Sweet 16 Game

Never to early to start thinking about it. This game against the Bruins will be much different than the ASt game. Whereas AST really only had one offensive threat, UCLA will be much different ....much more offensively. It was obvious McCarty was too quick for the AST guards. Not so next game. Dean gave us fits a couple of years ago when ar TTECH. Canada will be a handful offensively and defensively. Their guards will match up very well against us. I am thinking a push between the two teams starting 1-2 guards. Where our defense went under the screens last night, don’t think they can do that against the Bruins. Too many shooters. I believe the game will be determined by what our bigs do....plus Higgs. Our bigs did just ok last night....need to step up next time. Oborawa was a delight. It will be close.....Texas by 5 is my vision.

 

The interesting thing was that the scrimmage between UCLA and Texas in Colorado was supposed to be double-top-secret-hush-hush and then Karen casually mentioned that we had scrimmaged them earlier this year.

 

We should be ready for UCLA.
They barely beat Arizona State 71-63.
Hookem'

 

I don't think the fact that two teams scrimmage is secret. What's private is the actual scrimmage and any statistical info.

 

For anyone who has seen UCLA play this year, does their style of play have any comparisons to any teams we've played this year? Are they considered an up-tempo team?

From a quick glance at the schedule;
UCLA has six losses; UConn, Oklahoma State, Stanford, Oregon State, Oregon (3 times).
UCLA has beaten these common opponents; Baylor, Kansas State, Arizona State

Although we should be the favorite, I think it will be a close game.

Thoughts from anyone who has followed UCLA?

 

That win against Baylor was without Lauren Cox (ill) and without Kim Mulkey (family emergency).

 

I recall how OSU clobbered them in Stillwater. I watched it, but I don't recall if it was the OSU center or Goodwyn who carried the load offensively; I'm thinking both must have had really good games.

Will need to watch some of UCLA games out there on ESPN3 or somewhere. Other than Canada and Billings, just not familiar with their personnel. I want to say they are more of a finesse team. I recall they played in a track meet at Oregon the same night we played Baylor at home. So, they definitely prefer the uptempo game like we do.

 

The only other players that come to mind are Japreece and F Lauryn Miller - an AAU teammate of Sug’s who visited/considered Texas.

 

OSU had Goodwin go off for 27 pts while Miller and Jensen each had 19 pts. Jensen also controlled the board with 15 rebs while keeping Billings under control (9pts on 4-13 FGs and just six rebs).

 

Billings gets down the floor very quickly for a post player. Joyner and/or Jatarie are gonna have to stay with her in transition.

 

Yes, Billings is an athletic post player and plays with a lot of energy which also helps her when she rebounds. IMO the post/rebounding play will be the key to the game because I think Texas’ and Ucla’s perimeter play will probably cancel each other out. Jatarie and Joyner have to match Billings energy.

 

I think it will come down to player's that are fresh to play whole the game. That will be Texas.We are deeper. I looked at the minutes their main player's logged the last game. We got this game. We are really playing well right now. Everybody is playing their part. And that's what it is about. TEAM
Hookem'

 

#8/#8 Texas (28-6) travels to Kansas City, MO to play #9/#9 UCLA in a Sweet 16 game. The series between the two teams is tied at 6 wins apiece. Texas has won the last two, 75-65 on Nov. 23, 2014 and 72-64 on March 26, 2016. That last win was in the Sweet 16 during the Horns’ run to the Elite Eight. Horns are looking to reach the Elite Eight for the second time in three years under Coach Aston. They have gotten at least to the Sweet 16 for the past four years. UCLA will be seeking to advance past the Sweet 16 after falling in the Sweet 16 to UConn last season and to Texas in 2016. The last time the Bruins reached the Elite Eight was in 1999, their best finish ever. The two teams scrimmaged before the beginning of the season so they are somewhat familiar with each other although Texas is now missing forward Audrey-Ann and has added forward Joyner since that scrimmage.

