UCLA-USC TONIGHT!! Oh wait, it's on Peacock. Never mind.

[nwhoopfan]

Don’t think I ever had them as a lock

If they lose to usc again then Trojans move ahead of them

Definitely if USC sweeps them. If they split, I'd probably give the nod to UCLA. Looking at their schedule, there aren't a bunch of great wins, but South Carolina certainly stands out.

 

[Bone Dog]

Whoa! That was quite a beat down in the 4th quarter. And my goodness is UCLA bad at protecting the ball. USC won the TO battle 20-9, the blocks 13-6 and STLs 9-3. What on earth happened to their guard play?

Yes, the best and worst of Juju -- a lot of playground offense. But at least she was all in and determined to carry USC past a team that really doesn't not know how to defend her. I mean, Rice is not up to it, and neither is Jaquez. Jones, lol. If Barker played real defense in a sustained way, she has the length and the quickness. But none of the other bigs can really take her on.

 

[bballnut90]

Whoa! That was quite a beat down in the 4th quarter. And my goodness is UCLA bad at protecting the ball. USC won the TO battle 20-9, the blocks 13-6 and STLs 9-3. What on earth happened to their guard play?

Yes, the best and worst of Juju -- a lot of playground offense. But at least she was all in and determined to carry USC past a team that really doesn't not know how to defend her. I mean, Rice is not up to it, and neither is Jaquez. Jones, lol. If Barker played real defense in a sustained way, she has the length and the quickness. But none of the other bigs can really take her on.

I thought Juju was pretty incredible tonight. Far and away she was the most active and dialed in player on the floor, I thought she played with so much heart. TBH in games I've seen previously I never fully understood why Juju was quite as hyped up as she is, but tonight I get it. It wasn't a flawless game but she absolutely dominated on both ends and willed USC to that win. Final statline of the night: 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks, 5 assists, 12-26 FG, 6-9 from 3.

 

[Stagnant]

Bad loss for ucla. Back to wondering how good of a coach Close is. No excuses. She needs to make the final four this year.

 

[visitingcock]

So ND goes to #1, as befits my prior assertion that they arguably have had the best overall roster right along. Uconn - Carolina winner Sunday will reveal more. But any of the current top 7 AP teams are totally in play for the gold ring in March

ND might get the most human votes for Number One but needs SCar to lose to UConn and Texas to lose to LSU to jump them in the computer ratings on Sunday.

 

[ConnMotors]

Dropping out of the #1 spot isn’t necessarily going to happen. UCLA still only has one loss and were on the road.

However there will some major movement in the Top 8. You still have #South Carolina hosting #7 UConn on Sunday then #3 Texas playing #5 LSU. #8 Kentucky has lost this week.

I can see #6 USC move up to #4 if LSU and South Carolina loose.

 

[JellyBean]

YouTube never disappoints. Shouts to whoever was streaming the game. UCLA should still be ranked #1 after this loss. Great game. I can't wait for the rematch.

 

[visitingcock]

Dropping out of the #1 spot isn’t necessarily going to happen. UCLA still only has one loss and were on the road.

However there will some major movement in the Top 8. You still have #South Carolina hosting #7 UConn on Sunday then #3 Texas playing #5 LSU. #8 Kentucky has lost this week.

I can see #6 USC move up to #4 if LSU and South Carolina loose.

Kentucky is not and has never been a legitimate Top
10
Team.

They merely had an easy front end end schedule

 

[oldhusky]

For Uconn their final record pre NCAA tournament will pretty much be determined after Sunday, expecting to run the table the rest of the regular season and conference tournament. For the other top contenders it is far different. Not only could they lose in conference to a very good but maybe not great team, of which there are many, but also by definition, three of the top 7 will have to lose again in the conference tournament.

USC or UCLA will lose at least once more, and the same is true for two out of three from SC, Texas, and LSU. The team with the best odds of getting a number 1 seed might be Notre Dame because their chances of winning the ACC tournament is probably better than any team from the SEC of Big 10. IMO none of the teams from the top two conferences have locked up a number 1 seed, at least yet.

 

[nickp91]

JuJu Watkins with one of the greatest performances I have ever seen

 

[cancontent]

Selfishly, I'm glad it was on Peacock as I wasn't able to stay up last night. Two hours of clearing out a foot of snow will do that to you.

I do agree that having it on Peacock wasn't great, but this is the trend. There were a lot of good Iowa games last season that were moved the Peacock to leverage the Clark effect.

 

[Dillon77]

ND might get the most human votes for Number One but needs SCar to lose to UConn and Texas to lose to LSU to jump them in the computer ratings on Sunday.

Oh, there you go again....

 

[Dillon77]

JuJu giveth, but she mostly took things away from UCLA.
Being a fan of another team that took on U$C, I'm amazed at how Coach Close pretty much let JuJu run free, both on offense and defense.

Well, one of the beneficiaries of this UCLA loss are The Fighting Irish and they have a tough home game against Duke on Monday at 6 p.m.....and that one is on ESPN, not Peacock for FS1. See you there.

And maybe the Trojan-Bruin rematch will be on a more easily accessed channel.

