[M T]

First, let me congratulate the team on their hard-fought wins this season.  While up close, we see all the blemishes, they've done what they need to do to win where others have been tripped up.

This team deserves their #1 ranking!  Enjoy it today, but it does put a bull's eye on their backs.

I would not be shocked if the team loses a number of games this season.  I would not be shocked, though, if they win their last game of the season.  I think they have the ability.  I think any fan of WBB (and not just Stanford fans) will find this to be an interesting season.

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Chicken or egg, I'm not sure, but stat totals are meaningless without playing time, so I'll add that to 81's post.

I would have had a hard time choosing Fingall as the MVP.  She got 64% of her points against a team whose players were 3" shorter than her.
Belibi, per playing time, outscored, outrebounded, and outblocked Fingall, while shooting a respectable 73%.
Jones also scored at a faster pace and had more total points.  Jump also scored at a faster pace and shot a higher percentage (from 3pt!).

Was Fingall ever touching the ball in the front court of the 3rd game except for her 3 O-rebounds?  That's what I wonder about when I see ONE (3pt!) shot for a big in the entire game.  If she never touched the ball, that might explain the lower TO rate.  Was she not getting open because her defender was bigger than her?  It's not like we were raining threes all night.  3 O-rebounds out of 40 chances doesn't sound like she was vacuuming any shot that missed (nor does 5 of 42 at the other end).    As I think about it, it had to be Tara's game plan that led to this: don't feed the ball to Fingall. She's up against a 6'5" player that likes to block shots.

As for the defensive effect on Miss State's offense, their offense wasn't much different than their 74-68 win over Marquette (Yeah, they ran the score up against weaker teams but that's sorta meaningless.).   The 11 rebound differential was one of our high points.   But that was a team effort.  (Nadia played 14.1% of all player minutes and got 15.7% of the rebounds and 0% of the points.)   Their 6'5" player (Carter) averages 15pts, 11reb (partly due to the blowouts) and wound up at 10pts, 6reb,  so that's respectable.

Here are the 3 game totals for our three most active freshmen:

[37 minutes; per 40min: 25.9pt(73%), 15.1R, 0A, 4.3B, 6.5TO, 2.2St] Belibi had 24 points, 14 rebounds, 0 assists and 4 blocks.
[54 minutes; per 40min: 22.2pt(57%**), 1.5R, 0.7A,  0B, 0.7TO, 0.7St] Jump had 30 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist.
[** Jump's % is almost entirely from 3PT. The other three shot almost entirely from 2PT]
[87 minutes; per 40min: 18.4pt(52%), 6.4R, 2.3A, 1.4B, 3.2TO, 0.9St] Jones had 40 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.

How many of us, before the season began, would have expected totals like that from our freshmen in November?  Prechtel has had a couple of awesome games, too, although not on this trip for some reason.

Now Fingall, the tournament MVP:

[68 minutes; per 40min: 16.5pt (52%), 14.7R, 1.7A, 2.4B, 2.4TO, 1.8St] 28 points, 25 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 blocks.

[M T]

First, let me congratulate the team on their hard-fought wins this season.  While up close, we see all the blemishes, they've done what they need to do to win where others have been tripped up.

This team deserves their #1 ranking!  Enjoy it today, but it does put a bull's eye on their backs.

I would not be shocked if the team loses a number of games this season.  I would not be shocked, though, if they win their last game of the season.  I think they have the ability.  I think any fan of WBB (and not just Stanford fans) will find this to be an interesting season.

---------

Chicken or egg, I'm not sure, but stat totals are meaningless without playing time, so I'll add that to 81's post.

I would have had a hard time choosing Fingall as the MVP.  She got 64% of her points against a team whose players were 3" shorter than her.
Belibi, per playing time, outscored, outrebounded, and outblocked Fingall, while shooting a respectable 73%.
Jones also scored at a faster pace and had more total points.  Jump also scored at a faster pace and shot a higher percentage (from 3pt!).

Was Fingall ever touching the ball in the front court of the 3rd game except for her 3 O-rebounds?  That's what I wonder about when I see ONE (3pt!) shot for a big in the entire game.  If she never touched the ball, that might explain the lower TO rate.  Was she not getting open because her defender was bigger than her?  It's not like we were raining threes all night.  3 O-rebounds out of 40 chances doesn't sound like she was vacuuming any shot that missed (nor does 5 of 42 at the other end).    As I think about it, it had to be Tara's game plan that led to this: don't feed the ball to Fingall. She's up against a 6'5" player that likes to block shots.

As for the defensive effect on Miss State's offense, their offense wasn't much different than their 74-68 win over Marquette (Yeah, they ran the score up against weaker teams but that's sorta meaningless.).   The 11 rebound differential was one of our high points.   But that was a team effort.  (Nadia played 14.1% of all player minutes and got 15.7% of the rebounds and 0% of the points.)   Their 6'5" player (Carter) averages 15pts, 11reb (partly due to the blowouts) and wound up at 10pts, 6reb,  so that's respectable.

Here are the 3 game totals for our three most active freshmen:

[37 minutes; per 40min: 25.9pt(73%), 15.1R, 0A, 4.3B, 6.5TO, 2.2St] Belibi had 24 points, 14 rebounds, 0 assists and 4 blocks.
[54 minutes; per 40min: 22.2pt(57%**), 1.5R, 0.7A,  0B, 0.7TO, 0.7St] Jump had 30 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist.
[** Jump's % is almost entirely from 3PT. The other three shot almost entirely from 2PT]
[87 minutes; per 40min: 18.4pt(52%), 6.4R, 2.3A, 1.4B, 3.2TO, 0.9St] Jones had 40 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.

How many of us, before the season began, would have expected totals like that from our freshmen in November?  Prechtel has had a couple of awesome games, too, although not on this trip for some reason.

Now Fingall, the tournament MVP:

[68 minutes; per 40min: 16.5pt (52%), 14.7R, 1.7A, 2.4B, 2.4TO, 1.8St] 28 points, 25 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 blocks.