NCAAW Hoops talk!

[Green Chile]

Anyone following this Kiyomi McMiller drama? Wild that this is her response to getting benched against Juju Watkins.

https://www.cbssports.com/womens-college-basketball/news/rutgers-kiyomi-mcmiller-lashes-out-on-social-media-after-surprise-benching-vs-juju-watkins-usc/amp/

Have a lot of ties to Rutgers and was excited to watch this game. But after looking at her IG this morning - this is going to follow her around


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Following a little bit. Hopefully they can get things worked out.

I haven't watched much Rutgers (until the USC game), but Kiyomi sounds like a stud. 2nd leading scorer in the loaded Big Ten as a freshman.

You'll never hear me bash NIL or the transfer portal. Both are great. But I don't think we'd see stuff like this otherwise. McMiller is having a dream season, but she's 12 games in and seems to be already planning her next move.

I have no idea whether moving on or not is the right move for her, but man, 12 games seems awfully quick to make that decision.

[Green Chile]

UNC-Duke tonight!

LSU-Tennessee too, which is even bigger. It sucks that it's on SEC Plus though, but I guess the networks didn't know UT would be this good yet.

[Green Chile]

USC was too much last night, but Maryland is really impressive. They seem like they could beat anybody on the right night.

As an ACC fan that hates the break-up of the PAC-12, an exciting Big Ten match-up between USC and Maryland is a stomach punch.

[Green Chile]

Duke-UNC was an absolute banger if you love hard nosed defense.
Both teams strong defensively that can struggle offensively at times. And oh man, we got all that in this one.

16-16 at halftime. 40-40 at the end of regulation. 43-43 with 1 minute left in OT.

And then Lexi Donarski hit the shot heard round the world to make it 46-43 (her first make of the game), which somehow felt like an insurmountable lead.

This game was oddly exhilarating.

Gakdeng being in foul trouble really hurt, but it gave 6'5' freshman Blanca Thomas some meaningful minutes, and she looked great.
Both of these teams have some great young players, and I expect some great competitive games.

I don't expect to ever see a game quite like this one though.

[Green Chile]

VT over GT is pretty shocking, but good for VT and Wenzel getting a big win after Kentucky stole their coach and half the roster.

I assume GT got caught looking ahead to Notre Dame.

There are now only 3 unbeatens (UCLA, LSU, and OSU).

[hermes]

hawkeyes are a bubble team this year, defense is solid but the offense is a bit out of sorts. also very turnover prone, the youth and inexperience shows through a lot

[Green Chile]

Perfect day for 2 screens with this massive Texas-South Carolina game.

Dawn Stailey rocking a sweet Eagles jacket. Nice of her to use her platform to help promote a fledgling league like the NFL.

[Green Chile]

I know this is a novel take, but holy crap South Carolina is so good.

Glad the Heels are getting started. Alternative programming is pretty much mandatory alongside a stand alone NFL game. I love the NFL, but a stand alone game is perfect for the "2nd screen". 90% of the broadcast is commercials, and the rest can be watched in glances every 30 seconds.

[hermes]

iowa lost again, just can't shoot. if they can get some consistent offensive production they'll really have something because the defense is very good.

jan jensen has been trying some different rotations lately - less feuerbach and more mccabe (need the shooting) and the freshman are getting more time.

[Green Chile]

Vandy at LSU is one of the best games I've seen all year.

Vandy is having a great year, and Khamil Pierre is the best sophomore that nobody is talking about. It's hard to get much attention in a class with JuJu, Hidalgo, and Madison Booker.

But Pierre is special. She reminds me of Phee.

And of course LSU is awesome. Even though they are undefeated, they seem to be overlooked because they really didn't play anybody until Tennessee the other day (a game very few people could watch).

Seems to be a clear Top 5 with UCLA, USC, ND, USC, and LSU. With UConn and Texas knocking on the door, but I think they are a tier behind.

[Green Chile]

And Aneesah Morrow seems to be getting overlooked in draft talk.

