WBB vs SMU - Printable Version

WBB vs SMU - Printable Version

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RE: WBB vs SMU - petersalas - 02-27-2026

Adia Barnes spoke directly about what you wrote in her postgame interview.

https://x.com/raoul_000/status/2027391288257950159?s=46&t=4RIjvxZZM4wjQaSyTEUwgA

skip75 dateline='[url=tel:1772211389' Wrote: 1772211389[/url]']

M T dateline='[url=tel:1772176099' Wrote: 1772176099[/url]']
Let me say it: I thought the team played well today. Yeah, I saw what I thought were mistakes, but with a big differential from the first minutes, they didn't bother me quite so much. (OK, you caught me, I was frustrated with the mental mistake when the ball was thrown in with 1.5 on the shot clock and the shot wasn't taken, and just after a timeout.)

Heck, I even thought the refs did a better job than any I've seen this year. A 3-second call in the first minute of the game?! Unheard of. Late in the blowout game, they did the usual "adjustments". We should point out that the FTA favored Stanford 16-6.

A big difference in terms of the opponent is that they had no one over 6'2". 11 Transfers, wow, and no one over 6'2" ?? Was SMU's WBB budget eaten up due to paying for a well-known coach?) Why, just 5 years ago she almost won a NCAA championship. Did she get a late start in grabbing transfers? (Anyone want to update her entry at Wikipedia to fill in her career from April 2, 2021 to the start of this year?)

It was an Adia Barnes approach to playing extremely aggressive at the start of the second half. Four fouls in the first 3 minutes; two more in the next 3 minutes; ten total in the third quarter. But somehow, the most effective SMU player played most of the last 16+ minutes without picking up her 5th foul. (Is that a Stanford coaching decision? Paye's teams, like Vanderveer's, don't aggressively attack the opponent in foul trouble.)

Playing against a smaller team, Agara could play big, and our younger, taller players had an offset to their inexperience.

SMU was not some intramural team. They played hard, cut well, and made a lot of tough shots. They got more offensive rebounds than Stanford. They did more than their share of over-throws.

I was especially interested in Amborn when she came in. I really haven't seen her much so I focused on her. Yeah, she hit her one shot but I kinda expected that. Good dribble. When she got the ball, she moved it on quickly with decent passes. On offense, without the ball on offense, she was moving well. On defense, she was alert and moving well. She did get caught once too far from the girl she was supposed to cover. Yeah, because of her weight, she probably won't do well under the basket but that's not her position. Frankly, I don't know why she hasn't played more.

I agree with all of this - particularly the inbounds play with 1.5 seconds left! I would say that was unbelievable, except that based on watching all season, it was quite believable and somewhat predictable.

It is correct that SMU is not an IM team. But they are #209 in the NET rankings, are 0-15 in Quad 1, 2, & 3 games, and, to me, had the worst body language I can recall seeing in a game at this level. At times I thought that some of their players just did not want to be out there (not sure I could blame them when it was 31-6). They did have more O-boards than Stanford, but mainly because they had many more missed shots.

I am somewhat encouraged by Stanford's 2-game winning "streak". But they have not beaten a team ranked higher than #84 in the NET since the Jan. 4 win at UNC. The Clemson game will be much more indicative of whether they might be capable of winning more than one game in the ACC tourney and have any hope of squeaking into the NCAA tourney.

RE: WBB vs SMU - crackpot - 02-27-2026

(02-27-2026, 03:34 PM)Nobadeer Wrote: I checked the box scores for the 8 road games on the East Coast. By my unofficial calculations, in those 8 games, LSJU was awarded just 81 free throws, while its opponents were awarded 125. The only game where LSJU had more FTs than the opponent, was Boston College.

The games with the most lopsided FT attempts: Syracuse (8 for LSJU, 24 for Cuse); the win at UNC (18 for LSJU, 30 for UNC); Fla. St. (11 for LSJU, 19 for FSU); and NC St (10 for LSJU, 17 for NC St.)

And that's nothing compared to LSJU MBB, which has played 6 East Coast games (with 2 remaining, next weekend); LSJU MBB has been awarded only 70 FTs in those 6 games, and their 6 opponents have been awarded . . . 142! That is almost 24 per game and over a 2:1 margin against LSJU. Hard enough to win after flying cross country, even worse when the score is essentially 10-0 before the opening tip.

Fascinating. Remember how we'd complain about the Pac-12 refs calling every little thing, then we'd get to the NCAA tourney and they'd call next to nothing? I would think that players who played in the Pac-12 (so our juniors/senior) would be much less likely to draw fouls...unless, unless, unless something fishy is up.

