Oregon (2) @ Arizona St - 1/10/20

[TheFarmFan]

Not gonna lie - was more excited for this game than for Stanford-Cal (and apparently, with good reason). I'm so impressed with CTT's coaching, execution, and adjustments; this game, like many games, makes me wonder what her teams could become if she could attract top talent to Tempe. She is so clearly a chip off the Tara block - they did an excellent job scouting Oregon's patterns on offense, limiting the pick and rolls, and disrupting Sabally and Hebard and drawing some fouls.

Winning ugly is ASU's calling card, and for 3 quarters it was more like "stay in it ugly," but down the stretch they were finding their shots and it felt like Oregon went deer in the headlights. Over the last few minutes, ASU actually looked like the better team, not just the team gutting it out. Also, it seemed like in the last 5 minutes Oregon's game plan was just give it to Sabrina and see if she can make something happen. I like Ionescu a lot, but this was the epitome of the brand of futile hero ball she has a tendency to run when Oregon gets behind in close games.

More than anything, you could tell ASU wanted it way, way more.

 

[Figurehead]

Not gonna lie - was more excited for this game than for Stanford-Cal (and apparently, with good reason). I'm so impressed with CTT's coaching, execution, and adjustments; this game, like many games, makes me wonder what her teams could become if she could attract top talent to Tempe. She is so clearly a chip off the Tara block - they did an excellent job scouting Oregon's patterns on offense, limiting the pick and rolls, and disrupting Sabally and Hebard and drawing some fouls.

Winning ugly is ASU's calling card, and for 3 quarters it was more like "stay in it ugly," but down the stretch they were finding their shots and it felt like Oregon went deer in the headlights. Over the last few minutes, ASU actually looked like the better team, not just the team gutting it out. Also, it seemed like in the last 5 minutes Oregon's game plan was just give it to Sabrina and see if she can make something happen. I like Ionescu a lot, but this was the epitome of the brand of futile hero ball GRAVES has a tendency to run when Oregon gets behind in close games.

More than anything you could tell ASU wanted way more. And on Oregon side just Ionescu by herself

Fix it above. Graves relies too much on her. Maybe puts too much on her too often? And I am not sure what Sabally wants to do for the team this year. That is the biggest disappointment in play this year, Satou....

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

ASU secured the game at the charity strike.

I wonder if the curtain of distraction played a part?

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Why not, SEC has been getting away with that in all sports for years.

When is the last time the PAC-12 won a championship in football, MBB or WBB?

 

[newfrontier]

Not this year. Oregon walks on water in Bristol and UConn has been nothing but a lot of questions. If you don't believe that try going down the headlines for the last 2 months.

yeah, could ESPN kiss Sabrina's behind any more than they already do? Of course she's very good, but it
seems like they carry at least 2 stories on her each week. There will be yet another on Sunday....about how mentally tough Sabrina is, about how she quickly forgets about a loss and moves on to bigger and better things, about how she has unusual hobbies, such as collecting toothpicks from across the nation and globally too, about how she has a pet gerbil named Donald who is her best friend...... (yes, I'm making these things up)

 

[eebmg]

yeah, could ESPN kiss Sabrina's behind any more than they already do? Of course she's very good, but it
seems like they carry at least 2 stories on her each week. There will be yet another on Sunday....about how mentally tough Sabrina is, about how she quickly forgets about a loss and moves on to bigger and better things, about how she has unusual hobbies, such as collecting toothpicks from across the nation and globally too, about how she has a pet gerbil named Donald who is her best friend...... (yes, I'm making these things up)

I like the soon to written story about how she will save the Liberty and the WNBA.

 

[mbr33ct]

Should there be a thread called, Kelly - This one was on you?

 

[j66kicker]

I wonder if the curtain of distraction played a part?

It certainly seemed to with Hebard - she missed 3 of 4 FT’s when the game was on the line in Q4. OTOH Sabrina nailed 4/4 in that same stretch. ??

