Is SCar at UConn threadworthy?

[SCspur]

What? Lol

Raven took over that battle! Visibly took her out of the game when she came in. She had 9 points first quarter 2 rest of the game. Avg some like 10 assists only had 3 with 3 turnovers! But I thought SC PG’s were average? Lmaooo crazy thing is a rematch would be on a neutral court with SC fans and hopefully refs that actually call fouls when players undercut, grab and slap them on shots and put backs. They got at least 10 and 1 calls meanwhile all but 2 of ours was “on the floor”.

 

[Bone Dog]

You can’t face guard all 5 of them.

Exactly. Lol

 

[maple]

After reading this thread and the last “threadworthy” game between LSU/TN, I hope that the SC/LSU game is considered threadworthy as well. I’m getting the popcorn ready.

 

[SCspur]

What you fail to see is that this was an obvious off night for Zia Cooke. Chances of her shooting like that if they meet again at a neutral site is slim to none. Also I suspect Bree Beal will not get 2 quick fouls, something that has not happpened to her all year, forcing her to sit the entire first half. Bree Hall will also pobably get more time the next game. Yes you may add Fudd to the backcourt and Ducharme at the wing for the next game, but the question then will be if they are the same defensively as the group you had out there today. I can assure you that we have two more capable bigs that will see time away from Hartford in a game against Uconn. Dawn played it close to the vest with the bigs rotation today because we were on the road in a crazy new environment. As far as backcourt, Raven had not issue guarding Muhl and outplayed her. I did like Lou for Uconn, but Beal getting more time will have something to say about that. Look forward to another match Fudd or no Fudd. We have played her before twice with Paige. We can play many ways and I hope it will be a good game.

I don’t see how adding shooters who missed most of the season will make up for rebounding but I digress. Also hope in a rematch they get called for touch fouls like we did today. Seemed like if we blew on them a whistle was blown but they could damn near murder us and get away with it. But the refs was on SC’s side….

 

[Gamecockfan77]

The only thing I’ll disagree with is that the defense was designed to take Boston. It wasn’t imo, we just played her straight up with one defender and the occasional help defense coming down. The defense was designed to take away Cook, and did so effectively.

Otherwise per Genos post game they don’t expect to win the boards or stay even in the boards with South Carolina. Their game plan was to neutralize that with 3’s which South Carolina very effectively took away. They gave up layups to take away our advantage behind the arc, which was a smart game plan. Might be harder next time if we play again with Azzi and Caroline but I’m sure there are adjustments Dawn will make as well, like find a better defensive match up for Edwards.

UConn isn't much of a zone team usually and there was a fair amount of it.

And plenty of sag. And quick doubles on Aliyah.

though not as much after Cardoso started crushing.

Not a coincidence that Boston got off after that. But I might see it wrong.

Anyway Cooke could have been called for more grabs but they let it go in both ends though they certainly called a fouls every time UConn was moving clear to the basket whether the recovery defense touched them or not.

It was a hard nosed game. No place for soft players no question.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

What you fail to see is that this was an obvious off night for Zia Cooke. Chances of her shooting like that if they meet again at a neutral site is slim to none. Also I suspect Bree Beal will not get 2 quick fouls, something that has not happpened to her all year, forcing her to sit the entire first half. Bree Hall will also pobably get more time the next game. Yes you may add Fudd to the backcourt and Ducharme at the wing for the next game, but the question then will be if they are the same defensively as the group you had out there today. I can assure you that we have two more capable bigs that will see time away from Hartford in a game against Uconn. Dawn played it close to the vest with the bigs rotation today because we were on the road in a crazy new environment. As far as backcourt, Raven had not issue guarding Muhl and outplayed her. I did like Lou for Uconn, but Beal getting more time will have something to say about that. Look forward to another match Fudd or no Fudd. We have played her before twice with Paige. We can play many ways and I hope it will be a good game.

You haven’t ever played a healthy Fudd. And both Fudd and Caroline are excellent defenders and rebounders. Better than Lou for sure. The reason Cook had an off night is she had 6’1 Aubrey guarding her all night. She can’t score over her and isn’t as fast as she is.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

The only thing I’ll disagree with is that the defense was designed to take Boston. It wasn’t imo, we just played her straight up with one defender and the occasional help defense coming down. The defense was designed to take away Cook, and did so effectively.

Otherwise per Genos post game they don’t expect to win the boards or stay even in the boards with South Carolina. Their game plan was to neutralize that with 3’s which South Carolina very effectively took away. They gave up layups to take away our advantage behind the arc, which was a smart game plan. Might be harder next time if we play again with Azzi and Caroline but I’m sure there are adjustments Dawn will make as well, like find a better defensive match up for Edwards.

