2021-2022 WBB Team
- Thread starter Cocky 45
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Just not at the same level defensively as Hall and Rivers. Dawn tried playing her at the 4 spot for a bit. That was the smallest lineup I can remember coach playing in a long time. I guess she didn't like it since Littleton only lasted 3 minutes.
We held Kentucky to 26 points through 3 quarters, so the defense keeps getting better with the emergence of Hall and Rivers. Coach is determined to shut someone out; she's not giving an inch on defense. lol
So Amihere and team Canada has qualified for the World Cup with a win today. Amihere started for the team both nights but was plagued by foul trouble limiting her minutes. In their win over Bosnia she had the tough assignment of guarding against the current WNBA MVP in Jonquel Jones. Hoping this experience will led to some more improvement in her game.
Meanwhile Cardoso and team Brazil haven't won a game yet. They lost a nailbiter to team South Korea in which Cardoso was able to secure a double double while being matched up with WNBA Jisu Park(A'ja's teammate). They still have another game scheduled so we may get Amihere back before Cardoso but I believe they'll be available for the Auburn game.
Meanwhile Cardoso and team Brazil haven't won a game yet. They lost a nailbiter to team South Korea in which Cardoso was able to secure a double double while being matched up with WNBA Jisu Park(A'ja's teammate). They still have another game scheduled so we may get Amihere back before Cardoso but I believe they'll be available for the Auburn game.
Hope their absences don't hurt us in the morning. This Georgia game makes me nervous but all road games give me cause for concern....
Neither played on the road against LSU as well, so that's one reason for optimism.
My biggest worry is foul trouble and those scoring droughts in the last game. But I believe we still got this. They have a lot of decent depth that could do some damage at times. I would like to get some more offense from our guards, especially from range to open up the floor.
Yeah, foul trouble is my main concern. But only Kentucky has shot fewer free throws than Georgia among SEC teams, so the Dawgs haven't been drawing many fouls. Hopefully that trend continues.
29-10 Gamecocks lead after 1 quarter. Staiti picked up two early fouls, so she has to sit more than half of the 1st half, or risk picking up a 3rd foul.
Gamecocks 4-4 from the 3-pt. line in the 1st period.
Zia Cooke off to a hot start, with 8 pts on 3-4 shooting, and 2-2 behind the arc.
Boston already with 8 pts on 3-4 shooting, but with only 2 rebounds, so she needs to pick that half of the double-double up. With Staiti playing limits minutes, that should make things easier for her there......
Gamecocks 4-4 from the 3-pt. line in the 1st period.
Zia Cooke off to a hot start, with 8 pts on 3-4 shooting, and 2-2 behind the arc.
Boston already with 8 pts on 3-4 shooting, but with only 2 rebounds, so she needs to pick that half of the double-double up. With Staiti playing limits minutes, that should make things easier for her there......
Not a very insightful statement! Geez......what was I worried about?
South Carolina leads 51-25 at the half. Staiti came back into the game after all - and scored all 9 of her 1st half pts in that time period. She also picked up no additional fouls, which was great for Georgia.
UGA's known as being a strong defensive team. I was expecting this game to be a low-scoring, ugly rockfight of a game, as many recent games have been. But South Carolina has scored rather freely in the 1st half - they were scoring north of 70% late in the half, and then had an offensive slump late in the 2nd qtr. with reserves in the game, and UGA went on a 10-0 scoring run of their own, before the Gamecocks closed the half on a 6-0 scoring run. They still shot 19-30 (63.3%) for the half, which is not what I was expecting against UGA.
Boston has 10 pts already in the game, but only 2 rebounds. She's had 16 consecutive double-doubles coming into today's game, and a 17th would put her 2 back behind Sylvia Fowles' SEC record. Aliyah has a lot of work to do on the boards in the 2nd half, but if the lead stays large like it is thus far, will she be given the chance to stay on the floor long enough??
