'14 WBB NCAA Tournament

[IrishFaninTX]

Well, it appears that we've lost her. I'm getting real tired of my favorite girl basketball players being injured by this dammed ACL "flaw" in the body's construction. When I saw Maria Jilian [at WMU] go down while doing something supernatural to pass the ball to a cutting teammate, her scream drained the blood out of me.

Maria went [carried off] to the locker room. When the pain died down a little, the first thing she said was: did Kelly make the basket? WARRIOR. Just like Natalie with her shouting at her teammates to win the @#%)@# game!!! No guy should ever get smug about whether girls can be warriors.

Unfortunately for WMU then and ND now, unless you're Connecticut here or Alabama in football, you can't get anybody you want, and there isn't another Natalie [yet] to just get up off the bench as an interchangeable part. The girls will play like demons no doubt [this might actually wake McBride up.] But there are two things you cannot do without: an error-free ball-handler [why WMU then failed dramatically], and a climax defensive board protector [now our problem].

.... angry at Fate right now.

That is how I felt when I heard Natalie scream. She is as tough as they come and when I heard that without very much contact I knew it would not be good. It is a very sad day today to know that my favorite ND basketball player (men or women) will never play a minute for Notre Dame again. I was hoping to have this feeling after beating UCONN next Monday night. But I am glad she went out on a win, beating a team that ND has never beaten before to get us back to the Final Four. She has more heart and soul than just about anyone I have ever seen play the game.

 

[BGIF]

Next Opponent ...

Next Opponent ...

Cards lead Terps by 4 at halftime.

On ESPN

 

[Irish#1]

I hope the girls rally themselves, but sometimes injuries to top players tend to suck the life out of a team. We'll see how good of a coach Muffet is.

 

[BGIF]

UMD/UL is sloppy and the refs are just as sloppy.

Kimbrough got the benefit of a foul call after she moved her feet 4 times.

Thomas can ice the game with 2 FTs and misses the first for only a 3 pt lead

 

[BGIF]

ND v UMD

 

[BGIF]

UMD made 25 TOs to ULs 21.

Terps had 15 more FTs than UL for a 14 pt advantage in a 3 pt win.

Terps had 3 more Rebs.

38 combined fouls with each team losing a player to fouls.

 

[BGIF]

Heels burning The Tree with 5-6, 3 pt shots! 83% to SU's 1-6, 16%.

Heels up 22-9

 

[BGIF]

And Stanford makes 4!

 

[IrishFaninTX]

I didn't watch the game but my brother, who is a huge Baylor fan, called me and went on and on about how he doesn't see any way ND can beat Maryland without Natalie. He said both Maryland and Louisville looked so much better than ND and Baylor, blah blah blah. Sounds like they were pretty sloppy. He also said the refs let them play unlike the ND/Baylor game. He of course blamed the refs for Baylor losing. I laughed and told him that was some mighty fine crack he was smoking.

 

[aubeirish]

I didn't watch the game but my brother, who is a huge Baylor fan, called me and went on and on about how he doesn't see any way ND can beat Maryland without Natalie. He said both Maryland and Louisville looked so much better than ND and Baylor, blah blah blah. Sounds like they were pretty sloppy. He also said the refs let them play unlike the ND/Baylor game. He of course blamed the refs for Baylor losing. I laughed and told him that was some mighty fine crack he was smoking.

Nathalie is a huge loss no doubt. Anybody who has seen this team play more than 2 games know that they can smack Maryland even without her on the floor. ND actually put 47 on Maryland in the first half this season with Nathalie only playing 3 mins.

Markeisha Wright is so underrated for the simple reason that she hasn't played much due to having 2 really good seniors(Nathalie and Ariel) and a very promising freshman. Everytime I have seen Markeisha on the floor, she has been dominant. Her style of play is actually very similar to Nathalie's. Moves well, very smart passer, and good around the rim. The only thing that really makes Nathalie so valuable is her leadership. You can't teach that overnight. Fortunately, she will be there on the bench making sure everyone is doing what they are suppose to do. I am not worried about Maryland. Uconn is probably a different story, then again anything can happen.

 

[BGIF]

Muffet McGraw ‏@MuffetMcGraw Apr 1
Out of adversity comes opportunity.