South Carolina was I guess really worried about the three point line and bought badly on some pretty simple pump fakes. And then didn't have any one rotate over.

Not the best defensive showings for Saxton, and Amihere. Beal had a rough go also, but on the other hand it's a high level basketball game.

Cardoso sometimes having slow footwork that's sort of a known thing but the other two have played better. Amihere has been playing pretty poorly for a couple of weeks after having a nice efficient start to season.

I actually think SCar could have gone deeper on its bench and I'd have liked it better. At times our experienced players aren't the best players available.

 

[Bone Dog]

I don’t see how adding shooters who missed most of the season will make up for rebounding but I digress.

This depends on whether they shoot well enough to make it too costly to run a twin (or triple) towers set, as SC did for much of the 2nd quarter. What happens if Lou and Azzi light it up? To stop it maybe Dawn needs to sub Amihere or Saxton for Cardoso or Boston. I sure hope they can still stop Edwards and Dorka. It sure looked like Edwards scored pretty much at will against Amihere and Cardoso.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Um… UConn pulled off a stunning comeback winning at the buzzer.

They finally got it up. Whew.

Man, what a weak tech call on Cardoso.

Yeah that was a handoff.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

This depends on whether they shoot well enough to make it too costly to run a twin (or triple) towers set, as SC did for much of the 2nd quarter. What happens if Lou and Azzi light it up? To stop it maybe Dawn needs to sub Amihere or Saxton for Cardoso or Boston. I sure hope they can still stop Edwards and Dorka. It sure looked like Edwards scored pretty much at will against Amihere and Cardoso.

There are trade offs. Touches for them are touches that don't go elsewhere.

This UConn team was a lot more effective offensively than any one SC has seen in some time.

 

[Bone Dog]

There are trade offs. Touches for them are touches that don't go elsewhere.

This UConn team was a lot more effective offensively than any one SC has seen in some tone.

Trade offs abounded in this game. That's how you know it was a great game. Very little margin for error on either side.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I don’t see how adding shooters who missed most of the season will make up for rebounding but I digress. Also hope in a rematch they get called for touch fouls like we did today. Seemed like if we blew on them a whistle was blown but they could damn near murder us and get away with it. But the refs was on SC’s side….

Because the game plan was to trade 2’s for 3’s which is a lot easier to do with excellent three point shooters. Caroline is also one of our best defensive rebounders and Azzi is no slouch.

The refs literally allowed one team to hand-off the ball out of bounds and shoot 11 more foul shots, but yea that’s also the team that the refs were against.

To be clear I don’t think UConn Is the better terms or should have won the game because of the officiating. I have watched every South Carolina game and really thought they were much better than this 5 man UConn squad but was wrong about that. They are pretty evenly matched at the moment though South Carolina does have a slight advantage.

 

[HuskyNan]

The refs literally allowed one team to hand-off the ball out of bounds and shoot 11 more foul shots,

Stop with that, already. UConn was deliberately fouling at the end of the game.

The inbounds was a horrible miss on the refs part but the refs were bad both ways. Fans are going to think their team got the worst of it - such is fandom.

 

[maple]

I actually think SCar could have gone deeper on its bench and I'd have liked it better. At times our experienced players aren't the best players available.

I was a bit surprised SC didn’t utilize the bench as much as I expected to. Felt like SC was really slowing the pace in the 2nd half, which benefited a short handed UConn. Tbh I was expecting Dawn to sub often and wear UConn down right away with fresh legs and speed.

 

[SCspur]

This depends on whether they shoot well enough to make it too costly to run a twin (or triple) towers set, as SC did for much of the 2nd quarter. What happens if Lou and Azzi light it up? To stop it maybe Dawn needs to sub Amihere or Saxton for Cardoso or Boston. I sure hope they can still stop Edwards and Dorka. It sure looked like Edwards scored pretty much at will against Amihere and Cardoso.

They still don’t bring rebounding to the defensive boards. Also the scout will be much different in a rematch as will the way the game is called. Edwards shouldn’t have even played the fourth with her fouling and Dorka should’ve had way more than two fouls she was slapping players arms left and right all day! Amihere never once guarded Edwards though I wish she and Boston would’ve she probably wouldn’t have had half those points. Her points came against Cardoso and Saxton. Also UConn fans should at least start respecting SC more. If you think they’re going to shoot like that and have that many fouls in a rematch then you’re in for a rude awakening… I sure hope they defend more straight up next time and zone less Boston scored 25 and grabbed 11 rebounds with 3 people drapped on her at all times, if that isn’t NPOY idk what is!

