2024-2025 WBB Team (2022-present)

KingWard

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Feb 15, 2022
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I know it was gut wrenching for UT, but can we talk X’s and O’s on that last play?

I get Harper not calling a TO, you don’t want to give DS a freebie. She is also on the far end of the court in a loud arena, difficult to communicate. But that was your plan?

Fulwiley and Paopao were guarded. Watkins was loosely doubled down low. The player guarding Raven neither harassed the inbounds nor guarded ANYONE. I imagine she was protecting against an inbounds and quick pass back to Raven for the shot. But come on, there wasn’t enough time for that.

The FUN DAMN MENTAL principle in any last second shot is “force the shooter to move away from the basket to catch the ball”. That is so their momentum forces an off balance shot.

They just decided to leave a D1 scholarship player wide open for the last shot. I understand Cardoso is not a 3 pt shooter but it was totally uncontested. No pressure from D, just an open pregame warmup shot.
That's a little in line with the legendary Laettner shot that beat Kentucky in the 1992 Dance - and what a fabulous game that was! Pitino elected not to contest the long inbound pass from the baseline and perhaps change its trajectory. If he does that, it's possible Laettner never catches the ball, or at least not in a position to shoot before time expires.
 

ConwayGamecock

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Jan 20, 2022
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Charlie Creme's latest bracketology has Stanford, LSU and UCONN in the same regional. Like I stated earlier, the same 4 coaches win the tournament every year and he has 3 of them in the same regional. They will knock each other off. Of course, 1 of them is almost certain to make to the Final Four.


He has a couple of Big Ten teams in our regional-- Ohio St and Indiana. I believe the Big Ten isn't that strong this year, so I'd take it.

But the tournament committee is not obligated to draw the tournament the way Creme sees it, though......
 

KingWard

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Feb 15, 2022
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The concerning part about today's game is that I'm afraid some fans, members of the media and even Dawn herself believe we lost to Iowa because of the lack of outside shooting. That wasn't the main reason. The biggest reason was a lack of urgency. We fall behind ten points to start the game; the bench claws our way back into and then the starting lineup once again falls behind by double digits to start the 3rd. The bench valiantly fought back in the 2nd half, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole. Dawn didn't play the players who were playing the best enough.

Today, I thought the team came out with an unbelievable sense of urgency. They were absolutely locked in on defense. With a minute left in the 1st half, we were up 20. Inexplicably, Dawn puts Sakima Walker in the game. It's difficult to imagine Walker could have played any worse. She turned the ball over twice in her first 40 seconds in the game. On defense, she completely misplayed a screen and allowed Jewel Spear an open look from 3, which she hit. The lead went from 20 to 13 in a minute.

I don't get it. Why was she in the game? Yes, Cardoso picked up her 2nd foul. However, Feagin was already in the game and Kitts was on the bench with 1 foul. Chloe was perhaps our best player today. We finished +12 with her on the court in only 17 minutes. We have NINE players who helped build a lead and then Dawn has to play that 10th player who did nothing to build the lead. Why take your foot off the gas? This is the semi-finals of the SEC tournament against Tennessee. The players came out playing with great intensity and I feel like Dawn sent the wrong message by playing the end of her bench, like we were playing Mississippi Valley State in November.

All that being said, Dawn is 66-1 over the last two seasons, so what do I know? She believes her team is going to win the 4th quarter and win the game, and they did. She is cool, calm and collected, no doubt about it. But, maybe, just a little more urgency will make this team perform even better. The NCAA tournament doesn't start for over a week. No need to rest anyone tomorrow. Play the players playing the best.
I had to watch that game on replay (as much as I could stand) because of a baseball game I attended. One aspect of that game which hurt us was that cutting, back-screening offense of theirs. We never really got a good handle on it.
 

Gamecock Lincoln

Joined Nov 10, 2007 • Garnet Trust Supporter
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Poa officially out (no surprise), Williams warming up. Angel arrived in a walking boot.
 

YankeeRooster

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Nov 29, 2022
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Fulwiley needs to play more. Yes, Dawn thinks Freshman need to sit and learn, but she is the most talented offensive player we have. She can create when the defense shuts down the set you tried to run. That will happen more as the competition stiffens.
She played 13 minutes vs UT, and scored 13 points. I was there, almost courtside, and the energy that she brings to the team when she is in the game is undeniable. UT fans were praying she would not reenter the game in the 4th, she is unguardable and so fast on defense. We need more of her vs LSU. What a lightning rod, hoping she gets extended minutes today.
 

adcoop

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Breezy guarded Rickea all day and it didn't going well. To be fair, very few players in the country would have much success defending her man-to-man. I believe Dawn felt Tessa was doing a better job. It's VERY rare for coach to opt for a younger player over a veteran in crunch time, so that should tell us something.

