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2021-2022 WBB Team

I appreciate a grinder like Saxton doing her part to bring us this far, but it's time for Cardoso and/or Amihere to step it up during the tournament. Both have exceptional upside. Today we saw that from Cardoso. 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks. More please.
I concur. Just so the stat line and it looks like 2021 NCCA Saxton is alive and well.

Cardoso needs to keep shooting. Had a decent game today - hopefully it's not the last in the tourney.

Hell, even Feagin got 2 points and one rebound in a minute of play
 
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That was a very sh*ty came to watch - ugly offense from both teams because the defense was clicking.

SC has a few days off, work on that offense
 
They are not going to get away with long stretches of not being able to score going forward. There are times they look like a well oiled machine and times they look a bit lost. They will not win it all playing like they are currently. Still time to correct but not a lot.
 
They are not going to get away with long stretches of not being able to score going forward. There are times they look like a well oiled machine and times they look a bit lost. They will not win it all playing like they are currently. Still time to correct but not a lot.
Our two best offensive weapons spend most of game on the bench. Cardozo is best down low. Almost unstoppable. She`s best rebounder, keeps the ball high and doesn't get picked by a six hand gang like Boston and Amihere, and puts the ball up accurately. Let Boston and Amihere drive from high post. If Zia's not hitting, which seems to be a regular thing now, let Littleton shoot. Hall's not hesitant either. No problem with winning ugly, and winning off defense, but if we don't score enough to have a cushion in 4th we could run into another hot shooting team like Kentucky and it might be a sad end to otherwise great season. We seem so intent on making sure Boston gets a double double through triple and quadruple coverage that it could end up costly.
 
Our two best offensive weapons spend most of game on the bench. Cardozo is best down low. Almost unstoppable. She`s best rebounder, keeps the ball high and doesn't get picked by a six hand gang like Boston and Amihere, and puts the ball up accurately. Let Boston and Amihere drive from high post. If Zia's not hitting, which seems to be a regular thing now, let Littleton shoot. Hall's not hesitant either. No problem with winning ugly, and winning off defense, but if we don't score enough to have a cushion in 4th we could run into another hot shooting team like Kentucky and it might be a sad end to otherwise great season. We seem so intent on making sure Boston gets a double double through triple and quadruple coverage that it could end up costly.
Right there you said. In watching the game last night that what seemed to be her focus, the team, coaches and the fans. It should not - win the game. She was frustrated because she was getting 3-4 bodies on her and not getting her usual easy looks. You think that's bad kid what are you going to do when you go pro?

Win the game. That should 'be the main thing'. Staley said that she does not care about playing pretty and clean - she just wants to score more points than the other team. She coulda fool me. SC is too reliant on post play. Back court is bad. Littleton has seen mins both games so far let her shoot, Thompson can be a sneaky 3pt shooter.....they have a few days lets see if they look better on Friday
 
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Since when is Boston not double teamed? Boston is a selfless player and passes well out of double teams. She works hard to find her shot, she's a tremendous defender and she rebounds with the best of them. She did not seem frustrated to me at all and I've watched them play all season. Your post seems to be geared very negatively towards Boston, what's up?
 
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Our two best offensive weapons spend most of game on the bench. Cardozo is best down low. Almost unstoppable. She`s best rebounder, keeps the ball high and doesn't get picked by a six hand gang like Boston and Amihere, and puts the ball up accurately. Let Boston and Amihere drive from high post. If Zia's not hitting, which seems to be a regular thing now, let Littleton shoot. Hall's not hesitant either. No problem with winning ugly, and winning off defense, but if we don't score enough to have a cushion in 4th we could run into another hot shooting team like Kentucky and it might be a sad end to otherwise great season. We seem so intent on making sure Boston gets a double double through triple and quadruple coverage that it could end up costly.
We go to Boston because she the most consistent player on the team by a longshot and she usually handles the double and triple teams well. She had an off game and it happens sometimes and despite she did her part on the defensive end to make up for it.

I wouldn't mind seeing some more of Hall and Littleton, we need more offensive weapons with range. I like Thompson but she's a liability on the defensive end.

As for Cardoso she has been very inconsistent, this game was the most active she's been in a crowd of players all season and the most shot attempts she taken. She often passes up good looks to the basket and have had the ball stripped and even blocked by much smaller players throughout the season. Then to add on top of that Cardoso has actually been a liability on defense for much of the season. She has often got duped by pump fakes and finds her self committing shooting fouls. So yes I would love to see more of Cardoso and Dawn has said the same but she hasn't given Dawn much of a reason to trust her. If yesterday is the start of her breaking out of her shell then I'm sure Dawn and company will gladly use her more.
 
