2022-23 GTWBB

[78pike]

I was impressed in the 4th quarter that our women did not panic when they lost the lead. They locked in on defense and immediately turned it to a 7 point advantage. Great coaching move to switch to a zone and give the the outside shots that they couldn't make all night. Also kudos to the calm demeanor of our freshman point guard with a couple big baskets and nerves of steel to drill 4 straight free throws in crunch time. Also, I was down on her after last game but gotta give her credit this game. Lele Love gave us a big 12 points off the bench and played with much more poise and determination than she did last game. Still way too many turnovers but our girls were getting mauled out there and the refs were swallowing their whistles. I lost count of the number of times they came over our backs on rebounds and got the loose ball. And they pushed off a LOT. I remember one play when the ran an out of bounds play to #5 and as the ball was thrown in she put two hands in Blackshear's chest and pushed her away in order to catch the lob and the ref called a foul on Blackshear. Despite the score we played a much more team game tonite. If we could have made our wide open layups it would have easily been a double digit win. But I'll take a W on the road to an SEC team any day.

 

[orientalnc]

Thoughts from watching last night:

It is fascinating to see a freshman, Tonie Morgan, essentially take over a game in the 4th quarter. She made a pass to Love on a pick and roll that was a thing of beauty. We have depth on this team and Nell will likely go with whichever combination is working. Dunn and Carter and Harrison saw very little action last night. Love, who barely showed up last week played a great game. I don't know what was going on with Hermosa, but she almost seemed intimidated by the athleticism of the Auburn players. At one time early in the 3rd quarter, Auburn had 19 offensive rebounds. She had her hands on a lot of those and could not bring them in. She had 10 rebounds and played a decent game otherwise, but we need her to be more active. At times it was a sloppy game with turnover galore (18 for GT, 20 for Auburn). I am soooo happy Nell picked up Jackson and Swartz during the portal season.

Bottom line:
I agree with @HurricaneJacket that the team showed a lot of grit. They could have folded their tent when Auburn erased the 15 point deficit to lead in the 4th quarter. This is going to be a fun team to watch.

 

[orientalnc]

 

[Buzzbomb]

The first win over Auburn in program history

 

[Fatmike91]

Still way too many turnovers but our girls were getting mauled out there and the refs were swallowing their whistles. I lost count of the number of times they came over our backs on rebounds and got the loose ball. And they pushed off a LOT. I remember one play when the ran an out of bounds play to #5 and as the ball was thrown in she put two hands in Blackshear's chest and pushed her away in order to catch the lob and the ref called a foul on Blackshear. Despite the score we played a much more team game tonite. If we could have made our wide open layups it would have easily been a double digit win. But I'll take a W on the road to an SEC team any day.

The refs did a poor job, way too much mauling going on.

I didn't like our guard getting clobbered while going up for a layup at the end of the 4th that resulted in her leaving the game due to a shoulder injury. She didn't injure her shoulder on the ground (she was already grabbing it before going down), it got injured while being struck by the Auburn player while going up for a layup. No call. That should have been a flagrant 1.

The team will get better by playing an early road game like that.

/

 

[HurricaneJacket]

The first win over Auburn in program history

The TV announcers were wondering why Tech and Auburn don't play more often.

 

[orientalnc]

I didn't like our guard getting clobbered while going up for a layup at the end of the 4th that resulted in her leaving the game due to a shoulder injury. She didn't injure her shoulder on the ground (she was already grabbing it before going down), it got injured while being struck by the Auburn player while going up for a layup. No call. That should have been a flagrant 1.

