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WBB - Final Four General - WBB fan - 03-30-2022
Seems to me we need a thread that deals with the entire final four, not just the Friday Stanford-U Conn game for which we have a great thread going
Heading off, an article from yesterday's NY Times about all four teams
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/sports/ncaabasketball/final-four-womens-ncaa-basketball-tournament.html
RE: WBB - Final Four General - 81alum - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 01:35 PM)WBB fan Wrote: Seems to me we need a thread that deals with the entire final four, not just the Friday Stanford-U Conn game for which we have a great thread going
Heading off, an article from yesterday's NY Times about all four teams
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/sports/ncaabasketball/final-four-womens-ncaa-basketball-tournament.html
That is a fair, if not particularly insightful, article--talking about the reputations of the teams but no talk about basketball Xs and Os.
Everyone keeps talking about how tall we are. But Belibi and Jones--who usually play inside--are only 6'1", certainly not tall for where they play. Brink is 6'4" but in a position where we often come up against 6'5" to 6'7" players. Wilson is undersized at 5'9". Only Lacie and Lexie might be considered tall for their positions at 6'1" but not excessively so. Where is all this talk of how tall we are coming from?
RE: WBB - Final Four General - teejers1 - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 03:03 PM)81alum Wrote:(03-30-2022, 01:35 PM)WBB fan Wrote: Seems to me we need a thread that deals with the entire final four, not just the Friday Stanford-U Conn game for which we have a great thread going
Heading off, an article from yesterday's NY Times about all four teams
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/sports/ncaabasketball/final-four-womens-ncaa-basketball-tournament.html
That is a fair, if not particularly insightful, article--talking about the reputations of the teams but no talk about basketball Xs and Os.
Everyone keeps talking about how tall we are. But Belibi and Jones--who usually play inside--are only 6'1", certainly not tall for where they play. Brink is 6'4" but in a position where we often come up against 6'5" to 6'7" players. Wilson is undersized at 5'9". Only Lacie and Lexie might be considered tall for their positions at 6'1" but not excessively so. Where is all this talk of how tall we are coming from?
Maybe the article is conflating "tall" with Jay Bilas's favorite term "long."
I do think Brink, the Hulls, and even Belibi are long. Impressive wingspans.
ESPN also had an article on the FF and how each team's path to cutting down the nets. I loved the comment attributed to Louisville's coach ("If we can score 70, we should be all right"). They are not scoring 70 against South Carolina. But Louisville could still prevail in an ugly, defensive struggle. Second chance points - and Boston cleaning up in the post generally - are Louisville's biggest concerns. But man, are they scrappy. They will fight you to the end. I'm interested in that game, too (and not just because I hope Stanford plays the winner).
As for Stanford-UConn, I've been secretly harboring a hope that UConn is not "all that" on D, and that Stanford could win in an offensive fireworks display. But Stanford hasn't been striping it from distance, and specifically, Jump has not gone off on a flurry of treys (4 of 5, for example) in the tourney. Friday would be a great time for that!
RE: WBB - Final Four General - DaBears17 - 03-30-2022
Melissa Barlow and Dee Kantner (who at times drives UConn fans crazy) are in the pool of officials for the Final Four.
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee names game officials for 2022 Women's Final Four | NCAA.com
RE: WBB - Final Four General - Jskass - 03-30-2022
presumably Pac-12 refs cannot ref a game in which we play?
RE: WBB - Final Four General - WBB fan - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 05:27 PM)Jskass Wrote: presumably Pac-12 refs cannot ref a game in which we play?
Not the case if past final fours are any indication. Missy has reffed at least one FF game we were in (I recall in particular, 2009 semi vs UConn)
RE: WBB - Final Four General - CompSci87 - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 06:29 PM)WBB fan Wrote:(03-30-2022, 05:27 PM)Jskass Wrote: presumably Pac-12 refs cannot ref a game in which we play?
Not the case if past final fours are any indication. Missy has reffed at least one FF game we were in (I recall in particular, 2009 semi vs UConn)
Also, WBB refs aren't exclusively employed by any particular conference. Most ref games in more than one conference even in the regular season.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - 81alum - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 04:35 PM)DaBears17 Wrote: Melissa Barlow and Dee Kantner (who at times drives UConn fans crazy) are in the pool of officials for the Final Four.This news is not quite as bad as learning of some last minute injury to a key player.
NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee names game officials for 2022 Women's Final Four | NCAA.com
RE: WBB - Final Four General - skip75 - 03-30-2022
Quote:Geno was on Pardon The Interruption today. When asked what concerned him about Stanford, the first thing he said was, "They're the longest team we've played all year long." Another interesting comment from him was that people usually say that UConn opponents need some help from UConn to beat them in the Final 4, but that this year he thinks that UConn will need help from Stanford in order to win.Quote:Everyone keeps talking about how tall we are. But Belibi and Jones--who usually play inside--are only 6'1", certainly not tall for where they play. Brink is 6'4" but in a position where we often come up against 6'5" to 6'7" players. Wilson is undersized at 5'9". Only Lacie and Lexie might be considered tall for their positions at 6'1" but not excessively so. Where is all this talk of how tall we are coming from?
