South Carolina scored 7 points in the 1st Q

[Sluconn Husky]

SC had the same size and defense last year and was blown off the court. The Gamecocks are not UConn's biggest threat despite being ranked #2 that label belongs to Notre Dame. Anyone that knows the sport and can comprehend what they are watching knows that in order to beat UConn you have to be able to SCORE! because you're not holding them to 60 pts. I've seen enough of SC this year to know they will have to play a notch above what they have played all year to keep that Feb 8th game within 15pts.

Notre Dame held UConn to 63 in last year's title game and kept it competitive throughout. UConn could smack SC around this time too but I don't think it's a fait accompli.

 

[Kibitzer]

SEC WBB reminds me of the classic take on SEC football: Very physical, strong defense, grind-it-out ground game. I like UConn's artistry better.

Hmm. Consider these odds: Bet the under for any SEC game and take the over when UConn plays.

 

[Nuyoika]

Replicant and Nuyoika - I think you are wrong because they have no trouble blowing out a bunch of weak sisters, and can do the same against ranked teams. I think it is something that really is unique to Uconn - they do not take plays off, they don't take minutes off, and they certainly don't take games off at home or on the road. You look at MD, Baylor, and ND and they too play some very close games against teams that they should be handling with ease. It is a culture I guess, but it is so unique it has never been seen before - 90, 70, 55, 47 says it all - 5 undefeated season says it all. No one has every created the culture that makes those things possible except Uconn and John Wooden at UCLA.

All of those teams are in tight games for a number of reasons: because they are inconsistent, or because they don't know how to travel, or they get lazy, or they rely too heavily on one thing or one player, or they do not take defense seriously enough, or ... Or they are not well enough coached and schooled to adjust, to recognizing changing patterns on offense or defense, to change their own patterns on the fly. Not each team has the same issues, but some combination of them, and it really does come down to coaching and teaching and demanding and remaining vigilant. All those teams win most of those close games because they are just better than the teams challenging them, but they are in those close games because they are not Uconn and they do not have Geno and rest of the staff.

Some of it is basic philosophy and I think there are only a few top team's that have coaches that have the same types of systems - ND being the closest.ND like Uconn has had stars, but those stars are multi-faceted players as likely to get an assist as a shot in every offensive set - they are able to adjust on the fly and any of the players on the floor for major minutes can lead the team in scoring on any night. That makes it a familiar situation for everyone when one of the players has an off night, the offense adjusts and instead of shooting they become the facilitator for someone else. That helps with the consistency issue regardless of what else is being coached or is sliding. The best example for ND occurred this year when mid season they lost their two primary post players and continued to play really sound basketball, because they could change roles and styles on the fly. For Uconn probably two years ago with Stoke, Tuck, and KML missing games mid-season and the team just kept rolling.

Geno has implied a number of times that ever season contains some issues with the team 'feeling they got this' or that they can 'turn it on when needed' and it is a battle for the coaches to get them to see 'that they don't got this' and they will find themselves in a game where they can't 'just turn it on' at the end and everything turns out well. (Stanford served that purpose last year!) And winning close games against inferior talent is a warning sign that the team is in that mind set. playing poorly or sloppily in blow-outs is the same. People sort of chuckled about Tuck and Stewart being benched last year, but that was another coaching move to say, whatever that first 5 minutes was, it isn't Uconn basketball and 'you don't got this' and and you don't get another chance tonight to 'turn it back on'!

Don't get me wrong they definitely SHOULD be blowing everyone in the SEC out by 15+ but that is just not them. UConn style domination takes supreme discipline and SCar doesn't have that at this point. They sometimes play down to their opponent and foul a bit more than a Top 5 team should vs ranked opponents and they don't shoot free throws very well. All that being said doesn't diminish their accomplishments I am just saying comparing the two teams is pointless. In terms of being relevant in WCBB SCar is in it's infancy and we have seen plenty of teams over the years rise into the ranks of the "Elite" and fall just as quickly when their best recruiting class ever graduates or they realize you need more than just talent to stay on top. That doesn't mean the same will happen for SCar but don't expect them to perform like a well oiled machine.... the machine is still a prototype in Columbia.

 

[Ctpaul0825]

What I like about USC is that they find a way to win, in our early years we also had many close, ugly games but we found a way to win. If nothing else, USC is building that culture and mindset which will help moving forward. For us old timers what USC is doing is very familiar to our early years.

 

[donalddoowop]

Notre Dame held UConn to 63 in last year's title game and kept it competitive throughout. UConn could smack SC around this time too but I don't think it's a fait accompli.

