Monday's other games

[MilfordHusky]

Is DD hurt? Another head injury, but now back in. I suspect we're watching her last few minutes as a college player. What an interesting--though ultimately sad--story.

I thought she should have gone into concussion protocol, not back into the game. That was a nasty fall.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Washington was really humming in the 3rd quarter and stretched their lead from 7 to 23. It was vintage Kelsey Plum in every facet. Passing, hitting 3's, crossing defenders over, turning the corner, getting to the foul line, etc. She is such a joy to watch.

Plum has 31 points and 9 assists with another quarter to play.
Osahor is working on a triple-double.
McDonald and Romeo also in double figures.

They looked really sharp. That's how they took out Maryland last year. They are very good on offense. Their 3-point shooting reminded me of Kia Nurse.

 

[MilfordHusky]

When do the take final vote for the POY? I don't see Washington getting to the final 4.

I believe it's based on games through the conference tourneys only.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I don't have the per-half stats, but Oklahoma's blistering shooting was mostly in the 1st half, and they cooled off in the 2nd half and also didn't get as many looks. Gioya Carter, who had hit most of their 3's in the first half, got in more foul trouble and that ended up taking her out. And no one else could get it going for OU in the second half.

They were red hot in the 1st quarter on Saturday against Gonzaga, but still hit timely 3's throughout the game to stave off every rally. Tonight they hit several in the 3rd quarter just when UW was starting to pull away. I didn't think OU was capable of playing much better than they did in the first half but were still down by 7. They maintained contact for a while, but then UW put them in the rearview mirror. I hope Romeo can put whatever she had going on tonight in a bottle and have some leftover for the next game. I've seen McDonald light teams up several times this year, so her performance really wasn't an anomaly. OU is just lucky she was in such foul trouble. She barely played more than a quarter and still had 13 at the half. Picked up 2 more close together in the 3rd quarter. They couldn't defend her. She easily could've scored 25 or so if she could've stayed on the court.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Sometimes I have no idea what I'm talking about. But sometimes I'm at least halfway clever. Before the game started I mentioned the matchup between Osahor and Pierre-Louis and 3 point shooting as keys. Osahor completely dominated that matchup and 3 point shooting was 18-30 vs. 12-26.

 

[DefenseBB]

There already was one fellow who came back with "she wouldn't score 38 against UConn"

Plebe, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Look, if Petersen can drop 25 on us, Plum could drop 38 and just like the Syracuse game, UConn will still win by 25-30 as the rest of her team will be gassed.

Plum is just down right a stud, plus she's a class act so kudos to her.

 

[DefenseBB]

When do the take final vote for the POY? I don't see Washington getting to the final 4.

I think the vote was already taken. They are either still compiling or will just wait to announce like they always do.

 

[Plebe]

Sometimes I have no idea what I'm talking about. But sometimes I'm at least halfway clever. Before the game started I mentioned the matchup between Osahor and Pierre-Louis and 3 point shooting as keys. Osahor completely dominated that matchup and 3 point shooting was 18-30 vs. 12-26.

VPL picking up that early foul trouble really set the tone for the entire game and she never did recover.

 

[nwhoopfan]

VPL picking up that early foul trouble really set the tone for the entire game and she never did recover.

I think she finished the game w/ 3 fouls, so she was able to stay on the court in the 2nd half. Osahor just stone walled her. She was putting up some really ugly shots that didn't even draw iron. She bullied the GU frontcourt on Saturday, got the tables turned on her against UW.

 

[nwhoopfan]

It's late here on the West Coast, really late on the other side of the country. ESPNU is replaying the UW-OU game, gotta watch it!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Just remembered, during a LONG delay while the refs looked at a monitor to determine if there was a flagrant foul, an impromptu dance off broke out between the two benches. That was awesome. I'll call it a draw.

 

[eebmg]

I thought she should have gone into concussion protocol, not back into the game. That was a nasty fall.

No such thing when the game is on the line.

 

[eebmg]

Way too many teams from Connecticut in the Sweet 16. What do you guys think you are the Pac 12?

Bad for the game. Must be ESPN.

 

[DefenseBB]

I hope that all the doubters and detractors are taking notice of the day the Pac-12 is having:

Stanford dominates AT K-State, wins by 21.
Washington opens up a can on Oklahoma, wins by 26.
UCLA with a comprehensive beatdown so far on Texas A&M, up by 31 after 3Q.