 

[JstVisiting]

As a unit the poster was talking about. 47 points to 24 points isn’t particularly competitive. Even if Caroline and Azzi don’t go back to their pre injury scoring you can probably count on another 20 points being thrown in between the two of them and I don’t know if any new guards South Carolina might add before UConn and South Carolina play again. Do you?

A week ago, UConn had 80 points on the bench, so I guess our bench defense has improved somewhat. Still, lot of people are going to be surprised when they learn you don’t get total points from (points scored without X) + (ppg from X)

 

[GamecockFam]

They still don’t bring rebounding to the defensive boards. Also the scout will be much different in a rematch as will the way the game is called. Edwards shouldn’t have even played the fourth with her fouling and Dorka should’ve had way more than two fouls she was slapping players arms left and right all day! Amihere never once guarded Edwards though I wish she and Boston would’ve she probably wouldn’t have had half those points. Her points came against Cardoso and Saxton. Also UConn fans should at least start respecting SC more. If you think they’re going to shoot like that and have that many fouls in a rematch then you’re in for a rude awakening… I sure hope they defend more straight up next time and zone less Boston scored 25 and grabbed 11 rebounds with 3 people drapped on her at all times, if that isn’t NPOY idk what is!

Haha I'm glad I wasn't the only one screaming at the TV about Dorka not getting called for obvious fouls. I was visibly agitated in the 1st quarter. I thought she had two obvious fouls in the first 5 minutes of the game and neither were called. Once I realized the refs were letting them play physical, I kind of let it go. Granted towards the end of the game after Geno's temper tantrum, the refs started calling those fouls and for whatever reason they keyed in on Amihere for very similar fouls that they didn't call on Dorka. I guess it is what it is.

 

[Bone Dog]

They still don’t bring rebounding to the defensive boards. Also the scout will be much different in a rematch as will the way the game is called. Edwards shouldn’t have even played the fourth with her fouling and Dorka should’ve had way more than two fouls she was slapping players arms left and right all day! Amihere never once guarded Edwards though I wish she and Boston would’ve she probably wouldn’t have had half those points. Her points came against Cardoso and Saxton. Also UConn fans should at least start respecting SC more. If you think they’re going to shoot like that and have that many fouls in a rematch then you’re in for a rude awakening… I sure hope they defend more straight up next time and zone less Boston scored 25 and grabbed 11 rebounds with 3 people drapped on her at all times, if that isn’t NPOY idk what is!

I'll just ignore your foul griping -- each side does way too much of that to be meaningful.

But your first statement makes sense to me. The scout will be different, which means no simple additions or subtractions will account for what could happen in the next game. This was a close game, and Dawn and Geno were engaged in a chess match -- each move had costs and benefits. The rematch will be the same, and I can hardly wait to see it. This is the best basketball of the season!

And one thing I can't let pass. There's no one UConn fans -- at least the ones I know from this forum -- respects more than SC. This has been the game for the last several years. It's always my favorite matchup. I hope you respect UConn as much as I respect SC.

Now go beat the tar out of LSU and restore the proper order of things.

 

[JstVisiting]

They still don’t bring rebounding to the defensive boards. Also the scout will be much different in a rematch as will the way the game is called. Edwards shouldn’t have even played the fourth with her fouling and Dorka should’ve had way more than two fouls she was slapping players arms left and right all day! Amihere never once guarded Edwards though I wish she and Boston would’ve she probably wouldn’t have had half those points. Her points came against Cardoso and Saxton. Also UConn fans should at least start respecting SC more. If you think they’re going to shoot like that and have that many fouls in a rematch then you’re in for a rude awakening… I sure hope they defend more straight up next time and zone less Boston scored 25 and grabbed 11 rebounds with 3 people drapped on her at all times, if that isn’t NPOY idk what is!

I’ll take it. As someone once said, you know what you’re going to have to deal with when you play there.

Neutral site’s unlikely to give the standing near Edwards while she shoots calls, and they couldn’t win with that, homecourt, and their A game vs our B.

 

[sharris25]

You haven’t ever played a healthy Fudd. And both Fudd and Caroline are excellent defenders and rebounders. Better than Lou for sure. The reason Cook had an off night is she had 6’1 Aubrey guarding her all night. She can’t score over her and isn’t as fast as she is.

Many of Zia's shot misses she was open. I barely remember a block by Aubrey, but I know length may have bothered Zia on some of her drives. She will not shoot that poorly on open shots in a second matchup. The adjustment will be, I suspect more Bree Hall, in with Zia as if you have fudd, She is not as tall or nearly as athletic as Griffin. Hall at 6'1 is a great defender and also a pretty good shooter. I also do not think you can count on Boston going ofer from the field in the first half again also was an anomaly. You will still have to deal with our bigs, and Watkins and Feagin will also play more in the rematch. Dawn, as has been her habit, wanted them to watch this first game, especially since it was on the road. What other bigs will you bring to this presumed rematch. We played our B game but as most said even last year, it was supposed to be so different in the rematch, if this is this and that is that, but South Carolina got stronger as the season grew deeper. We shall see. ....

