The only year ND wasn't the underdog was against A&M. That would be the season that would haunt me if I was Muffet. I remember watching the FF thinking it was gonna be a rematch between Stanford and UConn. The outcomes were very exciting, and I don't think there was really a clear favorite in the matchup.
Totally agree. When Oregon loses, it's usually to teams with savvy coaches and enough players that can execute solidly on defense. It's why they've lost to OSU and Stanford every year that Ionescu and Hebard have been in Eugene - Rueck and Tara are very good at halftime adjustments. Also, Oregon is kind of turnover prone - pressing teams can fluster them into bad passes and sloppy ball handling. That said, they're probably the only rival to Notre Dame in terms of most complete 1-5 lineup - they have an extremely good player in every position, with almost no bench behind them.
That season haunts me as a Cardinal fan. Notre Dame had just upset UConn and the door seemed wide open to finally get a third championship. It honestly feels like "the one that got away."
Yes, all three are bad, but in 2010 Appel was playing on a sprained ankle that they didn’t reveal until after the game to prevent scouting advantage. She was literally hobbling up and down the floor by midway through the second half. It sucked, but it felt inevitable once it became clear our star player was walking wounded.
OOOO You are NOT nice.
@Plebe: you just don't get it. Any time ND isn't Uconn they are an underdog. Oh those wanna bee's.
I try not to blame the refs. But I blame the refs for 2011, in part. A&M got away with flopping and with fouling the heck out of Pohlen while she was trying to handle the ball, no calls. Meanwhile Murphy was fouled out on a couple of questionable charges and a ridiculous call while chasing a loose ball.
Incidentally, Stanford WBB just put out a nice 6-minute "Alumnae Reflection" video with Jayne Appel-Marinelli, for those interested. Among other things, she mentioned that she actually broke her ankle right before NCAA's started, so she was playing on a broken ankle for six games, which got progressively worse until the championship game. After the game, she said, "I remember walking with Tara from the locker room to the bus, and I just dropped, literally dropped, and started balling, and I was like, 'I don't want to take my jersey off!' And it was tough. I mean, when you've put in all this time, and then your body fails you. What can you do? Would I like to have a national championship in my belt? Hell yeah? But what can I do to control it at this point? And then to be drafted to San Antonio 5 days later. I was like, 'Damn, I gotta go right back to where my heart was just broken?' But San Antonio became my home. And maybe it was just all the stars aligning in that place. And I had an incredible career for seven years in San Antonio that I enjoyed. But yeah, I'll never forget that moment with Tara." What a fighter.
I thought the same exact thing when Baylor played Oregon State last year. Gulich torched both Cox and Brown for 26 points.
You realize some feel exactly the same way about MSU given how poor the SEC was this year.
SEC was still a good bit tougher than the AAC was, so if people feel that way because the SEC was poor, they should feel the same about UConn since the AAC was so weak. Gustafson vs. McCowan would be a fun matchup. They are two very different teams.You realize some feel exactly the same way about MSU given how poor the SEC was this year.
The AAC is atrocious which is why UConn played ND, Louisville, SC, Baylor, tOSU, OK and Cal. Unfortunately, the latter 3 also weren't so good this year. We did put a whooping on SC though as direct comparison. That's 7 decent named P5 schools. What was MSU's OOC? UVa, Texas, Marquette, Oregon, Washington and UVa and Washington were known to be bad for a while now so the UConn OOC crushes the Dawgs. This team has not been tested. Don't get me wrong, I do think their good, Just not "so much better than Iowa" they way our MSU fans think.
Oregon averages fewer turnovers per game than any D1 team in the country.
You realize some feel exactly the same way about MSU given how poor the SEC was this year.
What is the difference between the 2 schools as both are living and dying by how their big player does. You want to argue that MSU has better defense-maybe but these two teams seem close to me.
For what I have seen Iowa is a good ball club and they can give any team a good game if they play well. However, I believe if Iowa and any of top six play their A games, the top six team will win.
I happen to like MSU but you can’t say they went 18-1 in the weakest of the P5 schools and then say they were dominant...they better be dominant. Just like any of us saying that about the AAC. We wouldn’t (this is not to say the SEC and AAC are comparable-they AREN’T)