Week 7 - Dec 18 to 24

[Bone Dog]

This has gotta be Cori's best team ever. Really a nice balance of speed and size, and of stars (Rice, Betts, Osborne) and role players. Right now I am sensing UCLA as the Pac-12 favorite just ahead of Stanford, Utah and USC. But that's a really strong top 4.

OSU drew some blood early with the press and took a 10-2 lead. Then it was all UCLA for about 30 minutes. Nothing seemed to be work well for the Buckeyes, but they scrapped and showed heart to close the gap in 4Q. Got it down to 4 points in the final minute but ran out of time.

It's gonna take me a while to wrap my brain around the fact that these two teams will be in the same conference in 9 months.

Much as I admire tOSU's press and especially the group McGuff has put together to implement it, most of all Jacy Sheldon, I didn't really believe for a moment that UCLA wouldn't win as I watched it. It looks like this year really belongs to UCLA and SCar, barring something extraordinary happening. Dawn and Cori have built a couple of juggernauts. I am impressed. Perhaps they can be derailed by a scrappy team or two along the way, but it will take some impressive heroics to achieve it.

This is my opinion in week 7. I wonder how things will look in week 15.

 

[cancontent]

Really impressed by Sheldon. Nice game for Thierry too. The rest of the Buckeyes were pretty much M.I.A. Brutal game for McMahon.

Thought she tried too hard to out manoeuvre Betts to draw fouls. Betts wasn't having it and held her position well.

 

[Bjbod]

I understand it was near suicide to go to the hoop when Betts was in there, but you still need to get the ball in the middle of the floor to get good shots. Ohio State rarely tried this; just passed around the perimeter or one-on-one moves towards the basket.

 

[Bone Dog]

I understand it was near suicide to go to the hoop when Betts was in there, but you still need to get the ball in the middle of the floor to get good shots. Ohio State rarely tried this; just passed around the perimeter or one-on-one moves towards the basket.

Yup. This is what it looks like when a team has a rim protector and effective perimeter defenders. It’s what SCar was like two seasons ago and, to a lesser extent last season. It’s also what they are beginning to look like this season.

I had expectations that UConn and ND would look like this too before the injuries took their toll. Having a rim protector and tall quick perimeter defenders makes it really difficult to beat a team unless you have a hit streak from 3.

Can LSU look like this later in the season? Maybe, if Rosario develops her defense substantially. But the loss of Smith is a real setback for them and their perimeter defense isn’t at this level yet, and may never be. I’d put Va Tech and K St in this group too, but I don’t know that their perimeter defense good enough either.

 

[Bjbod]

Yup. This is what it looks like when a team has a rim protector and effective perimeter defenders. It’s what SCar was like two seasons ago and, to a lesser extent last season. It’s also what they are beginning to look like this season.

I had expectations that UConn and ND would look like this too before the injuries took their toll. Having a rim protector and tall quick perimeter defenders makes it really difficult to beat a team unless you have a hit streak from 3.

Can LSU look like this later in the season? Maybe, if Rosario develops her defense substantially. But the loss of Smith is a real setback for them and their perimeter defense isn’t at this level yet, and may never be. I’d put Va Tech and K St in this group too, but I don’t know that their perimeter defense good enough either.

K-State isn't as athletic as UCLA, but their length is there: lots of players in the 6'-6'1" range with long arms, plus Lee at 6'6".

 

[Reypl21]

Did you watch Betts last season? Honestly, most of the time she was a step slow, pretty tentative on offense, and got the ball stripped from her under the basket with surprising frequency. And here's the thing: she was in a post lineup behind a 6'4" Brink, 6'5" Prechtel, and 6'2" Belibi, all of whom were key cogs in our national championship run. Plus 6'3" Iriafen, who's much faster down the court, and a 6'1" Jones, who often played the 4 and was tied as our leading rebounder with Brink. I think it just wasn't a good fit for the roster we had, and not anyone's fault. But that said, I agree she's playing much more like a #1 recruit this season than she did last year.

