Welcome to my weekly look at the world of WCBB.
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| South Carolina #1 |
Let's take a look at the top ten week in review. I'm using the coaches poll as it's the most current.
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| #1 South Carolina (8-0) Last week #2 Last Week: vs N Carolina Cent W 90-26, vs Charlotte W 82-61, @ Duke W 51-50 This Week: vs. Savannah St Dec 14 Leading Scorer Tiffany Mitchell - 13.9 Leading Rebounder Alana Coates - 8.3 Leading Assists Tiffany Mitchell, Khadijah Sessions - 3.5 |
The first two games were just warm ups in preparation for the first road challenge of the year for USC against Duke. They handled NCC as expected, giving plenty of time to the bench. All 14 players got minutes. Wilson is a handful against teams like this. South Carolina's size just dominated in this game.
Against Charlotte, USC coasted to an easy 21 point lead. They tightened the rotation to the 8 players they expected to play against Duke. Charlotte closed to 13, but there was no way they were getting any closer. The bigs dominated this for USC. Charlotte had no one over 6'2".
The Duke game was enlightening to say the least. USC didn't look like a top 20 team, let alone the #1 team in the first half. Overall, they did play better in the second half, but it was not a good performance for USC other than winning. And of course, that is what the game is all about. They have played 3 games where I thought they under performed, similar to last year.
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| #2 UCONN (6-1) Last week #3 Last Week: @ Notre Dame W 76-58 This Week: No games scheduled. Leading Scorer Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis - 17.0 Leading Rebounder Kiah Stokes - 9.0 Leading Assists Moriah Jefferson - 4.6 |
One game, but oh what a game it was. After a very slow 10 minute start, UConn dominated a very good Notre Dame team. Here is my post game recap. No games this week until DePaul on 12/19.
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| #3 Texas (7-0) Last week #4 Last Week: vs New Mexico W 86-37 vs Southern W 80-42 This Week: vs. Northwestern St Dec 14 Leading Scorer Kelsey Lang - 13.3 Leading Rebounder Nneka Enemkpali - 8.4 Leading Assists Celina Rodrigo - 3.0 |
Two easy games for the Longhorns and they did what they are supposed to do against the weaker teams. They played all 13 players plenty of minutes in both games, so not much to take away from these games. One thing for sure is that Enemkpali is a heck of a player.
What I liked about the two Texas wins was that they took their foot off the accelerator in the second half of both games, similar to how Geno handles it. Well done.
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| #4 Notre Dame (8-1) Last week #1 Last Week: vs Maryland W 92-72, vs Connecticut L 76-58 This Week: @ No. 25 Depaul Dec 10, vs. Michigan Dec 13 Leading Scorer Jewell Loyd - 22.2 Leading Rebounder Taya Reimer - 6.0 Leading Assists Lindsay Allen - 3.9 |
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Against Maryland, they completely dominated a top ten (at the time) team. It was no contest. Even with Turner being hurt 4 minutes into the game, the Irish played like they had the last few years. They beat them up on the boards, they forced Maryland to foul them, and Maryland just wilted out of the top ten with this loss.
See the UConn/ND game recap for info on that game. All the Loyd kudos are in there.
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| #5 Texas A&M (9-0) Last week #5 Last Week: vs Northwestern St W 75-42, @ TCU W 82-71, @ SMU W 70-62 This Week: vs. Houston Dec 13 Leading Scorer Courtney Walker - 16.8 Leading Rebounder Courtney Williams - 6.8 Leading Assists Jordan Jones - 6.9 |
A&M just keeps rolling along. 3 games, 3 wins. It looked to me that the TCU game was closer than expected, and no top team wants to give up 50 points in a half as they did in the second half of this game.
For the AAC bashers, a 4-4 SMU team gave A&M all they could handle, closing to 6 points late in the game before losing by 8.
Gotta give Jordan Jones a big shout out. After I posted about her horrible 3 point shooting this year, Jones shot 8-14 in her last 3 games. And she still handed out 23 assists for the week. She is turning into a terrific player.
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The UNC and RU game was clearly the game of the year to date. While there was plenty of sloppy play, there was also some excellent play and the ups and downs for both teams were fun to watch. RU was down early and came back. UNC was down late and came back. So what did we find out? UNC is a very talented team but a little out of control in typical Hatchell style. And that Gray is one of the best players in the country. I'd take her over Deshields in a heartbeat.
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| #7 STANFORD (5-2) Last week #9 Last Week: No Games Played This Week: vs. Santa Clara Dec 14 Leading Scorer Lili Thompson - 21.8 Leading Rebounder Kaylee Johnson - 11.0 Leading Assists Amber Orrange - 4.3 |
No games played this past week, so nothing new. But they did rise two spots. Maybe they should play less often...
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| #8 Kentucky (8-1) Last week #13 Last Week: vs NKU W 82-64, @ Louisville W 77-68 This Week: vs. Middle Tennessee Dec 12, vs. Belmont University Dec 14 Leading Scorer Jennifer O'Neill- 15.6 Leading Rebounder Azia Bishop - 6.9 Leading Assists Makayla Epps - 2.7 |
It was a great week for Kentucky. It always is if you can beat your in state rival and they were able to accomplish that in great fashion.
O'Neill bounced back from a poor performance against Northern Kentucky and the Kentucky defense turned over Louisville 28 times. In watching the game, it was more bad Louisville play and less good Kentucky play. I was not impressed with either team. I do like seeing Harper play well. I was hoping she would choose UConn when she was being recruited.
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| #9 Baylor (6-1) Last week #11 Last Week: vs UT Pan American W 96-42, @ Ole Miss W 96-54 This Week: vs. Idaho Dec 10, vs. Stephen F. Austin Dec 14 Leading Scorer Nina Davis - 22.3 Leading Rebounder Nina Davis - 7.9 Leading Assists Niya Johnson - 7.5 |
Two lousy opponents two easy wins. Their highlight of the week was the 31 points against UT Pan and the 43 point, 9 rebound performance against Ole Miss by Nina Davis.
At 5'11", it's remarkable to see her play so well down low and her improving mid range shooting skills just make her a match up nightmare. Baylor and Mulkey just keep rolling along.
Not to ignore her, but Niya Johnson had double digit assist games this week totaling 21. I think she must pass to Davis a lot.
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| #10 Louisville (8-1) Last week #7 Last Week: vs Iowa W 86-52, vs Kentucky L 77-68 This Week: No games scheduled. Leading Scorer Myisha Hines-Allen - 15.4 Leading Rebounder Sara Hammond - 6.4 Leading Assists Mariya Moore- 4.1 |
No games this week so they will stew on that loss for several days. Those practices likely will be hell before they go on break.
They battled back several times and while they did lose a double digit lead late, they ever gave up, scoring 5 points in a few second to send the game to the 2nd OT. They will be heard from this year.
Nina Davis gets some extra press here. She was not a top recruit, she is only 5'11" playing in the post and yet here she is, a definite AA playing like a POY candidate as a sophomore. Mulkey stepped in it with Davis.
Edwards transferring is not something new at UConn, but it's not unique to them either. A lot can be attributed to the constant play during the off season in AAU ball for these HS kids. They believe they should be playing more minutes and have sometimes unrealistic expectations coming into their college careers. Players should do what is best for them and I'm sure that Edwards is doing just that.
What would a weekly report be without a Tennessee mention. They won and their fans are happy. Harrison is back and that helps. The Rutgers game is the next real challenge. Predicting an RU win.
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