Round 2 NCAA GDT: Jackrabbits vs Hokies Cassell Coliseum 4pm CT ESPN2

[LetsGoRabbits]

Shooting 57% from 3 instead of 13% will have that effect... though Miami certainly let Indiana stay in it late with missed free throws. While the score from our game was never that close, the Jacks outplayed the Hokies in the 2nd half by a good margin. If it wasn't for an awful 1st quarter, and an unfortunate quick 0-10 run over 2 minutes or so to close the 2nd quarter.... we would have been in far better position for the upset to actually occur.

Gotta hit your shots if you want to cause an upset.

i definitely agree with this and NO DOUBT this feels true after our VT loss

but more accurately (a bit anyway) you gotta hit MORE shots than the other team if you wanna win / cause an upset

and while i have said several times we need more scoring and that feels very right, at the end of the day they shot 57% from 3 in the first half but 25% in the second half. did we defend better or did they get cold or did law of averages kick in??

they made 7 FG in first Q. 4 FG in third Q. 5FG in 4th Q. but in the second quarter they made 12! for some reason in the second quarter we really could not stop anyone off the dribble forcing the defender guarding Kitley to step over and help. every time that happened Kitley went directly to the rim and often got an offensive rebound


at the end of the day it feels like the 3s hurt a lot. we had TWO they had TWELVE, but to be honest we neutralized that 10 point advantage at the FT line where we made 14 to their 4. the problem is overall they made 6 more FG and that was the exact margin of the game

and in all my years coaching i was ALWAYS a believer that shooting the basketball and rebounding are the two most important pieces of the game. if you can NOT put the ball in the hoop, EVERY other part of the game gets harder!! and i might speculate a little that ONE partial reason for our uncharacteristically bad defense in the second Q could have been frustration from not really shooting well for 5 or 6 quarters of basketball from friday into sunday??

anyway no matter what the reason for them getting 12 FG in the second, i AGREE with the feeling that we need to score more and think it is a fact that we struggled to score at times this season. but they made six more FG and that was the difference in the game
it does NOT matter how we even that up!!! we can make more or cause them to make less and while the offense did look to blame in both games it is also true that we do not normally let teams shoot 75% for a quarter and make 12 FG

and back to my belief about shooting and rebounding. i think losing to them on the boards by 7 is fairly respectable BUT they made 6 more FG and part of that is due to them getting MORE shots. beat by 7 boards feels respectable but we could have done a better job and that would have definitely decreased the amount of FG they made

at the end of the day i agree we needed to score more and it feels like we need more shooting maybe particularly from 3

but that has never really seem like the way AJ has approached it. he definitely prefers to play good offense while also being very good at defending and rebounding and shooting wise, i think it will always be more normal for us to shoot well as a team with multiple solid shooters.

just a for instance to show how you fairly easily makeup 12 points without really improving your shooting at all or making any additional 3s

Paiton missed a wide open fast break layup
Tori missed 2 layups on one possession
Timmie went 0 for 3 on her first 3 FT

lets say we should have had 6 more points there. now we are down by 6

do a much better job of forcing Amoore, Traylor, and probably especially King OFF the 3 pt line but also NEVER help so aggressively off Kitley that you give up rebounding position

even if that means you get beat off the dribble and give up wide open layups but NEVER a O board for second chance points. if you turn 6 or their 12 3s into wide upen layups they still score 6 less points and you have a tie game

if you assume we recover well enough to get them to miss just ONE of those layups then you win the game

point being i agree i want us to shoot better and score better but that game was winnable without shooting much better at all. make a couple layups and FTs and dont give up 12 threes and dont give up O boards

[RahRahRabbits]

I guess a 9 seed can beat a 1 on their home court. Miami just beat Indiana on a last second shot. Just watched the end, but if I understood correctly, Indiana never led in the game.

Shooting 57% from 3 instead of 13% will have that effect... though Miami certainly let Indiana stay in it late with missed free throws. While the score from our game was never that close, the Jacks outplayed the Hokies in the 2nd half by a good margin. If it wasn't for an awful 1st quarter, and an unfortunate quick 0-10 run over 2 minutes or so to close the 2nd quarter.... we would have been in far better position for the upset to actually occur.

Gotta hit your shots if you want to cause an upset.

[bigticket1]

I guess a 9 seed can beat a 1 on their home court. Miami just beat Indiana on a last second shot. Just watched the end, but if I understood correctly, Indiana never led in the game.