 

[jdote33]

I thought Juju was pretty incredible tonight. Far and away she was the most active and dialed in player on the floor, I thought she played with so much heart. TBH in games I've seen previously I never fully understood why Juju was quite as hyped up as she is, but tonight I get it. It wasn't a flawless game but she absolutely dominated on both ends and willed USC to that win. Final statline of the night: 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks, 5 assists, 12-26 FG, 6-9 from 3.

Love this. I appreciate @Bone Dog comment as well. Juju was great. Her competitive spirit really showed. I think because she started so hot, there was a point where she cooled off and it seemed like she took a lot of bad shots. Fortunately or unfortunately she is there offensive system. I'm still not sure why TVO doesn't have a bigger role, it kinda bums me out. But last night was a truly great showcase performance. Like her ability in transition, the blocks and rebound would make anyone say, yeah I get the Juju thing.
As for UCLA.. I don't think it was a bad performance. Though I know it's easier said than done, I did think this is and has been the formula to beat them. They actually didn't play well there last game against Oregon. And similarly Oregon had a big who was able to at least match up with Betts and make her work. I think if u have a good defensive big and crowd Betts, u pretty much dare them to hit 3s. I just think they have a lot of players who are hit or miss from the perimeter. Don't get me wrong, Jaquez, Gardiner, Aarnasailo, Jones, even Rice can make them but I think u live with them shooting on the outside. Gardiner is another Oregon state transfer that bums me out. Just don't think her role and opportunities are great when they have 2 other 4s just as talented. I think it actually takes away from all 3. Dugalic, TG and Barker imo would be impactful 30 minute a game players on several teams. I still really like UCLA and think they should make the final 4.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I have Peacock and I love it. Got during one of their many deals. I watch it more than any other streaming service unless there’s games on other networks.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think it actually takes away from all 3. Dugalic, TG and Barker imo would be impactful 30 minute a game players on several teams.

My take also. I wonder if Barker and Gardiner regret transferring to UCLA. Yes, they have a shot at being rotation players on a team that gets a ring. But they could have been starters on a few teams that might have a had a shot.

 

[Centerstream]

Finally there was something worth watching on Peacock! Too bad it was a 10PM start time (which I totally understand for a weekend day game and have no problem with). I just don't want to stay up til midnight watching a non UConn game.

 

[LETTERL]

I was already in a Level 23 sleep but sounds like I missed a performance for the ages.

 

[donalddoowop]

I was already in a Level 23 sleep but sounds like I missed a performance for the ages.

Not until the latter part of the game. There will be a recap of the game on BTN at 3:00 pm CT.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I have Peacock and I love it. Got during one of their many deals. I watch it more than any other streaming service unless there’s games on other networks.

Apparently, though, you can't really tape it, unless you go through shenanigans with other software.

Being in Mountain Standard Time, as we are 12 months of the year, it wasn't all that late for us. We actually joined Peacock late in the game and rewound to somewhere around half time. Quality was good, but not ideal way to do it.

We watch nothing live.

 

[Gate81]

I think the point above about having a big who makes Betts work hard is key. We noticed late in the game she was bringing the ball below her shoulders -- getting her into trouble. She did that a lot her freshman year and seemed to have learned not to, but I wonder if that is her default when she is tired, and that explains its occurrence late in the fourth quarter last night.

 

[WBBTakeover]

From a basketball standpoint, this UCLA loss doesn't mean much as long as they don't drop another B1G game. They still have all of their goals ahead of them.

From a perception standpoint, it's going to sting for a while. Until last night, the discourse centered around UCLA being "underrated" despite being undefeated, how we (as women's basketball fans) didn't appreciate the team enough, how they were a carbon copy of South Carolina 2023-24, etc. For them to lose by double digits to a team in the same city that has a bigger star than anyone UCLA's program has ever had--is damaging to how they are going to be perceived moving forward. There's no way around that. Now, people will be talking about UCLA. Unfortunately, for them, they'll be talking about UCLA in the context of how JuJu destroyed them. And because they play in the same city as JuJu and Southern Cal, it's not like they'll be able to block out the discussions. They will hear about it everywhere they go in that city. EVERYWHERE. That's rough, but you have to be careful what you wish for.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Dropping out of the #1 spot isn’t necessarily going to happen. UCLA still only has one loss and were on the road.

However there will some major movement in the Top 8. You still have #South Carolina hosting #7 UConn on Sunday then #3 Texas playing #5 LSU. #8 Kentucky has lost this week.

I can see #6 USC move up to #4 if LSU and South Carolina loose.

They're going to drop--and should. That road game was all of 14 miles from their campus and they simply did not look like a #1 team.

Notre Dame will be the new #1 come Monday.

 

[packwrap]

JuJu giveth, but she mostly took things away from UCLA.
Being a fan of another team that took on U$C, I'm amazed at how Coach Close pretty much let JuJu run free, both on offense and defense.

Get that bored monkey drummer ready

Coach should have guarded JuJu close.

Quite the game. For JuJu non fans, it was really tough to ignore the blocks, steals, rebounds and her Q4 help defense on Betts. She competed hard in crunch time.

 

[topogigio]

Get that bored monkey drummer ready

Coach should have guarded JuJu close.

Quite the game. For JuJu non fans, it was really tough to ignore the blocks, steals, rebounds and her Q4 help defense on Betts. She competed hard in crunch time.

JuJu performed like a superstar All-American is supposed to perform in big games and at crunch time. I hope others took note!