WBB: South Carolina [merged thread]

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RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - Card10Fan - 11-20-2022

I don't like the response; it's only November. Our team will get better. This game will having seeding implications for March. Not to mention, learning to close out games and execute late.

We could have had an edge for the top overall seed (hence easiest route to the national championship) but will now need other things to break out way. Plus, we had this game won and found a way to lose. So oh it's only November my ass. We should have won today and the coaching staff has blame but also some key players didn't play well late. You don't get sellout crowds on national tv and these moments often, I just wish Haley Jones and a few of our other upperclassman would have played better knowing that. All is not lost, but I'm fired up and mad about the result today.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - OutsiderFan - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 03:34 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: Haley Jones: 1-13 in the second half including a critical missed free throw
Key turnover late.

Her inability to score in the 2nd half was because she has no perimeter game and so she continually drove in and got met with defenders or blocked. I don't see how that translates to WNBA success; I hope she proves me wrong. She didn't have a good game and hasn't had a good start to her senior season. We need our upper class man to step up. Brink did. Jones didn't when it mattered most late in the game.

I watched the last 5 minutes and couldn't believe the announcer said Haley Jones is an All-American. She was AWFUL in all the time I watched. Couldn't even get a shot off and she's an All American? The worst was the missed reverse layup with under 2 mins left I believe. Simply can't miss shots like that. She looked scared at the FT line too. Brutal.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - jonnyss - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 03:34 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: Haley Jones: 1-13 in the second half including a critical missed free throw
Key turnover late.

Her inability to score in the 2nd half was because she has no perimeter game and so she continually drove in and got met with defenders or blocked. I don't see how that translates to WNBA success; I hope she proves me wrong. She didn't have a good game and hasn't had a good start to her senior season. We need our upper class man to step up. Brink did. Jones didn't when it mattered most late in the game.

haley played almost the entire game. harder to think straight, much less play well with no rest.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - gailtate - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 04:11 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 03:34 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: Haley Jones: 1-13 in the second half including a critical missed free throw
Key turnover late.

Her inability to score in the 2nd half was because she has no perimeter game and so she continually drove in and got met with defenders or blocked. I don't see how that translates to WNBA success; I hope she proves me wrong. She didn't have a good game and hasn't had a good start to her senior season. We need our upper class man to step up. Brink did. Jones didn't when it mattered most late in the game.

I watched the last 5 minutes and couldn't believe the announcer said Haley Jones is an All-American. She was AWFUL in all the time I watched. Couldn't even get a shot off and she's an All American? The worst was the missed reverse layup with under 2 mins left I believe. Simply can't miss shots like that. She looked scared at the FT line too. Brutal.

Pretty clear they need better shooters when the air is thickest and, overall, more hard-ass play. SC plays in the style of the way their coach comports herself. They're definitely numero uno. Stanford must learn from the gaffes in this game.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - TonyLima - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 03:55 PM)Phogge Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 03:33 PM)TheWildJacko Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 03:31 PM)Phogge Wrote: Brink is your best player. She has to be on the court. You don't have enough shooters.

And yet, coming into the game, we had the highest FG% in the country.

First game I've watched and will be the last until the Final Four if they get there. I saw some clanking threes in the second half. If, if, if they can find some outside help it will only free up Brink, Betts and the girl with the long braids (Kiki something?). May have had a great %age coming in but not outside against a tenacious team. Like the way that the girls battled under the rim. Looked like they gave 100%. But the Cocks had stronger athletes and were extremely aggressive grabbing second and third chances. Staley is a helluva coach.

Kiki Iriafen. Sophomore. Get to know her name. She has improved tremendously since last season.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - petersalas - 11-20-2022

Upset? No… disappointed, sure.. but nothing worth being upset about.. there’s things to look back on and it’s things that have plagued the team in the last few years.. missed free throws and turnovers. One more made free throw and the game doesn’t go into OT.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - Softball Fan - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 04:01 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: I don't like the response; it's only November. Our team will get better. This game will having seeding implications for March. Not to mention, learning to close out games and execute late.

