Week 9 preview (Jan. 3-9)

[undersized]

Iowa finally looked like the team that found some success last season -- can't rebound worth a darn or take care of the ball but when you shoot lights out it doesn't matter!

I know people like to hate on Iowa's defense. But their defense on first possessions is actually much much better this year. Clark in particular has improved to "slightly below average," which is much better than "quite terrible." It's the inability to close out defensive possessions by securing the rebound that kills them. Which is ironically why Clark is one of the most valuable players on defense -- she's leading the team in rebounding.* Which, I love that she is able to do that. But I hate that she has to, because it means the frontcourt isn't picking up the slack.

*She leads in total rebounds. 3 of our posts who come in off the bench have a higher defensive rebound percentage (DRB%), but Clark leads the seven players who play the most in DRB%.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I haven't tracked where all of the Syracuse transfers ended up (there were A LOT of them!), but some have definitely traded up. Cardoso, Engstler and Strautmane for sure.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Virginia trailed Georgia Tech 14-13 at the end of Q1. They scored 18 points the rest of the game and lost by 36. Should've quit while they were almost ahead.

 

[Centerstream]

Florida beats Texas A&M in 2OTs, 97-89.

 

[visitingcock]

Florida beats Texas A&M in 2OTs, 97-89.

The victory lap year for Gary Blair is not looking good so far. Kinda’ sad

 

[nwhoopfan]

The victory lap year for Gary Blair is not looking good so far. Kinda’ sad

No kidding. 2 OT loss to Florida dropped them to 0-3 in conference.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I watched some of Cal early, thought they looked much improved from last year. I might've been wrong. Never really challenged Ole Miss or Arkansas in non con games. Got drilled by Washington St. (they were missing 3 key players). Had almost everybody back today and got crushed by Oregon.

 

[Centerstream]

The victory lap year for Gary Blair is not looking good so far. Kinda’ sad

Yup

 

[LoTrader]

I watched some of Cal early, thought they looked much improved from last year. I might've been wrong. Never really challenged Ole Miss or Arkansas in non con games. Got drilled by Washington St. (they were missing 3 key players). Had almost everybody back today and got crushed by Oregon.

Oregon is going to tough if they stay healthy. The UCONN game should be interesting.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Stanford is so perplexing. They can play absolutely brilliant basketball for stretches, and then they can just look awful. They can't seem to maintain focus. Had enough good stretches to beat Gonzaga 66-50 today. Jump led them w/ 21 including 5 3's. Jones had 15, Brink 14 pts/16 rebs/5 blocks and it seemed to me like her minutes were fairly restricted. She wasn't even in foul trouble.

 

[nwhoopfan]

North Carolina bounced back and thumped Virginia Tech 71-46.

 

[Plebe]

Top 5 team loses to unranked team ...

But, since it's a team in a so-called "power conference" the DJ should cue up the "Oh wow the Pac-12 is so deep" narrative, as opposed to the "Arizona is underachieving" narrative

 

[Plebe]

North Carolina bounced back and thumped Virginia Tech 71-46.

wow, I'm definitely going to have to rethink my ranking of UNC vis-à-vis Duke.

 

[LoTrader]

Top 5 team loses to unranked team ...

But, since it's a team in a so-called "power conference" the DJ should cue up the "Oh wow the Pac-12 is so deep" narrative, as opposed to the "Arizona is underachieving" narrative

@Plebe, this is why rankings are unreliable until we get into conference play. Arizona was missing players, but so was USC Trojans. USC is better than they were last season, and AZ is not. I guess that Louisville win, an no losses against a bunch of unranked teams got them the #4 ranking. I still believe Oregon is going to make some noise going forward. The UCONN game will be a good measuring stick.

 

[nwhoopfan]

My eyes weren't lying to me. Brink played 24 minutes for Stanford. She only had 1 foul. Can anyone explain that? Lexie played 35, Jones 37, Jump 34. This could've been another 20/20 game for Cameron.

 

[cancontent]

Well, we have three other very capable bigs, the Zags tends to play small and we were looking to get out in transition, so two bigs on the floor at once didn't make much sense, and Tara was probably hoping to get as much time as possible for her bench. At the moment, none of the bench players who sub in for Jones, Lexie or Jump are anywhere near their equals. As Friday night against Oregon showed, Belibi and Iriafen can also make a big impact in the paint, and Prechtel stretches defenses in ways Brink hasn't as much lately. As great as Brink is, I generally don't worry about our offense when she's subbed out. I do when the other three are...

Iriafen has been fun to watch from what I've been able to see. Looking forward to see how she develops.

 

[triaddukefan]

wow, I'm definitely going to have to rethink my ranking of UNC vis-à-vis Duke.

Well not sure when the rematch is, but Im sure it will be a different outcome than today. VPI is so inconsistent...... smh

 

[LETTERL]

North Carolina bounced back and thumped Virginia Tech 71-46.

VT had no energy...and didn't resemble at all the team I have seen most of this season.

I know they never shoot that poorly when they play NC State.

 

[CompSci87]

My eyes weren't lying to me. Brink played 24 minutes for Stanford. She only had 1 foul. Can anyone explain that? Lexie played 35, Jones 37, Jump 34. This could've been another 20/20 game for Cameron.

Cam was out with COVID last week. She is feeling better but Tara may have wanted to bring her back slowly.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Forgot to mention that Cal Baptist won their only game last week vs Chicago State. 73-60

Ane Olaeta continued her excellence at dishing out assists with 12 in the game and continues to lead D1-WBB in APG with 8.3 apg. Olaeta also had 9 pts( going past the 1500 point level in her career) and she added 4 steals.

In this game was a break out performance by freshman Trinity San Antonio. She had 24 points 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals. Very fast player who I have seen in HS a few times.

Here is a hi-lite of Olaeta dishing a no look pass to San Antonio on a fast break.

 

[jchusky]

what a huge win for USC, the Pac 12 is legit. Am excited when Kiki Rice and that Ucla class come in next season.

 

[Vowelguy]

Top 5 team loses to unranked team ...

But, since it's a team in a so-called "power conference" the DJ should cue up the "Oh wow the Pac-12 is so deep" narrative, as opposed to the "Arizona is underachieving" narrative

I dont view it as AZ underachieving. I view it as AZ getting overranked because they had a relatively easy non-conf sked.

 

[Plebe]

what a huge win for USC, the Pac 12 is legit. Am excited when Kiki Rice and that Ucla class come in next season.

This is what I mean. This result doesn’t “legitimize” the PAC-12. It just reveals that AZ is nothing special.

 

[triaddukefan]

This is what I mean. This result doesn’t “legitimize” the PAC-12. It just reveals that AZ is nothing special.

 

[Plebe]

Meh. I feel like you're verging on having an anti-PAC-12 ax to grind after having to endure all our (in the end, justified) homerism last season.

You must have missed my regularly scheduled posts where I've ripped on the general overrated-ness of the SEC and ACC

Just not a fan of just the board's generalized cultish worship of certain conferences. I get it, UConn fans are still severely PTSD'd by being screwed over by conference realignment, but that doesn't mean the fawning has to go unchallenged.

UConn loses to Georgia Tech and it's like the world stops spinning, Stanford and South Carolina and now Arizona drop games to non-NCAA tournament teams and everyone just shrugs and goes "wow the Pac-12 / SEC is sO lEgiT".