And another week goes by
Welcome to my weekly look at the world of WCBB.
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| Notre Dame #1 Coaches and South Carolina #1 AP |
The new coaches poll is out. Notre Dame stayed in the top spot with South Carolina still at #2. UConn maintained the third position. Texas moved into the fourth slot after beating Stanford and Tennessee. Louisville jumped to 7th and UNC made a huge jump to 6th.
Did I mention that Tennessee is out of the top ten dropping to #14?
Let's take a look at the top ten week in review. I'm using the coaches poll as it's the most current.
| #1 Notre Dame Last week #1 Last Week: vs Harvard W 97-43, vs Quinnipiac W 112-52, vs Kansas W 89-47 Leading Scorer Jewell Loyd - 20.3 Leading Rebounder Taya Reimer - 6.6 Leading Assists Lindsay Allen - 4.3 |
Ho Hum. Three games. Three blowouts. MOV was 54, 60 and 42. Wednesday night will tell us a lot more when they play the 10th ranked Terps of Maryland. Notre Dame played their usual defense, forcing over 70 turnovers in the three games. After a tough 2-13 outing against Harvard, Loyd was her usual self with 23 points in each of the other two games.
Turner had a typical freshman week with two bad games sandwiched around a very good game. That will go on for most of this season. It's what most freshman do. Mabrey had a terrific week shooting the three going 10-21 in the 3 games. She is so important to this teams success with the lack of guard depth against top 25 opponents (shorter rotation). More on that in the UConn-ND game preview coming at the end of the week.
Turner had a typical freshman week with two bad games sandwiched around a very good game. That will go on for most of this season. It's what most freshman do. Mabrey had a terrific week shooting the three going 10-21 in the 3 games. She is so important to this teams success with the lack of guard depth against top 25 opponents (shorter rotation). More on that in the UConn-ND game preview coming at the end of the week.
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| #2 South Carolina Last week #2 Last Week: vs Wisconsin W 67-44, vs Syracuse W 67-63 Leading Scorer Tiffany Mitchell - 15.8 Leading Rebounder Alana Coates, A'ja Wilson - 7.2 Leading Assists Tiffany Mitchell, Khadijah Sessions - 3.6 |
They finally played a good team and almost lost in a very tough fought battle against Syracuse. I was able to watch this game online and I don't see much difference in this team from last years in regards to offensive efficiency. Their two bigs from last year, Coates and Ibiam disappeared in that game. Their COMBINED box score numbers of 28 minutes, zero points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists on 0-4 from the field is a head scratcher. I don't care how much Syracuse packed the paint. Crazy.
FOY candidate A'ja Wilson is a terrific player and had a very good week averaging 12 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two games. I find it hysterical that ESPN lists her as a guard in the box score. Does South Carolina do that to appease her?
Tiffany Mitchell is the real deal and if SC is going to do damage this year, she will be the reason why. She hit two big three's against Syracuse and basically won that game for South Carolina. She certainly is earning her AA status.
FOY candidate A'ja Wilson is a terrific player and had a very good week averaging 12 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two games. I find it hysterical that ESPN lists her as a guard in the box score. Does South Carolina do that to appease her?
Tiffany Mitchell is the real deal and if SC is going to do damage this year, she will be the reason why. She hit two big three's against Syracuse and basically won that game for South Carolina. She certainly is earning her AA status.
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| #3 UCONN Last week #3 Last Week: vs Charleston W 85-24, @ Vanderbilt W 91-52, @ Green Bay W 89-53 Leading Scorer Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis - 18.0 Leading Rebounder Kiah Stokes - 7.5 Leading Assists Moriah Jefferson - 5.2 |
| #4 Texas Last week #9 Last Week: vs UT Pan American W 72-45, vs Tennessee W 72-59 Leading Scorer Kelsey Lang - 15.2 Leading Rebounder Nneka Enemkpali - 7.2 Leading Assists Celina Rodrigo - 2.8 |
After beating Stanford in OT last week, Texas followed up with a very good week. They dismantled UT Pan American (big whoop) and handled easily a weakened (no Harrison) Tennessee team. I watched the Tennessee game and it was a very good effort for the Longhorns.
They are strong on the boards but what most impressed me was their ability to get good shots. Either taking it to the rim or using screens for open jumpers, they seemed to run a good offense, unlike their opponent.
I'm not totally sold on Stanford (yeah, I know, they beat UConn) or Tennessee as of yet, so Texas has more to prove in my eyes. But they are worthy of their high rankings.
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| #5 Texas A&M Last week #6 Last Week: vs PV A&M W 59-41, vs McNeese State W 93-27, vs Duke W 63-59 Leading Scorer Courtney Walker - 17.1 Leading Rebounder Achiri Ade - 7.4 Leading Assists Jordan Jones - 6.5 |
Texas A&M welcomed back Courtey Williams and she had a great week. After an uninspired performance by the entire team against PV A&M, Texas A&M just destroyed McNeese State by 66, led by Williams 19 points and 6 rebounds.
In the last game of the week, they beat a top ten opponent in Duke. Williams had 21 points and 6 assists in that game, backed up by the other Courtney with 19 points.
KML's former HS teammate, Jones, had a great week with 25 points and 24 assists for the week. If she could shoot a little better from three point land (3 of 17 for the season) she'd be much more effective. I guess KML didn't rub off.
