Say What You Want About Maryland's OOC Schedule

[VAUConnFan]

The fact that Maryland Eastern Shore and Southern are among the teams on the Terps OOC schedule makes them aces in my eyes. In years past they have also scheduled Texas Southern, Coppin State(almost perennially), Delaware State, Bowie State, and Howard. One has to believe that its effect on local recruiting is immeasurable.

 

[EricLA]

A lot of people made fun of how soft the schedule was. Yet in spite of it, they came to UCONN (MSG) and gave UCONN one heck of a game. I'm not sure who will make the FF this year, and at this point I'm not prepared to say anyone is a lock besides UCONN. SC, ND, Texas, Maryland and Baylor are all solid choices. I'd not like to see any of them in UCONN's bracket for an elite 8 game, and if logic prevails, we should end up facing something like Kentucky or Mississippi state or Oregon State - depending on how the teams finish out the year.

I was very impressed with Maryland.

 

[triaddukefan]

The fact that Maryland Eastern Shore and Southern are among the teams on the Terps OOC schedule makes them aces in my eyes. In years past they have also scheduled Texas Southern, Coppin State(almost perennially), Delaware State, Bowie State, and Howard. One has to believe that its effect on local recruiting is immeasurable.

And the game was @ UMES no less. Cant be more than a handful of times in history that a HBCU has hosted a top 5 team.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Doris Burke mention this several times last night in the 1st quarter. Mainly about Maryland losing two assistant coaches and their best player to transfer. I think the weak OOC helped Chloe Pavlech the most. Other than that weird play at half court where she did the splits she played really good PG. 9 assists and only 2 turnovers. Brene Moseley was a little wild last night but she should be OK for Big 10 play.

 

[Wbbfan1]

That was Doris Burke like most of the other analysts making excuses for Maryland's OOC Schedule. They do the same for other programs as well. Maryland is a traditional Top 10 Program that reloads not rebuilds. I would hazard a guess that most of Maryland's OOC Teams were already planned for before the assistants left the program. TV Analyst/Announcers are reluctant to be highly critical of a program. Seems to be an unwritten rule, make excuses instead of giving honest opinions.

Doris Burke mention this several times last night in the 1st quarter. Mainly about Maryland losing two assistant coaches and their best player to transfer. I think the weak OOC helped Chloe Pavlech the most. Other than that weird play at half court where she did the splits she played really good PG. 9 assists and only 2 turnovers. Brene Moseley was a little wild last night but she should be OK for Big 10 play.

 

[SCGamecock]

Hey @TerpWomenFan, who will Maryland lose after this season? They should have a really strong team for the next few years. Your 2016 recruiting class is phenomenal.

 

[Carnac]

With all that has been said and done with respect to Brenda Frese, her OOC scheduling tendencies (preferences), and her style of coaching,
last night's game has forced me to re-evaluate my take on her and her program. Other than the Notre Dame game, that was by far the most enjoyable game for me this season.
No one that viewed that game on TV turned away to another channel. Keep in mind that a lot of other coaches and WCBB players from all levels tuned in to that game, out of curiosity if nothing else.

IMHO, if Maryland can take the floor every night, and play as hard for 40 minutes as they did last night, they are going to win a lot of games on their remaining schedule.
Few teams will be able to match-up with, or withstand that kind of pressure for 40 minutes.

Remember University of Arkansas' (1985-2002) coach Nolan Richardson's 40 minutes of hell? Maryland's play last night brought that concept back to mind, as I watched in horror the Terapins's play UConn's game (with unexpected success) for 39 minutes.

There will be a mad scramble for a birth to the final four this year. We expect perennial favorites UConn and Notre Dame to occupy two of the four brackets, this means that there will be a log jam for two remaining spots.

You've got to figure that the other top 10 teams: Baylor, South Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ohio State, and Oregon State will all be vying for those last two spots. Other teams in the hunt should be Stanford, Duke Tennessee and Florida State. I'm not a mathematician, but I don't think 10 divides into 2 very easily.

ALL of these teams will make the tournament. Things should start to get a bit challenging after the second round of play. That's when the paths of these teams will begin to cross. The second weekend of play should be some of the most interesting and anticipated games of the tournament. Eleven teams vying for two spots. Teams that packed for 4 days realistically anticipating staying there the entire weekend, will be going home early.