We could have had an edge for the top overall seed (hence easiest route to the national championship) but will now need other things to break out way. Plus, we had this game won and found a way to lose. So oh it's only November my ass. We should have won today and the coaching staff has blame but also some key players didn't play well late. You don't get sellout crowds on national tv and these moments often, I just wish Haley Jones and a few of our other upperclassman would have played better knowing that. All is not lost, but I'm fired up and mad about the result today.

I don't agree the #1 overall seed is automatically the easiest route to the NC. IMO how a regional host team matches up against semi-final and final regional opponents is more important. Yeah the #1 overall seed is prestigious and coveted, but it's not necessarily going to be the easiest route for a team to the NC.

Correct me if I'm wrong about there being four regional host schools this season.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - chimera - 11-20-2022

This was a woulda, coulda, shoulda game. Should have won it in regulation. Had a nice lead for much of the game but went stale and cold late. Jones was fine in the first half, but the second was one of her worst halves against a good team maybe in her career. I'm not sure if she was trying to do too much because she often makes the shots she was missing, even against good defenders. If we get just a D half from Jones instead of an F, we win. If she makes that one FT we probably win. That was the major downer of the game, that we did not see the best from Haley. The turnovers hurt too, but they were generally not the awful kind where SC is just heading toward their basket with the ball after a steal.

To the good, we rebounded pretty well, though not always when it was critical. Lepolo was good in her first big time game. Prechtel was not great in her first stint on the floor but after that she was excellent on defense and got some key rebounds. Brink had an excellent game even with the fouls. Iriafen settled down and played better after a tough start.

The end of the game was a mess in every way, enough said about that. I thought Tara needed to put in more shooters to spread the floor a bit when the offense was struggling late, like put in Demetre with Jump and see if we can't get one of them an open look, maybe from a Jones drive and dish. Jones did not drive and dish enough, was too focused on her own shot. That's great if they go in, but when they aren't... I wouldn't have minded seeing a bit more of Betts too. Some fresh legs late maybe could have helped.

Long term I don't think this is a crushing loss. They should have won, really. SC is a great team but we had them down and just did not finish it out. There were a few tough calls in there late too. This should piss the team off, and get the coaches scheming ways to improve the offense. No pressure of being number 1, SC can have that. Keep in mind SC is a very experienced team. They started four seniors or fifth year and I think the other one was a junior or something, not s frosh. We started two seniors, one junior, one soph, and one frosh. We should get a lot better.

I also don't think seeding is going to be a big deal this season. We just played the team that is the consensus #1 and deserves it given that they won it all last year and who is on their roster. We should be able to cope with all styles. Just stay healthy and keep improving.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - Card10Fan - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 05:04 PM)paloalto Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 04:01 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: I don't like the response; it's only November. Our team will get better. This game will having seeding implications for March. Not to mention, learning to close out games and execute late.

We could have had an edge for the top overall seed (hence easiest route to the national championship) but will now need other things to break out way. Plus, we had this game won and found a way to lose. So oh it's only November my ass. We should have won today and the coaching staff has blame but also some key players didn't play well late. You don't get sellout crowds on national tv and these moments often, I just wish Haley Jones and a few of our other upperclassman would have played better knowing that. All is not lost, but I'm fired up and mad about the result today.

I don't agree the #1 overall seed is automatically the easiest route to the NC. IMO how a regional host team matches up against semi-final and final regional opponents is more important. Yeah the #1 overall seed is prestigious and coveted, but it's not necessarily going to be the easiest route for a team to the NC.

Correct me if I'm wrong about there being four regional host schools this season.

#1 overall seed 2022: SC (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2021: Stanford (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2019 Baylor (national champions)
So history speaks for itself the last few years regardless of your opinion. The top seed the last 3 NCAA tourneys has gotten to the championship game and won the championship game. SHOCKER.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - old spanish trail - 11-20-2022

Agree with every point, Chimera. Important point that Haley played almost the whole game. She was tired and it showed when we needed her most. Who goes in for her? Demetre? the frosh combo guard? Bosagna? And Brink was way good.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - chimera - 11-20-2022

Did those teams win the championship because they were they number 1 seeds or because they were the best teams? There have been plenty of years where the winner was not the #1 seed. I think stay healthy and keep improving is the ticket, no matter the seed. Plus, the game is over, can't change what happened. No use crying over spilled milk and all that. We were good enough to win, lost a squeaker where one of our best players had a stinko half. We are capable of beating SC, just showed that, despite blowing it late. Doesn't mean should the teams meet again we win. It does mean we can play with anyone.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - M T - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 03:55 PM)Phogge Wrote: First game I've watched and will be the last until the Final Four if they get there.

