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I'd like to give Evina Westbrook a little love here. She has been a great addition to this UConn roster. Her demeanor has been a calming influence on the younger players on the team and her leadership has taken some of that pressure off of their two juniors, Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa allowing them to focus on just playing.
I don't want to go into her history with Tennessee and injuries other to say that it's been a tough go for her.
What I'd like to address is her future at UConn. I'm sure most of you know that she is a RS junior, and she has another season at UConn if she wants in 2021-22. And I know for sure that many would like her back, mostly her teammates and the coaching staff. However, I'm not sure that is going to happen.
This reminds me of the Morgan Tuck situation. Morgan had another year to go if she wanted to come back but she also was eligible for the WNBA draft. I'm sure the thought process that Morgan went through is the same as what Evina will go through. She will weight her pluses and minuses on both side of the ledger.
For Morgan, I believe it came down to how many years did she have left to play on her bad knee. One more year in college is one less year in the pros. Once she found out she would be drafted as high as she was (No. 3) it was a no brainer. She is now going into her sixth season and is a solid role player. Her physical limitations have prevented her from doing more than that.
I've now seen two WNBA mock drafts, this one had her at No. 8, the ESPN mock draft had her at No. 12.
My guess is if Geno shares information he got that says she will be a first round draft pick, Evina will be leaving for greener pastures. And we should all wish her the best.
Hopefully she helps deliver a National Championship to the Huskies and can leave with a smile on her face.
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No game impacted by Covid-19.
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By David in Naples
The one negative in UConn's 51 point victory over Xavier last Saturday was the Huskies' three point shooting. UConn went 3-17 or 18%. As bad as that was, Xavier was worse, going 0-16. I believe that would be 0%. But the bad 3 pt shooting is surfacing everywhere in Women's College Basketball. Consider the games from last night:
1. South Carolina won, but went 4-11 from three range. That is 36%.
2. Louisville lost to FSU and shot 3-20 or 15% from long range.
3. Florida State was only a bit better at 3-13 or 23%.
4. Baylor won, but shot a dismal 3-12 or 25% from beyond the arc.
5. Tennessee won an Uggy from Doggy for shooting 2-13 or 15% from deep.
For the season, UConn is now 133-379 from three point range. That is a respectable 35%. However, Paige really helps that number with her 53.7% on 44-82 shooting. In order to go deep in the NCAA tournament, the top teams will need to improve their 3 point shooting. Hitting 15%-20% of your long range shots will certainly be a ticket to go home early.
Go Huskies.!!
1. South Carolina won, but went 4-11 from three range. That is 36%.
2. Louisville lost to FSU and shot 3-20 or 15% from long range.
3. Florida State was only a bit better at 3-13 or 23%.
4. Baylor won, but shot a dismal 3-12 or 25% from beyond the arc.
5. Tennessee won an Uggy from Doggy for shooting 2-13 or 15% from deep.
For the season, UConn is now 133-379 from three point range. That is a respectable 35%. However, Paige really helps that number with her 53.7% on 44-82 shooting. In order to go deep in the NCAA tournament, the top teams will need to improve their 3 point shooting. Hitting 15%-20% of your long range shots will certainly be a ticket to go home early.
Go Huskies.!!
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By Phil
Ever wondered about Centenary's women's basketball history? Okay, probably not, but you also know by now that I like to discuss some subjects that are a little off the beaten path.
I decided to look into Centenary University. I knew almost nothing about this school before starting this research. Frankly, the only thing I knew about the school was remembering their name in connection with long winless streaks. I took a quick glance at the NCAA page, and see that they've been in Division I and III over the years, so I thought I'd look into them.
