***********************************************
My grandsons did some baking today, making the delicious Jewish pastry
hamantaschen, a triangle shaped filled cookie to celebrate the holiday of Purim.
Here is some reading if you want to know what that holiday is all about.
********************************************************
Well, the first week of action after the Top 16 reveal is already in disarray. Several of these teams lost and what you see here (a little blurry, appropriate) is not what we will see on March 1st when the next reveal happens.
No. 1 seed UConn keeps rolling along.
No. 2 seed South Carolina lost to No. 13 seed Tennessee. Will that move them off the top line? They still have to play No. 5 seed Texas A&M.
No. 3 seed Stanford is on a roll wining their last 9 games. They finish the season against No. 8 seed Arizona and California. They could be the No. 2 seed by the next reveal.
No. 4 seed Louisville lost to unranked Florida State Sunday. This has to drop them to the second line. They finish their regular season in a week against Notre Dame.
No. 5 seed Texas A&M could move to the top line with both South Carolina and Louisville losing. But they have to get by Alabama and No. 2 seed South Carolina. That last game of the regular season will determine where they land.
No. 6 seed NC State had a good week winning both their games. They finish the season against unranked Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The Cuse game could be a battle but I would bet they hold on to their second line position.
No. 7 seed Maryland is on fire, just beating up on the teams they play. They play Purdue and Northwestern to finish their season. In good position for the second line.
No. 8 seed Arizona is sitting precariously as the final team in the second line. They have to still play Stanford, so moving to the third line is a probability. Beat Stanford and they could move a little bit in that second line.
No. 9 seed UCLA is the highest seed on the third line. Losing today to unranked Oregon State will mnove them down, but probably not out of the third line. They end the season against USC so they are probably safe on that line.
No. 10 Baylor could possibly win out and not move from the third line. Clearly the Big 12 is that bad in the eyes if the committee. I just can't see them moving to the second line if they aren't there already.
No. 11 Oregon lost to Stanford, the game where they did the reveal at the half last Monday and then to UCLA. I would guess that they drop out of the third line and maybe out of the reveal totally. They play Oregon State. The have to win that one to have a chance of staying relevant.
No. 12 Georgia beat No. 13 seed Tennessee in their only game this week. They play No. 16 seed Kentucky to end their season. If they win that game they could move up a little. Solid in the Top 16 for sure.
No. 13 Tennessee beat No. 2 seed South Carolina but then lost to No. 12 seed Georgia. It's hard to figure what the committee will do with those results. Probably stay right where they are. They finish the season against unranked Missouri and Auburn.
No. 14 West Virginia beat unranked TCU in their only game this week. They play Iowa State and Kansas before the reveal. They should remain in the Top 16.
No. 15 Indiana had a big win against 11th ranked (not seed) Michigan this week. Only a trip up against Ohio State could hurt them in their seeding.
No. 16 Kentucky is a mess. They lost to No. 2 South Carolina Sunday. Their game on Thursday against 12 seed Georgia will tell the story.
Of course, there will be more games, mostly in conference tournaments after the March 1st reveal, and those will impact the final bracketing of the teams. Should be fun to see how this plays out.
********************************************************
No game impacted by Covid-19.
**************************************************
By David in Naples
The trend to bash Christyn Wiliams after every game has been replaced with the backhanded compliment that "she had a good game for a change." For a change? That is just wrong. The trend is for her to have a great game and the exception is the 3 games when she scored 0, 0 and 6. Consider the following stats for CW.
1. In her last 3 games, Christyn has scored 22, 21 and 19 points. That averages 20.6 per game. Paige has averaged 16.6 in the same 3 games.
2. If you throw out the 3 clunker games, CW averages 18.7 points in those other 15 games.
3. In the last 3 games, she is 8-18 from three point range. That's 44.4%..!!
4. Christyn has made at least 2 threes in 11 of her 18 games. She has 3 or more five times.
5. Inside the arc, Williams makes 59.1% of her shots. Paige makes 58.1% inside the arc.
6. In her 601 minutes of play, CW has 36 turnovers. That is only a turnover every 17 minutes.
7. She has scored 20+ points in 6 games, 2nd only to Paige with 9.
No one is arguing Christyn is better than Paige. But she is a heck of a lot better than many fans understand & give her credit for.
Go Huskies..!!
