Week 2 - Nov 11 to 17

[darrell]

LSU is down 13 in the first half to Murray State right now if anyone is interested and has SEC Network.

 

[GamecockFam]

LSU is down 13 in the first half to Murray State right now if anyone is interested and has SEC Network.

I saw the score and had to jump into the game to take a peek. Looks like a mixture of things going wrong for LSU:

1) On defense, they cannot keep their player in front of them, resulting in a lot of blow bys for layups or drive and kicks to open players by Murray state.
2) No communication on the court
3) No leaders on the court to get their team to calm down
4) Settling for bad shots on offense
5) Not using their advantages on offense (size)

 

[ochoopsfan]

Murray St 54
LSU 53
Early 4th qtr

 

[packwrap]

Murray St 54
LSU 53
Early 4th qtr

LSU got it going on defense in 2nd half.

Murray St scores 32 points in 2nd qtr!...
but only 14pts in second half.

LSU wins 74-60.

 

[azfan]

I am thinking Arizona state is going to have to make a change after this season.

That observation could have (and was made by far more astute observers than me) made at the end of Adair's first 20 loss season.

In the ultimate insult and irony ASU hosts it's little tournament to game tournament this weekend which was renamed at the Briann January classic in honor of one of 'CTTs famous players. Rather than an honorarium what will happen today and tomorrow at Tempe is the opposite of an honor for the classy January.


The inaction by ASU administration and AD in regard to lack of leadership incompetence in the women's program is reflective as I've said before of a complete antipathy toward the woman's basketball program. Ad the situation continues to deteriorate and it's obvious there's no support at the highest levels of the University it will only make the next hiring decision much more difficult. For the following reasons

1. Demonstrated lack of commitment and support for the women's basketball program.

2. An absolute refusal to pay competitive salary or to resource the program properly. The implications of this are clear in terms of finding the type of leader who could operate in this situation. The demonstrated and continual lack of support and commitment at ASU for women's basketball as well known throughout the profession. An experienced talented young leader would be out of their mind to consider this job. Just look at the process that resulted in Natasha Adair:

In a rush the ASU search could find no power five coach who would even think about coming to Tempe. So they settled on a successful mid major coach with deep roots in the Mid-Atlantic area. All of her recruiting contacts and experience were far removed from both the then Pac 12 and more importantly the sources of athletes who would have an opportunity to excel in the Conference of Champions. I need to emphasize I regard Natasha Adair as a exemplar of character and virtue and a successful major coach. She says all the right things but simply is out of her depth and it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone to have anticipated this.

3. The conference realignment is eliminated any possible prestige or incentive for a competent coach to make the move.

4. Aging facility and a non-existent fan base.

5. At season end after this third consecutive 20 loss season it will be evident as it was this time last year that Adair cannot and should not continue. Given the lack of commitment by the administration the agony of watching an ice cube melt on a July afternoon in Tempe would capture the decision-making process of Michael Crow and his flunkies. As Arizonans know Crow is a real estate developer first, political beast second and a growth aficionado 3rd. He would like to grow ASU in a manner reminiscent of the Pac-Man game or one of the more virulent forms of cancer. In another reflection of the cost of a diminished and shrinking journalist community much of crows well known financial and political machinations have remained well rumored but not brought to the public eye and given the importance of the Maggie University to grow his activities both covered and over will remain unexamined.

The Grand Canyon women's victory over ASU was particularly sweet in this regard although Crow obviously cares very little about the women's game. A dozen years ago and one of the few statements Crow has made about women's basketball he indicated that as she would never play Grand Canyon given their status at the time. No one is comfortable bringing this back to the mega developers attention so he could eat crow.