Maybe the article is conflating "tall" with Jay Bilas's favorite term "long."
I do think Brink, the Hulls, and even Belibi are long. Impressive wingspans.
triangle2 - triangle2 - 03-30-2022
(03-30-2022, 06:36 PM)CompSci87 Wrote:(03-30-2022, 06:29 PM)WBB fan Wrote:(03-30-2022, 05:27 PM)Jskass Wrote: presumably Pac-12 refs cannot ref a game in which we play?
Not the case if past final fours are any indication. Missy has reffed at least one FF game we were in (I recall in particular, 2009 semi vs UConn)
Also, WBB refs aren't exclusively employed by any particular conference. Most ref games in more than one conference even in the regular season.
Notably, Kantner reffed the Texas game; it was her offensive foul call against Lacie that caused the biggest ref reaction from Coach VanDerveer in years. It had been my sense up until the Texas game that in this year’s tournament, refs are calling a lot of discretionary touch fouls. I was starting to feel like the physical play of the Pac-12 has finally caught up to what is normally experienced in the tournament (i.e. the ‘let them play’ mentality).
But I have been rewatching the Texas game (sometimes in slow motion) and am recoiling in horror at all the overt playground cheap shots that Texas got away with. Tripping, shoving, hooking, elbowing, arm pulling. But this team gets shoved to the ground, and then gets back up and keeps winning. (Cue Chumbawamba…)
RE: WBB - Final Four General - crackpot - 03-31-2022
(03-30-2022, 06:29 PM)WBB fan Wrote:(03-30-2022, 05:27 PM)Jskass Wrote: presumably Pac-12 refs cannot ref a game in which we play?
Not the case if past final fours are any indication. Missy has reffed at least one FF game we were in (I recall in particular, 2009 semi vs UConn)
Yes, and last year, Brenda Pantoja did the championship game, and Cheryl Flores did the semi-final. Probably why both games allowed a lot of contact.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - DaBears17 - 03-31-2022
Team press conferences for Final Four:
Press Conference: Women's Final Four - Games 1 and 2 Preview - 2022 NCAA Tournament - YouTube
RE: WBB - Final Four General - BosCard - 03-31-2022
I tend to think of the final four teams as 3 primarily defense oriented teams (SC, Louisville, Stanford) and one offense oriented team (UConn). It will be an interesting contrast of styles but my money is on a defensive team winning. I think that is where the game is evolving to, namely defense and rebounding wins championships (Stanford ‘21, Baylor ‘19, South Carolina ‘17). I think some of the UConn dominating runs had both the best offense and defense. A possible exception to this could have been Oregon in ‘20 if there had been a championship.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - 81alum - 03-31-2022
(03-31-2022, 11:10 AM)BosCard Wrote: I tend to think of the final four teams as 3 primarily defense oriented teams (SC, Louisville, Stanford) and one offense oriented team (UConn). It will be an interesting contrast of styles but my money is on a defensive team winning. I think that is where the game is evolving to, namely defense and rebounding wins championships (Stanford ‘21, Baylor ‘19, South Carolina ‘17). I think some of the UConn dominating runs had both the best offense and defense. A possible exception to this could have been Oregon in ‘20 if there had been a championship.You may be correct with the eye test.
However, Massey's formula has UConn as the 3rd best defensive team and Stanford as the 4th, with Stanford being the 6th best offensive team and UConn the 9th. South Carolina is the #1 defensive team but only the 17th best offense. Louisville is the 7th best defense and the 13th best offense.
By that accounting Stanford has the best offense at the final four and the third best defense.
UConn has the 2nd best offense and the 2nd best defense.
Both offenses would have a slight edge over both defenses if you believe the Massey computers.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - martyup - 03-31-2022
(03-31-2022, 11:06 AM)DaBears17 Wrote: Team press conferences for Final Four:
Geno laments that "you can't coach anymore" alluding to the fact that the transfer portal has hampered his ability to push his players hard in practice. I'll bet that Tara hasn't experienced that same diminution in her ability to coach in her preferred style.
When asked about why the UCONN vs Stanford annual game stopped happening, he hinted that we reneged on our home-and-home agreement and "chickened out" by not traveling to UCONN in 2017 to play them.
He also arrogantly proclaims that no top player has ever left his program and done well at another top tier program and "it's not going to happen."
RE: WBB - Final Four General - old spanish trail - 03-31-2022
(03-30-2022, 04:01 PM)teejers1 Wrote:(03-30-2022, 03:03 PM)81alum Wrote:(03-30-2022, 01:35 PM)WBB fan Wrote: Seems to me we need a thread that deals with the entire final four, not just the Friday Stanford-U Conn game for which we have a great thread going
Heading off, an article from yesterday's NY Times about all four teams
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/sports/ncaabasketball/final-four-womens-ncaa-basketball-tournament.html
That is a fair, if not particularly insightful, article--talking about the reputations of the teams but no talk about basketball Xs and Os.