Many of those games may come down to the last possession, or even worse, a bad call. The highlight of the tournament, and the story that EVERYONE will be talking about is whether or not UConn can pull off their bid to win their 4th championship in a row. Each one of UConn's games will be covered by all the local and national media outlets that will be covering the tournament. Why? They just might be witnessing history in the making. Something that has never been done before.

Can you imagine the scrutiny and pressure team UConn will be under as they play each game? Requests for interviews and press conferences will be in abundance.
Other possible distractions for UConn will be lurking at every venue they are assigned to.

All of That tournament conjecture is down the road. Let's enjoy the games and business at hand. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them. Hopefully we'll get to see Natalie Butler make her long awaited debut this week.

Happy New Year Everyone. Go Huskies

 

[easttexastrash]

Wait, let me get this right. Brenda Frese, the horrible coach that she is, was able to successfully use a weak OOC schedule to prepare her team? Maybe I am mistaken, but that is not the way to prepare a team to compete with UCONN. You need to have played all of the other top teams or you will not be prepared.

Maybe Mulkey should try the same approach that Frese has used.

 

[uconnell]

Wait, let me get this right. Brenda Frese, the horrible coach that she is, was able to successfully use a weak OOC schedule to prepare her team? Maybe I am mistaken, but that is not the way to prepare a team to compete with UCONN. You need to have played all of the other top teams or you will not be prepared.

Maybe Mulkey should try the same approach that Frese has used.

Maybe Mulkey has.

 

[Carnac]

Wait, let me get this right. Brenda Frese, the horrible coach that she is, was able to successfully use a weak OOC schedule to prepare her team? Maybe I a m mistaken, but that is not the way to prepare a team to compete UCONN. You need to have played all of the other top teams or you will not be prepared.

easttexas, Normally I would agree with you. That's why I said I have to "re-evaluate" my thoughts on her methods. Given all she has done with her club up to last night, it was working for her. Think what you will. It's my take that she has a caged monster on her hands that she'll be unleashing on the Big Ten beginning Thursday.

She said in a post game presser that even though they lost, she believes they're closing the gap between them and UConn. Not many teams can honestly and realistically say that. If she can motivate her squad to play at that level, with that intensity every night, I can see her running the table through their conference this season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Maryland go through their conference last year like a hot knife through butter?

Look at their conference members. Who is going to beat them? Very few teams will match-up with them. As good as UConn is, it took Geno pulling out all the stops, and playing his starters practically the entire game to win that one. The only reason we won last night was because of Brianna Stewart. We're the only team she plays for.

Frese knows this. She's got to figure that if she can come that close to beating UConn, she should be able to beat the other teams on her remaining schedule. If you don't agree, I'd like to read your rebuttal.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

Hey @TerpWomenFan, who will Maryland lose after this season? They should have a really strong team for the next few years. Your 2016 recruiting class is phenomenal.

Lose: Malina Howard, Tierney Pfirman, Brene Moseley, Chloe Pavlech
Keep: SWK, Brionna Jones(sr.), A'Lexus Harrison, Kiara Leslie, Kristen Confroy, Aja Ellison(jr), Kiah Gillespie, Brianna Fraser(soph)
Gain: Destiny Slocum, Jenna Staiti, Kaila Charles, Blair Watson, Stephanie Jones, Sarah Myers and Ieshia Smalls (transfer from Baylor)
The team will be super deep but the Terps still lack that super superstar player like Aja Wilson or Azura Stevens. Maybe the following year with Rellah Boothe.

 

[Carnac]

Lose: Malina Howard, Tierney Pfirman, Brene Moseley, Chloe Pavlech
Keep: SWK, Brionna Jones(sr.), A'Lexus Harrison, Kiara Leslie, Kristen Confroy, Aja Ellison(jr), Kiah Gillespie, Brianna Fraser(soph)
Gain: Destiny Slocum, Jenna Staiti, Kaila Charles, Blair Watson, Stephanie Jones, Sarah Myers and Ieshia Smalls (transfer from Baylor)
The team will be super deep but the Terps still lack that super superstar player like Aja Wilson or Azura Stevens. Maybe the following year with Rellah Boothe.

