ND at Purdue now live on B10 network.

[UConnCat]

The only issue with ND this year is its 3-point shooting, which was not very good again today. This part of ND's offense continues to confound Muffet who believes her team is a good 3-point shooting team despite what it has shown so far. ND also struggled against Baylor, shooting something like 3-18. (It'll be a long night if UConn shoots like that on 3s against Baylor as well.)

I think this part of ND's offense will get better.

 

[speedoo]

yes, I read that. I disagree that no teams are close to ND, UConn, and BU now or in March/April.

Do you believe that Stanford is close to those three? If so, why are you not more confident they will beat a crippled LV team at Maples? That's the only real regular season test left for Stanford this year, from what I can see.

 

[cardfan]

Do you believe that Stanford is close to those three? If so, why are you not more confident they will beat a crippled LV team at Maples? That's the only real regular season test left for Stanford this year, from what I can see.

Yes, but a little later in the year when our guards get up to speed. TN is not crippled. We each lost top frosh guards. We will be tested at USC, right after Christmas. I would like another crack at UConn on neutral court in NCAAs.

 

[cardfan]

Of course. The idea that early season games can sometimes be misleading is hardly a ground-breaking observation. But there's also an eye-test too. And sometimes, if you've watched enough basketball, you can tell early on when a team is built to make a deep tournament run. Last year cardfan posted often that Notre Dame had not beaten a quality opponent on the road. I think that criticism was leveled against ND by many Tenn fans as well. Some of us who were familiar with ND said that a team with guards who were that big and talented (and getting better) stood a good chance of having a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The combination of knowing what it takes to win in March and the eye test are often good predictors of the teams that will be left standing when all is said and done. This is not to say that there won't be upsets, failures, under- and overachieving teams and of course, that old injury bugaboo . That's what makes the season so much fun (except in the case of injuries). It's also a lot of fun to make early picks on teams that you think stand a good chance of making it to the FF, even at the risk of later being proven wrong. I also think that a response like "it's too early" is much less interesting than actually identifying areas of a team's game that might cause it not to succeed late in March.

I agree with man of your pts. College bball is a guard game, especially for the women. It's clear teams that do not have a true good pg will struggle to get to F4 (see TN of late), and those with good guard play will shine (UConn, MD, ND, TN - not so much Bobbit, but Kelly Jolly teams).

I saw ND play about 6 times last year, enough to judge their talent. I like to see ANY good team tested on the road before I predict their success in March. I thought Diggins was TO prone and made bad shot selection at times, but they had enough balance O and leadership for legit shot at F4 last year. Once they made it to Indy, I correctly predicted they would beat Uconn. I really wanted to play them as we matched up with very well.

 

[UConnCat]

Yes, but a little later in the year when our guards get up to speed. TN is not crippled. We each lost top frosh guards. We will be tested at USC, right after Christmas. I would like another crack at UConn on neutral court in NCAAs.

You aren't seriously comparing Tenn's loss of Massengale with Stanford's loss of Green, are you?

The challenge for Stanford is that after the Tenn game it won't play another ranked opponent until the NCAAs. Tough to bring a young backcourt up to speed that way, not that Stanford can control the quality of its conference.

 

[easttexastrash]

Stanford's guards were severely overmatched against UCONN. I am not sure that I saw the speed required to compete against UCONN, ND or Baylor and I didn't see anything that made me think it will improve by March. But who knows...could have just been one of those days.

 

[cardfan]

You aren't seriously comparing Tenn's loss of Massengale with Stanford's loss of Green, are you?

The challenge for Stanford is that after the Tenn game it won't play another ranked opponent until the NCAAs. Tough to bring a young backcourt up to speed that way, not that Stanford can control the quality of its conference.

no, neither team is crippled. TN still has a lot of guards and so do we. The skill of the guards is at question. I've watched Tara for 25 years. Her team will improve greatly by March, regardless of the conference we play in.

I've seen Green play before she tore her ACL in h.s and her Achilles this yr. She will be very good when healthy.

 

[sarals24]

Why doesn't Stanford try to schedule some tougher teams in the middle of their conference games like UConn does? Duke, Oklahoma, UNC...those are all after Christmas. And with the Big East being strong, Uconn doesn't really even need to do that.

I understand that it's tough to schedule home and homes, blah blah blah, but surely most teams wouldn't object a winter trip to Palo Alto as much as they do to Storrs!

