McGraw Acknowledges A Defensive Weakness of ND

[JoePgh]

There was an interesting quote from Muffet McGraw in ESPN's recap of their 7-point win over Virginia at http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=400508805:

Randolph's big day highlighted a problem for McGraw -- her team's susceptibility to athletic, driving players.
"Randolph played really well," the coach, in her 32nd season, said. "We expected her to play well, we expected her to shoot well, but we did a poor job guarding her because she was really difficult for us to guard. ... We've got to get a better plan, I think, on how we're going to guard people because what we're doing now isn't working."

Hmmm, if they have that weakness, Moriah / Bria / Brianna / Saniya will be eager to take advantage of it if they have the opportunity, as I expect they will, in the National Championship game.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Yep. Add Stewie to that list. Give ND some of their own medicine.

 

[Goodgood]

She still has a formidable weapon: you can't guard foul shots!

 

[Wbbfan1]

They may have trouble stopping guards, but their guards are able to outscore their opponents guards.

 

[pap49cba]

What a surprise.... ND shot 24 FTs and UVA 13 even though total fouls were 15-17 ND.

 

[ThisJustIn]

What a surprise.... ND shot 24 FTs and UVA 13 even though total fouls were 15-17 ND.

How many of those were +1s, +2s and/or in the bonus?

 

[Fightin Choke]

What a surprise.... ND shot 24 FTs and UVA 13 even though total fouls were 15-17 ND.

You're really not justified implying that unless you actually watched the game. But if you're just going by box scores, you may want to consider the following season stats from 2014:

Notre Dame opponents have committed/received 282 PF which led to 309 FTA for ND.
Notre Dame has committed received 247 PF which led to 230 FTA for their opponents.

UConn opponents have committed/received 279 PF which led to 297 FTA for UConn.
UConn has committed/received 197 PF which have led to 141 FTA for their opponents.

Using the logic implied in your post, if Notre Dame is receiving favorable treatment, then UConn is receiving even more favorable treatment. Of course there are other perfectly reasonable interpretations for these data, such as (1) the Huskies and the Irish are much more disciplined on defense and actually move their feet, or (2) the Irish and UConn are great interior passing teams and defenses are forced to foul shooters in the paint in order to avoid conceding easy layups.

 

[pap49cba]

You're really not justified implying that unless you actually watched the game. But if you're just going by box scores, you may want to consider the following season stats from 2014:

Notre Dame opponents have committed/received 282 PF which led to 309 FTA for ND.
Notre Dame has committed received 247 PF which led to 230 FTA for their opponents.

UConn opponents have committed/received 279 PF which led to 297 FTA for UConn.
UConn has committed/received 197 PF which have led to 141 FTA for their opponents.

Using the logic implied in your post, if Notre Dame is receiving favorable treatment, then UConn is receiving even more favorable treatment. Of course there are other perfectly reasonable interpretations for these data, such as (1) the Huskies and the Irish are much more disciplined on defense and actually move their feet, or (2) the Irish and UConn are great interior passing teams and defenses are forced to foul shooters in the paint in order to avoid conceding easy layups.

Okay

 

[uconnell]

She still has a formidable weapon: you can't guard foul shots!

I think the new rules ( handchecking, etc) will work to ND's disadvantage. They will be going to the free throw line with much less frequency.