Hats off to ND

[GoUconn7961]

Notre Dame will be REALLY good next year if their players continue to improve in the offseason. What impresses me about Muffett as a coach is that her players always seem to improve each season. Diggins, McBride, Peters, Loyd, Allen, Reimer, etc. have all steadily improved each year at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame's supporting cast is the key to their success next year. Loyd has been consistently shut down by Connecticut in big games. She has been blanketed on the offensive end and simply doesn't get clean looks at the basket. Her ineffectiveness means others have to step up if they have a shot to beat UCONN.

Turner has so much untapped potential, I think of her as being incredibly raw, yet she put up 14 points in the 2nd half against UCONN and defensively she shut down the 2x NPOY. She is the only player who can match up If she can develop a mid range jumper and back to the basket post move, she will be unbelievably difficult to stop. She also needs to put on some muscle to help handle the physical nature of the post. That said, she runs the floor as well as any post I've ever seen and is a great finisher around the basket.

Taya Reimer improved immensely over the course of the season, but will need to continue to improve for Notre Dame. Her decision making is still a work in progress, and she missed 6-7 open face up jumpers from 8-15 feet. She has been consistent with those until last night's game, but if she knocks down a few more, it's a different ball game.

Lindsey Allen has great potential as a point guard. She is good defensively and has shown she can be a dangerous scorer from the perimeter and from taking the ball in the lane. They'll need improved offensive output from Allen next year to compete with Connecticut.

I think Mabrey's minutes will disappear next year, as three top notch guards enter South Bend and should be better on both sides of the ball than Mabrey is. That said, when Michaela is "on", she is as dangerous as anyone in the nation. She can simply light teams up. I was surprised she didn't get more playing time last night since she was shooting so well.


I think the gap between Notre Dame and Connecticut is smaller next year which should be more entertaining from a non-UCONN fan standpoint, but UCONN is still clearly the favorite and front runner to win their 4th straight.

I'm hoping we improve in the off-season too!

 

[jimazee]

Yeah she kept saying that they didn't expect to be there? Was that just to take pressure off her players? But it did seem as if she was content just to be there. In post game comments (see link to local TV report in another thread) all the players were really pissed off and tired of seeing UCONN with the NC. One of the players said they wouldn't be satisfied until they were cutting down the nets and UCONN was in the locker room.

...and maybe just a slight bit of "sandbagging" the Huskies and Geno, even though she knew it wouldn't have much effect. Nevertheless, she and her team deserve kudos for a real effort and a good performance.

No one lit the UConn victory cigar until the last minute.

 

[CL82]

She chose to go out with dignity and she did.

There's no lack of dignity in competing. I suspect that she correctly assumed that the only thing that a fouling parade would do is run up the score.

I do have a sense that Muffet believes, correctly apparently, that she has a team that can compete with UConn. ND is going to make a big jump next year. They will be a very tough team to play. KLS and Butler are going to be key additions next year.

 

[VAUConnFan]

If you were from NYC you would certainly have heard it, though not in it's edited form, and only used in more intimate settings. Not sure it belongs on a board.

Grew up in Westbury, lived in the Bronx for 17 years. Never heard it any form.

 

[ctdad]

...and maybe just a slight bit of "sandbagging" the Huskies and Geno, even though she knew it wouldn't have much effect. Nevertheless, she and her team deserve kudos for a real effort and a good performance.

No one lit the UConn victory cigar until the last minute.

No sandbagging. Off of last year's team, ND lost the #5 and #12 all-time scorers (now #6 and #13 as Loyd has passed them) in McBride and Achonwa (also one of the top rebounders in program history), plus a very steady defensive specialist in Braker. They were not replaced by juniors or seniors, but by very young players still finding their way in the college basketball world. A sweet 16 season was expected, possibly an elite 8. The finals was not.

 

[Buzzyboy]

The two teams played to a 1 point game in the final 4. There were 2 lead changes in the last minute of the game. I would not call that a "massive difference".

