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So we're half-way home. And instead of facing a steep, arduous climb to the championship, the path ahead appears before us as a downhill stroll, barriers cleared, and home straight ahead. Oregon has eliminated the two biggest threats in the bracket: Duke, and their Coach Joann ("the talent level is down") McCallie, bent on revenge for stealing Azura Stevens, and Maryland, which for two years running has offered a tenacious challenge to UConn. The semi-final game against what was supposed to be the odds-on favorite to win it all- Baylor- is now to feature what Boneyarders considered the weakest #2 seed in the tournament- Mississippi State. And waiting in the championship game, a game that UConn has never lost, is not Connecticut's bete noir, Notre Dame, but either a vulnerable Stanford with the lesser Samuelson sister, or a depleted South Carolina, with a hobbled point guard and missing their most ominous post player. So we're set for a gentle stroll to championship number twelve. Or are we?
That Oregon team features two freshmen post players who stand 6'4" and 6'5", as well as two other players of six feet or above. So in terms of height, they rival South Carolina's line-up before Alaina Coates went down. This is a team that has defeated four ranked teams- Washington, Temple, Duke, and Maryland- in their last five games. Their only loss is to Final Four team Stanford. And Oregon's freshmen are doing what our erstwhile Big Three did their freshman year: turning into basketball butterflies during the NCAA tournament. They've transformed themselves over the past few weeks. Every team they've played recently thought Oregon would be an easy W. But they weren't.
Perhaps Notre Dame only went down to Stanford because of the loss of Brianna Turner in the previous game. Or perhaps, Stanford is also getting better, and would have knocked them off anyway. I see South Carolina as being a more formidable team without Coates than with her. Without her, A'ja Wilson has become the go-to player she should have been all along. She's really taken the reins. So I'm not certain that South Carolina goes in wounded.
On paper, this is the ideal path to the championship: no Duke, no Maryland, no Notre Dame, a lesser South Carolina, a team we've already defeated this year. But for some reason, it doesn't feel like a done deal.
These remaining teams are tough. And Oregon believes in themselves.
A path smoothed? I wonder....
That Oregon team features two freshmen post players who stand 6'4" and 6'5", as well as two other players of six feet or above. So in terms of height, they rival South Carolina's line-up before Alaina Coates went down. This is a team that has defeated four ranked teams- Washington, Temple, Duke, and Maryland- in their last five games. Their only loss is to Final Four team Stanford. And Oregon's freshmen are doing what our erstwhile Big Three did their freshman year: turning into basketball butterflies during the NCAA tournament. They've transformed themselves over the past few weeks. Every team they've played recently thought Oregon would be an easy W. But they weren't.
Perhaps Notre Dame only went down to Stanford because of the loss of Brianna Turner in the previous game. Or perhaps, Stanford is also getting better, and would have knocked them off anyway. I see South Carolina as being a more formidable team without Coates than with her. Without her, A'ja Wilson has become the go-to player she should have been all along. She's really taken the reins. So I'm not certain that South Carolina goes in wounded.
On paper, this is the ideal path to the championship: no Duke, no Maryland, no Notre Dame, a lesser South Carolina, a team we've already defeated this year. But for some reason, it doesn't feel like a done deal.
These remaining teams are tough. And Oregon believes in themselves.
A path smoothed? I wonder....
, retirement leaves one so much time!), very few teams go through the NCAA tournament without a wobble in one game and I think we see the results of that playing out. Maybe teams get ahead of themselves or maybe six game stretches are asking for too much consistency from any team, but it happens. Luckily for Uconn over the last decade it has happened either early in the tournament against weaker teams where they have a margin for error, or it has only manifested itself for a half of basketball instead of a whole game - they come out slow, or they get a little too comfy with a lead in the second half. And they are the gold standard for consistency as well - going 10 and 20 game stretches every season without throwing a wobble, so what is the problem with a six game streak of consistency. I see the UCLA game as such a wobble.
