Three years ago, our typical pattern was to go into halftime with a double digit lead. In many cases especially in February and March the game was practically settled by the end of the first quarter. This season it looks more and more like the third quarter is the one in which we blow the game open. I wonder why the change. Is it a conditioning thing? Given D1 parity do we have to run opponents ragged before putting the game out of reach?
Those days are long gone! The level of play (and coaching) has risen to the point where not only are the teams better but more and more of those teams, even so called “average” teams often have at least one player who can sporadically play well enough to where, coupled with a hot night by the rest of the team, they can push even good teams to the last minutes of the game, thus leading to more and more upsets in the women’s game.
That’s why we’re seeing more of these games like Colorado beating LSU, NC State beating us, K State beating Iowa, Duke almost upsetting Stanford etc. These are just the beginning! We’re going to see many more this season. There might be one team that’s good enough to avoid these kinds of games but it ain’t us! Not yet anyway, and the jury’s still out on them!
The question now, is twofold, can we maintain the current level of defense for the rest of the year and can we get substantially better on offense? If those two things happen and we can stay healthy ( and hopefully get Yanna and Azzi back) then I still like our chances.
We have a lot of talent, some of which is likely to substantially improve over the course of the season, we have a great coaching staff, and most of all, we have the potential difference maker in Paige! Her value in a close game against the kinds of teams we are likely to face late in the tournament cannot be overstated! She is the one thing we have that very few (none imo except possibly Iowa) other teams have! Buckle up!