USC Gamecocks 2024-25 Season: Part Two | Page 17 | The Boneyard

USC Gamecocks 2024-25 Season: Part Two

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GoChips20 said:
She knows what she’s doing, but I worry that Dawn’s loyalty to the current starters will cost this team in the biggest games. Just seems clear SC isn’t putting its best five out first.
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No coach is perfect. Dawn used to have two weaknesses. She corrected her apathy towards 3 point shooting, which should be applauded. Multiple HOF coaches on the men’s side have not (Roy Williams and Cal spring to mind).

Her remaining weakness is more of a tradeoff than a true weakness. She is very loyal to seniority. The tradeoff benefit is a player like Sania Feagin is willing to wait her turn, but there are years it has weakened the starting lineup. This could be one of them.
 
Random thoughts on last night’s game:
1. Finally got off to a good start offensively, reversing a season-long trend.
2. The wheels fell off in the 4th quarter, until Dawn put the starters back in. Edwards seemed lost on defense at times.
3. Our bench contributed 30 points… compared to Notre Dame’s OT win against Texas, in which ND played only one bench player who contributed zero points. It’s nice to have depth.
4. Duke outrebounded us, especially on the offensive boards… an aberration?
5. Fulwiley still struggling, while McDaniel continues to impress.
6. In our starting five, we seem to lean on Kitts and Paopao for offense. Can’t seem to fully integrate Raven, Bree, or Feagin into a scheme.
7. Feagin had some nice moments on both ends of the court… maybe her best game so far this year. Is she taking some of Watkins’ minutes?
8. Another ranked opponent next, on the road… still doesn’t feel like we’re settled in yet, offensively or defensively.
 


Cool clip from last night's press conference after the game. Good for Maddy in trusting her gut and Coach Staley. She's been fun to watch and I'll be rooting for her.
 
Important game tomorrow night, against a ranked and undefeated opponent who beat Notre Dame earlier this year. TCU has a 6’7” dominant big and a veteran guard who can score and dish. Our big advantage is depth… they have 7 players averaging 14 minutes per game, we have 9 or 10 players averaging 16 minutes per game. That will be important if one or both teams get into foul trouble. Defensively, TCU has been impressive, giving up 49 points per game. I’m expecting a rock fight, with us prevailing by 5 points.
 
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I think the game plan will be to face guard Van Lith for 94 feet to prevent her from being the point of attack and then have one of the other two guards cheat up on Prince with every defensive possession, basically daring the other 3 players to beat us. Then we use our depth to wear out Prince, push her away from the basket and force her to take jump shots -- hopefully wearing her out by the 4th, causing her to miss shots.
 
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If Dauda was up-to-speed with the system, I would say that this would be a great game for her to get some minutes. On offense she could pull Prince out to the perimeter, creating lanes for Kitts and Watkins to have 1-on-1 matchups under the basket. Alas, I doubt that happens, or if it does, Dawn will only utilize it for like 5 minutes of the total game.
 
GamecockFam said:
I think the game plan will be to face guard Van Lith for 94 feet to prevent her from being the point of attack and then have a one of the other two guards cheat up on Prince with every defensive possession, basically daring the other 3 players to beat us. Then we use our depth to wear out Prince, push her away from the basket and force her to take jump shot -- hopefully wearing her out by the 4th, causing her to miss shots.
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Last time we played LSU, I think Raven had success guarding Van Lith. Let her do it again.
 
An 85-52 win… makes me wonder how TCU beat Notre Dame. Our best all around game of the year… Dawn got 12 players minutes, we shot well, defended well, and won convincingly on the road against a ranked team. Raven had a very nice game, in particular. Fulwiley gave us 20 points and great defense. Feagin getting 4 fouls didn’t move the needle… well done, Gamecocks!
 
I thought it was our best game also. 2nd team learned their lesson last week about giving up a lead and played much better today. The defense on Prince was masterful. Holding a 6’7” player to 3 rebounds is an effort stat. Well done bigs!
 
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USMC(ret) said:
An 85-52 win… makes me wonder how TCU beat Notre Dame. Our best all around game of the year… Dawn got 12 players minutes, we shot well, defended well, and won convincingly on the road against a ranked team. Raven had a very nice game, in particular. Fulwiley gave us 20 points and great defense. Feagin getting 4 fouls didn’t move the needle… well done, Gamecocks!
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Their defense stifled TCU’s passing game which heavily relies on ball movement. They weren’t able to create effectively off the dribble or get the ball to Prince in good spots. I’m still in the camp that TCU is a very good squad but South Carolina absolutely obliterated them today. If you get good production from Raven and Fulwiley, I think SC becomes darn near unbeatable again.
 
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To think all this week I was worried about this game. :p

couldn’t help recalling earlier that TCU was where TPP was headed before Dawn called. Thankfully that didn’t happen. Have to give her kudos as her effort on D has been relentless all season. Her 3pt shot has not fallen off from last year. Her percentage was +4% from last season following the Duke game.

