We gotta get sharper in the first half. These second-half comebacks are fun but you canāt spot a team a 17-point halftime lead and expect to win.
That said, we came close to beating #19 in the country despite them shooting a ridiculous 12-20 from three.
FYI Ladies won tonight.
I couldnāt attend the game tonight, but taped it and just watched it. Fantastic win. Just when things got tight (our 18 point lead was cut to 3 with around 4 minutes to go), we turn up the defense and finish on a 14-0 run.
Weāre playing the best we have all year. Cam Taylor has finally learned how to play without fouling (now that sheās a few games from leaving us), Brunelle has regained a lot of her agility, and Johnson is no longer a freshman, sheās a star. Most importantly, everyone seems to be playing much more under control. Still some craziness, but much less.
The last three games are tough (@ Louisville, @ Duke, VPI) but I would bet we surprise one of them with an upset.
One interesting contrast with the men: When I watch a menās game that Iāve taped, I hang on every free throw. (Gotta see who rebounds it!) When I watch a womenās game that Iāve taped, I just skip past all our free throws. Not a bad FT shooter on the team, I just assume we go 2-for-2 and I just check the score as I restart the game afterward.
That home loss to Clemson a few weeks back looms large.
A good season overall though. A few bad losses to Clemson, Pitt and Wofford, but made up for it with wins against UNC and @FSU. Beat Miami in a 50/50, but lost @GT in a close to 50/50.
The Wofford loss really stings. If we could get that one back, and Pitt, I think we might even be in bubble talk (maybe 8th or 10th off the bubble, but still).
I suppose technically we still could get an at-large bid. Win out in the regular season, get to the ACCT finals, finish 18-14 with a suddenly impressive collection of Top 25 wins (at least 4 of those 5 upcoming wins would be against tourney teams). Not that that will happen, but still nice to be able to claim we arguably control our own destiny this late in the year.
I just want to win one of the next three. Thatās already a pretty lofty goal.
Any shot at the NIT this year?
What does our recruiting class look like?
I found this page, looks about right:
Hurd, the 2024 recruit, is #93 in ESPNās recruiting ranking. Not sure if there are other reputable ranking sites.
The womenās postseason is different this year. The WNIT thatās been around for years is a privately owned pay-to-play tournament. The NCAA wanted in on that action, so starting this year theyāve created the WBIT, a 32-team tourney that will be the equivalent of the menās NIT. (The WNIT will still exist, but itās instantly relegated to being the womenās version of the CBI.)
So the goal is to get into the WBIT. Iām not clear on the criteria. If a .500 record is required, weāre not gonna make it. I do know they give auto bids to regular season champs that miss the NCAAT, so our odds depend on how many slots are available after that.
Thanks for the explanation.
Iād even be ok if we could get a few games of postseason experience in the buy-in tournament. Iād bet weād get a pretty good attendance draw (at least by WBB standards), and could help build towards next year. Seems like ACC is such a gauntlet for a rebuild in WBB that we might actually do ok, not having to play several ranked teams for a change.
Agreed. Any postseason at all would be awesome. And given thereās now 68 (WNCAA) + 32 (WBIT) +48 (WNIT) = 148 teams playing, we damn better get an invite somewhere.
When I checked this morning, our NET was 64, so would think so. Unless, like you mentioned, thereās a winning record requirement.
Won the first quarter, but left a lot of opportunities out there. 6 turnovers, plus 0 points on 5 offensive rebounds. Weāre also back to the ā2 fouls in Q1ā Cam Taylor, which means weāre also back to āletās see if we can survive Q2 without herā
Another offensive rebound that leads to no points
Another turnover
A 5-minute scoring drought and counting
This is suddenly threatening to get away from us.
Boom! Now weāre threatening to get away from Louisville! 14-2 run.
Helps that we finally converted on a couple of offensive rebounds.