UGA's known as being a strong defensive team. I was expecting this game to be a low-scoring, ugly rockfight of a game, as many recent games have been. But South Carolina has scored rather freely in the 1st half - they were scoring north of 70% late in the half, and then had an offensive slump late in the 2nd qtr. with reserves in the game, and UGA went on a 10-0 scoring run of their own, before the Gamecocks closed the half on a 6-0 scoring run. They still shot 19-30 (63.3%) for the half, which is not what I was expecting against UGA.
Boston has 10 pts already in the game, but only 2 rebounds. She's had 16 consecutive double-doubles coming into today's game, and a 17th would put her 2 back behind Sylvia Fowles' SEC record. Aliyah has a lot of work to do on the boards in the 2nd half, but if the lead stays large like it is thus far, will she be given the chance to stay on the floor long enough??
Gamecocks have a stumbling offensive quarter for the 3rd - they shot 5-15 (33.3%) - but perhaps this helped Boston to grab 6 rebounds in the period, and now has 8 boards to go with a game-leading 14 points. The Gamecocks lead 61-40 after three quarters, after getting out-scored 15-10 for the period. I'm sure Staley will let Aliyah play some in the 4th Qtr. to get those 2 more rebounds, especially if UGA continues to make the run they are on.....
I was more worried about reaching the double double than losing in the 2nd half but hey another top 25 win and the streak lives on another game.
Gamecocks win 72-54. UGA out-scored USC 29-21 in the 2nd half, and the game looked more like the rockfight I was expecting. Boston still got her 17th consecutive double-double with 18 pts on 7-14 shooting, and 12 rebounds.
Jenna Staiti never picked up a 3rd foul, and finished with 15 pts and 10 rebounds. The game had a different dynamic when Staiti was able to stay in the game......
Jenna Staiti never picked up a 3rd foul, and finished with 15 pts and 10 rebounds. The game had a different dynamic when Staiti was able to stay in the game......
Against LSU, Georgia came back from 20 down without Staiti in the lineup. I guess Joanie Taylor thought her backup bigs might could at least hold the line against Carolina. But once the lead hit 20, in hindsight, she should have brought Staiti back in. What's the point in holding her out if Georgia falls behind by 20+ points. Unlikely they would overcome that large of a deficit against a great defensive team.
Cardoso in good company with two WNBA players on the all tournament team. Hoping this will bring her some more confidence back at USC, with the freshman coming along adding that depth in post could really put us over.
Dawn isn't playing around about this NPOY campaign.
Tough spot for Dawn. The argument for Clark is that Aliyah's surrounding cast are a bunch of former McDonald All-Americans while Clark's surrounding cast is not very good. Mostly true. But regardless of how many Prep All-Americans are on Carolina's roster, the team hasn't been very good for most of the season without Boston on the floor. That includes wins over Stanford, NC State and UCONN. South Carolina doesn't win those games without her. But Dawn can't really say that. You know what I mean?
This argument has never been used for past recipients. It wasn't used for Paige Bueckers or Sabrina Ionescu. Both were surrounded by very talented players. When Paige returns next year, will this same theme come up? This answer is "no". That's Dawn's complaint. Why are the rules different this year? Why are they moving the bar for Aliyah. This is BS.
Honestly it's not much of an argument. Boston stands out every single game on a talented team. She effects both sides of the ball and she attracts so much attention.
Clark is a very exciting player that can put up some big numbers, but she doesn't do it at a high efficiency and her defense could use some work. Despite her efforts she still hasn't lead her team to a single meaningful win. Honestly
the fact that this is even a debate is laughable at this point.
The biggest issue that promoted this response from Dawn is the fact that during our games we get constant reminders of how Clark is a NPOY candidate and we occasionally see highlights of her during our games and halftime. In the Iowa/Maryland game there was no mention of her, they did briefly show a misleading graphic of both Boston and Clark towards the end of the game but even then they never mentioned her name and I think the graphic was misleading in how it showed the stats that favored Clark.
I'm just glad Dawn is staying on top of it, Boston is so selfless and hardworking and it would be a tragedy if she gets robbed of this title yet again.
