Wendy Parker on the Lady Vols & SEC

[Wbbfan1]

http://www.bluestarmedia.org/sec-scoring-woes-not-just-about-tennessee/

Good Read

 

[HuskyNan]

Not bad, but she's still drinking the SEC Kool-Aid. In reading this it occurred to me that SEC teams are getting reputations as great defensive teams for holding opponents to low scoring games when in fact it's the opponents' bad shooting and poor shot selection that's really to blame.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Yes, a good read.

She speaks the truth. I'm not necessarily convinced though of the "defensive" capabilities of the SEC. All of the teams are having scoring woes and the poor shooting is giving props to their defensive work. I think if they could actually put the ball in the basket at a regular clip we may see how teams really defend.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Not bad, but she's still drinking the SEC Kool-Aid. In reading this it occurred to me that SEC teams are getting reputations as great defensive teams for holding opponents to low scoring games when in fact it's the opponents' bad shooting and poor shot selection that's really to blame.

Nan--you read my mind ;-)

 

[Nuyoika]

Is there anyone out there that aggregates data by conference? I bet those numbers would tell the true story. Also you could look to their results as a conference in the NCAA tourney as an indication of whether or not that defense is really good. It doesn't pass the eye test to me. If you watch an ACC game, a PAC 12 game, and an SEC game all on the same night it will look like the SEC game is going in slow motion. It is an odd experience which I have personally encountered.

 

[UcMiami]

Not a badly written piece and interesting hooks in terms of scores for recent games by conference.

I have a few disagreements or quibbles:
1. I am glad she put the conference scoring averages into the piece, because the OOC for most of the SEC teams was dreadful and inflated their YTD numbers to a point that makes it harder to see the issues.

2. She falls for the defensive strength argument for the SEC that I think is a straw man - just as Geno pointed out about the MCBB, just because teams cannot run good offense and shoot the ball well, does not mean that the defense they are playing against is strong. When you actually watch the games when they play against really good offensive teams, the defense gets badly exposed. Sometimes they can 'muddy up a game' especially if the officials put away their whistles, but individual and team defense is suspect, and only looks strong because so many of the SEC teams play inept offensive.

3. I will grant that parity within the conference makes for more competitive games - the same thing is happening in the Pac12 - but I think more importantly is the quality of the top teams is regressing to the middle which makes both the middle and the bottom look more equal. That is not a good formula and the fact that 1 SEC team has made 1 final four in seven years is an indication of that. Not sure what the record for elite eight and sweet sixteen is but I doubt it matches up with the supposed strength of the SEC which would suggest that they get at least 1.5 teams to the elite eight and 3 teams to the sweet sixteen each year to go along with at least three final four teams in any four year period.

 

[toadfoot]

Not bad, but she's still drinking the SEC Kool-Aid. In reading this it occurred to me that SEC teams are getting reputations as great defensive teams for holding opponents to low scoring games when in fact it's the opponents' bad shooting and poor shot selection that's really to blame.

Koo-Aid indeed. Been saying this for at least a year.

 

[Alydar]

Southeastern Conference women’s basketball is really hard to watch, and it has been this way for a while.

Let's hope this article gets to ESPN.

 

[SCGamecock]

That's actually a really fair and accurate critique of SEC basketball. It really baffles me why SEC teams are offensively challenged most of the time. I think most of it comes down to coaching and style of play. Coaches in the SEC just recruiting athletes without recruiting players to a particular system. That has to change if the SEC wants to continue being competitive with other D1 conferences.

 

[UcMiami]

That's actually a really fair and accurate critique of SEC basketball. It really baffles me why SEC teams are offensively challenged most of the time. I think most of it comes down to coaching and style of play. Coaches in the SEC just recruiting athletes without recruiting players to a particular system. That has to change if the SEC wants to continue being competitive with other D1 conferences.

I think the shooting percentages are worse than those players would be capable of in a good offense because the offensive flow is so bad. And there is so little recognition from players of what are good and what are bad shots (and so few consequences from their coaches for choosing the bad ones.)

 

[RockyMTblue2]

When you consider the crème puff nonconference schedule of most SEC teams, their stats are even more lamentable. The game has passed the SEC by and the dowagers of the conference have to get out of the way and coaches who know the modern game have to take over recruit evaluation and everything else.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Posted elsewhere, fits here!

The "talking suits" love the SEC and brag of the 7 or 8 teams in the TOP 25 Poll!
Truth is the SEC brand of BB is sloppiness and scores in the 50's!
It's not because of shut down D, it's because they can't score inside or outside!
I'm not impressed with the SEC style of play!
To me the BIG 12 is better than the SEC!

 

[toadfoot]

Just for the fun of it I decided to check the AAC versus SEC head to head matchups this year.

So far 12 games have been played between the 2 conferences with the SEC having home court edge 7-3, with 2 games at neutral sites.
The SEC is ahead in victories 7-5, with 1 game remaining between the 2 conferences and we all know what game that is!

Since I think even UConn fans acknowledge the overall weakness of the AAC, what does that say about the SEC, especially considering the clear home court advantage?

 

[HuskyNan]

Just for the fun of it I decided to check the AAC versus SEC head to head matchups this year.

So far 12 games have been played between the 2 conferences with the SEC having home court edge 7-3, with 2 games at neutral sites.
The SEC is ahead in victories 7-5, with 1 game remaining between the 2 conferences and we all know what game that is!

Since I think even UConn fans acknowledge the overall weakness of the AAC, what does that say about the SEC, especially considering the clear home court advantage?

