Iowa @ #8 Maryland - 2/23/22

[GreatValue]

Color me cynical, but at some point DEFENSE has to be exhibited in order to win a title...

Did you not see several shot clock violations against Iowa?

 

[cancontent]

Did you not see several shot clock violations against Iowa?

I think @DefenseBB was referring to both teams as neither team shut the other one down. Shot clock violations are great based on the box score, it doesn't seem like Maryland was tough defensively.

I have to watch the replay however it seems that had Iowa not let things get out of hand in the first quarter this could have been a different game. The scoring for quarters 2 - 4 were fairly even with Iowa outscoring Maryland in 2 of them.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Name one team you view as Defensive without offense that you view as a contender?

Well I guess I would say some of your top teams aren’t the most consistent teams offensively

Maryland needs to work on their D. Doesn’t mean they aren’t a contender though

Arkansas is not very good defensively and found ways to beat Baylor and UCONN.

 

[DefenseBB]

Well I guess I would say some of your top teams aren’t the most consistent teams offensively

Maryland needs to work on their D. Doesn’t mean they aren’t a contender though

Arkansas is not very good defensively and found ways to beat Baylor and UCONN.

Not sure what you meant by “your” nor do I think that matters.
So yes, in one game, a hot offensive team without defense can beat a good defensive team as shown by your examples. However to win a title requires 6 Great offensive games and again by your example, Arkansas has 6 losses so they have not been consistent enough to win a title. Maryland for all its gaudy offensive numbers also had played the 29th SOS with 9 games in Quadrant 3 and 4 (yuck). They lost to Missouri State and Ohio State.
Now match them up in Sweet 16 to The title game of 4 straight teams most of which will have a better defense than themselves. Name another Big10 team with any form of defense? You really can’t is my point. Michigan, Indiana, NW are all in that 15-30 ranked type teams. Not like Stanford, SC, UConn, Arizona, UCLA offense and defense or even the Baylor defense would be a good match up.

Real contenders have both offense AND defense.
One sided teams do not win titles.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Real contenders have both offense AND defense.
One sided teams do not win titles.

That I agree with. Do I think Maryland is a National champion caliber team? Probably not

Do I think they can ruin some brackets if they get hot? Sure

 

[Childhood]

Maryland's offense was very good tonight with over 61 FG%. And stat check that their average FG is 49%. So it's not their usual performce. Maybe Iowa just had poor denfense.

 

[GreatValue]

I think @DefenseBB was referring to both teams as neither team shut the other one down. Shot clock violations are great based on the box score, it doesn't seem like Maryland was tough defensively.

I have to watch the replay however it seems that had Iowa not let things get out of hand in the first quarter this could have been a different game. The scoring for quarters 2 - 4 were fairly even with Iowa outscoring Maryland in 2 of them.

Could it have been that Clark & Benzan were just on fire ? and attempts to shut them down left their teammates open.

 

[HuskyMJ]

Maryland had a lot of losses to graduation and transfer. Reese got hurt and missed most of the regular season. No one expected them to be some top team so while their defense is not good, they have done a nice job adapting and finding a way to be effective. They probably aren't a national title contender but most aren't, and just the fact that they are in the mix amongst the top 16 is a good accomplishment for them in this Covid year. I don't remember hearing much about BIbby or Benzan when they picked Maryland, Bibby was considered someone who was going to lose her minutes. and Benzan came from mid major level, but Maryland has schemed and found a way to be effective.

 

[Shades]

That I agree with. Do I think Maryland is a National champion caliber team? Probably not.

I do.

 

[bbsamjj]

So...MD and Iowa are the top two scoring offenses...in the country. So the game they put on today is exactly what one would have expected/hoped for.

MD is #282 in nation in scoring defense, but they are #8 in country in scoring margin, and #1 in scoring offense. And the scariest thing about them is their three best overall players (Miller, Owusu, Reese) are all sophomores or freshmen.