Since when is Boston not double teamed? Boston is a selfless player and passes well out of double teams. She works hard to find her shot, she's a tremendous defender and she rebounds with the best of them. She did not seem frustrated to me at all and I've watched them play all season. Your post seems to be geared very negatively towards Boston, what's up?
I believe she was frustrated, but moreso at herself than the defense, the fact that the shots she usually makes were rimming out were getting to her.
 
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I believe she was frustrated, but moreso at herself than the defense, the fact that the shots she usually makes were rimming out were getting to her.

She was also frustrated at missing free throws. She was 0-4 early in the game at the stripe, by the 7:05 mark of the 2nd Period, but was 2-4 from the field for her 4 point she had until late in the game. Boston is actually the team's best FT shooter at .769 completion rate, so maintaining her FT % and going 3-4 instead of 0-4 would have had her at 7 pts by the half, and things would have been a lot easier on her and the team in getting her her double-double.

It got so her next FT attempts - by the 1:19 mark of the 4th Period - were pretty intense because they were Aliyah's 9th and 10th points, and there was very little time left in the game for her to reach that point benchmark. She ended up making both, to finish 2-6 at the FT line for the game - but it was more pressure-involved than it normally should be.

But Boston would start 2-4 from the field, then miss 9 straight shot attempts from layups at the basket to 3-pt attempts, and that added to her frustration. She probably also felt she was being banged on by Miami and was not getting some calls she felt should have been made on the physical contact.

Cardoso was the huge factor in breaking that stalemate involving Boston - Aliyah's scoring frustrations only amplified the struggles of the rest of the team in scoring, and made the game feel somewhat perilous. But when Kamilla came in and they started giving her the ball, the paint defense was so fixated on stopping Boston that they were out of position to defend Cardoso. And Kamilla was so good at keeping her hands and the ball high on her shot attempts, that made defending bigs for Miami unable to reach the ball by REACHING, and they were already out of position in BODYING Cardoso out of position - because they were all bodying Boston up - that all they could do was foul Kamilla, or she had easy layups and put-backs.

Camilla scored 6 of her 11 total points in the 4th Period, and shot 4-7 from the field overall, and 3-5 from the FT line. Miami gave other opponents ideas on how to defend Boston, but it wasn't something that opponents haven't been trying against Boston her entire career. Cardoso gave opponents an idea however, of how South Carolina can counter that tactic - NOT by platooning Cardoso with Boston, but by playing them TOGETHER on the floor, and then challenge opposing teams to figure out how to double and triple THAT lineup with 5 players....
 
What would also help is if LA, Saxton, Beal or Grisset could consistently hit the wide open 12 to 15 footer. Teams are giving it to them and playing off which makes it hard to drive to the hoop which is what they would rather do. It would be huge IMO if just one of them could do that. They don't have to hit for double digits even, just make the defense play them straight up.
 
Belmont made Tenn work for that dub. Although, I had Tenn winning in my bracket - man was I routing for Belmont with that great 2nd half run.

Best game of Monday night
 
So, its SCWBB vs NCWBB in the Sweet 16!

NC has had pretty good shooting outputs so far in the tourney - let's see what we do.

The crowd is going to be wild from both camps. Literally in each other's back yard.

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Yeah, it's going to be a wild one! I think this is a more favorable matchup for USC than the Miami game. I hope our crowd will drown out the UNC crowd...
 
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UCONN shot less than 30% last night. The Huskies don't play defense or rebound as well as we, so that's a real concern for them. They were fortunate to escape last night (the officials letting them get away with flopping helped). I had them coming out of that region, but I'm leaning State now. UCONN has a favorable matchup against Indiana, so they have a game to regroup.
 
Yeah, it's going to be a wild one! I think this is a more favorable matchup for USC than the Miami game. I hope our crowd will drown out the UNC crowd...
I agree because Miami had more post depth to absorb fouls. Not Carolina is very good six deep, but they lack overall depth, especially in the low post. I think we see a good bit of Boston and Cardoso playing together and force the heels to defend them and keep them off the boards.

Miami also had a center who hit five 3's. I really hate bigs that can shoot. They pull Boston away from the basket, where she's so effective.
 
I don't understand why Dawn has Boston playing up top so much. She can't do anything out there. She is not even in position to rebound when a teammate takes a shot. She is far more effective in the low post. When the guards drive into the lane and the opponents have to switch off it leaves Boston either open or one on one under the basket. She can handle anyone one on one.
 
I don't understand why Dawn has Boston playing up top so much. She can't do anything out there. She is not even in position to rebound when a teammate takes a shot. She is far more effective in the low post. When the guards drive into the lane and the opponents have to switch off it leaves Boston either open or one on one under the basket. She can handle anyone one on one.

