South Carolina goes down

[Geesworld]

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.

I agree. Two different players with different attributes other than height. I don't think ONO would've individually fared any better. Mostly because ONO is often a one man gang against top 10 teams who seemed to have multiple bigs against our undersized team. But I think her teammates would have thrived based off our movement and spacing in our UCONN offense.

I think Boston would've benefited playing in a more free flowing offense like UCONN. The ability of getting the ball from High post to low post, including some pick and rolls, along with the open space created by movement, she would be unstoppable.

She seems to be a space eater (Paint to Low Elbow) in the SC system. South Carolinas lack of shooting will only lead to her having multiple defenders sitting in her lap.

 

[jazz]

I watched the game on reply. Boston was bothered by the length of the State's center. She missed a few shots and they bumped out of the low post on several occasions. Guards couldnt get her the ball effectively.

This SC team looked slow and their point guard play was poor. They have a long way to go to be elite I think. They may be good and maybe they had an off night but they sure looked slow and lethargic. I am a big believer in the value of point guard play and SC didnt have it at all in this game. Ironically, that little State point guard did very well and made a few big plays. SC guards are no match for what I ThINK the UConn guards will be this year.

Liv just needs to stay in the game and give us a presence in the middle, rebound, play D and get a dozen or so points against SC and I THINK we will win big, given the superior play of what I THINK our guards will have.

 

[bluedevil]

I watched the game on reply. Boston was bothered by the length of the State's center. She missed a few shots and they bumped out of the low post on several occasions. Guards couldnt get her the ball effectively.

This SC team looked slow and their point guard play was poor. They have a long way to go to be elite I think. They may be good and maybe they had an off night but they sure looked slow and lethargic. I am a big believer in the value of point guard play and SC didnt have it at all in this game. Ironically, that little State point guard did very well and made a few big plays. SC guards are no match for what I ThINK the UConn guards will be this year.

Liv just needs to stay in the game and give us a presence in the middle, rebound, play D and get a dozen or so points against SC and I THINK we will win big, given the superior play of what I THINK our guards will have.

At this point not sure the outcome of that game will be the barometer of uconn's season..

 

[CocoHusky]

This is why you don't listen to people that aren't Gamecock fans but talk like they are. There are plenty of actual Gamecock posters on this board that would not have said anything this ridiculous.

Fair enough. Just checking for a friend: Does that one poster who was touting Henderson as a “POY candidate” and as “talented as Boston” fall into this category ?

 

[jazz]

At this point not sure the outcome of that game will be the barometer of uconn's season..

Not sure I said it would be. To clarify, I was not impressed at all with SC and I have reservations that they will be able to reach a level that they can beat UCONN, assuming UCONN is what I THINK they can be. I only compare the two teams bc SC is number one and the thread was about SC and how awful they were.

It goes without saying that it is way early but I would be shocked if at this point (even with no games played) UCONN wouldn't beat NC State handily. SC has Boston and not much else and in this game Boston wasn't close to dominate.

I do expect Boston to be dominate in most games this year but I cant see SC guard play getting a lot better. But this is obviously IMHO.

 

[Sched2345]

I watched the game on reply. Boston was bothered by the length of the State's center. She missed a few shots and they bumped out of the low post on several occasions. Guards couldnt get her the ball effectively.

This SC team looked slow and their point guard play was poor. They have a long way to go to be elite I think. They may be good and maybe they had an off night but they sure looked slow and lethargic. I am a big believer in the value of point guard play and SC didnt have it at all in this game. Ironically, that little State point guard did very well and made a few big plays. SC guards are no match for what I ThINK the UConn guards will be this year.

Liv just needs to stay in the game and give us a presence in the middle, rebound, play D and get a dozen or so points against SC and I THINK we will win big, given the superior play of what I THINK our guards will have.

That’s a reasonable observation, I think. SC’s guards are very talented, but are burdened by poor shot selection. That’s not an issue you see very often at UConn.

I love the Gamecocks, but prior to last year, offensive flow and ball movement was a reoccurring issue in the program. In my opinion, how far the Gamecocks can go this year hinges almost entirely on finding a solution to that issue.

