01-04-2026, 10:43 PM
Ok, finally had the time to sit down and watch. All in all, this was, from tip to final whistle, the best game I've seen us play this season. UNC has a ton of talent, and they generally executed well (minus down the stretch and at the charity stripe), so I'm incredibly proud of how we battled to come back late in the 4th and then take over in OT. Random observations:
-I honestly don't think, overall, the bad calls went against us with too much disparity. Several times when we got a really lousy whistle the refs clearly compensated within a few possessions. And I hate to say it, but most of the fouls on Agara (minus the last one) and Somfai really WERE fouls.
-I was incredibly impressed with Nyla Harris. I don't think she was getting unduly favorable whistles, I just think she's fast, physical, and really knows how to move around the paint to get the best opening. What Banghart was thinking keeping her out of most of the last few minutes and much of OT is beyond me, because to me we didn't have an answer for her.
-I am officially, fully, on the Eschmeyer bandwagon. MAS does little wrong, but she doesn't do a ton right. Eshmeyer has terrific instincts on offense and is mostly a capable defender with the occasional blown read. But it's wild to me that we didn't think to match her up against Toomey sooner, because she is the perfect counter: equally tall, equally lanky, no less physical. Neither Nunu nor Somfai have the length to counter Toomey. When Toomey was in, Alex should have been.
-Shay gets the game ball because if you're 5'6" and you lead the box score in ORs, that says you're hustling harder than anyone else. She also was decisive to our comeback when we almost got down double digits early in the second. I don't really understand why we don't see her sooner and more often.
-I'm struggling to think of a player who has transformed in the course of half a season more than Ogden. Go back and look at our early season threads - a number of us, I believe myself included, were questioning whether she should even be a starter, and lamenting her failure to live up to potential. I am not sure what clicked, but I think she's presently at least as good as Haley Jones at creating her own shot, and possibly better since she doesn't need as much runway and she can hit reliably from outside. I'm so pleased.
-Last, it was kind of telling to me how much Antonelli was crediting Paye for adjustments and tactics for how much our board treats Paye like she knows literally nothing about basketball. There are few commentators who are more detail oriented and aware than Antonelli so I think I'm going to have to trust her judgment that our coaching is more part of the solution than the problem - with the singular exception that I just don't think we're giving minutes to the right people the right way.
GO CARDINAL
-I honestly don't think, overall, the bad calls went against us with too much disparity. Several times when we got a really lousy whistle the refs clearly compensated within a few possessions. And I hate to say it, but most of the fouls on Agara (minus the last one) and Somfai really WERE fouls.
-I was incredibly impressed with Nyla Harris. I don't think she was getting unduly favorable whistles, I just think she's fast, physical, and really knows how to move around the paint to get the best opening. What Banghart was thinking keeping her out of most of the last few minutes and much of OT is beyond me, because to me we didn't have an answer for her.
-I am officially, fully, on the Eschmeyer bandwagon. MAS does little wrong, but she doesn't do a ton right. Eshmeyer has terrific instincts on offense and is mostly a capable defender with the occasional blown read. But it's wild to me that we didn't think to match her up against Toomey sooner, because she is the perfect counter: equally tall, equally lanky, no less physical. Neither Nunu nor Somfai have the length to counter Toomey. When Toomey was in, Alex should have been.
-Shay gets the game ball because if you're 5'6" and you lead the box score in ORs, that says you're hustling harder than anyone else. She also was decisive to our comeback when we almost got down double digits early in the second. I don't really understand why we don't see her sooner and more often.
-I'm struggling to think of a player who has transformed in the course of half a season more than Ogden. Go back and look at our early season threads - a number of us, I believe myself included, were questioning whether she should even be a starter, and lamenting her failure to live up to potential. I am not sure what clicked, but I think she's presently at least as good as Haley Jones at creating her own shot, and possibly better since she doesn't need as much runway and she can hit reliably from outside. I'm so pleased.
-Last, it was kind of telling to me how much Antonelli was crediting Paye for adjustments and tactics for how much our board treats Paye like she knows literally nothing about basketball. There are few commentators who are more detail oriented and aware than Antonelli so I think I'm going to have to trust her judgment that our coaching is more part of the solution than the problem - with the singular exception that I just don't think we're giving minutes to the right people the right way.
GO CARDINAL
