ChanmanV

The difference has been how good our 4s have been defending of late. Carlton and Sidberry have really stepped up their defensive attention. When you have all 5 players pressuring passing lanes and attacking any weak dribble action, it's tough to run your offense and have any kind of rhythm. They may make some tough shots, but not with any consistency and that's what we've seen the last couple weeks. Rori sets the tone and she's not as flashy as Hannah Hidalgo but she is similar in the chaos she can cause. But Rori is the better straight up defender taking less big risks and playing better position to challenge shots and take charges. If Rori has her way with UCLA's PGs early, we have great chance to get out to a lead. We're just really good at creating this atmosphere of chaotic pressure but it not being overly risky so the opponents don't get wide open shots if they clear the chaos. I expect immense pressure on Rice and Leger Walker and us to again 3/4 front Betts to make the entry pass tough. The only thing that could derail us is foul trouble. We've been excellent at avoiding that so far and having our rotations maximized.

It's always hard to judge much in this game because it's ball hog city but Crittenden looked good tonight. She was making a lot of good basketball plays and can hit 3s. Bjorn is as active and athletic as advertised. Spaight's pretty quick on offense but defense might be a problem for her since she's small height wise and in stature. She was getting owned on defense. But I can see Crittenden and Bjorn playing right away with Spaight's as a 2nd or 3rd PG. Preston's going to have to make a big leap next year taking over the reigns for Rori or else PG will be a concern next year.

Vegas has us as #2 so at least the bettors know.

I don't get the national media. Texas just destroyed a 2 seed (top 10 offensive team btw) and everyone else to this point including SC in the SEC championship, yet people still talk primarily about UConn, SC, and UCLA being the favorites to win the whole thing. Something about our style of play isn't sexy to the media or storylines. Tired of the Midrange Madi being the token Texas storyline and nothing else. Rori's leadership, control of flow, and mix of chaotic and discipline defense is not being noticed enough. She has been as important as Madi has to our success and possibly more because of the intangibles. It's pretty absurd that people would pick SC to go all the way knowing Texas dominated them a few weeks ago at a neutral site. These Final Four games will both be great but I've only seen a couple analysts that talk about our team in a way the shows they know our team. National media outlets just keeps getting lazier every year. Hopefully Vic uses this as a motivator. Time to get some respect for good and bring the BTA to UCLA Friday.

UCLA looks different now with another legit big next to Betts.

I meant to say THE chip. 🤣

For sure they will be the favorite and are good from 3s but I don't think they've been battle tested much this year. Even with a similar roster to last year, recency and feeling the heat matters. Every team has at least 1 bad night in the tournament. I wish we could play them in the Final 4 to catch them before some tough games but even if we do play them in the finals, Our physicality and ball pressure will catch them off guard for a half. Azzi and Ziebell are an incredible 3 pt shooters but I trust Jordan and Rory to chase and challenge them all game. Plus we hedge/show every time off picks so they won't get a lot of wide open looks. The only real bad matchup is Strong. She will get hers and more but the key to beating UConn is shutting down Azzi and everyone else which is possible with our team. UConn being undefeated adds an additional element of pressure on them as well. Of course we'll still have to beat Kentucky and UCLA again, but things just seem aligned to give us a real chance this year with having home crowds until the Final Four and I'll take us against anyone on a neutral court.

The women start their journey to a chip tomorrow but I really do believe this is the year for Vic and the women. They are battle tested and everyone is playing well right now. The team has a lot of versatility to matchup well against all kinds of teams which bodes well in the tournament. We have the easiest draw of the #1 seeds and we're playing in Austin and Dallas. Plus, we've pretty much beaten every contender except UConn and no team does well against the Texas pressure defense the first time they play Texas. UConn hasn't felt heat like our defense brings every game. So many things lined up this year, it's just up to the women to stay focused every game.

Good day for Moore and Hill. Hill's got a real chance now for the 1st round running 4.52.

The stories and narratives of this Olympics has probably made it one of my favorites of all time. The hockey teams winning in dramatic fashion, Shiffrin finally getting that monkey off her back, Meyers Taylor finally getting the gold in bobsled, Jordan Stolz just starting his Olympic legacy, and Alysa friggin' Liu (and the other women figure skaters) showing us all that you can succeed in sports being a vessel of pure joy and sportsmanship. Milano Cortina A++++.

We did just barely enough to get the W. Oldacre really needs to work on the drop step layup. She missed too many today. The girls look like they're running on fumes, but that could be Tennessee's crazy pace. Maddie, Lee, and Crump have been in a slump the last 2 games. Need to get their strokes back. Hopefully in the next couple games Vic can give Rory, Maddie, and Lee some rest.

She didn't play well in the minutes she played but Vic only gave a hint by referring to vets that didn't play hard. What you do know is it wasn't Booker, Preston, Crump, Sidberry, Oldacre, or Cunningham given they played most of the 2nd half. So that leaves Rory, Lee, Carlton, and Judd as potentially the players he's referring to.

