NCAA - Women's College Basketball - 2021

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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Better team won tonight. Uconn missed a bunch of layups, but AZ defense tortured them from beginning to end. McDonald was fun to watch.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
72,567
UConn losing is good for women’s basketball.
This is true. Good loss tonight.

Uconn is like an amalgam of Duke and Kentucky, and this is someone whose favorite all-time player is Sue Bird.
In honor of Easter Weekend, Uconn missed a lot of bunnies, but that was heavily influenced by Arizona's great defense. Arizona also was pretty good at the defensive boards.

McDonald is one speedbug, although got a little hero complex late it seemed like. But man does she have a great handle and is super quick.

That Uconn FF birfurcation of records is really weird. Statistically it would seem to be near impossible.


Conference of Champions for the title! Should be fun. I think I'm watching this one over Hayward's and Rozier's return.
 
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jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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Jul 15, 2005
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That Uconn FF birfurcation of records is really weird. Statistically it would seem to be near impossible.
Maybe something to do with the days of rest? Usually the semi game is on 4-5 days of rest and then just one day off before the final.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Better team won tonight. Uconn missed a bunch of layups, but AZ defense tortured them from beginning to end. McDonald was fun to watch.
The real problem was Nelson-Ododa. She had the post advantage, and kept making good moves, and then missing the layup. She was 0-7 from the floor, and 1-4 from the line. That took UConn's post offense away because it was clear she was an absolute wreck last night. And playing the perimeter game favored Arizona. And back to Nelson-Ododa...her misses were BAD too. She threw up BRICKS from point blank range. It's just not something you game plan for: What do we do when our 6'5" center keeps bricking layups? I mean....do you force-feed her still, and have her keep missing? Or do you try something else? Well, they tried something else and that didn't work either. And (while Baylor fans will love this) a KILLER was the fifth foul on Williams, which not only wasn't a foul on HER, it wasn't a foul on ANYONE. Replays - which they actually looked at to determine if it was a foul - showed conclusively that not a single UConn player even came close to touching McDonald on that play. I understand missing it in live action, but when you go to the replay and look...yikes.

Again, Baylor fans probably loved that though. Even though they were TOTALLY different situations...apples and oranges.
 

riboflav

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Jan 20, 2006
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They're not allowed to review and overturn a foul call. They are allowed however to determine who was called for the foul which is what the officials did last night. I'm sure when reviewing to see if Williams was the one who committed the foul it became obvious to the officials that no foul was committed. But, they can't reverse that. So they gave the foul to Williams because that was the original call on the floor and she was the closest player to the play. It was a very bad call on the floor.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Nov 8, 2004
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Just tuned in for the last five. Both teams seem to wobble between playing well and playing tense. I guess that's championship ball...
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Stanford can't get a shot off in their final possession, leaving AZ with the chance to win with 6 seconds left from a sideline inbound.
Ariz didn't manage much of a shit and her contested, 3 pt heave was off line.
Congrats to the Cardinal.
 

jmcc5400

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Sep 29, 2000
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Arizona was robbed of half a second on that final play, no? Wasn't it 36.6 when Stanford's last possession started. Why wouldn't a shot clock violation leave the clock at 6.6?
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
72,567
Daughters of Jennifer Azzi survive so many epically bad turnovers.

cameron Brink gave me a Katy Steding vibe. Some sort of Oregonian je ne sais quoi. If she decides to coach later in her career, hopefully she will be more successful.
 

Van Everyman

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Apr 30, 2009
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Newton
Hero ball did Arizona in in the end. If McDonald had looked for a second to her right she’d have seen her teammate standing completely by herself for a gimme with plenty of time.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Hero ball did Arizona in in the end. If McDonald had looked for a second to her right she’d have seen her teammate standing completely by herself for a gimme with plenty of time.
Arizona was robbed of half a second on that final play, no? Wasn't it 36.6 when Stanford's last possession started. Why wouldn't a shot clock violation leave the clock at 6.6?
You'd think that would be the rule in the last minute when the tenths of a second is on the board. And they changed it from 5.5 to 6.1....strange.
Maybe with that extra half second McDonald sees the open teammate; it wouldn't have made any difference in her getting off the (poor) shot she got off.
I think Az was better off if they inbounded the ball exactly where the violation happened (almost exactly at midcourt)...another 10-15 feet back makes McDonald more dangerous.
 

