Gary Apple, UConn, and South Carolina

[DobbsRover2]

Either way, remember there's a return trip to Columbia next season and maybe a game in the Final Four this season.

Not allowed. The year before the decade started, the Final Four Club voted to henceforth exclude teams from the SEC for lying and snitching (UTenn and Vandy), brawling (Auburn and Alabama), and dumping a top coach so that they become mediocre has-beens (LSU). I know it's only guilt by association for South Carolina, but them's the rules nowadays.

Now if the Gamecocks want to drop a few games in SEC play and wind up a #2 seed, they could meet up with the Huskies in an Elite 8 game.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think that our superior depth will be put to use in the game and that Dawn will substitute freely. I've heard a lot of your fans say that Khadijah Sessions is not an outside threat and she does have some bad shooting games. I think Bianca Cuevas will play a lot of minutes and we will run quite a bit when she's in there. Carolina 67 UCONN 64 because your team isn't used to playing many close games and you won't have an answer for Alaina Coates inside or Tiffany Mitchell driving. We still have 2 games against ranked teams between now and then, however. Right now, I'm focused on Texas A&M.

Just as I had told you or other USC fans that A'ja Wilson would be among your top scorers, now you'll wind up having to rely on her points big time in the NCAA tourney, what you'll also learn over time as Wilson gets older -- she won't "wear down" vs. inferior opponents as long as she has good teammates. You don't wear down superior players by throwing inferior players at them unless there is just one superior player and they have to do it all. Thus your "bench impact" won't be near what you think it is.

Secondly, good luck with relying on freshman pg playing AT UCONN who is going to be playing brunt of her minutes against one of the greatest pg's in UCONN history that has "found her game."

 

[malevocalist#]

If South Carolina had lost to Duke and now had a comparable record to UConn, which would be ranked #1 and by how much? Hmmm, let me think about that.

There are a whole lot of (if's) in this post and nothing is wrong with that. I'll do my best to stick with what is factual though I am sure I too may drift along the lines of (what if).

Dealing with what is factual first...Uconn was dealt a loss at the beginning of the season. No if can change that fact...Considering the possibility Uconn & SC was not scheduled to play each other. And barring the (If Factor) SC remained undefeated. Without a doubt SC retain the overall #1 seed heading into the tournament.

Personally that would have been even sweeter. Because Uconn (I Believe) would have been (THE WALL) in SC'S path waiting to turn smiles into tears. (RESPECTFULLY SPEAKING) with all due respect to a wonderful season SC had up until the championship game. No insult intended toward SC.

 

[triaddukefan]

Get that out of your head it ain't happening! The UCONN starting five would have to be out with the flu and then UCONN still might win.

I'd take South Carolina in that matchup

 

[rvwsleep]

I think that our superior depth will be put to use in the game and that Dawn will substitute freely. I've heard a lot of your fans say that Khadijah Sessions is not an outside threat and she does have some bad shooting games. I think Bianca Cuevas will play a lot of minutes and we will run quite a bit when she's in there. Carolina 67 UCONN 64 because your team isn't used to playing many close games and you won't have an answer for Alaina Coates inside or Tiffany Mitchell driving. We still have 2 games against ranked teams between now and then, however. Right now, I'm focused on Texas A&M.

Sessions is shooting 22.9% ,8 of 35, from the 3 pt line. That probably means she has a LOT of bad shooting games.
Cuevas will be buried at the end of the bench as are most of the SC subs against better teams. Wilson and Coates will be the only subs that will see more than 10 minutes of play against UConn.
Is this the same Alaina Coates that has scored 3pts against Kentucky, 7 against Duke and ZERO against Syracuse ? Those happen to be the 3 best and only ranked teams they've played so far.
Mitchell, against those same 3 teams is 12 for 36 from the floor, 33%.
Inspires confidence, doesn't it ?

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Either way, it should be a great game to see. Like some others have stated, outside of some of the artistry we see with the Huskies offense, the tenor of most all the games in the AAC has been less than riveting drama. I'm hoping we win, of course, but I also hope it is a battle to the end.

Driving over from Michigan to see the game with my brothers.

BTW, I really appreciate your contributions on the BY. I think you've brought some good insight into the SEC play, and I think your comments are respectful and reasonable.

And might I point out to fellow Yarders that Cockhrnleghrn said "if" the Gamecocks win - he never said he thought they would win. At least not in this thread.

Thank you. I do think the Gamecocks will win. I don't believe in losing at anything. I know it won't be easy, though. I'm anxious to see how they play in the game.

