(02-25-2024 04:15 PM)Lester Wrote:  Just noticed that the Rockets are #28 in the RPI rankings. Annoying that, when we finally have the credentials to get an invite under the old metric, it is no longer relevant. In the old days of the RPI, I don't think a team in the 20s ever got overlooked.

Yep. I'm convinced that NET was designed specifically to keep mid-majors out of the tournaments. Toledo's NET picked up a little from the BSU win, as they moved up to 67 (BSU is now at 80) but that's still 30 spots too low to get an at large bid.

On the other hand, UT is 4th in the mid-major poll and Princeton (current #2) lost to Columbia this week, so UT could move up to 3. BSU was #5. But, Ball State was the team getting votes in the Coaches poll, despite UT having a better NET and better position in the mid-major poll.

It's hard to find for the lady's but our resume metrics are great. Michigan is in the field somehow by Charlie Creme and we pounded them. Gonzaga should be a 3 seed. Duke we played without Q. Cincy isn't a great loss but it's still a P6 team. We've mainly blown out every quad 3 and 4 team. Not to mention SMU and the Dakota team were good a season ago. We probably couldn't have scheduled tougher. I think we are a 10 seed caliber. Tricia has a huge gripe if we end with 5 losses and a loss to BSU in the finals.

Watched the replay, and have a couple observations.

I think the key to the defense was that UT made Hampton a complete non-factor on offense the entire game. She's been the straw that stirs the drink this year, more so than Becki, but she was not able to get anything going at all. (4 points, 3 assists, 4 turnovers.) Credit Q who had her almost 100% when Q was in the game, and Rinat when Q went to the bench.

Becki didn't seem to be quite the same player as in previous years. E.g. when Barnes came in, she got Becki - not Hampton or Bischoff - and one might think that was a matchup Ball State could take advantage of, but they did not. Barnes handled her fine.

Kiefer had a really tough afternoon on D. She had Sammi most of the game and she was completely at a loss on how to defend her, even on the plays Sammi didn't score on Keifer often got turned around or out of position. That really helped UT's offense. Late in the game, she ended up on Cook some and Jess took advantage of her too, getting inside position on boards often.

There were a lot of calls that went unmade, on both teams. Ball State got away with a few things, but so did UT. Soph could have been called for going right up to Hampton and chest-bumping her after she made that bucket at the end of the 1st half, but the ref let that go. That's what made the call on Hannah so frustrating, because that was clearly just her pivoting to make a basketball play, and was not excessively swinging her elbow. BTW, Sallee is just an @%$ on the bench.

UT was credited with 6 blocked shots, but they had at least 2-3 more that weren't scored as blocks for some reason.

Still UT had way too many silly turnovers - give BSU's D credit for some of them, but several were entirely unforced. Q had a tough game in that regard. They need to keep cleaning that up - although to note, UT is still 2nd in the MAC in fewest turnovers this season, behind only Kent.

Anyway, was enjoyable watching it over now that I knew the outcome. Really good win!

(02-25-2024 08:45 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Watched the replay, and have a couple observations.

I think the key to the defense was that UT made Hampton a complete non-factor on offense the entire game. She's been the straw that stirs the drink this year, more so than Becki, but she was not able to get anything going at all. (4 points, 3 assists, 4 turnovers.) Credit Q who had her almost 100% when Q was in the game, and Rinat when Q went to the bench.

Becki didn't seem to be quite the same player as in previous years. E.g. when Barnes came in, she got Becki - not Hampton or Bischoff - and one might think that was a matchup Ball State could take advantage of, but they did not. Barnes handled her fine.

Kiefer had a really tough afternoon on D. She had Sammi most of the game and she was completely at a loss on how to defend her, even on the plays Sammi didn't score on Keifer often got turned around or out of position. That really helped UT's offense. Late in the game, she ended up on Cook some and Jess took advantage of her too, getting inside position on boards often.

There were a lot of calls that went unmade, on both teams. Ball State got away with a few things, but so did UT. Soph could have been called for going right up to Hampton and chest-bumping her after she made that bucket at the end of the 1st half, but the ref let that go. That's what made the call on Hannah so frustrating, because that was clearly just her pivoting to make a basketball play, and was not excessively swinging her elbow. BTW, Sallee is just an @%$ on the bench.

UT was credited with 6 blocked shots, but they had at least 2-3 more that weren't scored as blocks for some reason.