johnmd20

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Hero ball did Arizona in in the end. If McDonald had looked for a second to her right she’d have seen her teammate standing completely by herself for a gimme with plenty of time.
Man, that was an atrocious final shot. It is amazing it almost went in, but it was a no look blind turn around jumper.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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What is the rule?
"• During the last 59.9 seconds of the game (fourth period or any extra period) when the team in control of the ball, or the team who is to be awarded a throw-in in their backcourt, is granted a timeout, the team will have the option to move the throw-in spot to the 28-foot line in the frontcourt on the same side of the playing court as the scorers’ table.
• The game time when the timeout is granted and charged, and not the time that team control began, will determine whether the option is available to the team calling timeout.
• An opponent’s timeout or an electronic-media timeout does not provide a team with the option to advance the ball (unless the electronic-media timeout is a result of the team in control requesting a timeout, e.g., the first team-called timeout in the second half).
• If the team advances the ball by a pass or dribble, in any direction, before the timeout is granted, the team will no longer have the option to advance the ball.
• If the ball has been dribbled or passed in the backcourt before the timeout, successive timeouts do not provide the team with the option to advance the ball.
• If the ball has been dribbled or passed in the backcourt and the team in control is still in their backcourt when the defense commits a common foul before the bonus is in effect or a violation, the option is available to the team in control when they request a timeout.
• If the ball has been dribbled or passed in the backcourt and play is stopped for a timing or scoring mistake, an inadvertent whistle, a held ball, a technical foul assessed to the team in control, or for an injury, blood situation or lost or displaced glasses/lenses and the team in control calls a timeout, the option to advance is NOT available.
• The head coach must notify the officials of his/her intent to advance the ball before the timeout has been reported to the scorer. If the head coach does not inform the officials before the timeout has been reported to the scorer, play will resume at the point of interruption"

Debatable what happened in this case. The ball was rolling towards the sideline when the shot clock went off. Was it still closer to the basket Stanford was shooting at; or Arizona's? Either way, a lot more than 28 feet.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Man, that was an atrocious final shot. It is amazing it almost went in, but it was a no look blind turn around jumper.
I also think that when there's that much time left and you have another time out left; if the inbounds pass leaves you in a bad place, use the other time out; I'd rather have a fresh start w/2 less seconds versus ending up in a scramble that is most likely not going to end well. Stanford played it very well; the left side of the court was completely clogged; nowhere for the lefty to go than to the right.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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UConn just picked up a 6'4" center from Ohio State as well, who averaged 14+ points and 10+ rebounds a game. Will help immensely. UConn is going to be absolutely LOADED next year.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Shows you the evolution of women's basketball where a great player like her skipped nearby LSU to go to LA Tech; which was right up there w/Tennessee in the 80s (Uconn wasn't yet).
 

canderson

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Jul 16, 2005
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Shows you the evolution of women's basketball where a great player like her skipped nearby LSU to go to LA Tech; which was right up there w/Tennessee in the 80s (Uconn wasn't yet).
Hell I went to SFA which was one of the premier programs up until the mid 90s when "modern" programs started taking off. SFA, La Tech, Old Dominion were the old school stalwarts. Strange stuff.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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That's not good, but it's WAY better than what it could have been. UConn will lose a couple of games with her out, but they should be able to handle the Big East pretty easily even without her. Fudd comes back, Muhl plays the point, they'll be fine.

And then they'll have her back in February for the stretch run, and she'll be back in game shape putting up 22 a night as they head into the NCAA tournament.

I feel bad for her (all injuries suck), as this kills her chances at winning the player of the year award, but this is all about national championships for UConn, and this injury doesn't kill that hope.
 

Bleedred

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Feb 21, 2001
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With all the UCONN injuries, Noble & Greenough graduate and Milton, MA native Caroline Ducharme, a freshman, had 24 points and 8 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of their loss to Louisville yesterday. If this UConn teams gets everyone back healthy (a gargantuan "if"), they're going to be devastatingly good. They could enter the tournament as a 3rd or 4th seed but really be one of the top 3 teams in the country at that point.

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/hc-sp-uconn-women-louisville-20211220-20211219-wfkyp2pj3vfnldznuvt3grrhri-story.html
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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With all the UCONN injuries, Noble & Greenough graduate and Milton, MA native Caroline Ducharme, a freshman, had 24 points and 8 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of their loss to Louisville yesterday. If this UConn teams gets everyone back healthy (a gargantuan "if"), they're going to be devastatingly good. They could enter the tournament as a 3rd or 4th seed but really be one of the top 3 teams in the country at that point.

https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/hc-sp-uconn-women-louisville-20211220-20211219-wfkyp2pj3vfnldznuvt3grrhri-story.html
This is correct. They're missing Bueckers (best player in the country), but also Fudd, Muhl, and Griffin. That's four enormous pieces for this team. The emergence of Ducharme is huge for them. When everyone is back, they'll be legitimately 10 deep:

Bueckers
Muhl
Fudd
Westbrook
Griffin
Ducharme
Williams
Nelson-Ododa
Edwards
Juhasz

Every single one of those is a legitimately good or great player. This team will be a monster in March.
 