Maryland is definitely on the come. I liken her squad to a "monster" being given steroids, as she keeps adding new "blue chip" recruits that will only make her squad better and more formidable. It appears that Maryland is on their way to penetrate the barrier into the elite group of women's division 1 college basketball programs.

 

[Carnac]

A lot of people made fun of how soft the schedule was. Yet in spite of it, they came to UCONN (MSG) and gave UCONN one heck of a game. I'm not sure who will make the FF this year, and at this point I'm not prepared to say anyone is a lock besides UCONN. SC, ND, Texas, Maryland and Baylor are all solid choices. I'd not like to see any of them in UCONN's bracket for an elite 8 game, and if logic prevails, we should end up facing something like Kentucky or Mississippi state or Oregon State - depending on how the teams finish out the year.

I was very impressed with Maryland.

Trust me Eric, none of them wants to be in UConn's bracket either. All of those teams know that in order to win the championship, they'll have to play UConn.
They would like that game to be their game #6, the championship game.

 

[SCGamecock]

Lose: Malina Howard, Tierney Pfirman, Brene Moseley, Chloe Pavlech
Keep: SWK, Brionna Jones(sr.), A'Lexus Harrison, Kiara Leslie, Kristen Confroy, Aja Ellison(jr), Kiah Gillespie, Brianna Fraser(soph)
Gain: Destiny Slocum, Jenna Staiti, Kaila Charles, Blair Watson, Stephanie Jones, Sarah Myers and Ieshia Smalls (transfer from Baylor)
The team will be super deep but the Terps still lack that super superstar player like Aja Wilson or Azura Stevens. Maybe the following year with Rellah Boothe.

SWK is one of my favorite players. I love a player with swagger. Brionna Jones really impressed me in the UCONN game, it's great you guys get her back. I like what I saw of Gillespie. I think she could be a star for y'all. Slocum will provide a great scoring punch as a freshmen, SC really wanted her.

 

[CocoHusky]

The fact that Maryland Eastern Shore and Southern are among the teams on the Terps OOC schedule makes them aces in my eyes. In years past they have also scheduled Texas Southern, Coppin State(almost perennially), Delaware State, Bowie State, and Howard. One has to believe that its effect on local recruiting is immeasurable.

MD out of conference schedule is indefensible for a team that reached the final four last year. Maryland is not competing with any schools south of Philadelphia and north of Richmond for talent desiring to play top tier DI basketball. That would be like UCONN putting Central Connecticut, Yale and Hartford on the schedule every year hoping to secure the in state talent.

 

[easttexastrash]

easttexas, Normally I would agree with you. That's why I said I have to "re-evaluate" my thoughts on her methods. Given all she has done with her club up to last night, it was working for her. Think what you will. It's my take that she has a caged monster on her hands that she'll be unleashing on the Big Ten beginning Thursday.

She said in a post game presser that even though they lost, she believes they're closing the gap between them and UConn. Not many teams can honestly and realistically say that. If she can motivate her squad to play at that level, with that intensity every night, I can see her running the table through their conference this season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Maryland go through their conference last year like a hot knife through butter?

Look at their conference members. Who is going to beat them? Very few teams will match-up with them. As good as UConn is, it took Geno pulling out all the stops, and playing his starters practically the entire game to win that one. The only reason we won last night was because of Brianna Stewart. We're the only team she plays for.

Frese knows this. She's got to figure that if she can come that close to beating UConn, she should be able to beat the other teams on her remaining schedule. If you don't agree, I'd like to read your rebuttal.

My simple rebuttal is, first of all, I know how to spell Breanna Stewart's first name. Secondly, Frese had a weak schedule and still was prepared to play UCONN. You don't have to have played a tough schedule to be able to prepare your team to compete.

As far as closing the gap, once Breanna Stewart graduates, the gap will most likely be gone.

 

[Carnac]

My simple rebuttal is, first of all, I know how to spell Breanna Stewart's first name. Secondly, Frese had a weak schedule and still was prepared to play UCONN. You don't have to have played a tough schedule to be able to prepare your team to compete.

