Week 7 - Dec 16 to 22

[TheFarmFan]

I know that @TheFarmFan was thrilled to see Missy Barlow calling this game!

Hah! Honestly, we're so much less athletic than OSU, although on principle I'm offended by her calls, it probably benefits us overall...

 

[azfan]

NCAA #4 seed, but lost in the first round to Wright State. They were only a 10 seed in 2022 and went to the WNIT in 2023. Arkansas under Neighbors has hit 20 wins only 3 teams in Neighbor's tenure.

Adair has 0 twenty win seasons in her tenure (and is on her way to a third consecutive 20 loss season).

ASU would be ECSTATIC with only 3 twenty win seasons in 7 years. While that would be a decline from the CTT years this would be a 180° from the abomination, the dumpster fire, the heartbreak in Tempe. Given the damage done by both the process and result of the CTT replacement it's hard to imagine 20 win seasons at ASU in my lifetime or my grandchildren's lifetime.

While the Hogs are certainly disappointed I don't think any of the accurate descriptors revolving around the swamp in Tempe apply to Fayetteville.

I think the point is there's really very little comparison between the two situations.

As I said ASU would not be the only P4 institution that would welcome Mike Neighbors. It would be hard to think of any institution other than one in Delaware that would welcome Natasha Adair. And they might have second thoughts. And I'm sure those folks in Delaware would be scratching their head wondering about the 650,000 Adair is pulling down in Tempe, although they would be very pleased for the very nice coach and happy for her and her family.

 

[dabears17]

Only 2nd and 3rd undergrad transfers in Stanford women's basketball history. Brooke Smith transferred from Duke in 2004.

 

[undersized]

There are certain players, I wonder how anyone ever leaves them open to take a 3. If Taylor McCabe takes a shot, it's going to be behind the arc. That's a given. 166 out of 179 career FGA are 3's. Even more dramatic 74 of her 77 made FGs are from deep. She hits them at .446. It boggles my mind that every opponent doesn't just sell out stopping her from taking a 3 when she's in the game. She's not gonna drive to the hoop and score on you. How are teams scouting her?

Anyway she was 5-8 from deep tonight.

Iowa was killing UNI in the paint so UNI switched to a zone. That's how McCabe got a lot of her open looks. No defense can take away everything. The zone was still very effective though as it allowed UNI to come all the way back.

 

[Vowelguy]

Stanford with 4 asst to 19 tos !!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Iowa was killing UNI in the paint so UNI switched to a zone. That's how McCabe got a lot of her open looks. No defense can take away everything. The zone was still very effective though as it allowed UNI to come all the way back.

Thanks. Yeah tough to get out on shooters out of a zone sometimes and she has a quick trigger.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Stanford with 4 asst to 19 tos !!

I feel like your exclamation points are more amusement than compassion. I'd take some of the latter rn.

 

[Vowelguy]

I feel like your exclamation points are more amusement than compassion.

Neither! Just surprise.

 

[nwhoopfan]

First transfers since 2004. So yes, until they broke college sports, we didn't.

Stanford historically almost never lost outgoing transfers either. That all changed a few years ago.

 

[nwhoopfan]

No Betts, no problem. UCLA can't miss and Creighton can't hit anything. Looks like the Bruins could go 2 on 5 w/ Rice and Dugalic and they would still be winning handily.

 

[Plebe]

Hah! Honestly, we're so much less athletic than OSU, although on principle I'm offended by her calls, it probably benefits us overall...

Welp, athletic mismatches seem to be the theme of the evening.

Would've been much better to have Ohio State play UCLA and let Stanford-Creighton battle it out for (a distant) third.

 

[Stagnant]

Welp, athletic mismatches seem to be the theme of the evening.

Would've been much better to have Ohio State play UCLA and let Stanford-Creighton battle it out for (a distant) third.

Interesting. Same thing happened at the Connecticut event. LSU/UConn and Seton Hall/Iowa State would have been the better matchups.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Rice looked really good. Creighton had no answer for her.

 

[Plebe]

Oregon State led Miami by 4 at halftime and ended up losing by only 5. Miami's not a great team, but this is showing me OSU is improving. Mark my words, by March they will not be an easy out in the WCC.

 

[Stagnant]

Creighton won two quarters I guess.

Jensen was what? 2-15? Has to be the worst night of her career.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Oregon State led Miami by 4 at halftime and ended up losing by only 5. Miami's not a great team, but this is showing me OSU is improving. Mark my words, by March they will not be an easy out in the WCC.

They were actually up 24-15 at one point and had Miami on the ropes a bit. Offense stagnated the rest of the 2nd quarter and all of Q3. But they certainly didn't look like a team that should have losses to teams like Pacific, UC Irvine and dare I say Arizona St.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Haley Cavinder pulled down 12 rebounds. She was everywhere. All 5-6 of her. The 3 wasn't falling, but she did some of everything else. Cameron Williams had a real nice game as well, she gave OSU fits in the key.

