Running 2023-24 NCAA Basketball Thread

Well, this will all be academic Sunday when South Carolina brings the hammer down.

 

Agree 100% on both statements.

If Iowa starts Sunday’s game like they did tonight, South Carolina wins by 30. That might happen regardless … the Gamecocks are that good and have just a li’l bit of a chip on their shoulder from last year. As they should.

 

Which it was on its way to doing in last years matchup until it inexplicably started looking down at the tightrope in the second half and then looked like it was being introduced to the sport at that very moment.

 

Although now that I’ve seen Hootie is a Gamecocks fan, maybe his presence will jinx SC!

 

See also, last week's game against Indiana that South Carolina barely survived after building a 22-point lead.

 

Ugh. They didn’t even gain an advantage after that screen because they switched it so well.

But, it was a classic bad screen.

 

I didn’t see it live as we were still “on air” but my phone blew up.

I’ve watched it maybe 100 times and came from the view of wanting the ref to swallow the whistle and let the players decide.

Except Edwards DID decide the game.

She was so overt in going after Marshall and did it twice. First, with her back to the main camera. She wasn’t set there.

Then she does a 180 and got into “left tackle pass protection”, pops Marshall in the neck/collarbone while being nowhere close to set.

The offensive foul call was from her totality of aggression on the entirety of the play.

If Edwards isn’t so overt in going after Marshall and isn’t making it so apparent she’s trying to limit her freedom of movement, there’s probably no call.

 

I actually *like* the call.

 

Goddamn I hate that high screen play anyway-- the same goddamn play every goddamn team at every goddamn level of basketball runs every goddamn time down the court. Oh, and Ms. Fundamentals Paige Bueckers was sloppy as hell cutting around the screen as well. If Bueckers cuts around the screen as tightly as she should, Edwards doesn't have to (or really can't) lean into Marshall -- she shouldn't really have room to.

 

Was it a foul? Yes.
Was it a foul that should have been called at that particular point in the game? Absolutely not.
It’s akin to throwing a holding flag on the game winning TD after ignoring the foul a dozen previous plays.

 

I’m a believer that if it’s a foul in the first minute of the game, it’s a foul in the last minute. And that was a foul.