Stew

 

[Waquoit]

"Finding a way to win" against a team you should clobber is nothing to brag about.

 

[cbraarj]

South Carolina will have to hit the outside shots against the Huskies to even be in the game.IMO Dawn needs to shorten her bench to 7 or 8 players to try to make the offense more fluid.Depth is overrated as Geno has showed everybody the last 3 years.18 to 22 year olds basketball players should be able to play 35 to 40 minutes a game if healthy and most would want to.Also playing and coaching are totally different things and Dawn is one of the best ever at playing the game but she is still learning the coaching side of the game.Any coach can win with having the most talent but to win like Ct. and Tenn. has a team needs structure,discipline,pay attention to all the little things as well as playing hard for 40 minutes like connecticut does.

 

[SCGamecock]

I'm not sure Mississippi State qualifies as a team we should clobber. Sure, we have had closer than expected wins but winning in a close game against a top-10 team with a good defense shouldn't be a surprise. They're ranked there for a reason, they aren't world beaters quite yet but they are no slouch. Their defense will keep them in most games. Like another poster said, if MState had a another scorer or two they would've won that game last night. I tend to agree with that.

Very few teams consistently blow out other top 10 teams.

 

[bags27]

I had tickets for last year's UConn/USC game, but couldn't go because of the snow storm. Watching on ESPN, I was a bit taken back by USC's early lead playing in a hostile environment, but even then and even on TV, it was clear that USC just didn't switch fast enough, offer enough weak side help, etc. and I said to myself: they just don't have enough court discipline. USC has a lot of talent and, on a day when UConn is down, may well be able to beat UConn, but not very often....

 

[Waquoit]

I'm not sure Mississippi State qualifies as a team we should clobber.

MSU just barely beat a bad SMU team. But they found a way to win by 2.

 

[huskyd]

Some of the SC fans here speak of the Gamecocks as a dynasty: "It's no longer enough for us to show up and blah, blah, blah." Truth is they're a recent phenomenon in the manner of many schools that had a good year or two and then were never heard/seen from again. I'm not suggesting that SC won't have a good program going forward, but let's not equate their current status with a permanent role. Geno has said that he'd rather play a team with good bigs than a team with good guards. Shortly, his wish comes true.

 

[EricLA]

I thought it was a well fought game - sort of like a chess match. Yeah, there was way too much 1 on 1 basketball for my taste, and the lack of offense, especially between 2 top 10 teams was appalling, but bottom line, if you are SC, it's win and move on. Try to learn something from each game, and Tiff Mitchell was terrific. IMHO, SC fans who think they will be better offensively next year because of who they bring in are falling into the same trap Tennessee fans have for years - Tenn fans say "sure we lose Player X, but just look at who we bring in".

Davis is a career .370 shooter, which is not great for a guard/wing. Her 3 point shooting was worse in her second year and career college, is .318. Not sure what Gray's stats were her 1st 2 years, but with SC losing 4 players who have been starters this past year, it's not going to be as simple as some of their fans think.

Bottom line, Miss played the best they could and SC still came out on top.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I posted this on the SMU Coach Rompola thread and it also fits here- - -

No one in the 2nd tier, (UCONN is alone in the 1st tier) ND, SoCa, MD, Baylor, TX, and some others for whatever reason can't duplicate UCONN's skill, effort, heart, work ethic! They have the players with the ability they just don't do it! As Doris Burke has said several times, "teams shouldn't hate UCONN for their success, they aren't doing anything special but out-working every single school in Div. I WBB! You want to beat UCONN, out-work UCONN!"
If UCONN stays injury and illness free they will still beat every opponent next year by about 10 points!
Think about this fact- UCONN's Tuck, Chong, Collier, KLS, Nurse, Williams, & Butler, returning players are all capable of scoring between 10 to 20+ points per game, every game! Ekmark is capable of scoring between 6 to 8 points per game! So even if all score on the low end of that scale they're scoring 76 points per game! Plus playing the toughest, strongest, unwielding defense in the nation! Who is capable of doing THAT every game? And you know at least two of the above is going to score on the top side of that scale, 20 points! So if you add in those 2 ten point games that = 96 points per game! That's not even taking into effect the 3 rookies coming in!
So health becomes the only possible downer to UCONN's next season record!

 

[SCGamecock]

MSU just barely beat a bad SMU team. But they found a way to win by 2.

Maryland played UCONN tough and has struggled against teams since.... would UCONN struggle with those same teams?

The transitive property applies to basketball so well.

