Week 6: Dec 8 - 14 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Week 6: Dec 8 - 14

Utah blowing out Boise St. probably wasn't on my bingo card. I figure the Utes will be middle of the pack at best in the Big 12. But apparently they would be very competitive in the Mountain West.
 
Meanwhile we have a raging Battle of the Palouse. Eastern Washington w/ a narrow lead over Washington St. late in the game.

edit--EWU wins 71-69; good thing for Seattle U. or the Cougs would be the worst D1 team in Washington, they sure have fallen fast
 
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I enjoyed the Iowa/Iowa State game. Audi crooks is probably a threat to win national player of the year. I don’t really see her as a pro prospect though; I am not sure what she can do on a pro court defensively.
 
I am pretty confident now that Sarah strong is one of the best options in the country for guarding Audi. Audi will probably get 25. But Sarah will occasionally strip her and come up with steals. On the other end of the floor, I think Sarah will really kick her ass when on offense. It would just come down to Sarah staying out of foul trouble.

I actually think we threw poor Morgan Cheli at her a couple of times last season. “I know you played point guard in high school. But go guard Audi crooks now.” 😂
 
Bjbod said:
I thought both teams were overrated coming into this game. I was wrong, Iowa State is a legit Top Ten team. Iowa will improve as the season progresses; lots of mistakes but came from 17 down to within 3. You won't want to draw Iowa in March.
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Well, considering the top 8 teams (mostly the top 6 teams) are far ahead of everyone else, saying ISU is top ten is "plausible" although I am not sold. To me, Jan did a TERRIBLE job in trying to defend Crooks throughout most of the game. She tried to defend her mostly one on one and it was a disaster. They should have been fronting her the whole game and make someone else beat them.

For clarity my top 6 are UConn, Texas, SC, LSU, UCLA, Michigan then Oklahoma and TCU as 7/8.

There is a BIG gap after that so how TCU manages ISU and Baylor will vet out all three teams' viability in the NCAAT and rankings.

The groupings within WCBB has broadened with the Tier 1 now expanding from 2/3/4 to 6-10, Tier 2 was 4/5/6 but is now 11-16 but as a whole, the sport is still miles away from the Men's sport
 
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Stagnant said:
I am pretty confident now that Sarah strong is one of the best options in the country for guarding Audi. Audi will probably get 25. But Sarah will occasionally strip her and come up with steals. On the other end of the floor, I think Sarah will really kick her ass when on offense. It would just come down to Sarah staying out of foul trouble.

I actually think we threw poor Morgan Cheli at her a couple of times last season. “I know you played point guard in high school. But go guard Audi crooks now.” 😂
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I look at Sarah as the ultimate evolution of the Wing 3 position . Can play offense in or out at any position from 1-5. Can defend any position except MAYBE a super-quick PG
 
Little Rock visiting Norman and Oklahoma is leading 32-15 at the end of the 1st quarter. Oklahoma has been called for 2 fouls but shot 13 FTs on 8 LR fouls.
 
61-23 Sooners at the half. Less foul calls in the 2nd and Oklahoma is having their way. Plenty of minutes for some bench players.
I'm going to find something else to watch, no basketball tho.
 
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KK Branford injured (knee) in tonight’s game. Waiting for details but initial assessments were not encouraging.
 
Did the entire Missouri Valley Conference have a large loss of talent thru graduation/portal departures? Ordinarily one of the better mid major conferences, this year is looking fairly bleak. Indiana St. got hammered by Butler 101-56.


It might be my imagination, but in general it seems like the ranks of the mid majors are way down this year. So many lopsided losses to mediocre or not even mediocre teams from the P4+. I think NIL and the portal is decimating the possibility of parity maybe?
 
Okay die hard wcbb fans--who is the worst team in California this season? San Jose St. and Long Beach St. are both trying really hard for that dubious honor. Both are winless, mostly by large margins, even against many other mid majors. SJSU is currently crushing a non D1 team, but that doesn't count.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Did the entire Missouri Valley Conference have a large loss of talent thru graduation/portal departures? Ordinarily one of the better mid major conferences, this year is looking fairly bleak. Indiana St. got hammered by Butler 101-56.


It might be my imagination, but in general it seems like the ranks of the mid majors are way down this year. So many lopsided losses to mediocre or not even mediocre teams from the P4+. I think NIL and the portal is decimating the possibility of parity maybe?
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Rather than being impressed by the MVC, I've always thought their better teams were among the better mid-major teams, but the conference probably not that overwhelming. Of course, I have a prejudice that non-P4 teams mostly shouldn't beat P4 teams. Exceptions for the Big East and the various top mid-major teams, but no more than about 10 of them.

