Stepping Up

[Surly1]

A joy of March Madness is watching the cream rise to the top. Last night, our girl Paige, put on a performance for the ages. As the sun sets on her collegiate career, Paige looks determined to go out in style, following up a career high tying 34 pts by establishing a new one - the first 40-pt postseason game in Uconn's storied history. As Geno has stated, Paige's legacy is secure, but winning a NC in her final season is a fitting conclusion for one of the most impactful players to ever wear a Husky uniform.

There's huge jump in the intensity level from the regular season to the postseason. ND steamrolled opponents early on, looking like a NC contender before a late season swoon. Yesterday, their mojo went missing when TCU refused to fold, as they roared back from a 9-pt deficit. Prior to the game, I felt ND's ticket was booked for the Elite Eight, but TCU certified its regular season win wasn't a fluke.

Kudos to Hailey Van Lith for the second best performance of the day. She outplayed ND's more celebrated trio, maintaining her composure & focus while Miles & Hidalgo were prematurely posturing, taking over the game in the 4th quarter with big-time shots and efficient decision-making. Over her 5-year career, Hailey Van Lith has done something the latest UConn teams have struggled with - beating ND. After yesterday's win, Hailey Van Lith's record against the Irish is 7-2. I'm enjoying Hailey Van Lith's redemption tour, but that will cease if they face UConn. Besides, I don't think she wants a piece of Paige right now.

Hannah Hidalgo is an amazing player, but to win in the postseason, you have to raise your game to a higher level. She wasn't the reason why ND lost to TCU, but she shot 3-19. This follows a 4-17 performance last season in their loss against Oregon St.

Monday night, it's a rematch of last year's Elite Eight game. Even without JuJu, SC has plenty of weapons as K ST found out. USC's freshmen showed why they were ranked the #1 class coming into the season. Expect Kiki Iriafen to have a much better game against UConn. Likewise, I expect Sarah & Azzi to raise the level of their games. It should a competitive, tight game, but I like UConn's chances with an on fuego Paige Bueckers. Could a third consecutive 30-pt game be in the cards?

 

[PacoSwede]

A joy of March Madness is watching the cream rise to the top. ....

Monday night, it's a rematch of last year's Elite Eight game. Even without JuJu, SC has plenty of weapons as K ST found out. USC's freshmen showed why they were ranked the #1 class coming into the season. Expect Kiki Iriafen to have a much better game against UConn. Likewise, I expect Sarah & Azzi to raise the level of their games. It should a competitive, tight game, but I like UConn's chances with an on fuego Paige Bueckers. Could a third consecutive 30-pt game be in the cards?

didn't she do this before ... as a freshman i'm thinking? be nice to get 5 in a row, as long as uconn also wins 'em.

btw, haven't heard anybody -- esp. ESPN voices -- bringing up any NPOY angles to paige's exploits. finally it should be obvious that she clearly deserves another.

 

[Bone Dog]

Kudos to Hailey Van Lith for the second best performance of the day. She outplayed ND's more celebrated trio, maintaining her composure & focus while Miles & Hidalgo were prematurely posturing, taking over the game in the 4th quarter with big-time shots and efficient decision-making. Over her 5-year career, Hailey Van Lith has done something the latest UConn teams have struggled with - beating ND. After yesterday's win, Hailey Van Lith's record against the Irish is 7-2. I'm enjoying Hailey Van Lith's redemption tour, but that will cease if they face UConn. Besides, I don't think she wants a piece of Paige right now.

Hannah Hidalgo is an amazing player, but to win in the postseason, you have to raise your game to a higher level. She wasn't the reason why ND lost to TCU, but she shot 3-19. This follows a 4-17 performance last season in their loss against Oregon St.

Monday night, it's a rematch of last year's Elite Eight game. Even without JuJu, SC has plenty of weapons as K ST found out. USC's freshmen showed why they were ranked the #1 class coming into the season. Expect Kiki Iriafen to have a much better game against UConn. Likewise, I expect Sarah & Azzi to raise the level of their games. It should a competitive, tight game, but I like UConn's chances with an on fuego Paige Bueckers. Could a third consecutive 30-pt game be in the cards?

