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WBB in Arizona

azfan said:
Burke may be an upgrade over Barnes
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She may indeed be. Barnes refused to learn and change, although it is way too early to judge her at SMU for the same reason you can't really judge Burke - they are leading put together teams of players that haven't largely played with each other before.

The real test for Burke is when she gets some recruits and builds the team she wants, not the one she had to slap together. Several of the signed recruits are promising.

Why does Arizona keep getting coaches that want to dress up? Barnes, for all her outfits, usually wore either sneakers or expensive but comfortable shoes. The heels on Burke for the Grambling game - yikes. Could not possibly be comfortable.
 
30 minutes to tip at the Rolle Activity Center. Lite snow showers have impacted attendance. I count a total of 15 of us in the house. Not counting the cheerleaders...lol.

NAU is hoping to wash away the sting of defeat (90-75).... at UC Irvine. The Jack lost all four corners and got destroyed on the boards.

The Wave of Pepperdine got swapped away by Utah Valley losing by 29 up in Utah. In their 29 point loss they had 31 turnovers.

So far Big Sky teams a really shown up in non-conference play so fingers crossed that the HomePort advantage is the difference tonight.
 
azfan said:
OMG..... Starting at point guard for the ponies former ASU Sun Devil Ty Skinner!!!! I didn't think she was even on the team. I wonder if the fashionista was so desperate for ...

At the first media time out Lopes 7- ponies 2.

So.......the ponies score 7 in the first quarter

2 minutes into the second Skinner picks up her 3rd foul, 2 minutes left in the half Barnes gets
Ted up.

Gandy gets his first win as a Lope. Not sure about Winston though.....

76-60

Gonna be a long year, a real long year, a very long extremely....character building year for Barnes. At least she has that 5 year 5.85 million dollar contract.

Her agent is in the agent Hall of fame.
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I tuned in to see bits of that game for two reasons:
1. To see how bad SMU really is especially against the 3rd ranked AZ school
2. To see what gaudy outfit Adia was wearing
Both these reason I attribute to you and I want to thank you as both reasons came true.
Mulkey wears completely gaudy outfits and does it purpose and knows they are gaudy. Adia actually thinks her outfits actually look good. SMH

I am happy for you and myself (yes I still harbor a grudge from that Semi-final loss and her extremely poor behavior).
 
Ok, at the half at Desert Financial ASU leads the Lady Rebs 28-24. After a 7 point first quarter the ball FINALLY started to fall in the second.

The Devil's have 5 more attempts than UNLV and former Reb McKinna Brackens is pacing the Devils with 12 points and 5 boards

The D is outstanding, let's hope the Devil's can generate more O in the second half.

Last night, the Jacks fell to 1-5 in the dirty t as the kitties ran their record to 4-0. The kitties are feasting as they open at home with their first 12 games at McKale.

The post Payne era looks increasingly bleak. The Big Sky is trending up at the same time that NAU is trending down. Interestingly the next two losses for the Lumberjacks, on the road, will be against Northern Iowa and Creighton two teams that hooked up for a thriller the other night.

GCU plays Chadron State ?????? The 26th
 
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Miracle win in Tempe!!!!!!!!

With the score tied at 53 and 1 minute left, the curtain of distraction sets the stage.

Shelby Brown misses both free throws as ASU student section represents in front of the curtsin.

35 seconds remaining

ASU brings the ball down works the clock the down......the ball slept away and as the shot clock runs down Marley Washenitz throws up a desperation three...... that goes in.

Devils win 56-53 and move to 5 and 0.



via @ESPN App http://espn.com/app
 
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Lopes play well in their 5th loss of the year to the Cal Bears 68-63. Ansa Jeffries had her best game of the year with 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting. She also, unfortunately, led the team with 6 TO.
 
The Devils run their record to 6-0 the first time in 32 years they've opened with six consecutive victories. They dominated Utah Tech 81 to 54. McKenna Brackens had a third consecutive Double-Double and both Gabby Elliot came within one rebound a double-double.

Utah tax is over-matched that has the Devils pounded for 62 boards

In a special treat I was able to listen to Tim Healey in the post game show as regular announcer Jeff Munn is with Sun Devils in Hawaii. Healey long time announcer for ASU football was in town rather than Hawaii to announce the territorial cup on Friday.