UCLA BRUINS (26-7)
The Bruins’ primary scorers are Jordin Canada (#3, 5-6 Sr. G) who is averaging 16.7 ppg, Monique Billings (#25, 6-4 Sr. F) who adds 15.3 ppg and Kennedy Burke (#22, 6-1 Jr. G) at 10.5 ppg. The next level of scorers number four: Japreece Dean (#24, 5-6 Jr. G; 7.3 ppg), Michaela Onyenwere (#21, 5-11 Fr. F; 6.8 ppg), Kelli Hayes (#23, 6-0 Sr. G; 6.5 ppg) and Lajahna Drummer (#11, 6-1 RS Jr. F; 6.4 ppg). Canada (195-444; 43.9%), Billings (185-385; 48.1%) and Burke (131-310; 42.3%) are the primary shooters for UCLA. Lauryn Miller (#33, 6-1 Fr. F) is the most accurate from the field at 54.3% (25-46). Billings is second with her shooting average of 48.1%. Like Texas, UCLA has four players that are the primary 3pt shooters. Hayes (48-135; 35.6%), Canada (49-124; 39.5%), Dean (41-120; 34.2%) and Burke (28-93; 30.1%) make up the quartet. Billings (136-190; 71.6%) and Canada (112-137; 81.8%) have taken over 56% of the Bruins’ FT attempts. Canada (81.8%), Onyenwere (35-43; 81.4%) and Hayes (12-15; 80.0%) are the most accurate FT shooters among players that have attempted at least ten FTs.

Billings is the Bruins’ top rebounder at 9.7 rpg. Drummer (6.8 rpg), Onyenwere (4.8 rpg), Burke (4.4 rpg) and Canada (3.6 rpg) support her on the boards. Canada is the top distributor (235; 7.1 apg) as well as their top scorer. Burke (77; 2.3 apg) and Dean (57; 2.4 apg) help out in dishing out assists. Canada averages 3.2 spg (106 total) while Burke (58; 1.8 spg), Billings (39; 1.2 sgp) and Onyenwere (38; 1.2) all average over one steal per game. Billings is the top shot blocker with 53 (1.6 bpg) with Burke at 29 (0.9 bpg).

Typically, the Bruins use the starting lineup of Canada, Billings, Drummer, Burke and Hayes. Canadan and Hayes have started all 33 games while Billings, Drummer and Burke each has 32 starts. Chantel Horvat (#0, 6-1 Fr. G) and Onyenwere join the starters in seeing action in all 33 games. Canada (33.5 mpg), Billings (31.5 mpg) and Burke (29.3 mpg) log the most minutes per game. Dean (24 games) and Miller (29 games) have seen action in both NCAA games. Chrissy Baird (#32, 6-1 RS Jr. G) and Ally Rosenblum (#10, 6-4 Soph. F) also saw a few minutes of action against Creighton in the round of 32.

In the two NCAA games, Billings (17.5 ppg), Canada (15.5 ppg), Burke (13.0 ppg) and Dean (11.0 ppg) lead the scoring. Drummer is at 9.5 ppg. Canada and Burke have each hit 9 of 17 for a team leading 52.9% from the field. Dean (8-16; 50.0%) and Onyenwere (4-8; 50.0%) are the others hitting at least half their shots. Canada’s 66.7% (2-3) from BTA is outstanding but Burke (5-9; 55.6%) and Dean (6-10; 60.0%) have been burning the nets from BTA. As in the regular season, Canada (11-12; 91.7%) and Billings (13-16; 81.3%) are the reason the Bruins are doing so well from the FT line. They have made 24 of the 29 FTs made and 28 of the 37 FTs attempted. Add in Burke’s 3 of 4 (75.0%) and those totals jump to 27 of 29 made FTs on 32 of 37 attempts. Billings is averaging just as many rebs (9.5 rpg) as Canada is assists (9.5 apg) in their two NCAA games. Canada has 8 steals in two games.

