South Carolina goes down | Page 4 | The Boneyard

South Carolina goes down

JordyG said:
NC State played what used to be and still is typical SEC defense: Clog the middle and force the guards and wings to shoot perimeter shots or drive into length. Cooke and Henderson shot a combined 4-31. SCar had a total of 9 assists for the game. Again, and yes, Boston shot poorly, but back court leadership was severely lacking. Dawn has a lot of work to do. Let's understand however, having talent doesn't mean you win. It takes certain types of talent, a coach that recognizes that talent, and good coaching. Why is Geno the best coach in WCBB? This game tells you why.
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An excellent post JordyG. ;)
 
Zinethar said:
I watched the entire SC game (I should get a medal for that!). Boston was triple teamed all day in the post because no one else was scoring. The halftime score looked like a first quarter score from a good game. Boston looks very out of shape as others have noted and carries a lot of extra weight currently. Her only claim to fame that game was her 2 three pointers (one maybe was actually a 2). Both teams played slower than the local HS girls play. Sad.
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Not trying to pile on Boston, but didn't we read somewhere that Dawn commented on how hard Boston worked over the summer on her fitness, and on her game? It sort of seems like we are seeing a sophomore slump rather than a sophomore leap for her so far...
 
EricLA said:
Not trying to pile on Boston, but didn't we read somewhere that Dawn commented on how hard Boston worked over the summer on her fitness, and on her game? It sort of seems like we are seeing a sophomore slump rather than a sophomore leap for her so far...
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:eek:
 
This game brought back memories..............................remember? :eek:

 
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UConnCat said:
The ol' 4-day fix. The problem is that you won't really know it's fixed until SC again faces adversity against a good team. The issues Dawn identified -- "uncoachable, untamable, selfish" -- are what you see when things don't go right (missed shots, foul trouble, turnovers) and a team falls apart. Players start doing their own thing, the offense breaks down and hero-ball takes over. SC can come out Sunday and steamroll Iowa State and everyone will announce "problem fixed." Dawn will likely know better and wait to see what happens when adversity strikes again.

I, together with others, mentioned over the summer that SC would miss the skill and leadership of Harris and Herbert-Harrigan who were both drafted in the 1st round of the WNBA draft. We saw it last night.
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Specifically, on Nov 4....long before this game.....

Jim R said:
First, in reference to their my estimation of their value, perhaps my first sentence, "While Crystal's value to last year's team can't be minimized, and Megan's as well"....slipped by you. Seemingly, it was stated fairly clearly. Second, every team has players "ready to step in". What they don't have is the leadership both Harris and Harrigan provided, especially against the toughest opponents. Let's not forget the assist machine Harris was for USC. Speaking of #s in last year's match-up. Wasn't it Harris who provided 11 of your 14 assists? Harrigan wasn't your routine forward, her outside game, and three point touch, was invaluable for the Gamecocks. But, again, its their experience and leadership that'll be hard to replace - they were both valuable crunch time players. As was Crystal. Megan, not so much.
Our non-conference schedule should give us a good idea of who we are prior to our scheduled Feb 8
match-up, which should be entertaining. And, provide us with a glimpse of how well each of the teams have adjusted without their former players.
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But, according to Jumpstart
The "experience" has been passed off to the freshman class from last year. I am sure South Carolina has enough quality bench players to make up for Harris and Herbert-Harrington. Saxon and Grissett are beasts and with Henderson (who played better than Harris at times), Littleton, and Russell...they will be fine at guard. If you add in Amihere who has reported to be much, much better (the knee has healed to the point she has shed her brace) this team will be as good as last years team...and you could make a "better" argument. UCONN at home will be a tough assignment but this team won't lose on "Harris and Herbert-Harrington's exit" but simply because they got outplayed. I would still give UCONN the edge based only on the fact the game is at Gampel Pavilion..

Guess that "passed off to the freshman" didn't work...little did Jumpstart realize....., "experience" isn't a commodity that can be "passed off"...its got to be "lived"....
 
Rblack335 said:
Right?! If this is his job, why is he so consistently awful at pronouncing names? He said "Olivia....um um um and then butchered Nelson Ododa" nearly forgetting her last name. Then said "uh-vine-uh west-brock" and followed it up with "Paige Buuuu-eeee-kurs."

If hes the barometer, maybe I should apply for a job.
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Give poor ol' Andy a break. He's a coach. He's probably used to saying the players' numbers, rather than their names. "Watch ol' 43 there!" :)
 
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EricLA said:
Not trying to pile on Boston, but didn't we read somewhere that Dawn commented on how hard Boston worked over the summer on her fitness, and on her game? It sort of seems like we are seeing a sophomore slump rather than a sophomore leap for her so far...
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Boston is not as quick and flexible as ONO. I think Dawn's training is in the wrong direction.
 
Bills Fan said:
That's Boston's problem. She picked the wrong school and after seeing as many UCONN games as she saw while in HS, she should have known better!
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That's so hard to determine - I know we all believe the coaching at UCONN is 2nd to none but...

Why did Olivia improve so much the 2nd half of last season? Many believe it was because Jamelle came back, injecting toughness and a new perspective, but what if things worked out with Jasmine (and Jamelle remained in her previous position)? Would the post coaching from Geno and Chris have been that "bad" that Olivia would have had no improvement over the 2nd half of the season?

Boston said along the lines of "If i want to get into the WNBA and play for the US National team, SC is the place to go". That is a remarkably uninformed comment from a player of her caliber who supposedly did her homework. UCONN had 19 in the WNBA (got the numbers from Swish Appeal from July - numbers may be off due to players who opted out), and SC had 7. Not even close. SC was 4th on the list behind Maryland and ND.

