Week 7 - Dec 16 to 22

[CalWBBfan]

To play devil's advocate, Charmin Smith's tenure at Cal started off almost as badly as Adair's. She doesn't actually have a 20 loss campaign, but 19 in her first season and year 2 was mercifully cut short at 1-16. That undoubtedly would've ended in way over 20 losses if they had played a normal number of games.


That being said, I can't really see Adair turning things around at this point.

I've not been following the situation at ASU, and although I understand your point, I want to say that Smith is a good coach. Struggles at Cal had to do with other issues imho....like Gottlieb bailing on the team late (mid-June) after the team she lead finished 9-9 in conference (after crummy season and losses thru transfer & graduation and less than stellar recruits incoming). We all knew at that point she was looking to leave her team in the lurch, but um, don't call me bitter about that though... ;-).

At any rate for Charmin, she took over late (she'd already taken a job in the WNBA) and so was behind the 8-ball a bit season one. Then of course came Covid which didn't help the team get any needed traction...There were some grumpy fans, but most of us have believed in Charmin Smith and are really happy to finally see her with the personnel to find success on the court consistently. She is recruiting well and has thus far been adept at finding gems in the portal. She's a great person and mentor to her players...I feel we are very fortunate to have her as our coach.

 

[nwhoopfan]

TCU was messing around trading buckets w/ Samford, then boom they're up by 20+. Conner has 7 3's at halftime. Uh...you might want to guard her out by the arc?

 

[Plebe]

TCU was messing around trading buckets w/ Samford, then boom they're up by 20+. Conner has 7 3's at halftime. Uh...you might want to guard her out by the arc?

It's Samford. They're doing well just to run up and down the court. They're winless against D1 opponents, including a 24 point loss to my SFA Ladyjacks.

 

[nwhoopfan]

It's Samford. They're doing well just to run up and down the court. They're winless against D1 opponents, including a 24 point loss to my SFA Ladyjacks.

Oof. All I saw was their record. 4-8 didn't look too bad. Didn't see who the wins were against. Or the margin of some of the losses.

Tennessee 101-53
Florida St. 101-68
Vanderbilt 104-59


Well, I guess kudos to schools like North Carolina Central and Chicago St. They keep taking beatings, but they aren't scheduling multiple non D1 teams.


edit--you're busted--North Alabama is D1, in the ASUN. Maybe they moved up yesterday, but they are D1 now.

 

[Plebe]

edit--you're busted--North Alabama is D1, in the ASUN. Maybe they moved up yesterday, but they are D1 now.

D1-minus, let's say

 

[nwhoopfan]

my SFA Ladyjacks

Hey what do you think about Avery Van Sickle? I had to look it up, forgot that she left early in her Fr. year at Washington without ever stepping on the court for them. That whole class left. I've tracked them casually. Looks like she's really blossoming this year.

 

[Plebe]

Hey what do you think about Avery Van Sickle? I had to look it up, forgot that she left early in her Fr. year at Washington without ever stepping on the court for them. That whole class left. I've tracked them casually. Looks like she's really blossoming this year.

Haven't watched them much and honestly I'd totally forgotten she started at UW. She was a role player off the bench last year, now a starter as a junior, and leading scorer or close to it on a team with pretty balanced scoring. SFA isn't as good as they were under Kellogg and they had a bad 4th quarter collapse vs UTRGV, but I'm sure they're still one of the better teams in their weak conference.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Michigan-Oklahoma did not live up to expectations. UGLY game. Poor shooting by both teams, never found any rhythm. The refs blowing the whistle constantly didn't help. None of the stars showed out. All in all pretty poor showing for a showcase event.

 

[Plebe]

Michigan-Oklahoma did not live up to expectations. UGLY game. Poor shooting by both teams, never found any rhythm. The refs blowing the whistle constantly didn't help. None of the stars showed out. All in all pretty poor showing for a showcase event.

