A few things to note, drawing on this NY Times article on the game:
-Attendance may have been higher/the crowd more enthusiastic because it was the 30th reunion return of the 1990 championship team. They had a nice long interview with Azzi during the second quarter, and I suspect that may have juiced turnout as well as enthusiasm.
-Given how tightlipped the coaches have been about Jones' status (who, I'll note, did not seem to be on the bench with the rest of the team), I found this line from the NY Times article especially noteworthy: "VanDerveer has remained optimistic of Jones returning this season."
If so, that is a considerably rosier picture than I feel like we've gotten so far, because "this season" really only has about 8-9 weeks left in it, which would rule out any really serious injuries.
-I also wonder how this affects the futures of Dodson and Carrington. If Carrington isn't pursuing a medical redshirt, I'd like to see her back, but we do have an extra scholly next year as well. As for Dodson, it'll be interesting to see how she fits into the lineup now that we have Belibi, Prechtel, and incoming top post Cameron Brink. There's suddenly a lot of competition for those 4 and 5 spots after several years where we've been relatively desperate for a reliable offensive post presence not name Alanna Smith.
-Maybe I'm imaging things, but I could have sworn that Belibi had at least 2, possibly 3 made baskets off back to basket plays. I distinctly remember her twice back Pendande in the paint and having her way under the basket. Agree that most were coming off bounce passes and pick and rolls. Regardless, she looked much better doing that than before, and I remember one game earlier this season where she was denied twice on clean blocks when trying to go back to the basket, so it was nice to see.
Two other things worth noting: last year, our top scorers in our loss to Utah were Smith, Carrington, Williams, Hull (Lexie), and Jerome.
This year, our top scorers were Belibi, Jump, Prechtel, Fingall, and Hull (Lexie). Hard to remember a time in recent years where from one year to the next, we could have an almost complete replacement of leading scorers for the Cardinal like that. It's truly a testament to both how good our Frosh our, and how great our coaches are, that we've been able to almost entirely recreate our team in the wake of all these injuries.
And, as also pointed out by that NY Times article, our 5(!) total turnovers vs. Utah was our lowest in a conference game since finishing with four against Arizona... in 2010, a decade ago!
-Attendance may have been higher/the crowd more enthusiastic because it was the 30th reunion return of the 1990 championship team. They had a nice long interview with Azzi during the second quarter, and I suspect that may have juiced turnout as well as enthusiasm.
-Given how tightlipped the coaches have been about Jones' status (who, I'll note, did not seem to be on the bench with the rest of the team), I found this line from the NY Times article especially noteworthy: "VanDerveer has remained optimistic of Jones returning this season."
If so, that is a considerably rosier picture than I feel like we've gotten so far, because "this season" really only has about 8-9 weeks left in it, which would rule out any really serious injuries.
-I also wonder how this affects the futures of Dodson and Carrington. If Carrington isn't pursuing a medical redshirt, I'd like to see her back, but we do have an extra scholly next year as well. As for Dodson, it'll be interesting to see how she fits into the lineup now that we have Belibi, Prechtel, and incoming top post Cameron Brink. There's suddenly a lot of competition for those 4 and 5 spots after several years where we've been relatively desperate for a reliable offensive post presence not name Alanna Smith.
-Maybe I'm imaging things, but I could have sworn that Belibi had at least 2, possibly 3 made baskets off back to basket plays. I distinctly remember her twice back Pendande in the paint and having her way under the basket. Agree that most were coming off bounce passes and pick and rolls. Regardless, she looked much better doing that than before, and I remember one game earlier this season where she was denied twice on clean blocks when trying to go back to the basket, so it was nice to see.
Two other things worth noting: last year, our top scorers in our loss to Utah were Smith, Carrington, Williams, Hull (Lexie), and Jerome.
This year, our top scorers were Belibi, Jump, Prechtel, Fingall, and Hull (Lexie). Hard to remember a time in recent years where from one year to the next, we could have an almost complete replacement of leading scorers for the Cardinal like that. It's truly a testament to both how good our Frosh our, and how great our coaches are, that we've been able to almost entirely recreate our team in the wake of all these injuries.
And, as also pointed out by that NY Times article, our 5(!) total turnovers vs. Utah was our lowest in a conference game since finishing with four against Arizona... in 2010, a decade ago!