Week 14 - Feb 3 to 9

[Cornell Lt]

KSt with a huge win over TCU, without Ayoka.

USC with an unimpressive game against a not-very-good Wisconsin, before pulling away in the 4th Q.

I didn't catch the game, I checked the box score and JuJu's stats were well below her normal performance. Was she injured ? Foul trouble ?

 

[Bjbod]

UCLA over Ohio St 30-24 at the half.
Ugly game: Bruins with 14 turnovers, OSU 8-34 on FG's. Ugh.

 

[Vowelguy]

Not watching (no bird network) but seems like Buckeyes not folding. Have closed to 42-40 late in 3rd.

 

[packwrap]

KSt with a huge win over TCU, without Ayoka.

USC with an unimpressive game against a not-very-good Wisconsin, before pulling away in the 4th Q.

Los Angeles kids just unfocused on midwest road trip. Busy googling wind chill factor, ticking off states on their never visited before list, and packing up their signed Caitlyn Clark gear.

They will get focused quick though with OSU and UCLA looming.

On the serious side, the rotation players and freshmen are getting more involved. This can only help them in March.

 

[Baller29]

Disappointed with UCLAs crowd. Feels pretty empty for such a big matchup

 

[Stagnant]

Interesting to see this kind of performance from ucla.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Interesting to see this kind of performance from ucla.

On the flip side, maybe Ohio St. was looking past their game on Sunday in anticipation of this one, because they did not look remotely like a Top 10 team.

 

[Vowelguy]

Wow. OhioSt tied it up at 44 and then UCLA put the hammer down -- 14-1 run.
balanced too: 6 from Kiki, 4 from Jaquez, 2 each from Betts and Barker

 

[Vowelguy]

Now 17-1. This is the response you want from your team in crunch time.

One of UCLA's biggest vulnerabilities for the NCAAs is that they have no experience -- lost in sweet 16 last 2 years. How do you respond to the pressure if you get down and your season could end? SoCar and ND aint gonna choke it away.

 

[Vowelguy]

From 9:30 to 2:12 in 4th qtr, UCLA goes on 19-1 run to break a tie and ends Buckeyes' comeback.
OhioSt scores 7 of last 9 to pull it back to a more respectable 65-52 final.

 

[Vowelguy]

Just realized: OhioSt is in LA but USC is in Wisconsin. So the Buckeyes go all the way to LA and only play 1 game?? Seems inefficient.

After checking -- so USC is coming back west and they'll play in south central on Saturday.

 

[packwrap]

Ohio State did a lot of good things in that game: won turnover, rebounding, free throws, and shots attempts battle.

They even shut down 'point Betts' limiting her to 1 assist, after her recent 11 assists game v Minn.

Still a team shooting line of 29% 17% 56% can undo everything. Somehow OSU shooting in decisive Q4 was even worse!

Magic Betts was not dropping dimes, but she did contribute in the conventional manner with 19 pts and 14 rebounds. Barker and Gardiner were also strong off the bench.

UCLA can win many different ways.

 

[CBus13]

Yeah, a lot of the missed shots for OSU were the right shots and not super pressured by UCLA. Just wouldn’t drop. OSU also is a horrible FT shooting team, which will be their undoing in the tournament.

Sadly, Chance’s outside shooting has dropped off the last few games. Reminds me a bit of a slump by Taylor Mikesell in maybe 2023? Hopefully it’ll come back for her. The lack of a solid third scorer hurts OSU lately.

The coaches seemed committed to Petty and Lemïlla splitting the quarters, probably for fitness reasons of having to battle against Betts. However, I think Lemïlla was better suited for this matchup and did contribute, but just overall is a freshmen after a year off of an ACL injury going against a really polished, strong, and smart post.

Positive of keeping UCLA off their scoring average and to their lowest scoring of the season (by one point). I feel they competed much better against their size for 3 quarters than I expected.

Excited about the future of Jaloni, Lemïlla, and Watson for four years. But UCLA is just more seasoned and deeper.

 

[Stagnant]

Juju only had 14? I do think juju has been better this year than last year. But I don’t really think she is in the player of the year race. Hidalgo is comfortably ahead of her.

 

[LETTERL]

Yep. The ugliness of conference realignment. State plays Duke once this year and UNC once this year. It’s absurd. But hey…we get exciting match up with SMU and California schools as well as snowy trips to the northeast! (Nothing against those schools at all - just pointing out the absurdity of where this has all left us).

It's disgusting. And puts more pressure to win those one-off matchups, for standing and tie-breaker reasons. Duke, UNC and NC State should each play each other twice a year in the regular season.

The LETTERL has doth spoken.

 

[cancontent]

UConn vs Tennessee
Stanford vs ND
Vandy vs Texas

All on tonight, along with an intriguing game between Minnesota and Iowa (can they maintain momentum?).

