Wbb: who will win the SEC?
- Thread starter gamecockblack
- Start date
The fact that Coach Staley even has the team in this position this late in the year should make her a candidate for Coach of the Year. This is a good team, but certainly not loaded with stars as in recent years. SC probably won't have a first-team All-SEC player this year, and they're in the hunt. Have to applaud the effort.
The schedule is not favorable for SC down the stretch leading up to the finale with State.
1) home vs Kentucky Thursday. (SC won the first meeting in Lexington, but KY is still good enough to beat SC with Morris, Murray and likely SEC Freshman of the Year candidate Rhyne Howard.
2) At Tennessee Sunday. Tennessee isn't what they used to be, but after losing 5 in a row early in the season, they've won 6 of their last 7, so maybe they're starting to figure it out. With all the McDonalds All-Americans on that roster, TN should be better than their record. They gave Notre Dame a run for their money, which tells me the talent is there. Plus SC rarely wins in Knoxville - only twice EVER.
3) At Auburn. Winnable but tough because it's on the road. AU forces lots of turnovers. Have to be sharper than they have been the last couple of games.
IF SC wins all 3 of those (and I'm not confident they will but fingers crossed), then Staley should be coach of the year regardless.
State has it much easier down the stretch: at Ole Miss, home vs Vanderbilt, and home vs LSU. LSU is the only team that is decent enough where they'll have to work a little bit, but there's no way State loses any of those games.
For SC - they have not been sharp the last few games. Sometimes you hit that point in the season where you need a second wind. I think having that UCONN game during what should be their BYE week every year can hurt them, especially this year. Technically, even if SC loses once down the stretch they can still play for a share of the championship and would have to beat State to get that. Hope it comes down to winner-take all.
Either way, on the one hand, SC showed it can play with State this year but they have to be able to slow down McCowan. SC can't match up size wise with her, so perhaps more trapping on the ball to deny passes to her in the post?
Go Gamecocks!
The schedule is not favorable for SC down the stretch leading up to the finale with State.
1) home vs Kentucky Thursday. (SC won the first meeting in Lexington, but KY is still good enough to beat SC with Morris, Murray and likely SEC Freshman of the Year candidate Rhyne Howard.
2) At Tennessee Sunday. Tennessee isn't what they used to be, but after losing 5 in a row early in the season, they've won 6 of their last 7, so maybe they're starting to figure it out. With all the McDonalds All-Americans on that roster, TN should be better than their record. They gave Notre Dame a run for their money, which tells me the talent is there. Plus SC rarely wins in Knoxville - only twice EVER.
3) At Auburn. Winnable but tough because it's on the road. AU forces lots of turnovers. Have to be sharper than they have been the last couple of games.
IF SC wins all 3 of those (and I'm not confident they will but fingers crossed), then Staley should be coach of the year regardless.
State has it much easier down the stretch: at Ole Miss, home vs Vanderbilt, and home vs LSU. LSU is the only team that is decent enough where they'll have to work a little bit, but there's no way State loses any of those games.
For SC - they have not been sharp the last few games. Sometimes you hit that point in the season where you need a second wind. I think having that UCONN game during what should be their BYE week every year can hurt them, especially this year. Technically, even if SC loses once down the stretch they can still play for a share of the championship and would have to beat State to get that. Hope it comes down to winner-take all.
Either way, on the one hand, SC showed it can play with State this year but they have to be able to slow down McCowan. SC can't match up size wise with her, so perhaps more trapping on the ball to deny passes to her in the post?
Go Gamecocks!
UMMM, UMMM well, let see....... You are on a Gamecock forum, then take into consideration, Miss St DOMINATED Carolina's Ladies in first contest.... I say SC wins... Gotta get past a GOOD UK team and have to win at Historic UT... but Dawn and crew will win theSEC regular season (IMO)..
To say they dominated us is a bit msleading. It was a 1 point game starting the fourth. They dominated the boards(+24) throughout the game and we offset that with marvelous offense for three quarters. The rebounding caught up with us and the game quickly got away.
They treated the game as their Super Bowl. Largest attendance of the year, white out, etc.
If we are to win, the worst we can be is -10 on the boards, we will also have to be + in the turnover category and shoot well. It wouldn’t hurt to get Teira in foul trouble and limit her offense(rather obvious)
If a Team loses by double digits, well, IMO that is dominant.... Cocks Never lead in Fourth quarter and one of Miss St's best players went out early in the first quarter.. .But Hey, That si ONLY MY OPINION.. Cocks get revenge and beat them in Colonial life arena..
