SC Dominates ND

[JellyBean]

Are they that good OR is N.D. that bad??

South Carolina is that good and ND isn't bad. They will be among the top 20 teams in the nation. They just got ran into a team that was on a different level. ND and Coach Ivey will get things figured out. Catch me after the Shamrock Classic (Illinois, Chicago State, and Ball State) then I might have a different view but right now, ND is a solid team and they will adjust and get better. That Hannah Hidalgo is going to be NICE!! I hope fans and players don't break her confidence. Good Lord! 31 points on 10/24 shooting. 3 Dimes and 3 Steals. Folks were talking about her turnovers. AND? She shot 42% from the field and 50% from deep. That young lady got confidence and speed. Great find by Coach.

 

[VA Huskie]

South Carolina is that good and ND isn't bad. They will be among the top 20 teams in the nation. They just got ran into a team that was on a different level. ND and Coach Ivey will get things figured out. Catch me after the Shamrock Classic (Illinois, Chicago State, and Ball State) then I might have a different view but right now, ND is a solid team and they will adjust and get better. That Hannah Hidalgo is going to be NICE!! I hope fans and players don't break her confidence. Good Lord! 31 points on 10/24 shooting. 3 Dimes and 3 Steals. Folks were talking about her turnovers. AND? She shot 42% from the field and 50% from deep. That young lady got confidence and speed. Great find by Coach.

She didn’t look to me like someone who’s confidence would easily be broken

 

[DefenseBB]

NC is just the bits that SC and VA didn't want.

ESPN had us eighth I believe, which was ludicrous.

Team rightly should have a chip on its shoulder. The polls won't be wrong for long though.

The coaches poll had SC 4th while the writers poll (which I detest) has them 6th. Like I said, under-estimate SC at your own peril as it seems to me that Dawn is more dangerous when you think someone else is better.

Despite what @shiverz45 touts as a "talented roster" with McDonald's AAs, the better assessment is college experience and performing against fellow college players. HoopGurls and McD lists are littered with "they were ranked what?" when an assessment is done 3 or 4 years out. While some have had marginal success and some have been made ineffective by injuries, the point is HS rankings do not correlate directly to collegiate success. In SC's case, the underclassmen will have every opportunity to prove their skills and I would bet this team will be successful BUT at the same time, I still would have ranked LSU, UConn and Iowa above them given the game experience they had. SC should have been above Utah and UCLA. So are we quibbling about 2 spots in the writers poll?

Here is my list of players who have underperformed their rankings in my estimation thus far....
2021 Jersey Wolfbarger #7
2021 Teoni Key #9
2020 Diamond Johnson #7
2020 Sydney Parrish #
2019 Sam Brunelle #6
2019 Ashley Owusu #7
2019 Aijha Blackwell #9
2018 Aquira DeCosta #3
2018 Sedona Prince #8
2018 Zarielle Green #10
2017 Rellah Booth #3
2017 Chasity Patterson #4
2017 Sidney Cooks #5

 

[Gamecockfan77]

The coaches poll had SC 4th while the writers poll (which I detest) has them 6th. Like I said, under-estimate SC at your own peril as it seems to me that Dawn is more dangerous when you think someone else is better.

Despite what @shiverz45 touts as a "talented roster" with McDonald's AAs, the better assessment is college experience and performing against fellow college players. HoopGurls and McD lists are littered with "they were ranked what?" when an assessment is done 3 or 4 years out. While some have had marginal success and some have been made ineffective by injuries, the point is HS rankings do not correlate directly to collegiate success. In SC's case, the underclassmen will have every opportunity to prove their skills and I would bet this team will be successful BUT at the same time, I still would have ranked LSU, UConn and Iowa above them given the game experience they had. SC should have been above Utah and UCLA. So are we quibbling about 2 spots in the writers poll?