We'll try to politely ignore your impressions as a non-fan. It sounds like you watched on TV and were probably a victim of spin of the ESPN homers.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - kat0189 - 11-20-2022

Great game! Stanford looked great I thought and ultimately fixable mistakes in terms of reasons for the loss.

I think it was a milestone game for Brink and really pleased with Lepolo.

I would’ve liked to have seen Betts a bit more down the stretch but saw a lot of positives

Sheesh, not sure if South Carolina realized they got the win. Saw a lot of tears stumbling on some SC players walking to their bus afterwards

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - 81alum - 11-20-2022

Just getting home after the overtime and the long wait to hear from Tara and Dawn. In reading this thread I find myself much happier with our athletes than some other Cardboarders.

Negatives:

Let's get the true negatives out of the way--the inbounds that failed when Jones couldn't find anyone, Lepolo reversed direction or it would have been an easy inbounds. I have no idea what went wrong there, but it was a critical failure. And then the timeout that wasn't. The coaches should have made sure that the players all understood the game situation and clearly they did not. Tara mentioned both of these during her behind-the-bench talk. She knows how important they were.

Also on the negative side of the ledger were our 22 turnovers. In fact, I do attribute our loss mainly to those, given that South Carolina had only 11. Hard to give the other side 11 more chances and expect to win. South Carolina is longer and more athletic than most other teams in the nation, which usually translates into a lot of deflected passes and turnovers. Good for our players to experience that now rather in the tournament for the first time.

If not the turnovers, the loss could equally be attributed to Brink's 5 fouls. She was our best offensive weapon and our offense stagnated without her. Boston committed egregious fouls that were not called when she had 4, but Brink got caught (and the fifth, in my opinion, was a legitimate foul but not exactly egregious.)

Jones did not appear to play well, but I believe that was for two reasons: 1) South Carolina keyed on her, and 2) she was always the player with the ball at the end of the shot clock trying to make something happen. She seemed to be the only person who would take a shot at the end of the shot clock, and South Carolina knew that. Once we got under 10 seconds they all just mobbed her. Plus she has been in a bit of a slump and it continues. But for the person who watched 5 minutes and pronounced judgment: she did have 6 assists and 9 rebounds, and a decent first half, although her offense did look bad at the end.

We also missed 4 free throws. We shot 73% which is not horrific, but a couple of the misses came late when we most needed them.

Positives.

South Carolina is the most relentless and successful rebounding team in the nation, and we out rebounded them. Offensive rebounds were essentially even. That is a gigantic feat.

Our passing was superior to South Carolina's, by quite a margin. 15 assists to 9 assists.

The scouting report defense worked to a T. We held Boston down most of the game, and held Cooke to 3/13. Our athletes did what the coaches asked them to do.

Brink's offensive play was outstanding. Again, it was the fouls. But she was able to hit enough treys to force the defense to come to her, and then she could attack the basket. Staley singled her out for praise.

Lepolo more than held her own, showing some offense and good ball handling, generating 6 assists to 3 turnovers.

Analysis and Questions:

Iriafen, who has been so good around the block, was clearly bothered by the aggressive defense by big posts, and was not her usual self around the basket. But she has a terrific jump shot. Why did she not do some jumpers?

During the chalk talk Kate mentioned that South Carolina would hang all over Jump, and we would need to run some screens for her. We did once or twice and it worked. Why did we not do more of that? This reminds me so much of Karlie's senior year--good teams shut her down by denying her the ball.

Betts was 2/2. Why did we not give her more minutes? What was it about her brief time in the game that made Tara decide she was not ready for more? Was she victimized on defense?

The game was not officiated well, although presumably the bad calls evened out.

I entirely agree that the game may have turned on the ref's call that gave Emma-Nnopu two shots rather than an and-one. That was an egregious call coming at a critical moment. At first I did not understand what had happened, since the correct call was so obvious.