 

[cardfan]

Stanford's guards were severely overmatched against UCONN. I am not sure that I saw the speed required to compete against UCONN, ND or Baylor and I didn't see anything that made me think it will improve by March. But who knows...could have just been one of those days.

Frosh guard Camp had a very good game. She and Orrange will improve more throughout the year, as will Kokenis. It's not speed as much as execution, cutting down on TOs and breaking the press. Speed can be overrated if you don't execute fundamentals and shoot the ball well. Look at A&M and Duke this year.

 

[cardfan]

Why doesn't Stanford try to schedule some tougher teams in the middle of their conference games like UConn does? Duke, Oklahoma, UNC...those are all after Christmas. And with the Big East being strong, Uconn doesn't really even need to do that.

I understand that it's tough to schedule home and homes, blah blah blah, but surely most teams wouldn't object a winter trip to Palo Alto as much as they do to Storrs!

Because we can't. We only have so many # of non games available because the Pac 10, now 12, is the ONLY conf. that plays each team twice and stupid conf. tourney. That equals 25 games!

We have had many yrs with great non conf schedules (TN, UConn, Duke, Depaul, Purdue, Okl, GA, etc).

 

[UConnCat]

no, neither team is crippled. TN still has a lot of guards and so do we. The skill of the guards is at question. I've watched Tara for 25 years. Her team will improve greatly by March, regardless of the conference we play in.

I've seen Green play before she tore her ACL in h.s and her Achilles this yr. She will be very good when healthy.

Forget the word "crippled." Believe what you want, but analyst after analyst has made the point that Tenn with Massengale in the lineup is better than Tenn without Massengale in the lineup. She may not be shooting the ball well (not currently needed by Tenn), but she has a fantastic A/TO ratio of 35:15 which is significantly better than any of her teammates. In fact, no other Tenn player has a positive A/TO ratio and no other Tenn player currently has more than 11 assists. Tenn is not the same team without her. I'm sure Green will be good despite not playing for 2 full years. But she's irrelevant to a discussion about the impact of the loss of Massengale. A comparable loss for Stanford would be Kokenis, but not Green. Somehow I believe that if the tables were turned and it was Stanford playing without its starting point guard (Kokenis), you'd be singing a much different tune.

 

[cardfan]

Forget the word "crippled." Believe what you want, but analyst after analyst has made the point that Tenn with Massengale in the lineup is better than Tenn without Massengale in the lineup. She may not be shooting the ball well (not currently needed by Tenn), but she has a fantastic A/TO ratio of 35:15 which is significantly better than any of her teammates. In fact, no other Tenn player has a positive A/TO ratio and no other Tenn player currently has more than 11 assists. Tenn is not the same team without her. I'm sure Green will be good despite not playing for 2 full years. But she's irrelevant to a discussion about the impact of the loss of Massengale. A comparable loss for Stanford would be Kokenis, but not Green. Somehow I believe that if the tables were turned and it was Stanford playing without its starting point guard (Kokenis), you'd be singing a much different tune.

Of course I agree TN is better with Massengale in the line-up and have followed their stats. And no, I would not sing a different tune if Kokenis were hurt. We have other pgs, and some who may even be better than Kokenis over time. Had Green stayed healthy, she would have played vs. TN. Bball is about match-ups, and the even without Massengale, TN matches up well vs. Stanford. Simmons lit up us up last year and having Baugh back will certainly help. TN will be fine.

 

[speedoo]

I'm basing my opinion on Mallory's play last year. Muffet has always talked about her as the team's best defender though maybe Diggins has surpassed her. I haven't seen enough of ND yet this year.

Getting back to ND, for a second, this is from a recap of today's game:

"Brittany Rayburn, Purdue's leading scorer for the season, was held to four points on 1-for-7 shooting. She was ill and played just 24 minutes. Notre Dame defensive stopper Brittany Mallory handled her assignment.
"She's incredibly disciplined and determined," McGraw said. "She fights screens really well. We got some help at times when we needed it, but overall, she just guarded her one-on-one and did a really good job of taking away the three." "

Backing you up. I guess I am just too biased to objectively judge Mallory's defense, because she is not as gifted offensively as Diggins, Novasel, etc. I did not know Rayburn was ill... she looked fine to me.

 

[UConnCat]

Of course I agree TN is better with Massengale in the line-up and have followed their stats.

Glad we agree on this.

