Broke them down on their own court. Well done Irish! Great analysis. Totally agree. Hidalgo and Miles will get the attention (as they should), but Citron came up huge on defense
Haha both teams looked rusty initially but that soon changed. ND’s backcourt looked awesome especially Hannah Hadalgo. And her backcourt partner Olivia Miles was very good too especially from the three point line where she went 4 of 5. So many of ND’s bigs were good to very good. USC shot it poorly. Kiki I was struggled a lot and was just too timid and really got manhandled by ND Bigs in general. Juju was a lot better in the second half but she was generally off her game especially in the first half. I was impressed with ND and do look forward to their matchup vs UCONN on 12-12-2024.
I wondered how well Olivia Miles would play with Hanna Hidalgo when she returned. Question answered. UConn will have their hands full with ND because Hannah managed to beat them singlehandedly last year. I think Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong will nullify Miles and Hidalgo, then it will be up to the rest of the players to decide the game - maybe whoever has the hand between Azzi Fudd and Sonia Citron.
I was wrong about the score of the game. But now I got my answers on can Hidalgo and Miles exist together and that answer is yes. NOTRE DANE is going to be a tough out in tournaments, as for USC they will figure things out.
This is the last time I’ll bring up Caitlin Clark when it comes to WCB. The LSUs, UConns, USCs, UCLA, (use to include Stanford and Tennessee) and SC Gamecocks are always comprised of McDonald all-Americans WCB players (or 4-star and above recruits!) whom normally are offensive oriented-that’s with the exception of SCs players-if you don’t or can’t play defense on a Coach Dawn Staley team (McDonald all-American or 4- or 5-star recruit you won’t play meaningful minutes.) Sorry I digressed…the differences between (CC…and we can include Larry Bird) is that both their basketball IQs were “chess like while their opponent’s-for the most part-played or plays checkers. Most important, they both were fundamentally sound turning their weaknesses (slow of foot, can’t or couldn’t jump…making them defensive liabilities…they compensated for these weaknesses by become exceptional passers, rebounders, and elite scorers.) But the one innate intangible they both possessed was the ability to make their teammates game better! Because like Bird at Indiana State and Caitlin Clark at Iowa-they were able to lead a team of regular players to the NCAA championship game! As the old proverbs goes…they were and are able to do more with less (their lack of athleticism) which forced them -consciously or subconsciously to do more with their basketball skills and IQs than their basketball peers because they did-what’s called a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) in the business world. Having coached U.S. Air Force women basketball, where I had each of my players do a SWOT analysis of their basketball skills so that they and our teams could compete to our maximum potential, which we did. Watching CCs and Bird’s play…I came or come to the unequivocal conclusion that they both did a SWOT analysis of their basketball game and identified their strengths and weaknesses and took the opportunity to honed their basketball game to get better (which Caitlin Clark is known for) thus becoming the assist and scoring threats we witnessed or are witnessing. But, one of the reasons that Norte Dam won…is the one truism in Sports…defense (that’s an employed good strategic defense [NDs] case forcing JuJu Watkins to her left into traps(thus forcing her to give up her dribble then collapsing back to covered the passing lanes) was an excellent example of scouting one’s opponents and implementing a game plan to neutralize an opponent’s main offensive player or players. I don’t believe Juju’s game will progress past being a scorer…because watching her play last season and the beginning of this season all I see is a scoring whose effort on defense is lacking. That’s what made Michael Jordan-the Basketball champion and icon he remains today…He was elite on both ends of the court.
TVO looked horrible. She was inconsistent and didn’t help anything. Kiki was just timid and was certainly not looking like a second overall pick. Juju needs to learn how to become a better playmaker and to start facilitating. You can’t say enough about Hannah. She is such a defensive menace is mind blowing. Olivia is looking like the second overall pick especially now that she added the 3 to her bag. Even tho she didn’t contribute a ton offensively, Sonia Citron was incredible on defense and the box score won’t show that. Overall, great game for ND. USC needs to make some changes if they wanna get to contending. Also I was disappointed by Gottliebs performance.
Agree with every single point. I couldn’t believe Iriafen looked so timid and ineffective against ND freshman big girl. Maybe Kiki is still finding her place in the team chemistry.
USC vs Notre Dame looked like a repeat of USC vs UCONN last season. I don’t know why Coach Lindsey Gottlieb doesn’t press full court especially when she has a deeper bench in both situations. She doesn’t know how to take over the game and use her advantages. With that being said Coach Niele Ivey is definitely up there with Geno and Dawn in terms of coaching after this game.
Facts I was there. Coach Lindsay didn’t set the tone with the press. She missed that opportunity and it was down hill. Your take was in this comment was spot on.