I think 1) opponents are clamping down in the paint around Boston so hard, that she's trying to give her more open looks, and possibly to use her so to speak as bait to pull opposing defense out towards her, and free up the paint more for the other Gamecock post players, and;

2) Boston is a very good passing big, and pulling her out could help with making in-passes to other bigs for better looks at layups in the paint. One thing that our coaching staff has struggled with over the years going back to Ibiam and Coates, is coaching guards on how to make passes to bigs in the paint when they are heavily defended. They (the staff) just haven't ever been able to figure that one out very well.....
 
So, its SCWBB vs NCWBB in the Sweet 16!

NC has had pretty good shooting outputs so far in the tourney - let's see what we do.

The crowd is going to be wild from both camps. Literally in each other's back yard.

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I was a bit disappointed in the attendance for the 1st and 2nd round games. The final 2 games played this season in Colonial Life Arena, and we didn't put 10K+ in for either of them......
 
One thing that our coaching staff has struggled with over the years going back to Ibiam and Coates, is coaching guards on how to make passes to bigs in the paint when they are heavily defended. They (the staff) just haven't ever been able to figure that one out very well.....

Boston is often double and triple teamed in the paint. In those situations it's not always wise to force the pass inside. We get away with it often enough, but it also leads to too many turnovers. The way you make passes to the bigs when they are heavily defended in the paint is to take and make your perimeter shots. It forces the team to come out of the paint to guard the shooters, thus opening up the lane for the bigs.
Our coaches and fans know this, which is why it is so puzzling to me that every year our weakness is perimeter shooting.
 
I was a bit disappointed in the attendance for the 1st and 2nd round games. The final 2 games played this season in Colonial Life Arena, and we didn't put 10K+ in for either of them......
Well Friday at 2 is a hard time to sell a large amount of tix and you have to remember that fans of the two teams that lost had most certainly bought Sunday tickets hoping their team made it to play.
 
I was a bit disappointed in the attendance for the 1st and 2nd round games. The final 2 games played this season in Colonial Life Arena, and we didn't put 10K+ in for either of them......
I thought the Tenn game was damn near sold out

Well Friday at 2 is a hard time to sell a large amount of tix and you have to remember that fans of the two teams that lost had most certainly bought Sunday tickets hoping their team made it to play.
Cockygirl is right. I was all set to attend the 2nd round game but the time was bad.

Attendance should be better on Fri (if they advance Sun) @ 7pm. I bought tickets for both games
 
Boston is often double and triple teamed in the paint. In those situations it's not always wise to force the pass inside. We get away with it often enough, but it also leads to too many turnovers. The way you make passes to the bigs when they are heavily defended in the paint is to take and make your perimeter shots. It forces the team to come out of the paint to guard the shooters, thus opening up the lane for the bigs.
Our coaches and fans know this, which is why it is so puzzling to me that every year our weakness is perimeter shooting.
We hit 4 more 3's last year than Stanford and lost. So perimeter shooting didn't cost us a national title. And Destanni is shooting 39% from 3 this season. It's the lack of a mid-range shot that was and still is our biggest issue, IMO. Kiki was absolute money in the midrange 2 years ago. Saxton has not been able to replace her in that sense. Beal is often left open from beyond 10 feet as well. I think that is the reason Boston is outside the paint a lot since her midrange shot is better than most of our bigs. She can also pass the ball into the low post when she's on the floor with Cardoso.

But we're going to have weakness, every team does. We are #1 in the nation in opponent's field goal percentage, offensive rebounding, total rebounding and blocks. So we do a lot of things very well, hopefully well enough to offset our weaknesses.
 
Well Friday at 2 is a hard time to sell a large amount of tix and you have to remember that fans of the two teams that lost had most certainly bought Sunday tickets hoping their team made it to play.

Iowa's 1st round game versus Illinois State was Friday at 3 p.m. on the 18th, and that game was sold out by the 16th. Their arena is smaller than CLA granted, but they had over 14K for both their games......
 
We hit 4 more 3's last year than Stanford and lost. So perimeter shooting didn't cost us a national title. And Destanni is shooting 39% from 3 this season. It's the lack of a mid-range shot that was and still is our biggest issue, IMO. Kiki was absolute money in the midrange 2 years ago. Saxton has not been able to replace her in that sense. Beal is often left open from beyond 10 feet as well. I think that is the reason Boston is outside the paint a lot since her midrange shot is better than most of our bigs. She can also pass the ball into the low post when she's on the floor with Cardoso.