Yes, yes and yes. That said, they were the higher seed in every case. So was OSU with only Oregon greatly exceeding their seed by beating Duke at Duke. Now comes the real test when competing against "like ranked teams" i.e. Top 16 peers.

Overall, I am rooting hard for Oregon as they have a fighting chance against MD. There's Ruthie Hebard vs. Brionna Jones and the top freshman battle of Ionescu vs. Slocom.

My overall assessment is ASU and Oregon have exceeded their seeding and looked very good. Cal was over matched against Baylor badly but did play well in 1st RD. Stanford has looked good so far but again they are a 2 seed against 15/7. OSU has not looked great. Wash has looked good and next up is MSU and then Baylor. Go Huskies. UCLA was ok as we have to admit Texas A&M was one of the weakest 5's, even weaker than Tenn and was lucky to win RD 1. My guess is UConn over UCLA by 25+ in a ho hum game.

Best PAC12 chances are UW and Stanford.

 

[bizarro aj]

Ask plum if she would give up the scoring record for a NC? The difference between uconn and everyone else is they don't play for records their goal is to win the NC every year!

 

[uconnell]

Ask plum if she would give up the scoring record for a NC? The difference between uconn and everyone else is they don't play for records their goal is to win the NC every year!

Why can't Plum do both?

 

[bizarro aj]

Why can't Plum do both?

Because its a team sport. What good is scoring 50 points a game when no one else is scoring? She isn't that good to win a NC by her self, as she isn't Maya! Do you really think they would challenge uconn for a NC? Uconn would blow them out worse then Syracuse if they met in the tourney.

 

[jonson]

Yeah, always something. I don't understand why they can't just give her some credit for being a great player and keep having to try to find something to criticize about her. It's bizarre. UConn and UW won't play unless it's in the Final 4, which isn't very likely. Giving her the credit she deserves does absolutely nothing to take anything away from any of UConn's great players. I just don't see why they can't do it.

Because I grew up in Connecticut and now live in Oregon, with heavy investments in both UCONN and UO wbb (and softball and track for the latter), I'd also like to believe that praising players or teams doesn't have to be a zero sum game. It's of course true that Plum isn't Maya, but that doesn't mean that Plum isn't really good, does what her team needs her to do, and is maybe even deserving of a national award this year. And saying this isn't to take anything from Gabby, or Pheesa, or Lou, or even to suggest, for that matter, that the UCONN three don't have a higher ceiling.

The same thing also happens at times when a high school star goes elsewhere. I can remember, for example, a thread on Ionescu in which a number of posters stated that she was not the kind of team player--if a team player at all--that would be UCONN material. Well, I think the season has proved otherwise. Surely, we can try to recognize excellence in one player/place without having to deny its existence elsewhere.

 

[MarieYLee]

Because its a team sport. What good is scoring 50 points a game when no one else is scoring? She isn't that good to win a NC by her self, as she isn't Maya! Do you really think they would challenge uconn for a NC? Uconn would blow them out worse then Syracuse if they met in the tourney.

Plum is no Maya, but Maya didn't win a NC by herself. Maya and Tina nearly lost to a less talented Stanford team, granted it was Maya and her big shots that secured the victory. Simply put, the only time I've seen a player single handly carry a team to a championship was Sheryl Swoops in 92 (?).

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ask plum if she would give up the scoring record for a NC? The difference between uconn and everyone else is they don't play for records their goal is to win the NC every year!

She has said every time that she's broken a record that she doesn't care about records. She doesn't play for records, but the UW roster is nothing like UConn's. Winning a Championship for them is extremely unlikely. She has done everything humanly possible to elevate the UW program during her career there.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Because its a team sport. What good is scoring 50 points a game when no one else is scoring? She isn't that good to win a NC by her self, as she isn't Maya! Do you really think they would challenge uconn for a NC? Uconn would blow them out worse then Syracuse if they met in the tourney.

Did you watch the game yesterday? UW had 4 players in double figure scoring already by halftime and she finished the game w/ 11 assists.

The great Maya failed to win a Championship her Sr. year and she surely had more talent surrounding her than Plum does w/ UW this year.