1. In her last 3 games, Christyn has scored 22, 21 and 19 points. That averages 20.6 per game. Paige has averaged 16.6 in the same 3 games.
2. If you throw out the 3 clunker games, CW averages 18.7 points in those other 15 games.
3. In the last 3 games, she is 8-18 from three point range. That's 44.4%..!!
4. Christyn has made at least 2 threes in 11 of her 18 games. She has 3 or more five times.
5. Inside the arc, Williams makes 59.1% of her shots. Paige makes 58.1% inside the arc.
6. In her 601 minutes of play, CW has 36 turnovers. That is only a turnover every 17 minutes.
7. She has scored 20+ points in 6 games, 2nd only to Paige with 9.
No one is arguing Christyn is better than Paige. But she is a heck of a lot better than many fans understand & give her credit for.
Go Huskies..!!
***************************************************
By Phil
I'll let Doggy decide whether the Georgia Tennessee game deserves an UGGY award — the halftime score was 27-19 and I think Tennessee was shooting 13% from the field. That's UGGY territory, but the third quarter wasn't as ugly, so maybe the entire game doesn't meet DD's standards.
I will argue that there were a lot of UGGY moments. I don't want to take away from what was a great game by Connally, but there were some mind-boggling moments.
Georgia entered the fourth quarter with an eight point lead. Could they stay at eight or maybe even extend the margin? No, they gave up seven straight points as part of a nine nothing run by Tennessee. Those things happen, but it's not like Georgia took and missed good shots. Staiti decided to take a three. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of post players taking outside shots if only to keep the defense honest, but you take those shots early, you don't start taking them in the fourth quarter. It wasn't her only deep shot of the quarter, she missed at least one other one. Very bad decision-making. Sadly, it got worse.
I won’t name the player to avoid piling on (or maybe I forgot who it was), but in a very close game Georgia player gets called for a five second call. This happens rarely with good reason. Now, I’ll grant that a five second call can occur because of impressive suffocating defense, that’s not what happened. Whomever had the ball just kept looking around and couldn’t seem to make a decision and finally the ref had to call it.
Then there’s the time the Georgia player tried to get too cute. Circus plays make highlight reels when they work, but you better make sure it works. This was a two-fer blunder. Georgia player is heading into the paint, and without looking, decides to flip the ball to a teammate behind her. There were two problems. First, her teammate wasn’t right behind her, there was a Tennessee player between the two of them, so the play didn’t have a chance. Second, there was one second on the shot clock when she decided to try the circus pass. Guards need to have a shot clock in their head, and you can’t be initiating a backwards, no look pass behind you with one second on the shot clock. Possessions are critical in this close game and you just throw away another one.
The technical foul by Morrison wasn’t too bright. It ended up being a double technical, but it was Morrison’s fourth, so she had to sit. You’re a 91% free-throw shooter you need to be in the game.
Before going to more of the boneheaded plays, let's talk about why it's a one-point game. Georgia was seven for 18 from the free-throw line. That's a dismal field-goal percentage but we need new words for how bad it is to leave 11 points at the free-throw line. When I saw the percentage I thought it might even be worse than their field-goal percentage but no, they only hit 33% of the field goals. As sad as that was it was four points better than Tennessee.
With 23 seconds left in the game, Tennessee is down by two and runs a play. the ball goes to Davis who drives the lane. Davis has 22 points so this is looking like an excellent decision. As Davis is driving the lane, she inexplicably tries a wraparound tough pass to Key, but it is way off-target The ball is tied up and its Georgia ball.
Now Georgia is in the driver seat. There are 13 seconds left in the game, Georgia has the lead and is inbounding. Tennessee only has three fouls, so has to foul twice to put Georgia on the line. You have two good options. Pass it in to a fast guard who might be able to run off three or four seconds before getting fouled. Rinse and repeat, and you might be down to six or seven seconds when you go to the free-throw line. Or you can pass it into a post who ought to be in a good position to catch an okay inbounds pass who immediately should outlet it to a guard who can run around a bit before getting fouled. You can go to anyone the first time but the second time you want to inbound to a good free-throw shooter.
Georgia decided to inbound to Stati. Not a bad option except she just stood there, and they tied her up. Now instead of Georgia in the driver seat, it's Tennessee ball! Georgia had the game won and almost threw it away. Luckily for Georgia, Tennessee inbound the ball, and Davis went for a three, but it was very short. Georgia rebounds, game over.