As far as closing the gap, once Breanna Stewart graduates, the gap will most likely be gone.

easttexas, I never questioned your spelling (mine was a typo). Did you read the first 6 words of my reply? I'm suggesting that there may be an ulterior motive or purpose to Frese's madness. Another poster suggested that the reason Frese schedules the particular programs she does (which happen to be soft), is for recruiting purposes. I never thought of that angle.

I don't know if this is the case or not, but it is plausible. Regardless of the strength of her OOC schedule, In my opinion, she had her club ready to play UConn last night, and gave the huskies every thing they wanted for 39 minutes. Bottom line, based on her club's performance last night, it does not appear that playing the soft schedule they've played up to this point, has had any negative effect, or compromised their ability to seriously compete with ranked teams. The results speak for themselves. They don't need a spokesman.

As far as the gap being gone after Breanna leaves, that is a possibility, but that remains to be seen. Remember, several supposedly knowledgeable pundits on WCBB, said the same thing when Taurasi left, and the same thing when Maya left. You can see how that worked out. We don't know who Geno may bring in between now and then.

He may bring in a foreign player that's not even on the radar now, like Jose Fernandez (USF) does. You can second guess Geno if you want to. As for me, I'll wait until the tea leaves settle to the bottom of the cup before I attempt to read them.

easttexas, we can always agree to disagree.

 

[donalddoowop]

Maryland had won 28 straight games last season and went undefeated in the Big 10 and still lost to UCONN . People got excited about DePaul playing UCONN close this season and predicted how good they would be. They eventually lost to an unranked team. People got excited about ND playing UCONN close and are predicting they will make the final four. What happened? They won by one last night at home against a team that was missing it's best player. Are people predicting their downfall or is UCONN the only team heading for a downfall because it wins a game by ONLY ten points? Maryland will run into a different UCONN team if they meet again this season. UCONN does not have to be as good as last season's team and blow teams out in order to win another NC.

 

[Carnac]

My simple rebuttal is, first of all, I know how to spell Breanna Stewart's first name. Secondly, Frese had a weak schedule and still was prepared to play UCONN. You don't have to have played a tough schedule to be able to prepare your team to compete.
As far as closing the gap, once Breanna Stewart graduates, the gap will most likely be gone.

easttexas, Am I wrong, or are you contradicting yourself? The following is what you originally wrote which is what I responded to:

"Wait, let me get this right. Brenda Frese, the horrible coach that she is, was able to successfully use a weak OOC schedule to prepare her team? Maybe I am mistaken, but that is not the way to prepare a team to compete with UCONN. You need to have played all of the other top teams or you will not be prepared.

Then, in this comment you write: "You don't have to have played a tough schedule to be able to prepare your team to compete".

I'm not trying to start anything. I just need a little clarity. These two statements appear to ambiguous to me. Please explain.

 

[SCGamecock]

easttexas, Am I wrong, or are you contradicting yourself? The following is what you originally wrote which is what I responded to:

"Wait, let me get this right. Brenda Frese, the horrible coach that she is, was able to successfully use a weak OOC schedule to prepare her team? Maybe I am mistaken, but that is not the way to prepare a team to compete with UCONN. You need to have played all of the other top teams or you will not be prepared.

Then, in this comment you write: "You don't have to have played a tough schedule to be able to prepare your team to compete".

I'm not trying to start anything. I just need a little clarity. These two statements appear to ambiguous to me. Please explain.

Apologies for the intrusion and maybe I'm wrong but I think ETT was being sarcastic in his first post.

Sarcasm makes even more sense when you consider the second part of his first post..
"Maybe Mulkey should try the same approach that Frese has used."

Most people have trouble picking up sarcasm in face to face conversations.. it's even easier to miss in online interactions. I'm the most sarcastic person I know so his first post screams sarcasm to me.

 

[VAUConnFan]

MD out of conference schedule is indefensible for a team that reached the final four last year. Maryland is not competing with any schools south of Philadelphia and north of Richmond for talent desiring to play top tier DI basketball. That would be like UCONN putting Central Connecticut, Yale and Hartford on the schedule every year hoping to secure the in state talent.

