River Walk Region top seed UCONN takes on fifth-seed Iowa in a Sweet 16 matchup in San Antonio. The teams aren't really the story. The matchup features two of the most celebrated and accomplished freshmen in the game's history.
Iowa's Caitlin Clark led the nation in scoring. And assists. She shot 47% from the field and averaged 26.7 points and 7.2 assists/game. The 6' guard has range unlike most women, routinely scoring from 25 feet, which extends opposing defenses and allows the explosive Hawkeyes to take advantage of the space created as a result. In Iowa's second-round win over Kentucky, Clark outscored the entire Wildcat team in the first half, 24-22, before slowing down to finish with 35.
Don't blink @CaitlinClark22 behind the back#ncaaW pic.twitter.com/wprtVR5O2F
— NCAA Women’s Basketball (@ncaawbb) March 21, 2021
Bueckers, meanwhile, is the front-runner for NCAAW Player of the Year. She averages a couple fewer points (19.9) and a dime less (6.0) than Clark, but she's as dominant a court presence as the country's seen in a while. No less an expert than Diana Taurasi said that Bueckers, "...has got way more confidence than I did", calling the 5'11" guard "the best player in basketball already". To steal Peter Gammons' description of Pedro Martinez, Bueckers has duende - a stylish athletic arrogance that makes it hard to take your eyes off her when she's on the court.
The game tips at 1:00, a tasty appetizer for a day full of delicious hoops. Iowa probably doesn't have the ammunition to stay with the Huskies, but it's got the hallmarks of a blast. And we may get three more years of Iowa/UCONN with Clark and Bueckers.
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48 comments:
Nice juxtaposition with Whitney's wiener post.
JMU 28 W&M 3 at half. Oof.
RIP Hurricane Howard Schnellenberger
I'm too lazy to sign out of my google account on my work mac so I (mark) will just have to be anonymous today.
My awful injury luck continues. To recap: I sprained my MCL just as quarantine hit this time last year. Then I was rear ended in my car whilst sitting at a stoplight in June which resulted in a herniated disc in my neck and a partially torn labrum in my right shoulder. Then after a lot of rehab, I was undercut playing basketball and broke my elbow. Most recently, I was playing basketball on Monday and fell victim to a fucking hero diving for a loose ball who ended up spearing me in the ribs which resulted in a cracked rib on my left side. It's not been a fun week. I had to sleep upright on the couch on Monday night and when I sneezed on Thursday morning it brought me to my knees.
In better news, the kid is legit good at baseball. Went 4-4 today and made a few plays in the field. I'm psyched for her while growing increasingly concerned what this may mean for my weekends in the not too distant future.
As for Schnellenberger, he's one of the most influential people in the history of CFB. He's remembered far differently if he doesn't leave Miami as quickly as he did. He legitimately changed the sport.
This Baylor-Nova game would be awesome if Colin Gillespie was healthy.
Jesus, Mark. Good luck with healing.
Shnellenberger was the underrated but key cog part of The U 30 for 30. You saw that he was the catalyst for all that followed.
Thanks, Whit. I'm much better than earlier this week. Tried to get a light run in this afternoon on the treadmill and that wasn't happening.
one of the many things that chap my ass in youth sports is teams that intentionally play down a level or two in tournaments so they can win. my kids got their asses handed to a team that’s ranked 15th in the state of maryland in the bottom bracket of the event we’re in. hope the coach got a good ego boost out of it. dick.
Baylor just decided to lock Nova up. Impressive and a glaring example of the difference with Nova sans Gillespie.
Anybody else almost get into a fistfight w/ the coaching staff and parents of the Throgs Neck Thunder baseball club today? Just me?
Screaming at asshole strangers in front of kids - youth baseball is back!
The really dick-ish part of that equation, Rob, is that kids/players know. They know when they're slotted against lesser competition and win because of it. They want to compete and test themselves, and not just win. Sucks that they don't have a say, and coach isn't called out. Wanker.
Had a similar situation at baseball today (Rob's, not Tr's). We play coach pitch. Most of the kids haven't played much. Today's opponent was loaded with experience and kids hitting line drives into the outfield. Not sure who that's helping, other than the ego of the coaches.
man, baylor really did turn the screws on villanova, like mark said. impressive. would love to see them play gonzaga.
Explain to me why/how what Rob described is allowed...coaches choose the “level” for their teams’ competition? Sorry if this is being dense (our kids don’t play organized sports —we tried when they were little). Husband and I did, but that was before travel sports existed and having personal trainers was part of the gig. 🤪
that's generally true in tournaments, donna. the highest-level teams don't do it, but teams that are below that level but better than the lowest-level teams do. tournaments don't really police it.
it's different in league play, where dominant teams move up and weaker teams move down like in most pro leagues setups. our kids will play against teams that are generally at their level in our league.
to the other team's credit, their kids weren't assholes about it - which is something i've seen before. and our kids never quit playing, which i felt good about. life lesson, or some such.
Gotcha. Sounds like a life lesson that tells kids some adults (and maybe people in general) are assholes. That’s true of course, but it seems a crappy way to learn that.
As impressive as Baylor's defense was, I think they'd have a hard time doing that to Gonzaga. Too many capable ballhandlers. Not saying they can't win but they'd need a much better offensive game out of Butler. Mitchell saved them late in the game. It's chalky but that's the title game I want. Those two teams have been the most consistent and, imo, best teams in the country all year. What Scott Drew has built at Baylor is really fucking impressive.