Georgia sweeps Tennessee for the first time since 1985, a long time before anybody on the court was born.
Georgia gets the win but they definitely did not deserve it.
***************************************************
Ok, it's a rare occasion that I give out multiple UGGY awards. But the Tennessee loss to Georgia 57-55 deserves several.
The first one I'll give out is to Georgia for a terrible first half against Tennessee. The Bulldogs shot 11-35 from the field for 31%, 2-11 on threes for 18.1%, 3-9 from the FT line for 33% and they had 10 turnovers. And they only managed 27 points.
The second is for maybe the WORST HALF TIME STATS ever. I really mean it EVER. The Lady Vols were 4-31 from the field for 12.9%, 0-6 on threes, and 11 turnovers. They only scored 19 points but 11 of those were from the free throw line. Disgusting showing.
The final UGGY is being awarded to Tennessee for their overall game.
The Lady Vols shot 28.8% from the field, 15.4% on threes and 20 turnovers.
It's hard to believe that these two teams are in the Top 25. Tennessee should stay there on the virtue of their win over South Carolina. But this game put WCBB back several years, maybe to the stone age based on the bricks tossed up.
Blech, but congrats to these two team, setting the pace for UGGY excellence!
***************************************************
No. 2 South Carolina 76 No. 17 Kentucky 55 - No. 17 Kentucky lost at No. 2 South Carolina on Sunday. The taller Gamecocks outrebounded the Cats 49-30 in the game. Included in that number were 20 offensive rebounds for South Carolina, which led to 18 second chance points. Both teams came out cold, with South Carolina missing its first six shots and Kentucky missing its first four. South Carolina would lead 14-12 at the end of the first quarter. Kentucky took the lead back early in the second period on a three by Massengill. South Carolina scored the next 10 points to lead 24-15. South Carolina went on an 8-2 run to take a 32-21 lead. Near the end of the half, Howard got hot, hitting consecutive threes that were part of a 9-2 run to close the half. South Carolina would lead 34-30 at the break. The Gamecocks scored the first four points of the third quarter and went on a 9-2 run to lead 43-32. From there, the lead would stay between nine and 11 points until South Carolina scored five in a row to grab a 54-40 lead late in the third quarter. Kentucky would get a layup from Patterson with 33 seconds left in the period but just before the horn sounded, Cooke hit a three to give South Carolina a 57-42 lead after three periods. The Cats would score the first four points of the final period on a Tatyana Wyatt jumper and a pair of Howard free throws, cutting the deficit to 57-46. South Carolina answered with a Destanni Henderson three, starting a 9-0 run that put the game away.
No. 3 Louisville 59 Florida State 69 - Morgan Jones scored 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as Florida State stunned No. 3 Louisville on Sunday. Jones shot 7 of 13 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the free-throw line for the Seminoles. Kourtney Weber scored 14 as the Seminoles used a 9-0 run in the fourth period to pull in front and hold on for the victory, which was critical toward improving their NCAA Tournament prospects. Dana Evans had 13 points, 10 in the second half, but shot just 5 of 21 for Louisville. Olivia Cochran had 12 points and nine rebounds. Valencia Myers fouled out but had nine points and seven rebounds for Florida State, which improved to 7-1 at home. Louisville shot just 21 of 60 (35 percent) from the floor and 3 of 20 (15 percent) from 3-point range. Florida State also had its struggles from the floor, making just 19 of 60 (31.7 percent) of its shots and 3 of 13 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range. But the Seminoles made Louisville pay by going 27 of 38 (71.1 percent) at the free-throw line.
No. 4 North Carolina State 82 North Carolina 63 - Jakia Brown-Turner scored a career-high 25 points and fourth-ranked North Carolina State avenged a loss earlier this month by beating rival North Carolina 82-63 on Sunday. Elissa Cunane added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Wolfpack who led by double figures much of the way. The Tar Heels got no closer than eight after halftime and spent the entire afternoon trying to climb back after a cold-shooting first half. The Tar Heels had beaten the Wolfpack 76-69 at home exactly two weeks earlier. This time, though, the Tar Heels missed their first 16 3-pointers until Petra Holesinska finally connected on one late in the third quarter. Freshman Deja Kelly scored 14 points to lead the Tar Heels, who shot just 35% and made 5 of 24 3s on the afternoon.
