It's a team full of All-americans and numerous top 5 players. It's an upset even without Bueckers.
2021-2022 WBB Team
- Thread starter Cocky 45
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There is no excuse for UCONN playing that bad with that much talent
Recruit ranking out of HS
#1 Williams
#2 Westbrook
#5 Ododa-Nelson
#5 Ducharme
#15 Deberry
#23 Edwards
#25 McLean
Juhasz was 1st team all Big10 last year
The talent on this team even with the injuries is top 5. To be this under developed is criminal. They all seem lost without Bueckers. Is she that dominant that the rest of the team has become that weak mentally without her? Or has Geno done a bad job of evaluating/developing talent or instilling toughness?
#1 Williams
#2 Westbrook
#5 Ododa-Nelson
#5 Ducharme
#15 Deberry
#23 Edwards
#25 McLean
Juhasz was 1st team all Big10 last year
The talent on this team even with the injuries is top 5. To be this under developed is criminal. They all seem lost without Bueckers. Is she that dominant that the rest of the team has become that weak mentally without her? Or has Geno done a bad job of evaluating/developing talent or instilling toughness?
Whatever it is, enjoy it while it lasts.
Uconn looked like crap the whole game and just fell apart in the 4th. Hate it for the young women but no sympathy for their arrogant fans. Wonder how they like humble pie cause it's on the menu for awhile.
Exactly this roster should at worst be a top 10 team, especially when you consider the coach. It just makes it looks like they were just coasting on Paige getting it done. I wonder if Geno lost his fire. He's seem very bitter and snarky as of late. Some of the freshman like Ducharme and Deberry had shown some promise today and probably could have been more effective if the coach would put them in the game more often in some of their blowouts.
Good win for GT though, one of their assistant coaches just received an advanced cancer diagnosis this week and I'm sure the team was playing for her in this tough time.
He still recruits very well. However Bueckers appears to be the only mentally tough girl on the team. They are just missing something.
Ga Tech was a really tough out for us last year. I wonder what 4 Europeans starting for them means toughness wise?
All those other UCONN players only scored 32 points against us last year in game that went into overtime. They lost to Arkansas, should have lost to Baylor and were thrashed by Arizona. When was the last time you were really impressed by UCONN?
They've been underperforming for going on 3 seasons now. That's why I'm not surprised. This kind of loss has been coming for a while.
Geno is the GOAT in WBB. No question.
However, RIGHT NOW he's struggling to find answers.
That group is very experienced, I believe they might all be seniors or super seniors so they got a clear advantage there against most teams.
I think his time be a little past. Kids nowadays respond differently. You can be as tough as you want like Dawn is really but you have to be able to motivate and relate. Geno “appears” to be a bit surly and sort of disrespectful or kind of mean-spirited. He needs to be more like Dawn. Follow some of the girls on Instagram. You can see hard work, discipline, and fun.
So UK was upset last night by DePaul. They lost mainly because starting C Dre’una Edwards was suspended one game due to Academic improprieties(whatever that means) and Rhyne Howard got in foul trouble.
They got killed on the boards(especially the offensive boards) by a smaller team. They have played two teams with a pulse; Indiana and DePaul and given up 94 and 88 points. They don’t play good D, are a perimeter driven offense and don’t rebound well. I don’t get all the love and the #14 ranking. Someone please explain
They got killed on the boards(especially the offensive boards) by a smaller team. They have played two teams with a pulse; Indiana and DePaul and given up 94 and 88 points. They don’t play good D, are a perimeter driven offense and don’t rebound well. I don’t get all the love and the #14 ranking. Someone please explain
Aliyah went 13-13 the other night to have the second best night in field goal % for Gamecock WBB. Yeah, A’ja had a 14-14 night
Let's talk Maryland.
On the defense end, I expect Henderson/Zia to stay glued to Benzan and Brea to stay glued to Bibby. There will be an emphasis on contesting every 3 point shot they take.
That leaves Owusu with a mismatch against Henderson until Amihere comes on the court. No dout Amihere will be guarding Owusu quite a bit. Neither Mimi Collins or Angel Reese are 3 point threats, so our bigs should be able to help when Owusu takes Destanni into the lane. We're going to make Osuwu beat us. She's going to get hers, but the goal is not to let her teammates get open looks.
On the offensive end, Destanni is a mismatch for Owusu. Just about everyone in our starting lineup is a mismatch for the Terps. Even though Maryland do play man-to-man more than I thought until I watched a couple of their games, I expect to see almost exclusively zone from Maryland. They're going to hope we miss some outside shots and then fight like hell to box out. Foul trouble could be a potential problem for Maryland.
Diamond Miller status is unclear. She didn't play in their last two games. She played against Baylor, but clearly wasn't 100%.
On the defense end, I expect Henderson/Zia to stay glued to Benzan and Brea to stay glued to Bibby. There will be an emphasis on contesting every 3 point shot they take.