[LetsGoRabbits]

I don’t necessarily think height is what we are missing right now. Obviously if you put a 6’4”+ post on this team they look different but if you put Madison Guebert on this team they might still be playing. Outside of their 6’6” post we matched up fairly well and were actually taller at most positions. What we were missing is a shooter who could knock down open threes consistently. Gueberts worst year shooting 3s was junior year and she still made 85 at 38%. We have been a worse 3 point shooting team every year since she graduated except last year we made 305 in 38 games. That teams was historically balanced with 6 players making more than 30 3s on the year. But every other year we have been significantly worse with our best shooter being Rylie Cassio Jensen 47 in 19-20, Tyler Irwin 33 in 20-21, Myah 51 this year. Team totals were 202, 163, 236 in those years. In Gueberts 4 years we made 266, 228, 284, 272. The only year we didn’t go to the NCAA tournament was when we made 228 and lost in the second round of the WNIT.

Now obviously Guebert was a historically great player and we may never see anyone like her again but I think we have to find someone that can shoot like her worse than we need a 6’ 6” player.

see post #53 from this thread
totally agree that we do not absolutely have to have someone bigger to become a team who is in the mix to host first round games. am i saying we shouldnt take one if a good fit is available? of course not.

but Kallie has more than proven she can guard people taller than her and she can rebound with them. i very much believe that Brooklyn will show the same ability to guard and also to score and if they can do it others will be able to also.

we absolutely NEEDED more scoring this year. i know we scored over 80 a game in conference but we kind of knew that shooting was an issue all year. we shot a good percent from 3 because as the season went on the people who should not have been shooting 3s shot less 3s. Myah shoots a good percentage because she is the definition of what Hendo would call taking the right shots. and that is why we struggled in the two ncaa games. good defensive teams did NOT allow our top 3pt shooters- Myah, Timmer, Paige to catch in rhythm with their feet set. Myah has never been a player to want to force many less than good shots. the shots we did force we generally did not make

Tori has scored over 10 a game in the past. and last year she shot 3s well, but i am not sure she is going to be a big scorer next year?? hope i am wrong. i think she might be more aggressive looking to score early in the season and in games with Myah and Paiton gone, but i could also see her willing to let others do the scoring again. Kallie might be able to score a bit more too, but my guess is these two will be the foundation of a really good defensive team. kallie is an incredible post defender who can hold her own if she steps out on a guard and Tori can guard any player on the floor somewhere between competently and very well

that leaves the scoring to paige, timmie, and the 3 sophomores to be, maddie v maybe, a transfer? maybe
i really do think it is possible that 1 or 2 of the 3 sophs and maybe all 3 will end up being very very good offensive players

[HoboJack]

We need some Summit League teams to get better athletes. We haven’t played anyone that can challenge our length/athleticism combination since Dec. I think that showed on Friday with some of the blocked shots, which lead the Jacks to rushing shots, and generally playing faster than we were used to. Against USC, we got through it since they were offensively challenged. Outside of a massive cold spell in the first half (about 8 minutes of game time, where we missed a number of normally good looks/layups etc) we basically played a #1 seed even on their home floor.

I’m not sure what conventional wisdom says is the point differential for home court advantage, but familiar sight lines, sleeping in your own bed, familiar surroundings etc can’t be underestimated as an advantage for the top seeds in the NCAA WBB tournament. Which is a huge reason they have significantly fewer upsets than the men’s side.


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[MontanaRabbit]

I don’t necessarily think height is what we are missing right now. Obviously if you put a 6’4”+ post on this team they look different but if you put Madison Guebert on this team they might still be playing. Outside of their 6’6” post we matched up fairly well and were actually taller at most positions. What we were missing is a shooter who could knock down open threes consistently. Gueberts worst year shooting 3s was junior year and she still made 85 at 38%. We have been a worse 3 point shooting team every year since she graduated except last year we made 305 in 38 games. That teams was historically balanced with 6 players making more than 30 3s on the year. But every other year we have been significantly worse with our best shooter being Rylie Cassio Jensen 47 in 19-20, Tyler Irwin 33 in 20-21, Myah 51 this year. Team totals were 202, 163, 236 in those years. In Gueberts 4 years we made 266, 228, 284, 272. The only year we didn’t go to the NCAA tournament was when we made 228 and lost in the second round of the WNIT.

Now obviously Guebert was a historically great player and we may never see anyone like her again but I think we have to find someone that can shoot like her worse than we need a 6’ 6” player.

I agree with this. Our biggest weakness this year was our outside shooting. We weren't terrible just not great. In order to pull an upset of VT we needed to make a few threes.

[tbcruiser]

Cant argue that, maybe the Jack's need 2

[Carolina010]

Theyve had many extra special players, what has been missing is that BIG extra special player.
Certainly it's tough to keep those away from "Power 5" schools, but seems the Jacks have built a credible resume to go after more of those, perhaps through the portal.
Just imagine the Jack's team with the Sjevern (sp?) girl the Coyotes got from transfer? That could have made them an Elite 8 team??