Betts should have gotten more of Prechtel's and Belibi's minutes. They barely improved from their sophomore years, and only had one season left. Betts had more upside and was a freshman. She was slow last season, but she needed time to play.

 

[Bone Dog]

Betts is still a step slow, or more. But Close has surrounded her with an athletic group of kids, so she isn't as easily exposed. Tara could have done that last year too. Jones was the star at Stanford for 4 years, but it came with a cost, in this case of team speed if she wanted to play Betts more. A lineup of Betts Brink Jones Jump and one of the guards would be formidable in the half court, but vulnerable to teams that could make them run.

UCLA this year has much better team speed even with Betts on the floor for 30 mins. It's not just Rice Osborne and Londynn Jones who are quick, but Jaquez and Brown too. And their bigs are both big and strong, and Sontag and Dugalic are much quicker than Betts. Bessoir was maybe the quickest of their bigs, so losing her is a blow, but they are still very athletic. And it's easy to forget how strong Betts is. It's not that easy to move her off the low block. I suspect Cardoso or Ayoka Lee will have a hard time boxing her out in a head to head matchup with UCLA.

 

[visitingcock]

I was not impressed with Betts as a prospect. Her turn around, fall/away jumper looked good but I thought it a waste for a player of her size because it took her away from the post and the rebound. All in all, I just thought she looked slow soft against other to bigs.

Last year confirmed my thoughts - I thought! Not so sure now. She may have turned a mental corner and toughened up. It will be interesting to watch her this season against Brinks and other quality bigs.

 

[redhat]

"Betts should have gotten more of Prechtel's and Belibi's minutes. They barely improved from their sophomore years, and only had one season left. Betts had more upside and was a freshman. She was slow last season, but she needed time to play."

Prechtel and Belibi may have improved more if they got more playing time

 

[triaddukefan]

MY AGGIES

 

[BruinGold]

This has gotta be Cori's best team ever. Really a nice balance of speed and size, and of stars (Rice, Betts, Osborne) and role players. Right now I am sensing UCLA as the Pac-12 favorite just ahead of Stanford, Utah and USC. But that's a really strong top 4.

OSU drew some blood early with the press and took a 10-2 lead. Then it was all UCLA for about 30 minutes. Nothing seemed to be work well for the Buckeyes, but they scrapped and showed heart to close the gap in 4Q. Got it down to 4 points in the final minute but ran out of time.

It's gonna take me a while to wrap my brain around the fact that these two teams will be in the same conference in 9 months.

Betts has really opened things up for the rest of the team both offensively and defensively. She draws so much attention on offense that other players are waltzing to the basket when the double team won't leave her. On one possession last night, Dugalic sneaked under the basket for an easy lay-in because OSU was watching Betts run down the court, trailing the ball. That's living in the other team's head.

Defensively, UCLA is not sagging off perimeter players because they think that Betts has the middle covered. And, opposing players are not driving in on her. She gets surprisingly few fouls.

Her main backup, Christeen Iwuala, has stepped up her game quite a bit as well, and is able to run up and down the court in a way that Betts can't, presenting a nice change of pace without going small.

This core group of sophomores (Rice, Jones, Betts, Iwuala, Jacquez, Sontag) will be together for 3 more years.

 

[nwhoopfan]

If Louisville loses this game, then the ACC needs to just go the way of the Pac-12 and disband.

Is Pitt losing to Ball St. today enough reason to disband the league?

 

[Plebe]

In exchange for reneging on the Toronto game with UConn, coach Verdi and his Pitt squad take an L to Ball State.

But at least he's getting to work on his tan in Tampa

Is Pitt losing to Ball St. today enough reason to disband the league?

Every game that Pitt plays is grounds for disbandment

 

[triaddukefan]

Is Pitt losing to Ball St. today enough reason to disband the league?