Donna - I'll give you an example. In travel baseball, coaches vouch for their team's competitiveness level. We have a town travel team. Our "A" team is a "3" on a scale of 1-5. The "5" teams are powerhouse clubs that pull from many counties. The "1" teams are C teams for town travel programs.
I coach my kid on a B team. We have a deep group. We played summer travel last year. Three towns we played only had one team, but they played them at the equivalent of a B level. When I press their coaches, they say "we don't have a lot of kids try out and we're not that strong." What that usually means is that after the top 8-9, it drops off a bit. So my team of true B players is up against the top kids in a town. And the coaches' antics are off the charts. One coach emailed me after a playoff loss, demanding to know which kids pitched against us and how many pitches each threw. I gave him a little bit of data, but not a lot, because his team was 10-0 and hadn't had a tough game yet. That guy's team wins. He then emails me again ahead of the finals, asking for that same info from the two times I played the team he would face in the finals. He also told me "I know that club skirts the rules, so I need that info." Meanwhile, that club was awesome - the kids, the coaches and the parents. We always had great, competitive games. I laid into that coach, telling him it is a B league and he's undefeated and acting like a clown. I almost cc'd the coach of his opponent. I should have.
To close the loop, that lunatic coach was an assistant football coach and head varsity basketball coach of the town next to us (Summit, home of Ice-T). So he apparently only has one gear, whether he's coaching varsity basketball or his 10 year-old kid. Fuck him and fuck Long Hill, NJ. And fuck Summit. I've had some wine.
TR- fired up.
Arkansas-ORU is fun. I hate those Arkansas jerseys.
i hate their shot selection
Both teams are on tilt at this point. Playing wildly and tossing shit at the rim and hoping.
Arkansas trapping Abmas is smart. They have the defensive DNA for it and it's getting ORU out of their offensive comfort zone.
The only amusing thing about the Razorbacks’ run is that we’ll get some Nolan Richardson chatter in the next two days. Always loved the Corliss Williamson/Todd Day days.
This is Lee Mayberry erasure!
Ok so I get it. Thanks for the illustration, TR. My thoughts, which count less than 2 cents...that’s complete crap! That coach shouldn’t be allowed to coach. Period. He’s a jackass. Couldn’t the other coaches involved agree to rules that this won’t happen and if you violate, you’re out? Is that unrealistic?
I really thought OR was going to win. So, does Baylor beat Arkansas? I say yes.
Not to be "that guy" but Corliss and Todd were different runs. It was Day/Lee Mayberry/Oliver Miller and then Corliss/Scotty Thurman/Corey Beck/Alex Dillard, etc, etc. Your point remains though, TR. Peak Arkansas basketball in the 90s was fun as hell.
I've got your Vancouver Grizzlies loving back, TJ.
So apparently I am “that guy”. Sorry for shutting down the comments section with my unnecessary attention to 90s college basketball detail.
Scotty Thurman had crazy range.
Alex Dillard was the first guy I ever saw shoot from many, many feet behind the line. He was a bench guy on that Corliss/Scotty team but he was a cult hero with me and my basketball crew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-leb8D2G8
Alex Dillard
I've managed to shut this thread down twice tonight. Gotta say, I'm a bit impressed with myself.
Sorry to hear about your ribs Mark, or as I call them when I'm smoking 'em....ree-ibs.
As painful as swim meets can be....yesterday we were at Indian River State College from 7 a.m. until 6pm with a 2 hour break in the middle, as an example...there is no arguing times. Zero fudging, politics, bullshit, cheating, fighting parents, etc. It's beautiful in that respect. And the parents all get along...swimmingly.
Btw....I sported my gtb shirt yesterday. Not one person asked what the hell it is.
I sport my GTB shirt fairly often, but nobody ever asks.
here's today's youth sports kick in the groin, though it's nobody's fault. kids had an 8:30 game about an hour from my house. so i'm up at 6 so i can walk the dog a grab a bite before i get on the road. it's a rainy morning, so we're concerned that we might not get the game in - especially so because our game had no bearing on the results of our bracket.
steady rain as the kids arrive and start warming up, then lightning. so a mandatory 30-minute delay. another bolt 15 minutes later, then it clears. kids assemble, referees evaluate the field. which has standing water by this point. fields closed.
and i'm soggy for the hour return drive. dagger.
That’s suboptimal. Meanwhile, I’ve spent the afternoon on the beach down the street from my house and have a Butcher charcuterie board and Georgian cheese bread dinner awaiting me as I watch basketball.
Michigan should really get over themselves and bring back the large M on the shorts of their uniforms. The maize unis with the large block M are iconic.
us u23 men play a dismal first 50 minutes, go down 2-0 to honduras, wake up and create a shitload of chances only to fall, 2-1 and fail to qualify for the olympics, again.
At least our young footie squad won't be seduced into snorting gin while hobnobbing with the other olympians.
silver linings, indeed
Well, hello, Bama.
hello, indeed
Bama isn't losing now.
Or maybe they are...
i had $25 on bama to win the tournament at +2000. hedged it tonight with ucla and the money line. gonna come out ahead. but kinda wish i'd lost the hedge.
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