 

[UConnCat]

Getting back to ND, for a second, this is from a recap of today's game:

"Brittany Rayburn, Purdue's leading scorer for the season, was held to four points on 1-for-7 shooting. She was ill and played just 24 minutes. Notre Dame defensive stopper Brittany Mallory handled her assignment.
"She's incredibly disciplined and determined," McGraw said. "She fights screens really well. We got some help at times when we needed it, but overall, she just guarded her one-on-one and did a really good job of taking away the three." "

Backing you up. I guess I am just too biased to objectively judge Mallory's defense, because she is not as gifted offensively as Diggins, Novasel, etc. I did not know Rayburn was ill... she looked fine to me.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, meet Brittany Mallory.

On offense, Mallory is pretty much a 3-point shooter and she shoots a pretty good %. She likes the corner. But you're correct, she is not as talented and versatile as Diggins, Novasel and McBride.

 

[cardfan]

Getting back to ND, for a second, this is from a recap of today's game:

"Brittany Rayburn, Purdue's leading scorer for the season, was held to four points on 1-for-7 shooting. She was ill and played just 24 minutes. Notre Dame defensive stopper Brittany Mallory handled her assignment.
"She's incredibly disciplined and determined," McGraw said. "She fights screens really well. We got some help at times when we needed it, but overall, she just guarded her one-on-one and did a really good job of taking away the three." "

Backing you up. I guess I am just too biased to objectively judge Mallory's defense, because she is not as gifted offensively as Diggins, Novasel, etc. I did not know Rayburn was ill... she looked fine to me.

I love Mallory's game.

 

[cardfan]

Glad we agree on this.

and I bet a lot of money she'll play vs. Stanford.

 

[speedoo]

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, meet Brittany Mallory.

On offense, Mallory is pretty much a 3-point shooter and she shoots a pretty good %. She likes the corner. But you're correct, she is not as talented and versatile as Diggins, Novasel and McBride.

About McBride... she has not impressed me so far. What am I missing?

 

[HuskyFan1125]

About McBride... she has not impressed me so far. What am I missing?

McBride is a shooter! She didnt light it up today, but she can! I think ND will be tough this year. Those seniors are a talented group!

As far as Stanford goes, i never worry about the Cardinal! Tara always has her team ready to play.

 

[UConnCat]

About McBride... she has not impressed me so far. What am I missing?

She does a little bit of everything. She is the team's 3rd leading scorer (12 ppg), is shooting 51% on FGs, and is the 2nd leading rebounder. Her 3-point shooting is not as good as expected (~ 30%) but that's true of the entire ND team so far. She has good size and is a good athlete. She missed the 2nd half of the season last year so she's still rounding in to form. I think she's going to be a lot like Novosel before her career is over.

 

[speedoo]

and I bet a lot of money she'll play vs. Stanford.

Who, Massengale? Impossible for her to play 10 days from now. She just had surgery and her left hand is in a cast and sling. They are saying she is out for 2 to 3 weeks, and my guess is they are being optimistic.

 

[cardfan]

Who, Massengale? Impossible for her to play 10 days from now. She just had surgery and her left hand is in a cast and sling. They are saying she is out for 2 to 3 weeks, and my guess is they are being optimistic.

I didn't know she had surgery. I read the 2-3 week timeline right after it happened and thought there was a chance she could play vs. us. Hope she gets better soon.

 

[speedoo]

I didn't know she had surgery. I read the 2-3 week timeline right after it happened and thought there was a chance she could play vs. us. Hope she gets better soon.

I should have taken your bet. Nothing like easy money.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was skeptical about ND, but am coming around. I think it is entirely possible that ND, UConn, and Baylor will lose only to each other. I had Baylor and UConn at the top. ND may be in their grouping. I'd put Stanford and Tennessee next, perhaps with Miami. Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, and TAMU are a notch farther down.

 

[speedoo]

I was skeptical about ND, but am coming around. I think it is entirely possible that ND, UConn, and Baylor will lose only to each other. I had Baylor and UConn at the top. ND may be in their grouping. I'd put Stanford and Tennessee next, perhaps with Miami. Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, and TAMU are a notch farther down.

We'll know a lot more about ND next weekend after they play Kentucky in South Bend. They will have revenge on their minds since Kentucky beat them at their place a year ago. If ND is as impressive against Kentucky as they were today, that will tell us a lot, no doubt about it.