Promising women's game tonight in Brook's with 4 steady quarters over a Furman team that was 10-7 and 2-0 in conference. No "one good quarter, one bad quarter". Just solid even play in a game that was close every step of the way. The most consistent of the several women's games that I've seen live or on video this year.

They took care of the ball well with only 7 turnovers, grabbed 9 steals and turned Furman over 16 times to make up for getting beat on the boards (Furman is 2nd in the conference in rebounding margin). Made a fair percentage of their 3's (8 makes on .364), defended the perimeter well (held Furman to only 4 makes on .200) and made a fair percentage of their free throws (19-27 for .704 with 3-4 in the fourth quarter).

It's a good step in the right direction. Following on a close road loss at Chattanooga (76-67), it leaves the Bucs 1-1 in conference and looking competitive in the SoCon. Keep playing like this and they'll be a SoCon contender and fun to watch.

They were certainly playing more as a cohesive team last night as well. We have some good solid talent and it appears to be coming together finally. The loss to Chatt was disappointing, but I'm hopeful that they are righting the ship now. If they can take care of Wofford on Saturday, I think that can give them some fantastic momentum for the rest of the season.

I also don't keep up with rule changes that much, but it feels like the refs are not allowing the women to play very aggressively lately. It seems there is a big focus this year on very tiny fouls. Not bad calls exactly, but that they are less likely to let things slide. Is this just something I'm seeing without any validity or is anyone else noticing it? I felt like the past few years, women's basketball was getting a little more physical and aggressive and it almost feels like some kind of backlash to tone that down? I could certainly be wrong, but I've been enjoying the more physical style across the board, but the refs constantly calling fouls is not letting that continue.

Last night was indeed a very well played game. It concerns me a little that we have to play that well to win in such a close game. Seems like Spears had a good opportunity to beat their big inside player #55, but the team couldn't get it to her down low enough and a technical foul also cut her playing time. Coach Ezell's Dula and Friends Band sweatshirt was also a nice tribute to the university's recent loss. I sometimes don't like Ezell's personality on the sideline, but overall she is a good coach and represents the university well.

(01-17-2019 08:26 AM)queenladybug817 Wrote:  I also don't keep up with rule changes that much, but it feels like the refs are not allowing the women to play very aggressively lately. It seems there is a big focus this year on very tiny fouls. Not bad calls exactly, but that they are less likely to let things slide. Is this just something I'm seeing without any validity or is anyone else noticing it? I felt like the past few years, women's basketball was getting a little more physical and aggressive and it almost feels like some kind of backlash to tone that down? I could certainly be wrong, but I've been enjoying the more physical style across the board, but the refs constantly calling fouls is not letting that continue.

I think the tendency is to allow more freedom for the offensive players; in general, I'm for a less physical game, so I don't mind calling it a little tighter. What I have seen is fouls called in which I can't see the foul, so the defender can't really defend at all. One notable exception is in the post; for some reason, an offensive post player is allowed to bang against a defender who has firmly established position - no call against the offensive player.
Another notable exception was #55 on Furman. If they were calling her tight, they could have called 15 fouls. I didn't get it.