[81alum]

This was one of the dates I had circled on the calendar to decide whether my national title hopes were overblown.  And if we do that well against top competition consistently, then those hopes are not overblown.

My takeaways:

1) Jones and Lexie did not make many baskets, but they manufactured opportunities by fearlessly going into the paint where Arizona was clogging the lanes.  The fact that the two of them went 18/18 from the free throw line helped to severely punish Arizona for its defensive scheme.  This is a new dimension of our game that we have lacked for years, and is a very welcome sight.

2) Anna Wilson showing off her offensive credentials was also so very welcome.  For so many years we have had top defenders or ball handlers who could not attract enough defensive attention to open the game for others.  Wilson herself fell into that category some of the time during last two years.  But her confident, strong stroke from three will help to open up the game for her teammates.

3) Prechtel had only had 9 minutes, but looked like her old self, with a couple of baskets of her own and three assists!  The assists were things of beauty.

4) Hannah Jump seemed to get her stroke back too, although she got victimized by McDonald once on defense.  She has dramatically improved her defense over last year, but even dramatically improved defense is too slow for McDonald.

5) Unfortunately, we had 16 turnovers to Arizona's 9--almost the same issue as with UCLA.  No improvement there.  Still to many high-risk passes, including a couple of miscommunication passes that went to no one.

6) Widely dispersed scoring will be a nightmare for opposing coaches to defend against. 

7) Defense was awesome at times.  We held one of the most gifted scorers in the nation to 3/18 shooting, and her team to 26%.  We had 9 blocks--Brink had 5 of them.

[81alum]

This was one of the dates I had circled on the calendar to decide whether my national title hopes were overblown.  And if we do that well against top competition consistently, then those hopes are not overblown.

My takeaways:

1) Jones and Lexie did not make many baskets, but they manufactured opportunities by fearlessly going into the paint where Arizona was clogging the lanes.  The fact that the two of them went 18/18 from the free throw line helped to severely punish Arizona for its defensive scheme.  This is a new dimension of our game that we have lacked for years, and is a very welcome sight.

2) Anna Wilson showing off her offensive credentials was also so very welcome.  For so many years we have had top defenders or ball handlers who could not attract enough defensive attention to open the game for others.  Wilson herself fell into that category some of the time during last two years.  But her confident, strong stroke from three will help to open up the game for her teammates.

3) Prechtel had only had 9 minutes, but looked like her old self, with a couple of baskets of her own and three assists!  The assists were things of beauty.

4) Hannah Jump seemed to get her stroke back too, although she got victimized by McDonald once on defense.  She has dramatically improved her defense over last year, but even dramatically improved defense is too slow for McDonald.

5) Unfortunately, we had 16 turnovers to Arizona's 9--almost the same issue as with UCLA.  No improvement there.  Still to many high-risk passes, including a couple of miscommunication passes that went to no one.

6) Widely dispersed scoring will be a nightmare for opposing coaches to defend against. 

7) Defense was awesome at times.  We held one of the most gifted scorers in the nation to 3/18 shooting, and her team to 26%.  We had 9 blocks--Brink had 5 of them.