'15 NCAA WBB Tournament ND #1 Seed

Irish#1

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Allen was feeling it. If there wasn't a halftime to slow her down she might have gotten 40.

Dayton's upset is a little rare. There's not nearly the balance and distribution of talent in the ladies game so the top teams typically win year after year. If as many girls played B-ball when they were little, I think you'd see more good teams and better balance.
 
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The lack of competitiveness has been worse the further you go back towards the Pat Summit era. She, like Auriemma now, got any girl she wished. The coach that I helped at WMU, Ron Stewart, told me that he once had a strong inside track on a VERY good player all set to come to Western. He worked his butt off on the recruiting. Unfortunately somehow she came to the attention of Tennessee. One visit from Pat Summit and she completely forgot about anything previously.

This "works" to create absurd discrepancies in the upper few from everyone else because the girls high school game has never been deep. The fact that almost no girls can REALLY jump [and the few who can are almost all volleyball players] meant that the Tennessee's and the Connecticut's could sweep up the thin cream at the top, so that their benches were better than everyone else's first teams. Rare "disturbances" in the force might occur if an outsized and coordinated and early basketball playing girl would choose for some reason to go elsewhere --- and because no one could jump, she would just dominate the paint at both ends --- ND got its championship with Ruth Riley, and lately Baylor got theirs with Griner.

As the girl's WNBA has gotten some pub, as well as the Olympics, girls are flowing into BBall, just like they followed Mia Ham into soccer. That's why the ACC can be such a tough league so deeply now --- the first time ANY league has been. Still Auriemma gets "everybody" [despite the crap you'll hear some commentators say] but at least it's just possible that they can be beaten by the other "bests". Muffet has been a heroine --- a female Sisyphus pushing that boulder up that mountain for years, and unlike Sisyphus has now pushed the #@$%*# thing over the top.

More competitive girls BBall is coming. The sign is that Notre Dame can have players as good as Cable, Westbeld, and Huffmann who don't even start. As an aside, it is "charming" to watch Michaela be almost girly on the floor [usually not helpfully] while Madison is such a lunchpail-carrying tomboy. I love seeing girls be girls, but this coming parity means far more tomboys on the court and less "ladies". {but the beautiful tomboy is my favorite kind of girl anyway.}
 
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RallySonsOfND said:
1 upset does not parody make.
Click to expand...

Parody? Like Mel Brooks, "Blazing Saddles", or Wierd Al Yankovic songs, or Saturday Night skits?

I typed two words, "Hello Dayton!". How is that parody?


Perhaps it's irony that #7 Dayton upset #2 UK in the next game played after you posted:

It's crazy how little upsets there seem to be in the women's tourney compared to the men's.
Click to expand...


It's neither parody nor irony that your statement is wrong.

In the first two rounds of the NCAA Men's and Women's Tournament there were 7 upsets in the men's bracket and 6 in the women's.

A difference of 1.

Crazy about misconceptions, isn't it?
 
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NCAA Championship -- Oklahoma City Regional Final
#2/2 [#1 seed] Notre Dame Fighting Irish (34-2 / 15-1 ACC) vs. #5/6 [#2 seed] Baylor Bears (33-3 / 16-2 Big 12)
DATE: March 29, 2015
TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT
AT: Oklahoma City, Okla. - Chesapeake Energy Arena (18,203)
SERIES: BU leads 4-1
1ST MTG: BU 76-65 (12/1/10)
LAST MTG: ND 88-69 (3/31/14)
TV: ESPN/WatchESPN (live) (Beth Mowins, p-b-p / Stephanie White, color / LaChina Robinson, sideline)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1)/WatchND (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p)
LIVE STATS: UND.com
 
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Notre Dame is No. 2 in the final AP poll and is No. 2 in the latest WBCA/USA Today poll.

Baylor is No. 5 in the final AP poll and is No. 6 in the latest WBCA/USA Today poll.
 
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Loyd with 725 points ranks second on ND's single-season scoring list behind Katryna Gaither - 776 in 1996-97.

Loyd is seventh in school history with 1,862 career points, needing 14 points to move into the top five on ND's career scoring list (a spot currently held by Loyd's former All-America teammate, Kayla McBride).


Turner's 83 total blocks are fifth on the Notre Dame single-season list and second all-time among Fighting Irish freshmen. Shari Matvey had 94 as a freshman.



Allen ranks among the top five in the ACC in assists (first - 5.2 apg.), assist/turnover ratio (first - 2.11) and field-goal percentage (fifth - .538) -- the only player in the conference to rank in the top five in those three categories.

Allen is one of seven players in the nation to rank in the top 32 in both assists (30th) and assist/turnover ratio (32nd), as of March 24. The others are: Gillian Abshire (Quinnipiac), Amanda Andrades (Fairleigh Dickinson), Jen Dumiak (American), Niya Johnson (Baylor), Angela Mickens (James Madison) and Nikki Moody (Iowa State).

Allen has developed into a potent scoring threat for the Fighting Irish, increasing her offensive output by more than 67 percent to 10.4 points per game, and she has scored in double figures 16 times this season


Cable currently leads the Fighting Irish with 57 steals this season. If that holds up, she would be just the second Notre Dame player to lead the team in steals while primarily coming off the bench.