Still UT had way too many silly turnovers - give BSU's D credit for some of them, but several were entirely unforced. Q had a tough game in that regard. They need to keep cleaning that up - although to note, UT is still 2nd in the MAC in fewest turnovers this season, behind only Kent.

Anyway, was enjoyable watching it over now that I knew the outcome. Really good win!

Toledo was sloppy in the 1st quarter, but turned it on after. Also a stretch in the middle of the 2nd quarter but like the 1st, neither team took advantage. Sammi was the dagger in the 4th. BSU just couldn't hit the few open shots they got. The missed uncontested bunny that rolled out on a turnover summed up the Cardinals game.

(02-25-2024 09:35 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(02-25-2024 08:45 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Watched the replay, and have a couple observations.

I think the key to the defense was that UT made Hampton a complete non-factor on offense the entire game. She's been the straw that stirs the drink this year, more so than Becki, but she was not able to get anything going at all. (4 points, 3 assists, 4 turnovers.) Credit Q who had her almost 100% when Q was in the game, and Rinat when Q went to the bench.

Becki didn't seem to be quite the same player as in previous years. E.g. when Barnes came in, she got Becki - not Hampton or Bischoff - and one might think that was a matchup Ball State could take advantage of, but they did not. Barnes handled her fine.

Kiefer had a really tough afternoon on D. She had Sammi most of the game and she was completely at a loss on how to defend her, even on the plays Sammi didn't score on Keifer often got turned around or out of position. That really helped UT's offense. Late in the game, she ended up on Cook some and Jess took advantage of her too, getting inside position on boards often.

There were a lot of calls that went unmade, on both teams. Ball State got away with a few things, but so did UT. Soph could have been called for going right up to Hampton and chest-bumping her after she made that bucket at the end of the 1st half, but the ref let that go. That's what made the call on Hannah so frustrating, because that was clearly just her pivoting to make a basketball play, and was not excessively swinging her elbow. BTW, Sallee is just an @%$ on the bench.

UT was credited with 6 blocked shots, but they had at least 2-3 more that weren't scored as blocks for some reason.

Still UT had way too many silly turnovers - give BSU's D credit for some of them, but several were entirely unforced. Q had a tough game in that regard. They need to keep cleaning that up - although to note, UT is still 2nd in the MAC in fewest turnovers this season, behind only Kent.

Anyway, was enjoyable watching it over now that I knew the outcome. Really good win!

Toledo was sloppy in the 1st quarter, but turned it on after. Also a stretch in the middle of the 2nd quarter but like the 1st, neither team took advantage. Sammi was the dagger in the 4th. BSU just couldn't hit the few open shots they got. The missed uncontested bunny that rolled out on a turnover summed up the Cardinals game.

Ball State just really had a bad game. A lot of that was the fantastic defensive effort from the rockets but BSU also missed several easy baskets and were fumbling the ball around and had several unforced errors. They looked tight to me. Actually both teams looked tight early but the rockets seemed to relax and had the advantage of a great fan base behind them. Somewhat concerning to me that both Wiard and Lockett didn't step up offensively in the biggest game of the year. They had 20 rebounds between them and lots of assists but 5 for 19 shooting and 10 turnovers is certainly not good enough in the big games. The team shot 45% field goals while Wiard and Lockett were 26%. Sammi was the outstanding player on the floor.

(02-26-2024 04:23 PM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  

(02-25-2024 09:35 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(02-25-2024 08:45 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Watched the replay, and have a couple observations.

I think the key to the defense was that UT made Hampton a complete non-factor on offense the entire game. She's been the straw that stirs the drink this year, more so than Becki, but she was not able to get anything going at all. (4 points, 3 assists, 4 turnovers.) Credit Q who had her almost 100% when Q was in the game, and Rinat when Q went to the bench.

Becki didn't seem to be quite the same player as in previous years. E.g. when Barnes came in, she got Becki - not Hampton or Bischoff - and one might think that was a matchup Ball State could take advantage of, but they did not. Barnes handled her fine.

Kiefer had a really tough afternoon on D. She had Sammi most of the game and she was completely at a loss on how to defend her, even on the plays Sammi didn't score on Keifer often got turned around or out of position. That really helped UT's offense. Late in the game, she ended up on Cook some and Jess took advantage of her too, getting inside position on boards often.