Boston in the fourth quarter was getting away with ridiculous fouling when on defense. In one case she draped her arms over the shoulders of Jones, from behind, holding both arms back. I guess players-of-the-year can get away with that. I think South Carolina's defense "improved" in the fourth quarter when the refs stopped calling the game so tightly. But while Boston could pin both arms of her mark, Brink got ejected for brushing a forearm while blocking a shot.

Conclusion:

South Carolina played two worthy opponents before us, this was our first real test. We need a lot more games like this to challenge us and help us develop--we are a significantly younger team that South Carolina. In fact, even before the game I was mulling over whether a win or a loss would be more valuable to us, given that we have crushed a lot of weaklings before now and could become overconfident. I am concerned about seeding implications for the NCAAs, but not too concerned. As we know from the past, if you aspire to win a natty, it matters not one whet whether you are seeded first or second. So as a fan I am disappointed--I had hoped for better--but if I were a coach I might be fine with this result, giving me a way of getting the athletes to focus on necessary improvements, and a few were exposed as such.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - cardcrimson - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 05:37 PM)M T Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 03:55 PM)Phogge Wrote: First game I've watched and will be the last until the Final Four if they get there.

We'll try to politely ignore your impressions as a non-fan. It sounds like you watched on TV and were probably a victim of spin of the ESPN homers.

A little harsh, don't you think? Please don't count me in on your "We'll try to politely ignore" commentary. Sheesh.

What a great review. Thanks!

(11-20-2022, 05:41 PM)81alum Wrote: Just getting home after the overtime and the long wait to hear from Tara and Dawn. In reading this thread I find myself much happier with our athletes than some other Cardboarders.

Negatives:

Let's get the true negatives out of the way--the inbounds that failed when Jones couldn't find anyone, Lepolo reversed direction or it would have been an easy inbounds. I have no idea what went wrong there, but it was a critical failure. And then the timeout that wasn't. The coaches should have made sure that the players all understood the game situation and clearly they did not.

Also on the negative side of the ledgdf were our 22 turnovers. In fact, I do attribute our loss mainly to those, given that South Carolina had 11. Hard to give the other side 11 more chances and expect to win. South Carolina is longer and more athletic than most other teams in the nation, which usually translates into a lot of deflected passes and turnovers. Good for our players to experience that now rather in the tournament for the first time.

If not the turnovers, the loss could equally be attributed to Brink's 5 fouls. She was our best offensive weapon and our offense stagnated without her.

Jones did not appear to play well, but I believe that was for two reasons: 1) South Carolina keyed on her, and 2) she was always the player with the ball at the end of the shot clock trying to make something happen. She has been in a bit of a slump and it continues. But for the person who watched 5 minutes and pronounced judgment: she did have 6 assists and 9 rebounds, although her offense did look bad at the end.

Positives.

South Carolina is the most relentless and successful rebounding team in the nation, and we out rebounded them. Offensive rebounds were essentially even. That is a gigantic feat.

Our passing was superior to South Carolina's, by quite a margin. 15 assists to 9 assists.

The scouting report defense worked to a T. We held Boston down most of the game, and held Cooke to 3/13. Our athletes did what the coaches asked them to do.

Brink's offensive play was outstanding. Again, it was the fouls. But she was able to hit enough treys to force the defense to come to her, and then she could attack the basket. Staley singled her out for praise.

Lepolo more than held her own, showing some offense and good ball handling, generating 6 assists to 3 turnovers.

Analysis and Questions:

Iriafen, who has been so good around the block, was clearly bothered by the aggressive defense by big posts, and was not her usual self around the basket. But she has a terrific jump shot. Why did she not do some jumpers?

During the chalk talk Kate mentioned that South Carolina would hang all over Jump, and we would need to run some screens for her. We did once or twice and it worked. Why did we not do more of that? This reminds me so much of Karlie's senior year--good teams shut her down by denying her the ball.

Betts was 2/2. Why did we not give her more minutes? What was it about her brief time in the game that made Tara decide she was not ready for more? Was she victimized on defense?

The game was not officiated well, although presumably the bad calls evened out.

I entirely agree that the game may have turned on the ref's call that gave Emma-Nnopu two shots rather than an and-one. That was an egregious call coming at a critical moment. At first I did not understand what had happened, since the correct call was so obvious.

