I have a feeling ND is in Uconn's future.....

[pap49cba]

LINK

 

[msf22b]

The UCLA coach commented on ND sans Diggins

UCLA coach Cori Close said she believes the Irish might be better without Skylar Diggins, who led the Irish to the NCAA championship game twice because they are no longer looking for her to make the big play.

"It's `What am I going to do and how do I contribute to that next play?' You've got five of those decision-makers in the mix on a consistent basis, you have the potential to grow into a stronger team. That's what I've been impressed with," she said.

 

[doggydaddy]

UCLA is not a very good team. I don't think this game tells us much.

 

[Icebear]

I do think ND is better without Diggins. Her graduation helped the team in many ways.

 

[jsloanjr]

Jewel is the key to ND's future.......ACC will be in for a huge shock this season with ND............The Invasion of the old Big East.........Rough, tough, in your face defense............Will the ACC adjust?

 

[UcMiami]

Only one game and she picked up 4 quick fouls in 10 minutes of play but as a 1 to 1 replacement starter PG Allen's line 10 minutes 1 of 3 shooting for 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 TO and 4 fouls - I'll take Diggins thank you very much! Others obviously picked up the slack, but that is what you get with a freshman PG starting - some games are ugly.
I do think ND was Diggins team, but not in a bad way and to some degree the bright media focus on Diggins probably took pressure off the rest of the team.

 

[Fightin Choke]

Only one game and she picked up 4 quick fouls in 10 minutes of play but as a 1 to 1 replacement starter PG Allen's line 10 minutes 1 of 3 shooting for 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 TO and 4 fouls - I'll take Diggins thank you very much! Others obviously picked up the slack, but that is what you get with a freshman PG starting - some games are ugly.
I do think ND was Diggins team, but not in a bad way and to some degree the bright media focus on Diggins probably took pressure off the rest of the team.

Yeah, that's 2 games in a row where Allen has not played very well. Muffet blamed the recent performance on 2 factors: trying to make up for her play in the Penn State game and thus trying too hard to make things happen, and the impending final exams of a freshman pre-med major. As a former ND undergrad, I know all about the freshman pre-med schedule. If she is typical, she's taking inorganic chemistry and general biology for majors right now, and those are 2 of the 4 weed-out classes for pre-meds (and bio majors). Next year she'll get to take the second set of weed-outs in physics and organic chemistry.

I believe in Lindsay, but even if she continues to struggle, Notre Dame should still be formidable, as the first 3 players off the bench (Taya Reimer, Michaela Mabrey, and Madison Cable) are very good. This Notre Dame team DOES seem better than last year's, in that Notre Dame has not been threatened by any opponents thus far. I know that the schedule has not been particularly daunting, but that never stopped Notre Dame from struggling against lesser opponents before. The closest game to date has been the Penn St. game, and that game was never in doubt (despite the 10-point difference in the final score). I think the reason has been that the team's depth is much more impressive than in past years. Last season the first 3 players off the bench were Madison Cable, Michaela Mabrey, and Markisha Wright. This season the top 3 bench players are more experienced versions of the former freshman Mabrey and former redshirt freshman Cable and of course the impressive freshman Reimer. Wright has dropped, not because she has regressed, but because Taya is better.

As team stats go, Notre Dame's improvement has been in rebounding and 3-pt shooting. Notre Dame has always been a good rebounding team (even when they ran a 4-guard offense) because of good coaching emphasizing (and teaching) boxing out. Now Notre Dame has some height to go with that savvy and the results have been excellent so far, as Notre Dame leads the nation in rebounding differential. Notre Dame is also second in the nation in 3-pt shooting. As a team, they shoot 45%, trailing only Minnesota. I'm not sure why Muffet has not attempted to press this advantage, but Notre Dame does not shoot from 3-pt range often (just over 11 attempts/game). But the combination of paint play and outside shooting has led to a potent (and difficult to defend) offense. Notre Dame's over FG% is second in the nation, trailing only UConn (52% to 50%).

