NCAAW: CU at Duke, Round of 32

[uh_no]

Has Spring Break moved or gotten way longer? The Duke/uNC game ending the regular was the first Saturday of Spring Break every year when I was there.

spring break was 3/10-3/20 this year, so a week later than normal, with respect to the basketball schedule.

FWIW: the season ends 3/3 to 3/9 (saturday), depending on the calendar. spring break starts 3/4-3/10 (friday)...so twice every 7 years it doesn't line up, namely when the game is on the third or fourth of march as it was this year.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

This team plays great defense but offensively they are horrendous. I hope they bring in some shooters/scorers next season.

[dudog84]

Y'all know I'm a homer, but I'm very angry about them blowing this game. ZERO points in the first 6+ minutes of the 4th quarter. 10 points in the last 15 minutes. A 30% 3-point shooter (who has hit exactly 1 (ONE) 3-pointer in the last 5 games) chucking up a 3 in the last seconds of regulation of a tie game. Getting 4 points and 5 rebounds from our 3 frontcourt players (at 6-1, Balogun is a wing).

Just a terrible game. Leaves a very bad aftertaste on what had been a great season. Bleah.

[Kfanarmy]

Y'all know I'm a homer, but I'm very angry about them blowing this game. ZERO points in the first 6+ minutes of the 4th quarter. 10 points in the last 15 minutes. A 30% 3-point shooter (who has hit exactly 1 (ONE) 3-pointer in the last 5 games) chucking up a 3 in the last seconds of regulation of a tie game. Getting 4 points and 5 rebounds from our 3 frontcourt players (at 6-1, Balogun is a wing).

Just a terrible game. Leaves a very bad aftertaste on what had been a great season. Bleah.

Coach needs to get an assistant who can teach offense, the difficult stuff like layups, catching, having a three point shooter take the threes, etc

[JetpackJesus]

spring break was 3/10-3/20 this year, so a week later than normal, with respect to the basketball schedule.

FWIW: the season ends 3/3 to 3/9 (saturday), depending on the calendar. spring break starts 3/4-3/10 (friday)...so twice every 7 years it doesn't line up, namely when the game is on the third or fourth of march as it was this year.

[pfrduke]

Y'all know I'm a homer, but I'm very angry about them blowing this game. ZERO points in the first 6+ minutes of the 4th quarter. 10 points in the last 15 minutes. A 30% 3-point shooter (who has hit exactly 1 (ONE) 3-pointer in the last 5 games) chucking up a 3 in the last seconds of regulation of a tie game. Getting 4 points and 5 rebounds from our 3 frontcourt players (at 6-1, Balogun is a wing).

Just a terrible game. Leaves a very bad aftertaste on what had been a great season. Bleah.

Sportscenter just put up a stat that in the 4th/OT, Colorado played 19 possessions of zone and we scored precisely 4 points, going 1-14 from the field and committing 6 turnovers.

Obscures a fun all-around game from Celeste. I’ve never quite seen a line like 8-10-8-10 - a slightly better shooting day from her and her teammates from a quad-double.

Also, the several replays of the last play of regulation showed Richardson’s arms grabbed by two hands way before any tie-up. But, alas, no whistle.

[dukelifer]

This team plays great defense but offensively they are horrendous. I hope they bring in some shooters/scorers next season.

The biggest regression of a player was Day-Wilson. She had huge games last year. I thought she was going to be the offensive engine this season. Tonight she was 1-9 0-4 no assists and 4 turnovers. Can’t expect to win when your Pt guard plays like that. The team needs a reliable scorer. Duke can play D but the O is very very weak in the half court. The wrong players were shooting at the end. An unfortunate end to the season.

[loran16]

The biggest regression of a player was Day-Wilson. She had huge games last year. I thought she was going to be the offensive engine this season. Tonight she was 1-9 0-4 no assists and 4 turnovers. Can’t expect to win when your Pt guard plays like that. The team needs a reliable scorer. Duke can play D but the O is very very weak in the half court. The wrong players were shooting at the end. An unfortunate end to the season.

In less shots she shot worse from 3 and 2. And she still shot 69 percent from the line. It was not a great sophomore season despite a few flashes

[buddy]

Obscures a fun all-around game from Celeste. I’ve never quite seen a line like 8-10-8-10 - a slightly better shooting day from her and her teammates from a quad-double.