 

[bizarro aj]

Do you think that any great player that was at uconn couldn't have easily broken scoring records if geno had let them? Maya finished with over 3000 points and at no time did she ever play 40 mins a game for all 4yrs. Geno doesn't believe in playing to break records.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Do you think that any great player that was at uconn couldn't have easily broken scoring records if geno had let them? Maya finished with over 3000 points and at no time did she ever play 40 mins a game for all 4yrs.

Easily break the scoring record? Nope.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...etball&usg=AFQjCNFGEBmcAwisUsgfw43Qlwf4D4sw0Q

Scroll down to the bottom of this for UConn's all time scorers. Maya is the only one remotely close to being within striking distance. Stewie more than 800 pts. off and everyone else more than 1,000. Do you REALLY think scoring another 1,000 points in a career is easy? Just a matter of playing more minutes and taking more shots? I tip my hat to you, you have answered the call as far as being a UConn fan that can't give any credit to Plum and has to belittle her accomplishments. Good job.

 

[nwhoopfan]

UW was fairly solid from the mid 80's to mid 90's under Chris Gobrecht. But they've done two things in the last two years they've never done before: reached a Final 4 and reached the Sweet 16 back to back years. They also set a school record for wins this season. As I keep saying Plum is all about winning games and they're succeeding at a level w/ her that they've never done before in program history.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Plum also has 519 career assists, not so bad for a ball hog.

 

[1-of-the-6]

They were red hot in the 1st quarter on Saturday against Gonzaga, but still hit timely 3's throughout the game to stave off every rally. Tonight they hit several in the 3rd quarter just when UW was starting to pull away. I didn't think OU was capable of playing much better than they did in the first half but were still down by 7. They maintained contact for a while, but then UW put them in the rearview mirror. I hope Romeo can put whatever she had going on tonight in a bottle and have some leftover for the next game. I've seen McDonald light teams up several times this year, so her performance really wasn't an anomaly. OU is just lucky she was in such foul trouble. She barely played more than a quarter and still had 13 at the half. Picked up 2 more close together in the 3rd quarter. They couldn't defend her. She easily could've scored 25 or so if she could've stayed on the court.

Oklahoma was taking, and making, lots of tough shots. Rarely can that continue for a whole game, and when they finally started to miss UW flew by them.

McDonald has improved tremendously this season, especially so in the last month. She's now serious help in bringing the ball upcourt against pressure, plus she's much, much better in the half-court offense than she was back in December-January. She's no longer part of the problem, but a solid third player. The onus remains on Romeo, Collier, Johnson, and the other senior whose name is eluding me. If that group can contribute, Washington is capable of even beating Baylor. The ride would end after that, but a tremendous ride it would have been.

 

[Plebe]

Oklahoma was taking, and making, lots of tough shots. Rarely can that continue for a whole game, and when they finally started to miss UW flew by them.

McDonald has improved tremendously this season, especially so in the last month. She's now serious help in bringing the ball upcourt against pressure, plus she's much, much better in the half-court offense than she was back in December-January. She's no longer part of the problem, but a solid third player. The onus remains on Romeo, Collier, Johnson, and the other senior whose name is eluding me. If that group can contribute, Washington is capable of even beating Baylor. The ride would end after that, but a tremendous ride it would have been.

Is Corral a senior? I can't think of anyone else who gets significant minutes.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Is Corral a senior? I can't think of anyone else who gets significant minutes.

Yep, Heather Corral is the girl whose name I couldn't remember. She's academically a senior, but coach Neighbors said that there's a chance that she could be granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA. He also said that whether or not she would take that year is another question because she's had so many injury problems. She's usually done alright in limited minutes, knocking down the occasional three.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Because its a team sport. What good is scoring 50 points a game when no one else is scoring? She isn't that good to win a NC by her self, as she isn't Maya! Do you really think they would challenge uconn for a NC? Uconn would blow them out worse then Syracuse if they met in the tourney.

The big negative of playing for Uconn is you as a single player can score big points once in a while--you can even score 46 or 40 points --in a game here and there but you are expected to share the wealth--like Kia did against the Cuse. Occasionally Uconn has a single scoring asset (Maya) and she gets to set records.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I thought she should have gone into concussion protocol, not back into the game. That was a nasty fall.

Winning a game---is a big deal for a coach--even the player---but adults/medical must consider the long term effects of head/brain injuries--when in doubt always the error must be for the good of the player/young person. There is too much data to support this protection.