because on the surface, the offense looked the same as it has always been, but apparently work is being done and we should have a new look or a new configuration soon. I'm hoping we use this week off to figure it out.

We need players outside of Boston / Cooke / Henderson to take ownership and be productive on offense.

 

[visitingcock]

Agreed that this team is not as good as 2019/20.

That team had great chemistry and a leader at guard that we could count on every game. This team has Destanni but Zia is too unreliable. It looks like she is trying too hard. Forcing the game rather than flowing with it.

 

[GCKSFN4L]

I think most fans are concerned, I know I am but I'm not freaking out about it. I don't like the turnovers and I don't like the lack of confidence we have in attempting to take a shot. But its still only January and I think we've taken better shots as of late so I'm still hopeful there's plenty of time to really live up to our potential.

Zia and Aliyah seem to be the only players actually looking for their shots on a consistent basis that play meaningful minutes. Unfortunately for us Zia doesn't connect at a good efficiency. Zia shooting slumps arent new or unique to this season, she gets in her head at times but seems to mostly pull through in the games with the most attention. Until we get more players willing to shoot, we will have to live with Zia through the rough patches.

As for the freshmen, I'm not really concerned. We played a really tough out of conference so they didn't get the valuable playing most freshman would have gotten at this point. Unlike the 2019 class we're already loaded with talent on the roster. I think we'll see more of the freshman and Cardoso as we go through SEC play.

Overall I'm still optimistic on this team. Saxton has improved lately and Henderson has improved offensively this past week as well. If we can cut down the turnovers and continue to improve our offense output I think we'll be fine.

 

[visitingcock]

Does anybody have a link to a GIF or short video of the five-pass fast break in the 2020 SEC tournament? I think it was the final against Mississippi State.

Start at about 2:45 of this video:

 

[visitingcock]

https://twitter.com/GamecockWBB
GamecockWBB

@GamecockWBB

Update your calendars, FAMS – time change for Jan. 27 against
@UConnWBB
Tipoff NEXT Thursday is now at 6 p.m.!



8:29 AM · Jan 18, 2022·TweetDeck

 

[JDuro]

Agreed that this team is not as good as 2019/20.

That team had great chemistry and a leader at guard that we could count on every game. This team has Destanni but Zia is too unreliable. It looks like she is trying too hard. Forcing the game rather than flowing with it.

Destanni has significantly closed the gap with Ty. Ty still has a little edge leadership-wise and was essentially as close to Dawn’s brain on the court as one can get.

Kiki and her ability to stretch the floor is what this team sorely lacks and needs from that ‘19/‘20 team. Having just Destanni providing the only semblance of consistency from the arc is frustrating.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

What's the difference from 2019-20? We don't have Kiki; everyone on this year's team and last year's is too nice. We need someone with an edge, but we don't. I think if you saw an opponent make us mad you'd see an entirely different team.

 

[SCspur]

Relax y’all we’re 17-1 #1 in the country with the leading NPOY candidate and we still haven’t hit our stride yet. Trust the process. I remember last year after our loss to A&M for the SEC regular season final and thought we weren’t good enough to win the SEC tournament or go far enough in the NCAA but I was wrong. And gladly so! They turned into a different team in March and I expect them to do the same this year. I honestly like where we are as a team. No team is perfect with turnovers and most of the Elite teams average at least 14-15 a game. The past couple of games the FTs has been pretty decent. I’m thinking they’re saving their best basketball for March. Remember the life of a student athlete is HARD! School, study hall, 5:00 AM practices, recovery/ treatment, traveling all over to play games can leave you very fatigued mentally and physically. This break is much needed and they will come back with a different focus.

 

[GamecockFam]

What's the difference from 2019-20? We don't have Kiki; everyone on this year's team and last year's is too nice. We need someone with an edge, but we don't. I think if you saw an opponent make us made you'd see an entirely different team.

I think that was a problem with last year's team but I disagree with that assumption for this year's team. Boston, Amihere and Cooke all have an edge to them. In general, the team is laser focused on winning a natty.

IMO the problem with this team is that we don't have enough offensive playmakers who can consistently break down their opponent 1-on-1. We have our main cast of Boston, Cooke, and Henderson, but then there is a giant gap with Amihere, Littleton, and Cardoso as secondary scorers who frankly are inconsistent and unreliable performers. Outside of that we have some players that are good in cleanup duty (Saxton, Grissett, and Beal) but rarely try to actively look for their shot.