Bleedred

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Feb 21, 2001
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UConn won at the buzzer last night to beat a pretty good Depaul team. Caroline Ducharme (of Noble and Greenough and Milton, MA) hit the game winner on a drive to the basket with 1.6 seconds left. She is averaging 17+ points a game in her last 10 games and is no longer the unheralded Freshman on this team. It's amazing, because if UConn had stayed healthy, it's highly unlikely that Ducharme would have had any opportunity to play this year. Now, she's their "go-to" player until Bueckers comes back. In addition, Fudd played her first game last night and scored 15 points. If Bueckers returns at full strength, this team could be generationally phenomenal, which is saying something when it comes to UConn.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Their weakness is Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Good player and takes it to lesser teams, but she gets eaten alive by the top post players in the country. They don't have an answer inside for South Carolina, for example, even though UConn has three very skilled 6'3" or taller players.

But I was talking with my daughter (on the women's BB coaching staff at UNC-Greensboro but lifelong UConn fan) and we were having a hard time figuring out the ideal UConn starting lineup. They have SO many talented players. They're still going to miss Griffin, who is a nice player, for the rest of the year as well. But they go 9 deep and can cover basically anything. Tons of shooters. Three quality bigs (even with my caveat about Nelson-Ododa, they are still better than the vast majority of programs). A great defensive lineup. Versatility galore. Obviously elite coaching.

The crazy thing is that they may be seeded 3 or 4 depending on if they lose another game or two the rest of the season (which is possible with Bueckers still out), but imagine being a 1 seed and having to play UConn in the regional semi. That would suuuuuuuuck.
 

Dan Murfman

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Aug 21, 2001
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The crazy thing is that they may be seeded 3 or 4 depending on if they lose another game or two the rest of the season (which is possible with Bueckers still out), but imagine being a 1 seed and having to play UConn in the regional semi. That would suuuuuuuuck.
in Bridgeport too.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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I'm starting to get into women's basketball. URI has been terrible for really pretty much ever, with only one tournament appearance back in the mid 90's, but second year coach Tammi Reiss is the real deal. This year we are 4th in the A10 and had our first winning conference record since that tournament season. Between her improving the women's program and David Cox being hot garbage as the men's head coach, when we're back to being able to go to games I'll be switching my men's season tickets to the women's program.
Tammi Reiss is continuing her miraculous turn around of the URI women's basketball program. So far this year we're 19-3 overall, 9-0 in the Atlantic 10, only behind 10-0 Dayton in the conference. With a 48 NET we're firmly on the bubble. We host Dayton Wednesday night and finish up the regular season out at Dayton which are two big opportunities to enhance the resume and hopefully get us on the right side of the bubble. Even the local press has noticed, with an article in the Providence Journal talking about how the athletic director's most pressing business should be extending her contract even further.

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/college/2022/01/28/womens-college-basketball-uri-ncaa-tournament-contender-due-coach/9242771002/
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Hard to imagine Bueckers returning at full strength this year. If she doesn't, UConn is appropriately a 2-4 seed
UConn's had a bizarre season. Blow out #7 Tennessee the other day, then lose at home to Villanova. They were missing Ducharme and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (announcers didn't know why ONO wasn't active). Fell behind by 19 in the fourth before staging a furious rally in the last 3 minutes, but just fell three points short.

Either this team is having one of those "totally write it off because they're totally snake bit" kind of seasons, or they're going to come together, all be healthy, and roll to a title. Because when this team is healthy (actually IF, not WHEN) they have unreal depth and high end talent all over the place. Not sure they can ever get to that place though. It's been very weird.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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Are there any bracket sites that are more or less accurate? I've run across the ESPN one, but Lunardi isn't exactly accurate on the men's side, so not sure how good the person who does the women's one is. I've also seen the College Sports Madness one. Are either of these particularly good? Is there one I haven't come across that's better?
 

Dan Murfman

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Aug 21, 2001
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Tough 2 days for Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey. She drove to Philly after practice yesterday from Bridgeport to watch her son’s Purdue team lose a St Peters. And then today ND lead from the 2nd quarter and had an 8 point lead entering the 4th quarter. Still had a 1 point lead with the ball with 20 seconds to go. At that point NC State had no fouls in the 4th so had to either foul 5 times to put them on the line. Or need a turnover. They went plan b and just stole the ball around mid court and took it in for an uncontested layup. Brutal
 

Pesky Pole

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What a crazy end to that first half. Missed shot with shot clock going off. Both teams stop and UConn player flips it out of bounds. Indiana gets the ball back with 1.3 seconds and makes a 3 at the buzzer. What is crazy is that the clock stopped at 1.3 even though the ball was in bounds and it stayed frozen while the UConn player flipped it out. Shouldn’t have stopped at all and time should have expired. Let’s see if that 3 matters.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Good win by UConn. I think Monday night will be a very difficult game however. Really from here on out every game is going to be a significant challenge. These aren’t the old days when UConn would just crush everyone.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Gruesome injury to UConn’s backup center tonight. Broke her left wrist in a very ugly manner. :-(