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Post by ghostofdylan on Mar 8, 2021 15:28:47 GMT -6
It sounds like a very unsatisfying end to the women's season, guys. I look forward to your descriptions of what transpired.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 8, 2021 19:41:53 GMT -6
It sounds like a very unsatisfying end to the women's season, guys. I look forward to your descriptions of what transpired. I added comments about the game, and my ramblings about the final, to my previous post. The Panthers played a lot of really good basketball this season. They just didn't play enough good basketball when it counted. Their 12 game winning streak was against a lot of weaker teams, but they did sweep both Green Bay and IUPUI. The difference was that the Phoenix and the Jaguars were able to come back from those sweeps and win a lot of games. Against the rest of the league, the Panthers were swept by Wright State and Northern Kentucky, and split with Oakland. The Panthers won one of those six games, and could not put together enough good play to have won more of those games. In the WSU and NKU series, the Panthers were in a position to win the second game, but could not seal the deal. A really awful shooting drought in second half of the WSU game put the win out of reach. The loss to Oakland had a controversial ending, with a late foul call against the Panthers that gave the Grizzlies the chance to take the lead, and a non-call on the Panthers final possession which denied the Panthers a chance to win at the buzzer. But better play earlier in each of those games would have kept deficits from growing too large to overcome at the end of the game. The margin was close: one more win out of those five losses would have given the Panthers the regular season title outright. All that said, they finished the season with a record of 19-7. They were 3-1 in non-league play and their one loss was to a team that has been ranked on the mid-major poll all season. The returning core of the team is pretty good. Megan Walstad and Emma Wittmershaus give the Panthers two solid post players. Walstad had a number of very good games, but she had several games where she did not score much at all. Some of those games were Panther wins, so my observation earlier in the season that she doesn't have to carry the team remains valid. Wittmershaus at the end of the season was much better offensively and defensively than she was at the beginning of the season. If she continues to improve her game next year as she did this year, she will become a consistent contributor to the team's success. Macy McGlone is another post player with a strong high school background, but it was tough to put her on the floor much this season with Walstad, Wittmershaus, Brandi Bisping and Sydney Staver playing so well ahead of her. Kendall Nead played consistent minutes over the course of the season as one of the first players off the bench. Early on, she was a major threat from distance. Coach Rechlicz pointed out in a pregame show near the end of the season that that was in stark contrast with Nead's strengths as a high schooler; she was not a prolific shooter from beyond the three-point line, nor did she make many points that way. As the season won on, Nead's ability to score from closer to the basket emerged, and Coach Rechlicz feels her ceiling is high. Alyssa Moore was generally good at point when McKaela Schmelzer was on the bench. Schmelzer has demonstrated more ability as a scorer, but I give Moore the nod on defense. Jada Donaldson had a very successful high school career, and she took over at point at the end of blowout games and acquitted herself well. Angie Cera played a lot of minutes early in the season, and fewer as the season wore on. I don't know how much of that was the result of her play versus how much was the result that there were so many upperclassmen playing so well ahead of her. It will be very interesting to see what happens with the NCAA's decision to allow players an extra year of eligibility. Matt Menzel said during a late season broadcast that three of the five seniors had decided to come back, one had decided not to come back, and one was still deciding, though he did not name names. If that actually occurs, next season's squad will be even stronger than it would be otherwise. I still haven't heard anything about how the NCAA's decision will play out. The Panthers signed four players to NLIs to begin in Fall 2021. What happens to those players if three or four seniors decide to come back? Overall, I like the Panthers' chances next season. They are probably more aware than I will ever be of the shortcomings they need to work on. And looking from the outside, it seems it won't take a massive amount of improvement to convert some of those losses to wins, to put them in a better position to win the HL. The teams at the top of the league this year seem likely to be in the same position next season, so even a slight improvement on the Panthers' part may be enough. In a normal season, the Panthers would be losing enough production from their graduating seniors to make it very likely that they would be predicted well down in the standings, as they were this year. They may well get the same lack of respect in the pre-season poll that they got this year, and they finished second.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 9, 2021 19:58:57 GMT -6
As expected, Wright State beat IUPUI in the Women's Tournament final, 53-41.
Macee Williams led all scorers with 28 points, about 70% of the team's total. No one else on the team scored more than seven, and only five players in total scored. The Jaguars shot only 25% from the field and missed all fifteen of their three-point shots. They did get to the line a lot, hitting 13-17 free-throws versus 5-11 for the Raiders.
The Raiders truly won with defense. They blocked eight shots and stole the ball seven times. Angel Baker had 23 points to lead the Raiders.
Wright State gets the auto-bid to the NCAA tournament. There's no guarantee IUPUI will get a WNIT bid, though, as it seems there will be only 32 teams and most of the bids will be at large. The field will be announced on March 15th.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 10, 2021 5:58:41 GMT -6
It will be very interesting to see what happens with the NCAA's decision to allow players an extra year of eligibility. Matt Menzel said during a late season broadcast that three of the five seniors had decided to come back, one had decided not to come back, and one was still deciding, though he did not name names. If that actually occurs, next season's squad will be even stronger than it would be otherwise. I still haven't heard anything about how the NCAA's decision will play out. The Panthers signed four players to NLIs to begin in Fall 2021. What happens to those players if three or four seniors decide to come back? I was poking around online and found this site: www.ncsasports.org/coronavirus-sports/ncaa-eligibility-coronavirusIf I am reading this right, at the D1 level, it appears the NCAA has decided the returnees don't count against the scholarship limits. So the members of the incoming class get to keep the scholarships they committed to. So that recasts the challenge for next season as one of finding playing time on an extended roster. As Coach Rechlicz consistently went deep into the roster, the question for the Panthers will be will the players be happy playing fewer minutes than they might have played in an ordinary season? If they win like they did this season, that will help morale.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 14, 2021 16:51:11 GMT -6
I amused myself this afternoon by watching the MVC Women's Tournament, which featured perennial power Drake (seeded second) against Bradley (seventh seed).