3-14 from the field is not a fun all-around game. On defense Celeste was star of the game. She was everywhere on the court making steals and grabbing rebounds. But she couldn't hit anything from the field, and often didn't draw iron.

Celeste and Day-Wilson appear to hurry on offense. John Wooden said to be quick but don't hurry. Our team hurries a lot. This one hurt. Hard to understand how we could have such a good regular season and not make the Sweet Sixteen. Miami did. Can't say they got an easy draw.

[UrinalCake]

The team fought hard to come back from that immediate deficit. Thought we could have used a timeout to prevent it from getting so big in the first place. We really had no offense, just relied on our defense getting steals to claw back in it. DeJesus was playing better than Day-Wilson, I thought we should have left her in even though I know she’s not typically a big scorer.

I don’t know what the attendance looked like from the TV view but in Cameron the lower section was packed and loud. A good number of Colorado fans who cheered hard as well. It was a great environment for a game and the team was very emotional in their final huddle at center court after the game and their season came to an end. Nearly every player walked away in tears.

[Atldukie79]

Obscures a fun all-around game from Celeste. I’ve never quite seen a line like 8-10-8-10 - a slightly better shooting day from her and her teammates from a quad-double.

3-14 from the field is not a fun all-around game. On defense Celeste was star of the game. She was everywhere on the court making steals and grabbing rebounds. But she couldn't hit anything from the field, and often didn't draw iron.

Celeste and Day-Wilson appear to hurry on offense. John Wooden said to be quick but don't hurry. Our team hurries a lot. This one hurt. Hard to understand how we could have such a good regular season and not make the Sweet Sixteen. Miami did. Can't say they got an easy draw.

I was about to use the Wooden quote!

This team plays extremely hard, they hustle, they sacrifice. The effort is off the charts.
I see 3 problem areas on offense, all exacerbated by the tendency to rush:

Shooting: Not sure we have a "pure" shooter. Lots of air balls, point blank misses. Talent or coaching? Both? But rushed shots don't help.

Passing: It looks as if a play has been drawn, and the passer is supposed to throw it to a certain player, notwithstanding the fact that a defender might be in the way. Way to many wretchedly bad passes forced into tough situations.

Hoops acumen: I don't see a lot of "natural" movement on offense. The flow is herky jerky. Decisions are less read and react. They are more predetermined or prescribed.

I know it is easy to be the armchair quarterback. I played rec hoops for 40 years, and was astonished to see how bad we looked when a game was recorded. Yikes. But the above are my observations regarding offensive woes.

[uh_no]

I was about to use the Wooden quote!

This team plays extremely hard, they hustle, they sacrifice. The effort is off the charts.
I see 3 problem areas on offense, all exacerbated by the tendency to rush:

Shooting: Not sure we have a "pure" shooter. Lots of air balls, point blank misses. Talent or coaching? Both? But rushed shots don't help.

Passing: It looks as if a play has been drawn, and the passer is supposed to throw it to a certain player, notwithstanding the fact that a defender might be in the way. Way to many wretchedly bad passes forced into tough situations.

Hoops acumen: I don't see a lot of "natural" movement on offense. The flow is herky jerky. Decisions are less read and react. They are more predetermined or prescribed.

I know it is easy to be the armchair quarterback. I played rec hoops for 40 years, and was astonished to see how bad we looked when a game was recorded. Yikes. But the above are my observations regarding offensive woes.

The lack of composure down the stretch was crazy. Just totally rushed.

[UrinalCake]

This team plays extremely hard, they hustle, they sacrifice. The effort is off the charts. I see 3 problem areas on offense, all exacerbated by the tendency to rush:

I think this is spot on. The offense feels very deliberate, without a natural flow. Shooting is just straight up bad. Defensively Colorado had that really big center who we would front and they would throw over top and get a layup, over and over again. One time DeJesus rotated over and drew a charge (credit to her for stepping in and taking that hit) but otherwise there was no adjustment, it's like we were content to just concede a layup whenever they wanted it. Frustrating to watch.

[DoubleBlue]

I think this is spot on. The offense feels very deliberate, without a natural flow. Shooting is just straight up bad. Defensively Colorado had that really big center who we would front and they would throw over top and get a layup, over and over again. One time DeJesus rotated over and drew a charge (credit to her for stepping in and taking that hit) but otherwise there was no adjustment, it's like we were content to just concede a layup whenever they wanted it. Frustrating to watch.