Comparing to the 2019-2020 team, that team had more players that could consistently break down a defense... Kiki, Ty, Henderson, Boston and Cooke. It allowed for one player to have an off night and the rest could make up the difference. Presently, if Cooke or Henderson have bad games we have to just pray that our defense, Boston, and offensive rebounding capabilities carry us to a win. It's led to some close, low scoring games that we may be on the losing side in a tournament game. We really need another consistent playmaker to emerge on offense.

 

[SCGamecock]

I may be in the minority but I'm not concerned about the freshman at all. The reason Boston, Beal and Cooke were so good as freshman is because they HAD to be. For all the chemistry that '19-20 team had, there wasn't a lot of depth. Our '21 freshman are entering an entirely different dynamic and they will be very good, they just need more opportunity to play. Our early schedule was brutal.. We breezed through it with relative ease, but we need to realize that it's highly likely we've already played the entire final four and came out unscathed. With all things considered, as disappointing as the Missouri loss was, it didn't surprise me. The team looks mentally and physically fatigued and the last few games are there as evidence. We looked much better against the top 10 opponents earlier in the season than we do now vs. the SEC. This break is right on time and much needed. Hopefully the team comes back refreshed and refocused. Dawn will have them ready. I still like them against any team, although Stanford looks to be on a collision path with us.. and in conference Tennessee will NOT be easy.

 

[Dino]

Yes, I’m concerned. This team is not as good as the ‘19-20 squad. Raven’s injury has hurt this team as we have zero depth at the point. Sorry, L.A. is not a PG. She needs to concentrate on her post play. I feel better with Eniya or Destiny handling the ball. Wish they got more playing time. And yes, the ‘21 class has yet to show they are ready for primetime like the ‘19 squad was. Lele is still getting her legs after the long layoff and there’s Zia’s inconsistency which is most confounding and problematic. Just have to hope thi team continues to gel through the SEC schedule and are hitting all cylinders come March Madness. I believe this 8 day layoff will be good. Get on the practice court and dust off some fundamentals.

Wow! This thread has become complacent. Resting own our past accomplishments. Just like the current women’s basketball team. Where is everybody? We have holes on our WBB team. For whatever reason the guards can’t keep players in front of them anymore. Also! The offense is way too stagnant for that much talent. Like the Arkansas game. In the first half we had Ford turnovers total. We in the game with 18 turnovers. ?The freshman who we all thought would help especially on our bench scoring. Have been non-exists except for Bree Hall. I think combined the freshman all four have less than 50 points on the year. Is nobody else concerned?

These takes irk my whole soul.

 

[visitingcock]

These takes irk my whole soul.

Are we perfect? Yes, we are good and capable of beating anyone, but we wanna' beat everybody. My previous post was not meant as a criticism of Dawn or Zia, but I believe we need better shooting from our guards if we are going to get to and win the championship we all want.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Having never thought this team was incapable of losing I'm not especially worried about being undefeated vs ranked teams.

Going into the season I thought there were probably 8 to 10 teams capable of making the Final Four with a timely upset.

At this point, it wouldn't be surprising for any of the 1 projected seeds to get upset along the way.

And it might get really weird who shows up as a 4 seed.

 

[TC22]

Having never thought this team was incapable of losing I'm not especially worried about being undefeated vs ranked teams.

Going into the season I thought there were probably 8 to 10 teams capable of making the Final Four with a timely upset.

At this point, it wouldn't be surprising for any of the 1 protected seeds to get upset along the way.

And it might get weird who shows up as a 4 seed.

Can you imagine looking down your bracket and seeing Maryland, Oregon, UConn or even Arizona as the 3 or 4 seed in your bracket? It's gonna happen to somebody. If UConn doesn't beat Tennessee or SC I don't see how they don't drop way down - seriously. Oregon dropped all the way out. This post season is gonna be nuts.

 

[JDuro]

 

[JDuro]

 

[Creature]

So Lavender Briggs Transfers to Maryland. So who gets Rickea Jackson next year ? Is it Texas where God almight Vick is the Head Ball Coach? OR does Rickea come home to South Carolina where she should have been a part of the 2019 Nbr#1 recruiting Class., Chose MS State over Carolina...

 

[TC22]

So Lavender Briggs Transfers to Maryland. So who gets Rickea Jackson next year ? Is it Texas where God almight Vick is the Head Ball Coach? OR does Rickea come home to South Carolina where she should have been a part of the 2019 Nbr#1 recruiting Class., Chose MS State over Carolina...

I just hope she doesn’t go to Tennessee.

Lavendar Briggs transfers to MD…Florida started winning and Md started losing.