GDT: Jackrabbits vs Cowgirls 2:30pm Gampel Pavillion ESPN2 NCAA Tournament

[jackdaniel]

LOTS of thoughts on this. i am not sure the neutral floor would make much difference in this case. I dont think this UConn team is quite as good as that Oregon team we played, but I could be wrong. Oregon had 5 future WNBA players (one never played WNBA because she retired from hoops after college, but she would have been in the WNBA if she wanted to keep playing). does this version of UConn have that? I have not followed closely enough to answer that. barring Injuries, I know they have at least 3 who will be first round picks. I think the OU group may have had 4 who were top ten picks- not positive my memory is exact on that

I have not looked at their roster for sure, but i am nearly positive they will be taller than us at every position. this is the game where we maybe could have tried the supersized lineup with Mesa at the 3 and Vasecka at the 2, but I doubt we would see it now, since we never tried it during the season. there is also the fact that a person could argue that Timmie and MM were actually our two best players yesterday, so it seems unlikely they are gonna get a lot of additional bench time in an effort to get more size.

all that said, this UConn team is more than legit. they really should have been a 1 seed. had we been seeded properly, I believe we should have been the 7a seed, which would have NOT matched us with the best 2 seed. and ESPN has already admitted that our win yesterday was NOT an upset and that we should have been the higher seeded team

I feel confident we will do better than their opponent from the first round, and I am not saying we have zero chance, but whatever percent you put the chance at, it is SMALL. our best chance of winning likely includes someone loading the UConn pregame meal with exlax or some similar scenario))!! every girl on our team would have to play her best game ever

some goals that would definitely help
our best game yet boxing out. it seems basically impossible we beat them on the boards, but I do believe it is possible to keep it close. that will take a team wide perfect attention to boxing out.

no more than 5 turnovers (I do think it is possible for us to keep the boards close. i am not sure this one is possible)

no quick shots unless we clearly beat the defense back. we had at least 3 instances yesterday where we pushed hard for a quick score- once Paige drove the length and threw a totally ill advised shot directly into the arms of the well positioned 6'6 post. that can absolutely never happen if we even want to keep the next one close. ANY quick shot plays into the hands of UConn but a bad quick shot should just be looked at as a turnover

keeping our players- probably Brooklyn and Paige most of all- OUT of foul trouble and somehow getting a couple huskie girls into foul trouble, would also be very helpful. that said even R Lobo recognized that the refs did us zero favors yesterday. it will be far worse tomorrow. the refs will definitely begin the game with the idea that UConn is supposed to win and they are not going to be part of helping one of the top title contenders get upset- ESPECIALLY on that teams home floor with 10K+ fans ready to boo them loudly for every call against a husky girl

finally, all of this should be an excellent reminder just how special that 2019 team was. obviously they are the only sweet 16 team in school history and maybe that is all the proof that is needed, but the argument that they are the best team in school history is very strong. that OU team was absolutely loaded and they played them extremely competitively in what was the direct opposite equivalent of us playing a "neutral site" game in Sioux Falls

i have not looked. i expect the spread will be somewhere in the 30-35ish range? I do feel like if we kept it within 25 that would be considered a great job by most observers

Looking at how the AP ranks teams like UK, 1st game Liberty comes within two points of winning against them, next time out they are beat by KS St , we beat #17 Okla St and send them home in game one....ya, ranked teams aren't invincible, we came a made basket by Baylor in Tx , in the last seconds of forcing OT in 2008- 2009 , and same scenario in 2016 vs #4 seed Stanford in their home court ahead by 1 pt, losing by 1 pt. I think this is one of Geno's best teams, and he's had lots of them for sure, but we can't be intimidated into thinking we have no chance.We can't expect UConn to self destruct like Ok St did at times and not be able to score for minutes at a time, they are one of the most efficient at scoring teams in WBB ,and then they make it hard to answer, they just keep increasing the margin ea Qtr until it's a blowout.We have to rebound, keep our mistakes to a minimum , shoot reasonably well and maybe we'll still be unable for them to shake us, and , as the ball bounces and time runs out, maybe we can pull off a big upset, yes, I'll call it a legit upset. But it's a chance of a lifetime and one our Jacks will remember I'm sure. We've already proven ourselves , so we should play our best and let the chips fall where they may.

[jakejc795]

He didn’t say Brookings. He said they were invited to come “play in their tournament”. I think that would be the Pentagon.

Yes, as peavy mentioned, Geno was asked about it multiple times. The "all freshman" response was when he was specifically asked about Brookings.

I'd love to think the committee would consider responses like this when considering seeding (e.g., if UConn won't come to play in Brookings ...)

[jackdaniel]

I knew it. I was watching, we didn't play well. I went and did some yard work, got a victory. I guess I'll have to plan something for Monday night, too.

At least your getting things done

[JackrabbitGuy]

It sounds like this UConn team is on a mission and judging by their 69 poit margin of victory in the round of 64 - they are. Partially because they haven't won a title since 2016 and feel they were robbed out of 1 seed in this year's tournament.

Still the only thing to do is for us to control what we can control and play well. Survive the onslaught in the first 4 minutes and build from there. Go Jacks. There is always a chance.

[jackdaniel]

Great season Jacks, 30 game wins, P-4 conquests, 3rd straight SLT championship, 1st rd win in NCAA Tournament, lost to probably a final 4 opponent . Lots of returners to have another great season, will miss our 4 great seniors to graduation though. Congrats to all the players who gave us all you had and then some, can't wait for next season to begin.