WBB
- Thread starter HI Cock1
- Start date
The UCLA loss may have helped this team.
Where’s the idiots saying Dawn should bench Raven/Hall/Feagin. Dawn knows her players. This team is simply learning to play without Cardosa.
I really think it did.
TCU was one of the hottest teams in the country coming into this game, but our girls are starting to look scary-good again.
UCLA shot lights out against us as well, at least from what I watched. Not sure of final stats, but I remember watching the first half and just being so frustrated because they could not miss.
Going 3,000 miles to get your @$$ cut like that on national television while obviously sending a message to at least one player doesn't help anybody. There had to be a better way.
TCU came into this game leading the nation in assists to turnover ratio at 2.06 (194 assists to 94 turnovers). On their home court, they had 11 assists to 20 turnovers against the Gamecocks. That will impact any team's status quo......
The perimeter guards for South Carolina - Raven, TeHina, Milasia, Tessa, and Maddy - shot a combined 21-40 (.525) from the field, as well as 7-17 (.412) from the arc for 60 pts. All scored in double digits save Maddy, who scored 8 pts on 8-8 at the FT line.
The perimeter guards for South Carolina - Raven, TeHina, Milasia, Tessa, and Maddy - shot a combined 21-40 (.525) from the field, as well as 7-17 (.412) from the arc for 60 pts. All scored in double digits save Maddy, who scored 8 pts on 8-8 at the FT line.
USC is really good - 5 games (4 wins) vs Top 15 ranked teams... that being said. UCLA is a much better team that South Carolina this year. They're big and deep in the post and have really good guards. They are likely the team to beat this year. UCONN is up there again as one of the top 3 teams as well as they seem to be healthy for the first time in many years - last year, UCONN lost 5 players for the season due to injury and still made the final four, only losing by a bucket to Iowa. They're still really good, but from what I've seen so far, UCLA is by far the best team in the country.
Dominant ''bigs'' in the middle can make excellent perimeter players irrelevant as we have demonstrated with Boston and Cardoso most recently. We are missing that piece and UCLA used it against us.
She was good last night. If Raven hits 3+ Threes in a Game along with her defense, rebounding, and steady PG play, she has to be out there. Players go through slumps. She had hers early. Hopefully, she can power her way through the season now.
Didn't happen last night. TCU has a girl that is about the same size as Betts that the media has been hyping since they beat NC State. No factor, USC rout. I know a lot our fans have PTSD when it comes to Athletics. However, that UCLA was just one game in November. No Conference titles were won. No National Titles were won. Amazing how one loss can shake the confidence of some our fanbase so easily. There are other ways to win in basketball than having a dominant big. I know that has been our formula for the past 10-12 years. However, that is not the team's strength this year. We have to experiment and learn how to play differently. In experimentation, there are bumps in the road.
So do we avoid playing the best now like LSU does to get a false sense of where we stand. I would rather know that we have some work to do now than find out in March when there is nothing you can do about it because the season is over.
Not a choice anyone associated with us should have to make. I'd rather play like the defending national champions with 10 contributors back than like a bunch of untested freshmen and sophomores.
TCU's big, hyped or not, was not an elite big ala Boston/Cardoso. If you watched the game, it was obvious she was not a game changer.
We will see more bigs who are comparable to UCLA's down the road. Need to be ready with some of those ''other ways win basketball games''.
Yes, we have 10 contributors back. However, we miss the one player that was the linchpin to making it all work in Cardoso. As a result, the team has to operate in a different fashion than it has in the past 10 years. We now have smaller, quicker, face the basket bigs. We have to lean in to that. Use your high to low post actions to get easy buckets. Have Kitts face up bigger posts and use her quickness. Joyce same thing. Ashlyn and Sania same thing. We are smaller, but we have just as much or more players at the 4 and 5 that can help. We have to be more aware of blocking out and being fundamentally sound now. We can't just get rebounds because we are bigger. However, being smaller is not an excuse to not getting the job done. When we play bigger teams use your fouls. We have three more girls (Dauda, Tac, and Walker) that can use fouls and eat up a few minutes. Dawn has forgot more basketball than I will ever know. So, I know that she is already aware and working on the things to get this team prepared as we roll through the season.
All will be well if we win the national championship, as we were earlier picked to do. In that event, this will be a mere hiccup. Otherwise, it will be remembered as a leading indicator - a symptom of inordinate diminishment.
As noted earlier, SC is really good. There are some teams that may be a little better this year, and that's OK. USC still has enough talent to make a run, they're just not as strong in the post as they've been the last 9-10 years.... teams with really good posts (Like UCLA) will make it tough. Biggest challenges for USC in the SEC schedule: 2 games with Texas (they have some good bigs) and LSU. It will be interesting.
I disdain the agenda which caused it. If you're going to embarrass yourself through machinations, don't do it on national television.
I think there is some major over reaction to the UCLA game. South Carolina does not have the most dominant big in the country but does have the most talent in the country and are playing that way now. UCLA had not shot the ball from the three up to our game, which altered how we chose to play them, and if you go back and review their games since then, they have not shot close to that percentage since which has had them into grinding games with very subpar teams. For example Londynn Jones has shot 1 for 19, since playing us, where she went 5 for 5 which was an abheration. They had a week off to prepare for us, while we were playing a Wednesday night game against Clemson, then traveling across country to play thme. and everything they needed to go their way occurred. We were still not flowing offensively and starting slowly. UCLA only is playing 8 players with the major contributions coming from Betts and Rice. Their bench is only giving tem about 14 points a game so they rely heavily on their starters. This game was similar to when Uconn lost to Stanford the second game of a season after coming off an Undefeated season with Stewie. Uconn got back to their habits, and they got recalibrated that year, beat basically everone againn, and won another championship. I suspect this will play out similarly this year and all this angst about the loss will be for not.
Last edited:
So basically you're saying that we are better than they are. So basically you're saying that there was no excuse for getting drilled like that. So basically you're saying that it would not have gone down that way had the coach been managing the game straight up and not trying to "fix" people.
Fulwiley, and to a lesser extent, Raven. They have played better of late.
But who's to say they weren't going to play better, anyway? After all, they had played better BEFORE.
You'll have to live probably 50 more years to ever learn what I've already forgotten about sports, and probably life in general.
We have a Hall of Fame Coach. We need to let her coach her team please.
I'm not stopping her. Now, if you feel my comments are impeding her, my fees for desisting are probably well within your means.
@ConwayGamecock You always post thoughtfully. The stats that you provide add context and illustrate the point or points you are making. Well done. Hope you will come over to TIF and share your insights for the rest of the season.
Get unlimited access today.