BUT... at what cost to the culture of the program, built up of 4 or 5 year players from the region. I'm sure this is the balance AJ tries to find.
Meanwhile we should take great pride in the success they make with our local athletes.

I don’t necessarily think height is what we are missing right now. Obviously if you put a 6’4”+ post on this team they look different but if you put Madison Guebert on this team they might still be playing. Outside of their 6’6” post we matched up fairly well and were actually taller at most positions. What we were missing is a shooter who could knock down open threes consistently. Gueberts worst year shooting 3s was junior year and she still made 85 at 38%. We have been a worse 3 point shooting team every year since she graduated except last year we made 305 in 38 games. That teams was historically balanced with 6 players making more than 30 3s on the year. But every other year we have been significantly worse with our best shooter being Rylie Cassio Jensen 47 in 19-20, Tyler Irwin 33 in 20-21, Myah 51 this year. Team totals were 202, 163, 236 in those years. In Gueberts 4 years we made 266, 228, 284, 272. The only year we didn’t go to the NCAA tournament was when we made 228 and lost in the second round of the WNIT.

Now obviously Guebert was a historically great player and we may never see anyone like her again but I think we have to find someone that can shoot like her worse than we need a 6’ 6” player.

[jackdaniel]

Theyve had many extra special players, what has been missing is that BIG extra special player.
Certainly it's tough to keep those away from "Power 5" schools, but seems the Jacks have built a credible resume to go after more of those, perhaps through the portal.
Just imagine the Jack's team with the Sjevern (sp?) girl the Coyotes got from transfer? That could have made them an Elite 8 team??

BUT... at what cost to the culture of the program, built up of 4 or 5 year players from the region. I'm sure this is the balance AJ tries to find.
Meanwhile we should take great pride in the success they make with our local athletes.

How about a compromise , the best of both worlds so to speak. Keep recruiting as many of the best area players, but try for that one rim protector, intimidater, double/double machine to give us the flexibility we need to take the next step.Hope we keep one one eye out for that program changer, maybe she'll also be local and dreamed of playing as a Jackrabbit. Sjevern was a local area player (Minn) that got homesick, Coyotes caught a huge break.

Proud of the fight our Jacks put up against a #1 seed on their home floor with thousands of fans cheering their every move. Great season , just a bad draw and tough 3 pt shooting night. It was a long break away from the Tournament, it almost felt like the first time again, so glad we finally made it back and hopefully starting another streak of getting to the NCAA Tournament. The Tournament experience definitely makes us better the next season I think.

[AZjack]

Never apologize for an NCAA win. Heck of a season. For those that think they would do well in the B1G over 20 games it would be ugly. But who cares, that’s why men’s teams like Xavier can excel in the tournament when it’s a one game season. Never ever be in the 8/9 matchup because it’s the worst barring a lightning strike.

Wouldn't be ugly at all, they would have a better record than your precious goofs. Lol. Goofer sports are a joke and even the Fleck act is wearing thin with fans. Butt Hockey.

[tbcruiser]

Theyve had many extra special players, what has been missing is that BIG extra special player.
Certainly it's tough to keep those away from "Power 5" schools, but seems the Jacks have built a credible resume to go after more of those, perhaps through the portal.
Just imagine the Jack's team with the Sjevern (sp?) girl the Coyotes got from transfer? That could have made them an Elite 8 team??

BUT... at what cost to the culture of the program, built up of 4 or 5 year players from the region. I'm sure this is the balance AJ tries to find.
Meanwhile we should take great pride in the success they make with our local athletes.

[RabbitofDT]

If the Rabbits want to make the jump beyond the Sweet 16 which is outstanding, Johnston will need to find that extra special player to put them over the top. Doing well in the Summit is just a prerequisite. Once everyone has equal or better athletes in the NCAAs all bets are off.

[LetsGoRabbits]

Travel will be a killer compared to what they are used to now.

ok yes i concede travel will be tougher but gotta imagine both schools probably do everything possible to minimize that

[LetsGoRabbits]

It'll be interesting to see how USC/UCLA fare in the B1G

i cannot think of ANY reason why they wont be fine other than maybe a bit of a change in recruiting area over the next few years?? BUT i think that is a LOT tougher in football where you play probably 40 or more players in every game. in basketball you play between 5 and 10

the pac 12 is and has been one of the very best WBB conferences
in the last 10 years they very consistently have a handful of ranked teams and multiple teams in the top 10

stanford has been as good as almost anyone for a LONG time
oregon
OSU has had good teams
both AZ schools have been good
usc thinks they are building back to good
ucla has been and should be good
utah
wsu

i dont think anyone can say the compteition is going to be too strong in the big 10. maybe there is some familiarity with the former conference foes that they will not have BUT that can work both ways

[bigticket1]

It'll be interesting to see how USC/UCLA fare in the B1G

Travel will be a killer compared to what they are used to now.