PAC 12 WBB News

[nwhoopfan]

t just seems like we're not mentally where we want to be right now, and I think that extends beyond missing Kiana Williams. She was for sure a stabilizing influence, but I think something is going on beyond that.

Thank you, glad I'm not the only one who is thinking along these lines.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Colorado also stinks at free throw line, with Sherrod missing four out of four. Since I am restricted in referring to Colorado’s “soul crushing” defense, I will just say they held the 4-1 Louisanna Tech to 16 points in first half.

Arizona might be infringing on your trademark, or maybe Rutgers is just that bad offensively.

 

[Plebe]

I will just say they held the 4-1 Louisanna Tech to 16 points in first half.

Just FYI, two of those four wins in the 4-1 record are over non-D1 teams.

 

[Dokey]

Colorado wins 59-48, holding Techsters to under 30% shooting, though giving up 19 in lousy third quarter. Several Buffs in foul trouble. Free throws kept LaTech in the game. Sherrod continues to make bad decisions, charging to the basket when she has little chance of scoring and even when she’s fouled, she’s a terrible free throw shooter.

But

Her name is Kyndil Wetta, the daughter of a woman who played for Hall of Fame coach Ceal Barry in CU’s golden days, who was ranked 16th best incoming point guard in 2021 recruiting class. Forget 16th, she may be the most college ready freshman point guard in the country. She doesn’t shoot the three—yet—but she does just about everything else. Great ball handling, great cutting, tremendous defense. She said she chose CU to bring back the glory days. She just might do that.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Arizona over Rutgers 80-44.

Stanford over Maryland 86-68.

A bit of redemption for the Pac 12 today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I can't help but think Tameiya Sadler made a bad choice. She was a solid player as a Fr. at Washington. She's doing absolutely nothing at Colorado.

 

[jonson]

I'm not overly surprised by any of yesterday's results other than that Arizona so narrowly escaped Vandy. Oregon St., as Lo noted, has had a lot of personnel changes at the 1-3 positions, is reincorporating Kennedy Brown back into the lineup after a season and a half away, and is still adjusting after losing all of their offensive firepower from the Tudor/Pivec/Slocum/Goodman era. They were kind of a hot mess for most of last season and only finally started to gel at the end of the season.

UCLA is not surprising since they've literally lost almost half the team to recent injuries. Brutal. Oregon has similarly had to adjust to a lot of missing personnel. For that reason, I rated them much lower than AP/Coaches/BYers in the most recent poll because I didn't think either was a solid top 20 team with so much sudden missing personnel.

Stanford, I'm still not quite sure. Something has seemed off the past few games, especially with Jones coming back from her mystery ailment. And in general, the team seems tight and in their own heads when it comes to both three pointers and free throws. A ton of open shots that miss badly. It just seems like we're not mentally where we want to be right now, and I think that extends beyond missing Kiana Williams. She was for sure a stabilizing influence, but I think something is going on beyond that. Hopefully, as others have said, Tara will know how to right the ship as she has done so many times before.

Based on games I've watched involving Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon, and Oregon State the past few days, I'd say that Oregon State looks closest to being what they should be by, say, February, although I also think they will be vulnerable to really quick guards and post players who can get Jones in foul trouble, something that's not as hard as it should be.

Maryland was obviously shorthanded, but they are also the kind of team that is likely to cure whatever problems Stanford has--and they certainly did that today. That said, absent someone going off like Jerome did today, I'm still not convinced that Stanford has solved what I see as some offensive shortcomings, and their guard play may be another challenge for Tara.

UCLA looked to me like UCLA always looks, but absent uber-athletes like Canada or Onyenwere; and Arizona, even though undefeated (they should have lost to Vandy) seems to me really challenged on the offensive side unless they can create a lot of live ball turnovers--kind of like another version of the team Arizona State often is. As for Oregon, who knows when we will see the team that was supposed to take the court this season? But I also don't feel quite as bad about the two recent losses after watching other teams that are short-handed--but not absent their 3 best players--get sent home with an L.

At present, I'd rank the above Stanford, Oregon State, Arizona, Oregon, UCLA/Arizona State.

 

[nwhoopfan]

absent someone going off like Jerome did today

I have to assume you mean Jump?

 

[Dokey]

I can't help but think Tameiya Sadler made a bad choice. She was a solid player as a Fr. at Washington. She's doing absolutely nothing at Colorado.

When she transferred, she may not have known Wetta was committing to Buffs. Or how good Wetta is. But I wouldn’t say she’s doing nothing. She has made some solid contributions off the bench. Miller is contributing more with Knight and Whittaker out for the year taking with them a lot of rebounds. And, of course, when two players transfer from the same school to the same school there may be reasons we don’t know about. It just might be that they didn’t see Washington going anywhere.

Where Colorado is going remains to be seen. Right now they are easily a top 50 school, maybe even a top 40, and with a lot of luck possibly even at the bottom of the top 30, as they are now ranked.