I personally think that there was an aberration in the final six minutes of the ND-SC game in that a comfortable lead was given up by the Irish that had little to do with anything on the part of SC. I'm not sure what was the cause but I'm very comfortable it wasn't anything to do with coaching. If they played ten times, Notre Dame would win ten times in my mind. Those other nine games would not be as close as this game was. Its pretty apparent that I'm not on the Dawn Staley bandwagon. I think she's a good coach but not a premier coach and maybe history will bear me out or make me look like a jerk.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Notre Dame will be REALLY good next year if their players continue to improve in the offseason. What impresses me about Muffett as a coach is that her players always seem to improve each season. Diggins, McBride, Peters, Loyd, Allen, Reimer, etc. have all steadily improved each year at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame's supporting cast is the key to their success next year. Loyd has been consistently shut down by Connecticut in big games. She has been blanketed on the offensive end and simply doesn't get clean looks at the basket. Her ineffectiveness means others have to step up if they have a shot to beat UCONN.

Turner has so much untapped potential, I think of her as being incredibly raw, yet she put up 14 points in the 2nd half against UCONN and defensively she shut down the 2x NPOY. She is the only player who can match up If she can develop a mid range jumper and back to the basket post move, she will be unbelievably difficult to stop. She also needs to put on some muscle to help handle the physical nature of the post. That said, she runs the floor as well as any post I've ever seen and is a great finisher around the basket.

Taya Reimer improved immensely over the course of the season, but will need to continue to improve for Notre Dame. Her decision making is still a work in progress, and she missed 6-7 open face up jumpers from 8-15 feet. She has been consistent with those until last night's game, but if she knocks down a few more, it's a different ball game.

Lindsey Allen has great potential as a point guard. She is good defensively and has shown she can be a dangerous scorer from the perimeter and from taking the ball in the lane. They'll need improved offensive output from Allen next year to compete with Connecticut.

I think Mabrey's minutes will disappear next year, as three top notch guards enter South Bend and should be better on both sides of the ball than Mabrey is. That said, when Michaela is "on", she is as dangerous as anyone in the nation. She can simply light teams up. I was surprised she didn't get more playing time last night since she was shooting so well.


I think the gap between Notre Dame and Connecticut is smaller next year which should be more entertaining from a non-UCONN fan standpoint, but UCONN is still clearly the favorite and front runner to win their 4th straight.

I don't know if I'd say that Turner shut down Breanna in the second half or maybe it had to do with her having turned her ankle and being somewhat gimpy. I agree that she's a very talented lady but I think the compliments may have been a little bit too generous.

 

[willingtonfan]

It was a very low foul count game. Could be that they had so many fouls to give and so not near 1 and 1 that there was not enough time left.

Excellent point! I just checked the box score play-by-play, which lists Notre Dame's last foul at 7:57 to play on Hannah Huffman, listed as P2T5. This means 2nd personal, 5th team foul. They were not called for another foul the rest of the game, so UConn was not in the bonus and therefore they still had a foul to give, such that fouling would have no effect other than to give us a new shot clock. That said, after the first foul, subsequent fouls would have put us at the line. (For the real old fashioned guys out there, remember when at pro games there would be a person sitting at the scorers table who would hold up little paddles that literally would say P2 and T5 showing the number of the personal and team fouls? I remember seeing that watching Celtic games as a kid.)

Also hats off to Notre Dame for not playing a foulfest type of game. A lot of teams in recent years seem to have adopted the philosophy when defending us to simply foul every possession on the theory that the refs can't or won't call all of them. Notre Dame clearly did not do this, which is further to their credit.

 

[hoophuskee]

There's no lack of dignity in competing. I suspect that she correctly assumed that the only thing that a fouling parade would do is run up the score.

I do have a sense that Muffet believes, correctly apparently, that she has a team that can compete with UConn. ND is going to make a big jump next year. They will be a very tough team to play. KLS and Butler are going to be key additions next year.

Did you post this before Loyd left?

 

[msf22b]

I believe that Natalie Butler is the key to next year. If she plays anything like Dolson, freeing up Stewart and Tuck, it will be an incredible year. Can Butler stay with Turner from ND and Wilson from SC? Tune in next year, folks.

Butler will play Reimer and be just fine.

