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Another beautiful day in Connecticut. I played golf on Friday and Saturday. Nothing like fall golf on a nice sunny day.
Logan had a great day too, picking apples and eating apples.
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So, back to South Carolina and their confident fans. They do have a reason for confidence. I mentioned a few of those reasons before but they are worth repeating.
They are the defending champs. If you can't strut around like a cocky Gamecock now, when can you????
A'ja Wilson. She was unstoppable in the final four last year. South Carolina went to her early and often and she responded with some dominating performance.
A terrific returning point guard who will make that freshman to sophomore jump in Tyasha Harris. She led the U19 team in assist with 40 and only had 7 turnovers. She was also 37% on threes, which really bodes well for SC.
They return the diminutive Bianca Cuevas-Moore for senior leadership. She hit some HUGE shots last year and hit and excellent 38% on threes, improving a ton from her first two season. She is the 2nd leading scorer returning for this season.
But there plenty of question marks around this team as well.
The main question is how to they make up for the graduation of Coates, Gray, Davis and Cliney. Between those four players they lost 47% of their minutes, 50% of their scoring, 51% of their rebounding and 48% of their assists.
Their incoming freshman class are not considered impact players. No. 28 6'1" Elisia Grissett, the 4th rated wing in the 2017 class, No. 43 5'11" Bianca Jackson, the 10th rated wing in the 2017 class and No. 48 6'2" LaDazhia Williams the 12th rated forward in the 2017 class. Of course you never know, but I wouldn't count on them to make big contributions this year.
They do return Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, a 6'2" forward that can help Wilson on the boards and protect the basket. She should build on her solid freshman stats but how much more will she add to her 4 points and 3 rebounds per game?
Alexa Jennings is a 6'3" transfer from Kentucky who averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds in her two years with the Wildcats. She will be counted on to help light the load of Wilson as well.
Bottom Line is that South Carolina lost a ton of production and I'm not sure they have the horses to make up for that. Second best team in the country is based on mostly that folks expect Wilson to carry this team to win after win. We will see if she can handle that game after game.
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I haven't picked on Tennessee yet. What pre-season blogging would be complete without me doing that.
I'll do a more complete pre-season look at the Lady Vols, but lets just say that their fans are in fantasy land in thinking they are final four material.
They lost 26 games in the last two season. I'm not sure they will do much better than that. They have 7 cupcakes in their first 8 games with ranked Marquette the only challenge. Don't get confused by an 8-0 start and a move up in the rankings.
Similar to South Carolina, UT has lost a ton of points, rebounds and assists. But the Lady Vol fans are hoping it's addition by subtraction with the Diva Diamond Deshields moving on.
Maybe, maybe not!
Another beautiful day in Connecticut. I played golf on Friday and Saturday. Nothing like fall golf on a nice sunny day.
Logan had a great day too, picking apples and eating apples.
********************************************************************************
So, back to South Carolina and their confident fans. They do have a reason for confidence. I mentioned a few of those reasons before but they are worth repeating.
They are the defending champs. If you can't strut around like a cocky Gamecock now, when can you????
A'ja Wilson. She was unstoppable in the final four last year. South Carolina went to her early and often and she responded with some dominating performance.
A terrific returning point guard who will make that freshman to sophomore jump in Tyasha Harris. She led the U19 team in assist with 40 and only had 7 turnovers. She was also 37% on threes, which really bodes well for SC.
They return the diminutive Bianca Cuevas-Moore for senior leadership. She hit some HUGE shots last year and hit and excellent 38% on threes, improving a ton from her first two season. She is the 2nd leading scorer returning for this season.
But there plenty of question marks around this team as well.
The main question is how to they make up for the graduation of Coates, Gray, Davis and Cliney. Between those four players they lost 47% of their minutes, 50% of their scoring, 51% of their rebounding and 48% of their assists.
Their incoming freshman class are not considered impact players. No. 28 6'1" Elisia Grissett, the 4th rated wing in the 2017 class, No. 43 5'11" Bianca Jackson, the 10th rated wing in the 2017 class and No. 48 6'2" LaDazhia Williams the 12th rated forward in the 2017 class. Of course you never know, but I wouldn't count on them to make big contributions this year.
They do return Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, a 6'2" forward that can help Wilson on the boards and protect the basket. She should build on her solid freshman stats but how much more will she add to her 4 points and 3 rebounds per game?
Alexa Jennings is a 6'3" transfer from Kentucky who averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds in her two years with the Wildcats. She will be counted on to help light the load of Wilson as well.
Bottom Line is that South Carolina lost a ton of production and I'm not sure they have the horses to make up for that. Second best team in the country is based on mostly that folks expect Wilson to carry this team to win after win. We will see if she can handle that game after game.
********************************************************************************
I haven't picked on Tennessee yet. What pre-season blogging would be complete without me doing that.
I'll do a more complete pre-season look at the Lady Vols, but lets just say that their fans are in fantasy land in thinking they are final four material.
They lost 26 games in the last two season. I'm not sure they will do much better than that. They have 7 cupcakes in their first 8 games with ranked Marquette the only challenge. Don't get confused by an 8-0 start and a move up in the rankings.
Similar to South Carolina, UT has lost a ton of points, rebounds and assists. But the Lady Vol fans are hoping it's addition by subtraction with the Diva Diamond Deshields moving on.
Maybe, maybe not!
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By David in Naples!!!!!
Part of the reason fans expect such a wonderful season from UConn this year is the return of 5 of the 6 top players.
The Core Four plus Crystal dominated the statistics from the 2016-17 games. For example, those five played 5,101 of the Huskies 7,377 minutes. That is almost 70% of the court time. Their domination of the scoring totals is even more impressive. Those five scored 2,637 or UConn's 3,222 points or 82%.
And they all come back back stronger, smarter and motivated.
Here the other statistical totals for the Core Four plus Crystal from last year.
Here the other statistical totals for the Core Four plus Crystal from last year.
1. Rebounds - 929 of the 1,297 non-team boards. (71.6%)
2. Assists - 633 of the team's 863 dimes. (73.3%)
3. Blocked shots - 143 of the 186 rejected shots. (76.8%)
4. Steals - 282 of the team's 370 steals. (76.2%)
5. Three point makes - 241 of the 302 made 3s. (79.8)
6. Free throws made - 401 of the 500 made free throws. (80.2%)
Lots of reason for optimism..!!
Go Huskies..!!
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