Clark is a very exciting player that can put up some big numbers, but she doesn't do it at a high efficiency and her defense could use some work. Despite her efforts she still hasn't lead her team to a single meaningful win. Honestly
the fact that this is even a debate is laughable at this point.
The biggest issue that promoted this response from Dawn is the fact that during our games we get constant reminders of how Clark is a NPOY candidate and we occasionally see highlights of her during our games and halftime. In the Iowa/Maryland game there was no mention of her, they did briefly show a misleading graphic of both Boston and Clark towards the end of the game but even then they never mentioned her name and I think the graphic was misleading in how it showed the stats that favored Clark.
I'm just glad Dawn is staying on top of it, Boston is so selfless and hardworking and it would be a tragedy if she gets robbed of this title yet again.
I don't know if I'm prepared to go that far. Florida's up-and-down style of play helped Auburn on offense. If we slow the game down, I don't see the Tigers scoring many points against our half-court offense.
But you never know, this is a classic trap game. I'm glad we're playing this one at home.
Now, now....I did not say that they're going to win. But I think it will be a decent game. I just hope we don't turn the ball over too much that hurt Tenn against them.
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I can state the obvious but do not want @aa_boston’s narrative to be tied to “the problem we all live with”.
I was in school while Alex was there and always held him in high regard. However, I think his reference to the "obvious" may be off base a bit. Caitlin Clark has a legitimate argument for POY honors. She leads the nation in points, assists, and is the leading rebounder for Iowa. Couple that with the fact that Iowa is a good Top 20 team and one can understand why she is in the conversation. Don't get me wrong. I think Boston is the best player in the country. She is only averaging 28 minutes per game while Clark plays 35 minutes to pad her stats. That alone should be enough to cement the award for Aliyah. However, the issue is not black and white as Alex would lead us to believe....
I was in school while Alex was there and always held him in high regard. However, I think his reference to the "obvious" may be off base a bit. Caitlin Clark has a legitimate argument for POY honors. She leads the nation in points, assists, and is the leading rebounder for Iowa. Couple that with the fact that Iowa is a good Top 20 team and one can understand why she is in the conversation. Don't get me wrong. I think Boston is the best player in the country. She is only averaging 28 minutes per game while Clark plays 35 minutes to pad her stats. That alone should be enough to cement the award for Aliyah. However, the issue is not black and white as Alex would lead us to believe....
The stats simply say Clark is a volume shooter. She is not very efficient. That should be a major negative . She is also prone to having lots of turnovers. There is a difference in being the MVP and POY. There is possibly a valid argument with Clark being MVP. Boston is the run away POY!!
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I think there is an obvious bias at work: against defense. Even some of our fans seem to forget basketball is play on both ends of the court at times. Aliyah is outstanding on offense and defense, which separates her for any other player in the country.
The bar has been moved for Aliyah so I understand Alex. This award is supposed to be for "best player" on a TEAM. CC is a player that scores lot of points because she's a ball hog. She dribbles down the court and jacks up shot after shot. There is very little sharing the ball and finding the best option. Aliyah could be a "me" player too but she understands the strategy of winning a championship. It's not all about her.
I rewatched that game last night. The turnovers for UT were pretty bad. At the same time, they've turned the ball over all season and still won a bunch of games. The Vols were noticeably not as good with Key off the floor, but even when she was playing, it felt like she could have been more of a factor on the offensive end. We need to pound the ball inside and make Auburn's bigs defend; something UT didn't do enough. They will probably foul. Man, do they foul a lot! We should get plenty of free throw practice in this game.
Does anyone know if Cardoso and Amihere are back? Not only does Auburn commit a lot of fouls, they also draw a lot of fouls. We could use the depth.
LA and Cardoso are back. I saw where the strength coach tweeted that she was happy they are back. Not sure if they will play or not but I would think they will be available if needed.
Dawn mentioned in her press interview that they were back on Monday and that they have practiced with the team twice since coming back. She did leave it open that their availability to play will largely depend on how the players feel on the day of the game in terms of jetlag.