TEXAS LONGHORNS (28-6)
Ariel (14.8 ppg), Brooke (13.7 ppg), LaShann (13.1 ppg) and Jatarie (10.6 ppg) provide four starters for Texas that average in double figure scoring for the season. The current six player bench is providing 19.2 ppg. With seven FG attempts, Brooke will be the first Texas player to reach 400 FG attempts for the season. LaShann (174-320; 54.4%), Jatarie (154-285; 54.0%) and Ariel (189-355; 53.2%) are the best shooters from the field. Brooke (62-160; 38.8%), Ariel (46-113; 40.7%), LaShann (21-60; 35.0%) and Alecia (26-76; 34.2%) provide firepower from BTA. Ariel (79-92; 85.9%) and Brooke (56-63; 88.9%) are the best at the FT line. LaShann (76-104; 73.1%) gets there the most while Jatarie is also pretty reliable (52-71; 73.2%).

The five starters provide 59% of the rebounding,led by Joyner’s 6.0 rpg and Jatarie’s 5.9 rpg. The team’s top four guards have combined for 418 of the total 561 assists: Brooke (145; 4.4 apg), Ariel (111; 3.3 apg); LaShann (89; 2.6 apg) and Alecia (73; 2.2 apg). Ariel is the leading shot blocker at 0.7 bpg with Joyner second at 0.4 and Jatarie third at 0.3 bpg. The team leaders in steals are Ariel (87; 2.6 spg), Brooke (49; 1.5 spg) and LaShann (48; 1.4 spg).

The current starting lineup is composed of Ariel, Brooke, Jatarie, LaShann and Joyner. The six player bench is made up of Alecia, Jordan, Jada, Khaléann, Olamide and Chasity. The starters’ minutes range from Brooke’s 31.7 mpg to 17.0 mpg. Four of the bench players average double digit minutes with Alecia’s 23.0 mpg and Jada’s 10.8 mpg bracketing the group.

In the two NCAA games, the leading scorers are LaShann (17.0 ppg), Ariel (14.0 ppg), Jatarie (12.5 ppg), Brooke (11.0 ppg) and Joyner (9.5 ppg). Brooke has hit 4 of 6 from BTA (66.7%) while the team has connected on half the 3pters attempted (9-18). Brooke is the leading rebounder at 8.5 rpg while Joyner and Mide (6.0 rpg each) and Ariel (5.0 rpg) have provided support on the boards. Texas is making 85.0% from the FT line (17-20) with LaShann (3-3), Brooke (2-2), Joyner (1-1), Ariel (4-4) and Jatarie (5-5) all perfect so far. 33 of the 71 made FGs have been assisted (46.5%). Ariel (4.5 apg) and Brooke (3.5 apg) are leading the way in this category.

LINEUPS
Projected starting lineups are based on the last game played.


The battle between Brooke and Canada should be spectacular. Two of the top PGs in the nation. Both will probably play most of the game. Both have capable backups in Texas’ Alecia and UCLA’s Dean. The other question for UCLA is whether they can slow down both LaShann and Ariel. Billings is UCLA’s other go to player. Jatarie will have her hands full with Billings, the PAC 12’s tenth leading scorer and top rebounder. Staying out of foul trouble will be key for the top players on both sides.

Depth should not be an issue as both use primarily nine players with a couple of others also available. Texas does go 11 deep more often than UCLA goes more than nine deep.

STATS COMPARISON
Team stats are season stats.




Not much separates the two. Texas is a bit better scoring and defending than UCLA has been. Neither is overly dependent on the three. UCLA’s top two scorers are a guard (Canada) and a post (Billings) while Texas’ top three scorers are guards (Ariel, Brooke and LaShanna). The battle on the boards is going to awesome. UCLA depends heavily on Billings to control the boards although she has help. Texas uses more of a group effort to overwhelm opponents.

The game will be on televised on ESPN2 with the time at 8:30 PM CST. The first game of the Kansas City Regional will be at 6 PM CST pitting Miss. State and N. Carolina State.

 

http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22839399/first-look-women-ncaa-tournament-sweet-16-field

 

Article on the UCLA-Creighton game. Has quotes from the UCLA coach on upcoming Texas Match-Up

 

i'm a little concerned with our turnovers, since we're turn over prone, and turning people over is one of UCLA's claims to fame. But we're pretty good on the steal, too. Will Brooke guard Canada? Canada is so much taller. As with most games, other than shooting, rebounds are the one most important thing. I haven't seen them play much at all, but they make Billings sound like a rebounding machine. I remember how good Japrece is from Tech. Thanks for the preview, Babhorn. As they say, it will probably be a barn burner!