Kiki did not look like a player you could build a franchise around. Miles did, and Citron on defense was outstanding. Does this change any draft ratings?
The big question for me is, is Notre Dame that good or is USC overrated? Ju Ju Watkins is a hot dog who forces a lot of bad shots rather than look to pass to an open teammate. At best, she is average from beyond the arc. Talia Von Oelhoffen is inconsistent. She runs hot and cold, so you never know from one game to the next how she will perform. I don't know what Iriafen's excuse was. Maybe she just had an off night. It could be that Hidalgo and Miles are really just that good. Time will tell.
I KNEW Miles and Hidalgo would play well together. I think ND looks like the number 2 team in the country, but let’s see them play TCU, they may stumble… Juju is still a great player obviously, but I lost a little respect for her at the end when she was stat padding, scoring 8 points when in the last 2 minutes to make her numbers look respectable. Like girl we saw you were 6-19 when it mattered, it’s ok, it happens. USC has a deep bench with a bunch of 5 star freshmen, why weren’t they allowed to play when down by 20? I blame the coach for that. Speaking of the coach, Ivey completely outcoached her.
I told you Notre Dame would whip USC's butt and they will do the same to Uconn 😅 Notre Dame or Texas deserves that #2 spot. Move Uconn and USC to 10 ot lower😅
ESPN/Disney was pushing Watkins as the face of WCBB this week. Meh. Holy smokes, if Miles' 3pt fg% holds up she oughtta be the first pick in the WNBA draft.
The media likes to create and then beat like a dead horse the next big thing in women's sports. So that their attempt at Clarking JuJu blowing up in their face I just love.
Or USC is overrated, USC don’t stand for university of South Carolina, it stands for university of Southern California and Southern California Trojans not in the SEC
Broke them down on their own court. Well done Irish! Great analysis. Totally agree. Hidalgo and Miles will get the attention (as they should), but Citron came up huge on defense
USC beat themselves
juju the goat better than clark ever was
It’s LEE-AH-2 not luh-2-eee. Her teammates call her Tu.
Haha both teams looked rusty initially but that soon changed. ND’s backcourt looked awesome especially Hannah Hadalgo. And her backcourt partner Olivia Miles was very good too especially from the three point line where she went 4 of 5. So many of ND’s bigs were good to very good. USC shot it poorly. Kiki I was struggled a lot and was just too timid and really got manhandled by ND Bigs in general. Juju was a lot better in the second half but she was generally off her game especially in the first half. I was impressed with ND and do look forward to their matchup vs UCONN on 12-12-2024.
I wondered how well Olivia Miles would play with Hanna Hidalgo when she returned. Question answered. UConn will have their hands full with ND because Hannah managed to beat them singlehandedly last year. I think Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong will nullify Miles and Hidalgo, then it will be up to the rest of the players to decide the game - maybe whoever has the hand between Azzi Fudd and Sonia Citron.
I was wrong about the score of the game. But now I got my answers on can Hidalgo and Miles exist together and that answer is yes. NOTRE DANE is going to be a tough out in tournaments, as for USC they will figure things out.
Yea like one player teams lose in the end
This is the last time I’ll bring up Caitlin Clark when it comes to WCB. The LSUs, UConns, USCs, UCLA, (use to include Stanford and Tennessee) and SC Gamecocks are always comprised of McDonald all-Americans WCB players (or 4-star and above recruits!) whom normally are offensive oriented-that’s with the exception of SCs players-if you don’t or can’t play defense on a Coach Dawn Staley team (McDonald all-American or 4- or 5-star recruit you won’t play meaningful minutes.)
Sorry I digressed…the differences between (CC…and we can include Larry Bird) is that both their basketball IQs were “chess like while their opponent’s-for the most part-played or plays checkers. Most important, they both were fundamentally sound turning their weaknesses (slow of foot, can’t or couldn’t jump…making them defensive liabilities…they compensated for these weaknesses by become exceptional passers, rebounders, and elite scorers.)
But the one innate intangible they both possessed was the ability to make their teammates game better! Because like Bird at Indiana State and Caitlin Clark at Iowa-they were able to lead a team of regular players to the NCAA championship game!
As the old proverbs goes…they were and are able to do more with less (their lack of athleticism) which forced them -consciously or subconsciously to do more with their basketball skills and IQs than their basketball peers because they did-what’s called a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) in the business world.
Having coached U.S. Air Force women basketball, where I had each of my players do a SWOT analysis of their basketball skills so that they and our teams could compete to our maximum potential, which we did.
