ND formidable roster.

[Gamecockfan77]

They went into play No.4 Maryland the second game of the season...seriously...you're joking right. This team never got rattled with the exception of the Indiana game when Boston was dealing with the loss of her teacher that she was very close to. It effected the entire team....but the NCAA tournament would not produce heartache and they performed under pressure all year...and as I said....they were no longer freshmen at that point. They had already player the best....so they would have no extra pressure anymore than any other team....Geno even said.."these girls don't play like freshmen"....

Boston was dealing with touch fouls she didn't see called the rest of the year, but that's besides the point.

South Carolina didn't put a whole lot of scoring pressure on any of the freshmen aside from Zia Cooke.

Cooke improved dramatically over the course of the season, but I did think that her play might be the difference in a late round tournament game.

I think she had some of her better moments in bigger games, so I don't know how that would have gone.

In general, my guess is that this USC team won't be quite as good as the last one. I think it will be very good and has as big a ceiling as anyone, but I'd be a little surprised if they were as dominant.

 

[DefenseBB]

Where are these facts you talk about? "they were supposed to lose"? Is that one of your facts? In fact the only "facts" you mention are the rankings, which ironically are opinions, not facts.


That was a preseason ranking which is based mostly on reputation and very few FACTS. MD always gets a nice pre-season ranking, mostly because Brenda is an excellent recruiter and the team is loaded with talent. However MD never seems to produce to their talent level and along with Tenn has been overrated in the preseason more years than not.
All those wins against B1G teams ranked 15-25 got them a 4 ranking late in the season but they also lost to 2 unranked teams.

Me thinks your biasness against the Terps is showing. If you want to use facts, which are out there for gathering, you will see Brenda made the FF in 2 consecutive year in 2013 and 2014. To say she can just recruit is not completely accurate. You can't just roll the ball onto the court and say "play" and expect your team to naturally make it to a Final Four.

As far as the Big10 goes, yes, they had been down and many times overrated as a conference due to moderate success of Purdue in the 90's. After all the Big10 has won only 1 NCAAT. However this past year, the Big10 was arguably the 2nd best conference and deeper than any others. The real issue is the "elite teams of the Big10" are not equal to Oregon, Stanford, Baylor, SC, MSU, Louisville or ND who DOMINATE their conference. So other than the PAC-12 who had 6 quality teams, most other conferences had MAJOR drop offs after 1, 2 or 3 teams.

Let's be a bit more analytical in our assessments and note we all have biasness. I AM NOT A BRENDA fan by any regard however she has had remarkable success when compared to all but 7-10 coaches including the beloved Doug Bruno, Wes Moore, Scott Rueck, Vic Schaefer and some other noted strategists. Humbly submitted,
DefenseBB

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Have to agree that trumpeting Maryland as the #4 team is gilding the lily a bit. Always overrated. Always under perform.

The biggest takeaway from the Maryland game was that South Carolina had a damn good defense.

By the end of the season, it had a hell of an offense too.

But see my other posts and realize this not pure cheerleading.

 

[jumpstart]

Where are these facts you talk about? "they were supposed to lose"? Is that one of your facts? In fact the only "facts" you mention are the rankings, which ironically are opinions, not facts.


That was a preseason ranking which is based mostly on reputation and very few FACTS. MD always gets a nice pre-season ranking, mostly because Brenda is an excellent recruiter and the team is loaded with talent. However MD never seems to produce to their talent level and along with Tenn has been overrated in the preseason more years than not.
All those wins against B1G teams ranked 15-25 got them a 4 ranking late in the season but they also lost to 2 unranked teams and lost to two of the ranked teams they beat at home.

The facts are...Maryland was favored (not my opinion)...South Carolina was a team of mostly freshmen (not my opinion)...it was a home game for Maryland (not my opinion)..Maryland had all 5 starters returning (not my opinion)...it was a nationally televised game (not my opinion)...it was the second game of the season for those freshmen....(and again, not my opinion)...do I need to go on...or do you get it ?

 

[JonathanXIV]

The facts are...Maryland was favored (not my opinion)...South Carolina was a team of mostly freshmen (not my opinion)...it was a home game for Maryland (not my opinion)..Maryland had all 5 starters returning (not my opinion)...it was a nationally televised game (not my opinion)...it was the second game of the season for those freshmen....(and again, not my opinion)...do I need to go on...or do you get it ?

Here's a thought. Now that this argument has been beaten into the ground, we can get back to the original thread. I know, I'm dreaming.

 

[Alydar]

View attachment 57701
And you have the nerve to accuse posters of having no clue!
Experience (freshmen) home court and playing in front of a National TV audience definitively have an outcome on the final score. These are human beings your talking about not a game in your basement fantasy league.

Try reading my post again. My "no clue" comment was clearly about setting lines for games (predicting winners) only.

Favored? Lines are opinions, not facts. Let me explain that point since you don't seem to have a clue.