 

[BGIF]

Muffet McGraw ‏@MuffetMcGraw 19h
It's not about the cards you're dealt but how you play the hand.Just cause we don't have an ace up our sleeve doesn't mean we're gonna fold

 

[BGIF]

It's Time!

It's Time!

Three front-runners emerge to succeed Borton as U's women's basketball coach | Star Tribune

by: KENT YOUNGBLOOD , Star Tribune Updated: April 2, 2014 - 6:16 AM

Wichita State coach Jody Adams, South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston and Notre Dame assistant Niele Ivey have emerged at the top of the list to replace Pam Borton.

Along with her assistant role, Ivey is the recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame, which just qualified for its fourth consecutive Final Four and is 36-0.
She was an All-America point guard for the Irish and played five seasons in the WNBA. She joined the Irish staff in 2007 and mentored former star guard Skylar Diggins.

 

[BGIF]

Sagarin's Predictor Model has ND a 7.6 pt favorite over Maryland.

When they met this season ND won @ UMD by 4. Sagarin's HCA of 3.14, would take that to say 7.1 on a neutral court.

BUT, this is based on Season Performance and does not reflect Achonwa's ACL injury.

Interestingly in that game ND lead by as much as 22 pts in the first half and scored 47 pts with Achonwa only playing 3 minutes. In the 2nd half with ACE most of the half, Maryland scored 48 pts. ND was hitting 3's back then which they have done much of in the tournament.



ND was -11 online but has since dropped to -9.5 as the money flows in.

O/U is 115.5

 

[Irish#1]

Sagarin's Predictor Model has ND a 7.6 pt favorite over Maryland.

When they met this season ND won @ UMD by 4. Sagarin's HCA of 3.14, would take that to say 7.1 on a neutral court.

BUT, this is based on Season Performance and does not reflect Achonwa's ACL injury.

Interestingly in that game ND lead by as much as 22 pts in the first half and scored 47 pts with Achonwa only playing 3 minutes. In the 2nd half with ACE most of the half, Maryland scored 48 pts. ND was hitting 3's back then which they have done much of in the tournament.



ND was -11 online but has since dropped to -9.5 as the money flows in.

O/U is 115.5

I'm hoping for similar results.

 

[BGIF]

TODAY

TODAY

2013-14 ND Women's Basketball: Game 37
NCAA Women's Final Four -- National Semifinal
#2/2 [#1 seed] Notre Dame Fighting Irish (36-0 / 16-0 ACC) vs. #11/9 [#4 seed] Maryland Terrapins (28-6 / 12-4 ACC)
DATE: April 6, 2014
TIME: 5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET
AT: Nashville, Tenn. - Bridgestone Arena (17,681)
TV: ESPN/WatchESPN (live) (Dave O'Brien, p-b-p / Doris Burke, color / Holly Rowe, sideline)
RADIO: Pulse FM (96.9/92.1) (live) (Bob Nagle, p-b-p); Westwood One/NCAA Radio Network (check local listings - live) (Dave Ryan, p-b-p / Debbie Antonelli, color / Krista Blunk, sideline)
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: UND.com
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TWITTER: @ndwbbsid

SERIES: MD leads 4-3
1ST MTG: MD 84-62 (1/8/83)
LAST MTG: ND 87-83 (1/27/14)

 

[BGIF]

It was a bad calm.

ND by 1

 

[BGIF]

Wright with the Reb and score.

 

[BGIF]

Wright again!

 

[BGIF]

Kayla AGAIN!

 

[BGIF]

ND leads Rebs 11-5; 8-1 Orebs

 

[BGIF]

Wright and Reimer have 4 pts, 3 Rebs.

 

[BGIF]

Jewely Oop!

Hasn't worked well in the tournament.

 

[BGIF]

There's a lot of body contact!

 

[OrlaNDomer]

So many unforced turnovers.

 

[BGIF]

ND by 12!

 

[BGIF]

Wright/Reimer 8 pts, 5 Rebs, 3 offensive, 2 assists, 1 TO, AND 1PF!

 

[BGIF]

ND by 14.

 

[BGIF]

TEAM play!

 

[BGIF]

Looked like Achonwa!