Drake started well, but Bradley put on a late surge in the first quarter and took a lead. The lead grew to ten points to 38-28, but Drake went u8on a run of their own, and cut the lead to three at the half, at 40-37. Drake got the majority of its points in the pa. Bradley shot 8-17 from three point range. Drake retook the lead at the end of the third quarter, but the Braves put another run together and pulled away for a 78-70 win. Lost in all this was the season Missouri State had: they went 16-0 in MVC play and 21-2 overall, and were to play Bradley in the semifinals. They decided not to play the game, expecting an NCAA tournament bid anyway.
The Horizon League has had multiple teams play in post season in the past few years, thanks largely to the smaller tournaments which ran into financial difficulties, leaving the WNIT and the NCAA as the only options. Apparently the NET ranking is now in vogue with those tournaments. The only HL team with a NET ranking higher than 65 is IUPUI, at 53. Milwaukee finished at 77, and Wright State at 78. In a normal season, that might bode well for multiple WNIT bids for league teams. The high water mark was three teams in the WNIT in 2019: Green Bay, IUPUI, and Youngstown State were in the field of 64. I had said the IUPUI was not guaranteed a WNIT bid as the tournament runner-up. In a normal year, there are 32 automatic qualifiers. With a NET ranking of 53, I think the Jaguars have a better chance than I anticipated, but still not a lock. A 53 ranking theoretically would make the Jags a candidate for the NCAA, but this is not a typical year, and the HL has not established itself as a multi-bid conference. The announcement tomorrow of the NCAA field will be more interesting than usual, as will the announcement of the WNIT.
If the WNIT were at its normal 64, the Panthers would stand a good chance of making the field. With the field at 32 total, the odds are not nearly as good.
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Post by nickpanther on Mar 15, 2021 19:07:48 GMT -6
Panthers are IN! Still waiting to see who they will play, but they got one of 23 at large spots. This tournament isnt 1 and done either. theres a consolation bracket for each region.
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Post by nickpanther on Mar 15, 2021 19:14:22 GMT -6
we are the only Horizon league team to get a WNIT berth, after checking on who is in the field. Panthers are guaranteed at least 2 games, as well.
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Post by nickpanther on Mar 15, 2021 21:35:15 GMT -6
Bracket is out. we are playing Drake at 6 on Friday in the Rockford region. a win would pit us against the winner of Saint Louis /DePaul, if we lose, we'll play the loser of that game in the consolation bracket.
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Post by nickpanther on Mar 15, 2021 21:50:16 GMT -6
Panthers have the 5th -most wins of any team in the field,with 19. Only Cal Baptist (24), Delaware(21), UT Martin (20)and Bowling Green (20) have more.
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Mar 16, 2021 7:49:41 GMT -6
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Post by parkerj on Mar 16, 2021 13:31:09 GMT -6
Glad that one turned out to be a COMPLETELY ok loss, but ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 16, 2021 16:39:47 GMT -6
we are the only Horizon league team to get a WNIT berth, after checking on who is in the field. Panthers are guaranteed at least 2 games, as well. According to their website, IUPUI decided their season is over. If they had gotten an NCAA bid, maybe they wouldn't have made that decision.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 17, 2021 4:45:23 GMT -6
Bracket is out. we are playing Drake at 6 on Friday in the Rockford region. a win would pit us against the winner of Saint Louis /DePaul, if we lose, we'll play the loser of that game in the consolation bracket. Against these three teams, the Panthers are a combined 5-12, with all five wins coming against St. Louis. Drake lost in the final of the MVC tournament to Bradley, whom the Panthers beat in their season opener. DePaul was seeded fourth in the Big East and lost their first game in the tournament, a quarterfinal matchup with Villanova. Saint Louis was seeded third in the Atlantic 10 tournament, and was eliminated in the semifinals by Massachusetts. Update: Wright State is a 13th seed in the NCAA tournament. That's typical. Green Bay holds the distinction of having been seeded the highest of any HL teams to make the NCAA field. The Phoenix have been seeded as high as eighth on at least one occasion. I thought the other post-season tournaments were all gone, but it turns out that the CBI is still going. It will be an eight-team field, and Cleveland State is one of the eight.
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Post by parkerj on Mar 17, 2021 19:51:46 GMT -6
Another has since entered the portal. One of the other four is Mary Dunn. Ouch.
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Post by skrapheap on Mar 17, 2021 22:22:58 GMT -6
Another has since entered the portal. One of the other four is Mary Dunn. Ouch. Ouch, indeed. There were as six Penguins in the portal at one point, according to wbbblog.com/. Two of them were grad transfers: Mary Dunn and McKenna Peters. Obiazor had a good season, apparently good enough that she feels she can get herself a better situation. Eight players from Detroit Mercy were in the portal. I haven't seen anything to suggest that their first year coach is out, and basically the entire roster said they would not play for her. I wonder how many returning players there will be. They have had a lot of players leave in recent years, which is why they've stayed down in the standings. NKU and Green Bay have two players each, one of which for each school is a grad transfer. Robert Morris has seven players in the portal, two of whom are grad transfers.
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