As for the Olympics, there's even more of a disparity. Granted SC has been a "johnny come lately" program (new to the elite echelon), but again, the disparity between UCONN alums and SC alums on the US National team is huge.

I get that Dawn sold her on "you will be the next A'ja Wilson" more or less. But SC has nowhere near the recent pedigree of placing players in the pros and on US National teams.

Having said that, how different would this team be if we had kept Collier and gotten Boston? Way more post depth. but did they pick the wrong school? Maybe they would have developed better at UCONN, maybe not. They did pick the best school for them at the time of their decision so can't really fault them for that. But we certainly can be disappointed!
 
Waquoit said:
UConn shot great the first half.
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I only saw the end of the 1st half and the second. UConn has the same issue as S Carolina, a lack of outside scoring. I don't watch a lot of men's games but to my eye it looks like all the practice time is spent with moves to get to the hoop and actually putting the ball through the hoop is an afterthought. It's all about making ESPN's top ten drives of the day.
 
Kaizen said:
Boston is not as quick and flexible as ONO. I think Dawn's training is in the wrong direction.
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I like ONO; she seems like a wonderful teammate and is possibly the best defensive big in the country now that Cox is gone. However, Boston’s problems last night seemed to have less to do with her agility and fitness than it did State’s sagging defense. I’m not convinced ONO would have fared any better last night. FWIW, Boston does have a track record of playing well in big games (Baylor last year, Mississippi State) whereas I don’t remember ONO playing particularly well against Baylor or SC.

I recognize Boston and ONO play similar games as skilled forwards/centers with defensive chops, but they are dissimilar physically and athletically. Each has the potential to be great alone; they need not be so directly compared imo.
 
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This may just be a case of a team reading too many articles extolling their greatness. Most experts called their wins over SD & Gonzaga as "quality" wins. Kind of like UConn beating tOSU. Sure, they are ranked but what is always ignored is that the gap in talent between a NO 1 team and a No 20 in wcbb is huge. To a large degree I think the hype got into their heads.
The other factor is that S Carolina is learning that when you have been anointed as the best program a target appears on your back and there is pressure every game. UConn made it look easy when it is really really hard.
 
Steve UConn72 said:
Give poor ol' Andy a break. He's a coach. He's probably used to saying the players' numbers, rather than their names. "Watch ol' 43 there!" :)
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Come on man! If you're going to be on tv and getting paid, at least be able to demonstrate a command of the English language. I can't support giving him a pass just because he was a coach.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
The season's still in its infancy. It's week 2 and teams have only played two or three games. Can't we give it a little more time before judging players?
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I like to wait until 5 games have been played. I have always found that to be a sufficient sample size to make an informed decision regarding individual and team play.
 
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Plebe said:
I have mixed feelings about it. I like NC State and tend to root for them against most teams to begin with, and I also tend to root for the underdog unless it's against UConn.

However, it would have been a lot more exciting (and better for UConn, of course) if SC could've stayed undefeated and #1 until our game with them.
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That may be for those who rank the teams on a weekly basis, but for the women playing for UCONN to see those teams that beat out team last year to lose themselves this year should be a big confidence boost as well as to listen to Coach and work hard so no one accidently beats them. Keep the foot on the accelerator!
 
baggerbob said:
Uconn has Stokes, Dolson, Stewie, and Collier as starters in the WNBA, South Carolina has Wilson. So who does better with developing bigs?
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UConn players going into the WNBA are HIGHLY coveted by many WNBA GM's and coaches. They are considered plug-n-play, and are usually high first round draft selections.
 
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Carnac said:
UConn players going into the WNBA are HIGHLY coveted by ALL WNBA GM's and coaches. They are considered plug-n-play, and are usually high first round draft selections.
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By Cheryl Reeve only
 
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soxfan23 said:
Well, Boston better get used to having a lot of bodies in the paint because teams are going sag off the 3pt line and pack in a zone against them because SC hasn't proven they can make you pay from the outside,
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Right. North Carolina State just provided a "blueprint" for others to use on how to stop or slow down Aaliyah Boston. They held her to 9 points. If UConn could hold her to single digit scoring and only 6 rebounds whenever they played, I'd be happy. ;)
 
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WFFL said:
By Cheryl Reeve only
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Comment amended to "many" GM's and coaches. Not limited to Reeve only. We both know better than that. Reeve is not the only coach that drafts UConn players. UConn players are spread out all over the league.
 
Michael Wilbon said on PTI that he felt SC was still the best team. Okay, Mike. Maybe you need a pair of glasses. Oh, that's right. Sometimes he wears glasses.
 
Sched2345 said:
I like ONO; she seems like a wonderful teammate and is possibly the best defensive big in the country now that Cox is gone. However, Boston’s problems last night seemed to have less to do with her agility and fitness than it did State’s sagging defense. I’m not convinced ONO would have fared any better last night. FWIW, Boston does have a track record of playing well in big games (Baylor last year, Mississippi State) whereas I don’t remember ONO playing particularly well against Baylor or SC.

I recognize Boston and ONO play similar games as skilled forwards/centers with defensive chops, but they are dissimilar physically and athletically. Each has the potential to be great alone; they need not be so directly compared imo.
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While Liv may not have performed any better than Boston in this game, we have been told over and over that Boston is the best big in WBB and how much better she is than Liv, that it is a bit surprising how poorly she (Boston) has played! I mean, she has not played well at all!
 
Cuango said:
While Liv may not have performed any better than Boston in this game, we have been told over and over that Boston is the best big in WBB and how much better she is than Liv, that it is a bit surprising how poorly she (Boston) has played! I mean, she has not played well at all!
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I agree. I would say Boston was the best big in WBB last year. This year, not so far.
 
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