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UCONN 63 MARQUETTE 53
Wow, what a heavyweight battle this game was. UConn did enough to win, dominating the boards in a game that they couldn't hit any outside shots.
There has been a lot of talk about Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwatds, but UConn doesn't win this game without both of these players.
Nelson-Ododa led UConn with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. What an outstanding game when they needed her most.
And Edwards was her usual beast self with 16 points and 8 rebounds, 5 of them off the offensive boards.
Marquette played their hearts out in this game, and I would bet that they win 1 or 2 NCAA games in the tournament. They are just one tough team. Now, the refs helped a little, letting them play the physical game they needed in order to compete with UConn, but still, they were outstanding on defense in this game.
UConn won the battle of the boards against a terrific rebounding team, 43-25 and that was a huge difference maker in this game.
No, I'm not going to mention any other players. The rest of the team really struggled. It's been a long stretch with 5 consecutive road games and then on one days rest, playing the second best team in the conference. Now they get the rest of the week off before playing a weak conference sister. Hopefully the time off and then the adrenaline from a tournament game will reinvigorate the team.
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Congrats to Paige Bueckers! She made the cut and is on the finalist list for the Nancy Lieberman Award for the best point guard.
Here are the five players on the list.
Fr Paige Bueckers - UConn
Sr DiDi Richards - Baylor
Fr Caitlin Clark - Iowa
Sr Aari McDonald - Arizona
RS Sr Tiana Mangakahia - Syracuse
I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure this is the first time that two freshmen are on this finalist list. Amazing.
This could be a tough call for the folks that decide the winner of this award. Let's look at the description of
the award.
The award is given to a player who exemplifies "the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Nancy Lieberman during her career".
To me, that means it's much more than scoring although it does come into play. And all of these players show plenty of floor leadership. Play making? That means assists. And ball handling skills? I would say that assist to turnover ratio might be a good indicator.
Paige Bueckers - 20 games, 20.1 PPG, 130 assists, 49 turnovers, 2.65-1 A/TO
DiDi Richards - 20 games, 7.2 PPG, 140 assists, 44 turnovers, 3.18-1 A/TO
Caitlin Clark - 21 games, 26.8 PPG, 149 assists, 101 turnovers, 1.47-1 A/TO
Aari McDonald - 19 games, 19.4 PPG, 84 assists, 60 turnovers, 1.4-1 A/TO
Tiana Mangakahia - 18 games, 11.6 PPG, 135 assists, 85 turnovers, 1.59 A/TO
To me, it's not really a tough call. Bueckers has the best combination of scoring, play-making, ball handling and it's not mentioned, but scoring as well.
However, I believe they will give it to one of the seniors.
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6'3" Freshman Aaliyah Edwards seems to be a big topic of conversation lately, and deservedly so. She has had a terrific freshman season and has improved as the season has moved on. Her 24 points and 14 rebounds in her last game was a high water mark for Edwards.
And of course, fans love to compare current players to players of the past. I have heard comparisons to Swin Cash, Napheesa Collier, and others. But I think there is a current player that Edwards reminds me of, and if she can have the career that this player is having, UConn would be very lucky.
Ok....enough suspense. Who is this player that I would love to see Edwards emulate?
None other than Baylor's NaLyssa Smith, their 6'2" junior forward. As a freshman, she averaged 8.5 PPG and 5.1 RPG in only 15.3 MPG. She was on the team with some pretty good front court players, so she didn't see a ton of minutes. Edwards has very similar stats averaging 10.2 PPG and 5.3 RPG, but that is in 20.2 MPG.
Both are big and strong but also very mobile. If you haven't seen Smith play (Ok, she killed UConn a couple of times) then you are missing something. One of my favorite non-UConn players.
Last season Smith averaged 14 PPG and 8 RPG as a sophomore. And as a junior this year she is averaging 17.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG.
I'll take that progression in Edwards game in a heartbeat.
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What the hell has happened to DePaul. They started the season slow, losing two of their first three game.
Then they went 12-2, only losing to UConn twice. I think they even were in the Top 20 at one point. But since beating Xavier in a game that was close enough to be a warning on what was to come, they now have lost 3-4 game to end their regular season. Losing to Marquette is not terrible, but they lost to Creighton and then on Monday night they just lost to now 3-16 Butler. To make matters worse, it was a home game and senior night.
I fell for Dough Bruno. It appears he has lost some Blue Demon magic this year. Can they make a statement in the Big East tournament? Doubtful.
