[treetop11]

Our team is so dumb. We have to play faster on O rather than run down the clock, especially late in the game when trailing, move, move the ball, shoot!

Respectfully requesting that you cool it with the "dumb," "piss poor," etc. We'd all like to have seen that game go differently, and yes, it's particularly frustrating that at times it felt winnable. Oregon is a great team, but as others have pointed out, we had ill-advised shots and some that just weren't falling, and we didn't capitalize as well as we could have on the few holes that did show up in their defense. That said, there is no quit in this team. They've clawed their way back in other games, and while it wasn't enough today, I loved seeing Ashten stepping up big and knocking down threes when we were down late, Lexie keep shooting even when things hadn't been going her way, and Ki scrapping out on the floor for essentially the entire game.

Looking forward to these Arizona schools and grateful that we have a team of incredible young women—and their talented coaches—who play their hearts out for our entertainment. Time to dust themselves off and get back to it.

Sorry but can't sugar coat what is obvious - that's burying your head in the sand. In defense of our MBB team, I stated on TOS that I judge our teams by being competitive - win or lose. Our guys have no McD AAs and far, far less depth, yet they truly have fought much harder and been in every game but one to #1 Kansas (and we played a good second half in that). I don't see the morale win by losing "only" by 8 that some do, nor the fight to the end. Oregon dominated the whole game an at the end, they knew they had it hand and took their foot off the gas. When we cut the lead to 5, a tougher squad would have erased that margin or kept it that close to the end. 
The disappointing part was that Oregon didn't really play that well - they were there for the taking. And with a large home crowd who could have provided the team energy, the team didn't provide energy and yes did dumb stuff - it's nothing short of dumb to throw a pass for example to a spot where not just on but two opposing players are much closer than your own. Most of our TOs were these dumb passes or shot misses that good players and good teams don't miss. So the home court crowd never had much of a chance to get into it and provide the type of hostile environment that we had in Eugene which can cause some pressure on the other team. As Tara said in her press conference, the team didn't hold up its end of the bargain.
Of course, this loss isn't the end of the world or the season for the team, and Oregon is a better team even if we had Carrington and Jones. Their top three are better than anybody we have and after that, their other players are on par with ours, other Kiana. But it goes back to being competitive. We weren't; many times our girls simply didn't hustle or go hard after loose balls. If Ionescu hadn't been ill and had a long day, she cold have gone for 40. As #4 playing #3 at home on the big stage, even if the opponent was better, the game should have see-sawed back and forth even if we eventually lost or lost by 8. I can eliminate the word piss, but the performance was still poor. And I'll bet that our players think the same, not that it was some kind of "victory" to end up only losing by 8. Hopefully, the loss will inspire them to do better and play harder moving ahead and get a shot to avenge the defeats in the P12 tournament.

[treetop11]

Our team is so dumb. We have to play faster on O rather than run down the clock, especially late in the game when trailing, move, move the ball, shoot!

Respectfully requesting that you cool it with the "dumb," "piss poor," etc. We'd all like to have seen that game go differently, and yes, it's particularly frustrating that at times it felt winnable. Oregon is a great team, but as others have pointed out, we had ill-advised shots and some that just weren't falling, and we didn't capitalize as well as we could have on the few holes that did show up in their defense. That said, there is no quit in this team. They've clawed their way back in other games, and while it wasn't enough today, I loved seeing Ashten stepping up big and knocking down threes when we were down late, Lexie keep shooting even when things hadn't been going her way, and Ki scrapping out on the floor for essentially the entire game.

Looking forward to these Arizona schools and grateful that we have a team of incredible young women—and their talented coaches—who play their hearts out for our entertainment. Time to dust themselves off and get back to it.

Sorry but can't sugar coat what is obvious - that's burying your head in the sand. In defense of our MBB team, I stated on TOS that I judge our teams by being competitive - win or lose. Our guys have no McD AAs and far, far less depth, yet they truly have fought much harder and been in every game but one to #1 Kansas (and we played a good second half in that). I don't see the morale win by losing "only" by 8 that some do, nor the fight to the end. Oregon dominated the whole game an at the end, they knew they had it hand and took their foot off the gas. When we cut the lead to 5, a tougher squad would have erased that margin or kept it that close to the end. 
The disappointing part was that Oregon didn't really play that well - they were there for the taking. And with a large home crowd who could have provided the team energy, the team didn't provide energy and yes did dumb stuff - it's nothing short of dumb to throw a pass for example to a spot where not just on but two opposing players are much closer than your own. Most of our TOs were these dumb passes or shot misses that good players and good teams don't miss. So the home court crowd never had much of a chance to get into it and provide the type of hostile environment that we had in Eugene which can cause some pressure on the other team. As Tara said in her press conference, the team didn't hold up its end of the bargain.
Of course, this loss isn't the end of the world or the season for the team, and Oregon is a better team even if we had Carrington and Jones. Their top three are better than anybody we have and after that, their other players are on par with ours, other Kiana. But it goes back to being competitive. We weren't; many times our girls simply didn't hustle or go hard after loose balls. If Ionescu hadn't been ill and had a long day, she cold have gone for 40. As #4 playing #3 at home on the big stage, even if the opponent was better, the game should have see-sawed back and forth even if we eventually lost or lost by 8. I can eliminate the word piss, but the performance was still poor. And I'll bet that our players think the same, not that it was some kind of "victory" to end up only losing by 8. Hopefully, the loss will inspire them to do better and play harder moving ahead and get a shot to avenge the defeats in the P12 tournament.