Everyone keeps talking about how tall we are. But Belibi and Jones--who usually play inside--are only 6'1", certainly not tall for where they play. Brink is 6'4" but in a position where we often come up against 6'5" to 6'7" players. Wilson is undersized at 5'9". Only Lacie and Lexie might be considered tall for their positions at 6'1" but not excessively so. Where is all this talk of how tall we are coming from?
Maybe the article is conflating "tall" with Jay Bilas's favorite term "long."
I do think Brink, the Hulls, and even Belibi are long. Impressive wingspans.
ESPN also had an article on the FF and how each team's path to cutting down the nets. I loved the comment attributed to Louisville's coach ("If we can score 70, we should be all right"). They are not scoring 70 against South Carolina. But Louisville could still prevail in an ugly, defensive struggle. Second chance points - and Boston cleaning up in the post generally - are Louisville's biggest concerns. But man, are they scrappy. They will fight you to the end. I'm interested in that game, too (and not just because I hope Stanford plays the winner).
As for Stanford-UConn, I've been secretly harboring a hope that UConn is not "all that" on D, and that Stanford could win in an offensive fireworks display. But Stanford hasn't been striping it from distance, and specifically, Jump has not gone off on a flurry of treys (4 of 5, for example) in the tourney. Friday would be a great time for that!
Jump has not gone off because she hasn't played much. The teams we have played have had good quick guards who give Jump trouble getting open for her shot and also at playing D at this stage of her career. She is quicker now than she was last two years, and hopefully will be even more quick next year.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - DaBears17 - 03-31-2022
(03-31-2022, 12:47 PM)martyup Wrote: When asked about why the UCONN vs Stanford annual game stopped happening, he hinted that we reneged on our home-and-home agreement and "chickened out" by not traveling to UCONN in 2017 to play them.
Anyone know the history of this? We played them in Storrs/Hartford 3 times and in Maples 3 times 2009 to 2014, then in Columbus, OH Nov 2017.
University of Connecticut Athletics Women's Basketball History vs Stanford University (uconnhuskies.com)
RE: WBB - Final Four General - ca245 - 03-31-2022
Don't know the history, but the "chickened out" remark will make good bulletin board material for our team.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - teejers1 - 03-31-2022
(03-31-2022, 02:05 PM)DaBears17 Wrote:(03-31-2022, 12:47 PM)martyup Wrote: When asked about why the UCONN vs Stanford annual game stopped happening, he hinted that we reneged on our home-and-home agreement and "chickened out" by not traveling to UCONN in 2017 to play them.
Anyone know the history of this? We played them in Storrs/Hartford 3 times and in Maples 3 times 2009 to 2014, then in Columbus, OH Nov 2017.
University of Connecticut Athletics Women's Basketball History vs Stanford University (uconnhuskies.com)
Not sure of history/specifics. But 3 and 3 and one neutral seems like a fair breakdown. Maybe UConn feels slighted because the 2017 game was initially set to be in Storrs, and then once it got moved, UConn said no more visits from us.
Regardless, don't think there is a lot of love lost between Geno and Tara (which is okay - competitive coaches don't have to love/admire each other). And I thought Geno's answers were candid across the board, including on the relationship between him and Tara. Also, if you'll note, Tara did not mention UConn as a well-coached team (as she often does with other opponents) in her remarks, and her comments about UConn benefitting from ESPN reporting could be read as a slight of sorts to the coaching staff there. But even Geno admitted that UConn was fortunate to rise to national prominence right when there was a confluence of other factors (more national TV interest, a fantastic championship showdown, etc.).
As for Geno downplaying his team's chances . . . well, that's just coachspeak. He still has most heralded roster and three of the top-rated recruits in the last four years. They should be in FF with that kind of talent (assuming decent coaching and not unduly bad luck).
BTW, on the ratings of the teams on O and D, I suspect those numbers are based on entire season (i.e., when UConn was without Bueckers for an extended period - and other players for smaller number of games). With PB, UConn is much better offensively (and maybe defensively, too, though she doesn't strike me as an excellent defender).
The Stanford-UConn game should be a great one. Just hope the Cardinal doesn't come out tight/puckered. They can win if they play up to their abilities - won't need to play perfectly, but probably will need to play very well.
RE: WBB - Final Four General - JJJ - 04-01-2022
I guess this SI piece belongs here since it talks about all 4 teams (placing Stanford 1st).
Quote:1. Stanford (No. 1 Seed, Spokane Region champion)
The Cardinal have the capability to shape-shift in terms of lineups and style of play in a manner largely unique compared to the other three teams left in the field. They are capable of winning low-scoring games, like they did against Texas in the Elite Eight when they scored just 59 points and committed 20 turnovers, and they are capable of blitzing teams on offense, like what they did against Kansas in the round of 32 when scoring 90 points. They can also withstand star players dealing with foul trouble, like was the case with sophomore forward Cameron Brink playing a combined 41 minutes over the past two games, and find offense from up and down their roster. Of course, all of it could be for naught against a UConn team that is playing some of its best basketball of the season and features a star in Paige Bueckers that is capable of carrying her team to victory (much as she did Monday night against NC State). But Stanford is very much primed to take home its second consecutive title.
https://www.si.com/college/2022/03/31/womens-final-four-power-rankings-stanford-south-carolina