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First, my apologies for calling a poster an "idiot" for saying AE is "light years" better than Liv right now. He/she is welcome to have an opinion. I have a different one.
Two points to add to this discussion.
1. Minutes played - Another poster pointed out Liv has played 120 more minutes than Aaliyah and that will skew the stats. Yes, but why would Geno play Liv an average of 5 more minutes per game if AE was so much better? He wouldn't and the playing time would be in AE's favor. There is no doubt AE is improving as the season goes on. Less fouls, more rebounds, slight improvement in assists... She is very versatile in that she can take over for Olivia or play with her. Nika gets 2 fouls, in comes AE. Liv gets 2 quick fouls, in comes AE. That gives Geno lots of flexibility.
I went back and looked at the last 8 games, including South Carolina. Here's AE's and ONO's stats.
* Olivia - 180 minutes of action. 77 points and 60 rebounds.
* Aaliyah - 164 minutes of action. 84 points and 49 rebounds.
Looks pretty even to me.
2. Versatility - Aaliyah gives Geno tremendous versatility. She can come in for Nika or Evina and give the team two bigs, (one low, one high). They don't seem to crowd each other like Napheesa and Azura used to... She also can come in if Liv gets 2 fouls and be the only big. Very handy for Geno to have her coming off the bench.
Let's see how they play tonight against Marquette.
Two points to add to this discussion.
1. Minutes played - Another poster pointed out Liv has played 120 more minutes than Aaliyah and that will skew the stats. Yes, but why would Geno play Liv an average of 5 more minutes per game if AE was so much better? He wouldn't and the playing time would be in AE's favor. There is no doubt AE is improving as the season goes on. Less fouls, more rebounds, slight improvement in assists... She is very versatile in that she can take over for Olivia or play with her. Nika gets 2 fouls, in comes AE. Liv gets 2 quick fouls, in comes AE. That gives Geno lots of flexibility.
I went back and looked at the last 8 games, including South Carolina. Here's AE's and ONO's stats.
* Olivia - 180 minutes of action. 77 points and 60 rebounds.
* Aaliyah - 164 minutes of action. 84 points and 49 rebounds.
Looks pretty even to me.
2. Versatility - Aaliyah gives Geno tremendous versatility. She can come in for Nika or Evina and give the team two bigs, (one low, one high). They don't seem to crowd each other like Napheesa and Azura used to... She also can come in if Liv gets 2 fouls and be the only big. Very handy for Geno to have her coming off the bench.
Let's see how they play tonight against Marquette.
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No. 7 Baylor at Texas - NaLyssa Smith scored 23 points and No. 6 Baylor used a dominant third quarter to build a lead, then had to fight off a late Texas rally to earn a 64-57 victory Monday night that locked up sole possession of the Big 12 title for the Lady Bears. Smith scored eight in the third quarter when Baylor broke open what had a been a close but sloppy game in a rematch of a 25-point Lady Bears win earlier this season. The Lady Bears stretched the lead to as many as 18 points before Texas rallied midway through the fourth quarter, when Baylor piled up foul trouble. Smith made two 3-pointers in the fourth, the second one giving the Lady Bears a 60-47 lead with just under 3 minutes left.
No. 25 DePaul 81 Butler 86 - No. 25/23 DePaul ran into a hot-shooting Butler team on Monday that put a damper on Senior Day as the Blue Demons came up short 86-81 at Wintrust Arena. Deja Church led the Blue Demons with her second double-double of the season---20 points and 12 rebounds while also adding five assists and five steals. The 12 rebounds tied a career high. Lexi Held also scored 20 points and also tied a career high with seven steals. Jorie Allen scored a career-high 18 points with six boards while Darrione Rogers contributed 13 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Butler was shooting nearly 58 percent after three quarters including 50 percent from behind the arc by five early in the fourth quarter. Church answered with a three-point play and followed up with a pair of free throws to tie it 73-73. But the visiting team retook the lead by two at the fourth quarter media timeout. A clutch Held three knotted it up at 76-76 until the Bulldogs matched her shot. Church scored to bring her team within 79-78 but the Bulldogs went on a 5-1 run to lead 84-79 with 1:35 left. Church scored again, but that was the closest DePaul would get.
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Caitlin Clark's numbers look better than the others, including Paige's. Aren't points per game a measure of scoring?
ReplyDeleteRuth, assist to turnover is more important that points per game, or any other stat for the NL award. Caitlin Clark's a/t is Not Good at all. I think if they're going to go with a senior, Didi Richards is likely to get it. Otherwise, it's Paige, all the way! Of course, all this is just my (humble) opinion.
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