Who wins this weekend? #6 Notre Dame at #3 U$C, #1 SCAR at #5 fUCLA

[LwrcasefaN]

• Isn't Southern California thought to be an up-tempo team? Hidalgo and Citron don't tire.
• Zone? That's usually ND's trick. Against prior teams and without Westbeld, I'd say that was a good move, but Miles has greatly improved her outside shooting and you've got Citron and Hidalgo. Plus, Emma Risch can stroke it from deep.
• Box + One? Who do you cover? Hidalgo, Miles? That leaves the other free to attack a box.

Juju is uptempo and everyone else watches. So...not really. I'd rather have them taking jump shots than making driving layups putting fouls on my defense. I'd cover Hidalgo. She can break down a defense until it looks almost invisible. You can't win with her and Miles putting up 20 pieces.

 

[jake0414]

Their point guard was out of the game and they had a freshman playing pg, was the most likely reason.

Kennedy Smith isn’t a point guard. Talia Von Oelhoffen ostensibly is their starting point guard. With Smith unavailable Gottlieb made freshman Heckel, a true pg, a starter and moved TVO off the ball.

 

[Dillon77]

Juju is uptempo and everyone else watches. So...not really. I'd rather have them taking jump shots than making driving layups putting fouls on my defense. I'd cover Hidalgo. She can break down a defense until it looks almost invisible. You can't win with her and Miles putting up 20 pieces

We'll see if any team tries the box and one. I don't think anyone can really stay with Hidalgo even if they're trying to birddog her. In the meantime, Miles will breakdown the box, particularly with King and Westbeld, once she comes back. And Citron is the queen of weakside cuts.

That said, I could see UConn trying a rotation of Chen and Arnold rotating on Hidalgo, with Bueckers taking Miles. That could be interesting. The matchups of that game will be crazy, but let's get there first

Still disagree with you on USC (Heckel and Smith, before she was hurt, were built for speed), but that's a nit.

 

[visitingcock]

So what team will be the new #1? I think there are three candidates: UConn, Notre Dame, and UCLA.

I'm putting in my guess for UCLA. Beating South Carolina may push them past UConn for that #1 in the rankings. I think voters will value that win as a better win than Notre Dame over USC.

1. UCLA
2. UConn
3. Notre Dame

I might jump ND to two until UConn beats a VHQ team

 

[ERWUC65]

ND is the real deal. And the person on that team who I think is their best player is Citron.
If UConn gets out of South Bend with a win I'll be surprised. And yes, I'm a realistic UConn fan.
ND humiliated them on their home court last season, and revenge is a strong motivator, but is it enough?
I'm not so sure.

The game is too early on. ND looks real good and is at home. Unfortunately I have this in the loss column, but feel better about SC away after watching their game yesterday.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

We'll see if anyone tries the box and one. I don't think anyone can really stay with Hidalgo even if they're trying to birddog her. In the meantime, Miles will breakdown the box, particularly with King and Westbeld, once she comes back. And Citron is the queen of weakside cuts.

That said, I could see UConn trying a rotation of Chen and Arnold rotating on Hidalgo, with Bueckers taking Miles. That could be interesting. The matchups of that game will be crazy, but let's get there first

Still disagree with you on USC (Heckel and Smith, before she was hurt, were built for speed), but that's a nit.

Sometimes your defensive strategy has to me more about containment than stopping. And limit the and ones. I would focus on steering them into areas where they are less effective. They are going to score. I'll surrender 20 points if it takes 25 shots to get there. Like Miles loves that straight drive down the right side box with the scoop shot. It's killer. I have this one circled on my calendar.

 

[Dillon77]

Sometimes your defensive strategy has to me more about containment than stopping. And limit the and ones. I would focus on steering them into areas where they are less effective. They are going to score. I'll surrender 20 points if it takes 25 shots to get there. Like Miles loves that straight drive down the right side box with the scoop shot. It's killer. I have this one circled on my calendar.

Fair 'nuff. Containment -- that's what ND was pointing towards with Watkins: containment/hassling. Save for the third quarter and garbage time, it largely worked.

 

[Dillon77]

Juju is uptempo and everyone else watches. So...not really. I'd rather have them taking jump shots than making driving layups putting fouls on my defense. I'd cover Hidalgo. She can break down a defense until it looks almost invisible. You can't win with her and Miles putting up 20 pieces.

Thought you'd find the link here interesting. My colleague from The Bench, Baba Ghanouj, did some research and found the current (week 4) top teams ranked by how fast they play, i.e. the average number of possessions a game.

1) LSU 81.5
2) ND 80.5
3) Oklahoma 80.1
4) USC 79.3
5) Texas 79.1

FWIW, UConn is at 68.3

Here's a link to Baba's chart on The Bench:

Who plays fast (at least up to week 4)?

ndnation.com

 

[BruinGold]

Aarnisalo was a revelation

Elina Aarnisalo Career Stats - NCAAW - ESPN

Complete career NCAAW stats for the UCLA Bruins Guard Elina Aarnisalo on ESPN. Includes points, rebounds, and assists.

www.espn.com

Elina Aarnisalo is Finnish, and was probably spotted at the 2022 European U18 Championship. Finland finished this competition in 7th place, which wasn't enough to qualify for the 2023 U19 World Championship. She had a good tournament, and she's not the only one on her team to have caught the eye of American university recruiters. Like her, Elsa Lemmila 6'6'' is starting her first NCAA year with Ohio State.