And Maryland is not competing with any of the HBCUs for talent either. However, within the circle that Maryland recruits, pretty much everyone is bound to know a number of people who matriculated at a HBCU. Presently, an overwhelmingly large number of HBCU athletic programs struggle financially thus making them highly dependent upon scheduling the more financially endowed athletic programs for "guarantee money" to keep them afloat.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10485669/hbcus-heading-uncharted-waters

Coach Auriemma and Co. has shown that they will go out of their way to schedule the better teams. Where one finds the better teams, one is also bound to find the better talent.

 

[msf22b]

The takeaway from an earlier thread on the subject that I submitted as soon as arriving home from the game is:

What Frese and U Maryland decisively pointed out (if not proved) last evening, is that you can play all the cupcakes you desire.
And still get it up for (in this case) the best team in the country.
And that one seemingly has nothing to do with the other.

If you have good players and a well-coached team, she made the case that the level in which you compete in a high profile game bears little or no relationship with whom you previously have played; cupcakes or top-5's.

This revisionsbericht may be politically incorrect, rile feathers, but is just as likely as not.

In the earlier thread, I called the politically correct theory, bupkis...a favorite expression of my father which I hope he will forgive me for dragging in here.

 

[CTtransplant]

I watched Oregon State play Tennessee, and felt the weak schedule had left them totally unprepared. They did not seem to understand that they needed to play tougher.

I thought Maryland would suffer the same fate against UConn. I have to give Brenda Frese credit, her team was ready and driven. The did not look like Oregon State who just thought they had to show up to win. The loss helped OSU, but Maryland did not need the same learning curve. They came to play despite the weak OOC schedule.

 

[easttexastrash]

easttexas, I never questioned your spelling (mine was a typo). Did you read the first 6 words of my reply? I'm suggesting that there may be an ulterior motive or purpose to Frese's madness. Another poster suggested that the reason Frese schedules the particular programs she does (which happen to be soft), is for recruiting purposes. I never thought of that angle.

I don't know if this is the case or not, but it is plausible. Regardless of the strength of her OOC schedule, In my opinion, she had her club ready to play UConn last night, and gave the huskies every thing they wanted for 39 minutes. Bottom line, based on her club's performance last night, it does not appear that playing the soft schedule they've played up to this point, has had any negative effect, or compromised their ability to seriously compete with ranked teams. The results speak for themselves. They don't need a spokesman.

As far as the gap being gone after Breanna leaves, that is a possibility, but that remains to be seen. Remember, several supposedly knowledgeable pundits on WCBB, said the same thing when Taurasi left, and the same thing when Maya left. You can see how that worked out. We don't know who Geno may bring in between now and then.

He may bring in a foreign player that's not even on the radar now, like Jose Fernandez (USF) does. You can second guess Geno if you want to. As for me, I'll wait until the tea leaves settle to the bottom of the cup before I attempt to read them.

easttexas, we can always agree to disagree.

I am sure that Stewart's departure will not spell the end of UCONN winning championships, but nobody that Genon brings in will equal Stewart in talent.

 

[UcMiami]

On the scheduling front, a lot of pundits were questioning the 'weak' AAC schedule and how it would effect Uconn in the NCAA tournament last year - it didn't! It really does depend on how you coach in blow-outs - if you do it well, you can build confidence, correct mistakes, and build your team. If you allow mistakes to go un-punished, and allow players to skate from an energy perspective you can get into big trouble. The one thing that you cannot properly prepare in the games is for the speed and athleticism - and if you work hard in practice on those aspects it shouldn't matter.

As to last nights game - I though defensively Uconn looked really slow and sloppy for big stretches of the game - the number of times two players went after the ball at the same time, leaving a huge gap in the defense was surprising. That I think is the result of a discombobulated schedule from exams and Christmas. That said - Maryland still scored 18 points below their season average coming into the game.

I am looking forward to conference play - for most teams, that means their schedule strength increases, for Uconn it is the opposite. The next month should be a great time for the team to get into a more regular rhythm and to really define roles and develop chemistry. Hopefully it will also be a chance to integrate both Chong and Butler into the rotation.