Of course, I started by checking out their Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenary_College_of_Louisiana
I did not know that they were the alma mater of Robert Parish — now there is a basketball name! (Also Hal Sutton for you golfers)
They were a Division I team in 1981 – 82 and had a record of 10–3. That sounds decent until you look a little closer. The first victory was two point victory in overtime against Ouachita Baptist. That school is now a division II school, has never been Division I, and isn't even in the NCAA record books for 1981 – 82. That game is the rule, not the exception. I'm not sure how they qualified as a Division I team as I don't see an opponent on the schedule that is a Division I school. They even played Tyler Junior College twice (and lost by 37 once!).
They are also listed as a Division I school in 1982 – 83 when they went 8 – 21. Most of their opponents except Xavier University were not Division I.
I don't know what happened between then and the 1997 – 98 year. The NCAA has no record. My guess is that they continue to play basketball but in an organization not recognized by the NCAA.
They returned to basketball in 1997 as a Division III school. They did fine with a 22 – 5 record. They even beat St. Joe's of Brooklyn by a score of 87 – 8. The records are hand written and I wondered if it was a typo. However, the record books lists this game as their largest margin of victory, so somebody thinks it was a real score.
There is no record of them in the 98-99 year, I have no idea what they did that year.
They decided to go Division I in 1999 – 00. I'd like to hear a recording of the committee meeting where that decision was made. Division I wasn't kind to Centenary. They went 0– 28.
They lost to Lamar University 58 – 47 which is notable for being their closest shot at a victory. Missouri beat them 111 – 31.
Despite this record, they managed to persuade both Texas and Texas A&M to play them the following year. They did better, if you can say 0 – 27 means you had one fewer loss. Actually, they did better, as they took Texas Pan-American to overtime. They also lost to University of California Riverside by one point. The matchup with Texas was good for attendance with 4484 in the stands, but those spectators saw Texas win 135 – 37. I'm sure the main interest of the fans was whether Texas could win by triple digits.
They changed coaches in 2001. The new coach David Winkler ended up with a 9 – 19 record. not a record many coaches would write home about but it included the first victory over a Division I team in their history. I initially thought their win over Gardner Webb qualified but Gardner Webb was a Division II team that year. They did beat Morris Brown who was a Division I team that year having transitioned from division II the year before so that technically qualifies, although you'd have to be a very serious student of basketball to even know that Morris Brown briefly had a Division I team. Frankly, I never heard of the school before today.
David Winkler's team slipped a bit the next year going 8 – 20, but then fell apart in 2003 – 04, going 4 – 23. in his defense, the schedule seems to have some real Division I teams.
The school decided that 4 wins wasn't enough and changed coaches, putting Elizabeth Wamsley into the head-coaching job. It didn't go well. After beating LeTourneau, a division III team, in their opening game, they lost the next 25. They did lose to Sam Houston State by only two.
Let's skip forward a few years – years in which the best win total was five.
In 2010 – 11, they hired Kristin Davis who didn't start out well going 1 – 24 in her first year. I assume the school finally saw the handwriting on the wall, and the school transitioned to Division III. That helped them improve their record to 9 – 18. However, the transition to Division III wasn't enough — they only recorded five wins the next year and then the wheels fell off.
In 2013 – 14, they went winless, with 24 losses. They followed that up with another winless season, with 24 losses again in 2014 – 15.
They changed coaches in 2015 and again in 2016 and managed to win some games but they were well under 500. The NCAA site doesn't have any records after 2017 – 18, but the school website suggests they went 15 – 11 in 2019 – 20. I think that's their first winning record in history. However, I don't see any signs that they are playing this season.
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No. 6 Stanford vs No. 10 Arizona - 9:00 Tip off
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Nice to see Westbrook get a a little of the spotlight. She has been a great glue player this year and really is the heart and soul of the team. She has also done a great job of letting the game come to her and mentoring you get players.
ReplyDeleteI think she leaves because the draft is really thin this year talent-wise vs next year. Yes, she needs more rehab and more game time but why not get paid to do those things?
I am glad we are finally getting to see her play and contribute and I Would love to see her stay, but her buddy left U Conn last year and she will follow the same path to the pros.
Phil, I think Xavier University that Centenary played is in New Orleans, not Ohio.
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