Yes, I can't imagine that the portal hasn't had an effect on this. I think a lot of the better mid-major players are now looking to end their career at a P4. The Arizona roster includes players from Glenville State, UC San Diego and Memphis, as well as Virginia, Texas Tech and Buffalo.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Did the entire Missouri Valley Conference have a large loss of talent thru graduation/portal departures? Ordinarily one of the better mid major conferences, this year is looking fairly bleak. Indiana St. got hammered by Butler 101-56.


It might be my imagination, but in general it seems like the ranks of the mid majors are way down this year. So many lopsided losses to mediocre or not even mediocre teams from the P4+. I think NIL and the portal is decimating the possibility of parity maybe?
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I mean, if even a school with the cache and history of winning like Stanford can't withstand defections and decimation due to the portal + NIL, it doesn't seem surprising at all that mid-majors would feel the pinch.
 
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Stagnant said:
I enjoyed the Iowa/Iowa State game. Audi crooks is probably a threat to win national player of the year. I don’t really see her as a pro prospect though; I am not sure what she can do on a pro court defensively.
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I think Crooks might be on the short list for player of the year, but for a number of reasons I don't think her odds against say Sarah Strong are good. Right now her PER stats are off the charts and a little ahead of Sarah. That is very likely to reverse, just based on scheduling. Audi's competition in conference will get much tougher, Sarah just the opposite in the Big East.

Other factors are Audi needs a blow more often than Sarah, is nowhere close as a defender, and although Iowa State looks pretty good, they are very unlikely to finish ahead of Uconn. In short because of these other factors, the only way for Audi to win vs Sarah is to have substantially better per minute numbers which are slightly better now, but sure to decrease against tougher competition.

The reasons she may not be as good a pro prospect as a college player also play into this. You mention her defense as a pro, but her ability to do what she does offensively will be greatly affected too. The best WNBA C's will be able to reject many of her shots. Few college teams have C's with enough length and ability to do that, but obviously Audi will face more of them in conference than the out of conference schedule.

That was a statement game for Audi, and surely raised her status in the player of the year discussion, but compared to Sarah Strong she has few advantages unless her stats stay at their current level against much better teams. With Juju out the other player putting up player of the year like numbers is Hidalgo, and you could make a good case for her as a true two way player, but her team is not as good as they usually are. Booker and Betts are of course stars on very good teams, but their individual stats don't compare to Crooks, Strong, or Hidalgo.

Sarah checks the boxes for individual and team in a way the others don't. It is still early, but at this point i think it is her's to lose.
 
oldhusky said:
I think Crooks might be on the short list for player of the year, but for a number of reasons I don't think her odds against say Sarah Strong are good. Right now her PER stats are off the charts and a little ahead of Sarah. That is very likely to reverse, just based on scheduling. Audi's competition in conference will get much tougher, Sarah just the opposite in the Big East.

Other factors are Audi needs a blow more often than Sarah, is nowhere close as a defender, and although Iowa State looks pretty good, they are very unlikely to finish ahead of Uconn. In short because of these other factors, the only way for Audi to win vs Sarah is to have substantially better per minute numbers which are slightly better now, but sure to decrease against tougher competition.

The reasons she may not be as good a pro prospect as a college player also play into this. You mention her defense as a pro, but her ability to do what she does offensively will be greatly affected too. The best WNBA C's will be able to reject many of her shots. Few college teams have C's with enough length and ability to do that, but obviously Audi will face more of them in conference than the out of conference schedule.

That was a statement game for Audi, and surely raised her status in the player of the year discussion, but compared to Sarah Strong she has few advantages unless her stats stay at their current level against much better teams. With Juju out the other player putting up player of the year like numbers is Hidalgo, and you could make a good case for her as a true two way player, but her team is not as good as they usually are. Booker and Betts are of course stars on very good teams, but their individual stats don't compare to Crooks, Strong, or Hidalgo.

Sarah checks the boxes for individual and team in a way the others don't. It is still early, but at this point i think it is her's to lose.
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Yeah I remember Iowa State wasn't much of an issue to South Carolina when we last played but it wasn't really due to our size and had more to do with our athleticism. Pushing the tempo really took Crooks out of the game.

What Big 12 teams have the size and/or tempo/athleticism to beat Iowa State? I can't really think of any besides TCU which would have both the size and athleticism. There are a few other system which may pose a challenge -- West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Arizona State come to mind -- but they don't really have the size to challenge on the interior so I see those becoming shootouts. Baylor has Talia Scott who could be a matchup problem but I don't think they have the support players like Iowa State does.
 
Bone Dog said:
Is Louisville able to upset UNC? If I tilt my head a certain way, I feel like it can happen.
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Why do you say that? While, in theory, UNC has a lot more talent, Louisville has played well thus far. I would not call their three losses "bad" losses at all (UConn 13, Kentucky-1o, SC-2, whereas UNC lost by 18 to UCLA and Texas-15 would indicate they are fairly equal.

