As we wait for the brackets to be announced on Monday, March 15, 4pm Pacific, I do wonder what to expect. It seems pretty clear that if we win 5 games we will be likely to play UConn, unless someone else knocks them off first.
One of the oddities of this season is the fact that our team has played absolutely no one of any quality outside of our conference. And so the question in the back of my mind--and probably in the minds of many, possibly including the seeding committee--is how good we really are. We have proven that we are the best team in the Pac 12, and the Pac 12 finally has a good reputation for WBB--but without any head to head competition with other major WBB powerhouses it all remains a bit of a guess. This was something Tara always avoided in the past--she is famous for loading up our schedule with Tennessee and UConn and South Carolina and Baylor and North Carolina etc. when those programs were each at their peaks. But due to COVID, it could not happen this year, and so the NCAAs will be our very first foray against good teams outside of the Pac 12.
Statistically, we compare favorably. But what about the eyeball test? Those of you who have watched WBB from outside the Pac 12, how do you think we will match up? I've heard some sentiment that we don't want to play Maryland, some that we want to play UConn in the finals, etc.
For that matter, what kind of team is the most dangerous for us to play? It is not as if we are a lopsided team this year with great posts but average guards, or great guards but average posts. We are very well rounded, so it is hard for me to gauge what kind of teams we would prefer to play. Here are a few thoughts, however:
1) Our defense in the post can be good--but I think a team with a couple of very experienced, skilled, big posts could pose problems for us. Brink might foul out, Prechtel's inside defense is suspect, and I am undecided about the quality of Belibi's post defense. No one in the Pac 12 challenged us in that way, although clearly Mya Hollingshed tore us up. So I do not relish playing against twin towers or the like. South Carolina, with Amihere and Boston, worries me.
2) In our only losses our three point shooting deserted us. Both Colorado and UCLA played a pressure defense and this seemed at times to disrupt our perimeter shooting. On the other hand I have a lot of confidence in our own defense. If I were to pick our poison, I therefore would rather face a team with an elite offense and an average defense than the other way around. During a six game stretch our offense might not always be superb--as we saw in the 3rd quarter against UCLA. But our defense should never desert us. Baylor is the only team with an even better field goal defense than us. So they worry me.
I enjoyed watching Tara's last press conference, when she admitted to being a worrier, and no sooner had won the Pac 12 tourney than she began to think about ways to improve. I only have about .0005% of her basketball mind, but I probably have about 105% of her worries :)
One of the oddities of this season is the fact that our team has played absolutely no one of any quality outside of our conference. And so the question in the back of my mind--and probably in the minds of many, possibly including the seeding committee--is how good we really are. We have proven that we are the best team in the Pac 12, and the Pac 12 finally has a good reputation for WBB--but without any head to head competition with other major WBB powerhouses it all remains a bit of a guess. This was something Tara always avoided in the past--she is famous for loading up our schedule with Tennessee and UConn and South Carolina and Baylor and North Carolina etc. when those programs were each at their peaks. But due to COVID, it could not happen this year, and so the NCAAs will be our very first foray against good teams outside of the Pac 12.
Statistically, we compare favorably. But what about the eyeball test? Those of you who have watched WBB from outside the Pac 12, how do you think we will match up? I've heard some sentiment that we don't want to play Maryland, some that we want to play UConn in the finals, etc.
For that matter, what kind of team is the most dangerous for us to play? It is not as if we are a lopsided team this year with great posts but average guards, or great guards but average posts. We are very well rounded, so it is hard for me to gauge what kind of teams we would prefer to play. Here are a few thoughts, however:
1) Our defense in the post can be good--but I think a team with a couple of very experienced, skilled, big posts could pose problems for us. Brink might foul out, Prechtel's inside defense is suspect, and I am undecided about the quality of Belibi's post defense. No one in the Pac 12 challenged us in that way, although clearly Mya Hollingshed tore us up. So I do not relish playing against twin towers or the like. South Carolina, with Amihere and Boston, worries me.
2) In our only losses our three point shooting deserted us. Both Colorado and UCLA played a pressure defense and this seemed at times to disrupt our perimeter shooting. On the other hand I have a lot of confidence in our own defense. If I were to pick our poison, I therefore would rather face a team with an elite offense and an average defense than the other way around. During a six game stretch our offense might not always be superb--as we saw in the 3rd quarter against UCLA. But our defense should never desert us. Baylor is the only team with an even better field goal defense than us. So they worry me.
I enjoyed watching Tara's last press conference, when she admitted to being a worrier, and no sooner had won the Pac 12 tourney than she began to think about ways to improve. I only have about .0005% of her basketball mind, but I probably have about 105% of her worries :)