Predictions for tonight?

[Orangutan]

I, too, have a stomach in knots. I'm worried about their pressure and their long-range shooting. They did impress me over the last few weeks. ... Can someone please ease my anxiety and tell me why I shouldn't be worried.

They are a poor long range shooting team - they just shoot a lot of them. But by percentage, they are not great. Sub 30%

UConn has Moriah Jefferson, Kia Nurse plus posts that can dribble. The press should be no problem at all. ND handled the press easily in both games and burned them so bad on the backside of it in the regular season that Syracuse was down by 28 at half. The second time around, Syracuse did better against ND. But they still trailed by 12 at half and never got any closer than 9, ultimately losing by 11.

Who has Syracuse really beaten in the tourney? Unranked Army, Unranked Albany, #3 South Carolina , unranked Tennessee, and unranked Washington. That's about the softest run to a title game imaginable.

Beating South Carolina is nice but they are a great matchup for Syracuse because their guard play is not great. And South Carolina was up until about 3 minutes left.

Also note that South Carolina (a team that shoots 32.6% on 3s), shot 32(!) 3s. Tina Roy shot 15 3s herself en route to a 6-17 night overall. Tina Roy shot the same amount of shots as Coates (7) and Wilson (10) combined. Except she made 6 to Wilson and Coates's 13. Not exactly a great coaching job when a player who averages 5.8 ppg is taking more shots than studs like Coates and Wilson who score 12 ppg and 16.1 ppg, respectively. Do you think Geno is going to let a role player shoot his season to death like Dawn did?

Last point on South Carolina's shooting. They were 12-30 overall in the second half but 1-16 from 3 That means they were 11-14 on 2s! I know Syracuse takes you out of what you want to run somewhat, but good gravy. Stop settling for 3s and feed the post. It's not that difficult.

So yeah, Syracuse has beaten a bunch of unranked teams and South Carolina on a night that the Gamecocks decided to try the novel strategy of having a 33.5% shooter lead the team in FG attempts and to jack a bunch of 3s when their posts (including Imovbioh) were a combined 17-22 shooting.

Syracuse may be one of the worst teams to ever reach the final.

 

[AboutWeston]

IIRC...Do they still play "aggressively" and tend to get called for or not, fouling all over the place? I used to think their team's colors were black and blue - instead of orange.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Syracuse comes out of the gate on fire from deep, we trade leads for most of the first half, but take a slim advantage into halftime, 39-36.

In the second half, we clamp down on defense and break their press as they ultimately get worn down. With a 15-20 point lead early in the 4th, Geno takes the air out of the ball and we coast to a relatively low-scoring win, 73-61. Syracuse covers the spread easily, but never really threaten the last 15 minutes of the game. Stewie is MOP, even though Tuck was the best player on Sunday and Mo is the best player tonight.

 

[Nuyoika]

They are a poor long range shooting team - they just shoot a lot of them. But by percentage, they are not great. Sub 30%

UConn has Moriah Jefferson, Kia Nurse plus posts that can dribble. The press should be no problem at all. ND handled the press easily in both games and burned them so bad on the backside of it in the regular season that Syracuse was down by 28 at half. The second time around, Syracuse did better against ND. But they still trailed by 12 at half and never got any closer than 9, ultimately losing by 11.

Who has Syracuse really beaten in the tourney? Unranked Army, Unranked Albany, #3 South Carolina , unranked Tennessee, and unranked Washington. That's about the softest run to a title game imaginable.

Beating South Carolina is nice but they are a great matchup for Syracuse because their guard play is not great. And South Carolina was up until about 3 minutes left.

Also note that South Carolina (a team that shoots 32.6% on 3s), shot 32(!) 3s. Tina Roy shot 15 3s herself en route to a 6-17 night overall. Tina Roy shot the same amount of shots as Coates (7) and Wilson (10) combined. Except she made 6 to Wilson and Coates's 13. Not exactly a great coaching job when a player who averages 5.8 ppg is taking more shots than studs like Coates and Wilson who score 12 ppg and 16.1 ppg, respectively. Do you think Geno is going to let a role player shoot his season to death like Dawn did?

Last point on South Carolina's shooting. They were 12-30 overall in the second half but 1-16 from 3 That means they were 11-14 on 2s! I know Syracuse takes you out of what you want to run somewhat, but good gravy. Stop settling for 3s and feed the post. It's not that difficult.

So yeah, Syracuse has beaten a bunch of unranked teams and South Carolina on a night that the Gamecocks decided to try the novel strategy of having a 33.5% shooter lead the team in FG attempts and to jack a bunch of 3s when their posts (including Imovbioh) were a combined 17-22 shooting.

Syracuse may be one of the worst teams to ever reach the final.

I was looking at that too thinking wow... they only had to beat 1 ranked team to get to the FF crazy how parity works. I was watching the Syracuse vs South Carolina game wondering when Dawn was gonna call a time out and tell them to "pound it, pound it, pound it" never happened. Again, just plain crazy. Also, South Carolina who is known for their big 4th quarters gave up 30 points in the 4th... 30.