 

[sweetspot]

Not sure what you meant by “your” nor do I think that matters.
So yes, in one game, a hot offensive team without defense can beat a good defensive team as shown by your examples. However to win a title requires 6 Great offensive games and again by your example, Arkansas has 6 losses so they have not been consistent enough to win a title. Maryland for all its gaudy offensive numbers also had played the 29th SOS with 9 games in Quadrant 3 and 4 (yuck). They lost to Missouri State and Ohio State.
Now match them up in Sweet 16 to The title game of 4 straight teams most of which will have a better defense than themselves. Name another Big10 team with any form of defense? You really can’t is my point. Michigan, Indiana, NW are all in that 15-30 ranked type teams. Not like Stanford, SC, UConn, Arizona, UCLA offense and defense or even the Baylor defense would be a good match up.

Real contenders have both offense AND defense.
One sided teams do not win titles.

I don't disagree that Maryland needs more on the defensive end, but if you look at the Indiana and Rutgers defenses, they're both top 15 in efficiency (Indiana's actually higher than UCLA), and Maryland scored 84 and 91 points against them.

And again they did that without Reese -- who will probably help more on defense than offense when she's at 100%.

 

[FanFromMaine]

Agree lol

On the other hand...

 

[donalddoowop]

Maryland's offense was very good tonight with over 61 FG%. And stat check that their average FG is 49%. So it's not their usual performce. Maybe Iowa just had poor denfense.

Iowa did not defend Benzan. Most or all of her threes were wide open shots. She must have lit up the Ivy League.

 

[Dillon77]

Day After...and still, whoa. Here's a write-up, from an Iowa perspective:

Iowa women's basketball: No. 8 Maryland races past Hawkeyes in offensive clinic

Iowa narrowly avoided giving up the most points in school history, as No. 8 Maryland ran away with Tuesday's afternoon affair.

www.hawkcentral.com

A few things I learned, both from this article and elsewhere:

• That's the most points Iowa has ever given up to a D-1 opponent.
• Brenda Freese is an Iowa native (no idea).
• Iowa needs to get over being shell-shocked because Michigan comes to town on Wednesday.

and two observations:

• I've seen Diamond Miller play in person on multiple occasions and she's got a quick trigger step. What's interesting is that I thought the refs in the ND-Pitt game were overcalling that (Maddy Westbeld likes to "jump the starter's gun," at times).
• Will echo the comment that Coach Bluder has to bring in another big talent to join Clark, otherwise the young woman's arm is going to fall off. Or, more to the point of this game, she'll score 29 in the first half, the opponent will adjust and she'll score 5 in the second. McKenna Warnock is a Chloe Bibby-like contributor and Monika Czinano gets everything she can from her given talent, but CC needs a Gail Goodrich to her Jerry West.

 

[cancontent]

Could it have been that Clark & Benzan were just on fire ? and attempts to shut them down left their teammates open.

Totally possible. Hoping to watch the replay later today to see how it played out.

I found the scores for quarters 2 - 4 interesting though with Iowa winning 2 out 3. I thought Maryland would dominate here based on their roster, with or without Bezan's scoring yesterday. Even with Clark scoring at the pace she does, I didn't think Iowa would be able to keep up.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

How in the world does Maryland keep losing so many great talents to transfer, but still come up with highly ranked teams? Why doesn't the transfer reputation not catch up with Frese? I don't get it.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

How in the world does Maryland keep losing so many great talents to transfer, but still come up with highly ranked teams? Why doesn't the transfer reputation not catch up with Frese? I don't get it.

Other teams have transfers. Baylor had a ton of transfers one year and nobody say anything. They're good. Texas lost the #2 and #3 recruit one year and they are OK. Transfers happens to everyone. Maybe it's coaching that's bailing Maryland out.. Brenda is actually .......... good at it.

 

[HuskyMJ]

How in the world does Maryland keep losing so many great talents to transfer, but still come up with highly ranked teams? Why doesn't the transfer reputation not catch up with Frese? I don't get it.