Boston in the fourth quarter was getting away with ridiculous fouling when on defense. In one case she draped her arms over the shoulders of Jones, from behind, holding both arms back. I guess players-of-the-year can get away with that. I think South Carolina's defense "improved" in the fourth quarter when the refs stopped calling the game so tightly. But while Boston could pin both arms of her mark, Brink got ejected for brushing a forearm while blocking a shot.

Conclusion:

South Carolina played two worthy opponents before us, this was our first real test. We need a lot more games like this to challenge us and help us develop--we are a significantly younger team that South Carolina. In fact, even before the game I was mulling over whether a win or a loss would be more valuable to us, given that we have crushed a lot of weaklings before now and could become overconfident. I am concerned about seeding implications for the NCAAs, but not too concerned. As we know from the past, if you aspire to win a natty, it matters not one whet whether you are seeded first or second. So as a fan I am disappointed--I had hoped for better--but if I were a coach I might be fine with this result, giving me a way of getting the athletes to focus on necessary improvements, and a few were exposed as such.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - TheFarm07 - 11-20-2022

Thank you 81alum for your measured analysis, pointing out both the positives but not shying away from the negatives.

I am frustrated...second year in a row that we had a double digit lead in the second half and failed to close it out.

There was a thought that crossed my mind after this game, win or loss. This was our first actual test of a game, so looking at who Tara played provides a good indication of who she trusts in crunch time.

I am surprised as well that Betts did not get more playing time especially in the second half with Brink in foul trouble. Though S. Carolina is one of the few teams that can match us in height, a 6'7" post is still hard to guard and I would have liked to have seen us try her. Did Tara think she was not ready on defense? I thought such an imposing post with five fouls to give, could have helped Brink out on the defensive end.

It was also interesting that Bosgana did not see any playing time and Demetre only got three minutes. They were often the first ones off the bench during our easy wins, so you would think they would be the first to provide relief.

Late in the game, it was really frustrating to see our offense stagnate and become too over reliant on Jones to make a play with the shot clock winding down. Too often, she had to attempt an off-balance shot with time running out. As good as she is, you can't depend on low-percentage shots like that. We often talked about how deep we are and these were the times that the depth should have come through for us.

In comparison, South Carolina's Bree Hall off the bench came up with some crucial shots for them and they didn't hesitate to go to her.

I also don't like the notion that it's better to lose so we can "learn" from our mistakes. You can't learn when you win?

Ultimately, I rather lose now than in March, but a loss is still a loss and it stings. It didn't seem we had that killer instinct to put the game away at the beginning of the fourth, we were too casual with our offense and S. Carolina came up with some shots to battle their way back.

This game showed the star power of Brink and how vitally important it is that she stays out of foul trouble. Yes, I feel like she gets picked on and her opponents can get away with murder while she gets whistled for the smallest infraction and we don't want her to stop imposing herself on defense, but we have to find a way to minimize those fouls.

I hope Iriafen will use this game as a measuring stick to see how much further she needs to work on her post skills. It's one thing to dominate against the likes of CSUN and Cal Poly, but the teams we'll face in a long tournament run are going to be much better equipped to defend the paint.

Just looking at the box score, besides the 22 turnovers, nothing jumps off the page as egregiously bad. We didn't execute in the critical moments, especially at the end of OT. South Carolina gave us a couple of chances and we squandered them away with the silliest unforced errors.

To summarize, I am also pretty upset as we should have won and considering who we are and what our potential aspirations are this season, I don't buy the moral victory but South Carolina is the premiere team in the country, so it's not a shame to lose to them.

The most important thing is to correct the mistakes, especially those totally under our control (calling a TO when we had none left, for instance) and see if we can make this our last loss of the season.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - DaBears17 - 11-20-2022

Games like this are a good measure of where we are and what the team needs to do to improve. We beat Tennessee and lost to UConn the fall of 2007. In the 2008 Tampa Final Four we beat UConn in the semis and lost to Tennessee in the championship game.

I was hoping the team would be over their 3rd quarter scoring droughts this year, but I guess they aren't.

Ashten played good defense with 5 blocks and her rebounding has improved this year.