Here is my list of players who have underperformed their rankings in my estimation thus far....
2021 Jersey Wolfbarger #7
2021 Teoni Key #9
2020 Diamond Johnson #7
2020 Sydney Parrish #
2019 Sam Brunelle #6
2019 Ashley Owusu #7
2019 Aijha Blackwell #9
2018 Aquira DeCosta #3
2018 Sedona Prince #8
2018 Zarielle Green #10
2017 Rellah Booth #3
2017 Chasity Patterson #4
2017 Sidney Cooks #5

I am talking about ESPN most especially, but yes I think being rated 6th was also somewhat insulting.

It was pretty obvious to me that Cardoso was going to be an All American, that Raven Johnson would be among the nations best pgs, that PaoPao was a huge add, and that SC would continue to be extremely long, athletic and deep in the post.

And yet espn is rating them behind effort teams?

Ok. Sure.

 

[bballnut90]

The coaches poll had SC 4th while the writers poll (which I detest) has them 6th. Like I said, under-estimate SC at your own peril as it seems to me that Dawn is more dangerous when you think someone else is better.

Despite what @shiverz45 touts as a "talented roster" with McDonald's AAs, the better assessment is college experience and performing against fellow college players. HoopGurls and McD lists are littered with "they were ranked what?" when an assessment is done 3 or 4 years out. While some have had marginal success and some have been made ineffective by injuries, the point is HS rankings do not correlate directly to collegiate success. In SC's case, the underclassmen will have every opportunity to prove their skills and I would bet this team will be successful BUT at the same time, I still would have ranked LSU, UConn and Iowa above them given the game experience they had. SC should have been above Utah and UCLA. So are we quibbling about 2 spots in the writers poll?

Here is my list of players who have underperformed their rankings in my estimation thus far....
2021 Jersey Wolfbarger #7
2021 Teoni Key #9
2020 Diamond Johnson #7
2020 Sydney Parrish #
2019 Sam Brunelle #6
2019 Ashley Owusu #7
2019 Aijha Blackwell #9
2018 Aquira DeCosta #3
2018 Sedona Prince #8
2018 Zarielle Green #10
2017 Rellah Booth #3
2017 Chasity Patterson #4
2017 Sidney Cooks #5

Owusu was an All American as a sophomore, 3x All Big Ten 1st or 2nd team and twice the Big Ten Tournament MVP. She definitely doesn't belong on this list despite a bad season at VT. Blackwell too was great her first 3 years at Missouri. Diamond Johnson was fantastic her first year and very good as a sophomore at NC State. Fell off considerably last year but she's a had a nice career, especially compared to a lot of the players mentioned.

I'd add Evina Westbrook, Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Saniya Rivers, Priscilla Williams, and Sania Feagin to the list of those who underperformed relative to HS ranking. Verdict is still early for the 2021 kids, as they've only played 2 years so far and have had to compete with 4 other classes of players their entire career thanks to everyone from the 2017-2020 classes getting an extra year due to covid.

 

[LoTrader]

I know some here would like ND to be “that bad” and they clearly have some issues they need to work on but I think more than anything SC is THAT good. This game was a masterpiece from them.

They are clearly the best team along with UConn. Just wow. They are still loaded, still great at defense and Cardoso is unstoppable down low. Dawn hasn’t missed a beat. ND starting post couldn’t do a single thing with her at all.

Not clearly. You seem to have forgot there are a number of quality PAC-12 teams.

 

[bovwa10]

I’m not seeing what you are seeing. They have a freshman point guard and citron. They have nothing in their front court and have a transfer from Fordham as a starter in their backcourt. Before the season I was scratching my head at the roster before todays game and now I feel as if my suspicions were confirmed.

They have the #1 freshman class, Miles when she gets back, Citron, Westbeld, Bransford (also injured during the SC game), Prosper, etc. They're obviously not at the level of SC or UConn, but they're definitely part of the next tier of teams.

 

[bovwa10]

Not clearly. You seem to have forgot there are a number of quality PAC-12 teams.

None are as good as UConn or SC imo. UCLA may have the talent to be just as good, but Close is not nearly as good of a coach as Geno and Staley imo.

 

[bovwa10]

I doubt it will even be their worst loss of the season tbh. They lost Ebo, Mabrey and Miles (for the forseeable future) and only have an undersized freshman PG to backfill. Its going to be a rough year in South Bend, at least until Miles returns.

