That post got 16 likes probably because it included UCONN as an overachiever and the use of the words "legit title threat" to describe this team. I'd say the poster understood his BY audience perfectly and no further explanation is required. Nice job @bballnut90 .
Interesting comment about the players TIna brought in. Before this year I didn’t think any of them were all that good, based on their performance. Mir looked ok, but nothing like this year.I might make a one for one switch on that phrase in orange: substitute "from" for "over."
As you probably recall, Coach Tina Thompson was let go after four years. One of the few things she did was get some competent transfers, ranging from Camryn Taylor and Taylor Valladay from Marquette to Mir McLean from UConn and McKenna Dale from Brown. However, that certainly didn't translate into a decent season (save for that game from nowhere against Duke).
Coach Mox added in Sam Brunelle, an unheralded frosh or two, and -- voila -- 10-0, beating teams that they should beat.
Like @triaddukefan , I look forward to that Dec. 21 rematch at Durham to get a reading on what the Hoo's state of play looks like vs. the ACC. I believe ND rolls into Charlottesville not long after to visit with Irish alum Sam Brunelle, so that should be interesting, too.
Agree. Oh, if I didn't make it clear-cut, I think Coach Mox is fully responsible for analyzing the parts and making them quite functionable. Will be watching the Duke game, for sure.
Kansas made the 2nd round last year and returned the bulk of their team. They should be poised to make a very strong Big 12 run this year.
Arizona looked completely out of sync. Gave up a lot of offensive rebounds to Kansas. Seemed like a lot of one on one ball on offense. Only 8 assists on 21 field goals. Kansas only had 11 on 29 but I think many Jayhawk baskets came on put backs. Kansas outrebounded Arizona by 20, 51-31. Arizona appeared to give up mid-way through the 4th quarter.
Pretty much, I was there. On top of the poor rebounding and excessive dribbling / one on one it was also true that Arizona's shooting was off. Don't know why, but shots players would typically make were largely not falling; Cate Reese was the only one with some shooting success (I haven't seen the actual stats, but I saw the half-time ones (where I sit on the floor they hand them out) and they were dreadful).
Offensively, Arizona looked to me like they often do: no real offensive flow, very few assists, too much one on one, inconsistent shooting, etc. In the past, forcing turnovers and having Ari McDonald do her thing made much of that moot. But this team doesn't seem on the same page defensively, and, as much as Pellington et al. tried to reprise what McDonald did game after game, it didn't really work. To put it another way, the whole seems quite a bit less than the sum of it parts.
Yes, Barnes post-game remarks included the reality that there are a bunch of players who were the main focus at their last location and are having trouble achieving balance with the other players. Again, there isn't any real hint of selfishness, rather just everyone trying too hard to do their thing.
Coach Schneider was just signed to a multi-year extension. And you're right -- that team is senior-laden, so there's experience.
Well, not to be a jerk, but how many top level transfers want to go to Iowa and already know they're the 5th option behind Clark being option 1-3 and Czinano being 4? That's a tough sell.