 

[hoophuskee]

Sessions is shooting 22.9% ,8 of 35, from the 3 pt line. That probably means she has a LOT of bad shooting games.
Cuevas will be buried at the end of the bench as are most of the SC subs against better teams. Wilson and Coates will be the only subs that will see more than 10 minutes of play against UConn.
Is this the same Alaina Coates that has scored 3pts against Kentucky, 7 against Duke and ZERO against Syracuse ? Those happen to be the 3 best and only ranked teams they've played so far.
Mitchell, against those same 3 teams is 12 for 36 from the floor, 33%.
Inspires confidence, doesn't it ?

Cuevas is shooting 23.3% from three to boot.

 

[hoophuskee]

Either way, it should be a great game to see. Like some others have stated, outside of some of the artistry we see with the Huskies offense, the tenor of most all the games in the AAC has been less than riveting drama. I'm hoping we win, of course, but I also hope it is a battle to the end.

Driving over from Michigan to see the game with my brothers.

BTW, I really appreciate your contributions on the BY. I think you've brought some good insight into the SEC play, and I think your comments are respectful and reasonable.

And might I point out to fellow Yarders that Cockhrnleghrn said "if" the Gamecocks win - he never said he thought they would win. At least not in this thread.

Yes he or she did. This was a post from him or her.

I think that our superior depth will be put to use in the game and that Dawn will substitute freely. I've heard a lot of your fans say that Khadijah Sessions is not an outside threat and she does have some bad shooting games. I think Bianca Cuevas will play a lot of minutes and we will run quite a bit when she's in there. Carolina 67 UCONN 64 because your team isn't used to playing many close games and you won't have an answer for Alaina Coates inside or Tiffany Mitchell driving. We still have 2 games against ranked teams between now and then, however. Right now, I'm focused on Texas A&M.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Funny! After seeing this I HAD to go check out Cocky Talk. What a hoot! Forums include The C*** Pit (football), Cocky Bookie (betting), Smack Talk (not for the thin skinned), Hen House (for female posters), Cocky Swap (ticket exchange), iCocky (technology), etc, etc. Cocky Babes and Political Forum are private, requiring membership. I didn't read the board rules, but I'm pretty sure a poster's name must have to include "...c***" somewhere. But the only place I could find any WBB threads was "Other Gamecock Sports", and there wasn't much - am I missing something?

Most of the women's ball threads are in "Fowl Shots", though some are in the "Other Sports" forum. As far as the names are concerned, Columbia is the double entendre capital of the world.

 

[PalPa]

Mechelle Voepel said she believes UCONN is the better team but she will continue to vote for SC unless they lose, seems hypocritical to me. So if the voters don't vote according to who they think is the better team, how much stock can you place in the polls?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Mechelle Voepel said she believes UCONN is the better team but she will continue to vote for SC unless they lose, seems hypocritical to me. So if the voters don't vote according to who they think is the better team, how much stock can you place in the polls?

A better question is why even have humans involved in them then? We could just make the rankings auto generated by sorting teams' winning percentages in descending order. Done. No controversy, no opinions, no biases.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

"It's because they're afraid that we're on the verge of supplanting them as the top program in WBB. They are upset that we're number one in the polls, they're upset that we signed A'ja Wilson and they're upset that they're stuck in the AAC, while we're enjoying the SEC's riches. It will take a few years, but their conference affiliation plus Geno getting close to retirement is going to end their extended stay at the top. Dawn is only 44 and Geno is 60."

Gee whiz, 'Horn, are the UConn fans that bad on the ESPN forum or whatever you are talking about in this post in Cocky Talk Fowl Shots. I can see why you come around here now!

 

[HoopsFan21]

The ND board (McGraw's Bench) is actually full of reasonable posters and posts. Perhaps the only fan board that I've found that's like that, though there was a ridiculous post on there saying that Tenn could beat UConn after the Tenn-ND game.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

"It's because they're afraid that we're on the verge of supplanting them as the top program in WBB. They are upset that we're number one in the polls, they're upset that we signed A'ja Wilson and they're upset that they're stuck in the AAC, while we're enjoying the SEC's riches. It will take a few years, but their conference affiliation plus Geno getting close to retirement is going to end their extended stay at the top. Dawn is only 44 and Geno is 60."

Gee whiz, 'Horn, are the UConn fans that bad on the ESPN forum or whatever you are talking about in this post in Cocky Talk Fowl Shots. I can see why you come around here now!

Yes, on the ESPN forums, not on here.

I hadn't even thought about visiting our game thread on ESPN until someone said they were the lone wolf over there. I'm really just worried about Texas A&M right now and hoping for our first WBB complete sell out on Monday night.

