Lots of games between Monday and Thursday as teams squeeze in games before Christmas break. The most interesting will be OU at UConn. OU is currently 5-5 and may end up being the only Big 12 team that enters conference play with a losing record although both Tech and ISU are also 5- 5 and could also end up with a losing OOC record. Mon, Dec 18 Baylor @ Nicholls 6:00 p.m. Kansas @ St. John's 6:00 p.m. Morgan State @ West Virginia 6:00 p.m. Chicago State @ Kansas State 7:00 p.m. Tue, Dec 19 USC Upstate @ Oklahoma State 5:00 p.m. Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase Oklahoma @ Connecticut 6:00 p.m. on CBSSN Wed, Dec 20 Kansas @ Iona 5:00 p.m. Hampton @ TCU 6:30 p.m. Thu, Dec 21 Incarnate Word @ Texas Tech 2:00 p.m. Morehead State @ West Virginia 6:00 p.m. Nicholls @ Iowa State 6:30 p.m. Northern Iowa @ Kansas State 7:00 p.m. on ESPN3 ULM @ Oklahoma State 7:00 p.m.
It doesn't appear that Tynice Martin has returned to action for West Virginia. WVU should be undefeated when we play them on December 31st. I'm still curious about the timing of Martin's return. WVU is a formidable opponent even without Martin.
Morgan State today, Morehead State Thursday and TCU on the 28th. Yep, WVU has a chance to be undefeated when we play them with TCU being their toughest opponent. They need to keep TCU's Amber Ramirez and Toree Thompson from going wild from BTA, though.
Martin was supposed to be ready to go in Nov after foot surgery. Guess she either had a set back in her recovery or it was more serious than originally thought. Hope she heals fully without any further complications. I still remember Cokie Reed's minor foot surgery that ended up curtailing her college career and probably kept her from playing pro basketball.
Surprised so many Big 12 teams have games through 12/21. Hope it's good for our players that our last non-conference game was 12/17. And, hope it allows Audrey-Anne to heal after what she endured against FSU.
What is the deal with WVU being so good without Martin? Did they get some transfers, or amazing freshmen? I knew they were solid, but wasn't expecting this.
The only significant transfer that I can think of is ineligible this season (Kysre Gondrezick from Michigan). Gondrezick led all Big Ten freshmen with 14.9 points per game last season. She shot 42.9 percent on 3-pointers and added 3.6 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game. The year ended with her being named All-Big Ten Second Team (coaches and media) and to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Have to consider they have 3 seniors, and a junior (plus Martin when she returns) that have had time to jell together. Also, they haven't played anyone of significance, except for A&M, and WVU was hitting on all cylinders that game! If they played every game like that one they will be very hard to beat, but consistency is key for every team.
Yep, WVU hasn’t played anyone and a&m is an average to above average team. And if you look at Baylor’s best wins they’re looking unimpressive every day. Kentucky’s not a very good team and Stanford just lost to Western Illinois at home. Texas has the best win of any conference team this year with beating Florida State.
West Virginia is getting some help from Naomi Davenport, a junior transfer from Trinity Valley JC. She was a top 100 recruit who originally signed with Michigan.
OU isn't going to win this game against UConn, but I hope our coaches are watching how OU's zone has slowed UConn down a bit.
not to mention the success Louis-Pierre has had posting up strong inside. If OU had been able to spring Gabby free for some shots, it might have made a difference but UConn simply shut her down. UConn is more vulnerable than they have been in the past but they still the gold standard. If OU plays that well during conference play, they will certainly challenge for one of the top three spots in the league.
For the last three seasons or so OU has had a weird off-and-on pattern alternating between awful and pretty darn good. They were pathetic earlier this season---absolutely terrible--- but have played quite strongly in their last three games and are looking good. Same personnel, same coaches, same system---but wildly up and down. I can't figure it out. One constant is that they tend to play their best basketball against us.
Right after I posted this, OU went back to man-to-man defense and got smoked. I didn't understand that move by Coale, as the zone could've also saved them a few fouls.
I hope our coaches were watching and trying to come up with ways to attack that zone. I’m sure OU will implement it against Texas and obviously Texas has struggled against zone offensively.
I watched the recording of the FSU game last night, and they were switching up defenses. Texas did pretty well against their zone. I'm sure it's a main priority after what happened at TN.
As Dr. D indicates, you can be sure OU will bring their best against us. We're going to face a lot of zones from here on out. I agree with everyone else. We have to be able to attack them with poise and not freak out. And let's hope we actually change up our defenses. We have played a few moments of zone in a few games. It's like Karen is flirting with it a little, but doesn't trust it much.