 

[jazz]

That’s a reasonable observation, I think. SC’s guards are very talented, but are burdened by poor shot selection. That’s not an issue you see very often at UConn.

I love the Gamecocks, but prior to last year, offensive flow and ball movement was a reoccurring issue in the program. In my opinion, how far the Gamecocks can go this year hinges almost entirely on finding a solution to that issue.

I appreciate you comments Sched. From what I saw last year and in this one game this year, I think the SC guards may be over-rated. It will be interesting to see as the year goes along. They just seemed slow and not very good at delivering the BB. There doesn't seem to be a good PG at SC. As I said, it is early but normally teams ranked number 1 have exceptional guard play and this team thus far does not. SC guards were outplayed by NC State guards and if that stays true to form, I think they will be outplayed by UCONN guards too.

I agree with your premise about the 'lack of offensive flow and ball movement'. It wasn't great last year either but they did have the one guard who could bail them out consistently like Harris. Nobody I can see will fill that void. I'm not a big fan of Cooke. More flash and inconsistency than anything and I can't see that changing anytime soon.

Anyway, I'm just interested in this bc SC is(was) the No. 1 ranked team but it is still early and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

[Tonyc]

With all the talk about guard play and not about bigs think about this. UConn has CW Anna Paige and Nika and thats alot of playmakers and scorers all in one. Yeah UConn will be tuff to beat. Shooters force defenses to come out and guard them opening up the middle. Good passing makes plays easier. This all breeds confidence and thats how you win.

 

[bluedevil]

With all the talk about guard play and not about bigs think about this. UConn has CW Anna Paige and Nika and thats alot of playmakers and scorers all in one. Yeah UConn will be tuff to beat. Shooters force defenses to come out and guard them opening up the middle. Good passing makes plays easier. This all breeds confidence and thats how you win.

I like how you think but Paige/Nika have not played a game yet; CW had a down year last year and we don't know if Anna will have a sophmore slump like CW did or a soph. leap.. just playing blue devil's advocate..

 

[hoophuskee]

I like how you think but Paige/Nika have not played a game yet; CW had a down year last year and we don't know if Anna will have a sophmore slump like CW did or a soph. leap.. just playing blue devil's advocate..

Sure. And you know back in 15-16 - Tuck could have gotten hurt again, MoJeff could have lost her shot, all the young players on that team could have frozen with more important responsibilities resulting in Stewart and Nurse to carry the load. Someone could have said the same thing you are saying pre-season of 15-16.

But isn't it more likely that the UCONN guards will be highly productive?

 

[baggerbob]

Sure. And you know back in 15-16 - Tuck could have gotten hurt again, MoJeff could have lost her shot, all the young players on that team could have frozen with more important responsibilities resulting in Stewart and Nurse to carry the load. Someone could have said the same thing you are saying pre-season of 15-16.

But isn't it more likely that the UCONN guards will be highly productive?

Gabby, Lou, and Collier were on that team, not all would have been bad. Moriah even without her shot played defense and got the ball to shooters in position to score. Butler, and Chong were also on that team.

 

[hoophuskee]

Gabby, Lou, and Collier were on that team, not all would have been bad. Moriah even without her shot played defense and got the ball to shooters in position to score. Butler, and Chong were also on that team.

And if UCONN wins a championship this year not all were like bluedevil suggested they might be, right?

 

[HuskylnSC]

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...

A prolonged 'slump' for Boston will be an indicator of how important Ty Harris was last year. As I have previously pointed out, she and HH accounted for 43% of all assists last year. And the excuse that Boston is being double and triple teamed supports the importance of HH to pull some of the post attention away from her. This team to date is not last year's team and unless Dawn get get a top point guard transfer, might not be any better next year.

 

[oldude]

A prolonged 'slump' for Boston will be an indicator of how important Ty Harris was last year. As I have previously pointed out, she and HH accounted for 43% of all assists last year. And the excuse that Boston is being double and triple teamed supports the importance of HH to pull some of the post attention away from her. This team to date is not last year's team and unless Dawn get get a top point guard transfer, might not be any better next year.

Very similar to Ionescu & Hebard, Harris and Boston were great at playing the 2-man game, pick and role, etc. last season. It remains to be seen if SC can recreate that type of offensive paring this season.