That leaves Owusu with a mismatch against Henderson until Amihere comes on the court. No dout Amihere will be guarding Owusu quite a bit. Neither Mimi Collins or Angel Reese are 3 point threats, so our bigs should be able to help when Owusu takes Destanni into the lane. We're going to make Osuwu beat us. She's going to get hers, but the goal is not to let her teammates get open looks.
On the offensive end, Destanni is a mismatch for Owusu. Just about everyone in our starting lineup is a mismatch for the Terps. Even though Maryland do play man-to-man more than I thought until I watched a couple of their games, I expect to see almost exclusively zone from Maryland. They're going to hope we miss some outside shots and then fight like hell to box out. Foul trouble could be a potential problem for Maryland.
Diamond Miller status is unclear. She didn't play in their last two games. She played against Baylor, but clearly wasn't 100%.
Thanks! Good stuff.
Owusu is a mismatch, she is much quicker than appearances. Whoever defends her HAS to be in front of her not alongside, she is too strong. I think you will see Cooke on her to begin. She is a couple inches taller and more physical. Imperative that the bigs block a couple of her shots so she is not comfortable coming down the lane.
Yes, good point about Zia. She's tough as nails. Maybe able to draw an offensive foul call or two. Not to say Destanni isn't tough, but she coming off an injury.
Henderson is speed and ball handling plus reliable 3 point shooting. Cooke has been in a shooting slump. I hope this is the game she gets out of it.
Ty gifted the team shoes, I think this is the first time I heard Cardoso speak.
In media availablity today DS said Henny is still day to day. Said that Henny did NOT go full speed today in practice.
Also talked about how they have prepped Amihere at point for Maryland.
I just got the impression Henny will not play Sunday
Also talked about how they have prepped Amihere at point for Maryland.
I just got the impression Henny will not play Sunday
STAT OF THE DAY: Amihere has committed 2 total turnovers in the last 3 games.
No media has picked this up? They should be raving about her. Oh well, we’ll do it for them.
I'm alright with her not playing unless she's 100%. No point in her returning too soon. Plus, I like the challenge. I think DS will throw Amihere, Littleton and even Brea at Osuwu. Probably better defenders against a player of her size than Henderson (Of course we'll miss Destanni on offense). Zia needs to stay out of foul trouble. If we can keep Benzan from going off, I like our chances.
South Carolina will smoke Maryland even if Henderson doesn't play.
Agreed. As much as I want Henny back you have to thing long term vs this one game. Season just started - bigger goals in front of us. But, as good a game Aimhere had against Kansas St - Maryland is a diff animal. We just need her to not turn the ball over and use her length.
South Carolina is currently 9-0 and has the overall #1 NET, the overall #1 RPI, and the overall #4 SOS.
Maryland is currently 9-2 and has the overall #28 NET, the overall #46 RPI, and the overall #80 SOS.
Granted MD has dealt with some substantial injury attrition, and they'll still be dealing with a bit of it for our game Sunday. But MD has only recently played the 6 toughest opponents on their schedule after going 5-0 against opponents with a combined 11-28 records thus far on their seasons. In those 6 games they are 4-2 with a 3-pt. win over Baylor, 2 losses to NC State and Stanford, an 8-pt. win against Miami, a 14-pt. win over Rutgers, and a 15-pt. win over Purdue.
MD is a team that generally gets out-rebounded against opponents with elite height in the post (sounds like us), but they do not foul and do not turn the ball over. They are what I would call a poor team defensively, ranking 261st nationally in Scoring Defense (we are 11th), 286th in FG % Defense (we are 10th), and 307th in 3-pt. FG % Defense (we are 35th).
While they are a strong offensive team (9th in Scoring Offense, 49th in FG %, 110th in 3-pt. FG %), we aren't exactly chopped liver in that area (55th in Scoring O, 4th in FG %, and 38th in 3-pt. FG %). We lead them in Rebounds/ Gm (ranked 13th to their 69th), Blocks/Gm (1st to their 238th), and even Assists/Gm (58th to their 63rd - pretty much even there). We turn the ball over a good bit, and don't force turnovers or steal the ball too well.
Our biggest challenge is keeping ball control at a maximum, and playing our brand of strong defense, and we will cut their offense down while they shouldn't have as capable of a time cutting our own offense down. Also be careful of foolish fouls as they won't foul us too much, and they are a very good Free Throw shooting team.
But we should dominate in the paint with rebounds and points in the paint, and attack the basket. Also playing in what should be a decent home crowd will help our cause as well....
Maryland is currently 9-2 and has the overall #28 NET, the overall #46 RPI, and the overall #80 SOS.
Granted MD has dealt with some substantial injury attrition, and they'll still be dealing with a bit of it for our game Sunday. But MD has only recently played the 6 toughest opponents on their schedule after going 5-0 against opponents with a combined 11-28 records thus far on their seasons. In those 6 games they are 4-2 with a 3-pt. win over Baylor, 2 losses to NC State and Stanford, an 8-pt. win against Miami, a 14-pt. win over Rutgers, and a 15-pt. win over Purdue.
