4 Games / 4 Upsets

[divots]

Out: Notre Dame, South Carolina, Ohio State & Kentucky

In: Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee & Washington

 

[MilfordHusky]

Unreal! Tenn now looks like the 3rd best team.

The Irish streak of consecutive Final Fours ends. What was the "best point guard in America" doing by dribbling the ball around when her team obviously needed a 3-pointer in the last 20 seconds?

Karlie was huge tonight!!

 

[chrissaran]

Surprised Ohio St. lost, not at all. Surprised Kentucky lost, a little. Surprised South Carolina lost, a lot. Surprised Notre Dame lost, incredibly surprised. Never saw that coming. Thought it would be a UConn ND Championship game. Go figure. Go Huskies. Be prepared tomorrow. After all these upsets, they'll be sure to play their best.

 

[BigBird]

Glad for Karlie. So, what are anyone's thoughts as to FSU handling Baylor? Wouldn't THAT be something?

 

[UcMiami]

So I just went outside to check the moon - it isn't full. Checked my calendar but it isn't Friday the 13th, didn't see any black cats in the arenas, or ladders, or cracked mirrors! But something made the WCBB world take a weird little wobble tonight!
One whole side of the bracket is down to 2 #4 seeds and 2 #7 seeds! I doubt even the men's tournament is quite that whacky.

(And I am hoping this weird wobble is of the 12 hour variety and not the 24 hour one!!!)

 

[Carnac]

OMG!!! Nobody saw this coming. 4 games, 4 upsets. Anybody that wanted to go to the final four, and could not get a ticket, Ticket have just became available. Contact any Notre Dame, or South Carolina fan. They won't be using theirs. I sure hope the UConn player ALL too note of today's action, and conduct themselves accordingly tomorrow.

I didn't think any of the 1 seeds were going to be beaten. I sure didn't think Tennessee would get to the great 8. I guess ALL of the members of Vol nation can back off of Holly now. She should be good for a least 1 more year without any second guessing from the fan base. Go Huskies.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Hope Taurasi doesn't punch something while watching the Tenn/Cuse game. Or puke.

 

[msf22b]

Like I said from the beginning (on 2 or 3 boards)
It's been fun watching UTenn step all overthemselves in finding ways to lose.
You'd turn on a game and they'd figure a new way to do it.

Well now, all their Big-Macs are beginning to figure out the game,
Margo told them, stop thinking and play ball; it ain't so hard as you're making it.

Well now they're doing it and the final-4 is not so crazy

That side of the bracket is a gaping hole.

Who's going to step up.? Rebecca thinks Stanford.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I guess parity arrived with a thud.

 

[Lobo50Fan]

March is a different time and a different season really, but Stanford has still played very up and down all year long. They have a great chance and if they can continue to play the way they did tonight, they have a chance to get to the championship game. At the same time, Washington just beat them in the Pac-12 championship and are playing incredible basketball. It won't be easy for the Cardinal, but they definitely seem to have the best chance at the moment. Tomorrow, who knows

 

[VAUConnFan]

Syracuse and Tennessee. So much that I want to say, but will be brief.

Congratulations to the Syracuse WBB program. A huge step; Especially if, in years to come, the victory can be marked as a watershed moment; The moment in which they get to cast their lines into the elite recruiting pond.

Congratulations to Tennessee. We will see if the game marks their return among the elite programs.
IIRC, there was a player back in the 80's who went to Final Fours with two different programs(I will look it up, but believe it may have been with La Tech and Old Dominion). Diamond DeShields going to two Elite Eights with two different programs is quite an accomplishment.

The Final Four will have either Syracuse or Tennessee. WOW!

 

[bags27]

Congratulations to the Syracuse WBB program. Congratulations to Tennessee. Diamond DeShields going to two Elite Eights with two different programs is quite an accomplishment.

You are astonishingly generous and civil. You are treating this is as a sport that brings out the best in talented, committed student-athletes, rather than as conflict in which past hurts and slights remain unresolved from generation-to-generation. How odd!

 

[Kibitzer]

Some thoughts about Friday's games.

Did I hear it correctly -- that SC shoot more 3's than 2's? With Coates and Wilson, what were they thinking?

On an ESPN kick-off show, Muffet clearly stated that her Brianna (Turner) was the "best basketball player in. . .the country/conference." (Not sure which.) Anyhow, Ms Turner didn't play against UConn and she didn't bother playing in the first half against Stanford.

That miracle late trey by Karlie evoked eerie memories of That One last season against UConn to send the game into overtime.

You can bet that Holly and Hillsmann will greet each other with huge smiles before Monday's game.

The VolNation faithful will swallow all past nasty words as they gobble up available tix from sad folks in Columbia and Terre Haute.

Meghan Culmo should be happy. Apparently their no longer is a three-second rule. (If it's still valid, I never saw it called.)