 

[bballnut90]

I saw the score and had to jump into the game to take a peek. Looks like a mixture of things going wrong for LSU:

1) On defense, they cannot keep their player in front of them, resulting in a lot of blow bys for layups or drive and kicks to open players by Murray state.
2) No communication on the court
3) No leaders on the court to get their team to calm down
4) Settling for bad shots on offense
5) Not using their advantages on offense (size)

I hope LSU loses one of these cupcake games. I didn't watch but I wouldn't be surprised if the players are just bored from lack of competition (last 3 games they've won by 73, 59, and 51) and thought they could phone it in against overmatched competition.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Miami up 10 in the closing seconds against Florida. 43 combined points from the Cavinders, 29 for Haley. I would guess that's the most the 2 of them have scored in a game at Miami.

 

[GamecockFam]

I hope LSU loses one of these cupcake games. I didn't watch but I wouldn't be surprised if the players are just bored from lack of competition (last 3 games they've won by 73, 59, and 51) and thought they could phone it in against overmatched competition.

I think that game exposed the lack of leadership on this team -- an aspect of Reece's game that we don't acknowledge and will be hard to fill. I thought Flau'jae stepped up both vocally and with her performance on the court in the second half. I believe LSU's season is going to depend on her filling that leadership role so that someone besides the coaching staff is keeping the team accountable, so that someone on the court is actively calm the troops down when the game isn't going their way, and to help her team with her tenacity and scoring ability.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Is there relegation in D1 sports? Chicago St. is just so sad. In 4 games have given up 96, 87, 111 and 104 points. 52 at the half today. Losing margin has been under 40 only once, and then just barely.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Quinnipiac beat Princeton. Maybe Princeton is down a little this year, but maybe Quinnipiac is back. Wins over two of the better Ivies. They used to be Tourney regulars but haven't been since 2019.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Oof, Minnesota crushing Oregon St. Might be a long season in Corvallis.

 

[BRS24]

Quinnipiac beat Princeton. Maybe Princeton is down a little this year, but maybe Quinnipiac is back. Wins over two of the better Ivies. They used to be Tourney regulars but haven't been since 2019.

Madison St. Rose left the game against Quinnipiac with an apparent knee injury.

 

[MSGRET]

Oof, Minnesota crushing Oregon St. Might be a long season in Corvallis.

Looks like UConn will be in the Championship Game of the Baha Mar Woman's Championship after they play Oregon State on 11/25. Who will they play in the Championship game, I'm going to go with Ole Miss over Boston College.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Fairfield was pesky. Oklahoma St. was up as much as 14 or 15, but came down to a 2 point game and Fairfield had the last possession with a chance to tie or win. They didn't manage to get a shot off though after inbounding w/ about 5 seconds left.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Looks like UConn will be in the Championship Game of the Baha Mar Woman's Championship after they play Oregon State on 11/25. Who will they play in the Championship game, I'm going to go with Ole Miss over Boston College.

That's gonna be ugly. Beavs have to travel to Illinois a few days before that game as well. Probably another beat down and lots of travel.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Cal Baptist has started the season 0-3. That seems fairly unusual for them. All 3 by double digits, blow outs against Oregon and Liberty and just lost to Pepperdine, who was horrible last year but has a new coach this season.

 

[azfan]

Cal Baptist has started the season 0-3. That seems fairly unusual for them. All 3 by double digits, blow outs against Oregon and Liberty and just lost to Pepperdine, who was horrible last year but has a new coach this season.

And an entirely new roster including Mastora sisters and 4 year Golden Bear Muca who scored 27 and looked amazing. The Waves absolutely dominated on CBU home court.

The Lancers offense appeared to be feed the ball to Schmidt as they couldn't buy a three-pointer.

 

[packwrap]

Miami up 10 in the closing seconds against Florida. 43 combined points from the Cavinders, 29 for Haley. I would guess that's the most the 2 of them have scored in a game at Miami.

As Taurasi would say the twins are now grown women playing against 18 year olds.

They are really only 7 deep, but should still be a tournament team.

 

[azfan]

Sun Devils' Brianna January Classic ... Shows both indifference and incompetence by host ASU. Marketing for this two day event generated 9,000 fans disguised as empty seats and actual attendance appears somewhere between 100 and 109.