 

[nwhoopfan]

When she transferred, she may not have known Wetta was committing to Buffs. Or how good Wetta is. But I wouldn’t say she’s doing nothing. She has made some solid contributions off the bench. Miller is contributing more with Knight and Whittaker out for the year taking with them a lot of rebounds. And, of course, when two players transfer from the same school to the same school there may be reasons we don’t know about. It just might be that they didn’t see Washington going anywhere.

Staying at UW would've been one thing (although she would probably be starting at PG), I just mean there could be a whole bunch of other schools she could've transferred to that probably would've worked out better for her.

 

[Dokey]

Staying at UW would've been one thing (although she would probably be starting at PG), I just mean there could be a whole bunch of other schools she could've transferred to that probably would've worked out better for her.

She was getting a lot of minutes, 20 more than once—Colorado likes to send fresh troops to floor—but Wetta is just getting more, so she’s playing behind both Sherrod and Wetta, and JR is putting Wetta and Sherrod on the floor at the same time, probably because Wetta is the better play maker, as she did today, which means Saddler had her fewest minutes since coming to CU. I am glad she’s here.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Sadler last year 10.4 ppg .434 overall .452 from 3.
This year 2.0 ppg .231 overall .364 from 3.

That is a massive step backwards. I don't care how many minutes she's playing, she's clearly nowhere near as effective so far at CU as she was at UW.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Washington St. no match for NC State, 62-34. The Leger-Walkers got shut down, which is usually gonna mean no chance for the Cougs.

 

[Dokey]

Sadler last year 10.4 ppg .434 overall .452 from 3.
This year 2.0 ppg .231 overall .364 from 3.

That is a massive step backwards. I don't care how many minutes she's playing, she's clearly nowhere near as effective so far at CU as she was at UW.

I didn’t realize she was doing that well there. Perhaps she is being asked to have a different role at CU. She has been playing 15 to 20 minutes a game but only eight today. How was her defense at UW? You would expect with that many minutes on the floor she would contribute more as a shooter, other than in one game.

 

[Plebe]

I thought I had made it clear to Oregon State that their chance for vindication was today, against Notre Dame.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I didn’t realize she was doing that well there. Perhaps she is being asked to have a different role at CU. She has been playing 15 to 20 minutes a game but only eight today. How was her defense at UW? You would expect with that many minutes on the floor she would contribute more as a shooter, other than in one game.

I don't remember her defense standing out, but it wasn't a clear weakness either. I would say she was one of the better Fr. in the conference last year. She missed some games, was in and out of the lineup. That seemed to derail her for a while, but she was starting to play better again at the end of the season.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I thought I had made it clear to Oregon State that their chance for vindication was today, against Notre Dame.

Can I panic now, or is it still NBD?

 

[Plebe]

Can I panic now, or is it still NBD?

Panic is not the right word. It's just shame, all shame. And some disappointment to boot.

 

[LoTrader]

Re: Oregon State game vs Notre Dame, copying from what I posted on the OSU Board:

Time for coach to shorten the bench. We need to have lots of minutes with no more than 6-8 players so we can develop some offensive rhythm. Our best athletes need to be on the floor going forward, and they are:

Taylor, Kennedy, TvO, Greta, AJ, Taya (these 6 players get 25-30 minutes every game)

After that it is Tea & Ellie (relief minutes)

After that it is: Emily & Jelena & Noelle, Jovanna (few if any minutes)

Rueck pretty much stuck with Taylor, Kennedy, Greta, AJ, and TvO in Quarter 4, and we started getting a bit of rhythm. Time to shorten the bench.

Many of the Boneyarders have noted over the past seasons that OSU plays terrific defense, but struggle offensively. And the games vs Michigan and Notre Dame showed just how dysfunctional the OSU offense is at the moment. The only pure scorer we have is TvO. Others on the team require an assist to score. In no way am I giving up, as OSU's defense is pretty stout, but OSU better get their offense dialed, or, OSU is going to lose a lot of close games.

 

[Dokey]

I don't remember her defense standing out, but it wasn't a clear weakness either. I would say she was one of the better Fr. in the conference last year. She missed some games, was in and out of the lineup. That seemed to derail her for a while, but she was starting to play better again at the end of the season.

CU is loaded at guard. Season out injuries mean minutes for Miller but CU is primarily going with lineup from last year, though JR subs frequently, wanting fresh bodies to press. Wetta is becoming the sixth (wo)man who has played more minutes than starters. The idea seems to be defense first and then score off that defense. JR’s husband is defensive coach. That might not be Sadler’s game but it is early going.