Plus. Jeff is a much better game coach than Banghart. I made this comment the other day that UNC's next big win with be her first. I am just not sold on Courtney being an elite P4 coach. She's been able to get talent to Chapel Hill but seems to underperform.
 
DefenseBB said:
Why do you say that?
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Well, I think these are pretty evenly matched squads. So mainly I was expressing surprise that UNC was ranked so much higher. I apologize if my understated humor wasn't obvious enough.

UNC may have more talent in the front court with Toomey, Harris, and Thomas (if she can pull herself together), though Istanbuloglu has really made a lot of progress over the last couple seasons and Ziegler is a great addition. But the guard corps seems to favor Louisville, with Roberts, Jones, Berry and Scott, though Nivar, Aarnisalo, Grant and Brooks are pretty solid. Your point is well taken, that Jeff is simply a better coach.
 
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Bone Dog said:
Well, I think these are pretty evenly matched squads.So mainly I was expressing surprise that UNC was ranked so much higher. I apologize if my understated humor wasn't obvious enough. UNC may have more talent in the front court with Toomey, Harris, and Thomas (if she can pull herself together), though Istanbuloglu has really made a lot of progress over the last couple seasons and Ziegler is a great addition. But the guard corps seems to favor Louisville, with Roberts, Jones, Berry and Scott, though Nivar, Aarnisalo, Grant and Brooks are pretty solid. Your point is well taken, that Jeff is simply a better coach.
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It was to me......gave me flashbacks of when installers had to readjust my satellite dish when I first bought my house.
Cellphone Signal GIF by Luis Ricardo
 
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GamecockFam said:
Yeah I remember Iowa State wasn't much of an issue to South Carolina when we last played but it wasn't really due to our size and had more to do with our athleticism. Pushing the tempo really took Crooks out of the game.

What Big 12 teams have the size and/or tempo/athleticism to beat Iowa State? I can't really think of any besides TCU which would have both the size and athleticism. There are a few other system which may pose a challenge -- West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Arizona State come to mind -- but they don't really have the size to challenge on the interior so I see those becoming shootouts. Baylor has Talia Scott who could be a matchup problem but I don't think they have the support players like Iowa State does.
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This seems about right. As I recall, when ISU played UConn last season, Ash practically beat them single-handedly. I exaggerate of course, but it wasn’t really a contest after Ash dropped 17 on them in the first quarter. Once Fennely adjusted to account for Ash, Paige and Sarah took turns roasting them. Sure, Audi scored 22, but it was irrelevant, and she needed to be on the floor for 30+ mins to do it, which meant their defense was compromised for much of the game.
 
oldhusky said:
I think Crooks might be on the short list for player of the year, but for a number of reasons I don't think her odds against say Sarah Strong are good. Right now her PER stats are off the charts and a little ahead of Sarah. That is very likely to reverse, just based on scheduling. Audi's competition in conference will get much tougher, Sarah just the opposite in the Big East.

Other factors are Audi needs a blow more often than Sarah, is nowhere close as a defender, and although Iowa State looks pretty good, they are very unlikely to finish ahead of Uconn. In short because of these other factors, the only way for Audi to win vs Sarah is to have substantially better per minute numbers which are slightly better now, but sure to decrease against tougher competition.

The reasons she may not be as good a pro prospect as a college player also play into this. You mention her defense as a pro, but her ability to do what she does offensively will be greatly affected too. The best WNBA C's will be able to reject many of her shots. Few college teams have C's with enough length and ability to do that, but obviously Audi will face more of them in conference than the out of conference schedule.

That was a statement game for Audi, and surely raised her status in the player of the year discussion, but compared to Sarah Strong she has few advantages unless her stats stay at their current level against much better teams. With Juju out the other player putting up player of the year like numbers is Hidalgo, and you could make a good case for her as a true two way player, but her team is not as good as they usually are. Booker and Betts are of course stars on very good teams, but their individual stats don't compare to Crooks, Strong, or Hidalgo.

Sarah checks the boxes for individual and team in a way the others don't. It is still early, but at this point i think it is her's to lose.
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Even though I'm an Iowa fan I like to see Audi do well, she's truly a great young woman. I share oldhusky's doubts about her potential success in the W. In the 2nd round of the NCAA's her freshman year the Stanford team with Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen held her to 3-21 shooting, even though the game went to overtime because of a 36 point performance by Emily Ryan. Crooks had 8-10 shots blocked if I remember correctly. Point is, WNBA-level athleticism and size will limit her offensive production. She's not that great of a rebounder nor much on the defensive end. Maybe she can overcome those things in 2 years but not with today's skills, IMHO.
 
Stagnant said:
Washington state’s demotion from the power 5 is already pretty apparent huh? About to be 1-10. Just 3 years ago, won the pac 12 tournament. Pretty sad to see.
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Oregon St.'s record is not as stark, but their dropoff from 2 years ago is also very steep.
 
Not Michigan’s best performance. I believe they were favored by around 60 points.
 
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