GandBinNC
GarnetTrust.com Member/Supporter
Great analysis. Carolina won't lose the two games at home leading up to Miss State. That leaves the game at UT as the pivotal test they must pass. I think Carolina takes care of business at home vs the Bulldogs. That gives them at best an outright title at 15-1, and at worst, a share of the title at 14-2.
Either way, barring a stretch of uncharacteristically bad basketball, it's another SEC Championship banner hanging in the CLA and another chapter in Staley's amazing legacy. And I agree with an earlier poster, Staley gets COTY in the SEC and perhaps nationally this season. Stellar job by she and her staff.
Maryland and Baylor dominated us, the game was over before halftime. We played 25 minutes for pride only. The final score against Miss St was VERY BAD but it had a very different feel. We didn’t close against State, we never had a chance against the other two
I'd like to take the regular season title or tournament title away from State. Heck I'd like both. The rest of the season sure favors State but they have a history of losing to SC when hardware is on the line.
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I agree that rebounding will be key. Tennessee will be tough because their guards are a lot bigger. SC has not been great under the boards as of late. Got out-rebounded at Florida and were dominated under glass by UCONN. Our posts are not beasts on the board. Jennings averages less than 6 per game and Kiki doesn't box out very well. (And SC plays Auburn, not LSU).
I don't think SC has played like the best team in the SEC in their last 2 games, but at least they've won. Starters didn't play well vs UGA. They weren't sharp vs Florida but at least shot the ball well (defense and rebounding were lacking however in that game). Hopefully they can put it all together to bring home another title. Mississippi State is very good but beatable (Losing Bibby in our first matchup vs them really hurt them in terms of being a top 4 team IMO). That being said, still have a couple of tough ones before we get to State, as mentioned earlier.
Go Gamecocks!
Tennessee has bigger guards. But we are so much quicker it's not funny. They will be forced to play a lot of zone. If Dawn opts to do a lot pressing and trapping the Vol s are in trouble. Force the ball out of Westbrooks hands and they are a rudderless ship. They resort to one on one while jacking up a lot of bad shots. They have a lot of good players like we do. But we are much more of a team. Tennessee can beat us in Knoxville. But they will have to kill us on the glass to do it.
Yes you are correct, we do play Audurn. We are not losing to them either.
No team plays its best every time out. You have to play better than the opponent of the day. The key is to improve as the season progresses. The Gamecocks have done that better than every SEC team.
I think you got those garnet colored glasses on, not a knock, I own five or six pairs myself. When confronted with a BIG(Maryland, Baylor, Miss. St) we have totally failed. I think we canbeat St. but it ain’t no lock.
Officiating is matters when playing the Big Girl. Hopefully, we'll get a few calls our way at home and she'll have to sit.
We are so far beyond that team it's no t funny. But you can keep looking back if you like. Don't know what good it does. Yes we have minimize Miss St. rebound advantage. It's doable.
It looked like Missou took her out of her game. I saw her miss a lot of easy put backs and was screened out of rebounds.
What Mizzou did was instantly double team so she could not pivot to face the basket. It led to awkward shots and slow poor kick out passes. If the double team is slow T faces up, she is so big the double doesn’t matter at that point
I always like your sometimes extreme optimism but I think you oversell our post defensive capabilities
That's correct. It is impossible to take any team seriously as a national contender that we are able to beat.
Curious you use the term "extreme optimism" ! We are 11-1 in the conf. I don't have to oversell anything! This idea that opinions, whether optimistic or pessimistic define the team or their performances is laughable.
I have merely pointed out the obvious that our Gamecocks have the best shot at winning the SEC. If we handle our business in the next 3 games which any sane fan would admit we're the favorite to do, we have a great shot to beat Miss St on our floor.
some of you guys almost seem troubled when we play well and fans give our team credit for their achievements. Could this team stumble down the stretch? Sure they can. we have rebounding issues and don't play enough zone to shut down penetration. But this is a very capable team with a lot of good players.
I kinda feel it's ours to lose with MSU in our house the last game of the season
agreed, but they gotta take care of three more issues prior to that..
I sure do like your confidence. It's almost as if you know that we have a HOF coach or something
OOOOPS.......
Looking like SC will be a 5 or 6 seed at best.. They will have ot sweep the three left and then Win a couple tourney games to get back to a coveted 3 or 4 seed..(Maybe even have to wuin SEC tourney to get back to a 3 or 4)
One more regular season loss and we will have to win the SECT. Charlotte out the window otherwise.