As far as Fulwiley, Raven is the best perimeter defender and she was on Spear. We wanted Powell to shoot, so defense wasn't a priority when it came to who was to guard her. Paopao struggled on the offensive end yesterday; Fulwiley was having a better day. I don't think coach quite trusts Milaysia enough, though, to close a big game yet. (Raven and Paopao are both all-conference guards, so it would take a lot for Dawn to sit them in crunch time)
I felt we should have played big with Watkins, Kitts, and Cardoso. The pick and roll would have still been an issue, but you would have at least had a good matchup with Jackson on Watkins in isolations. Kitts can spread the floor enough to play the 3 in selected situations. Heck, we weren’t scoring anyway late. Needed to make it a big rock fight like 90s basketball. We got ithrough it though.
 
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ConwayGamecock

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Gamecocks win their 8th SEC Tournament Title!! Defeat LSU 79-72 for their 16th consecutive win over the Tigers!!

Mikayla Fulwiley scored a career high 24 pts on 8-12 shooting, 4-5 from behind the 3-pt. line, to lead the way!!


Now we got a bit of a mess to figure out who will represent the Gamecocks for their NCAAT opening game.....
 

DarkCock

Joined Jan 21, 2006
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I don't see how Flau'jae didn't get ejected too.
I was about to make the same comment. LSU sure can dish it, but they sure don't like to take it. And the swinging elbow going to the bench is a cheap move. No way she wants any part of Watkins for real. Her brother doesn't want any part of Watkins either. He better check himself.
 

Uscg1984

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Jan 28, 2022
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It felt like a big overreaction by the refs to me. I'm fine with Cardoso's ejection, but this should not have taken 20 minutes to figure out. The "fight," to the extent there was one, was one girl pushing another. And then the doofus that came out of the stands. I realize there were girls from both teams who "left the bench area" but it looked to me like they _barely_ left it and with no intention of joining the melee - not that different than when players from the bench end up on the court when they celebrate a 3-pointer.
 

ConwayGamecock

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We won't lose much. Her backups are much more mobile and agile.

It shouldn't matter any way one looks at it. As the overall #1, South Carolina will essentially play against the worst overall seeded team in the tournament in the 1st round, in Colonial Life Arena. It should be a decisive win no matter which 5 we put on the floor.....
 

Uscg1984

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It shouldn't matter any way one looks at it. As the overall #1, South Carolina will essentially play against the worst overall seeded team in the tournament in the 1st round, in Colonial Life Arena. It should be a decisive win no matter which 5 we put on the floor.....
Right. I wasn't too worried even when I thought we'd have to play that game with just 6 girls.
 

DarkCock

Joined Jan 21, 2006
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That's right. Our own coach is keeping us from getting separation in some of these games.
Kitts was +7 in only 14 minutes of play. When Kamilla went out with her 2nd foul late in the 1st half, Dawn once again went to Walker instead of Chloe. Again, I don't get it. Walker didn't play poorly, but Reese was on the bench the entire time. We wasted an opportunity to build the lead.
 

Gamekem

Joined Apr 3, 2019
Feb 1, 2022
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Kitts was +7 in only 14 minutes of play. When Kamilla went out with her 2nd foul late in the 1st half, Dawn once again went to Walker instead of Chloe. Again, I don't get it. Walker didn't play poorly, but Reese was on the bench the entire time. We wasted an opportunity to build the lead.
I wasn't too mad at Sakima this time around, especially when ever post player was picking up fouls. I thought she did decent rebounding and boxing out when seem to be allergic to rebounding today.
 

adcoop

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That's right. Our own coach is keeping us from getting separation in some of these games.
24 Points in 16 Minutes of Court Time. Love Dawn, but I don’t know what she is doing with limiting Fulwiley’s minutes. Our offense is stagnant and sort of unproductive without Fulwiley being a part of it. It’s time to win now. Even Phil Jackson abandoned the Triangle offense and gave the ball to Michael or Kobe when it was time to win.
 

DarkCock

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I wasn't too mad at Sakima this time around, especially when ever post player was picking up fouls. I thought she did decent rebounding and boxing out when seem to be allergic to rebounding today.
Yeah, she wasn't bad. We finished even with her on the court. But we should have added to the lead with Del Rosario on the floor and no Reese imo.