 

[Shades]

They didn't play the USA. They played a team whose members won't see many minutes when the games count. I still would pick Oregon as most likely to win the title but "in a down year".

They played a team made up of players retired from overseas ball... like Bird (missed most of last WNBA season), Taurasi (missed most of last WNBA season), Fowles, Augustus (missed most of last WNBA season)... and a player that never plays overseas in Diggins (missed all of last WNBA season). Absent were heavy-hitters like Delle Donne (back), Stewart (Achilles), Wilson (funeral), Griner (overseas), Maya (sabbatical), McCoughtry (ACL) .

 

[domerduck]

[QUOTE="j66kicker, post: 3394397, member: 4447]
It certainly seemed to with Hebert - she missed 3 of 4 FT’s when the game was on the line in Q4. OTOH Sabrina nailed 4/4 in that same stretch. ??
[/QUOTE]
"Hebert" is the Ducks 6'5" QB (CFB) and "Hebard" is the Ducks 6'4" Forward (WBB). They are both tall so I can see how you got them confused since they look so much alike except Ruthie is from Alaska, and Justin is from Oregon. Easy to get them mixed up.

 

[WestCoast]

With Stanford losing to CAL tonight maybe UCONN fans might be right about the P-12?

What game was Figurehead watching? Stanford blew out Cal last night.

 

[WestCoast]

It certainly seemed to with Hebard - she missed 3 of 4 FT’s when the game was on the line in Q4. OTOH Sabrina nailed 4/4 in that same stretch. ??

Yes. As noted above, blame Hebard's misses on ASU's Curtain of Distraction. I am not a Ducks fan, but my two favorite teams have also shot free throws poorly in Tempe. I do believe that ASU's curtain should be moved further away from the court so that it is less likely to impact the peripheral vision of the shooters. It seems to be against the sportsmanship and fair play principles that the PAC-12 tries to champion in its pre-game PSAs. The curtain is amusing, but often crosses the line of what should be allowed so close to the players.

 

[WestCoast]

Whoa!, UCLA is strugling tonight too! Ugly play so far. Upset city?

UCLA ends up winning by 30. Stanford by 33 over Cal. Remind me to never rely on Figurehead's in-game predictions. They may be the kiss of death.

 

[azfan]

Ya gotta believe! Down the stretch our seniors were unbelievable. Hardcore defense. Jamie Ruden matching Sabrina bucket for bucket down the stretch.

ASU's 4th quarter defensive intensity and commitment recalled last year's team. To my way of thinking to keys to the game were the two missed free throws by Ruthie and then of course with less than a minute left Jamie Rudin's rebound of a missed free throw.

The students rushed the court after the victory one of the most emotional and wonderful events I've seen at ASU. As I said the seniors turned up huge in this game. Robbi Ryan did a great job in her 25 minutes of play on Sabrina. Jamie Ruden was on fire in the fourth quarter along with the key rebound I mentioned. Rielli Richardson had both great defense and hit key threes down the stretch.

Signature win for Arizona State.

ASU Women’s Basketball: Sun Devils stun No. 2 Oregon in 72-66 win

Finally knock off a ranked opponent

www.houseofsparky.com

Blame Hebard's misses on ASU's Curtain of Distraction. I am not a Ducks fan, but my two favorite teams have also shot free throws poorly in Tempe. I do believe that ASU's curtain should be moved further away from the court so that it is less likely to impact the peripheral vision of the shooters. It seems to be against the sportsmanship and fair play principles that the PAC-12 tries to champion in its pre-game PSAs. The curtain is amusing, but often crosses the line of what should be allowed so close to the players.

Interesting perspective. As a Sun Devil I would counter that this is part of the excitement and fun of college and college athletics. if you look at other games or arenas around the country I'm thinking now of places like Duke there's considerably more distraction than the curtain of distraction in Tempe.

As you point out Ruthie missed three of four three throws in the second half with the curtain of distraction in action. I will bet however if you talk to her she'd say she messed for reasons other than being distracted. As you recall the curtain of distraction didn't seem to bother Sabrina in the least.