There were a lot of calls that went unmade, on both teams. Ball State got away with a few things, but so did UT. Soph could have been called for going right up to Hampton and chest-bumping her after she made that bucket at the end of the 1st half, but the ref let that go. That's what made the call on Hannah so frustrating, because that was clearly just her pivoting to make a basketball play, and was not excessively swinging her elbow. BTW, Sallee is just an @%$ on the bench.

UT was credited with 6 blocked shots, but they had at least 2-3 more that weren't scored as blocks for some reason.

Still UT had way too many silly turnovers - give BSU's D credit for some of them, but several were entirely unforced. Q had a tough game in that regard. They need to keep cleaning that up - although to note, UT is still 2nd in the MAC in fewest turnovers this season, behind only Kent.

Anyway, was enjoyable watching it over now that I knew the outcome. Really good win!

Toledo was sloppy in the 1st quarter, but turned it on after. Also a stretch in the middle of the 2nd quarter but like the 1st, neither team took advantage. Sammi was the dagger in the 4th. BSU just couldn't hit the few open shots they got. The missed uncontested bunny that rolled out on a turnover summed up the Cardinals game.

Ball State just really had a bad game. A lot of that was the fantastic defensive effort from the rockets but BSU also missed several easy baskets and were fumbling the ball around and had several unforced errors. They looked tight to me. Actually both teams looked tight early but the rockets seemed to relax and had the advantage of a great fan base behind them. Somewhat concerning to me that both Wiard and Lockett didn't step up offensively in the biggest game of the year. They had 20 rebounds between them and lots of assists but 5 for 19 shooting and 10 turnovers is certainly not good enough in the big games. The team shot 45% field goals while Wiard and Lockett were 26%. Sammi was the outstanding player on the floor.

That's why we are so dangerous. Wiard and Q are the best players with the highest upside but both score 4 to 10 pts often and let the rest of the team go off. Too many 5s on the Rockets for all of em to be ineffective and like they should every game made their bunnies. BSU needs Keifer and Becky to score a lot to win. A lock down defender like Hampton doesn't do much when the rest of the team is stapled to the floor and relies on 3 pt shooting. She takes away Sammy or Q then Wiard will show up... none of their other guards have a chance picking up Soph at half court.

Toledo did move past Princeton to 3rd in the mid-major poll Ball State fell to 9th.

But, strangely, Ball State is still getting 5 votes in the national coaches poll. After losing to NIU they dropped from 14 to 2 votes, but now they are back up to 5 even after the thrashing by UT. What the heck? Last year, UT couldn't buy a vote in the coaches poll, so who is voting for BSU this year? Fred Castro was supposed to be the MAC rep this year - is he still allowed to vote? Or did they replace him with someone else - like I dunno, someone who coaches in Muncie? Just darn strange.

(02-27-2024 06:39 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  Toledo did move past Princeton to 3rd in the mid-major poll Ball State fell to 9th.

But, strangely, Ball State is still getting 5 votes in the national coaches poll. After losing to NIU they dropped from 14 to 2 votes, but now they are back up to 5 even after the thrashing by UT. What the heck? Last year, UT couldn't buy a vote in the coaches poll, so who is voting for BSU this year? Fred Castro was supposed to be the MAC rep this year - is he still allowed to vote? Or did they replace him with someone else - like I dunno, someone who coaches in Muncie? Just darn strange.

Strange is putting it nicely. That's complete B.S. after the beat-down last Saturday.

Appreciate TC more and more with every men's game I watch. At least defensively we look prepared in poor shooting games.

Watched the replay and, as northcoastRocket pointed out, Sophia Wiard delivered a quick chest bump to the back of Nyla Hampton after she scored on her at the end of the first half. A message I suppose (and one I love) but you gotta to be careful. Sallee was looking down the sideline and must not have seen it or who knows how ballistic he would have gotten. Don’t mess with Soph!

(02-28-2024 02:00 PM)Blackswamp Wrote:  Watched the replay and, as northcoastRocket pointed out, Sophia Wiard delivered a quick chest bump to the back of Nyla Hampton after she scored on her at the end of the first half. A message I suppose (and one I love) but you gotta to be careful. Sallee was looking down the sideline and must not have seen it or who knows how ballistic he would have gotten. Don’t mess with Soph!

Welcome to the board Blackswamp

Just noticed we have only two MAC games that we haven’t won by double figures, the BSU loss and the close call with Buffalo.