 

[GiladKatzDeli]

I'm excited for tonight! I really like how the Syracuse team plays, particularly their pressure defense. They should be proud of advancing to the title game and there's only good things to come for their program. However MoJeff and Nurse are pretty cool customers- they're good ball handlers, play composed, and can make open shots. I think Jefferson is the key to the whole game. If she can break the 'Cuse pressure and find open players, she'll carve them up all night and it could get ugly.

 

[Blueconn]

I, too, have a stomach in knots. I'm worried about their pressure and their long-range shooting. They did impress me over the last few weeks. ... Can someone please ease my anxiety and tell me why I shouldn't be worried.

10-0 in Championship games...including 4-0 when it's something orange.

 

[watanabe]

After saracuse won it's FF game, the moderator asked what they could do to beat UConn. Kara and Rabecca looked at each other and.... dead silence. LMAO.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The key tonight is the National Defensive Player of the Year. She needs to beat the press with her speed and smart, short passes. She also needs to keep Peterson off balance. Gabby will be all over Butler like a cheap suit and not give her any good looks at all.

If we play lousy, this could be a tight game. If we play well, the MOV record gets obliterated. Long rebounds off missed threes lead to the UConn transition game. Think piranhas on a roast.

I'm nervous, as I know things could come crashing down, but over 4o minutes, we are so much better that I think we'll show it. Cuse is not as good as Oregon State or Texas.

 

[Kevin G]

Here's to hoping that Syracuse makes 1-40 from beyond the arc and UCONN wins by 30!! Ok, I won't be greedy....UCONN can win by 10

 

[MilfordHusky]

Here's to hoping that Syracuse makes 1-40 from beyond the arc and UCONN wins by 30!! Ok, I won't be greedy....UCONN can win by 10

If Cuse makes only 1 three, they will lose by a monumental margin. Here's hoping!

 

[VAUConnFan]

I'll disagree slightly. Yes, biggest upset in a championship game ... but in my eyes it would not be quite as big an upset as Louisville over Baylor ... I thought Louisville was a 25 point underdog in that one. I know UConn is a 24 point favorite tonight but I think that's on the high side given that Syracuse has been shooting 3s well in the tournament and has the type of quick guard-oriented lineup that gives us a bit of trouble. And KLS out.

My prediction 81-63.

Who but the loyal WBB fans remember Louisville over Baylor? You are absolutely right in terms of point spread.

 

[Plebe]

They are a poor long range shooting team - they just shoot a lot of them. But by percentage, they are not great. Sub 30%

UConn has Moriah Jefferson, Kia Nurse plus posts that can dribble. The press should be no problem at all. ND handled the press easily in both games and burned them so bad on the backside of it in the regular season that Syracuse was down by 28 at half. The second time around, Syracuse did better against ND. But they still trailed by 12 at half and never got any closer than 9, ultimately losing by 11.

Who has Syracuse really beaten in the tourney? Unranked Army, Unranked Albany, #3 South Carolina , unranked Tennessee, and unranked Washington. That's about the softest run to a title game imaginable.

Beating South Carolina is nice but they are a great matchup for Syracuse because their guard play is not great. And South Carolina was up until about 3 minutes left.

Also note that South Carolina (a team that shoots 32.6% on 3s), shot 32(!) 3s. Tina Roy shot 15 3s herself en route to a 6-17 night overall. Tina Roy shot the same amount of shots as Coates (7) and Wilson (10) combined. Except she made 6 to Wilson and Coates's 13. Not exactly a great coaching job when a player who averages 5.8 ppg is taking more shots than studs like Coates and Wilson who score 12 ppg and 16.1 ppg, respectively. Do you think Geno is going to let a role player shoot his season to death like Dawn did?

Last point on South Carolina's shooting. They were 12-30 overall in the second half but 1-16 from 3 That means they were 11-14 on 2s! I know Syracuse takes you out of what you want to run somewhat, but good gravy. Stop settling for 3s and feed the post. It's not that difficult.

So yeah, Syracuse has beaten a bunch of unranked teams and South Carolina on a night that the Gamecocks decided to try the novel strategy of having a 33.5% shooter lead the team in FG attempts and to jack a bunch of 3s when their posts (including Imovbioh) were a combined 17-22 shooting.

Syracuse may be one of the worst teams to ever reach the final.

You have made an award-worthy post, my friend. Well done.

I too was aghast at how far South Carolina deviated from any semblance of an intelligent game plan. One thing I noticed was how, even when SC opened up a cushiony lead in the first half, they just never looked comfortable or confident as they had in the SEC tournament. Their guards looked like shells of themselves, excepting Roy's first-half hot streak, and their usually rock-solid posts got outworked and outrebounded (!) in the lane.

 

[MilfordHusky]

If Cuse makes only 1 three, they will lose by a monumental margin. Here's hoping!

They made only 2 threes. That second one was the difference between a 31-point win and a record 34-point win.

For a team that struggled defending the 3-pointer against Chattanooga, DePaul, and Notre Dame, they sure were effective tonight. Well done!