But go ahead and continue to respond to things you invent in your mind instead of what I actually say.
Calling a team the favorite for any reason is subjective. Sure, lots of facts are usually used to support the opinion but they are usually cherry-picked facts that support the prediction. And when facts are cherry-picked then the conclusion is an opinion, not a fact. While some are better than others at predicting outcomes, all predictions are opinions.

 

[Mdoggie]

I agree, but what about NDs formidable roster?

 

[CocoHusky]

Try reading my post again. My "no clue" comment was clearly about setting lines for games (predicting winners) only. But go ahead and continue to respond to things you invent in your mind instead of what I actually say.
Calling a team the favorite for any reason is subjective. Sure, lots of facts are usually used to support the opinion but they are usually cherry-picked facts that support the prediction. And when facts are cherry-picked then the conclusion is an opinion, not a fact. While some are better than others at predicting outcomes, all predictions are opinions.

 

[Alydar]

Why don't you do some more dancing around the "fact" that you are wrong. The "fact" is...they were favored. I would absolutely hate to have you on an assessment team. You have no skills that anyone could rely on...If you make an assessment from facts or data...it's not an opinion...it's a conclusion based on facts or data. Can they be wrong...yes...but they are more reliable that the "nilly willy" approach you seem to use. You could make any argument about anything being or not being a factor....there are factors and to ignore that is blatant foolishness or a total disregard for the truth...which you seem to not understand. It's OK for Maryland to have an off night...but not OK for South Carolina to have caused it....? Wow...like talking to a wall...

The only line I was able to find was Massey and they had it a one pt game so it was essentially a pick-em game. That is a fact. What is your source for the turtles being favored? You are obviously a huge Gamecock fan who sees things with tinted glasses on. You need to believe that your girls were huge underdogs and pulled off a miracle win against the odds. Well my friend, it wasn't that way.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

The only line I was able to find was Massey and they had it a one pt game so it was essentially a pick-em game. That is a fact. What is your source for the turtles being favored? You are obviously a huge Gamecock fan who sees things with tinted glasses on. You need to believe that your girls were huge underdogs and pulled off a miracle win against the odds. Well my friend, it wasn't that way.

All the poster said was that Maryland was favored. Which they were. They were ranked higher with a more veteran team and playing at home.

Citing Massey for an early season game is probably pretty useless but even so Massey had Maryland favored.

I'm not sure he claimed that South Carolina was a huge underdog or that it was a miracle win. That doesn't really make sense to me at all.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Why don't you do some more dancing around the "fact" that you are wrong. The "fact" is...they were favored. I would absolutely hate to have you on an assessment team. You have no skills that anyone could rely on...If you make an assessment from facts or data...it's not an opinion...it's a conclusion based on facts or data. Can they be wrong...yes...but they are more reliable that the "nilly willy" approach you seem to use. You could make any argument about anything being or not being a factor....there are factors and to ignore that is blatant foolishness or a total disregard for the truth...which you seem to not understand. It's OK for Maryland to have an off night...but not OK for South Carolina to have caused it....? Wow...like talking to a wall...

Some unsolicited advice. Let it go.

 

[CocoHusky]

The only line I was able to find was Massey and they had it a one pt game so it was essentially a pick-em game. That is a fact. What is your source for the turtles being favored? You are obviously a huge Gamecock fan who sees things with tinted glasses on. You need to believe that your girls were huge underdogs and pulled off a miracle win against the odds. Well my friend, it wasn't that way.

 

[jumpstart]

Some unsolicited advice. Let it go.

Hence my "talking to a wall.."...lol....I had already decided we had some serious cognitive dissonance going on there.....no need to feed it.

 

[hoophuskee]

All the poster said was that Maryland was favored. Which they were. They were ranked higher with a more veteran team and playing at home.

No-- the poster jumpstart treats the SC frosh like they are incapable of failure. It's like talking to a wall with this guy without an understanding of pressure.

 

[visitingcock]

SCar at Maryland. It was the second game of the season for both teams. A team won and a team lost. One team was a definite one-seed by the end of the year. The other was a probable one-seed at the end of the year.

Now, about that formidable Notre Dame roster. Tell me more. Should we expect them to win the ACC this year? Challenger? Do they need more talent to compete at the top?

 

[jumpstart]

No-- the poster jumpstart treats the SC frosh like they are incapable of failure. It's like talking to a wall with this guy without an understanding of pressure.

No...I said they would not all fail in the same game...big difference. They all had freshmen moments but theirs were no different than a sophomore, junior or a senior failing in the moment. The fact that they were freshmen and finished the season the way they did would not give credence to a "failure" during the tournament had it been played. The argument was...they would have failed because of the freshmen pressure. That is an absurd statement considering they had already beat the many ranked teams they beat. They won the SEC tournament and no game was close. The freshmen pressure was long gone by that point. They were sophomores by that point. They may have lost in the tournament but it would not be freshmen pressure that did it. If a kid has an off night...they have an off night. It happens to every class of players...even pros that have played for years have off nights. The argument was flawed form the outset. Did LeBron have an off night because of the 17th years pressure....? He should NEVER have an off night according to your argument. He's no rookie failing to rookie pressure. No...he is human and had an off night. Just like every player does....freshmen or not !