 

[EricLA]

We are the class of the SEC. The rest of the conference is looking up to us in talent, attendance, and in the actual rankings.. and some of those teams looking up, like MSU, are pretty decent teams. No matter margin of victory, we're currently undefeated in conference play and will likely go on to win our 3rd straight regular season title and 2nd straight conference tournament title.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We still have games versus Kentucky, A&M and Tennessee..

I'm not necessarily rooting for or against SC - I wouldn't mind seeing you lose to Kentucky or aTm, (alhtough I think it's unlikely). BUT... please be sure you beat Tennessee, and not only by a little bit. Pummel them into oblivion... A 30 point beat down would not be too much IMHO...

 

[EricLA]

Maryland played UCONN tough and has struggled against teams since.... would UCONN struggle with those same teams?

The transitive property applies to basketball so well.

FWIW I totally agree. UCONN "barely" beat Maryland and Notre Dame. Although UCONN was up 20 on ND early in the 4th before ND mounted a come back (or UCONN let them back into the game depending on your perspective). And that was without Turner. Additionally, UCONN was only up 4 or 5 on Maryland very late in the 4th quarter. I agree about the transitive property - a lot of it is about matchups. We've talked about it before - L'ville beat Baylor to get to the NC game (beat Griner and Sims) only to lose to UCONN by 30+ in the title game. BUT... I think UCONN vs. Baylor would have been much closer.

Point is, and it's something many have noted, it's about how teams match up. ND has always been an tough matchup for UCONN. Stanford has often been a really tough matchup, even when we are superior in talent on paper. L'ville has always been a horrible matchup from their perspective as has Duke. This year OSU was destroyed by UCONN but they only lost to SC by 8. and ND by 3. If not for the unfortunate loss to Northwestern a few weeks ago, they'd probably be the other #1 seed...

You can never look at the MOV and compare how 2 different teams played the common opponent. Some teams have great guards, others great post players, others focus mostly on defense, etc etc. IMHO UCONN is the most well rounded team in WCBB but against teams like ND and Stanford, who traditionally play a spread out offense with lots of ball movement and rotation - those are the kind of teams who can usually stay with UCONN. JUST having great defense isn't enough. Because UCONN usually plays great defense too...

I just wanted to add that USF recently lost a game to Memphis, who while IMHO is better than their record, still, is just an average team. Really bad loss for USF. And yet they traditionally play UCONN as tough as anyone out there...

 

[toadfoot]

Maryland played UCONN tough and has struggled against teams since.... would UCONN struggle with those same teams?

The transitive property applies to basketball so well.

What games would those be? They beat Michigan by 7, but other than a loss to OSU, no shame there, every Maryland game has been a 18 win or better. As for whether UConn would struggle with those teams, we have evidence for how they would have "struggled" against OSU.

 

[SCGamecock]

Some of the SC fans here speak of the Gamecocks as a dynasty: "It's no longer enough for us to show up and blah, blah, blah." Truth is they're a recent phenomenon in the manner of many schools that had a good year or two and then were never heard/seen from again. I'm not suggesting that SC won't have a good program going forward, but let's not equate their current status with a permanent role. Geno has said that he'd rather play a team with good bigs than a team with good guards. Shortly, his wish comes true.

Since this was directed at me, I'll bite... I probably will regret this later.

I never said we were a dynasty and I didn't insinuate that either. Nobody said anything about a dynasty in this thread except you. We did win the last 2 SEC regular season championships and we did win last year's SEC tournament. That's not a dynasty. No, but they are facts.

By stating that "Truth is they're a recent phenomenon in the manner of many schools that had a good year or two and then were never heard/seen from again" you literally just suggested what you said you're not suggesting. And you may be right, we may just be here temporarily... but if that's true, I'm going to enjoy being here. This may just be the beginning for SC WBB or it may actually be the apex. Either way, I'm going to relish in this moment because all good things don't last forever. SC's current run will eventually subside just like UCONN's current dominance.

 

[SCGamecock]

What games would those be? They beat Michigan by 7, but other than a loss to OSU, no shame there, every Maryland game has been a 18 win or better. As for whether UConn would struggle with those teams, we have evidence for how they would have "struggled" against OSU.

Just because you win comfortably doesn't mean you didn't struggle getting there. Their games versus Northwestern and Illinios were a lot closer than the MOV suggested. I watched them.

 

[toadfoot]

Just because you win comfortably doesn't mean you didn't struggle getting there. Their games versus Northwestern and Illinios were a lot closer than the MOV suggested. I watched them.

Your definition of "struggle" is a lot different from mine. Maryland was up by 14 at halftime against NW and cruised to a win. They were up by 7 at halftime against Illinois and 16 after 3 quarters.