Down in the dirty t the kitties before over 5,200 fans took care of Northern Colorado. They finally reached the five win plateau as they may actually go 12 and 0 with all those consecutive home games.

Grand Canyon and NAU play today
 
After an uncharacteristic first quarter the Sun Devils hold at SEMO to five points in the second quarter to take a 32-23 lead at the half

Couple of trouble in tendencies first the devil's have another game with difficulty defending the three as SEMO hits 5 in the half.

The second McKinna Brackens has now missed 7 free throws in a row.

Barring a collapse the Devils should run their record to 8-0.

Down in the dirty t the kitties are having their way with Bakersfield to ron their record to 6-0.

The less said about Grand Canyon and NAU the ......
 
@azfan , did everyone leave NAU after Coach Payne decided to move on, or did she get out of town because she knew this year was gonna be bad? Lost to St. Thomas-Minnesota today to drop to 1-8. Their lone win is against Embry-Riddle, so that doesn't even count.

Grand Canyon seems to be a similar story.
 
So, uh, about that improvement for U of A? Trailing at the half to Southern U. A team who is 1-5, only win against a non D1, and haven't stayed within 25 points of anyone all year. So, maybe not such an improvement.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
@azfan , did everyone leave NAU after Coach Payne decided to move on, or did she get out of town because she knew this year was gonna be bad? Lost to St. Thomas-Minnesota today to drop to 1-8. Their lone win is against Embry-Riddle, so that doesn't even count.

Grand Canyon seems to be a similar story.
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So Molly Miller arrives at a destroyed ASU program recruits 10 players who are new to the program and is undefeated.

Loree Payne wins 27 games last year 25 year before and 23 the year before that. NAU hasn't had much of a women's basketball program but she turned the whole thing around.

Payne took Sophie Glancy to Santa Clara with her who was a double-double machine. She also took Ava Schmidt who's another 3-point sharpshooter. Sania Neverson transferred to Hawaii

NAU administration fooled around and didn't bring in a new head coach until August. Laura Dinkins an NAU alum who coached with Molly Miller at Grand Canyon didn't have a prayer in terms of recruiting coming in so late. In addition to the three upper class transfers there were six seniors who graduated. So other than bringing Naomi White with her from Grand Canyon there was not a whole lot of opportunity to recruit anyone. This could be an epic disaster.

NAU was so fortunate to have had Loree.

Grand Canyon has a brutal schedule and I don't think they ever anticipated losing Molly Miller. They brought in Winston Gandy who was one of Dawn Staley's assistants but I'm not sure if he's ready for prime time. Unlike Dinkins at NAU he had plenty of time to recruit and I thought he brought in a pretty good roster but boy they sure haven't gelled in the face of this brutal schedule.

So the two weak programs last year ASU and uofa are both currently undefeated although the kitties are desperately trying to lose at home to Southern.

NAU and Grand Canyon each have one win and I don't think it's entirely outside the realm of possibility that they both lose 25 games this year. I'm less worried about Grand Canyon than I am about NAU we may be ready to go back into the depths of despair up in Flagstaff for the foreseeable future.
 
That’s a horrible loss for Arizona. I do remember that southern beat Oklahoma a couple of years ago. And then Oklahoma went on and won the big 12 conference. Doubt there will be a repeat here. But man. What a bad loss!
 
nwhoopfan said:
So, uh, about that improvement for U of A? Trailing at the half to Southern U. A team who is 1-5, only win against a non D1, and haven't stayed within 25 points of anyone all year. So, maybe not such an improvement.
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I just checked and all their losses are to ranked teams iowa, Iowa State, UCLA, Ole Miss and Washington.
 
azfan said:
I just checked and all their losses are to ranked teams iowa, Iowa State, UCLA, Ole Miss and Washington.
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Yes, but losses by 25, 27, 50, 51 and 26. A horrible loss for Arizona any way you slice it.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Yes, but losses by 25, 27, 50, 51 and 26. A horrible loss for Arizona any way you slice it.
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I was surprised by the loss. I was kind of thinking the kitties might go undefeated with 12 straight home games to open the season.

As you point out the difference in talent and preparation between the kitties and the losses to top 25 programs by Southern prompts a thought experiment about scheduling.

Southern obviously took the tough road while the kitties are taking the easy road I guess I'd call it the LSU method of preparation. It'll be interesting to see how those two different approaches play out for each team in conference.

