SMU Game Thread

[donalddoowop]

All correct. Yeah generally offside. But this game whoever defends Gray probably won't help since she's their real perimeter threat so...

Is Gray any better than T. Mitchell? She played Uconn twice and somewhere in the game was taken out of her game by the Uconn defense as Sc lost both games. Also, Gray has never faced Uconn and may not be prepared for the Uconn efficiency on offense and defense, regardless of what Wilson and Coates tell her. The same is true of Davis.

 

[donalddoowop]

I am sure nobody keeps stats on this, but I think today's game takes the record for the most tie-ups in the history of the game! It actually became tiresome.

I could rewatch and count them, but it was hard enough to watch the first time.

One of my pet peeves is the announcers calling tie-ups jump balls. There is no such thing as a jump ball call in basketball. Jump balls occur only at the start of games or overtimes. The correct call is a held ball or tie-up as you called it. You would think the announcers and analysts would by now stop saying that. It is called jump ball throughout the country in men's and women's basketball, high school and college and that is incorrect.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Is Gray any better than T. Mitchell? She played Uconn twice and somewhere in the game was taken out of her game by the Uconn defense as Sc lost both games. Also, Gray has never faced Uconn and may not be prepared for the Uconn efficiency on offense and defense, regardless of what Wilson and Coates tell her. The same is true of Davis.

Good points.

 

[NewCorn]

Collier missed another shot. That's 3 in a row I think!

Probably another career high.

 

[Suebird10fan]

I still don't agree but don't want to extend the argument. But I fail to see how pasting SMU by 40+ points shows that UConn will have trouble against South Carolina even if Napheesa and Gabby get blocked a couple times.

SMU's Massey rating is 109. Dawn's mighty team has played five games against teams w/ Massey ratings between 90 and 197. Average Massey rating 136. Average margin of victory, 34.6. And we only beat SMU by 42. If that doesn't scare you, you've got blinders on.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Thought Butler had regressed. Four fouls and five turnovers. And that doesn't include all of the layups allowed over Butler. I don't see her getting much playing time at all next year.

Having said that, Irwin and Bent appear to have made progress. Both are beginning to look as though they actually belong on a UConn court.

 

[NewCorn]

Molly dishing out dimes everywhere

In recent games, Molly has been building a nice assist / TO ratio. And getting some rebounds too.

 

[NewCorn]

SMU's Massey rating is 109. Dawn's mighty team has played five games against teams w/ Massey ratings between 90 and 197. Average Massey rating 136. Average margin of victory, 34.6. And we only beat SMU by 42. If that doesn't scare you, you've got blinders on.

We have no chance!

 

[JordyG]

Is Gray any better than T. Mitchell? She played Uconn twice and somewhere in the game was taken out of her game by the Uconn defense as Sc lost both games. Also, Gray has never faced Uconn and may not be prepared for the Uconn efficiency on offense and defense, regardless of what Wilson and Coates tell her. The same is true of Davis.

Remember though. The first time UConn faced SC Geno decided to face guard Mitchell the entire game. I don't think they'll use such a measure against Gray, but she is their best 3 point shooter. Why take the chance if you're going to send help into the post?

 

[Zanzman]

Thought Butler had regressed. Four fouls and five turnovers. And that doesn't include all of the layups allowed over Butler. I don't see her getting much playing time at all next year.

So one bad game and her career is over like I said earlier she fills her Role as a big ,looking back at her stats the last few games 2 or 3 buckets a few rebounds and minimal turnovers so yes bad numbers today but did she set any screens to help her teammates .Drives me crazy when the boneyard beats up a role player for a bad game. Maybe Geno should bench Napheesa for missing 3 shots in a row please lighten up on the role players and except their limitations.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

So one bad game and her career is over like I said earlier she fills her Role as a big ,looking back at her stats the last few games 2 or 3 buckets a few rebounds and minimal turnovers so yes bad numbers today but did she set any screens to help her teammates .Drives me crazy when the boneyard beats up a role player for a bad game. Maybe Geno should bench Napheesa for missing 3 shots in a row please lighten up on the role players and except their limitations.

I think anyone who has watched Butler knows that she is not an asset on the court. Next year, with Azura and Camara and Walker in there in the front court, I don't see her getting many minutes at all. If Irwin continues to evolve, the minutes will go down even more. Not "beating up on role players." Kiah Stokes was a role player, and was amazing. Just stating the simple truth here.

 

[victor64]

Imagine Nat's own frustration. She is as fit as I have ever seen her. With the bruises she is bringing to the games, practices for her must be like sparring matches that come from really working hard. My guess is that she is putting the extra time in because she knows she has a huge opportunity. I would bet that her goal was to get a lot more run with the main core group without any noticeable team drop off in play. That time now seems to come only when one of the front bigs get in foul trouble.

Geno went big in the first half. Put Nat in and took Chong out. My guess is that Geno wanted to see if that is group that he could use for a period of time Monday. Nat got two fouls and was pulled shortly thereafter.

It took Chong a long time to figure out the consistency aspect. Something she freely admits in interviews. Butler has shown signs on both ends of the court to be a significant piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, now that tourney time is almost here, her time may shrink if she can't be consistent.

I think the staff's patience with Nat will continue because they realize that 6'5 kids with her skill set are still a valuable commodity in women's college basketball. If "Chong" type play suddenly became apparent this year, she is quite visible next year, no matter how loaded they are.

 

[tomcat]

"Not an asset on the court?" Not true, at least not all the time. She had a not very good game today. She has had other games when that jump shot and turnaround were falling -- sometimes from quite a distance. She takes up considerable room inside and when she is on, alters the way the other team brings the ball into the middle. She also has the ability to (on occasion -- not always, by any means) pass the ball smartly inside from the high post. Because she's a work in progress, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You may be right about how much time she will get when Camara and Stevens are playing, but to write her off altogether is just plain wrong.

 

[hoophuskee]

I think anyone who has watched Butler knows that she is not an asset on the court. Next year, with Azura and Camara and Walker in there in the front court, I don't see her getting many minutes at all. If Irwin continues to evolve, the minutes will go down even more. Not "beating up on role players." Kiah Stokes was a role player, and was amazing. Just stating the simple truth here.

I don't think you're right here. Anyhow you do agree that she was HUGE vs Texas, right? She gave decent minutes vs Baylor. And I can't recall the MD game but Collier only played 26 minutes. Nat played 14. I can't recall that she was as bad as you are implying.

And I agree - I don't expect Nat to get minutes over 8 other players. But I'm not so sure about your exuberance with Kyla. Nat has shown she can compete vs Texas, Baylor and I think she was okay vs MD too. You're evaluating Kyla as a comparison in her games vs "SMU?" Nat has proven she can compete vs elite bigs.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I watched the game on my phone, so I didn't have a chance to read or post to the game thread until now.

I found the game a little frustrating, because of our lofty standards. We shot 46%, which is low for us. I'll have to look at the rebounding stats, but I thought we got too few O boards. We seemed to have butterfingers at times. We weren't as sluggish as during the 12:00 or 1:00 games recently, but were more than usual. Fortunately, Monday's game is at 9 PM.

Despite less than our A game, we doubled up SMU, held them to just over 40, and went over 80 ourselves. Those are all good.

I thought Lou was outstanding. She's a true Badass. I thought Molly showed improvement with 5 assists. She and Kyla work well together.

I like our chances on Monday.

 

[oldude]

The bench continues to be a work in progress. What we will get from any of the bench in the SC game, the tournament and next season remain to be seen, and that uncertainty includes Crystal. Fortunately, the starters are tremendous and all are capable of going 40 minutes on Monday night absent foul trouble.