Great options and an excuse to ignore the snow building up in my driveway today.

 

[azfan]

Regular season Big Sky title on the line tonite 7pm on ESPN plus as NAU with one loss visiting Montana State undefeated in league play.

 

[triaddukefan]

I aint mentioning no names @BRS24 but i can't find the huge revenge game Clemson at Duke listed on tonight's schedule. Again, i aint mentioning no names...

Less yall forget, the worst beatdown that Duke received last year was not at the hands of South Carolina, Uconn, or Notre Dame... But Clemson was the team that ran us off of the court. I got a feeling that PETA will be called tonight around 9pm. . Yall ever see a Tiger with no stripes?

 

[BRS24]

I aint mentioning no names @BRS24 but i can't find the huge revenge game Clemson at Duke listed on tonight's schedule. Again, i aint mentioning no names...

Less yall forget, the worst beatdown that Duke received last year was not at the hands of South Carolina, Uconn, or Notre Dame... But Clemson was the team that ran us off of the court. I got a feeling that PETA will be called tonight around 9pm. . Yall ever see a Tiger with no stripes?

Well hell. Guess my cheater readers aren't good enough any more when I'm working on the spreadsheets, and maybe less multitasking, LOL.

 

[LETTERL]

It's disgusting. And puts more pressure to win those one-off matchups, for standing and tie-breaker reasons. Duke, UNC and NC State should each play each other twice a year in the regular season.

The LETTERL has doth spoken.

I was thinking more about this today. It would be fantastic if the 4 NC ACC schools held a women's version of the Dixie Classic.

Since Wake Forest is NC State's "partner" and Duke and UNC are each other's partner...the Women's Dixie Classic could go like this.

On Day 1...

NC State vs. Duke
Wake Forest vs. UNC


On Day 2...

NC State vs. UNC
Wake Forest vs. Duke

This way, all four of the North Carolina ACC teams would assure they play each other twice in the regular season. Right now, UNC and Duke play each other twice...while NC State will face Wake Forest twice. Then, all teams face all the other ACC teams once.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Juju only had 14? I do think juju has been better this year than last year. But I don’t really think she is in the player of the year race. Hidalgo is comfortably ahead of her.

She's in the race, but she's not leading it. Hannah's in front while Lauren Betts in 2nd place, IMO.

 

[FanInNC]

I was thinking more about this today. It would be fantastic if the 4 NC ACC schools held a women's version of the Dixie Classic.

Since Wake Forest is NC State's "partner" and Duke and UNC are each other's partner...the Women's Dixie Classic could go like this.

On Day 1...

NC State vs. Duke
Wake Forest vs. UNC


On Day 2...

NC State vs. UNC
Wake Forest vs. Duke

This way, all four of the North Carolina ACC teams would assure they play each other twice in the regular season. Right now, UNC and Duke play each other twice...while NC State will face Wake Forest twice. Then, all teams face all the other ACC teams once.

Yeah I'd love that. The whole thing that drives the passion of college sports are these regional rivalries. Duke, Wake and UNC are all within an hour drive of NC State. State and UNC are the 2 biggest public universities in the state. The state is loaded with graduates of these 2 schools.

Having national games against brands like UConn or Texas or Stanford is fun don't get me wrong, but nothing gets the blood pumping like an in state rival game. You know you are going to run into family and friends from one of the blue schools regularly - lose to them and you will hear about it at work or the next family gathering. Cal or BC beats you...and well I could go the rest of my life and never run across a BC fan and hear about it. And similarly who am I to brag to when we beat SMU? No one cares! But man, Christmas is insanely fun when you can wrap your in-law's gift (who happens to be a UNC fan) in the local Sports section with headlines and photos from the beat down State handed Carolina earlier in the year!

 

[nwhoopfan]

UConn vs Tennessee
Stanford vs ND
Vandy vs Texas

All on tonight, along with an intriguing game between Minnesota and Iowa (can they maintain momentum?).

Great options and an excuse to ignore the snow building up in my driveway today.

Another interesting match up is a somewhat reeling Oklahoma venturing to Ole Miss to face a team who isn't going to be a pushover.


edit--and Michigan @ Nebraska in another Big 10 game of interest without a ranked team

 

[cancontent]

Another interesting match up is a somewhat reeling Oklahoma venturing to Ole Miss to face a team who isn't going to be a pushover.


edit--and Michigan @ Nebraska in another Big 10 game of interest without a ranked team

Great points. Unfortunately Oklahoma - Ole Miss is on SEC+ so I'll miss that one. I have Michigan - Nebraska on deck to watch tomorrow as it's on Peacock the same time as Iowa-Minnesota on BTN.

I'm all for multiple screens, but with ND-Stanford at 8:30, I'm afraid I won't be a focused as I'd like to be.