OSU players are well trained by their coach to embellish any contact with opposing players. Their coach had one ref wrapped around her little finger. A good ref would walk away but he let her whisper in his ear at every break.
We saw that too. Fouls called that were not there. As game went on you could see frustration in Angela and others. But the team must learn to deal with that because LSU will be fouling.
Coach Close commented on the frustration the players felt when calls were not going their way, and how they need to stay connected, and keep communicating.
Also, there is so much pressure on this team from the outside that they played a bit tight, afraid to make a mistake.
She shared that they need to insulate themselves from the outside noise and focus on what they can control.
Not one, but two players tying their shoelaces to stall for more time so that their coaching staff could take a closer look at a replay is something I haven't seen before. Didn't matter at all, as OSU had zero chance of pulling off an upset anyway.
Congrats on achieving another Sweet-16 and Go Lady Bruins!
It looked like we were doing that to Okla St. but after they went down 25 they kept it in the mid teens. That could be scary if LSU does that because they can certainly creep back even more.
Yes, they will be a super challenging match-up to say the least...
LSU is a super tough, aggressive team. I do worry about injuries just because games can get heated.
And there has been a lot of bad blood between the two teams due to a story that Ben Bolch wrote. He apologized but that didn't put out the flames he fueled.
Ehh, I don’t know that there’s bad blood so much as Kim Mulkey is one of the greatest grievance merchants of all time. I don’t think UCLA particularly thinks about LSU anymore than LSU thinks about them.
I wanted to throw out something controversial. If you look at the stats this year do we think CLW is that much better than Elina Aarnisalo would have been? CLW definitely gets the nod on assists but the turnover rate is the same for both of them and Aarnisalo has better overall shooting percentage (2pt, 3pt, free throw). I really love CLWs attitude but I really hate when she has those careless turnovers. Love to hear people’s thoughts
While CLW has a lot of careless TOs, she is turning it over less than when she was at WSU. CLW was brought in to take some of the PG load off Kiki. If you look at Kiki's stats, she is scoring and rebounding more with only a slight drop in assists. From a team perspective, this is working like it should. CLW is willing to play this role. One of the reasons that Aarnisalo left was that she wanted a bigger role. She got that at NC.
CLW has incredible intangibles. She is a calming presence on the court She is a connector on and off the court. She has great leadership skills and her passing skills and assists are tremendous.
Just to throw this out there, but Aarnisalo is showing why Close went all-in on this season. She is getting killed by UConn, with a total of 2 points and a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio to go along with some miserable defense. Close has, reasonably, decided to go all-in on this season, which means that Aarnisalo was not nearly ready enough to even be a bench contributor, so both moved on.
I think CLW is much better at controlling the pace and reading the D. Aarnisalo was very streaky and often would dribble into the paint with no idea what she wanted to do. As I write this during the UConn game, she’s 1-11 with 2 pts, 6 assists and 6 turnovers - not a great stat line.
I see that Close says she’s exhausted and thinking about retiring. Regardless of how the season ends, she is facing a tough task of rebuilding the team for next season. So would winning a championship re-energize her or have her think mission accomplished?
I think Coach Close is such an honest to a fault person who often shows vulnerability. I think she has sound values and the current landscape tests those values everyday. I hope she finds a way to find peace in the chaos, and continues to feel joy from her amazing group of players.
So Vandy just lost to ND, shot only 35%. ND was pretty bad too, shooting 42% and 6% from 3. They certainly handed Region 1 to UConn on a silver platter.
OSU players are well trained by their coach to embellish any contact with opposing players. Their coach had one ref wrapped around her little finger. A good ref would walk away but he let her whisper in his ear at every break.
We saw that too. Fouls called that were not there. As game went on you could see frustration in Angela and others. But the team must learn to deal with that because LSU will be fouling.
You are so right.
Coach Close commented on the frustration the players felt when calls were not going their way, and how they need to stay connected, and keep communicating.
Also, there is so much pressure on this team from the outside that they played a bit tight, afraid to make a mistake.
She shared that they need to insulate themselves from the outside noise and focus on what they can control.
💙💛💙💛
Not one, but two players tying their shoelaces to stall for more time so that their coaching staff could take a closer look at a replay is something I haven't seen before. Didn't matter at all, as OSU had zero chance of pulling off an upset anyway.
Congrats on achieving another Sweet-16 and Go Lady Bruins!
I would love to beat Flau'jae
I would too.
LSU is playing scary good so I have knots already for that potential match-up.
First things first, Minn will give us their best shot and we need to stay focused and pull away early.
It looked like we were doing that to Okla St. but after they went down 25 they kept it in the mid teens. That could be scary if LSU does that because they can certainly creep back even more.
Yes, they will be a super challenging match-up to say the least...
LSU is a super tough, aggressive team. I do worry about injuries just because games can get heated.
And there has been a lot of bad blood between the two teams due to a story that Ben Bolch wrote. He apologized but that didn't put out the flames he fueled.
Ehh, I don’t know that there’s bad blood so much as Kim Mulkey is one of the greatest grievance merchants of all time. I don’t think UCLA particularly thinks about LSU anymore than LSU thinks about them.
I wanted to throw out something controversial. If you look at the stats this year do we think CLW is that much better than Elina Aarnisalo would have been? CLW definitely gets the nod on assists but the turnover rate is the same for both of them and Aarnisalo has better overall shooting percentage (2pt, 3pt, free throw). I really love CLWs attitude but I really hate when she has those careless turnovers. Love to hear people’s thoughts
While CLW has a lot of careless TOs, she is turning it over less than when she was at WSU. CLW was brought in to take some of the PG load off Kiki. If you look at Kiki's stats, she is scoring and rebounding more with only a slight drop in assists. From a team perspective, this is working like it should. CLW is willing to play this role. One of the reasons that Aarnisalo left was that she wanted a bigger role. She got that at NC.
Didn’t know about her turnovers at WSU. I think you make excellent points on its overall effect.
And that sweet pass CLW threw to Betts for Betts to hit 35 was so nice.
CLW has incredible intangibles. She is a calming presence on the court She is a connector on and off the court. She has great leadership skills and her passing skills and assists are tremendous.
Just to throw this out there, but Aarnisalo is showing why Close went all-in on this season. She is getting killed by UConn, with a total of 2 points and a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio to go along with some miserable defense. Close has, reasonably, decided to go all-in on this season, which means that Aarnisalo was not nearly ready enough to even be a bench contributor, so both moved on.
I think CLW is much better at controlling the pace and reading the D. Aarnisalo was very streaky and often would dribble into the paint with no idea what she wanted to do. As I write this during the UConn game, she’s 1-11 with 2 pts, 6 assists and 6 turnovers - not a great stat line.
I see that Close says she’s exhausted and thinking about retiring. Regardless of how the season ends, she is facing a tough task of rebuilding the team for next season. So would winning a championship re-energize her or have her think mission accomplished?
I think Coach Close is such an honest to a fault person who often shows vulnerability. I think she has sound values and the current landscape tests those values everyday. I hope she finds a way to find peace in the chaos, and continues to feel joy from her amazing group of players.
So Vandy just lost to ND, shot only 35%. ND was pretty bad too, shooting 42% and 6% from 3. They certainly handed Region 1 to UConn on a silver platter.