Oregon (9) @ Miss St (5) Tonite

[BroadwayVa]

MS St is for real and they will definitely be a threat to make it back to their 2nd straight FF, but if the Bulldogs and the Huskies tangle again, make no mistake about it, MS St will be facing a much more difficult UConn team.

Last night, McCowan looked like a superstar, Vivians was unstoppable and MS St pressured Oregon into numerous TO’s and bad shots. If the Bulldogs face the Huskies again in the Big Dance, they will face a slew of challenges.

As with last year, Vivians will face a lock down defender, either Kia or Gabby. McCowan will not be able to simply park herself in the paint. Gabby, Pheesa or Z will pull her out of the paint when she’s on defense opening up the lane. When she’s on offense she’ll be bodied up, fronted and doubled. But mostly McCowan will be forced to deal with a 6’6” athletic post in Z who can run, shoot and challenge her shots.

As for the Bulldogs pressure defense, they will not face another pg all season like Crystal Dangerfield. Danger’s ability to break pressure, beat people off the dribble, find open teammates and knock down shots can neutralize even the best pressure defense, as DePaul learned last week.

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Oldude: I forgot to say: Thanks for the great analysis--I enjoy diverse opionion especially when stated with analytical skills.

 

[Dillon77]

And you add the ND transfer Boley next season. I guess she is a SF ?

Kind of 3-4 tweener. The range and accuracy on her jumper is superb, from just inside the foul line to past the arc, so that's like a small forward. But she is not particularly quick on what I'd call "burst" speed, ability to pick up speed and/or react in a flash.This manifests itself on defense, mostly.

She can rebound hard: not a natural jumper by any means but boxes out and gives a tussle. Hence, she does some things better as a 4 and some as a three. The things she does well outside (shoot) are really, really good.

 

[mhshuskies]

MSU really looked good. McCowan has developed much better than I thought she would. She is the closest thing to Brown there is in the game. I still give Kalani the edge but it is much closer than it was last season. And she seems to have a lot of fun, which I love. She has obviously put in a lot of work and I am a big fan.

Vivians can really shoot the ball. I don't know how Oregon kept losing her last night and letting her shoot the three-ball. That always baffles me when the best shooter on the court has no defender around her.

William is the perfect PG for that team. She keeps her dribble alive and just keeps scooting around the court until something opens up on offense.

MSU may be the second best team in the nation.

They may be good but the previous most significant win was by 3 at home vs. Oklahoma State who got beat by Tenn. by 10, therefore Tenn should be ranked ahead of State.

 

[Bigboote]

This is the third Mississippi State game I've seen this year. Vivians has been pretty consistent -- I've been critical of her in the past as a low-percentage high-volume shooter, but she's really improved this year. McCowan is still inconsistent. This is the first game I've seen her dominate. She was in foul trouble in both of the others. If she's on they're very tough to beat.

I'm with the other person who said if Vivians keeps it up, she'll be a high draft pick. She's a high-energy player, good defender, good rebounder. She's playing the 4 for the most part this year, as Allisha Gray did when Coates went down last year for South Carolina. Playing the 4 in the SEC is good preparation for playing 2/3 in the WNBA.

 

[Alydar]

One thing to keep in mind is that Oregon State had to travel 3000 miles for this game. And no one other than UConn plays consistently at a high level this time of the year. Like Texas in the Tenn game, Oregon had a poor 3pt shooting game which effected their entire offensive game.
I remember watching UConn dominate Stanford in a holiday tournament game in 2008. When they later met in the final four it was an entirely different outcome.

 

[BroadwayVa]

One thing to keep in mind is that Oregon State had to travel 3000 miles for this game. And no one other than UConn plays consistently at a high level this time of the year. Like Texas in the Tenn game, Oregon had a poor 3pt shooting game which effected their entire offensive game.
I remember watching UConn dominate Stanford in a holiday tournament game in 2008. When they later met in the final four it was an entirely different outcome.

Thank you---few understand the impact of TRAVEL on even these young players--
I marvel at the UConn team--I'd say it takes a special dedication to do that--but the truth is I have no clue how Uconn does it.

 

[BroadwayVa]

MORE REPLY WITH IN THE BOX ABOVE
Yet with all you say---it is important to get as many youngsters prepared for SOME effective minutes in Guarding Vivian and or Morgan. We know they are not the only scorers for Ms St, but so far the most prolific. McGowan isn't their only true Big--and the sub is good but no as effective. Working to get McGowan in foul trouble is one way to negate her effect and allow Napheesa, and Gabby to run freely.

Ms State has a good coaching staff, a very talented with ability to execute and follow the coaching plans. Make the a very very good team--something I did not expect to see.

With these conversations on Mss St and Oregon---you have to admit it got our heads a bit away from missing Uconn this week--A BIT.

 

[SCspur]

This is the third Mississippi State game I've seen this year. Vivians has been pretty consistent -- I've been critical of her in the past as a low-percentage high-volume shooter, but she's really improved this year. McCowan is still inconsistent. This is the first game I've seen her dominate. She was in foul trouble in both of the others. If she's on they're very tough to beat.

I'm with the other person who said if Vivians keeps it up, she'll be a high draft pick. She's a high-energy player, good defender, good rebounder. She's playing the 4 for the most part this year, as Allisha Gray did when Coates went down last year for South Carolina. Playing the 4 in the SEC is good preparation for playing 2/3 in the WNBA.