But we're going to have weakness, every team does. We are #1 in the nation in opponent's field goal percentage, offensive rebounding, total rebounding and blocks. So we do a lot of things very well, hopefully well enough to offset our weaknesses.
I guess I could have been more precise in my choice of words. By "perimeter" I was referring to everything outside the paint. You're right. It is definitely the midrange where we need to show improvement. But, hey... we're once again at the Big Dance, and I'm hoping, praying, and crossing everything from fingers to toes that we bring home the championship!
 
Kentucky loses 3 to transfer portal

&

Aijha Blackwell & 3 others leave Mizzou as well.

I'm not surprised that Blackwell leaves - she was suspended this year and the team has never made it to the big dance in her time there. If I was her, I look towards an ACC team as my next stop
 
We'll have a size advance against Creighton as they have no one over 6" 1".

They do have really good long range shooters.
 
It was a better win than the Miami one. Guards were alive in the first half but cooled in the 2nd.

For a super senior sometimes Lele's play are head scratchers.

This team would be scary if Beal would and could shot. She literally left that side of her in high school.

Bench points are beyond bad.

The 2019-2020 season - that natty was SC....now I don't know. They have 3 more games to get to the finish line.
 
Staley needs to give Cooke and Henderson more rest in the 2nd half. They are getting worn down in the 4th quarter, so their shot is short. Their legs are gone from the defense played in the first 3 quarters. We need to be able to make some perimeter shots in the 4th. Boston scored all the points in the 4th against the Tarholes.
 
Staley needs to give Cooke and Henderson more rest in the 2nd half. They are getting worn down in the 4th quarter, so their shot is short. Their legs are gone from the defense played in the first 3 quarters. We need to be able to make some perimeter shots in the 4th. Boston scored all the points in the 4th against the Tarholes.
Starting guards usually play most of the game regardless of which team is involved. These games are very tight and need your best and most experienced players on the floor. 2nd half was certainly not as good for them but some of this could have been attributed to the other team's halftime adjustments. We do need much better guard play if we want to go deeper in the tournament. We're the only team left playing a 10 seed so we better take care of business. After tonight, should we advance, things really pick up as far as the talent level. You're right, as impressive as Boston scoring all those points, it's never good when she scores them all.
 
Creighton (23-9, 15-5) comes in today with the 22nd-ranked Scoring Offense (74.8 ppg), having played the #32 NET, #36 RPI, and #55 Strength of Schedule (SOS). They will face South Carolina (32-2, 15-1) who brings the #3 Scoring Defense (50.5 ppg allowed) accumulated against the #1 NET, #1 RPI, and #1 SOS schedule.

Further, Creighton brings the #12 FG Percentage and the #10 3-pt. FG % against South Carolina's #1 FG % Defense and #18 3-pt. FG % Defense. This will truly be a battle of one team's offense versus another team's defense.

The Gamecocks aren't exactly poor in offense themselves, although they are often streaky and mercurial, and struggle with completing layups. They bring the #59 Scoring Offense (70.8 ppg) against Creighton's #184 Scoring Defense (63.9 ppg allowed). South Carolina brings the #76 FG Percentage and #171 3-pt. FG % against Creighton's #257 FG % Defense and #300 3-pt. FG % Defense.

South Carolina is led by 6-5 Aliyah Boston and 6-2 Victaria Saxton, and have 6-7 Kamilla Cardoso-Silva and 6-4 Leaticia Amihere as primary reserves. Creighton starts 6-1 Emma Ronsiek and 6-0 Carly Bachelor, with 6-1 Morgan Maly and 6-0 Mallory Brake as their tallest reserves. The Gamecocks are #2 in Rebounds Per Game and #1 in Rebound Margin, while the Bluejays are #190 in Rebounds Per Game and #85 in Rebound Margin.

In summary, whatever offensive deficiencies the Gamecocks have shown thus far, should be assisted to a degree by Creighton's defensive deficiencies, while Creighton will not find such generosity from the Gamecocks in their own offensive efforts.

The rebounding should be substantially in South Carolina's favor - I would think that Boston and the other bigs should be wary of picking up the extra odd foul from the perception of being too bullish against the smaller Bluejays in the paint, and would think that we may see some theatrical presentations from the Bluejays throughout the game in order to elicit expressions of empathy from the officiating crew. Smile

Should Boston and other bigs get into foul trouble, that could turn the tide away from decidedly being in the Gamecocks' camp, defensively speaking.....
 
Gamecocks lead 23-16 after 1st Quarter. Gamecocks are shooting 10-17 (.588) thus far in the game, so their offense looks to be cooking right now. But they have a history of turning it off in later periods, so we need to keep watch.....
 
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