I looked back at that replay several times and believe the Auburn player made a decent play for the ball and grabbed Morgan by the arm instead. Tonie landed hard on her shoulder and probably will have a nasty bruise. The contact between the two players looked bad initially, but wasn't flagrant. Basketball can be a rough sport when athletes are moving fast. I was OK with the call. And, happy Tonie wasn't seriously injured.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Posted this OAS….
Enjoying these wins because the ACC schedule has some tough games on it, as usual(ND, Louisville, NC St, UNC, VPI, Duke, Miami, UVa). The Florida Hoops tournament is loaded. Ugaly, Belmont, Big10 Challenge, all await us.
Cam and Bianca played 79 minutes last night. Love and Hermosa, around 64. We have to find away to play Aixa, Raeven and Ines, while getting Kara more than the 7 minutes she played vs. Auburn. I do understand her rotating with Tonie yesterday. CNF was trying to keep the more college tested lineup on the court.

Folks, I’d rather take some hits in the loss column rather than witness another meltdown like the last part of the 2021-22 season. Especially if we are going up-tempo all year. I realize this sentiment is not going to be popular with everyone.

 

[orientalnc]

Posted this OAS….
Enjoying these wins because the ACC schedule has some tough games on it, as usual(ND, Louisville, NC St, UNC, VPI, Duke, Miami, UVa). The Florida Hoops tournament is loaded. Ugaly, Belmont, Big10 Challenge, all await us.
Cam and Bianca played 79 minutes last night. Love and Hermosa, around 64. We have to find away to play Aixa, Raeven and Ines, while getting Kara more than the 7 minutes she played vs. Auburn. I do understand her rotating with Tonie yesterday. CNF was trying to keep the more college tested lineup on the court.

Folks, I’d rather take some hits in the loss column rather than witness another meltdown like the last part of the 2021-22 season. Especially if we are going up-tempo all year. I realize this sentiment is not going to be popular with everyone.

I agree with you. The team looked tired at times last night. We have quality players on the bench and they cannot become tested in competition without playing.

 

[Fatmike91]

I looked back at that replay several times and believe the Auburn player made a decent play for the ball and grabbed Morgan by the arm instead. Tonie landed hard on her shoulder and probably will have a nasty bruise. The contact between the two players looked bad initially, but wasn't flagrant. Basketball can be a rough sport when athletes are moving fast. I was OK with the call. And, happy Tonie wasn't seriously injured.

The Auburn player hit our guard on the arm (hard enough to send her to the floor and then the locker room) as she was going for an uncontested layup. That is a flagrant 1. At the very least its a foul. They didn't even call a foul.

The announcers said "she landed hard on that shoulder", but that's not what happened. She was grabbing her shoulder before going down. Watch it again.

/

 

[orientalnc]

The Auburn player hit our guard on the arm (hard enough to send her to the floor and then the locker room) as she was going for an uncontested layup. That is a flagrant 1. At the very least its a foul. They didn't even call a foul.

The announcers said "she landed hard on that shoulder", but that's not what happened. She was grabbing her shoulder before going down. Watch it again.

/

Let's set some things clear so we are talking about the same things. In women's NCAA basketball there is nothing called a Flagrant 1 foul. That is for men's basketball. In the women's game it's called an unsportsmanlike foul. It is for plays where the offending player makes excessive physical contact with an opponent in a manner that is unnecessary or avoidable. The ref did not call a foul on that play (in my viewing) because he assumed the contact was with the ball. While I disagree with his call, it was a reasonable call given the way the play unfolded. On the breakaway he was behind the play and Morgan's body shielded his view of the contact.

Look at the replay beginning at 1:35:45 and you will see how it happened.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Hopefully we are sending a coach up to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday Nov. 19 (Sunday, we play uga)-
-Class of 2023: 6’4 forward Alva Mofalk, 6’2 guard Helena Axelsson, 6’1 forward Tove Caesar, 6’0 combo guard Stella Szabo, 5’10 point guard Ida Allberg.
-Class of 2024: 6’6 g/f Tilda Trygger, 6’6 center Lovisa Åsbrink Höse, 6’2 forward Meja Jägerskog, 6’1 guard Lova Lagerlid, 5’10 Tiffany Barbosa.
-Class of 2025: 6’4 forward Liv Blomkvist, 6’4 forward Hanna Hillberth, 6’1 forward Meja Hänsel, 5’10 guard Christina Sigel, 5’8 guard Sofia Ekh.