 

[Sonny44]

Excellent point! I just checked the box score play-by-play, which lists Notre Dame's last foul at 7:57 to play on Hannah Huffman, listed as P2T5. This means 2nd personal, 5th team foul. They were not called for another foul the rest of the game, so UConn was not in the bonus and therefore they still had a foul to give, such that fouling would have no effect other than to give us a new shot clock. That said, after the first foul, subsequent fouls would have put us at the line. (For the real old fashioned guys out there, remember when at pro games there would be a person sitting at the scorers table who would hold up little paddles that literally would say P2 and T5 showing the number of the personal and team fouls? I remember seeing that watching Celtic games as a kid.)

Also hats off to Notre Dame for not playing a foulfest type of game. A lot of teams in recent years seem to have adopted the philosophy when defending us to simply foul every possession on the theory that the refs can't or won't call all of them. Notre Dame clearly did not do this, which is further to their credit.

Also one other thing that I haven't seen mentioned...........No Flops!

 

[Wally East]

Loyd has been consistently shut down by Connecticut in big games.

Well, she did have 17 in the 1st half of the game in December and 31 overall. I suppose you could say a game in December is not a big game

 

[Wally East]

Any clue why Muffet shut it down with almost a minute to go? Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere.

I was surprised the announcers even mentioned this. It was 10 points, which is a huge amount to make up in a minute. The announcers might have pointed out that's a four-possession lead.

 

[CL82]

Did you post this before Loyd left?

Yep, I think they'll still be fine though.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Grew up in Westbury, lived in the Bronx for 17 years. Never heard it any form.

Let's just say some of us ran in different crowds, but if you didn't hear it out in Westbury, I'm surprised. Certainly in a lot of neighborhoods to the east and north of there it was well known, and of course on the Lower East Side.

 

[Wally East]

If you were from NYC you would certainly have heard it, though not in it's edited form, and only used in more intimate settings. Not sure it belongs on a board.

I was assuming it was an autocorrect mistake. If it's not, no, it's not at all an appropriate thing for civil conversation.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Any clue why Muffet shut it down with almost a minute to go? Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere.

1. She is a realist. 2. What to do: foul and turn a 10 point loss into an 18 point loss? 3. She is aware how lame pressing down 10 with 1 minute remaining looks. D. She had to pee.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

1. She is a realist. 2. What to do: foul and turn a 10 point loss into an 18 point loss? 3. She is aware how lame pressing down 10 with 1 minute remaining looks. D. She had to pee.

I have to admit I'm surprised Muffet is getting a pass on this from the-BY. She did nothing late in that game to show any fight. I recall the announcers saying she got on her team during a timeout in the 1st half that they needed to fight more, yet she completely mails it in late in the game. Would it really matter if you lost by 18? The flip side is, what if UCONN started missing the front end of the 1-and-1's. Foul Nurse and maybe the freshman tightens up.
Ultimately I don't care since I wanted UCONN to win, but I'm surprised at the lack of critiquing.

 

[Dougie]

I believe that Natalie Butler is the key to next year. If she plays anything like Dolson, freeing up Stewart and Tuck, it will be an incredible year. Can Butler stay with Turner from ND and Wilson from SC? Tune in next year, folks.

Even if Butler starts, it might be Stewie matched up with Turner and Wilson.

 

[uconnfan68]

Butler will play Reimer and be just fine.

I thought Reimer played much better this game than the last 2. She doesn't seem to mind the dirty work.

 

[msf22b]

I thought Reimer played much better this game than the last 2. She doesn't seem to mind the dirty work.

I agree, she has been playing tough of late
Has a surprising burst of speed
Handles the ball well
still lacks some basic skills.
And Butler will also prove an able defender and a difficult match-up ofr her or anyone else.
I also have had the political incorrect view that she (Reimer) is too heavy
But I'm an old ballet guy…and in that discipline, keeping weight down is a must.

 

[Geno-ista]

I take it you do not feel as if other top teams like Baylor, Maryland, South Carolina, etc. play the game intelligently? What do teams like Dayton, Gonzaga, and Green Bay do to lead you to your high BB IQ assessment? What did Notre Dame do in last night's game that have you so enamored of their high intelligence quotient? and what does "Hebrew the talent" mean? It is a term with which I am totally unfamiliar. Never heard it before, ever.