 

[Plebe]

Re: Oregon State game vs Notre Dame, copying from what I posted on the OSU Board:

Time for coach to shorten the bench. We need to have lots of minutes with no more than 6-8 players so we can develop some offensive rhythm. Our best athletes need to be on the floor going forward, and they are:

Taylor, Kennedy, TvO, Greta, AJ, Taya (these 6 players get 25-30 minutes every game)

After that it is Tea & Ellie (relief minutes)

After that it is: Emily & Jelena & Noelle, Jovanna (few if any minutes)

Rueck pretty much stuck with Taylor, Kennedy, Greta, AJ, and TvO in Quarter 4, and we started getting a bit of rhythm. Time to shorten the bench.

Many of the Boneyarders have noted over the past seasons that OSU plays terrific defense, but struggle offensively. And the games vs Michigan and Notre Dame showed just how dysfunctional the OSU offense is at the moment. The only pure scorer we have is TvO. Others on the team require an assist to score. In no way am I giving up, as OSU's defense is pretty stout, but OSU better get their offense dialed, or, OSU is going to lose a lot of close games.

Okay, I went back and rewatched this game, and the TL;DR of what happened is: Free throws. Oh my lord the free throws.

Oregon State was not good on offense in the first half, scoring only 18 points. Came out in the second half scoring more, but couldn't get stops on ND and found themselves down 20 at the end of 3Q.

The Beavs managed to seize the momentum in 4Q and chipped away at the lead. Van Oelhoffen (finished with 25) was stellar in the comeback. She cut it to 6 with a long 3-pointer and then to 4 with a tough driving bucket at around the 1:30 mark.

Kennedy Brown then missed 2 FTs that would've cut it to 2 with over a minute left, but Van Oelhoffen on the next possession made two FTs to cut it to 2 at the 0:31 mark. OSU had to foul, and Westbeld obliged by missing her two FTs.

With a chance to tie or win on the last possession, Van Oelhoffen missed 2 shots, but Brown got a rebound and was fouled on the putback attempt with 0.7 seconds left. Unfortunately, she missed the first FT. I would imagine she was instructed at that point to miss the second FT intentionally, although it wasn't apparent by the way she shot it and it actually came closer to going in than her previous misses.

Just in case y'all hadn't noticed, I don't care much for Notre Dame, and so I was hopeful that OSU would defeat them, preferably in humiliating fashion. The Irish were certainly shaking in their clogs as they collapsed down the stretch, and ever their usually unflappable freshmen Miles and Citron were, well, flapped. Has a team ever come back from 20 down in the 4th quarter? Oh well, would've been nice.

 

[Dokey]

Colorado goes to 7-0 taking down Wisconsin 67-51 behind another double double by Mya Hollingshed and 16 team steals, including five by CU freshman phenom Kindyll Wetta and Sherrod with four. The commentators compared Mya to the Queen on the chessboard able to score from any place on the floor. Wetta continues to make argument she is the best point guard coming out of the 2021 recruiting class. Transfers Miller and Sadler showed up big time in spots for CU.

 

[Plebe]

Colorado goes to 7-0 taking down Wisconsin 67-51 behind another double double by Mya Hollingshed and 16 team steals, including five by CU freshman phenom Wetta and Sherrod with four. The commentators compared Mya to the Queen on the chessboard able to score from any place on the floor. Wetta continues to make argument she is the best point guard coming out of the 2021 recruiting class. Transfers Miller and Sadler showed up big time in spots for CU. Depth. Depth. Depth.

LOL I mean I love absurdist comedy as much as the next guy but really the hyperbole is a bit much.

Best PG in the 2021 recruiting class? Really?? Better than Raven Johnson? Rori Harmon? Olivia Miles?

 

[Dokey]

LOL I mean I love absurdist comedy as much as the next guy but really the hyperbole is a bit much.

Best PG in the 2021 recruiting class? Really?? Better than Raven Johnson? Rori Harmon? Olivia Miles?

I said the argument could be made. That means she should be in the discussion. Have you even watched her play? Wetta was college ready the moment she hit the floor. Her defense is spectacular. It is in her genes. All I know is I have watched top basketball for decades and and Wetta impresses the hell out of me. We don’t know about Raven. She played little before she was injured. If she played for UConn, Nika, as much as I love her, would get more bench time. Azzi is a better three point shooter, Wetta is far better than her in every other category—her only three attempts have been desperate time expiring Hail Marys.

 

[Orangutan]

I said the argument could be made. That means she should be in the discussion. Have you even watched her play? Wetta was college ready the moment she hit the floor. Her defense is spectacular. It is in her genes. All I know is I have watched top basketball for decades and and Wetta impresses the hell out of me. We don’t know about Raven. She played little before she was injured. If she played for UConn, Nika, as much as I love her, would get more bench time. Azzi is a better three point shooter, Wetta is far better than her in every other category—her only three attempts have been desperate time expiring Hail Marys.

I had to check the box score to see what kind of fantastic performance caused such a bold proclamation.

2 points (1-4 FG), 2 ast, 1 reb in 24 minutes against Wisconsin (maybe the worst team in P5?). I'll give you that the 5 steals are nice but it seems like you are trying too hard to go against the grain on this one.