Who else has the talent to blow ND out like SC just did? Maybe UConn, but they're not playing ND until January. As for the players they've lost, Ebo was a solid role player but not extraordinary, Mabrey didn't play for half of last season, and Miles should be back by the time conference play starts. They have a top recruiting class, and those players will get more comfortable as the season wears on.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

They have the #1 freshman class, Miles when she gets back, Citron, Westbeld, Bransford (also injured during the SC game), Prosper, etc. They're obviously not at the level of SC or UConn, but they're definitely part of the next tier of teams.

#1 freshman class? Are they LSU?

 

[hoopsnloops32]

Who else has the talent to blow ND out like SC just did? Maybe UConn, but they're not playing ND until January. As for the players they've lost, Ebo was a solid role player but not extraordinary, Mabrey didn't play for half of last season, and Miles should be back by the time conference play starts. They have the #1 recruiting class, and those players will get more comfortable as the season wears on.

I think a lot of teams, especially without Miles. Any team with a semblance of a front court will give a Notre Dame hell. LSU, UCLA, Utah would all beat Notre Dame without miles by 20+. LSU has the number 1 recruiting class, Notre Dame is ranked fifth largely based on Hildago who plays the same position as their best player.

 

[bovwa10]

#1 freshman class? Are they LSU?

I think one service ranked ND's class as #1, but even if others ranked LSU #1, they still have a very good class.

 

[bovwa10]

I think a lot of teams, especially without Miles. Any team with a semblance of a front court will give a Notre Dame hell. LSU, UCLA, Utah would all beat Notre Dame without miles by 20+. LSU has the number 1 recruiting class, Notre Dame is ranked fifth largely based on Hildago who plays the same position as their best player.

ND isn't playing any of those teams tho

 

[GamecockFam]

I rewatched the game today and I have to say that almost every SC player had a wow moment in the game. I think Sakima Walker and Tes Johnson had a little trouble keeping up with the rest of the team but otherwise everyone was churning at an 11 out of 10. We have some serious speed on this team, like the team speed is comparable to a WNBA team and honestly I think it left ND shell shocked.

 

[visitingcock]

I rewatched the game today and I have to say that almost every SC player had a wow moment in the game. I think Sakima Walker and Tes Johnson had a little trouble keeping up with the rest of the team but otherwise everyone was churning at an 11 out of 10. We have some serious speed on this team, like the team speed is comparable to a WNBA team and honestly I think it left ND shell shocked.

I agree on Walker and Johnson. They both need time to acclimate themselves to the style of attack we employed against Notre Dame.

I was surprised a bit by how smoothly Jah blended into the attack. Hopefully it wasn't just an anomaly during (mostly) trash time against an overwhelmed opponent.

Maryland is used to playing at an insane tempo. Will be interesting to see if Dawn chooses to play Brenda's game & run with them or slow it down to what we are more accustomed to seeing.

 

[Floridaduck]

Sidenote: Paopao and Kylee Watson were close friends when they were both at Oregon. Guessing they had some fun times together hanging out a bit in Paris.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

I agree on Walker and Johnson. They both need time to acclimate themselves to the style of attack we employed against Notre Dame.

I was surprised a bit by how smoothly Jah blended into the attack. Hopefully it wasn't just an anomaly during (mostly) trash time against an overwhelmed opponent.

Maryland is used to playing at an insane tempo. Will be interesting to see if Dawn chooses to play Brenda's game & run with them or slow it down to what we are more accustomed to seeing.

Athletically Jah is going to be fine. That's why she got the offer.

Walker was for depth and some security for next season. It will be interesting to see her development and minutes.

Also curious whether conditioning and more time away from Injury will loosen her up a bit. Was surprised to see her in game so early to be honest, but she has a nice shot.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Notre Dame struggled containing the all American center. Not every program has that or anything like that much less waves of soft touch, athletic 6'4 players behind her. Or the intention and skill to feed the post like SC's guards.

 

[Ron and Vida]

Super move by Fulwiley.

I haven’t seen it noted but that behind the back move by Fulwiley was one of the signature moves by the great Bob Cousy