This is MY definition of struggling...
South Carolina:

OSU - SC by 4 under 1 minute.
UCLA - SC by 2 under 1 minute.
ASU - tied with no time on the clock.
Vanderbilt - SC by 3 after 3 quarters.
Kentucky - SC by 1 after 3 quarters.
aTm - do I need to even say.
Mississippi St. - SC by 2 with under 30 seconds to play.

 

[Carnac]

SC's defense and size could ugly the game up for UConn too.

Pundits said the same thing last year about USC's tremendous "size" advantage. Texas' size advantage was also mentioned as a possible factor as UConn as the Longhorns were next up for the Huskies. How did those two games work out?

We all know that USC is not the same team we played last year. They've improved just a bit. They are more experienced, but so is UConn. Our bench is deeper than lit was last year.

Fans and observers of USC basketball are quick to point out the statistical accomplishments of the Lady Gamecocks, forgetting that these stats were not compiled against UConn, or the type of defense UConn employs.

It's common knowledge that you cannot turn the ball over against UConn like USC did in their last game, and keep the game close. UConn will bury you (quickly) if you give them that many more possessions. UConn converts turnovers into points.

UConn's style of play reminds me of the late heavyweight boxer "Smokin' Joe Frazier". Smokin' Joe was always in your face. He never ran, never did a rope-a-dope, never took a step back. He was always advancing. Always coming at you, and could take a punch. You could not get away from him. He'd cut the ring off on you.

I still remember those epic battles he had with Muhammad Ali. Ali brought his lunch and hard hat to each fight, because he knew it was not going to be a walk in the park, or a quick knock out. Anytime you stepped into the ring with Joe Frazier, you had better be prepared to go the distance. It was almost impossible to knock smoking Joe out, and he never threw in the towel

UConn is like that. They never take plays (or possessions off). They're always coming at you. Anytime you receive a pass, there ALWAYS a UConn defender in your face with their hands up. There were a lot of "one and dones" yesterday for Mississippi State. Not a lot of offensive rebounds. They did not match up well with USC size wise. Wilson and Coates were grabbing everything that came off the glass.

I'm not predicting a margin of victory for UConn against South Carolina. I do however (like everyone else here on the yard) expect UConn to emerge victorious. I am suggesting that if USC does not bring their A+ game for 40 minutes, they will suffer their first defeat of the season.

In other news.........Looking at the top 4 ranked teams (AP & USA today) at the halfway mark, UConn, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Baylor have a combined record of 67-2, and all look to be number one seeds in the NCAA tournament. None of them have multiple losses. They're resilient, and very hard to beat. Barring injury to a starter, Carnac predicts these will be your #1 seeds for the tournament come March.

Right now, these four are the most dominate teams in the country. I don't see any of them taking their foot of the gas between now and the end of the season. They'll all want to go into the tournament with "down hill" momentum. It would not surprise me if all of them made it to Indy, but that's a long way off. Anything can happen between now and then.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Coates and Wilson - 6pts each?? That will not cut it against UConn. MSU seemed to pack it in and let SC's guards beat them and their transition "D" was nonexistent in key situations in the 4th quarter. Don't expect that to happen on Geno's watch.

 

[SCGamecock]

Your definition of "struggle" is a lot different from mine. Maryland was up by 14 at halftime against NW and cruised to a win. They were up by 7 at halftime against Illinois and 16 after 3 quarters.

This is MY definition of struggling...
South Carolina:

OSU - SC by 4 under 1 minute.
UCLA - SC by 2 under 1 minute.
ASU - tied with no time on the clock.
Vanderbilt - SC by 3 after 3 quarters.
Kentucky - SC by 1 after 3 quarters.
aTm - do I need to even say.
Mississippi St. - SC by 2 with under 30 seconds to play.

And through all of that "struggle"... they're still sitting pretty. Looks like a team that "finds a way to win".. which was already established in this thread. Miraculous.

 

[SCGamecock]

Coates and Wilson - 6pts each?? That will not cut it against UConn. MSU seemed to pack it in and let SC's guards beat them and their transition "D" was nonexistent in key situations in the 4th quarter. Don't expect that to happen on Geno's watch.

You don't think UCONN will pack it in versus SC? What do you think the defensive game plan is versus SC?

We've yet to play a game this season where the opponent hasn't packed it in the paint the entire game.

 

[toadfoot]

And through all of that "struggle"... they're still sitting pretty. Looks like a team that "finds a way to win".. which was already established in this thread. Miraculous.

No, that just looks like a team that's struggling against teams they should be beating fairly easily. Now I suspect your definition of miraculous is also quite unusual, even bizarre.