Why would it? Transfers are the new normal, they happen everywhere and the transfer numbers increase each year nationally. If a player wants to be closer to home, or play in a different scheme or style, or want more minutes, why would that affect how people see the coach? And I assume every team that has transfers also has players who stay at their school because they love it. Its different when there is accusation of improper behavior or treatment like you see at some schools.

Take Destiny Slocum, she left Maryland for Oregon State. She left Oregon State for Arkansas. She actually originally committed to Washington before changing her choice to Maryland. So do we blame Washington coach for not keeping her committed, Maryland coach since she left, Oregon State coach since she left? Arkansas coach probably can't lose her because she'll graduate and go pro. But what if she went to Arkansas freshman year, maybe she would have been drawn to Washington after a year or two.

 

[bballnut90]

I have to watch the replay however it seems that had Iowa not let things get out of hand in the first quarter this could have been a different game. The scoring for quarters 2 - 4 were fairly even with Iowa outscoring Maryland in 2 of them.

That's a poor way of looking at it though since the mentality of a team is very different when you have a huge lead and are cruising compared to if youre in a tight game.

For example, one could say that Georgetown (1-13) could've been competitive if they didn't let things get out of hand the first half since they basically played #1 UCONN dead even in the 2nd.

 

[Sched234]

That's a poor way of looking at it though since the mentality of a team is very different when you have a huge lead and are cruising compared to if youre in a tight game.

For example, one could say that Georgetown (1-13) could've been competitive if they didn't let things get out of hand the first half since they basically played #1 UCONN dead even in the 2nd.

Totally agree. And “letting things get out of hand” isn’t as simple as it sounds. Maryland outscored Iowa by 20 in Q1.

 

[Shades]

 

[Sched234]

I don't disagree that Maryland needs more on the defensive end, but if you look at the Indiana and Rutgers defenses, they're both top 15 in efficiency (Indiana's actually higher than UCLA), and Maryland scored 84 and 91 points against them.

And again they did that without Reese -- who will probably help more on defense than offense when she's at 100%.

Two excellent points that I was thinking of as well. I don't have the advanced stats on hand, but Maryland’s pace of play is ridiculously fast. If you’re looking at scoring defense in terms of PPG, of course they look bad.

Reese is absurdly athletic and is probably MD’s best shot-blocker. If she can find that in her post-injury, Maryland has legitimate national title aspirations.

I don’t understand how y’all (speaking broadly to the Boneyard) think UConn, NC State, and South Carolina are national championship contenders but Maryland is not. Notre Dame got close to back-to-back titles with equivalent defense and probably less offense than the Terps have now.

 

[bbsamjj]

Other teams have transfers. Baylor had a ton of transfers one year and nobody say anything. They're good. Texas lost the #2 and #3 recruit one year and they are OK. Transfers happens to everyone. Maybe it's coaching that's bailing Maryland out.. Brenda is actually .......... good at it.

TerpsFan would know better than me, but I can think of a few reasons why players want to go to MD:

1. They are consistently a top 20 team, often better, and almost always in the hunt for a B10 championship.
2. Their style of play is fun and encourages high scoring, high energy.
3. Brenda has her detractors, but she seems like a coach many would want to play for.
4. A pretty school/campus, with good academics
5. Plenty of MD players in WNBA recruits can look to, including Toliver and Alyssa Thomas.

As to why players keep transferring out, I think it's becoming a part of the game, but also, I feel like Frese has at times brought in too many great players at once, leaving to some to wish for more PT.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Take Destiny Slocum, she left Maryland for Oregon State. She left Oregon State for Arkansas. She actually originally committed to Washington before changing her choice to Maryland. So do we blame Washington coach for not keeping her committed, Maryland coach since she left, Oregon State coach since she left? Arkansas coach probably can't lose her because she'll graduate and go pro. But what if she went to Arkansas freshman year, maybe she would have been drawn to Washington after a year or two.

Neighbors was the Washington coach when she originally committed there, so he eventually did get her, it was just a very circuitous route.