No. 5 Texas A&M 66 Ole Miss 55 - Kayla Wells had 18 points and eight rebounds and No. 5 Texas A&M rode a dominant fourth quarter to a 66-55 victory over Mississippi on Sunday. The Aggies won their eighth straight game, but the Rebels kept it competitive into the fourth, trailing just 44-39. Then it was all Texas A&M. Wells only shot 5 of 16 from the floor but made 7 of 8 free throws. Aaliyah Wilson had a huge all-around game. Wilson had 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and six steals. Jordan Nixon scored nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter when Texas A&M led by as many as 15. Shakira Austin got her fifth straight double double to lead Ole Miss. She had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Zaay Green and Jordan Nixon helped turn it into a comfortable win. Green hit the Aggies’ first three baskets of the fourth — and her first three in the game. Nixon hit three straight layups and a free throw in a quick nine-point Texas A&M flurry, over a span of just 1:49. Johnson's putback with 2 seconds left in the third quarter gave Texas A&M a 44-39 lead after the Rebels had erased most of a 10-point deficit.
No. 7 Baylor 77 Oklahoma 66 - DiJonai Carrington scored 19 points, and No. 7 Baylor broke away from a halftime tie to beat Oklahoma on Sunday. Moon Ursin had 17 points and NaLyssa Smith added 16 for the Lady Bears. Madi Williams scored 21 points and Gabby Gregory added 19 for Oklahoma (8-10, 5-8), which was coming off impressive back-to-back wins over Iowa State and West Virginia. Taylor Robertson finished with 11 points for the Sooners, but Baylor's DiDi Richards hounded her and made it tough for her to get shots off. Robertson, one of the nation's best 3-point shooters and Oklahoma's No. 3 scorer for the season with 15.1 points per game, made 4 of 9 field goals in the game and 3 of 7 3-pointers. Baylor led 30-20 in the second quarter before Oklahoma went on a 10-0 run to tie the score. The Sooners took the lead on a 3-pointer by Skylar Vann and stretched their advantage to 40-32 before Baylor answered with a 10-0 run. Williams' jumper from near the free-throw line at the halftime buzzer tied the game at 42. Williams scored 16 in the first half for Oklahoma and Carrington scored 16 before the break for Baylor. Oklahoma shot 58% in the first half against a Baylor squad that entered the day leading the nation in field goal percentage defense. Baylor scored the first six points of the second half, and Oklahoma called a timeout. The Sooners went scoreless for nearly 3 1/2 minutes to start the third quarter, and Baylor slowly took control. The Lady Bears led 61-53 at the end of the third quarter and led by double digits for most of the fourth.
No. 8 UCLA 64 Oregon State 71 - Oregon State got a big win to help their NCAA women’s basketball tournament chances Sunday afternoon as the Beavers stunned No. 8 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. The Beavers outscored UCLA 20-12 during the fourth quarter to pull out the win. Aleah Goodman had 20 points, seven rebounds and nine assists to lead Oregon State. Taylor Jones had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and freshman Talia von Oelhoffen scored 13 points for the Beavers. Michaela Onyenwere scored 21 points to lead UCLA. Oregon State outscored UCLA by 10 points during the second quarter to take a 36-31 halftime lead. UCLA led 18-13 after the first quarter, but OSU scored the first seven points of the second quarter to take the lead. Jones got it going underneath the basket, with eight points and six boards, before having to sit the final six minutes of the second quarter in foul trouble. Oregon State led by as many as eight points in the second quarter. The Beavers out-rebounded UCLA 24-19 during the first half. UCLA got as close as 40-39 early in the third. Mack gave OSU a 57-54 lead on a corner three-pointer, only to have Osborne tie it with a top-of-the-key three. A von Oelhoffen three-pointer and a free throw by Jones put OSU up 61-57 with 4:45 remaining. UCLA later cut the deficit to two, but Goodman drained a three-pointer with 1:30 left to put the Beavers up 66-61. The Beavers were able to put the game away at the free throw line during the final minute.