Adair's squad after winning the tip comes down and runs an offense that generates two turnovers, three travels and two shots that don't hit the rim before Ty Skinner hits a three. No worries because a team less ready for prime time than the Sun Devils is the Mustangs

At the first Media time out the Sun Devils have eight shot attempts and eight turnovers in what is a clinic on indifference, incompetence, and a performance that matches the home court marketing for former ASU grad Briann January.

Jaylen Brown who never met a shot she didn't like is the only Sun Devil to show up as she scores 11 in the first quarter as SMU leads 15-14 at the end of the first quarter.

SMU guard and high volume scorer Robertson is rocking a fluorescent left pink shoe and a fluorescent green shoe. She's also easy to identify from her deep red hair color. She's also rocking the ASU defense cuz I'm sure she's delighted to square up against a team that is a lock for a third consecutive 20 loss season.

Edit/add: the Mustangs 16th in the 18 team ACC in the preseason poll appear to be a great match for the Sun Devils 15th in the 16 team 12 preseason poll. I'm certain both conferences are delighted to welcome these newcomers if for no other reason than impact on won loss percentage for the incumbents in the conferences.

So at the half Brown/Skinner 34 - Mustangs 29.

Based on the first half Minnesota may well score a hundred on the Mustangs. The Beavers would be a slight dog to the Sun Devils.

With this 4 "team" field I wonder if the case could be made that this would be the all-time worst two day preseason "tournament" ever held.

 

[maple]

Just saw the score for Oregon St versus Minnesota …. Just absolutely embarrassing. What is going on there??

OK State and Villanova squeaked out 2 and 1 point wins, respectively … I know it’s early on in the season but …

Louisville trying to hang on to not be upset by Kentucky.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What is going on there??

All their talent left.

Apparently they didn't score for the last 9 minutes. So it went from being bad to being really bad.

 

[azfan]

ASU 80 SMU 73

Both of these are 20 loss teams.

Highlights of the second half Basham pulling up to shoot a three which she missed on a 3 on 1 fast break. (Her other attempt and miss in the game was a baseline mid-range that didn't catch iron) ...Lol

Another highlight of the second half was as the third quarter winds down with three seconds left and SMU fighting for a shot the Sun Devils foul on the floor in the bonus.

Curtain of distraction worked down the stretch with under 2 minutes left.

Lowlight..... With 4 minutes left in the game both teams were obviously gassed which doesn't really reflect well on their conditioning or their performance with the quick turnaround tomorrow.

Devils end with 23 turnovers,

Commentators were providing color and evidently Natasha has coined the nickname for Courtney Paris want to be Parkinson of baby Barkley.

Circle January 4th on your calendar. That's when the Sun Devils travel to Houston for their only chance at a Big 12 victory against the hapless Cougars. Assuming the Devils prevail there Natasha Adair can avoid a 20 loss season by sweeping this following imposing non-conference schedule of South Dakota, Coppin State, Maryland Eastern, UC Davis, San Francisco, and Penn. Wonder what the over under is on the Devil's ability to complete that sweep? . After tomorrow's game against Oregon State the Sun Devils have seven straight road games in their next home contest is December 30th. That should really help with their effort to avoid a third consecutive season of 20 losses.

So there's a possibility that Adair dodges the bullet and avoids the third 20 loss season although the difference between 19 and 20 losses is razor thin. As razor thin ss the prospects of a .500 season for the Sun Devil over the next decade.

 

[azfan]

All their talent left.

Apparently they didn't score for the last 9 minutes. So it went from being bad to being really bad.

If you want really bad tune into the Briann January games tomorrow.

 

[maple]

If you want really bad tune into the Briann January games tomorrow.

I might just watch ….

Louisville and Kentucky in a mid-off right now. Louisville misses a layup to tie it; Kentucky misses two FTs; Louisville gets the late 2pt bucket; Kentucky’s Amoore holds for a last minute shot and it ends up being a total dud. Atrocious decision making there.

Going into OT now.

Edit: Kentucky wins with the upset. Neither of these teams looked stellar.