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Post by semper on Mar 19, 2024 7:04:00 GMT -5
Doggy put a great boil down in the blog and I tried to paste it in here but can't. I tried to attach it. Could we evaluate our route? What do people think stage by stage will be the hardest games. How would we match up with USC. What do you predict?
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Post by semper on Mar 20, 2024 12:28:44 GMT -5
So I'll respond to my own post via Doggy's blog which features a three way discussion of our route. Kara says that we got the best route of all the 4 possibilities. But all three say you can't ignore the ability of Jackson State. Meghan also thinks UCONN got a "pretty good draw." Albany region would have been bad for them she opines. Meghan thinks Syracuse will be tough, if both teams arrive to play each other. Kara thinks that UConn will be able to break the press this year, should they then advance to play Ohio State, and that having Paige and KK added to Nika will make the difference there. If they advance beyond Ohio State, USC and Juju will be a huge challenge for them.
Any thoughts?
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Post by mulliganspa on Mar 20, 2024 13:17:09 GMT -5
UConn got the “Easy Street” Award. Their first game against a team that is on their level is USC. If they lose before then it’s for the same reason as recent years. They sucked the purple weenie.
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Post by phil on Mar 20, 2024 14:01:15 GMT -5
So I'll respond to my own post via Doggy's blog which features a three way discussion of our route. Kara says that we got the best route of all the 4 possibilities. But all three say you can't ignore the ability of Jackson State. Meghan also thinks UCONN got a "pretty good draw." Albany region would have been bad for them she opines. Meghan thinks Syracuse will be tough, if both teams arrive to play each other. Kara thinks that UConn will be able to break the press this year, should they then advance to play Ohio State, and that having Paige and KK added to Nika will make the difference there. If they advance beyond Ohio State, USC and Juju will be a huge challenge for them. Any thoughts? Yes. We've already played Syracuse. I know the result was deliberately not published, but surely someone knows something.
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Post by magic on Mar 20, 2024 14:04:28 GMT -5
We shall find out soon. In my mind Ashlynn is huge. Huskies need her scoring to take pressure off Paige and Aaliyah. Kk needs to settle down and play better than last weekend where she was out of control at times. Ice must keep on improving and getting comfortable in her role and I am hoping Geno is working Q into being able to contribute as she started last weekend. Hustle , go for rebounds and loose balls , play solid defense and hit some open shots. Ines may be needed a few minutes here and there.
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Post by linkster on Mar 20, 2024 14:50:06 GMT -5
So I'll respond to my own post via Doggy's blog which features a three way discussion of our route. Kara says that we got the best route of all the 4 possibilities. But all three say you can't ignore the ability of Jackson State. Meghan also thinks UCONN got a "pretty good draw." Albany region would have been bad for them she opines. Meghan thinks Syracuse will be tough, if both teams arrive to play each other. Kara thinks that UConn will be able to break the press this year, should they then advance to play Ohio State, and that having Paige and KK added to Nika will make the difference there. If they advance beyond Ohio State, USC and Juju will be a huge challenge for them. Any thoughts? If USC advances to the E8 then UConn, if they make it there, will be a huge challenge for the Trojans.
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Post by bulkey on Mar 20, 2024 15:39:19 GMT -5
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Post by bulkey on Mar 20, 2024 17:54:31 GMT -5
What is Joe thinking? He's got California and Connecticut locked up. Does he seriously think this will win him South Carolina? /photo/1
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Mar 20, 2024 19:08:25 GMT -5
If a presidential candidate were to choose teams in hopes of winning a few extra votes in the team's home state, I'd advise him to tap Michigan, Marquette, Arizona, Green Bay, and UNLV, with the NC schools - NC State, NC, and Duke following closely behind.
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Mar 20, 2024 19:15:01 GMT -5
This piece of minutia is probably thrice familiar to New Englanders, but this outlander wonders if a town/city with a population as small as Fairfield's 60,000 or so has ever produced two teams that qualified for the NCAA Div 1 tournament (Fairfield and Sacred Heart).
It can't have happened too often.
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Post by bulkey on Mar 21, 2024 7:22:52 GMT -5
It's a long article by Neil Greenberg (who is very good) so only the parts about UConn: Here's the part on the Regionals: The way we will differentiate our bracket, though, is by advancing the Huskies to the Elite Eight and ultimately into the Final Four. Connecticut has been the third-best team in the country, per Her Hoop Stats, despite playing the 13th-hardest schedule and enduring a raft of injuries. And who can forget about Paige Bueckers? She “broke” college basketball as a freshman in 2022 and will return to Connecticut for the 2024-25 season despite being projected as a potential top-three pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.and here's the FF conclusion of the piece: It’s chalky, but the Final Four will be No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Stanford, No. 1 Iowa and No. 3 Connecticut. Selecting South Carolina, the overwhelming favorite, to be a part of the national title game makes little sense if your goal is to win a pool of any significant size, so we will fade the Gamecocks in favor of Stanford. On the other side, let’s pencil in Connecticut over Iowa.
As for the title game, selecting Connecticut to win it all should give us the most value while keeping the bracket rooted in reality. Coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies are 132-23 in NCAA tournament games, making Auriemma the winningest head coach in postseason play. They won the Big East tournament title and went undefeated (18-0) against Big East competition, with a star player in Bueckers. And lastly, the Huskies have one of the highest adjusted margins of victory per Her Hoop Stats: +44.2, third-best in the country.
“We know that we’re not picked to win it. We’re not favored in any bracket really this year, so we know that and we know we’re sort of the underdog in this situation, but sort of been embracing it,” Bueckers told reporters this week.