 

[Buzzyboy]

Syracuse and Tennessee. So much that I want to say, but will be brief.

Congratulations to the Syracuse WBB program. A huge step; Especially if, in years to come, the victory can be marked as a watershed moment; The moment in which they get to cast their lines into the elite recruiting pond.

Congratulations to Tennessee. We will see if the game marks their return among the elite programs.
IIRC, there was a player back in the 80's who went to Final Fours with two different programs(I will look it up, but believe it may have been with La Tech and Old Dominion). Diamond DeShields going to two Elite Eights with two different programs is quite an accomplishment.

The Final Four will have either Syracuse or Tennessee. WOW!

I didn't watch the game but saw the stat sheet and Diamond Deshield (on paper) stunk tonight. You mentioned her as if she had something to do with the victory and maybe she did something that doesn't appear on the stat sheet that helped the team but on paper, they won despite her, not because of her. You mentioned her accomplishment and it doesn't seem that she deserves ANY credit for it. Their center, again based on the stat sheet, played a marvelous game but then again, this is the Ohio State team that UConn totally humiliated earlier in the year by something like 50 points at Ohio State. Their star, Mitchell shot horribly and maybe Tennessee's defense had something to do with it but if you're a superstar, you don't have games like that when it's nitty gritty time. I've mentioned before that South Carolina has one of the worst offenses in major women's basketball and it's only their defense and athleticism that help them win games. They must have taken their offensive cues from the Lady Vols who year after year after year have been inept offensively, relying on their defense and rebounding and athleticism to win with the frequency that they have. Pat Summit knew nothing about offense and I don't think things have changed too much. Dawn seems to follow that same philosophy. The Notre Dame thing was a big shock to me because the Irish seemed to be playing very well though their loss to UConn was a lot closer than it looked because UConn's perimeter defense played horribly, allowing a massive amount of three point shots and Notre Dame was unconscious beyond the arc. I still thought it would be the Irish and Huskies in the championship game but it's nice that the Irish streak of consecutive Final Fours is history. I'm inclined to think that Geno will insure the team doesn't take anyone lightly, particularly at this time of the season though I think this team knows that all too well.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Syracuse and Tennessee. So much that I want to say, but will be brief.

Congratulations to the Syracuse WBB program. A huge step; Especially if, in years to come, the victory can be marked as a watershed moment; The moment in which they get to cast their lines into the elite recruiting pond.

Congratulations to Tennessee. We will see if the game marks their return among the elite programs.
IIRC, there was a player back in the 80's who went to Final Fours with two different programs(I will look it up, but believe it may have been with La Tech and Old Dominion). Diamond DeShields going to two Elite Eights with two different programs is quite an accomplishment.

The Final Four will have either Syracuse or Tennessee. WOW!

I sure hope it's Syracuse. I'm still happy to keep the Vols down! I don't want them to ruin their streak of missing Final Fours.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

One of those four teams will be in the championship game. The de jure championship game.

If, as everyone expects, Baylor and UConn play in one semifinal, that game will be the
de facto championship game - much like several years ago when UConn and Notre Dame
battled in the semis for the right to demolish an overmatched Louisville team who had
improbably beaten Baylor.

But then, everyone expected South Carolina and Notre Dame to be in the other semifinal,
so who knows?

 

[ASweet3781]

ESPN has got to be praying for Tennessee to make it out of that half.

 

[VAUConnFan]

I didn't watch the game but saw the stat sheet and Diamond Deshield (on paper) stunk tonight. You mentioned her as if she had something to do with the victory and maybe she did something that doesn't appear on the stat sheet that helped the team but on paper, they won despite her, not because of her. You mentioned her accomplishment and it doesn't seem that she deserves ANY credit for it. Their center, again based on the stat sheet, played a marvelous game but then again, this is the Ohio State team that UConn totally humiliated earlier in the year by something like 50 points at Ohio State. Their star, Mitchell shot horribly and maybe Tennessee's defense had something to do with it but if you're a superstar, you don't have games like that when it's nitty gritty time. I've mentioned before that South Carolina has one of the worst offenses in major women's basketball and it's only their defense and athleticism that help them win games. They must have taken their offensive cues from the Lady Vols who year after year after year have been inept offensively, relying on their defense and rebounding and athleticism to win with the frequency that they have. Pat Summit knew nothing about offense and I don't think things have changed too much. Dawn seems to follow that same philosophy. The Notre Dame thing was a big shock to me because the Irish seemed to be playing very well though their loss to UConn was a lot closer than it looked because UConn's perimeter defense played horribly, allowing a massive amount of three point shots and Notre Dame was unconscious beyond the arc. I still thought it would be the Irish and Huskies in the championship game but it's nice that the Irish streak of consecutive Final Fours is history. I'm inclined to think that Geno will insure the team doesn't take anyone lightly, particularly at this time of the season though I think this team knows that all too well.