Here are the games and scores:

Temple 97, Florida 91, at Temple
Tulane 61, Ole Miss 59, in Mississippi
So. Carolina 88, East Carolina 57, at Myrtle Beach
Tulsa 74, Arkansas 67, in Arkansas
Tulane 67, LSU 63, at LSU
Auburn 83, East Carolina 69, at Auburn
UConn 86, LSU 40, in Hartford
Texas A&M 67, SMU 55, at A&M
Miss. State 72, SMU 70, at Puerto Rico
Georgia 60, Cincinnati 42, at Georgia
Miss. State 68, USF 58, at USF
Florida 93, UCF 79, at Florida

 

[Nuyoika]

This year I have watched A LOT of SEC WCBB and basically I have learned 3 things...
1. SCar is going to be at the top as long as A'ja Wilson is playing for them and getting the ball.
2. They have their own brand of physicality in that conference... fouling is on a whole different level over there.
3. If you can score 60 points you have a really good chance of winning... if you can't it is a complete toss up as to who wins.

 

[Orangutan]

In the second half of Tenn @ ND, ND started to go backdoor more and Tennessee looked like they had no idea what to do. ND killed them (62% shooting that half) mostly using basic offense (backdoors or pick & roll) to get layups.

I know Tennessee isn't one of the better defenses in the SEC statistically but they also looked like they just hadn't seen an offense where both the ball and players move fluidly. In my experience of watching SEC games this year, I haven't either.

At least Florida has the decency to play fast so I don't get utterly bored. That possession of Tenn @ KY where Tenn passed the ball aimlessly for 30 seconds before the shot clock expired without Tennessee even noticing was SEC offense in a nutshell. Painfully slow and no end product to show for it. If you're going to miss, might as well miss fast for entertainment value.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

As the ink on this article dries,ND struggles to score and has 54 points with 11 seconds to go against GT.

 

[UcMiami]

As the ink on this article dries,ND struggles to score and has 54 points with 11 seconds to go against GT.

Oh, I don't know ...
SEC teams scoring by quarter tonight so far: 10,15,11,15,10,6,22,11,19,13,12,15,10,16,18,12,5,3,8,4,15,19,18,11,11,23,18,19,20,14,19,16,11,15,15,21,24,16,23,18

Any team can have an off night and ND is falling back to the norm with hitting only 2 of 16 threes - and under 50% of their free throws. They actually got a gift from the refs in the waning seconds when Allen was so off line that her FT hit only the backboard to the right of the rim - should have been a violation and GT's ball - instead ND rebounded and ran another ten seconds of clock.

That SEC scoring with my color codes:
RED - scored single digits - 5 quarters = average less than 36 points a game
Magenta - scored 15 or less - 18 quarters = average 50 points a game
Black - scored 16-19 points - 11 quarters = average 70 points a game
Green - hit the magic twenty - 6 quarters - average 80+ points in a game

There are 16 quarters to be completed not recorded above - but that isn't very impressive when your teams are recording fewer quarters above 15 than they are below - 17 to 23. If you drop SC out of that, it comes down to 13-23.

Of the games completed tonight two had 120 or more points scored, 2 had less. Of the remaining games 2 more are very unlikely to reach 120 combined points and one just started. And of those under 120, it is likely that 2 will fail to reach 100 and a third squeaked above at 101.

 

[VAMike23]

As the ink on this article dries,ND struggles to score and has 54 points with 11 seconds to go against GT.

ND shot 2-16 from 3pt and 10-24 from the FT line.

Bet that's the worst they will shoot all year.

 

[Orangutan]

ND shot 2-16 from 3pt and 10-24 from the FT line.

Bet that's the worst they will shoot all year.

Gosh, I hope so.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Here are the games and scores:

Temple 97, Florida 91, at Temple
Tulane 61, Ole Miss 59, in Mississippi
So. Carolina 88, East Carolina 57, at Myrtle Beach
Tulsa 74, Arkansas 67, in Arkansas
Tulane 67, LSU 63, at LSU
Auburn 83, East Carolina 69, at Auburn
UConn 86, LSU 40, in Hartford
Texas A&M 67, SMU 55, at A&M
Miss. State 72, SMU 70, at Puerto Rico
Georgia 60, Cincinnati 42, at Georgia
Miss. State 68, USF 58, at USF
Florida 93, UCF 79, at Florida

Very interesting. Thanks for laying this out.

What I find most interesting is Tulsa beating Arkansas in Arkansas, the same team that beat TN recently. UConn's combined MOV against Tulsa was about 1.25 x 10^3.

 

[toadfoot]

Very interesting. Thanks for laying this out.

What I find most interesting is Tulsa beating Arkansas in Arkansas, the same team that beat TN recently. UConn's combined MOV against Tulsa was about 1.25 x 10^3.

Considering UConn's absolute road annihilation of SMU, SMU's 2 point loss to Mississippi St. on a neutral court is every bit as interesting. Also, don't forget that the 46 point pummeling of LSU occurred when Stewart sat out with a sprained ankle. LSU's 2nd worst beating this year was by 18 to aTm. Neither has a direct correlation to UT, but they're damn interesting.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Considering UConn's absolute road annihilation of SMU, SMU's 2 point loss to Mississippi St. on a neutral court is every bit as interesting. Also, don't forget that the 46 point pummeling of LSU occurred when Stewart sat out with a sprained ankle. LSU's 2nd worst beating this year was by 18 to aTm. Neither has a direct correlation to UT, but they're damn interesting.

Yes, those are quite interesting. Also Florida not clobbering UCF, at Florida.

 

[Icebear]

When teams play chaotic and without discipline or style it is difficult to draw conclusions through logic. However, none of those things, chaos, lack of discipline and without a organized style of play, are assts against UCONN which displays all three.