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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4663087, member: 12088"] I'd disagree on both counts. 1. In the NC game, LSU bench players who'd averaged 33% from 3 (career) shot 9/10 from 3 and helped build that 15 pt halftime lead. Fluke results like this don't form a reasonable basis for any conclusions. If Iowa hadn't been down 15 at the half and thus been forced into a desperation style of play, I think it would have been a toss up at the end. But all this result tells us is better D and Iowa could have won the NC. Similarly, if LSU had played better D, Caitlin couldn't have kept it as close as it was at the end of the 3rd quarter. 2. UConn beat Iowa 86-79 because [B]we played better D -- and we weren't healthy.[/B] Dorka was out and we effectively played 6 (plus Ayanna for 7 mins). Kate Martin shot well above her average from 3 (6-6) but Nika corralled Caitlin who ended up 9-24 and Aaliyah shut down Czinano (3-7) while scoring 20 on 10-16 shooting. Take away 3 of Martin's 3s and the true dimensions of their defeat are more apparent. The game only looked close, but the 2nd half belonged to the Huskies and Caroline and Azzi effectively shut the door. Defense won that game, even though we also played better offense by every measure. In the second half, we held them to 12-35 shooting while we shot 21-31. [/QUOTE]