Watching CCs and Bird’s play…I came or come to the unequivocal conclusion that they both did a SWOT analysis of their basketball game and identified their strengths and weaknesses and took the opportunity to honed their basketball game to get better (which Caitlin Clark is known for) thus becoming the assist and scoring threats we witnessed or are witnessing.
But, one of the reasons that Norte Dam won…is the one truism in Sports…defense (that’s an employed good strategic defense [NDs] case forcing JuJu Watkins to her left into traps(thus forcing her to give up her dribble then collapsing back to covered the passing lanes) was an excellent example of scouting one’s opponents and implementing a game plan to neutralize an opponent’s main offensive player or players.
I don’t believe Juju’s game will progress past being a scorer…because watching her play last season and the beginning of this season all I see is a scoring whose effort on defense is lacking. That’s what made Michael Jordan-the Basketball champion and icon he remains today…He was elite on both ends of the court.
WOW! That’s longer than “War and Peace” just say USC Trojans are overrated rated like LSU,
@ You’re too funny 🤣🤣😂
TVO looked horrible. She was inconsistent and didn’t help anything. Kiki was just timid and was certainly not looking like a second overall pick. Juju needs to learn how to become a better playmaker and to start facilitating. You can’t say enough about Hannah. She is such a defensive menace is mind blowing. Olivia is looking like the second overall pick especially now that she added the 3 to her bag. Even tho she didn’t contribute a ton offensively, Sonia Citron was incredible on defense and the box score won’t show that. Overall, great game for ND. USC needs to make some changes if they wanna get to contending. Also I was disappointed by Gottliebs performance.
Agree with every single point. I couldn’t believe Iriafen looked so timid and ineffective against ND freshman big girl. Maybe Kiki is still finding her place in the team chemistry.
Juju is still only a 19 year old sophomore who still has lots of time in college, so I haven’t lost faith in her just yet.
Kiki on the other hand….
Well done for Notre Dame but we all know the best team in the league is South Carolina gamecocks
Neither USC (Big Ten) nor ND are in the SEC, so technically you are correct just not what you were aiming for.
juju should have went to south carolina
USC vs Notre Dame looked like a repeat of USC vs UCONN last season. I don’t know why Coach Lindsey Gottlieb doesn’t press full court especially when she has a deeper bench in both situations. She doesn’t know how to take over the game and use her advantages. With that being said Coach Niele Ivey is definitely up there with Geno and Dawn in terms of coaching after this game.
Facts I was there. Coach Lindsay didn’t set the tone with the press. She missed that opportunity and it was down hill. Your take was in this comment was spot on.
Kiki did not look like a player you could build a franchise around. Miles did, and Citron on defense was outstanding. Does this change any draft ratings?
The big question for me is, is Notre Dame that good or is USC overrated? Ju Ju Watkins is a hot dog who forces a lot of bad shots rather than look to pass to an open teammate. At best, she is average from beyond the arc. Talia Von Oelhoffen is inconsistent. She runs hot and cold, so you never know from one game to the next how she will perform. I don't know what Iriafen's excuse was. Maybe she just had an off night. It could be that Hidalgo and Miles are really just that good. Time will tell.
I KNEW Miles and Hidalgo would play well together. I think ND looks like the number 2 team in the country, but let’s see them play TCU, they may stumble…
Juju is still a great player obviously, but I lost a little respect for her at the end when she was stat padding, scoring 8 points when in the last 2 minutes to make her numbers look respectable. Like girl we saw you were 6-19 when it mattered, it’s ok, it happens. USC has a deep bench with a bunch of 5 star freshmen, why weren’t they allowed to play when down by 20? I blame the coach for that.
Speaking of the coach, Ivey completely outcoached her.
You hit all the good points 🫣👌🏾
I told you Notre Dame would whip USC's butt and they will do the same to Uconn 😅 Notre Dame or Texas deserves that #2 spot. Move Uconn and USC to 10 ot lower😅
ESPN/Disney was pushing Watkins as the face of WCBB this week. Meh. Holy smokes, if Miles' 3pt fg% holds up she oughtta be the first pick in the WNBA draft.
The media likes to create and then beat like a dead horse the next big thing in women's sports. So that their attempt at Clarking JuJu blowing up in their face I just love.
It was literally juju vs Notre Dame. USC has nobody to rely on if juju is shut down. The loss was not on juju
JuJu took most of the shots
JuJu Watkins is the most OVER-RATED player in sports.
JuJu is a volume shooter, takes an enormous amount of shots, NOT efficient.
Or USC is overrated, USC don’t stand for university of South Carolina, it stands for university of Southern California and Southern California Trojans not in the SEC