Walker and UConn.

[wallman]

I always find comments interesting then watch the game and wonder where people are getting their information. Just watched the ND, Uconn game, I have all the big games taped along with the whole of the PAC.

Uconn was no where near the team they were at that point in the season and beat ND comfortably with ND going off from the 3. Uconn became a juggernaut as their starting 5 became settled. The beauty of Uconns defense was their ability to switch on everything and the starting 5 were able to guard every where on the court. The reason the odd player was able to score was due to the fact that Uconn in the first half focused their D on certain players, this was adjusted in the second half as a good coach would do.

Uconn players don't have to guard 2 players as a poster is saying as only one of them will be on the floor at a time. Uconn still has the height and more importantly length and athleticism advantage and the better defense. Defense was a weakness of ND last year, it may improve but I doubt there will be a great improvement as they lost some stalwarts off their D.

The only question for Uconn would appear to be who their 5th starter will be and whether they will be a 5 man switching defensive team, which again would be very difficult for anyone in the country to play against. If Butler starts they could go zone or play switching on 4 players then have Butler sag in the paint. It's not like there isn't a player on ND or any other team for that matter who cannot be left open away from the basket.

 

[bags27]

Well im up on the mic but not from the Boogie Down. Dont need no KRS One cause i got my own sound. Im quick on the draw when it comes to talking ball im Hall Of Fame like Geno and Muffet Mcgraw. I got love for the Huskies no doubt they got game . But in the picture i paint N.D. will put them to shame. When the Huskies come to town they'll be ready to fight. But in the end will see their all bark and no bite. Without Stewie Mo and Tuck they'll be lightening struck . Cause the Irish got the skill and all the luck. Don't need Touch Down Jesus or a 4 leaf clover. This team is off the hook by the half it will be over. Turner will own the post and and control the paint. While Chris cools down Geno so he doesn't faint. Allen like a general will lead the attack . And make a living taking the rookie Dangerfield to the rack. Mabrey will drop threes KLS will drop tears while Husky fans yell at the the tv we stink this year. Arike will drive the lane like a charging bull but lets hope this year shes not so out of control. Boley will take the court like a seasoned vet. And put up a double double without breaking a sweat. When the game is done and the smoke is clear there will be a new sheriff in town this year. Quick Draw Mcgraw will have saved the day. And the Irish will be on top and there to stay. Luigi will have lost the game and his appetite. Because even his wife's lasagna wont even taste right. I could go on forever but ill cut it short. And let my team do the talking on the basketball court.

Great! But listen here: it ain't no joke; if the Irish get to the finals, it's likely they'll choke.

 

[CocoHusky]

That is true when it comes to non-athletes. However Army and Navy bend the admissions standards as much as most other schools when it comes to athletes.

I feel like we have had this conversation before. I assure you this is not true. Send me a personal message if you need further assurance.

 

[southbendcane]

Great! But listen here: it ain't no joke; if the Irish get to the finals, it's likely they'll choke.

LOL. We are the Buffalo Bills of Womens Basketball.

 

[CocoHusky]

Well im up on the mic but not from the Boogie Down. Dont need no KRS One cause i got my own sound. Im quick on the draw when it comes to talking ball im Hall Of Fame like Geno and Muffet Mcgraw. I got love for the Huskies no doubt they got game . But in the picture i paint N.D. will put them to shame. When the Huskies come to town they'll be ready to fight. But in the end will see their all bark and no bite. Without Stewie Mo and Tuck they'll be lightening struck . Cause the Irish got the skill and all the luck. Don't need Touch Down Jesus or a 4 leaf clover. This team is off the hook by the half it will be over. Turner will own the post and and control the paint. While Chris cools down Geno so he doesn't faint. Allen like a general will lead the attack . And make a living taking the rookie Dangerfield to the rack. Mabrey will drop threes KLS will drop tears while Husky fans yell at the the tv we stink this year. Arike will drive the lane like a charging bull but lets hope this year shes not so out of control. Boley will take the court like a seasoned vet. And put up a double double without breaking a sweat. When the game is done and the smoke is clear there will be a new sheriff in town this year. Quick Draw Mcgraw will have saved the day. And the Irish will be on top and there to stay. Luigi will have lost the game and his appetite. Because even his wife's lasagna wont even taste right. I could go on forever but ill cut it short. And let my team do the talking on the basketball court.

You not from the Boggie down?

All Good, I still got 4 other boroughs where I can bury you.

Your pen game aw’right but your Irish are weak.

Not even Under Armour could help you and the flopping Irish.