Wish Betts had gotten some more time, but I think she got in trouble for putting the ball on the floor and not scoring. She got pulled right after that play.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - Softball Fan - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 05:26 PM)Card10Fan Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 05:04 PM)paloalto Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 04:01 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: I don't like the response; it's only November. Our team will get better. This game will having seeding implications for March. Not to mention, learning to close out games and execute late.

We could have had an edge for the top overall seed (hence easiest route to the national championship) but will now need other things to break out way. Plus, we had this game won and found a way to lose. So oh it's only November my ass. We should have won today and the coaching staff has blame but also some key players didn't play well late. You don't get sellout crowds on national tv and these moments often, I just wish Haley Jones and a few of our other upperclassman would have played better knowing that. All is not lost, but I'm fired up and mad about the result today.

I don't agree the #1 overall seed is automatically the easiest route to the NC. IMO how a regional host team matches up against semi-final and final regional opponents is more important. Yeah the #1 overall seed is prestigious and coveted, but it's not necessarily going to be the easiest route for a team to the NC.

Correct me if I'm wrong about there being four regional host schools this season.

#1 overall seed 2022: SC (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2021: Stanford (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2019 Baylor (national champions)
So history speaks for itself the last few years regardless of your opinion. The top seed the last 3 NCAA tourneys has gotten to the championship game and won the championship game. SHOCKER.

Isn't it good to schedule some tough games early in the season to learn what team weaknesses need to be improved. Sometimes don't you learn more from a loss than a win? Didn't Tara and the team learn some things?

Tara could schedule all creampuffs in non-conference and guarantee being undefeated going into conference. Why do you think Tara schedules some tough non-conference games?

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - TheFarm07 - 11-20-2022

(11-20-2022, 06:11 PM)paloalto Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 05:26 PM)Card10Fan Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 05:04 PM)paloalto Wrote:
(11-20-2022, 04:01 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: I don't like the response; it's only November. Our team will get better. This game will having seeding implications for March. Not to mention, learning to close out games and execute late.

We could have had an edge for the top overall seed (hence easiest route to the national championship) but will now need other things to break out way. Plus, we had this game won and found a way to lose. So oh it's only November my ass. We should have won today and the coaching staff has blame but also some key players didn't play well late. You don't get sellout crowds on national tv and these moments often, I just wish Haley Jones and a few of our other upperclassman would have played better knowing that. All is not lost, but I'm fired up and mad about the result today.

I don't agree the #1 overall seed is automatically the easiest route to the NC. IMO how a regional host team matches up against semi-final and final regional opponents is more important. Yeah the #1 overall seed is prestigious and coveted, but it's not necessarily going to be the easiest route for a team to the NC.

Correct me if I'm wrong about there being four regional host schools this season.

#1 overall seed 2022: SC (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2021: Stanford (national champions)
#1 overall seed 2019 Baylor (national champions)
So history speaks for itself the last few years regardless of your opinion. The top seed the last 3 NCAA tourneys has gotten to the championship game and won the championship game. SHOCKER.

Isn't it good to schedule some tough games early in the season to learn what team weaknesses need to be improved. Sometimes don't you learn more from a loss than a win? Didn't Tara and the team learn some things?

Tara could schedule all creampuffs in non-conference and guarantee being undefeated going into conference. Why do you think Tara schedules some tough non-conference games?

I would like a harder schedule this season. South Carolina, Tennessee, Creighton and Gonzaga look to be our toughest matchups out of conference.

Because we didn't beat South Carolina, we will only have a couple more opportunities for marquee non-conference wins and those three opponents I mentioned, while still very good, are a tier below South Carolina in terms of a headline win on the resume.

So, I think it will be harder to get that #1 overall seed when South Carolina got the head-to-head win and we have fewer chances elsewhere to bolster our resume.

Having said that, I think while getting the overall top seed is nice, it's not a death blow or significantly reduces our chances at a deep tournament run. Getting just one of the four #1 seeds is nice, plus hopefully being the overall 2 or 3 and avoiding a potential Elite Eight matchup against the top #2 seed.

RE: WBB vs South Carolina Game Thread - Jskass - 11-20-2022

Well, at least you know that going forward
1. Betts will start being more mindful of going up to shoot sans dribbles.
2. We will set more screens.
3. We will focus on free throws.
4. Hoping we make sure Haley is not exhausted at end from overuse!