RE: WBB vs SMU - M T - 02-27-2026

(02-27-2026, 05:09 PM)petersalas Wrote: Adia Barnes spoke directly about what you wrote in her postgame interview.

https://x.com/raoul_000/status/2027391288257950159?s=46&t=4RIjvxZZM4wjQaSyTEUwgA

Adia Barnes: "very hard to play the last two games with nothing to play for, and it showed"

I guess one of the consequences of hiring athletes to be basketball players is that their primary reason to play is the pay. No particular drive to honor the shirt they wear this year. Especially if they are in their last year of eligibility. 8 SMU players are listed as grad students, seniors, or red-shirt seniors. If there isn't some carrot out there, why do it?

A new term? Lame Duck Athletes

I don't blame the athletes as much as I would blame the system.

(02-27-2026, 05:13 PM)crackpot Wrote: Fascinating. Remember how we'd complain about the Pac-12 refs calling every little thing, then we'd get to the NCAA tourney and they'd call next to nothing? I would think that players who played in the Pac-12 (so our juniors/senior) would be much less likely to draw fouls...unless, unless, unless something fishy is up.

Foul calls are subjective. I've felt like the former PAC-12 refs call, er.. not call, things differently in the ACC.

Styles of play are different. Do you call the star for carrying the ball when she palms it? I see that happen but haven't seen it called in recent memory. If a different player doesn't palm the ball while baiting the defense to commit, she is at a relative disadvantage.
Players, coaches, and coaching are going to slowly adapt to a different style, i.e., different unwritten rules.

Here's another usually uncalled rule:

Quote:Likewise, when
the offensive post player backs down the defender and illegally displaces them,
or uses their free arm to "swim" around the defender by holding them off or
displacing them, a foul shall be ruled on the offensive player.

RE: WBB vs SMU - paloalto - 02-27-2026

Here's what's a little puzzling to me. SMU women's volleyball has been one of the biggest if not the biggest spender in the country on player acquisition since joining the ACC from everything I've read and heard. They went from being an average team to a volleyball powerhouse; 16-4 in conference in 2024 and 17-3 in conference in 2025.

Why would they put so much money into volleyball and apparently not so much in WBB?

RE: WBB vs SMU - BobK - 02-27-2026

SMU brought in or bought in 15 players and a new coaching staff.
For the last month or more they have had only 7-8 players due to injuries

https://smumustangs.com/news/2025/6/30/smu-mustang-club-smu-generates-historic-revenue-increases-in-inaugural-acc-season.aspx

RE: WBB vs SMU - JohnR34231 - 02-28-2026

Whoa. I have never heard a coach throw his/her team under the bus like that since the Mike Leach days.
Maybe her players have been spending too much time with their "fat little boyfriends".

RE: WBB vs SMU - PalmTree - 02-28-2026

(02-28-2026, 05:30 AM)JohnR34231 Wrote: Whoa. I have never heard a coach throw his/her team under the bus like that since the Mike Leach days.
Maybe her players have been spending too much time with their "fat little boyfriends".

I kind of remember AB doing the same in an interview a few years back while still at UA - can't remember the exact circumference but I definitely remember being surprised at her comments then as well.

RE: WBB vs SMU - crackpot - 02-28-2026

(02-27-2026, 05:35 PM)M T Wrote:
(02-27-2026, 05:13 PM)crackpot Wrote: Fascinating. Remember how we'd complain about the Pac-12 refs calling every little thing, then we'd get to the NCAA tourney and they'd call next to nothing? I would think that players who played in the Pac-12 (so our juniors/senior) would be much less likely to draw fouls...unless, unless, unless something fishy is up.

Foul calls are subjective. I've felt like the former PAC-12 refs call, er.. not call, things differently in the ACC.

Styles of play are different. Do you call the star for carrying the ball when she palms it? I see that happen but haven't seen it called in recent memory. If a different player doesn't palm the ball while baiting the defense to commit, she is at a relative disadvantage.
Players, coaches, and coaching are going to slowly adapt to a different style, i.e., different unwritten rules.

Here's another usually uncalled rule:

Quote:Likewise, when
the offensive post player backs down the defender and illegally displaces them,
or uses their free arm to "swim" around the defender by holding them off or
displacing them, a foul shall be ruled on the offensive player.

Funny enough, watch the Lacrosse game and in the 3rd, Stanford was penalized because some player had a sticker on her stick. The coach pointed out that they played five ACC games and no one complained. I guess it's not just BB...

RE: WBB vs SMU - here4WBB - 02-28-2026

(02-27-2026, 02:29 PM)jonnyss Wrote:
(02-26-2026, 09:07 PM)here4WBB Wrote: Four minutes into the 3rd quarter and no one has managed to correct the ACC announcers' pronunciation of Lara's last name. They are calling her SHOM-fay.

unless my ears deceive me, SHOM-fay is exactly how lara pronounces her name (please listen to her say her own name; even the subtitles to the video get it wrong). true, the maples announcers usually say shom FA ee. in the video, lara offers that she doesn't correct folks who mis-pronounce as "it doesn't matter."

thanks for the instagram video - I hear a glide to a soft "e" at the end - and I've been hearing it as shom-faye-e on most of the announcers, including live at Maples. But I could be wrong.