There is Muffet screaming again… “You were supposed to protected this house”

There goes another Husky pissing on the ND carpet and erasing a double digit lead.

Look, that one Husky is just a Pup too- could be real Dangerous when she grows up.

All bite and no bark, tell that to the last fool who tried to pet these Huskies.

Huskies need to be fed, at UCONN they are eating real good ..

UCONN menu has Irish stew, but only once a year, it has been played out like Kwame, and them polka dots.

Lasagna is on the UCONN menu-always made from scratch

No need to insult the man wife’s cooking.

That lasagna, made from scratch, Nonna made that!

I am trying to like the Irish but you keep taking me left

Allen a general? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee. Maybe in the Salvation Army.

 

[southbendcane]

WTH was that LOL. I like Kwame. This is so much funner then another lets guess where Walker ends up board . I give you props Coco. Always fun to shoot the you know what with our biggest rival. You guys are the GOAT. Where just a squirrel trying to get a nut. Judging by your Rap knowledge you must be in your 40s or early 50s I graduated in the mid 80s and listened and still have all the old stuff. Cant wait for the season to start.

 

[SCGamecock]

Agree mostly. A couple major points of sharp departure.

DI athletes don't take fullest advantage of the academic offerings of their university nor hang with the most academically ambitious students because there is simply no time for it.

You are mistaken to think military academies can't compete on pure academics with the top (say) 15 universities. I can assure you that academic component only of a successful military academy applicant would get the same applicant admitted to any top US News top 10 rated school. The academies have a different mission, thumping your chest and checking US News rankings doesn’t do anything to support that mission.

Exactly. Annapolis and West Point IMHO are two of the best universities in this country, regardless of type.. private/public.. military/civilian. What those students go through and get out of attending those universities is priceless. The instruction at those universities in some cases surpasses the Ivies because its not just theoretical.. it's practical.

 

[Carnac]

WTH was that LOL. I like Kwame. This is so much funner then another lets guess where Walker ends up board . I give you props Coco. Always fun to shoot the you know what with our biggest rival. You guys are the GOAT. Where just a squirrel trying to get a nut. Judging by your Rap knowledge you must be in your 40s or early 50s I graduated in the mid 80s and listened and still have all the old stuff. Cant wait for the season to start.

Yeah lol, I wish Coco would get down off the fence, and tell us how he really feels. That was so funny, I had to read it twice.

 

[CocoHusky]

WTH was that LOL. I like Kwame. This is so much funner then another lets guess where Walker ends up board . I give you props Coco. Always fun to shoot the you know what with our biggest rival. You guys are the GOAT. Where just a squirrel trying to get a nut. Judging by your Rap knowledge you must be in your 40s or early 50s I graduated in the mid 80s and listened and still have all the old stuff. Cant wait for the season to start.

Baby Girl already told you Age ain't nothing but a number.
R Kelly would agree , but the law might not.
In the mean time and in between time
I can't wait for the season to start either.
Keep posting-you got potential!

 

[Fightin Choke]

Well your hearing is a little off then. Might want to get that checked.

Top 30? Sure. Top 20? Not quite. (close though)

Only close to the top 20? The majority of the evidence suggests that Stefanie was indeed top 20. In fact, the only real outlier was Hoopgurlz. Examining the situation more closely:

39th Hoopgurlz
24th Blue Star
12th ASGR
20th McDonalds' AA selection (One of 24 players selected, which means she had to be at worst ranked 24th, but could have been ranked much higher. Calling it 20th is conservative. By the way, she had 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game.)
12th USA U18 selection (One of 12 players selected, so that's at worst ranked 12th. She was also selected to the U19 team the following year, but that was after her freshman year at UConn.)
11th USA Today 3rd team AA (So she was ranked between 11th and 15th. Let's take the middle number of 13th. But there were 2 juniors on the first 3 teams (KML and Elizabeth Williams), so make it 11th among the seniors.)
22.5th Parade 4th team AA (Parade has 10 selections per team, so ranked between 31th and 40th. Let's take the middle number of 35.5th. But there were 13 underclassmen on the first 4 teams, so make it 22.5th)

The average of these rankings is 20.1th, the median is 18th. If you throw out the worst and best number (outliers), the mean is 18.3th (and of course the median is unaffected). I know that this is way too much analysis for this point, but it DOES demonstrate that Stephanie was highly regarded. Her only rating above 24th was Hoopgurlz (with their outlier of 39th), and I think that inordinately colored fans' perceptions of her.