We’ll be fine in Knoxville. Different team and a different matchup. Blakes and Galvan may be the best backcourt duo in the nation.

I love it too but this team had been fighting hard outside of couple games this year. There’s a toll that’s taken by this time of year when you only played 7 players for an extended period early in the season. Our focus wasn’t good but Rory looked tired tonight and you put her on the best player in the nation. Players missed too many bunnies on offense but the scout was bad with the defensive matchups. Not adjusting that quick enough allowed them to balloon a huge lead. When a team is shooting 75% on you, you gotta make an adjustment which we didn’t. Vandy did to us what we usually do to teams so kudos to them. We’ll be more ready next time like you saw against LSU.

Scout did a poor job defensively. Rory matching up on Blakes was bad and Lee bit on every move Galvan gave her. We stayed in that match up for most of the first half which led to 60%+ shooting for them. Even switching Lee on Blakes and Rory on Galvan would have made much more sense. Bri and Maddie held them more in check in the 2nd half. This felt like the LSU loss where I thought the scouting and gameplan was bad as well. The heart comment Vic made was clearly at Carlton, Lee, and Rory tonight. Rory and Carlton looked tired tonight and Lee was trying but failing defending Galvan. It’s a shame because Lee had her 3pt stroke tonight and we needed it late in the game but because of how it went defensively, she didn’t play at all in the 4th.

She had a bad matchup and she didn't look like she had the normal Rory energy tonight. It's been a long 2 weeks of tough games so it might have caught up to her given how much she put into the other games. She'll be back with vengeance if we face them again.

She wasn't guarding Galvan outside of a few switches. It was Lee getting juked by her and Blakes owning Rory. Just weird we matched up like that.

I'm disappointed in that performance. I don't think Vic and the coaching staff did a good job preparing the team for the game. We made some adjustments at half to spread it out and go inside to success but starting the game we had bad matchups on defense. Putting Rory on Blakes and Lee on Galvan didn't make sense to be me and they took advantage. It would have been better to put Lee on Blakes and Rory on Galvan give then the size and quickness matching up much better. We stayed that way much longer than we should. Later Preston and Maddie guarding the 2 stars with Sidberry playing PF was better in the second half but the damage had already been done. Also the refs were vastly favoring Vandy. They had 3x the FT we had which was ridiculous. Blakes and Galvan are special players but we didn't play like Texas today. We never really recovered from their first punch out of the gate. The attention to detail on defense and the focus on offense was not there at all in the 1st half. Way too many open shots and missed bunnies which is very unlike us. Rory looked tired today. It's been a tough schedule the last 2 weeks so just chalk it up to a bad game. We can beat them in a rematch on a neutral site.

Great win! We didn't get sped up this time around and Booker got going way earlier. Rory was a beast on defense tonight. She was determined and super focused. Matching her up with Williams was a key to winning this game. With Crump back, we can win some of these games Jordan Lee goes invisible. Lee better watch out because if she keeps struggling, Crump is going to take her starting spot. Imagine if Lee and Crump were both hitting shots. We'd be pretty unstoppable. Sidberry played really well in the 2nd half. She needs to move head of Judd on the depth chart.

Jeff you've pretty much summarized how the team has consistently played in the SEC schedule and what we should expect the rest of the year. It's matchup dependent to an extent but this team lives and dies by Swain shooting efficiently and Mark not having an off night. Matas will be in foul trouble (minus a bad game plan by the opponent not to attack him) every game and Pope will be invisible 50% of the time. We just got to hope that these hot nights by Pope or Heide pop up at the right times. That said, we look like we're tournament bound which is more than I could say a month ago which speaks to the job Miller has been doing of late.

Crump ultimately will replace Booker when she leaves and flourish but she'll start for Carlton when we play small ball and sub for Booker/Lee. The only other way for her is to beat Jordan Lee out of her spot and I don't see that happening.

Those 2 look like they have potential but Bjorn is better and there's no way Vic is going 13 deep. I think he'll go 9 max and he favors experience most of the time. The talent is immense though. A good problem to have.

There's been so many TV shows to date. Top 50 for me. Michael J Fox is a Top 15 sitcom lead though for me.

The scoring options next year are going to be incredible in the starting lineup and off the bench. Can you imagine: Starting 5 Booker Lee Carlton Preston Bjorn Bench Crump Crittendon Cunningham Spaight And that's not including any transfers. Everyone of these women can score efficiently and will put crazy pressure on the opponent's defense. You add Vic's defense and that's a championship looking team if I've seen one.

Most interested in seeing if Lee can get back on track. She’s been slumping the last few games now and we will not contend for a chip without her playing well with confidence. Also, I want to see Crump get integrated more into the offense off the bench.