Ashlyn continuing to round into form.

Mighty Mouse already playing like a confident vet at PG. She may not have recorded a FG, but her not being hesitant to dive to the basket, and pick up fouls in the process, is impressive.

Happy for Raven. Terrific game for her. I’m confident she and MiLaysia will find their shot by SEC play.
 
bballnut90 said:
Their defense stifled TCU’s passing game which heavily relies on ball movement. They weren’t able to create effectively off the dribble or get the ball to Prince in good spots. I’m still in the camp that TCU is a very good squad but South Carolina absolutely obliterated them today. If you get good production from Raven and Fulwiley, I think SC becomes darn near unbearable again.
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TCU came into this game leading the nation in assists to turnover ratio at 2.06 (194 assists to 94 turnovers). On their home court, they had 11 assists to 20 turnovers against the Gamecocks. That will impact any team's status quo......

The perimeter guards for South Carolina - Raven, TeHina, Milasia, Tessa, and Maddy - shot a combined 21-40 (.525) from the field, as well as 7-17 (.412) from the arc for 60 pts. All scored in double digits save Maddy, who scored 8 pts on 8-8 at the FT line.
 
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WBBTakeover said:
Lay had a good game (would be a great game for most guards). Crazy thing is that she has not even scratched the surface of what she can bring to this year's team. :eek:
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Yeah no joke -- 20 points in 21 minutes! She is really good at getting her defender off-balance and then accelerating past them. I cannot wait to see this skill develop over the next 3 years as she learns countermoves. I love the isolation plays that CDS is drawing up for her.

She still takes some bad shots but I think the "simple" things are starting to click for her and the number of bad shots are reducing. The lightbulb is starting to turn on... Only like 2 or 3 of her 15 shots were ill-advised.
 
USMC(ret) said:
An 85-52 win… makes me wonder how TCU beat Notre Dame. Our best all around game of the year… Dawn got 12 players minutes, we shot well, defended well, and won convincingly on the road against a ranked team. Raven had a very nice game, in particular. Fulwiley gave us 20 points and great defense. Feagin getting 4 fouls didn’t move the needle… well done, Gamecocks!
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TCU beat ND because Koval got into foul trouble, leaving us with only a 6”1 player guarding the basket. Van Lith kept beating the guard defending her and either, (a) made a layup (b) dished to Prince for easy buckets or (C) dished to wide open 3 point shooters when ND collapsed on her. Many ND fans thought HH should have defended Van Lith at that point as an obvious tactical move, but it didn’t happy.

Congrats to SC for such an impressive win.
 
McDaniel is good, but I expected she would be based on her rating.

The only question I had was shooting and health.
 
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Frankus said:
TCU beat ND because Koval got into foul trouble, leaving us with only a 6”1 player guarding the basket. Van Lith kept beating the guard defending her and either, (a) made a layup (b) dished to Prince for easy buckets or (C) dished to wide open 3 point shooters when ND collapsed on her. Many ND fans thought HH should have defended Van Lith at that point as an obvious tactical move, but it didn’t happy.

Congrats to SC for such an impressive win.
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ND did a nice job against Texas. I thought Harmon would have a bigger impact for Texas, but Booker was by far their dominant player. It was a game decided in the backcourt, and the Hidalgo/Myles/Citron combo was better than Booker/Harmon/Holle.
 
Gamecockfan77 said:
McDaniel is good, but I expected she would be based on her rating.

The only question I had was shooting and health.
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Her ceiling looks a lot higher than expected, especially when compared with the recent plethora of highly-rated guards to come through our system. She looks like the most polished freshman PG since Ty Harris and looks to have the foundations of a starting WNBA PG. I see flashes of players like Ty Harris, Lindsey Allen, Courtney Williams, and Tiffany Mitchell whenever I watch her play.

With all that combined, I think we'll find out that she was under-ranked when the dust settles. So when I talk about her being better than expected, that's the standard I'm comparing her against.
 
I don't like this feeling that we basically have almost 3 weeks"off" due the the weakness of our schedule to wrap up the year. Will we suffer an ignominius upset by not taking these opponents serious enough? Will we win but grow soft for our major SEC rivals in Jan/Feb?

Argh! It's much easier when a good team is upcoming.
 
We’re a third done with the regular season schedule… what have we learned?
  • Our two freshmen can play and contribute
  • Kitts has successfully assumed a bigger role this year in the frontcourt
  • Feagin is still a work in progress
  • Same for Fulwiley
  • Our guards are more comfortable driving to the basket this year than last
  • Since UCLA, our outside shooting has come around
  • When our defense is ferocious, our offense gets better
  • If we make the Final Four, this may go down as Dawn’s finest coaching effort. We have no superstars and no clear Alpha dog among the players… but we do have a roster filled with very skilled, unselfish players who allow themselves to be coached.
 
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