Hebrew was

I take it you do not feel as if other top teams like Baylor, Maryland, South Carolina, etc. play the game intelligently? What do teams like Dayton, Gonzaga, and Green Bay do to lead you to your high BB IQ assessment? What did Notre Dame do in last night's game that have you so enamored of their high intelligence quotient? and what does "Hebrew the talent" mean? It is a term with which I am totally unfamiliar. Never heard it before, ever.

Hebrew was an error- it was supposed to be have. My type settings must have grabbed the word in error. Notre Dme held us to a season low in points, low enough to possibly win that game. They are the only team that comes close to playing like we do in every facet of the game every year. Those 2 nd tier teams have figured out a way to compete with and beat teams with much better talent- or higher ranked recruits. I think if a lot of those coaches switched to higher talent teams, they would be very dangerous, providing the kids have/had the BB IQ required to grasp the concepts. Notre Dame usually impresses- they are usually a mirror image of us.

 

[bballnut90]

I don't know if I'd say that Turner shut down Breanna in the second half or maybe it had to do with her having turned her ankle and being somewhat gimpy. I agree that she's a very talented lady but I think the compliments may have been a little bit too generous.

Stewart had 4 points before the ankle injury and 4 points after. I thought Turner defended her better than anyone else in the country has. She can match up with Stewart because she is quick enough to close Stewart on the perimeter, keep up with her on the bounce and has size to block shots if Stewart posts up. If you look at the rebounding differential and post player production from the 1st game to the 2nd, it's amazing how different it is.

UCONN Game 1 (3 posts combined): 46 points, 36 rebounds, 17-34 FG
Notre Dame Game 1 (3 posts combined, no Turner): 14 points, 18 rebounds, 6-18 FG

UCONN Game 2 (3 posts combined): 24 points, 22 rebounds, 10-23 FG
Notre Dame Game 2 (3 posts combined, with Turner): 20 points, 21 rebounds, 10-20 FG

Part of it comes down to players just having good games vs. bad ones, but Notre Dame went from -18 on the boards to +10, and they were able to prevent UCONN's post players from dominating offensively. Other factors contributed, but Turner's presence was the biggest factor.

 

[Bayareahusky]

I have always been a big Muffet fan..... a wonderful coach..... and her jabs.... well we can take it.... we dish out enough of those as well.... that is all part of the mind games and it doesn't offend me.....

She is going to have to do a great coaching job next year..... totally rehauling her strategy minus Jewell.... plugging in Lindsay and running more sets for Turner

 

[Brodog16]

I must say, MM showed a ton of class. If they fouled, it could have been a 20 point game. Regardless, I gained respect for her and her program!

 

[Buzzyboy]

Well, she did have 17 in the 1st half of the game in December and 31 overall. I suppose you could say a game in December is not a big game

If you looked at the number of shots, it was the SOFTEST 31 points you'd ever want to see. Her shooting percentage against UConn in her career is pathetic though I've seen her enough against other teams to realize she's a heckuva player. Her athleticism and quickness is very, very impressive but for the most part, she's done very little against UConn. As mentioned, there have been times where if you are only looking at points scored, you might have the illusion she's had quite a bit of success at the Huskies but when you are shooting a horrific field goal percentage, you aren't making nearly the impact. Beyond that, if you're jacking up that many shots it sometimes takes your teammates out of the game.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Stewart had 4 points before the ankle injury and 4 points after. I thought Turner defended her better than anyone else in the country has. She can match up with Stewart because she is quick enough to close Stewart on the perimeter, keep up with her on the bounce and has size to block shots if Stewart posts up. If you look at the rebounding differential and post player production from the 1st game to the 2nd, it's amazing how different it is.