 

[CocoHusky]

Only close to the top 20? The majority of the evidence suggests that Stefanie was indeed top 20. In fact, the only real outlier was Hoopgurlz. Examining the situation more closely:

39th Hoopgurlz
24th Blue Star
12th ASGR
20th McDonalds' AA selection (One of 24 players selected, which means she had to be at worst ranked 24th, but could have been ranked much higher. Calling it 20th is conservative. By the way, she had 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game.)
12th USA U18 selection (One of 12 players selected, so that's at worst ranked 12th. She was also selected to the U19 team the following year, but that was after her freshman year at UConn.)
11th USA Today 3rd team AA (So she was ranked between 11th and 15th. Let's take the middle number of 13th. But there were 2 juniors on the first 3 teams (KML and Elizabeth Williams), so make it 11th among the seniors.)
22.5th Parade 4th team AA (Parade has 10 selections per team, so ranked between 31th and 40th. Let's take the middle number of 35.5th. But there were 13 underclassmen on the first 4 teams, so make it 22.5th)

The average of these rankings is 20.1th, the median is 18th. If you throw out the worst and best number (outliers), the mean is 18.3th (and of course the median is unaffected). I know that this is way too much analysis for this point, but it DOES demonstrate that Stephanie was highly regarded. Her only rating above 24th was Hoopgurlz (with their outlier of 39th), and I think that inordinately colored fans' perceptions of her.

Talking about going deep. Keeping it simple: Dolson best center in WCBB since Griner! In her own class Dolson not the only center to outperform her ranking either. Hamson of BYU was ranked 98 by Hoopgurlz.

 

[bballnut90]

Arike also shot 39.1% from 3. Boley has a reputation as a shooter specifically and Young became a very good shooter as her HS career went on. So I think ND still has 3 or 4 legit 3-point threats - Marina, Arike, Boley, maybe Young. ND will also be better at attacking off the dribble, which Cable and Mabrey1 could not do.

Allen is not a great 3 point shooter, but she shot 49.8% last year, which is pretty fantastic for a guard. She is very reliable out 17 or 18 feet. I don't think freshman Nurse was better than her. She may have looked better in ND-UConn games but everyone for ND looks horrible in those games and that had a lot to do with Stewart, MoJeff, and Tuck. Dangerfield would have to be MUCH better than Jefferson was as a freshman to approach Allen.

Sorry - didn't want to turn this into ND cheerleading on the Bboneyard but that line was crossed a while ago...

Allen can be a very solid 3pt shooter. Last year they had better options, so she rarely took open looks (heck, she rarely looked for her shot all year with Cable/Mabrey2/Arike all having outstanding seasons), but the previous year she took more 3s and shot 37% from long range. I doubt she scores much more this year than she did last considering she has teammates who are more potent scoring threats, but she is a capable 3pt shooter and may be relied upon as a 3pt threat if ND has any issues in that area.

IMO Notre Dame is the early favorite entering this season. The lineup is more talented (Boley and Young > Cable and Mabrey 1) and more experienced. They have arguably the best collection of offensively talent in the country, and balance at all 5 spots. Perhaps more significantly, most other top programs lose key players that will be hard to replace. UCONN loses their Big 3, South Carolina loses their backcourt, Baylor only loses Niya Johnson, Oregon State loses their seniors, etc. Other programs will be solid and could surpass Notre Dame, but ND has the fewest number of question marks and an outstanding track record of success and coaching to solidify their #1 preseason spot.

 

[Orangutan]

I always find comments interesting then watch the game and wonder where people are getting their information. Just watched the ND, Uconn game, I have all the big games taped along with the whole of the PAC.

Uconn was no where near the team they were at that point in the season and beat ND comfortably with ND going off from the 3. Uconn became a juggernaut as their starting 5 became settled. The beauty of Uconns defense was their ability to switch on everything and the starting 5 were able to guard every where on the court. The reason the odd player was able to score was due to the fact that Uconn in the first half focused their D on certain players, this was adjusted in the second half as a good coach would do.

Uconn players don't have to guard 2 players as a poster is saying as only one of them will be on the floor at a time. Uconn still has the height and more importantly length and athleticism advantage and the better defense. Defense was a weakness of ND last year, it may improve but I doubt there will be a great improvement as they lost some stalwarts off their D.

The only question for Uconn would appear to be who their 5th starter will be and whether they will be a 5 man switching defensive team, which again would be very difficult for anyone in the country to play against. If Butler starts they could go zone or play switching on 4 players then have Butler sag in the paint. It's not like there isn't a player on ND or any other team for that matter who cannot be left open away from the basket.