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Great week for North Carolina jumping 6 slots after winning 3 games in Hawaii. They stared out by beating Stanford handily and ended the week by beating a tough Hawaii team on their court.
They are the same Hatchell offense. When they run, they score. Otherwise, it's a challenge. In the three game, they shot 40%, 44% and 47% from the field. Not horrible but not a sign of a great offense either. They did play shut down defense and that bodes well for them going forward.
Gray and Coleman had very good weeks and Mavunga is still a beast on the boards. It does seem like they are playing with a chip on their shoulders to prove they can win without DeShields.
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| #7 Louisville Last week #11 Last Week: vs W Kentucky W 89-67, vs Lafayette W 102-61, @ Valparaiso W 86-59 Leading Scorer Myisha Hines-Allen - 15.1 Leading Rebounder Sara Hammond - 6.9 Leading Assists Bria Smith - 4.2 |
Louisville had another good week, but they still haven't played anyone of note. It's possible they will be undefeated until February as their toughest game is against California on the road. That being said, you can only beat the teams you play and they did that. Led by Hines-Allen and Smith, Louisville had very balanced scoring for the week. Their freshman star, Mariya Moore, had 27 points, 18 assists and 12 rebounds in the three games.
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| #8 Duke Last week #7 Last Week: vs Buffalo W 88-54, vs Stony Brook W 72-42, @ Texas A&M L 63-59 Leading Scorer Rebecca Greenwell - 15.3 Leading Rebounder Elizabeth Williams - 9.8 Leading Assists Kai'la Johnson - 4.6 |
A good start to a week ended with a tough loss to Texas A&M. The duo of Greenwell and Williams has led this team all season and this week was no different. What was different is the appearance of two freshman, guard Sierra Calhoun and forward Azura Stevens. Calhoun had two excellent games, scoring 21 points against Stony Brook before really struggling against A&M. On the other hand, Stevens had her coming out party against A&M scoring 15 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in 22 strong minutes. Duke will only continue to improve as the season progresses.
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| #9 STANFORD Last week #4 Last Week: @ New Mexico W 70-65, @ North Carolina L 70-54, @ Hawaii W 86-73, vs PV A&M W 88-45 Leading Scorer Lili Thompson - 21.8 Leading Rebounder Kaylee Johnson - 11.0 Leading Assists Amber Orrange - 4.3 |
Against UNC, Stanford struggled to run their new guard oriented offense. UNC played great defense holding Stanford to 30% shooting and they took Orrange out of the game. Stanford also struggled to beat New Mexico. Their drop to 9th in the poll is about right.
Karli Samuelson had a terrific week, especially from long distance, going 14-27 on 3's. She is having a terrific season.
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| #10 Maryland Last week #8 Last Week: vs Loyola (MD) W 65-43, vs James Madison W 80-64, @ Washington St L 70-64 Leading Scorer Lauren Mincy - 14.1 Leading Rebounder Brionna Jones - 6.3 Leading Assists Lauren Mincy - 4.0 |
Maryland had a WTF loss to Washington State, who lost earlier in the season to Nebraska by 20 points. They lost a ton of talent from last year, led by Alyssa Thomas and it could be a difficult up and down season. They play Notre Dame Wednesday night on the road. It could get ugly.
Dropping like a rock
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| #14 Tennessee Last wee #4 Last Week: vs Tenn St W 97-46, @ Chattanooga L 67-63, @ Texas L 72-59 Leading Scorer Nia Moore -14.8 Leading Rebounder Bashara Graves - 8.5 Leading Assists Jordan Reynolds - 4.0 |
The top teams will get a big shakeup over the next week.
#1 Notre Dame plays #10 Maryland and #3 UConn
#2 South Carolina plays #8 Duke
#6 UNC plays at #18 Rutgers
#18 Rutgers had a great we. My birth state school went 3-0 beating Wagner, Colgate and Davidson. Not murderers row, but the scored 100 points. Rutgers. 100 Points.
#1 Notre Dame plays #10 Maryland and #3 UConn
#2 South Carolina plays #8 Duke
#6 UNC plays at #18 Rutgers
#18 Rutgers had a great we. My birth state school went 3-0 beating Wagner, Colgate and Davidson. Not murderers row, but the scored 100 points. Rutgers. 100 Points.
#24 DePaul lost to Northwestern 97-91. UConn plays them on 12/19 in Bridgeport. I'll be going and I hoped it would be a good game. It doesn't look like it.
#23 Georgia beat Coppin State 49-29. It was an ugly game. How ugly? Georgia left the court and Coppin State finally scored......after 5 shots. Seriously, some ugly stats. ONE player had double digit scoring between both teams, freshman Mackenzie Engram with 20 points. Coppin State had no one with more than 6. Georgia was very efficient with 13 assists on 16 baskets. Problem is they only shot 26%. UGLY!
#23 Georgia beat Coppin State 49-29. It was an ugly game. How ugly? Georgia left the court and Coppin State finally scored......after 5 shots. Seriously, some ugly stats. ONE player had double digit scoring between both teams, freshman Mackenzie Engram with 20 points. Coppin State had no one with more than 6. Georgia was very efficient with 13 assists on 16 baskets. Problem is they only shot 26%. UGLY!
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