The most frustrating aspect for me is the inconsistency of the offense. Some games they seem to have a natural flow, make accurate passes and take/make good shots. Others its like the Keystone Cops with all five players circling around, throwing the ball away, taking bad shots and not rebounding. Last night was the latter. I don't know if its lack of skill by the players or inadequate coaching, probably some of both.

The team also tends to panic when they get off to a bad start and they never get their composure back. The defense can still be good though since its more an issue of effort and persistence. But the offense can just be bad all game if they don't regain thier composure. We've all wondered how much of their practices are focused on offense. Probably something the staff will evaluate going forward.

[duke2x]

The team fought hard to come back from that immediate deficit. Thought we could have used a timeout to prevent it from getting so big in the first place. We really had no offense, just relied on our defense getting steals to claw back in it. DeJesus was playing better than Day-Wilson, I thought we should have left her in even though I know she’s not typically a big scorer.

I don’t know what the attendance looked like from the TV view but in Cameron the lower section was packed and loud. A good number of Colorado fans who cheered hard as well. It was a great environment for a game and the team was very emotional in their final huddle at center court after the game and their season came to an end. Nearly every player walked away in tears.

That was a tough loss. We needed to shoot 3's at the end and had nothing left when we needed it. The CO fans were only the band and a few parents. You aren't going to get many people to travel from Denver for a NCAA game on 1 week notice even on Frontier. A few MBB players were there, but I'm going to keep which ones silent to prevent speculation on departures. It's not uncommon to see part but not all of them arriving late and sitting in the campus end of Cameron, particularly during holiday breaks.

For the rules geeks: It is a technical foul to distract using any object during a free throw behind the basket. Yes, only Dick Paparo would have called that and only on Duke. If you're going to cheat, however, a UNC flag is the way to do it. It tells us all we need to know about you.

[dudog84]

It's not like Kara got a bunch of polished offensive players from the portal and recruiting and they forgot how to shoot. She correctly determined that defense HAD to be the backbone of this team. Ashlon is the only gifted scorer on the team (by reputation), and few freshman are ready to play top-flight college defense.

Before this year Kara had nothing to sell. She just did the best coaching job in the entire country. Watch her Sunday presser, she KNOWS what she needs. And now she'll be able to get those players, I fully expect her to be able to pick an choose from what's available in the portal.

[UrinalCake]

For the rules geeks: It is a technical foul to distract using any object during a free throw behind the basket.

Tell that to these fans:

[Kfanarmy]

Y'all know I'm a homer, but I'm very angry about them blowing this game. ZERO points in the first 6+ minutes of the 4th quarter. 10 points in the last 15 minutes. A 30% 3-point shooter (who has hit exactly 1 (ONE) 3-pointer in the last 5 games) chucking up a 3 in the last seconds of regulation of a tie game. Getting 4 points and 5 rebounds from our 3 frontcourt players (at 6-1, Balogun is a wing).

Just a terrible game. Leaves a very bad aftertaste on what had been a great season. Bleah.

With the way the game was called, it seemed like a drive to the basket had a 50/50 chance of at least drawing a foul. I was kinda shocked to see that set up for a three let alone having someone who bricked several other shots take it.

On another note, the energy it took simply to get back in the game after starting down 15-2 seemed to really impact the team in the 4th quarter and OT, but then again the OT looked exactly like the start of the game. If they'd played another 20 minutes, Duke would have been down by 30. Given Duke's woes on offense, even with that exceptional defense, all told I think CU was/is simply a better team.

[wavedukefan70s]

With the way the game was called, it seemed like a drive to the basket had a 50/50 chance of at least drawing a foul. I was kinda shocked to see that set up for a three let alone having someone who bricked several other shots take it.

On another note, the energy it took simply to get back in the game after starting down 15-2 seemed to really impact the team in the 4th quarter and OT, but then again the OT looked exactly like the start of the game. If they'd played another 20 minutes, Duke would have been down by 30. Given Duke's woes on offense, even with that exceptional defense, all told I think CU was/is simply a better team.

Quite disappointing.
But I feel everyone is playing for second place Staley has something going good at USC .

[TheTrain]

Duke’s decision to go with Day Wilson, who can’t hit the side of a barn this game over De Jesus in overtime is baffling and probably was crucial

The offense was offensive. These girls struggle to score against quality opponents. Taking DeJesus out was just inexplicable to me