2025, outstanding PG:

 

[Buzzbomb]

Southwest plays on Day 2, Nov. 20th-

 

[78pike]

Posted this OAS….
Enjoying these wins because the ACC schedule has some tough games on it, as usual(ND, Louisville, NC St, UNC, VPI, Duke, Miami, UVa). The Florida Hoops tournament is loaded. Ugaly, Belmont, Big10 Challenge, all await us.
Cam and Bianca played 79 minutes last night. Love and Hermosa, around 64. We have to find away to play Aixa, Raeven and Ines, while getting Kara more than the 7 minutes she played vs. Auburn. I do understand her rotating with Tonie yesterday. CNF was trying to keep the more college tested lineup on the court.

Folks, I’d rather take some hits in the loss column rather than witness another meltdown like the last part of the 2021-22 season. Especially if we are going up-tempo all year. I realize this sentiment is not going to be popular with everyone.

I think Dunn lost some minutes because she seemed a bit nervous out there. She missed a wide open layup and after that Nell took her out. Also, with Love playing as well as she was that ate into Dunn's minutes as well. In this case I think Nell was playing the hot hand. Ines just didn't play because she is the number 4 or 5 guard right now and is probably not going to get minutes in a tight game unless there is injury or foul trouble. Aranaz has lost her backup minutes due to the progression of Harrison who has looked pretty solid on the defensive end. Raeven is in the same boat as Ines. That being said, Nell has shown she will not lock in her rotation for the entire season and each of these young ladies have a lot of season left to win more minutes. I like what I have seen from Ines and wouldn't be surprised to see her get some more time.

 

[Buzzbomb]

78pike;
Not sure you got the inference of my post since you have quoted me.
The players were worn out before the Miami game, last season. CNF gave them a long reprieve when we were eliminated by Kansas, although it showed up when Lorella was trying to establish herself in the WNBA. My main point is that if we are going to run for 30 games, playing 10 or 11 is imperative. If they don’t log a lot of minutes now, the ACC is not the place to start. Let me broker this opinion by once again stating that it’s not going to be popular with most fans. Nobody wants to lose games, or not make the big Tournament. But do we want to go home early because the Iron 6 or 7 are worn out?

 

[78pike]

78pike;
Not sure you got the inference of my post since you have quoted me.
The players were worn out before the Miami game, last season. CNF gave them a long reprieve when we were eliminated by Kansas, although it showed up when Lorella was trying to establish herself in the WNBA. My main point is that if we are going to run for 30 games, playing 10 or 11 is imperative. If they don’t log a lot of minutes now, the ACC is not the place to start. Let me broker this opinion by once again stating that it’s not going to be popular with most fans. Nobody wants to lose games, or not make the big Tournament. But do we want to go home early because the Iron 6 or 7 are worn out?

I understand what you are saying and I agree with you. I think this return trip to Auburn was very important to Coach Nell (and Aversion) especially after last year's result and may have influenced the playing time decisions because she wanted to make sure we came out of there with a win. During the game I didn't sense there were too many instances of players getting tired other than Morgan tugging on her jersey to come out. Short term there are so many time outs and free throw breaks during a game plus these are 20 year old young women so I don't think it's too much of a strain. But to your point it probably isn't something that can be sustained over the entire season. I'm willing to bet next weekend when we have 3 games in three days down in Florida we will see much more liberal substitutions.

 

[Buzzbomb]

 

[HurricaneJacket]

Lost 66-52. Hard to win when we can't break a press or find a rebound to save our lives

 

[HurricaneJacket]

 

[Lone Star Jacket]

Lost 66-52. Hard to win when we can't break a press or find a rebound to save our lives

Really miss Cubaj. Hermosa’s soft and nobody else rebounds.