 

[Tonyc]

I really don't see how SC is going to score over 50 pts against UConn. I will give SC 50-55 pts against UConns defense. Now how is SC going to keep UConn from scoring 70 pts???? I really don't see it not even in a dream. There is a lot of parity in WCBB. UConn is not part of it. UConn is at a different level. Right now they are not beatable. Ive said UConn by 25+ and it may be more. I don't see the game closer then 20 unless there are crazy injuries to UConn. In WCBB there are a lot of good teams then there is the UConn Machine . That's what they are a highly disciplined machine that runs their plays like a well oiled machine. They always have and it continues this season. Cuse Duke and Kentucky are all teams that UConn has continued to blow out and SC hasn't. There is a big difference right there. This is not a "what if" game or a game you pray to win and hope for some breaks or calls. UConn is above that. This is how do you stay in the game with UConn and keep in close. Baylor had 6'9 Griner and with Griner was 2-2 against UConn. ND with their flops beat UConn but when the flops were obvious and the refs stopped calling them UConn blew ND out. Now SC is not close to either the Griner team or ND team and they don't do flops. If SC comes out nervous this game could be over in the first half. I think it will. I expect UConn up at half time by double digits and how many will depend on how well UConn shoots the ball. It doesn't matter what SC does. They don't have the chemistry to stop UConn or the perimeter defense to stop UConn.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Yes, on the ESPN forums, not on here.

I hadn't even thought about visiting our game thread on ESPN until someone said they were the lone wolf over there. I'm really just worried about Texas A&M right now and hoping for our first WBB complete sell out on Monday night.

A&M is falling apart in chunks. You guys have nothing to worry about. They don't play like a Gary Blair club. A mystery.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I think South Carolina will put up 50+ on UConn. Just like Creighton, Green Bay, Vandy, USF, Temple, DePaul, Tulsa, and St. John's were able to. I think South Carolina has a slightly better offense than those teams. Even the depleted UCF team we just played almost put up 50 on UConn.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I really don't see how SC is going to score over 50 pts against UConn. I will give SC 50-55 pts against UConns defense. Now how is SC going to keep UConn from scoring 70 pts???? I really don't see it not even in a dream. There is a lot of parity in WCBB. UConn is not part of it. UConn is at a different level. Right now they are not beatable. Ive said UConn by 25+ and it may be more. I don't see the game closer then 20 unless there are crazy injuries to UConn. In WCBB there are a lot of good teams then there is the UConn Machine . That's what they are a highly disciplined machine that runs their plays like a well oiled machine. They always have and it continues this season. Cuse Duke and Kentucky are all teams that UConn has continued to blow out and SC hasn't. There is a big difference right there. This is not a "what if" game or a game you pray to win and hope for some breaks or calls. UConn is above that. This is how do you stay in the game with UConn and keep in close. Baylor had 6'9 Griner and with Griner was 2-2 against UConn. ND with their flops beat UConn but when the flops were obvious and the refs stopped calling them UConn blew ND out. Now SC is not close to either the Griner team or ND team and they don't do flops. If SC comes out nervous this game could be over in the first half. I think it will. I expect UConn up at half time by double digits and how many will depend on how well UConn shoots the ball. It doesn't matter what SC does. They don't have the chemistry to stop UConn or the perimeter defense to stop UConn.

South Carolina has played in some close games against decent competition on the road. Say what you want about what that means, but if nothing else they are battle tested and have proven that they can pull out the close game in a hostile environment. I really doubt Storrs is going to be any more imposing than the Cameron Crazies or the bourbon drunk crowd at Rupp. It was a good decision to have the game at Storrs so at least the students can be there, rather than at one of the other CT sites where the crowds are generally full of older folks.

 

[pinotbear]

I really doubt Storrs is going to be any more imposing than the Cameron Crazies or the bourbon drunk crowd at Rupp. It was a good decision to have the game at Storrs so at least the students can be there, rather than at one of the other CT sites where the crowds are generally full of older folks.

Hoops, Gampell will be considerably more imposing than Cameron or Rupp - and, it won't be because of the students, the blue-hairs, nor the bourbon. It'll be because of the team, and the coach, sitting on the home bench. You play UConn at Storrs, well ....

 

[triaddukefan]

South Carolina has played in some close games against decent competition on the road. Say what you want about what that means, but if nothing else they are battle tested and have proven that they can pull out the close game in a hostile environment. I really doubt Storrs is going to be any more imposing than the Cameron Crazies or the bourbon drunk crowd at Rupp. It was a good decision to have the game at Storrs so at least the students can be there, rather than at one of the other CT sites where the crowds are generally full of older folks.

Cameron wasnt an imposing atmosphere at all for SC....... they had at least 2,000-2,300 fans in attendance (maybe more) and they got there very early.... and grabbed up most of the general admission seats on the lower level opposite the SC bench. I was in the reserved seating section in the lower level... and was surrounded by loud SC fans. This will be their first real road test of the year.