Whether Ms DeShields is deserving of the credit for her second elite eight appearance is a matter of opinion. However, it is not as if she sat on the bench at North Carolina and Tennessee. One would be hard pressed to find a basketball player with an impeccable playoff resume. But, that is the nice thing about a team sport like basketball - A team can still find ways to win when an individual player(s) is not having a particularly good shooting performance(ie: Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery in the Elite 8 game against Rutgers in 2008).

 

[Bayareahusky]

Oh this is great..... with Tennessee, we get to play them if they get to Final 4, and Tennessee gets drunk ion Holly's success and keeps her as Head Coach for a while longer, what could be better?!!!!!!!!

 

[bballnut90]

I didn't watch the game but saw the stat sheet and Diamond Deshield (on paper) stunk tonight. You mentioned her as if she had something to do with the victory and maybe she did something that doesn't appear on the stat sheet that helped the team but on paper, they won despite her, not because of her. You mentioned her accomplishment and it doesn't seem that she deserves ANY credit for it. Their center, again based on the stat sheet, played a marvelous game but then again, this is the Ohio State team that UConn totally humiliated earlier in the year by something like 50 points at Ohio State. Their star, Mitchell shot horribly and maybe Tennessee's defense had something to do with it but if you're a superstar, you don't have games like that when it's nitty gritty time. I've mentioned before that South Carolina has one of the worst offenses in major women's basketball and it's only their defense and athleticism that help them win games. They must have taken their offensive cues from the Lady Vols who year after year after year have been inept offensively, relying on their defense and rebounding and athleticism to win with the frequency that they have. Pat Summit knew nothing about offense and I don't think things have changed too much. Dawn seems to follow that same philosophy. The Notre Dame thing was a big shock to me because the Irish seemed to be playing very well though their loss to UConn was a lot closer than it looked because UConn's perimeter defense played horribly, allowing a massive amount of three point shots and Notre Dame was unconscious beyond the arc. I still thought it would be the Irish and Huskies in the championship game but it's nice that the Irish streak of consecutive Final Fours is history. I'm inclined to think that Geno will insure the team doesn't take anyone lightly, particularly at this time of the season though I think this team knows that all too well.

Deshields was outstanding tonight. She didn't shoot well, but she set the tone with her passing and was incredibly unselfish. All of her buckets were big momentum building shots and she played within herself the entire game. No really bad shots or really bad turnovers. I know she gets a lot of flack on this board, but when she plays like she did tonight, Tennessee is a dangerous team. Russell, Graves, Nared and Cooper all had outstanding efforts tonight, too.

The Tennessee offense was the best I've seen since the 2008 season. Outstanding ball movement agains the zone, great feeds into the post, shooting well from midrange and from deep. They played really really good basketball tonight. They also smothered Mitchell and made sure she was bottled up all night. I have no idea what got into this team, but if they continue this play there is a very good chance they'll face UCONN in the title game. And I never would've thought I'd say that after the LSU and Alabama meltdowns.

 

[Plebe]

I didn't watch the game but saw the stat sheet and Diamond Deshield (on paper) stunk tonight. You mentioned her as if she had something to do with the victory and maybe she did something that doesn't appear on the stat sheet that helped the team but on paper, they won despite her, not because of her. ....

DeShields didn't shoot well (3 for 14) but she had 7 assists and 1 steal, with only 2 turnovers. Her 7 assists were a third of Tennessee's 21 total (on 31 made baskets; compare to OSU's 10 total assists on 22 made baskets).

Mercedes Russell had what was surely her career game: 25 points and 15 rebounds. She was almost unrecognizable.

 

[HGN]

With the upsets in the house I just hope The Huskies take care of business. If they do we will be ok.

 

[alexrgct]

In 2013 during the regional semis, the Uconn team that couldn't catch a break all season caught one when Louisville shocked Baylor. The Huskies promptly responded by playing like champions against Kentucky. Now, the Uconn squad that hasn't needed a break to catch all year has caught one anyway. Now Uconn needs to respond like its path to another championship has suddenly become easier. It's the same "one game at a time" mentality and the same eagerness and intensity that need to manifest themselves now. Everything is on the line starting today. Breanna has a destiny to fulfill, and Moriah and Morgan want to go out the right way, too. It's only going to get tougher for the Huskies after this season's conclusion, and in the interim, there's nothing for Geno to do but to steeer his team in one direction, full speed ahead.

 

[Replicant]

DeShields didn't shoot well (3 for 14) but...

"didn't shoot well"? That's quite generous...we have another name for shooting 21% around here!

 

[Replicant]

ESPN has got to be praying for Tennessee to make it out of that half.

Oh to see Gabby guarding Diamond! That would be one for the ages.