Edit: Massey have Southern with 13th most difficult SOS
 
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ASU attempts to run it's opening season win streak to 9 games tomorrow as they play McNeese State in the first game of the Brianna January classic at Desert Financial Arena. McNeese has topped 100 points twice in their pre-conference play I suspect they will struggle to get to half that level against Molly Miller's defense.

Tonight the Lopes appear destined to fall to one and eight as they travel to Gonzaga.

Saturday the kitties try to rebound from the "terrible, horrible, very bad, no good" loss to Southern as they take on the wandering Lobos in McKale center. The Lobos's crushed the NAU Lumberjacks in the season opener although they haven't played nearly the schedule at Southern has.

NAU will fall to one and nine when they face South Dakota State.

Given the implosions at GCU and NAU I think now it's even money that both schools are in a position to lose 25 games

The only likely win left on the NAU schedule is a game against Park in Flagstaff. While the Jacks play Portland State twice they will clearly lose the game in the Pacific Northwest and given the disarray in the program I'm not certain there's any chance they can win at home.
 
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azfan said:
I was surprised by the loss. I was kind of thinking the kitties might go undefeated with 12 straight home games to open the season.

As you point out the difference in talent and preparation between the kitties and the losses to top 25 programs by Southern prompts a thought experiment about scheduling.

Southern obviously took the tough road while the kitties are taking the easy road I guess I'd call it the LSU method of preparation. It'll be interesting to see how those two different approaches play out for each team in conference.

Edit: Massey have Southern with 13th most difficult SOS
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The current coach blames much (not all) of the schedule on Adia. Adia did, you may remember, believe in playing cupcakes because "playing a tough team doesn't help you" as she said a couple years ago. It was early writing on her departure, according to my acquaintance in the athletic department which found the remark head scratching. Supposedly most of the games were already signed.

I don't criticize the early schedule, these players never played together and most would not be starting at other P4 schools. They are good, but even the best of them need development.

Wasn't at the game, but as I said, the Wildcats are playing at a mid-major level. Wasn't "shocked" they lost one, even if I didn't expect it against Southern.
 
The Good The bad and The ugly

Oh what a difference one year makes.

The good.

With their 10th win ASU equals their total of last year in the final year of the Natasha Adair debacle in which the team went 10 and 22.

Molly Miller in spite of having to rebuild the entire roster or maybe because of it has equaled last year's win total in her first 10 games.

Realistically 50% in Big 12 will be a huge success but the difference in atmosphere and culture is obvious. This past weekend at the Brianna January classic the arena was electric and the team showed tremendous grit in winning their 10th game on a back-to-back in which they had less than 24 hours rest. Miller completely rebuilt the roster but more importantly has clearly established a winning culture.

Down the road in the dirty t Becky has done a nice job training the kitties around they get prepare to tip in search of their seventh victory against One loss. The kitties staggered to a 19-14 record last year and like the Devils will be fortunate to play .500 in conference play.

That's said both programs are on the upswing and appear to be in good hands.

The ugly.
With new coaches both Grand Canyon and NAU are 1-7.

Last year under Molly Miller the Lopes went to the tournament and posted a 32 and 3 record; undefeated at home and undefeated in League Play.

In Flagstaff Loree Payne led the Jacks to 27 wins
 
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azfan said:
Down the road in the dirty t Bonnie has done a nice job training the kitties around they get prepare to tip in search of their seventh victory against One loss. The kitties stagger do a 1914 record last year and like the devils will be fortunate to play .500 in conference play.
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Lost their 2nd straight today. 2 losses in a really soft OOC schedule. I'm fairly sure their record this year will be worse than last year when all is said and done.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Lost their 2nd straight today. 2 losses in a really soft OOC schedule. I'm fairly sure their record this year will be worse than last year when all is said and done.
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Probably. I didn't go to the game, and won't be at the next one which is not included in the season ticket package (it is for kids groups), although general admission is free. Busy finishing decorating, a 10 day process that has taken all my energy.

In any case, fans here were amazed when I told them that I was not expecting much success. It looks like they will fight and play hard, which is a good thing, but the talent . . .
 
nwhoopfan said:
Lost their 2nd straight today. 2 losses in a really soft OOC schedule. I'm fairly sure their record this year will be worse than last year when all is said and done.
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The wandering Lobos wandered into MclKale and held on to beat the kitties by three. I think the Mountain West has three or four teams at the top who are solid and that includes New Mexico.