 

Well, you could think about it that this will be the 4th time Brooke and Ariel have faced UCLA. NCAA's 2014, 2016 and this year's scrimmage in Colorado Springs. I think we know each other pretty well!

 

Not only have the two teams faced off almost every year, Horns have won the last two. As for Canada being that much taller than Brooke, I think she faces that situation almost every game. Hasn't really bothered her. And, going by listed heights, Canada is just two inches taller. The other thing about ball pressure, is will UCLA be able to handle ours?

 

Games this weekend. It’s going to be much easier to watch all the games on Saturday since one had to choose which game to watch on Friday or flip back and forward between the games. You don’t even have to switch channels on Saturday. Just leave it on ESPN.

Sweet 16 games on Friday, March 23:

LEXINGTON REGIONAL:

6 PM CST: ESPN2
(2) Baylor (33-1) vs.( 6) Oregon State (25-7)

8 PM CST: ESPN
(1) Louisville (34-2) vs. (4) Stanford (24-10)

KANSAS CITY REGIONAL:

6 PM CST: ESPN
(1) Mississippi State (34-1) vs. (4) North Carolina State (26-8)

8:30 CST: ESPN2
(2) Texas (28-6) vs. (3) UCLA (26-7)

Sweet 16 games on Saturday, March 24:

ALBANY REGIONAL:

10:30 AM CST: ESPN
(2) South Carolina (28-6) vs. (11) Buffalo (29-5),

12:30 PM CST: ESPN
(1) Connecticut (34-0) vs. (5) Duke (24-8)

SPOKANE REGIONAL:

3:00 PM CST: ESPN
(1) Notre Dame (31-3) vs. (4) Texas A&M (26-9)

5:00 PM CST: ESPN
(2) Oregon (32-4) vs. (11) Central Michigan (30-4)

 

That's seven.

 

That's one reason I'm not an accountant.

 

I wish I could feel as confident as some of you, but I feel a lot like Joe. UCLA forces a lot of turnovers and we like to turn it over. That's not a good combination. I would feel better if ACG were playing, but Joyner has been a turnover machine all season long and her backup isn't much better.

We're going to have to make up a negative turnover margin of 8-9 with better shooting and rebounding. The question is can we do it?

 

And, the men's regional semi-finals are also on Friday evening. Too bad they didn't stagger Friday's women's games like: one at 5:00 PM, one at 6:00 PM, one at 7:30 PM, and one at 8:30 PM.

 

that would have been great or play them on Sat & Sun and do the Sat schedule.

 

fivethirtyeight.com gives us a 70% chance of winning this game.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2018-march-madness-predictions/womens/?ex_cid=rrpromo

It's not that I feel super confident about this game as much as I feel comfortable that our team is focused and ready. When they are that way, there's not many teams that are going to beat them. Unlike UCLA with two primary scorers, the Horns have at least three. And Jatarie has been outstanding the last few games and in the first two NCAAs on offense. She just needs to stay out of foul trouble. Gotta wonder, if the way she is playing, whether Mide will be the player to provide Jatarie some rest. The other thing is that Texas will be able to put pressure on UCLA's 3pt shooters like they haven't seen so far in the NCAAs.

 

https://www.hookem.com/story/sweet-16-matchup-longhorns-bruins-look-track-meet/

 

The reason they switched to Friday and Saturday is because they now hold the Final Four on Friday/Sunday. Can't have some teams playing Tuesday in the regional finals; not enough time prior to the FF activities.

 

I know why they do it. Ideally, as a fan, Sat & Sun for the regionals would make more sense.

Of course, the Sat & Mon final four schedule didn't exactly work out when it was tried.

 

Women's championship has never been on a Monday as that has always been the day of the men's championship. For the women, Final Four was Friday/Sunday, Sunday/Tuesday, and back in the day Saturday/Sunday (no day in between).