Just a really weird game. The arena in Charlotte was packed for the Florida-UNC men's game immediately prior, but this game tipped after 9:30 pm local time and it was a ghost town, with tumbleweeds making more noise than the spectators. The teams brought plenty of energy but if anything it was too frenetic and extremely physical. I actually thought the refs let at least as much go as they called, from the portions I saw.

 

[Stagnant]

I thought the refs destroyed Michigan and Oklahoma. Hobbs and the other big fouled out with like 7-8 minutes left. And they were never going to go on a run once that happened.

 

[newfrontier]

Michigan-Oklahoma did not live up to expectations. UGLY game. Poor shooting by both teams, never found any rhythm. The refs blowing the whistle constantly didn't help. None of the stars showed out. All in all pretty poor showing for a showcase event.

Michigan is over-rated, as is their supposed 9th ranked Women's Basketball recruiting class of 2024. Don't make me laugh. This year the University of Michigan will once again fail to win the BIG 10's regular season conference championship just like it has every year for the past 42 years (beginning in 1982-83 when the BIG 10 first sponsored a women's conference). And likewise, the UofM's Women's BB program, as part of the big and mighty University of Michigan, has never won a single Big10 women's basketball tournament championship (which the BiG10 has sponsored every year since 1995-96). Pitiful.

Side note - What many people don't seem to realize is that it is actually MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY and NOT UofM that historically HAS THE BETTER MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM AND THE BETTER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I think UConn had a solid game against ISU last night. Hopefully they can carry that energy into Saturday.

 

[cancontent]

Michigan is over-rated, as is their supposed 9th ranked Women's Basketball recruiting class of 2024. Don't make me laugh. This year the University of Michigan will once again fail to win the BIG 10's regular season conference championship just like it has every year for the past 42 years (beginning in 1982-83 when the BIG 10 first sponsored a women's conference). And likewise, the UofM's Women's BB program, as part of the big and mighty University of Michigan, has never won a single Big10 women's basketball tournament championship (which the BiG10 has sponsored every year since 1995-96). Pitiful.

Side note - What many people don't seem to realize is that it is actually MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY and NOT UofM that historically HAS THE BETTER MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM AND THE BETTER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM.

While true, which program has had more success over the last 5-10 years? Michigan State hasn't won a Big10 title in over 10 years themselves. The program hasn't gotten past the first round in the tournament for a while. Michigan during this same timeframe made it to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

And regarding whether their recruiting class is over rated, time will tell however they seem to be holding up just fine. The program has exceeded expectations so far this season. Whether it continues during conference play, who knows? But they aren't wilting against tougher competition just yet.

 

[YoDore]

The great John Madden would have called the Michigan-Oklahoma game a slobber knocker. Bodies were flying all over the place. I felt Oklahoma, the more physically mature team, finally wore the Wolverines down in the fourth quarter, which started with the Sooners up three. It wasn't pretty to watch, but I can't really blame the refs too much. They could have called twice as many fouls.

 

[azfan]

Tip at 2:30 MST in Phoenix as the Lopes take on Wright State in the opener of their three-game Christmas tournament. It appears Wright State loves the three ball (average over 25 attempts per game, two players shooting over 40% from beyond the arc) so this could be a real high scoring game. Wright State, last place in the Horizon League, should be no problem for the Lopes although I would guess they would give the ASU Sun Devils a pretty good whipping.

This is the fifth game in an unbelievable 10 game homestand (well actually the Lopes did drive down the I17 to beat the kitties in the dirty t so it's really 10 out of 11 games at home to end the year). All three tournament games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and I have not experienced any challenges with the streaming service. In fact all of the Grand Canyon games will be broadcast on ESPN Plus.

Barring upsets the Lopes will carry an 8 game-winning streak into the year ending battle at home against the Lumberjacks a game I'm really looking forward to.

 

[Stagnant]

I don’t think the Michigan freshman class is overrated at all. I wish UConn landed a couple of those players.

 

[YoDore]

I don’t think the Michigan freshman class is overrated at all. I wish UConn landed a couple of those players.