The problem with her playing 4 this year is she isn't the rebounder nor can she defend the post like Gray can. Miss St only had 29 rebounds last night as a team and McCowan had 19 of those while Vivians only had 4. Agaisnt more physical and athletic teams like SC, Tenn, and TAMU I think Vivians will struggle defending the 4 because she'll likely face Wilson, Nared, and Howard who all are not only excellent rebounders but tough matchups defensively.

 

[easttexastrash]

They may be good but the previous most significant win was by 3 at home vs. Oklahoma State who got beat by Tenn. by 10, therefore Tenn should be ranked ahead of State.

Maybe Tennessee will be ranked ahead of MSU after they play each other. If only you could be certain which team is better by the mere comparison of results vs. mutual opponents.

 

[easttexastrash]

One thing to keep in mind is that Oregon State had to travel 3000 miles for this game. And no one other than UConn plays consistently at a high level this time of the year. Like Texas in the Tenn game, Oregon had a poor 3pt shooting game which effected their entire offensive game.
I remember watching UConn dominate Stanford in a holiday tournament game in 2008. When they later met in the final four it was an entirely different outcome.

 

[Alydar]

Alydar said: ↑
One thing to keep in mind is that Oregon State had to travel 3000 miles for this game. And no one other than UConn plays consistently at a high level this time of the year. Like Texas in the Tenn game, Oregon had a poor 3pt shooting game which effected their entire offensive game.
I remember watching UConn dominate Stanford in a holiday tournament game in 2008. When they later met in the final four it was an entirely different outcome.

 

[Bigboote]

The problem with her playing 4 this year is she isn't the rebounder nor can she defend the post like Gray can. Miss St only had 29 rebounds last night as a team and McCowan had 19 of those while Vivians only had 4. Agaisnt more physical and athletic teams like SC, Tenn, and TAMU I think Vivians will struggle defending the 4 because she'll likely face Wilson, Nared, and Howard who all are not only excellent rebounders but tough matchups defensively.

I don't disagree with much of what you said. I had't been impressed with Vivians till this year. She's improved a lot, but still has quite a ways to go to be in Gray's league. OTOH, she averages about 6 boards a game -- there weren't many available in the game last night, and with McCowan such a beast, I wouldn't read too much significance into last night's stats.

 

[GoCardinal]

Mississippi State will be vulnerable against teams that actually play defense, and are just as physical. Vivians simply won’t be able to play the 4 against some of the top SEC teams. She didn’t really do a great job defensively on Hebard. McCowan is good, but she is still prone to foul trouble and I wouldn’t trust her guarding pick & rolls just yet, she has slow feet. When Oregon started to drive directly into her, she fouled. They are still a good team though.

 

[willtalk]

MS St is for real and they will definitely be a threat to make it back to their 2nd straight FF, but if the Bulldogs and the Huskies tangle again, make no mistake about it, MS St will be facing a much more difficult UConn team.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McCowan will not be able to simply park herself in the paint. Gabby, Pheesa or Z will pull her out of the paint when she’s on defense opening up the lane. When she’s on offense she’ll be bodied up, fronted and doubled. But mostly McCowan will be forced to deal with a 6’6” athletic post in Z who can run, shoot and challenge her shots.----------------------.

Miss state is for real. However teams are never as good as their best game or as bad as their worst. Match ups are also important. McCowan is a really good player but she does have her weaknesses and those can be exploited by a smart game plan. Most of her damage was done on offensive put backs. Take that away and it is an entirely different game. The Oregon coach did not make the proper adjustments. One of which you mentioned. Putting a tall and quicker player on her defensively to keep her off the Glass. Graves didn't even try that with his tall quicker 6'6" post, probably because he overvalues offense and didn't want to give up the tradeoff. Other wise players like McGowan and Baylors Brown will just eat shorter players alive underneath. Especially when they can not double team because of their teammates hitting from the outside. I was thinking the same thing about Uconn's Stephens. One other weakness McCowan has is she is really slow and if you can speed up the game you take her out of the equation. Oregon did not have the team speed to do that. Uconn will match up better with Mss st. Better this year precisely because of Stephens.

 

[jonson]

As reasonable as this sounds, there is no way Oregon's 6'6" post could keep McGowan--or, in fact, any legitimate post with size--off the glass. She simply doesn't have the strength/bulk to do so and regularly gets knocked around whenever she gets a chance to play (usually during the final minutes of a blowout). At this point, Oregon doesn't seem to have an answer to a really big post with skills. They can do ok with someone like Hillsman (A&M), but McGowan is another matter, as was Oklahoma's Pierre-Louis, although Oregon had no trouble winning that game. But I think they'll learn (or at least do better) and believe that, by the end of the season, minus the 3000 mile road trip, and on a neutral court, they might very well come out on top in a rematch.

 

[oldude]

As reasonable as this sounds, there is no way Oregon's 6'6" post could keep McGowan--or, in fact, any legitimate post with size--off the glass. She simply doesn't have the strength/bulk to do so and regularly gets knocked around whenever she gets a chance to play (usually during the final minutes of a blowout). At this point, Oregon doesn't seem to have an answer to a really big post with skills. They can do ok with someone like Hillsman (A&M), but McGowan is another matter, as was Oklahoma's Pierre-Louis, although Oregon had no trouble winning that game. But I think they'll learn (or at least do better) and believe that, by the end of the season, minus the 3000 mile road trip, and on a neutral court, they might very well come out on top in a rematch.

It’s not just big, skilled posts that Oregon struggles with. Last year in the Elite 8 game, Pheesa & Gabby dominated Hebard & McGuire, scoring 28 & 25 pts respectively.