I love Angel, but Aneesah is pretty close to Angel's rebounding capabilities, but with a better offensive game.

That's a pretty valuable player.

Also now the 8th player in NCAAW history with 2500 points and 1500 rebounds.

[Green Chile]

Even without Hidalgo and Carnegie, GT-Notre Dame is an incredibly fun game.

It's a long way away and I'm no draft expert, but I have a feeling Miles is going #2 and Citron is going #3. Citron is going to immediately make whatever team that drafts her a lot better.

Georgia Tech is outmatched here but they are so damn fun.

[hermes]

iowa still struggling. should have won but free throws cost us
always seems to be something

[hermes]

losing streak continues, they are just in a bad funk. first half was good, but when the shots stopped falling they just lost their way. the defense is still there (only 50 points allowed) and the fight is still there but the offense is just not good right now

[Green Chile]

losing streak continues, they are just in a bad funk. first half was good, but when the shots stopped falling they just lost their way. the defense is still there (only 50 points allowed) and the fight is still there but the offense is just not good right now

Do you think they'll make the tourney?

Sounds weird because they are a pretty solid team, and none of the losses are necessarily bad losses. All to pretty good or really good teams.

But with the strength of the new B1G, they are looking at about 12 losses now if everything goes decently.

[Green Chile]

Texas-Maryland is an out of the blue, out of conference January banger.

I don't think Bri McDaniels will play, but if she were, I think I'd pick Maryland.

Texas has a fascinating Thursday match-up with Tennessee coming up. Both are high scoring teams, but do it in such different ways. Tennessee is #1 in the country in 3-point attempts. Texas is like #350.

[hermes]

losing streak continues, they are just in a bad funk. first half was good, but when the shots stopped falling they just lost their way. the defense is still there (only 50 points allowed) and the fight is still there but the offense is just not good right now

Do you think they'll make the tourney?

Sounds weird because they are a pretty solid team, and none of the losses are necessarily bad losses. All to pretty good or really good teams.

But with the strength of the new B1G, they are looking at about 12 losses now if everything goes decently.

its not looking good. if things are going to come together they need to soon. this stretch of 5 losses in a row have all been winnable games against decent teams - would have been great for the resume

the big ten is loaded so if they do go on a run they can pick up some good wins. might have to make a serious run in the big ten tournament. an upset of usc/ucla would go a long way but right now i don't see that happening

[Green Chile]

losing streak continues, they are just in a bad funk. first half was good, but when the shots stopped falling they just lost their way. the defense is still there (only 50 points allowed) and the fight is still there but the offense is just not good right now

Do you think they'll make the tourney?

Sounds weird because they are a pretty solid team, and none of the losses are necessarily bad losses. All to pretty good or really good teams.

But with the strength of the new B1G, they are looking at about 12 losses now if everything goes decently.

its not looking good. if things are going to come together they need to soon. this stretch of 5 losses in a row have all been winnable games against decent teams - would have been great for the resume

the big ten is loaded so if they do go on a run they can pick up some good wins. might have to make a serious run in the big ten tournament. an upset of usc/ucla would go a long way but right now i don't see that happening

I hope they can get there. They are really good and really fun.

They've got the talent to screw up a lot of tourney brackets if they do.

[Green Chile]

Thursday's massive LSU-South Carolina game moved to Friday at 5:00 because of snow.

Which is kind of nice because Texas-Tennessee, and Maryland-OSU are also Thursday night. And the 5:00 Friday start squeezes it in just before Unrivaled, which is must-watch TV.

LSU is amazing, but South Carolina just looks so dominant right now. Fresh off their 2nd 40-point beating of a Top 25 team, which hasn't been done since UConn's last title season 8 years ago (although, one of them was Iowa State, who was preseason Top 10 but far from a Top 25 team today).

And kudos to Dawn Staley and her new $4 mill/year contract.

[hermes]

iowa finally won!
shot absolutely lights out to get it done, everyone was on last night (72% from the field - as a team!)

hopefully this is a corner turning moment and a jump start for the rest of the year