C
ChrisWellbaum
Guest
Game Story
Photos
- Gary Blair called Aliyah Boston "the best player in the country, bar none." Dawn Staley was nearly speechless trying to describe how good Boston is, just saying "she's good." I will have a longer story on Boston soon (I know I said that Sunday, also. She keeps adding to the story).
- Blair was, as always, fantastic. He walked the concourse before the game, something he always does, admiring the trophy case ("Your national championship trophy is displayed better than ours. We've got one too but we need to show off what we have.") and concessions. He ran his own press conference. He talked for 15 minutes and took more questions from himself than the media, and when he was done he invited everyone to come to College Station for his last home game (Texas A&M hosts South Carolina February 24), and then encouraged everyone to make the trip to Nashville for the SEC Tournament. Blair was asked about the game being his final visit and he got defiant. He said he wanted to come back and play golf. "I want to be invited by your big boosters to Hilton Head or somewhere. You’ve got plenty of big boosters. I’ve never played golf in South Carolina. To tell you the truth I’d like to play Dawn." Two years ago, he tried to find boosters who would let him stay in South Carolina and golf during the break between the season finale in Columbia and the SEC tournament in Greenville. Someone please take that man for a round of golf.
-Texas A&M is now 0-4 in the SEC. It's a brutal start, but three of the losses were to South Carolina, Tennessee, and LSU so the schedule played a big role.. Blair reminded everyone he'd been 1-4 in the Big 12 in 2008 and ended up making the Elite Eight.
- Laeticia Amihere was in uniform but did not play. Staley said LA probably thought she could play, but they held her out. They could have used LA against Texas A&M's zone. Kamilla Cardoso can do a lot of good things, but she does not space the court at all. That made things a little easier for the Texas A&M zone. LA can do more away from the basket than Cardoso in terms of jump shots and driving the ball. As always, basketball is a game of matchups: LA traditionally struggles against next opponent Arkansas because she's not quick enough against the four guards. (Basketball is also a game of runs, while we're on cliches, and A&M's Jordan Nixon had a great line: "It's a game of ebbs and flows, and they started flowing" in the second half.")
- That was a glass half full/empty game. You can focus on how bad South Carolina's offense was in the second quarter, or you can focus on how dominant South Carolina's defense was. This South Carolina team isn't the 2019-20 team. It's going to win some ugly games with defense instead of just running everyone off the court on offense. That being said... make some shots! South Carolina also looked hesitant to shoot against the zone, turning down decent looks for perfect looks that never came.
- It was another rough night for Zia Cooke, who just can't seem to find a groove against zone defenses. Her shots kept rimming out when she was warming up pregame, and it carried over. She missed her first ten attempts before a third quarter three she threw up as the shot clock expired. Cooke did finish the game hitting 3-6 and scoring ten points.
Photos
- Gary Blair called Aliyah Boston "the best player in the country, bar none." Dawn Staley was nearly speechless trying to describe how good Boston is, just saying "she's good." I will have a longer story on Boston soon (I know I said that Sunday, also. She keeps adding to the story).
- Blair was, as always, fantastic. He walked the concourse before the game, something he always does, admiring the trophy case ("Your national championship trophy is displayed better than ours. We've got one too but we need to show off what we have.") and concessions. He ran his own press conference. He talked for 15 minutes and took more questions from himself than the media, and when he was done he invited everyone to come to College Station for his last home game (Texas A&M hosts South Carolina February 24), and then encouraged everyone to make the trip to Nashville for the SEC Tournament. Blair was asked about the game being his final visit and he got defiant. He said he wanted to come back and play golf. "I want to be invited by your big boosters to Hilton Head or somewhere. You’ve got plenty of big boosters. I’ve never played golf in South Carolina. To tell you the truth I’d like to play Dawn." Two years ago, he tried to find boosters who would let him stay in South Carolina and golf during the break between the season finale in Columbia and the SEC tournament in Greenville. Someone please take that man for a round of golf.
-Texas A&M is now 0-4 in the SEC. It's a brutal start, but three of the losses were to South Carolina, Tennessee, and LSU so the schedule played a big role.. Blair reminded everyone he'd been 1-4 in the Big 12 in 2008 and ended up making the Elite Eight.
- Laeticia Amihere was in uniform but did not play. Staley said LA probably thought she could play, but they held her out. They could have used LA against Texas A&M's zone. Kamilla Cardoso can do a lot of good things, but she does not space the court at all. That made things a little easier for the Texas A&M zone. LA can do more away from the basket than Cardoso in terms of jump shots and driving the ball. As always, basketball is a game of matchups: LA traditionally struggles against next opponent Arkansas because she's not quick enough against the four guards. (Basketball is also a game of runs, while we're on cliches, and A&M's Jordan Nixon had a great line: "It's a game of ebbs and flows, and they started flowing" in the second half.")
- That was a glass half full/empty game. You can focus on how bad South Carolina's offense was in the second quarter, or you can focus on how dominant South Carolina's defense was. This South Carolina team isn't the 2019-20 team. It's going to win some ugly games with defense instead of just running everyone off the court on offense. That being said... make some shots! South Carolina also looked hesitant to shoot against the zone, turning down decent looks for perfect looks that never came.
- It was another rough night for Zia Cooke, who just can't seem to find a groove against zone defenses. Her shots kept rimming out when she was warming up pregame, and it carried over. She missed her first ten attempts before a third quarter three she threw up as the shot clock expired. Cooke did finish the game hitting 3-6 and scoring ten points.