No. 11 Michigan 75 No. 15 Ohio State 66 - Naz Hillmon scored 27 points and No. 11 Michigan defeated No. 15 Ohio State 75-66 on Sunday to split the season series. Amy Dilk had 13 points and six assists, Akienreh Johnson scored 12 points. Hillmon, who came in as the third-leading scorer in the nation at 25.9 points per game and averaging 11.7 rebounds, was 11-of-16 shooting with eight boards. The Wolverines won the boards and outscored the Buckeyes 44-26 in the paint. Michigan led by 15 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining when Ohio State went on a 9-0 run before Hillmon scored on a putback. Free throws carried the Wolverines the rest of the way. The Wolverines led by three at halftime. Hillmon scored eight points to lead a third-quarter surge, Michigan outscoring the Buckeyes 24-11. Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes with 16 points. Droka Juhasz had 12 rebounds. Kateri Poole had 14 points with six assists.
No. 13 Oregon 72 USC 48 - Oregon nailed 12 threes to account for the difference in a 72-48 win over the Trojans at Galen Center. Oregon's eight first-half 3-pointers were the difference as the Ducks led it 39-25 by halftime. USC had knocked down a pair of threes to that point and was shooting 42 percent from the floor, which wasn't enough to catch the Ducks, who were at 50 percent in those first 20 minutes. USC was led offensively by Alissa Pili's 14 points along with nine from Angel Jackson. Endyia Rogers provided five assists and had seven rebounds. Oregon had four players finish in double digits — Sydney Parrish (17 points), Erin Boley (11), Nyara Sabally (11) and Sedona Prince (11). USC had the game snarled up at 14-14 after back-to-back buckets from Angel Jackson, only to see Oregon scored six straight points to snatch back the advantage. By the end of the first, the Ducks were up 21-16. And despite two early scores from Jordan Sanders, Oregon found four more 3-pointers in the second — two of which came in a 10-0 scoring surge for the Ducks. That put USC behind 34-20 with 5:05 on the clock, and by halftime Oregon gripped a 39-25 lead on the Trojans. USC and Oregon were in stride again in the third until the Trojans made a 6-0 surge featuring a couple nice jumpers from Jordan Sanders, making it 47-35 with 3:25 on the clock. Again the Ducks answered back, closing out the third with seven straight points to lead it 54-35 entering the fourth, where Oregon remained in control en route to the final 72-48 decision.
No. 18 Arkansas 74 LSU 64 - Destiny Slocum scored 29 points, Chelsea Dungee added 20 more and No. 18 Arkansas rolled past LSU on Sunday night. Makayla Daniels, Slocum and Dungee drained 3-pointers back-to-back-back as Arkansas made its first three shots and led the entire game. LSU missed four of its first five and trailed by 10 after a quarter. The Tigers, who trailed by as many as 22 after halftime, rallied to within eight, 72-64, on a Khayla Pointer 3-pointer off the fast break with 15 seconds left. LSU outscored Arkansas 18-14 in the final quarter as the Razorbacks were held to 3-of-9 shooting in the quarter; 0 of 4 from distance. Pointer led LSU with 24 points and Jailin Cherry added 16 with nine rebounds. The Tigers, despite forcing 11 Arkansas turnovers, managed to get 11 points from them. Meanwhile, Arkansas scored 18 off as many LSU turnovers and had 12 steals to LSU's four. Slocum had four steals, Dungee and Jailyn Mason three each.
No. 21 Tennessee 55 No. 22 Georgia 57 - Tennessee failed to capitalize on its chances in the final minute in a 57-55 loss at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. It's the Lady Bulldogs' first season sweep of Tennessee since 1984-85. After a excellent defensive stand with around 11 seconds left, forcing alternating possession on a Georgia inbound, Tennessee got the ball to Rennia Davis. Her 3-point attempt was partially blocked, falling into the arms of a Georgia defender as the clock expired. Davis scored 22 points to lead UT on Sunday. The Lady Vols rallied from a 12-point deficit in Thursday's loss to South Carolina. After Davis scored in Tennessee’s first possession, the Lady Vols went on an 0-for-10 streak in the first quarter. The Lady Vols made 4 of 31 shots through the first 20 minutes of play. Gabby Connally had eight points through the first two halves of play. She more than doubled her scoring output in the third quarter alone, putting up 10 points in 10 minutes. The Lady Vols went on a 9-0 run from the end of the third quarter to the start of the fourth, cutting Georgia's lead to 47-46, Connally drained a 3-pointer with about seven minutes to play. It gave Georgia a two-possession lead that it was able to maintain till the end.
UCONN LINKS
Sorry if some links need a subscription
********************************************
Message Boards
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else
I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:
No comments:
Post a Comment