TWO more bite the dust. Texas and Oklahoma go down

[Dillon77]

Joe Vaszily was one of the refs. He seems to have replaced Dee Kantner as an ESPN favorite. IMO, you never know what to expect from him. But I think you are very likely to see at least one "WT!" call per game.
When I saw the OK vs Louisville box score with 50+ PFs called, I was shocked that Joe wasn't involved.

Hah! MPG, one of The Bench's long-standing and most reliable posters, files a "Report from the Joyce Center" after every home game and this was from point #2:
"I left having strained my vocal chords yelling for the Irish to play defense and expressing my displeasure with the officiating of one Joseph Vaszily, who has offended my sense of basketball fairness for most of this century."

Let's hope neither Husky or Irish fans see Mr. Vaszily in the Joyce Center next Thursday. (On the other hand, that's not an invitation for Dee Kantner, either )

 

[DEpup]

Fabulous news. Like Azzi, she may make her debut with a lesser opponent. I can see lots of minutes with her at the four and Sara at the five.

Do you think the Gtown or Providence game for an Aubrey debut?

 

[Rowdy831]

ND guards are really good and they play hard on defense as a team. If UConn tries to defend Hildago with anyone other that KK she will score as many points as she wants in the game. UConn has Paige but if Citron can keep her somewhat contained UConn will struggle with them. No if UConn goes to a bigger line up with Jana and Ice (replacing Chen) in the starting lineup then ND will be forced to adjust to them. This is where I really expect Geno to play a little chess.

I think college basketball at the highest level comes down to matchups and ND matches up great with the current starting lineup but UConn has so many weapons that they can adjust, it will come down to if Geno wants to in the game. Either way I am excited to see how UConn responds to playing really the first test of the year.

 

[TheFarmFan]

I beg to differ. TX tried to force feed their Big, Oldacre, in the low post over and over, often when she was double and triple teamed, leading to a bunch of turnovers. ND continued to pack in their zone, practically daring TX to shoot 3’s. Harmon in particular was left all alone at the top of the key.

While it will never happen, I would love to see ND run that same packed in zone against UConn next week. Can you imagine giving Paige that much room to shoot at the top of the zone?

Hah. No chance they run zone against the Huskies. Much like my Cardinal against LSU, it was a brilliant scheme for a team that's loathe to shoot the three ball.

 

[Longtime fan]

Notre Dame guards are simply too good. Texas was also beaten in the paint, despite the monsters they have in there. Too many turnovers and too many " missed bunnies." ND forced Texas to not play well. It is amazing the game went down to the wire. So Texas is pretty good, despite a poor showing.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Iowa dropped their first game tonight--to the LVs.

 

[oldude]

Iowa dropped their first game tonight--to the LVs.

Iowa is big, slow and overrated.

 

[willtalk]

Thank You. I am 91 years old and I make some dumb mistakes. I knew it was Alabama, but when I wrote the post Oklahoma came to my mind. Thank you for correcting me.

You were probably influenced by the wind that came sweeping down the plain and the waving wheat that sure smells sweet.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Iowa is big, slow and overrated.

And they no longer have Caitlin (obviously).

 

[Zarathustra]

Iowa is big, slow and overrated.

I agree. Their win streak was not of the highest quality. But,
Lucy Olsen is doing a fine job for the Hawkeyes (IMHO). She
even had a smile on her face after getting literally floored by
the "big" lady from Tennesse. No upgrade... but she made the
free throws! TOUGH COOKIE!

 

[oldude]

I agree. Their win streak was not of the highest quality. But,
Lucy Olsen is doing a fine job for the Hawkeyes (IMHO). She
even had a smile on her face after getting literally floored by
the "big" lady from Tennesse. No upgrade... but she made the
free throws! TOUGH COOKIE!

I agree on Olsen. She came up big for Iowa yesterday. But aside from Olsen, Iowa is very limited. Their forwards looked like stars last season with CC constantly breaking down defenders and dishing off to Bigs when the defense rotated to cover her. Without CC Iowa’s Bigs look pretty average.