European championships are always interesting for recruiters. There's more parity between countries, and basketball is increasingly popular on the old continent, with over a million fans attending the Paris games - a record. U16 and U18 championships are held every year. Three championships in all, A (16 countries) B around 20 and C from 8 to 12. I haven't seen any statistics, but I'd be inclined to believe that the number of international players is constantly rising in the NCAA.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Elsa Lemmila Career Stats - NCAAW - ESPN

Complete career NCAAW stats for the Ohio State Buckeyes Center Elsa Lemmila on ESPN. Includes points, rebounds, and assists.

www.espn.com

Finland Stats, Games, Results, Rosters, Photos & Videos - FIBA U18 Women's European Championship | FIBA Basketball

Follow Finland(FIN) achievements on FIBA U18 Women's European Championship. Access upcoming game schedules, player statistics, news updates, and exclusive content.

www.fiba.basketball

UCLA's Finnish Freshman, Elina Aarnisalo, doesn't really jump off the page. She isn't crazy fast, won't jump out of the gym, probably won't drop 30 on anyone, or have multiple highlight plays. She's pretty easy to ignore.

But, she's starting for a very good team, with lots of heralded players who are older and more experienced than she is. She is very competent, shoots at a high percentage, doesn't get emotional, and doesn't turn the ball over. Her super-power, so-to-speak, is doing the right thing, making the right choice, and being in the right place... almost every single time. After awhile, that DOES jump off the page.

At the post-game presser, her teammate, Lauren Betts, was asked who the most underrated player on the team was. She named Aarnisalo.

Clearly, her coaches and her teammates recognize how good she is, and they aren't complaining about the starting role.

 

[jake0414]

UCLA's Finnish Freshman, Elina Aarnisalo, doesn't really jump off the page. She isn't crazy fast, won't jump out of the gym, probably won't drop 30 on anyone, or have multiple highlight plays. She's pretty easy to ignore.

But, she's starting for a very good team, with lots of heralded players who are older and more experienced than she is. She is very competent, shoots at a high percentage, doesn't get emotional, and doesn't turn the ball over. Her super-power, so-to-speak, is doing the right thing, making the right choice, and being in the right place... almost every single time. After awhile, that DOES jump off the page.

At the post-game presser, her teammate, Lauren Betts, was asked who the most underrated player on the team was. She named Aarnisalo.

Clearly, her coaches and her teammates recognize how good she is, and they aren't complaining about the starting role.

Elina doesn’t possess the quickness or athleticism of a Fulwiley, Maddy McDaniel or Flau’Jae Johnson. But at the pregame presser Coach Close said Aarnisalo is the second fastest on the team in sprints and can get with three inches of the rim on her layups. So she’s quick and springy enough. But yes she doesn’t standout, has been under the radar as a Euro not the getting media coverage of her freshman peers, but seems to play under control, to possess a high basketball IQ and does things right, after a shaky first half versus Louisville.

 

[Bigboote]

Aarnisalo jumped off the page (screen) to me. She may never be a star, but her skills and fundamentals are through the roof.

 

[GamecockFam]

UCLA's Finnish Freshman, Elina Aarnisalo, doesn't really jump off the page. She isn't crazy fast, won't jump out of the gym, probably won't drop 30 on anyone, or have multiple highlight plays. She's pretty easy to ignore.

But, she's starting for a very good team, with lots of heralded players who are older and more experienced than she is. She is very competent, shoots at a high percentage, doesn't get emotional, and doesn't turn the ball over. Her super-power, so-to-speak, is doing the right thing, making the right choice, and being in the right place... almost every single time. After awhile, that DOES jump off the page.

At the post-game presser, her teammate, Lauren Betts, was asked who the most underrated player on the team was. She named Aarnisalo.

Clearly, her coaches and her teammates recognize how good she is, and they aren't complaining about the starting role.

Coach Staley gave her a lot of praise in her post game presser. When asked about UCLA players she basically said that besides Betts, Aarnisalo just jumps off the page in the film room.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Listen-

Not to brag, but last year I was very suspect at SC being #6 because of Cardoso....and we see how that turned out. This year, while I think SC should've started at #1, I was very interested to see this SC team because of the loss of Cardoso. She should've been a 1st team AA. Her size and skill set completely changed everything SC did on both sides of the floor. Add to that, that Dawn coaches a little bit like Pat did(and Kim did at Baylor), which is a ton of athletic, massive bigs who out muscled everyone. This SC team just doesn't have that massive size down low. They have some tall, athletic, posts, but not a Coates, Wilson, Boston, or Cardoso type. Obviously they will be fine, but I wonder what will happen when they play teams with better backcourts than even UCLA had. Like, I could see SC really struggling with ND.

I was very confident that SCar was underrated last year and was not so sure it was #1 this year.

it felt like a loss was coming, but getting blown off the floor was definitely not fun.