That said I'm always interested in what the students will come up with for the curtain of distraction. I think it gives away for kids in school to be involved in the game in a fun way.

 

[j66kicker]

That said I'm always interested in what the students will come up with for the curtain of distraction. I think it gives away for kids in school to be involved in the game in a fun way.

My fav was at a men's game right before Christmas a year or 2 ago - they had coeds dressed as elves & Santa's helpers (very - as much as you could get away with in that setting). I dunno if it distracted the FT shooters, but it definitely distracted me!

 

[Gamecockfan77]

They didn't play the USA. They played a team whose members won't see many minutes when the games count. I still would pick Oregon as most likely to win the title but "in a down year".

And USA looked shaky in that whole series of games. But Oregon got a tremendous amount of mileage out of that exhibition.

It's a wide open year.

 

[domerduck]

It certainly seemed to with Hebard - she missed 3 of 4 FT’s when the game was on the line in Q4. OTOH Sabrina nailed 4/4 in that same stretch. ??

Good job fixing your spelling error. Being from Oregon it took me a while to realize Justin and Ruthie weren't siblings until I noticed their last name's were spelled differently. It's nice Boneyard let's you fix errors unless someone had replied to it already as I had earlier.

As for the Duck's freethrows, the rest of the team (other than Sabrina) shot FTs terribly as well-only 30% so Ruthie's 25% was in par with the others. The Ducks win this game if each team had shot their season average (which was 78.2% for the Ducks and 65.5% for ASU going into the game), but ASU was lights out (86.4%) over the 22 free throws which gave them 5 more points and the Oregon got 2 to 3 points less with their paltry 50% overall, even with the disparity in attempts.

You got to make your free throws. Don't know if it was the "distraction:, but hopefully the Ducks learn from it. I suspect they will kick ASU's butt when they play in Eugene on February 9.

 

[nwhoopfan]

When is the last time the PAC-12 won a championship in football, MBB or WBB?

A long time, but they win pretty much everything else on a regular basis.

 

[azfan]

Good job fixing your spelling error. Being from Oregon it took me a while to realize Justin and Ruthie weren't siblings until I noticed their last name's were spelled differently. It's nice Boneyard let's you fix errors unless someone had replied to it already as I had earlier.

As for the Duck's freethrows, the rest of the team (other than Sabrina) shot FTs terribly as well-only 30% so Ruthie's 25% was in par with the others. The Ducks win this game if each team had shot their season average (which was 78.2% for the Ducks and 65.5% for ASU going into the game), but ASU was lights out (86.4%) over the 22 free throws which gave them 5 more points and the Oregon got 2 to 3 points less with their paltry 50% overall, even with the disparity in attempts.

You got to make your free throws. Don't know if it was the "distraction:, but hopefully the Ducks learn from it. I suspect they will kick ASU's butt when they play in Eugene on February 9.

I agree. This was an outlier for the Sun Devils in terms of hitting their free throws.

And definitely in the fourth quarter their lights out shooting was an anomaly. Their offense looked like this in the two games against the service academies early in the year but since then nothing like the efficiency with what they scored in the fourth quarter.

I think it's extremely difficult to win on the road in the Pac-12. So ASU will definitely have their hands full when they travel to Corvallis and Eugene later in the season.

I sat next to a couple from Eugene who just happened to be in Tempe. They are season ticket holders and they were amazed at the quality of the seats we had. We were sitting in about 15 rows up at midcourt. They said that their seats in Eugene are in the very top row.

I said this is one of the advantages of being a fan in Arizona due to lower attendance we always get a great seat.

Can't wait for the Beavers tomorrow at 2!

 

[j66kicker]

Good job fixing your spelling error. Being from Oregon it took me a while to realize Justin and Ruthie weren't siblings until I noticed their last name's were spelled differently. It's nice Boneyard let's you fix errors unless someone had replied to it already as I had earlier.