I don't fault Hannah for ND's loss. Yeah, she took a lot of poor shots, but she had to do something since no one else was getting it done, and she was as fierce as ever on defense. She tried to carry her team and her shoulders just weren't quite broad enough, at least not yet.

I'm looking forward to a UConn -- TCU NC game. Just sic KK Ash and Kaitlyn on Hailey and the rest of her team will not matter. I think UConn matches up really well with them.

I suspect the matchups with SC minus Juju are similarly in UConn's favor. Take Howell, Heckel and Smith out of their offense and it won't really matter if Kiki has a great game.

 

[Blakeon18]

Van Lith was wonderful against ND. Her drives to the basket were just lethal...
with both hands. Beating Texas on Monday for the final four...don't quite see it.
Should TCU win that one...very much don't see them beating South Carolina
in the national semi-final....but I would love to see a UConn/TCU championship game.

Seeing the numbers Betts of UCLA is putting up...yikes! Over 90% from the floor with
many of those points coming from over or through double-teams. How LSU tries to
somewhat control Betts today at 3:00 should be interesting.

 

[ERWUC65]

As expected, the Juju effect has a finite duration and you can expect a decline in the emotional adrenaline from the MS game to the KS game and on to the UConn game. Kiki struggled in the KS game (although to her credit she was doubled and tripled on almost every possession) and it was a couple of freshman, new to all this, that played to their highest level albeit necessary to win the game. It was an even contest and KS made just enough mistakes to lose. It seemed that some of the postgame comments from or about USC indicated a sign of relief in getting to the elite eight, but also a realization of what's next. USC has only one player, Marshall from last years loss to UConn. She and Kiki, both seniors, combined for only 17 points yesterday with the rest from freshman, playing in their first NCAA tournament. UConn, on the other hand, last year, had Paige, Ash, KK and Ice playing with Azzi, Caroline and Aubrey on the bench. Anything can happen in a given game, but this looks like some serious plusses for the Huskies.

 

[browns]

didn't she do this before ... as a freshman i'm thinking? be nice to get 5 in a row, as long as uconn also wins 'em.

btw, haven't heard anybody -- esp. ESPN voices -- bringing up any NPOY angles to paige's exploits. finally it should be obvious that she clearly deserves another.

Paige was the front runner for NPOY but was up and down and Hildago became the front runner for the middle of the year but the last part of the year it was clearly JUJU and with Betts coming on it dropped Paige to about 4th behind Betts,Hildago and JuJu..the award is based on the whole year and Paige just wasn't consistent enough especially in big games in their 3 losses

 

[Cuango]

Van Lith was wonderful against ND. Her drives to the basket were just lethal...
with both hands. Beating Texas on Monday for the final four...don't quite see it.
Should TCU win that one...very much don't see them beating South Carolina
in the national semi-final....but I would love to see a UConn/TCU championship game.

Seeing the numbers Betts of UCLA is putting up...yikes! Over 90% from the floor with
many of those points coming from over or through double-teams. How LSU tries to
somewhat control Betts today at 3:00 should be interesting.

South Carolina has their own issues facing a Duke team that is beginnng to look downright scary. They are playing defense at an elite level and SC is not exactly an offensive juggernaut. It is not at all out of the question that SC will be out before the national semi-final.

 

[ERWUC65]

South Carolina has their own issues facing a Duke team that is beginnng to look downright scary. They are playing defense at an elite level and SC is not exactly an offensive juggernaut. It is not at all out of the question that SC will be out before the national semi-final.

Kudos to Kara for getting Duke this far, but against SC they are overmatched. Probably low scoring, but not close at the end.

 

[donalddoowop]

Kudos to Kara for getting Duke this far, but against SC they are overmatched. Probably low scoring, but not close at the end.

This did not age well.

 

[Blakeon18]

Duke gave 'em a game. But...10 in the first quarter...only 8 in the 4th quarter.
South C arolina's late tourney experience down the stretch won it...darn.

 

[maple]

Duke came soooo close.

 

[ERWUC65]

This did not age well.

Gulp! That is the sound of me eating humble pie. Not sure if that result was because of Duke defense or SC is not as good as I thought?