Well, Bueckers, you’re picked in this one. Don’t let us down.
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Post by semper on Mar 21, 2024 9:36:27 GMT -5
Here is an essay on "the route."
Breaking down UConn's path back to the Final Four
The Huskies are on a collision course for a Sweet Sixteen rematch with Ohio State, but first they win two games in the Storrs sub-regional.
Megan Gauer March 21, 2024
UCONN WBB Weekly
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Post by phil on Mar 21, 2024 9:44:44 GMT -5
This piece of minutia is probably thrice familiar to New Englanders, but this outlander wonders if a town/city with a population as small as Fairfield's 60,000 or so has ever produced two teams that qualified for the NCAA Div 1 tournament (Fairfield and Sacred Heart). It can't have happened too often. I love that stat. In the same vein, Presbyterian qualified for the tournament and (unfortunately) beat Sacred Heart. They are from Clinton, South Carolina with a population of 7633, so I wonder if there's a school whose town has a smaller population?
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Post by semper on Mar 21, 2024 12:15:48 GMT -5
Storrs?
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Post by chicagogg on Mar 21, 2024 12:20:59 GMT -5
Storrs? Storrs, population 16,392 in 2022. Does not include the UConn students on campus. Edit: Fall 2022 student count at Main Storrs Campus was 18,903. So more students than full time town residents.
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Post by meyers7 on Mar 21, 2024 12:26:08 GMT -5
This piece of minutia is probably thrice familiar to New Englanders, but this outlander wonders if a town/city with a population as small as Fairfield's 60,000 or so has ever produced two teams that qualified for the NCAA Div 1 tournament (Fairfield and Sacred Heart). It can't have happened too often. I love that stat. In the same vein, Presbyterian qualified for the tournament and (unfortunately) beat Sacred Heart. They are from Clinton, South Carolina with a population of 7633, so I wonder if there's a school whose town has a smaller population? Well, after looking through some college towns, Notre Dame is listed as being in Notre Dame, IN. (i.e. not South Bend). I guess it's a "census designated place (CDP)". Anyway it's population is 7234. It's basically the campuses of ND, St Mary's College and Holy Cross College. Not sure that really counts.
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Mar 21, 2024 12:39:24 GMT -5
I'm going to look into this more deeply, but I would guess that a lot of the HBCU's were established in rural areas in the south.
Off the top of my head, Alcorn State comes to mind. It's in an unincorporated area in Claiborne County Mississippi. Tje population of the entire County is only 9135.
Grambling, La is a town of some 5,000. I'm not sure if either of these has ever made the NCAA tournament in women's basketball, but both are quite well known in the sports world, I think.
I'll try to find time to look into this later on today.
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Post by bulkey on Mar 21, 2024 12:52:37 GMT -5
I'm going to look into this more deeply, but I would guess that a lot of the HBCU's were established in rural areas in the south.Off the top of my head, Alcorn State comes to mind. It's in an unincorporated area in Claiborne County Mississippi. Tje population of the entire County is only 9135. Grambling, La is a town of some 5,000. I'm note sure if either of these has ever made the NCAA tournament in women's basketball, but both are quite well known in the sports world, I think. I'll try to find time to look into this later on today. No question about that. There was an article around 25 years ago by an urban planner (IIRC at U of Michigan) who studied this phenomenon. When sounthern states created large white public universities, they often created underfunded HBCUs in the same area, on less attractive land. "Separate but equal...." Racking my peanut-sized brain trying to remember his name.
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Post by ursusminor on Mar 21, 2024 13:11:32 GMT -5
I have a subscription, which includes a number of "gift links" each month. Hopefully this works to allow any of you to read it: wapo.st/4aojoOJ
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Mar 21, 2024 13:17:05 GMT -5
We shall find out soon. In my mind Ashlynn is huge. Huskies need her scoring to take pressure off Paige and Aaliyah. Kk needs to settle down and play better than last weekend where she was out of control at times. Ice must keep on improving and getting comfortable in her role and I am hoping Geno is working Q into being able to contribute as she started last weekend. Hustle , go for rebounds and loose balls , play solid defense and hit some open shots. Ines may be needed a few minutes here and there. I feel the same way. Ash can be our dagger. She must put away the doubt that inflicts many in their first NCAA tournament.
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Post by rockymtblue2 on Mar 21, 2024 13:23:43 GMT -5
What is Joe thinking? He's got California and Connecticut locked up. Does he seriously think this will win him South Carolina? /photo/1 Surely no one thinks old Joe actually filled that in.
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Post by yetanotherwilliams on Mar 21, 2024 13:33:21 GMT -5
I did find a number of other HBCU's in small communities:
Bluefield State in Bluefield, W Va pop 9658 (but the Bluefield metro area has 100,000 people)
Central State in Wilberforce, Oho, pop 2410 (the town and college were named for William Wilberforce, probably the most prominent advocate for the abolition of the British slave trade
Cheyney U in Cheyney, Pa pop 900 many notable alumni including Ed (60 mins) Bradley and Bayard (march on Washington) Justin and a number of pro athletes.
There are a number of others in small towns, but none who really click with me sports-wise.
Alcorn State has played in three Div 1 Women's tournaments, each time losing in the first round to #1 seeds, in 2000, 2001, and 2005
Grambling has played in the Div 1 tournament six times -- each time losing in the first round
Both schools are in the SWAC Southwestern Athletic Conference, comprised of 12 teams, all of whom, I think, have HBCU roots. One of them is Prairie View A & M in Prairie View Tx, a town of 8,000. PV A&M has also been a six-time NCAA women's invitee, but has yet to win a tournament game.
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