Cable leads the ACC in three-point percentage (.487) and finished second in that category during conference play (.465).
 
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Elite Eight Preview: (1) #2 Notre Dame vs. (2) #5/6 Baylor - UND.COM - University of Notre Dame Official Athletic Site


Five things to watch as Notre Dame tries to reach its fifth straight Final Four:

DETERMINED DAVIS: Last season, Davis was a key player as a freshman for Baylor, averaging 15 points. The 5-foot-11 forward has been the leader this year for the Lady Bears while averaging 20.9 points. She's eager to improve on a seven-point effort in last year's loss to Notre Dame.

AWESOME ALLEN: Irish point guard Lindsay Allen had a career-high 28 points, including 24 in the first half, in Friday's win over Stanford. The sophomore leads Notre Dame with an average of 5.2 assists, and she'll face a difficult matchup on Sunday against Johnson - who leads the country with an average of 8.9 assists. Johnson had 16 assists and no turnovers against Iowa, a performance that even Allen admitted she was ''a little jealous of.''

TITLE PEDIGREES: The schools enter Sunday with a combined nine Final Four appearances and three national championships between them. Baylor's last title came in 2012, while Notre Dame - with four straight Final Fours - hasn't won a championship since 2001. The Irish have fallen in the national-title game three times and were eliminated by UConn in both of the last two seasons.

STREAKING IRISH: Notre Dame's last loss this season was at Miami on Jan. 8. The Fighting Irish's only other loss was a 76-58 defeat in a rematch from last season's national championship game against UConn. Notre Dame was without an injured starter in both games, as Brianna Turner was out vs. UConn and Taya Reimer missed the Miami game.

LOYD'S IMPACT: Baylor had no answer for Loyd last season, with the then-sophomore scoring 30 points on 12-of-27 shooting. Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey knows slowing the 5-foot-10 guard is key on Sunday, but she's also an admirer of her play. ''Nobody really slows her down; she's that good,'' Mulkey said. ''She's probably going to win every Player of the Year award out there.''
 
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Somogyi's Game Preview

Somogyi's Game Preview

https://notredame.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1751664

...

Jewell Loyd - Front-runner for national player of the year went through a 5-of-25 shooting slump before taking over against Stanford with 17 second-half points. She scored 30 versus Baylor in the Elite Eight victory last season.
Lindsay Allen - Leads in assists (188) and shoots .538 from the field.
Michaela Mabrey - Top three-point threat with 67 made at a .379 clip.
Brianna Turner - Leads nation in field-goal percentage (.663) while averaging 13.7 points per game, and paces the Irish in rebounds (7.7 per game) and blocked shots (83).
Taya Reimer - Referred to by McGraw as the team's most improved player, her mid-range jumper has bolstered the overall offense and opened up lanes to drive.

The sixth and seventh "starters" are senior Madison Cable and freshman Kathryn Westbeld, while junior swingman Hannah Huffmanprovided a huge second-half spark against the Cardinal.

...

Baylor Bears Overview
The superstar system under Mulkey has produced National Player of the Year Brittney Griner and last year then senior Odyssey Sims, who barely missed the NCAA single season scoring mark. This year it is 5-11 sophomore forward Nina Davis, who is averaging 20.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest.

McGraw refers to her as a difficult matchup because of her unique skill sets, although Davis has attempted only two three-pointers (both missed) this year.


BGI/Rivals.com

Rebounding will be a focal point against Baylor for sophomore forward Taya Reimer and the Irish post players.
Nobody else has a scoring average in double figures, but 6-2 sophomore Khadijiah Cave (9.6 points per game) and 5-9 Imani Wright (9.4) are close, and three others average at least 7.3. Junior guard Niya Johnson leads the nation in assists (8.9 per game) and is second in assist/turnover ratio (4.0). She had a remarkable 16 assists in the 81-66 win over Iowa on Friday.

Similar to Notre Dame, even though Baylor has an All-American in the lineup, several other players are capable of taking command on a given night. Versus Iowa, it was 6-4 senior Sune Agbuke, who dropped in 23 points to go with 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, 5-11 freshman guard Kristy Wallace made her first seven shots against the Hawkeyes.

The intriguing matchup is while Notre Dame is second nationally in field-goal percentage (.499), Baylor is third in field-goal percentage defense (.343).

Notre Dame is fourth in in scoring (81.1) while Baylor is seventh (79.8). Of particular emphasis is the Bears are fifth in rebounding margin (12.0) while the Irish are 14th (8.7).

...

Prediction: Notre Dame 78, Baylor 73
 
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Sagarin's Predictor Model makes ND a 4 pt favorite on a neutral court.
 
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I want to see Cable covering Davis. Similar size but Cable's high theft hands should slow her down.
 
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14:40 MTO

BU by 5

BU shooting 58% to ND's 46%.

Rebs BU 6 ND 5

ND 3 blocks; BU 0
 
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Allen blows the fast break layup but hustles and regains the loose ball. Then passes to Maybrey for another three!

New game!
 
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6:05 TO

31 ALL!

Maybrey 5-5
Turner 3-3
Reimer 0-2
Allen 2-6
Loyd 2-9
 
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Turner muffed layin

Westbeld muffed shot.

Finally Reimer finds the hole.
 
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