UCONN Game 1 (3 posts combined): 46 points, 36 rebounds, 17-34 FG
Notre Dame Game 1 (3 posts combined, no Turner): 14 points, 18 rebounds, 6-18 FG

UCONN Game 2 (3 posts combined): 24 points, 22 rebounds, 10-23 FG
Notre Dame Game 2 (3 posts combined, with Turner): 20 points, 21 rebounds, 10-20 FG

Part of it comes down to players just having good games vs. bad ones, but Notre Dame went from -18 on the boards to +10, and they were able to prevent UCONN's post players from dominating offensively. Other factors contributed, but Turner's presence was the biggest factor.

I didn't suggest that Brianna Turner playing wasn't a factor in this game being closer but there was almost a subliminal suggestion that she "shut down" Stewie and my impression was that most of the difference in her scoring was resulting from her gimpy ankle that would be a nice liability when playing against a very quick and talented defender. Then too, she ended up helping the Huskies with her rebounding and her own defensive play.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I must say, MM showed a ton of class. If they fouled, it could have been a 20 point game. Regardless, I gained respect for her and her program!

So you earned respect for someone who packed it in with 2.5 minutes to go? It's a national championship game, you don't give up that early. You're right, it could have been 20, but what if it wasn't? And is it that big of a deal if you lost by 10 or 20? You still lost. You do everything you can to win. She gave up too early in my opinion. Looking back at her pre-game comments about how they weren't supposed to be there, it almost sounds like she gave resigned herself to defeat before the opening tip.

 

[Wally East]

So you earned respect for someone who packed it in with 2.5 minutes to go? It's a national championship game, you don't give up that early.

What did she do that indicated that she gave up? What would you have had her do?

 

[hoophuskee]

Stewart had 4 points before the ankle injury and 4 points after. I thought Turner defended her better than anyone else in the country has. She can match up with Stewart because she is quick enough to close Stewart on the perimeter, keep up with her on the bounce and has size to block shots if Stewart posts up. If you look at the rebounding differential and post player production from the 1st game to the 2nd, it's amazing how different it is.

UCONN Game 1 (3 posts combined): 46 points, 36 rebounds, 17-34 FG
Notre Dame Game 1 (3 posts combined, no Turner): 14 points, 18 rebounds, 6-18 FG

UCONN Game 2 (3 posts combined): 24 points, 22 rebounds, 10-23 FG
Notre Dame Game 2 (3 posts combined, with Turner): 20 points, 21 rebounds, 10-20 FG

Part of it comes down to players just having good games vs. bad ones, but Notre Dame went from -18 on the boards to +10, and they were able to prevent UCONN's post players from dominating offensively. Other factors contributed, but Turner's presence was the biggest factor.

I've agreed with a lot of your past posts these last few days on best teams etc -- but here I don't agree in regards to a small part. Turner gave the 3 to BS anytime BS wanted it. Unlike the days Ewing went against Olajuwon you can see Olajuwon altered his jump shot. In this scenario you could see Stewie's length could get that shot over Turner without Turner being able to affect it. I'm interested to see next time they meet.

Unfortunately I missed the USC vs ND game. I had other work to do before the UCONN game. How was Wilson able to score? Anyhow, I'm thinking this game UCONN vs ND squeezed the paint. No other team has been able to have us struggle as much in the 1st half as ND did. Heck- MoJeff was 1-5 from 3. It wasn't because they were draped over her. They were giving UCONN something in order to take away something. And if Turner could affect BS in the manner you speak - then there would be no reason for them to play a triangle-and-two for example. Why play a triangle-and-two when as you say Turner can matchup with Stewie So you can give MoJeff even more wide open shots?

I agree Turner did a great job defending but I thought it was a lot of team help as well. Which is why Mabrey didn't play as much? I'm not saying I agree with Mabrey not playing as much as you alluded to in a prior post at one time. But maybe her help defense and lack of size would have hurt the team more? I don't know. Just saying I think it was a lot of team too.

And from what I saw- Turner isn't tall enough to close on Stewie from shooting the ball while affecting her shot thus imo she can only affect her shot if she can get in her grill. From the perimeter can she consistently get in her grill for a most of the game? Nah. Anyhow, Stewie has way too much length to affect her on a closeout. I think her ankle was bothering her. I guess we'll see next time they compete. I also think the ankle bothered her.