I love Olsen and Swords. When Olsen committed early to Michigan, it broke my heart. She had made an unofficial visit to Vandy the summer after coach Ralph's first season, and I was naive enough to think we might get her. She didn't even last the summer before commiting to the Wolverines. We were never in the picture for Swords or I would be suffering double heart break.

Even with all that said, it has occurred to me that Hobbs is the best player on that team. Not the most talented player, but the best. I hope Olsen and Swords stay together for four years. I think both will be something special.

 

[Plebe]

Side note - What many people don't seem to realize is that it is actually MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY and NOT UofM that historically HAS THE BETTER MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM AND THE BETTER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM.

If they haven't realized it, it's only because NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE HAVE USED ALL CAPS WHEN EXPLAINING IT SO IT GETS THROUGH THEIR THICK SKULLS

 

[DefenseBB]

Michigan is over-rated, as is their supposed 9th ranked Women's Basketball recruiting class of 2024. Don't make me laugh. This year the University of Michigan will once again fail to win the BIG 10's regular season conference championship just like it has every year for the past 42 years (beginning in 1982-83 when the BIG 10 first sponsored a women's conference). And likewise, the UofM's Women's BB program, as part of the big and mighty University of Michigan, has never won a single Big10 women's basketball tournament championship (which the BiG10 has sponsored every year since 1995-96). Pitiful.

Side note - What many people don't seem to realize is that it is actually MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY and NOT UofM that historically HAS THE BETTER MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM AND THE BETTER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM.

I do think that not only do most of us realize it we definitely know it. UM has made in-roads to being better but have not won anything of note, ever. That said, UM had been significantly better than MSU in WCBB the past 7 years. MSU had to “retire” their coach as she was living off past laurels and the Spartans didn’t even make the NCAAT in 2022 and 2023. Fralick has done a nice job these past two years but I doubt they win the Big Ten this year.

Again, you don’t need to use a “sledgehammer” on this forum as there are many knowledgeable members.

 

[maple]

Syracuse plays Binghamton today. On paper, Syracuse should cruise through this game, but this is the same team that also lost to UAlbany, so there's a slight possibility for an upset, I suppose. But it's very slight.

Of some marginally interesting note ... last year a girl on the Binghamton WBB signed an NIL with a local tattoo shop (I only found out because I follow the shop on IG). Kind of an odd pairing. IIRC, that player has since transferred to another school. Also, Binghamton seems to use Le Moyne as a coaching staff pipeline. Though it's more of a lateral move than a step up. Probably helps the two schools are only an hour apart, too; I imagine it's an easy transition.

That said, I think Binghamton has a much cooler logo than is warranted given their lowly status!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Northwestern beat UNLV. Maybe that loss wasn't quite as bad as it seemed at the time for Utah.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Paging @triaddukefan --what is a UNC Pembroke? Is their mascot the Fighting Corgis? Whoever they are, Davidson played them today.

 

[cancontent]

Paging @triaddukefan --what is a UNC Pembroke? Is their mascot the Fighting Corgis? Whoever they are, Davidson played them today.

Hey...have you seen corgi races? Those dogs are fiesty as hell.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Boise St. and Furman are locked in a close battle in an exciting matinee game in Seattle. To be followed up by UW playing North Dakota St. It's a 4 team, 4 game event. Next the Huskies will play Furman. For reasons that I cannot fathom, UW will not face Boise St., the team that makes the most regional sense for them to play. And I'm guessing is the highest NET ranked team of the 3 visitors, so why would you want to try to help out your resume a little bit?


Dang I'm smart. I don't know if it's "official" but the Warren Nolan site has Boise St. right behind UW at #89. NDSU is #130 and Furman is way down at #188. Brilliant scheduling there.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay, did a little research on my own. UNC Pembroke is a D2 school. The institution has undergone multiple name changes, established in 1877. In a small town, the majority of the residents are part of the Lumbee tribe. It was originally established as an institution for Native Americans. Kelvin Sampson, long time men's hoops coach is an alum.