The biggest area of improvement for Notre Dame needs to be (1) taking care of the ball and (2) defense. The Irish throw the ball away far too often, so they need to be less careless. Their turnovers/game rank somewhere just below the 100th mark, and that's unacceptable. In contrast, the Huskies rank in the top 3. In FG% defense, ND is about 40th in the nation at 34.9%, and Muffet is not happy with the defense so far. We'll see if that improves. UConn is about 9th in the nation at 31.2%.

 

[doggydaddy]

Yeah, that's 2 games in a row where Allen has not played very well. Muffet blamed the recent performance on 2 factors: trying to make up for her play in the Penn State game and thus trying too hard to make things happen, and the impending final exams of a freshman pre-med major. As a former ND undergrad, I know all about the freshman pre-med schedule. If she is typical, she's taking inorganic chemistry and general biology for majors right now, and those are 2 of the 4 weed-out classes for pre-meds (and bio majors). Next year she'll get to take the second set of weed-outs in physics and organic chemistry.

I believe in Lindsay, but even if she continues to struggle, Notre Dame should still be formidable, as the first 3 players off the bench (Taya Reimer, Michaela Mabrey, and Madison Cable) are very good. This Notre Dame team DOES seem better than last year's, in that Notre Dame has not been threatened by any opponents thus far. I know that the schedule has not been particularly daunting, but that never stopped Notre Dame from struggling against lesser opponents before. The closest game to date has been the Penn St. game, and that game was never in doubt (despite the 10-point difference in the final score). I think the reason has been that the team's depth is much more impressive than in past years. Last season the first 3 players off the bench were Madison Cable, Michaela Mabrey, and Markisha Wright. This season the top 3 bench players are more experienced versions of the former freshman Mabrey and former redshirt freshman Cable and of course the impressive freshman Reimer. Wright has dropped, not because she has regressed, but because Taya is better.

As team stats go, Notre Dame's improvement has been in rebounding and 3-pt shooting. Notre Dame has always been a good rebounding team (even when they ran a 4-guard offense) because of good coaching emphasizing (and teaching) boxing out. Now Notre Dame has some height to go with that savvy and the results have been excellent so far, as Notre Dame leads the nation in rebounding differential. Notre Dame is also second in the nation in 3-pt shooting. As a team, they shoot 45%, trailing only Minnesota. I'm not sure why Muffet has not attempted to press this advantage, but Notre Dame does not shoot from 3-pt range often (just over 11 attempts/game). But the combination of paint play and outside shooting has led to a potent (and difficult to defend) offense. Notre Dame's over FG% is second in the nation, trailing only UConn (52% to 50%).

The biggest area of improvement for Notre Dame needs to be (1) taking care of the ball and (2) defense. The Irish throw the ball away far too often, so they need to be less careless. Their turnovers/game rank somewhere just below the 100th mark, and that's unacceptable. In contrast, the Huskies rank in the top 3. In FG% defense, ND is about 40th in the nation at 34.9%, and Muffet is not happy with the defense so far. We'll see if that improves. UConn is about 9th in the nation at 31.2%.

Fantastic post from the ND perspective. Fair and honest. Thanks so much.

I'm looking forward to see how ND does against better talent. I have to believe there will be a loss or two where Diggins' leadership is missed and that Allen's inexperience will hurt but with Achonwa, McBride and Loyd, ND will be tough to beat.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I agree. I think we meet in the Final Four. ND may be the 2nd best team in the country.

 

[semper]

Yeah, I've been thinking this is the case for some time, but let's give the Dookies a chance first....that will be a really important test.

 

[triaddukefan]

Yeah, I've been thinking this is the case for some time, but let's give the Dookies Blue Devils a chance first....that will be a really important test.

fixed that for you

 

[DaddyChoc]

I wonder if ND would beat UConn 3 out of 4 games this season if they played? (without Diggins)