OT: Maryland vs. UNC

[NFHusky13]

Watching the game now as it would be our next opponent (hopefully after a nice win tomorrow) and I am so impressed by Mir McLean's effort and athleticism. She looks like she could have developed into a Gabby-like player if she had stayed (relatively, I know). She's putting in yeoman's work.

Poffenbarger is 0-10 so far with 0-9 from 3.

Would be interesting if somehow Maryland pulled off the win and had to face UConn.

 

[JoePgh]

I didn't watch the whole game, but I looked at the box score. Cierra Toomey started, but played only 12 minutes, and scored 2 points on 1-for-1 shooting. She was not in foul trouble. She did come in at the end of the game to take the ball out-of-bounds to break Maryland's full court press.

Does anyone know why she played so few minutes? Was she ineffective in her minutes?

 

[jcoton56]

One again its bye bye Brenda. The cupcake diet just doesn’t work.

 

[VA Huskie]

I didn't watch the whole game, but I looked at the box score. Cierra Toomey started, but played only 12 minutes, and scored 2 points on 1-for-1 shooting. She was not in foul trouble. She did come in at the end of the game to take the ball out-of-bounds to break Maryland's full court press.

Does anyone know why she played so few minutes? Was she ineffective in her minutes?

Don’t know about today, but she often starts and doesn’t play starters minutes. She hasn’t turned into the player they expected when she was coming out of hs.

 

[ucmiami2]

Wow - Saylor had a DT freshman year type game 1-12 0-10 from 3. If she has just an average game they likely win. Had 10 d-boards and 4 steals, but brick city in her 38 minutes.

I don't think schedule has anything to do with this loss. Retaining players and having any bench is a much bigger issue at Maryland. With their Big10 schedule they ended with a SOS 22 and a Massey rating of 16. and they were 11-7 in conference with wins against Mich St and Ohio St down the stretch.

It also points to the down side of the women's tournament - winning true road games is tough and general seen as -3 points for the road team and a +3 for the home team, so a game like this one on a neutral court is probably an OT game or a buzzer beater or miss. The top 16 teams are starting every game they play with a 6-0 lead before the tap. I understand why the women's game still uses home courts, and the atmosphere is certainly better than an empty gym, but hopefully this too will change as the game improves its audience and cash flow.

(You just need to look at tournament teams home/road records to see how important home court is.)

 

[bballnut90]

Wow - Saylor had a DT freshman year type game 1-12 0-10 from 3. If she has just an average game they likely win. Had 10 d-boards and 4 steals, but brick city in her 38 minutes.

I don't think schedule has anything to do with this loss. Retaining players and having any bench is a much bigger issue at Maryland. With their Big10 schedule they ended with a SOS 22 and a Massey rating of 16. and they were 11-7 in conference with wins against Mich St and Ohio St down the stretch.

It also points to the down side of the women's tournament - winning true road games is tough and general seen as -3 points for the road team and a +3 for the home team, so a game like this one on a neutral court is probably an OT game or a buzzer beater or miss. The top 16 teams are starting every game they play with a 6-0 lead before the tap. I understand why the women's game still uses home courts, and the atmosphere is certainly better than an empty gym, but hopefully this too will change as the game improves its audience and cash flow.

(You just need to look at tournament teams home/road records to see how important home court is.)

Saylor's always been a high energy active player but hasn't ever been an efficient shooter. Career splits of 36/29/74 just isn't good for a starter on a team that's consistently top 20. I didn't watch the full game but at some point she should've stopped shooting or attack the basket if she's open when she's 0-10 from 3.

Maryland's bigger issue has been injuries, as they effectively lost 4 players to ACLs this year include Kaylene Smikel who led them with 17.9 ppg a year ago. Player retention has improved at Maryland compared to the era when All Americans were transferring out every season. This team would've been very different if they had her and Bri McDaniel (double digit scorer the last 2 seasons) in the lineup.

Maryland's upside is quite good for next year with those 2 back plus Okananwa/Mack.

And home court advantage is definitely a huge advantage. In 2021 when it was a true neutral court due to covid, only 10/16 top 4 seeds made it to the Sweet 16 which is the fewest in the last 10 years. Typically 3-4 teams will pull off upsets.

 

[Charliebball]

Neither team was particularly impressive, although that wasn't due to a lack of effort......it was great to see MM playing well but I'm not sure that she or Saylor would be playing big minutes at UConn if they had stayed.....

 

[cabbie191]

I didn't watch the game but got reports from my traveling bride. She said that among other things, MD tanked from the free throw line and were miserable shooting 3-pointers, and the box score backs up her observation. They missed 14 free throws (55% shooting) and were 13% on the 3-pointers.

If they had shot their free throws with the same efficiency as they did Friday, they would have won.

 

[packwrap]

Watching the game now as it would be our next opponent (hopefully after a nice win tomorrow) and I am so impressed by Mir McLean's effort and athleticism. She looks like she could have developed into a Gabby-like player if she had stayed (relatively, I know). She's putting in yeoman's work.

Poffenbarger is 0-10 so far with 0-9 from 3.

Would be interesting if somehow Maryland pulled off the win and had to face UConn.

I always enjoy following the former UConn players and with Q at NC State, Ines at Gonzaga and the Maryland duo, it's been a great year for that.

Forgetting all the gossip and discussions, the main driver of moves is 99% playing time, and all these ladies enjoyed plenty of playing time this year in big, meaningful games. Happy for them.

The irony with Mir and Saylor was they saw a future with limited playing time behind Aubrey, Caroline, Paige and Azzi. Of course the way things worked out with all the injuries, both Mir and Saylor could have played plenty.

Mir in addition to her basketball exploits has had an interesting academic journey. Her BA from Virginia is in Arabic Studies and at Maryland she is working on a Masters in International Relations. Even in the NIL world, we still have student/athletes. 😁

 

[FanSince17]

I always enjoy following the former UConn players and with Q at NC State, Ines at Gonzaga and the Maryland duo, it's been a great year for that.

Forgetting all the gossip and discussions, the main driver of moves is 99% playing time, and all these ladies enjoyed plenty of playing time this year in big, meaningful games. Happy for them.

The irony with Mir and Saylor was they saw a future with limited playing time behind Aubrey, Caroline, Paige and Azzi. Of course the way things worked out with all the injuries, both Mir and Saylor could have played plenty.

Mir in addition to her basketball exploits has had an interesting academic journey. Her BA from Virginia is in Arabic Studies and at Maryland she is working on a Masters in International Relations. Even in the NIL world, we still have student/athletes. 😁

Didn't Mir have big injuries too? Knees? More so at UVA, no?

 

[oldude]

I watched the game and neither team would be much of a threat for the Huskies. I too was surprised at how little Toomey played for UNC.

The Tar Heels have some good players. But like just about every other team UConn has faced, NC will wilt under the Huskies constant pressure.