As for the Duck's freethrows, the rest of the team (other than Sabrina) shot FTs terribly as well-only 30% so Ruthie's 25% was in par with the others. The Ducks win this game if each team had shot their season average (which was 78.2% for the Ducks and 65.5% for ASU going into the game), but ASU was lights out (86.4%) over the 22 free throws which gave them 5 more points and the Oregon got 2 to 3 points less with their paltry 50% overall, even with the disparity in attempts.

You got to make your free throws. Don't know if it was the "distraction:, but hopefully the Ducks learn from it. I suspect they will kick ASU's butt when they play in Eugene on February 9.

Yes I made a spelling error. Thanks for pointing that out - twice.

I also made another mistake. After the first 3 minutes last night I said it looked to me like if Oregon played ASU 10 times the Ducks would win all 10. I was clearly and indisputably wrong - they have played once and the Ducks have won zero. What is your W/L on the other 9?

 

[mbr33ct]

Yes I made a spelling error. Thanks for pointing that out - twice.

I also made another mistake. After the first 3 minutes last night I said it looked to me like if Oregon played ASU 10 times the Ducks would win all 10. I was clearly and indisputably wrong - they have played once and the Ducks have won zero. What is your W/L on the other 9?

Can't blame you much there, apparently you've been ESPNized thinking Oregon is invincible this year.

 

[Plebe]

They tried writing story about Destiny Slocum but no one at ESPN had big enough lips.

Huh? What does this mean?

 

[WestCoast]

Huh? What does this mean?

I am speculating that Figurehead was responding to a poster who stated that the announcers were kissing the behind of Ionescu with their lavish praise of her game. I let it go but was tempted to call him out for taking a shot at Slocum.

I just let it go because it was one of Figurehead's posts. Thankfully, most posters on this board don't feel compelled to denigrate the players with comments like that.

 

[j66kicker]

Can't blame you much there, apparently you've been ESPNized thinking Oregon is invincible this year.

Not just ESPN. I've watched them play, and they're fun to watch when they're 'on'. They totally destroyed previously-unbeaten (but highly suspect) Colorado, and looked absolutely scary. Sometimes Hebard & Ionescu seem to have a mind-link developed from years of playing together, and just seem to toy with the other team. And Hebard can be an absolute beast down low. When that happens, and Sabrina is Sabrina, look out.

But I guess all that is hit or miss. Yesterday they didn't get much outta Moore, Boley or Sabally. Ruthie and Sabrina just weren't enough. Will be fun to see what they do against Arizona tomorrow.

 

[Shades]

Will be fun to see what they do against Arizona tomorrow.

Revenge game.... even though it’s a different AZ team.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Revenge game.... even though it’s a different AZ team.

Will be interesting. Oregon humiliated Arizona twice during the regular season last year. I'm sure the Cats will be highly motivated to not get swept at home this weekend. Both teams are gonna want to respond w/ a W very much.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Ya like UConn did to Houston today. Wouldn’t wanna be U of A tomorrow.

It could go that way, but the difference is Arizona is a lot better than Houston I'd have to say.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Ya like UConn did to Houston today. Wouldn’t wanna be U of A tomorrow.

U of A is not Houston; Houston is awful.

 

[j66kicker]

It could go that way, but the difference is Arizona is a lot better than Houston I'd have to say.

U of A is not Houston; Houston is awful.

Gotcha. Same idea though:

Oregon is pissed.
Oregon is significantly better than Arizona.
This could be 3 blowouts in a row.

 

[newfrontier]

Gotcha. Same idea though:

Oregon is pissed.
Oregon is significantly better than Arizona.
This could be 3 blowouts in a row.

On paper, Oregon has more talent than Arizona, but Oregon being "significantly better than Arizona" remains to be seen. This year is not last year when Oregon blew them out twice. Arizona is not happy they lost to Oregon State Friday night, so they will be motivated too. Could be another barn burner.