 

[hoophuskee]

So to recap your 1st paragraph: A'ja Wilson - a bench player for USC that you predicted would be among our top scorers - won't wear down as long as she has good teammates around her. So therefore USC's "bench impact" - with Wilson a part of it - "won't be near" what we think it will be?

Are you saying that it will be much better?

I'm saying you're bench won't impact the game nearly as much as you think.

And I was saying as Wilson gets older (i.e. her soph, jr and sr year) she isn't going to "wear down" from opposing team's bench's just like yours won't do that to us as long as she continues to get good teammates. You'll learn when opposing fans predict "their bench" will wear down Wilson - that its because they don't understand how great the superstar is. It's not like -- one team's starting 5 is better but the other team's bench is better ---- so that makes it even.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Cameron wasnt an imposing atmosphere at all for SC.. they had at least 2,000-2,300 fans in attendance (maybe more) and they got there very early.... and grabbed up most of the general admission seats on the lower level opposite the SC bench. I was in the reserved seating section in the lower level... and was surrounded by loud SC fans. This will be their first real road test of the year.

I know how you felt when we play Kentucky at home in MBB today - they were about 30% of the crowd, which is a lot of people out of 18,000. They're like Ohioans - they've all moved to South Carolina.

Edit: I just realized how idiotic that statement was since I'm from New Jersey, lol.

 

[Tonyc]

I think South Carolina will put up 50+ on UConn. Just like Creighton, Green Bay, Vandy, USF, Temple, DePaul, Tulsa, and St. John's were able to. I think South Carolina has a slightly better offense than those teams. Even the depleted UCF team we just played almost put up 50 on UConn.

UConn let up and by that I mean pulled off the press, stopped the fast break, held the ball and played a half court game and played the non starters. BTW how badly did UConn beat those teams for them to score over 50pts? If SC scores over 55 pts its because UConn is up 30+ pts and Geno is calling off the dogs much like he did against the teams you mentioned. Against SC don't count on it. UConn is much quicker, has more shooters, has better ballhandlers. Whats going to hurt SC is lack of quickness, unable to defend the perimeter and get back on defense, and lack of ball handlers. UConn doesn't make to many mistakes and has 5 starters who can take you inside and out with good ball handling skills, terrific passing and team chemistry. If you think SC is going to make this a game think again. UConn has way to much of everything. I would expect Mitchell to be shadowed and UConn to pack it in much like they did with a very tall Duke team. SC hasn't never played a team like UConn.

UConn is going to win the NC going away this season. Next season we will see but with the nucleaus coming back and the next 3 freshman classes coming in UConn will on top of the polls for a very long time.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

UConn let up and by that I mean pulled off the press, stopped the fast break, held the ball and played a half court game and played the non starters. BTW how badly did UConn beat those teams for them to score over 50pts? If SC scores over 55 pts its because UConn is up 30+ pts and Geno is calling off the dogs much like he did against the teams you mentioned. Against SC don't count on it. UConn is much quicker, has more shooters, has better ballhandlers. Whats going to hurt SC is lack of quickness, unable to defend the perimeter and get back on defense, and lack of ball handlers. UConn doesn't make to many mistakes and has 5 starters who can take you inside and out with good ball handling skills, terrific passing and team chemistry. If you think SC is going to make this a game think again. UConn has way to much of everything. I would expect Mitchell to be shadowed and UConn to pack it in much like they did with a very tall Duke team. SC hasn't never played a team like UConn.

UConn is going to win the NC going away this season. Next season we will see but with the nucleaus coming back and the next 3 freshman classes coming in UConn will on top of the polls for a very long time.

It's nice to see you don't lack confidence. Reality maybe, but not confidence. Maybe chutzpah, even.

 

[Tonyc]

It's nice to see you don't lack confidence. Reality maybe, but not confidence. Maybe chutzpah, even.

Ive been following this team along time. Geno mentally is at a different level then any coach in almost any sport. His team is on the same page. Geno imo studies great coaches and motivators. He doesn't take every great player. He knows what he is looking for in a player. SC is a good team. Its just that UConn is at a different level than any team in WCBB. Excluding the fluke at Stanford over the past few seasons UConn has won every game by double digits. I am very confident but Im not cocky no pun intended. Unless Geno calls off the dogs out of respect for Dawn this game will be just like all the rest of UConns games . A double digit win and imo by 25+.

With what Geno has coming in in freshman classes over the next 3 years I don't see things changing all that much. UConn is a well oiled machine that does not have to be fire ring on all cylinders to blow out opponents. They've proven that over and over. Opponents fire ring on all cylinders don't beat UConn.