 

[nwhoopfan]

Oregon just lost to Utah Tech. What? It's not like the Ducks have no talent. What is going on in Eugene this year?

edit--but at least it wasn't by 30 or 40 points, like their previous bad losses to mid majors

 

[nwhoopfan]

View attachment 94256

I had to look up finna. I know I've looked it up before, but I didn't remember. That's one of those new words that hasn't worked its way into my vocabulary so far. Which is different than old words that are given totally new meanings. Like drip. And fire. I need a "you kids get off my lawn" sign.

 

[Reypl21]

"Betts should have gotten more of Prechtel's and Belibi's minutes. They barely improved from their sophomore years, and only had one season left. Betts had more upside and was a freshman. She was slow last season, but she needed time to play."

Prechtel and Belibi may have improved more if they got more playing time

They had 4 years to show improvement.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They had 4 years to show improvement.

Jones didn't improve at all after her Soph year. In fact I think she went backwards. That whole class was...perplexing. Got them a Championship, but they all peaked early.

 

[Plebe]

How do you beat a team that has a huge size and athleticism advantage over you? Simple: hit 21 of 31 three-pointers.

Utah Tech, the former Dixie State, upsets Oregon, 92-86.

Is Oregon the second-worst team in the Pac-12 this year? Quite the free-fall in just four seasons.

Check out the Utah Tech 3-point shooting. One player shot 8-10, another went 6-10, a freshman off the bench (Calyn Dallas) went 4-5, and another freshman off the bench (Willardson) hit two 3s and a layup in crunch time to help seal the win.

 

[visitingcock]

I had to look up finna. I know I've looked it up before, but I didn't remember. That's one of those new words that hasn't worked its way into my vocabulary so far. Which is different than old words that are given totally new meanings. Like drip. And fire. I need a "you kids get off my lawn" sign.

That’s because you didn’t know contraction “finna” in its uncontracted form: “fix in’ to.”

 

[nwhoopfan]

That’s because you didn’t know contraction “finna” in its uncontracted form: “fix in’ to.”

That actually makes sense. Yeet is another word that has me wondering "where did that come from?"

 

[nwhoopfan]

How do you beat a team that has a huge size and athleticism advantage over you? Simple: hit 21 of 31 three-pointers.

Utah Tech, the former Dixie State, upsets Oregon, 92-86.

Is Oregon the second-worst team in the Pac-12 this year? Quite the free-fall in just four seasons.

Check out the Utah Tech 3-point shooting. One player shot 8-10, another went 6-10, a freshman off the bench (Calyn Dallas) went 4-5, and another freshman off the bench (Willardson) hit two 3s and a layup in crunch time to help seal the win.

View attachment 94258

So is Oregon just incredibly unlucky? Santa Clara went nuts shooting 3s against them as well. Or maybe they have just about the worst 3 point defense in history. I watched SCU against Oregon St. and they looked BAD.

 

[Plebe]

That’s because you didn’t know contraction “finna” in its uncontracted form: “fix in’ to.”

That actually makes sense. Yeet is another word that has me wondering "where did that come from?"

It may have been an autocorrect fail, but it’s fixin’ (one word) as in fixing.

Here’s why Southerners say ‘fixin’ to’

Below is an excerpt from a column that appeared on It’s a Southern Thing (SoutherThing.com). To be immediately directed to the full column, click here. When I was at Auburn University, I went…

kellykazek.com

 

[LETTERL]

In exchange for reneging on the Toronto game with UConn, coach Verdi and his Pitt squad take an L to Ball State.

But at least he's getting to work on his tan in Tampa

Every game that Pitt plays is grounds for disbandment

I would gladly trade Pitt and BC for any other two teams.

Think Chicago State would be interested in joining the ACC?

 

[triaddukefan]

I would gladly trade Pitt and BC for any other two teams.

Think Chicago State would be interested in joining the ACC?

Hol up there partna