 

[nwhoopfan]

A ton of games tomorrow. There's the obvious big one with a battle of Top 10 ranked teams. Some others that intrigue me:

Arizona @ BYU
Iowa St. @ Oklahoma St.
Nebraska @ Georgia Tech
West Virginia @ Colorado


I didn't plan it that way, but those all involve Big 12 teams and 3 of the 4 are conference games.

 

[Plebe]

But they certainly didn't look like a team that should have losses to teams like Pacific, UC Irvine and dare I say Arizona St.

Natasha Adair's signature win, amirite @azfan ?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Natasha Adair's signature win, amirite @azfan ?

Don't forget her 2 wins against Washington last year. If it wasn't for the teams I root for, she'd have hardly any wins to her name at ASU.

 

[Plebe]

Don't forget her 2 wins against Washington last year. If it wasn't for the teams I root for, she'd have hardly any wins to her name at ASU.

I'm gonna have to refer you for remedial groupthink propaganda training. This was where you were supposed to invoke the "no nights off" mantra and wax eloquent about how every Pac 12 opponent was formidable...

 

[azfan]

Don't forget her 2 wins against Washington last year. If it wasn't for the teams I root for, she'd have hardly any wins to her name at ASU.

4-34 in conference, the nice coach from the Mid-Atlantic region hardly has any wins. LOL. She should add another loss in conference today

 

[azfan]

Interesting Az games today.

ASU at Utah noon MST tip on ESPN+
.
Coach Adair completes the three-game road trip in Utah. On the subject of signature wins we do know that Utah beat the golden domers. Soooooo is it possible this is the upset of the day, upset of the month, the upset of the year, the upset of the decade, the upset of the century? No unless Utah is completely looking ahead of ASU, unless Utah is still celebrating a huge win over the Irish, unless Utah makes a decision to only play three players I would suspect a double-digit loss for the Devils and the nice coach from Delaware stays on schedule for 3rd consecutive 20 loss season. In South Bend the Utes held Notre Dame to 67 points and Hidalgo to 16. That being the case I would be surprised if ASU is able to score 60 ( they scored 50 at UC Davis and 64 at SF) and Ty Skinner 15. Ice Brown may foul out in the first half.

kitties at BYU 2pm MST on ESPN Plus

Toss up game that both teams really would like to win to open the Big 12 slate. Since losing at home to Grand Canyon coach Barnes squad has pounded three cupcakes. So this will be a test to see if weak scheduling pays off against a BYU team that has only lost to Iowa in the last 2 weeks. In the kitties last game against mighty Weber State Barnes coached up a physical form of defense with 25 fouls by the team and Cunningham and Beh each fouled out with less than 20 minutes on the floor. Jones was a no-show in the game? BYU however is not Weber State. In a close game I'm guessing the Cougars protect their house.

Grand Canyon hosts Georgia Southern 12:30pm tip on ESPN Plus.

In the final game of their holiday tournament the Lopes should take care of their business. The real question is given the third game in 4 days will the Lopes be able to top 80 against Georgia Southern. I'm going to say no as coach Miller will liberally play her bench in the second half. The Lopes have what amounts to an exhibition on the 27th against Park University from Gilbert Arizona before the big game on December 29th against the NAU Lumberjacks.

Looking ahead to that game on the 29th, based on the Jacks performance against Fresno State what I thought was going to be a pretty close game may end up being another double-digit loss for Loree Payne's squad. The Fresno State announcers were extremely impressed with Sophie Glancy as a force in the paint. They were also impressed with the resilience of the Jacks as they overcame a first half double digit lead to close within four in the third quarter. I was less impressed as the jacks were ice cold from beyond three land and their lack of defense against the dogs projected to finish 9th in the Mountain West revealed the Achilles heal for this talented team. If Fresno State was successful in shutting down the Jacks I think coach Molly Miller will have a similar success as this Antelope team continues her tradition of 40 minutes of defense. I'm hoping for a close game but. . . my prediction would be GCU 74 - NAU 61.

Soooo for those of you interested in betting a parli that all three Arizona teams win today. $1 pays 47 million.

 

[DallasDomer]

The ESPN hype from next door to UConn is somewhat disturbing for the Southern Cal vs UConn game today, "The greatest show on court: Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins".

Not a mention that both teams lost to Notre Dame and Hidalgo and Miles etc. If they call them generational talents what does that make those who defeated both of them? Media hype that ignores reality drive me crazy. They could have said good things without using words implying perfection.

But why should I expect honesty from today's media in general and a failing sports network in particular.

 

[HuskyNan]

The ESPN hype from next door to UConn is somewhat disturbing for the Southern Cal vs UConn game today, "The greatest show on court: Paige Bueckers vs. JuJu Watkins".

Not a mention that both teams lost to Notre Dame and Hidalgo and Miles etc. If they call them generational talents what does that make those who defeated both of them? Media hype that ignores reality drive me crazy. They could have said good things without using words implying perfection.

But why should I expect honesty from today's media in general and a failing sports network in particular.

They’re doing it again at halftime of the Duke-USF game

@triaddukefan What the heck?