Glad Britany Griner is gone...

[meganmatthews]

Griner Dominance?????

Louisville 82 Baylor 81

Griner 4-10 FG; 6-8 FT; 10 boards; 14 points; 2 blocks; 3 steals; 3 TOs

1 Championship; 3 final 4s

Dominance...yeah...at her position...probably best center...overall impacting dominance? Not really.

But no one tweeted better at half time.

 

[CL82]

I'm glad The Thrill is gone. I'm too old for that.

"The Thrill"
Now that's a good college basketball nickname. Note to Geno: please recruit a phenom named Jill.
Thank you.

 

[pinotbear]

Which defencicies do you feel that Geno exposed, out of curiosity?

I really wasn't trying to make this a BG v. UConn/Geno post: I was trying to deflate the notion that BG was "11 feet tall"/unfairly dominate/unsportsmanlike advantage/preordained outcome". BG was a historically great college shot-blocker, a very good offensive player within 10 feet of the basket, and certainly caused opposing teams to make adjustments...perhaps, unique adjustments.

But, the original post had the flavor of "BG was so big that there was no competition". That's what I was taking issue with: Baylor's record over BG's career shows her value, but also shows her value wasn't omnipotent. Her professional career - admittedly, one year - shows that she's not limitless. I won't repeat the rest of my post, but, my issue isn't with BG being very good - she was, and is. My issue is with somebody portraying her as unbeatable, unfairly too good - which she was not.

I do think that UConn did as good a job as any team with BG. Long and strong posts, early in BG's career, could move her out of her preferred zone close to the basket, causing her to attempt shots a bit longer than she'd like. This is where Heather Buck, at 6'4", and built like a tight end, could be effective. Good outside shooting of the 3, whether Bria Hartley or Shoni Shimmel, would force Baylor into either bringing BG away from the hoop, or surrending the trey. Mostly, what UConn and Geno could do with BG was accept what she could do, and not let that change the entire game - not let it be too intimidating.

I still think that BG ought to have been a stronger rebounder. I know that, in going for the block, you sometimes surrender ideal rebounding position. Still, when you look at history - mostly old-time NBA players like Russell and Thurmond - you realize that it is possible to do both.

 

[easttexastrash]

I agree that BG should have been a better rebounder. I blame some of that on Mulkey for allowing her not to be it not teaching her to be a better rebounder. And if Mulkey had allowed BG to step away from the basket and develop her face-up game more Baylor would not have lost to L'ville and BG's transition to the pros would have been smoother.

BG, at this point, has more upside than any other pro, and she's already pretty darn great. In 5 years it may look unfair

 

[DaddyChoc]

BG was fun... better than any 6'6 or taller player ever in WCBB, glad to have witnessed it

 

[Zorro]

Well sir, ol BG could be pretty durned annoying, blockin all them shots an all!