MD is a team that generally gets out-rebounded against opponents with elite height in the post (sounds like us), but they do not foul and do not turn the ball over. They are what I would call a poor team defensively, ranking 261st nationally in Scoring Defense (we are 11th), 286th in FG % Defense (we are 10th), and 307th in 3-pt. FG % Defense (we are 35th).
While they are a strong offensive team (9th in Scoring Offense, 49th in FG %, 110th in 3-pt. FG %), we aren't exactly chopped liver in that area (55th in Scoring O, 4th in FG %, and 38th in 3-pt. FG %). We lead them in Rebounds/ Gm (ranked 13th to their 69th), Blocks/Gm (1st to their 238th), and even Assists/Gm (58th to their 63rd - pretty much even there). We turn the ball over a good bit, and don't force turnovers or steal the ball too well.
Our biggest challenge is keeping ball control at a maximum, and playing our brand of strong defense, and we will cut their offense down while they shouldn't have as capable of a time cutting our own offense down. Also be careful of foolish fouls as they won't foul us too much, and they are a very good Free Throw shooting team.
But we should dominate in the paint with rebounds and points in the paint, and attack the basket. Also playing in what should be a decent home crowd will help our cause as well....
Some more about our D
We have played 36 quarters and are 31-5
We lost the 4th quarter to Oregon 19-17, Kansas st. 17-13, and NC A&T 18-16 with the starters on the bench almost the whole quarter.
We lost the 2nd quarter to Elon 16-13 when DS Again sat the starters for the first 5 or 6 minutes
Lastly we lost the 1st quarter to UCONN 20-14. The only other quarter this season in which we have given up 20 points or more was NCSU. Conversely we have scored 20 points and up in 14 quarters.
So basically we are 31-2 in quarters we cared about. That is some amazing consistency about our game. We don’t have long scoreless stretches even against good teams
We have held our opponents to 10 single digit quarters. And only had one single digit quarter, the first of the season at NCSU 9-8.
In 8 other quarters we held our opponents to 10-12 points. That’s half of our quarters in which we played absolutely stifling Defense.
That is all, carry on.
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Excellent observations by Conway and winloseortie. I want to say a little more about our offense, which is better than most people think. Looking at the advance stats, our top 7 players have good to excellent offensive numbers.
Our team offensive numbers would be overall outstanding, except for Rivers, Hall, Russell and to a lesser extent Littleton putting up negative numbers in certain categories. For example, Rivers, Hall and Russell turn the ball over at an alarming rate. Against UCONN, in the 2nd half, they didn't play and we only turned the ball over only 3 times (I think that's the number). So we're really not a team that turns the ball over a lot, except for some of the younger players. It should be noted that all of our young players still have strong defensive ratings; every player that steps on the floor for Carolina has a high defensive rating! And the only way those young players get better is to play them and allow them to make mistakes. Dawn could play her veterans 35 minutes per game and our offensive number would look awesome (like certain coaches are inclined to do, looking at you, Geno), but the younger player would not develop.
Also, it should be noted that if Sania Feagin had played enough minutes, she would be not only our top freshman, but one of the highest rated players on the team, statistically speaking. Of course her playing time is most at the end of games, so I'm not suggesting she's actually one of our top players; I'm just saying she probably deserve more meaningful playing time. Dawn played her in the 1st half against K State. Hopefully, with LA's moved to point guard, we'll see more of Feagin.
Finally, the last comment about our offense: we rebound 45% of our misses. That's ridiculous. By far the best in the nation. If our young players could just stop turning the ball over and simply shoot the ball, our offense would improve because even if they miss, the chances are good we'll get the rebound.
Our team offensive numbers would be overall outstanding, except for Rivers, Hall, Russell and to a lesser extent Littleton putting up negative numbers in certain categories. For example, Rivers, Hall and Russell turn the ball over at an alarming rate. Against UCONN, in the 2nd half, they didn't play and we only turned the ball over only 3 times (I think that's the number). So we're really not a team that turns the ball over a lot, except for some of the younger players. It should be noted that all of our young players still have strong defensive ratings; every player that steps on the floor for Carolina has a high defensive rating! And the only way those young players get better is to play them and allow them to make mistakes. Dawn could play her veterans 35 minutes per game and our offensive number would look awesome (like certain coaches are inclined to do, looking at you, Geno), but the younger player would not develop.
Also, it should be noted that if Sania Feagin had played enough minutes, she would be not only our top freshman, but one of the highest rated players on the team, statistically speaking. Of course her playing time is most at the end of games, so I'm not suggesting she's actually one of our top players; I'm just saying she probably deserve more meaningful playing time. Dawn played her in the 1st half against K State. Hopefully, with LA's moved to point guard, we'll see more of Feagin.
Finally, the last comment about our offense: we rebound 45% of our misses. That's ridiculous. By far the best in the nation. If our young players could just stop turning the ball over and simply shoot the ball, our offense would improve because even if they miss, the chances are good we'll get the rebound.
Wondering if UCONN can rebound (pardon the pun) today against UCLA. They are at home and should have learned some things after the Ga Tech loss. Game is on ABC at 1:00