My read on the game was that the top tier (CSU UNLV, Boise State and the Lobos) of the Mountain West is better than the lower tier of the Big 12. New Mexico lost to Cincinnati by three down in Florida and is favored next weekend against Houston.

Lumberjack fans recall the opener this year in which New Mexico entertained the Jacks in the pit.....

I think the wandering Lobos have an outside shot if they get hot during the conference tournament.

The kitties on the other hand obviously are working progress.
 
First consequential game for the Devils tips tomorrow at 5:00 at Penn State. The 10-0 Devils (man it's great to write that) are a seven-point dog and this is going to really be an opportunity for Molly Miller's team to take the next step against a really solid Penn State team.

The 10 and 0 Devils have completely bought into Molly Miller's defensive scheme with her focus on aggressive man to man, a commitment to rebounding, and connectivity across the floor.

Penn State will be challenged to recover from the onslaught the Huskers put on them 101-83.

Pregame observations

No way will the Devils come close to 100 points against Penn State on the road

No way will Penn State come close to 83 points against the Devil defense

For the Devils, fifth year senior Gabby Elliot guard will be the key both her floor leadership and she's going to have to be able to hit her shot. She was 4-14 against the Dons.

Devil rest and recovery will be tested again after the back-to-back this weekend traveling East to tip 48 hours later.

Both teams destroyed Coppin State-the devil's by 15 and the Lions by 18. Of concern for the devils has been there continuing struggles to defend the three lawn. Copen state was 7 for 14 from distance and the. Lions do enjoy shooting from beyond the arc. BTW - one of my all-time favorite players was machine gun Maggie Lucas. At one point I think she was an assistant at her alma mater but I just looked her up and she's now at Bowling Green.

Wish I had the Big ten Network to watch this game but Jeff Munn on the radio is as good as Bob Joyce for the Huskies.

Note: last year Molly Miller went undefeated in the western athletic conference with the Lopes. After watching Grand Canyon last night it's possible in fact I think probably they don't want a game in conference this year. You hate to be a naysayer but I have the same feeling about Winston Gandy I had after the first nine games of the Natasha Adair ordeal. Not ready for prime time
 
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nwhoopfan said:
Lost their 2nd straight today. 2 losses in a really soft OOC schedule. I'm fairly sure their record this year will be worse than last year when all is said and done.
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Yep the kitties have always been all in on the Kim Mulkey OCC scheduling paradigm.
 
1000002815.jpg

Way to go Devils. Molly Miller is turning the program around
 
azfan said:
I think the Mountain West has three or four teams at the top who are solid and that includes New Mexico.
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The last few years it's been an interesting battle for 2nd place, with UNLV running away from the field. This year might be a lot more compelling vying for that top spot.
 
azfan said:
My read on the game was that the top tier (CSU UNLV, Boise State and the Lobos) of the Mountain West is better than the lower tier of the Big 12. New Mexico lost to Cincinnati by three down in Florida and is favored next weekend against Houston.

Lumberjack fans recall the opener this year in which New Mexico entertained the Jacks in the pit.....

I think the wandering Lobos have an outside shot if they get hot during the conference tournament.

The kitties on the other hand obviously are working progress.
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So the Aztecs take down the Wildcats who may be in process of earning the kitties designation.

Defending Mountain West champion San Diego State really takes it to Kansas State on the road.

The Aztecs in a thrilling triple over time championship victory over Wyoming last March showed that they're a program that may be in a position to exhibit sustained success.

They certainly abused Big 12 bottom dweller Kansas State.

Oh, to keep this in alignment with the Arizona thread the other kitties seem to be having a little trouble with Eastern Kentucky down in McKale.
 
1pm tip at Global Financial Arena and a return to Arizona for Loree Payne. The Lopes welcome Payne, her Broncos and particularly Sophie Glancy who GCU cannot guard -12 points and 5 boards bye the former NAU star.

Bronco get up 20 first quarter shots and lead 27-20 after one.

Edit- Glancy 12-12 from the free throw line, BUT the Payne offense first (second, third and fourth) philosophy leads to a close game at the half 42-41 against the hapless Lopes

Final 91-72 as Winston Gandy and the Lopes fall to 1-9.
 
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