I don't know how much last year's ND-UConn game tells us about ND-UConn this year. Jefferson played 40 minutes, Stewart played 37, and Tuck played 36. 56.5% of UConn's minutes and 69.2% of the points came from players now in the WNBA. UConn was able to have a hyper-athletic team that could switch everything without sacrificing interior defense because of the rare inside-outside abilities of Tuck and Stewart. I expect UConn's defense to be great (possibly #1 in the country) again but it will definitely look different because there won't be anyone who can do what Stewart did -- she's once in a lifetime.

The only "stalwart" ND lost off of their D was Cable, which is definitely a big loss. Mabrey1 was a defensive liability and Huffman was very good on D but played little (6 min against UConn). Keep in mind that ND's defense last year was built around Turner and Reimer as the interior anchors and rim protectors. ND had to deal with the loss of Reimer and Turner's injury midseason. Hopefully, Turner's surgically repaired shoulder holds up. ND is still lacking a little interior D with Reimer being gone but at least McGraw will be able to plan for it this year.

 

[CocoHusky]

I don't know how much last year's ND-UConn game tells us about ND-UConn this year. Jefferson played 40 minutes, Stewart played 37, and Tuck played 36. 56.5% of UConn's minutes and 69.2% of the points came from players now in the WNBA. UConn was able to have a hyper-athletic team that could switch everything without sacrificing interior defense because of the rare inside-outside abilities of Tuck and Stewart. I expect UConn's defense to be great (possibly #1 in the country) again but it will definitely look different because there won't be anyone who can do what Stewart did -- she's once in a lifetime.

The only "stalwart" ND lost off of their D was Cable, which is definitely a big loss. Mabrey1 was a defensive liability and Huffman was very good on D but played little (6 min against UConn). Keep in mind that ND's defense last year was built around Turner and Reimer as the interior anchors and rim protectors. ND had to deal with the loss of Reimer and Turner's injury midseason. Hopefully, Turner's surgically repaired shoulder holds up. ND is still lacking a little interior D with Reimer being gone but at least McGraw will be able to plan for it this year.

I thought Nelson gave ND some semi-effective (13) minutes in the UCONN game last year also.

 

[meyers7]

Only close to the top 20? The majority of the evidence suggests that Stefanie was indeed top 20. In fact, the only real outlier was Hoopgurlz. Examining the situation more closely:

39th Hoopgurlz
24th Blue Star
12th ASGR
20th McDonalds' AA selection (One of 24 players selected, which means she had to be at worst ranked 24th, but could have been ranked much higher. Calling it 20th is conservative. By the way, she had 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game.)
12th USA U18 selection (One of 12 players selected, so that's at worst ranked 12th. She was also selected to the U19 team the following year, but that was after her freshman year at UConn.)
11th USA Today 3rd team AA (So she was ranked between 11th and 15th. Let's take the middle number of 13th. But there were 2 juniors on the first 3 teams (KML and Elizabeth Williams), so make it 11th among the seniors.)
22.5th Parade 4th team AA (Parade has 10 selections per team, so ranked between 31th and 40th. Let's take the middle number of 35.5th. But there were 13 underclassmen on the first 4 teams, so make it 22.5th)

The average of these rankings is 20.1th, the median is 18th. If you throw out the worst and best number (outliers), the mean is 18.3th (and of course the median is unaffected). I know that this is way too much analysis for this point, but it DOES demonstrate that Stephanie was highly regarded. Her only rating above 24th was Hoopgurlz (with their outlier of 39th), and I think that inordinately colored fans' perceptions of her.

You realize you just proved she was not top 20. Close but not quite there.

20th McDonalds' AA selection (One of 24 players selected, which means she had to be at worst ranked 24th, but could have been ranked much higher. Calling it 20th is conservative. By the way, she had 12 points and 8 rebounds in the game.)
12th USA U18 selection (One of 12 players selected, so that's at worst ranked 12th. She was also selected to the U19 team the following year, but that was after her freshman year at UConn.)

You have to realize these two don't work for your examination. When selecting McD's AA's they have to make a team, hence G/F/C. Same for USA teams. Doesn't mean a particular person is top 24/12. They might just be top 4/5 G/F/C.

You also have to realize I was one of very few on here who was not surprised she became an AA. Kind of had an idea she might do that when I saw her in the McD's game. At least thought she had the potential. Hartley surprised me somewhat, but Dolson didn't.

 

[pacific 44]

There once was a team from South Bend
Whose mojo is still on the mend
They hemmed and they hawed
But their game was still flawed
And they continued to take it in the end