 

[Bone Dog]

Why are fans so quick to assume poor shooting is an isolated occurrence unrelated to everything else going on in a game? This happened in the game against Stanford in the final Four last year, too. Their dreadful shooting was just bad luck. Nothing at all to do with their opponent then either. I guess it's a form of self-comforting behavior.

Zia shot poorly today, well below her season average, even below her average against ranked opponents, neither of which were all that good to begin with. In this game, both teams played great defense, which means Zia was defended more closely than usual, but also that she was asked to defend more energetically than usual. Both these things have an impact. No one's doubting she's a good player, maybe even a great one. But take a player out of her comfort zone, as Dawn did today, and there are costs.

Now comes the chorus of denials:
"But she's always defended that closely." [lol] or
"But she always face guards opponents on the perimeter all game." [lmao]
And my personal favorite "But she's been shooting great this year." [well, yes, sort of, compared to last year, lol, but not when we look at ranked opponents]

And of course, there's this:

but South Carolina got stronger as the season grew deeper.

Did SC grow stronger? I'm not sure I see it, if I look at the only comparable game, against Stanford. Seems like SC is pretty much where it was in relation to its real rivals then and now. Or does SC have other rivals I don't know about? Let's call it even and say SC's game has progressed alongside its true rivals. SC is still the best team in the land. But fortunately there are a few teams that can pose an interesting challenge. Otherwise, what would be the point of being that good?

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Stop with that, already. UConn was deliberately fouling at the end of the game.

The inbounds was a horrible miss on the refs part but the refs were bad both ways. Fans are going to think their team got the worst of it - such is fandom.

I didn’t say they weren’t terrible both ways. It’s just clear there wasn’t some bias towards UConn. They were incompetent and incompetent officiating hurts UConn more simply because they only have a 5 man rotation.

 

[JstVisiting]

Why are fans so quick to assume poor shooting is an isolated occurrence unrelated to everything else going on in a game? This happened in the game against Stanford in the final Four last year, too. Their dreadful shooting was just bad luck. Nothing at all to do with their opponent then either. I guess it's a form of self-comforting behavior.

Zia shot poorly today, well below her season average, even below her average against ranked opponents, neither of which were all that good to begin with. In this game, both teams played great defense, which means Zia was defended more closely than usual, but also that she was asked to defend more energetically than usual. Both these things have an impact. No one's doubting she's a good player, maybe even a great one. But take a player out of her comfort zone, as Dawn did today, and there are costs.

Now comes the chorus of denials:
"But she's always defended that closely." [lol] or
"But she always face guards opponents on the perimeter all game." [lmao]
And my personal favorite "But she's been shooting great this year." [well, yes, sort of, compared to last year, lol, but not when we look at ranked opponents]

And of course, there's this:

Did SC grow stronger? I'm not sure I see it, if I look at the only comparable game, against Stanford. Seems like SC is pretty much where it was in relation to its real rivals then and now. Or does SC have other rivals I don't know about? Let's call it even and say SC's game has progressed alongside its true rivals. SC is still the best team in the land. But fortunately there are a few teams that can pose an interesting challenge. Otherwise, what would be the point of being that good?

That “South Carolina got stronger” was in reference to last year, where we again heard things would be different in the postseason rematch.

 

[Bone Dog]

That “South Carolina got stronger” was in reference to last year, where we again heard things would be different in the postseason rematch.

Thanks for the clarification. It’s difficult to know what to make of such absolute statements. SC was clearly the best team all last season, and that still seems to be true of this year’s team. It’s the favorite to win the NC, which will be an impressive achievement. But every other team hopes to prove itself, too, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want it any other way. The competition, the striving, this is where all the fun is, for the players and the fans. Though sometimes fans lose sight of this and resent the striving of rivals.

This was an awesome game today and I hope we get to see more like it.

 

[shiverz45]

Hahaha!!! Lol indeed. If that's what I'd said, we'd all be laughing. But I already conceded that Johnson was the highlight of the SC backcourt. You guys seem really defensive about this victory, deploying rhetorical tricks to fend off any scrutiny... as if you found it somehow worrisome. I wonder why. I really hope it doesn't disturb you too much if Fudd is playing in the rematch.

I really hope Fudd is healthy and available if we meet again. Due to her issues in the previous two matchup, she has not shown very much in those two games.