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B1G WBB general discussion

Linder does great work covering the Iowa team but I've never understood how being a beat reporter for a single team qualifies you to vote in a national poll. That's not a knock on him, just a knock on how absurd the rankings system is. But we're all obsessed with it anyway! :D
 
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Depending on how tomorrow goes with Iowa NC State and Indiana UNC, you could argue Iowa, Ohio State, Indiana is the best top three for a conference in the country.
 
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And Penn State gives Minnesota the game in 2ot last night.
That game, from the final few minutes of regulation through the end of the overtime periods, was an absolute sh*tshow. Very entertaining to watch even if the level of play wasn't super high. Had a good time texting with a few of my Minnesota WBB fan friends during the game. Their freshman Mara Braun reminds me a lot of Clark which is a huge compliment obviously.
 
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… and ND just beat UConn 74-60
One comment on this-- Azzi Fudd got hurt early. Played a bit more in the 2nd quarter but ultimately sat out all of the second half. Might have affected the outcome but Notre Dame was decisively the better team for 40 minutes. Now if Azzi hadn't played the second half of the UConn/Iowa game... nevermind it'd bad karma to finish that thought. ;)
 
One comment on this-- Azzi Fudd got hurt early. Played a bit more in the 2nd quarter but ultimately sat out all of the second half. Might have affected the outcome but Notre Dame was decisively the better team for 40 minutes. Now if Azzi hadn't played the second half of the UConn/Iowa game... nevermind it'd bad karma to finish that thought. ;)
If Azzi didn't play the second half against Iowa, Iowa probably won the game by 20.

I see Louisville just lost to Middle Tenn St. Waiting for South Carolina and Stanford to have the oops moment.
 
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That game, from the final few minutes of regulation through the end of the overtime periods, was an absolute sh*tshow. Very entertaining to watch even if the level of play wasn't super high. Had a good time texting with a few of my Minnesota WBB fan friends during the game. Their freshman Mara Braun reminds me a lot of Clark which is a huge compliment obviously.
The three Gopher freshman from Minnesota all can play. Yesterday in Big Ten debut, 26 for Braun, 19 for Battle and 18 for Heyer. They played 45, 40 and 43 out of 50 minutes in the double OT game. If former Iowa post target Sophie Hart transfers to Minnesota, Whalen may have a chance to take a big step forward next season.
 
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Some tidbits from around the country today:

1) I saw OSU only beat Rutgers by 12 and that just didn’t sit right with me…I did some clicking and found out Jacy Sheldon has missed a few (nonconsecutive) games now with some kind of leg injury. I rly can’t find any other info tho. Clearly OSU has enough weapons to compensate but I was expecting a 30 pt margin at minimum for this particular matchup. Certainly at least one crack in their veneer….

2) ILL almost upset IU today. An acquaintance of mine at IU said Garzon showed her youth today and got into foul trouble / got visibly frustrated and took some poor shots. IU missed the steadiness of Berger dearly. Alyssa Geary also missed the game (leg) and Holmes looked tired without a backup. Also sounds like things are cookin at IL on both sides of the court…wouldnt be surprised to see this as a harbinger of things to come for both teams. IU plays PSU next, an energetic team with a talented leader, but more of a known entity than ILL which truly has the element of surprise on its side. In any case, another top dog exposed as vulnerable…

3) UNL finally joined the “We just ****ing beat Maryland” club today. Tbh as soon as I saw this game on the schedule for so early in the season, I knew the conditions were pretty favorable for that to occur. I’m a bit of a UNL fan and was rly bummed when Habie got injured. But looks like they’re adjusting! Tbh if they can still get a quality win after the disastrous start to their season, so can we.

Maryland meanwhile continues to achieve some unfortunate milestones — finished B1G play last year by not making the tourney final for the first time, they start this year by losing their first game (and losing to UNL) for the first time.

Finally, in non-B1G but potentially interesting news….



Wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up at another blue blood, but maybe she could be convinced to play with Clark next year…anyone have any idea if we pursued her?? Can’t help but wonder if she’d look first to ISU…Kansas has been very fertile recruiting ground from them for awhile. The difference is she’d be replacing 2 graduating elite players there (and they have two other stellar guards already), but playing alongside one at Iowa. Would be quite a 1-2 punch.

Believe it or not, our season is still going better than that of Louisville, Tennessee, and Texas. Louisville is having major, major issues and their fans are completely dumbfounded/defeated.

Bonus: Creighton finally came down to earth after a scorching start to the season. After upsetting Iowa, ISU, SDSU, UNL…they lose to unranked St John’s. Bummer for them. I have no ill will against them, I always love to see a new program make noise. Not sure what happened today…
 
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If Azzi didn't play the second half against Iowa, Iowa probably won the game by 20.
Some UConn fans (maybe just being dramatic) are saying she’ll be out all of December. If UConn loses one or two more games, could be very significant come March. Would also obviously be very consequential in the NPOY race.
If former Iowa post target Sophie Hart transfers to Minnesota, Whalen may have a chance to take a big step forward next season.
Tbh at this point the 5 is wide open next year. Wonder if she would consider us…anyone know if there was mutual interest?
 
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re: Shikreto. I believe Jacy Sheldon suffered an ankle sprain over the week of Thanksgiving. She played the full game against Louisville this week, but sat out the games before and after against lesser competition (Wright St and Rutgers). Leads me to believe OSU decided to take a calculated risk to rest her in the "easy" games but activate her in the game they really needed her.
 
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Illinois now rated a top 25 team by at least one poll. Green looked like a good and maybe the one. Trivia last time Illinois WWB rated top 25. My guess never
 
Illinois now rated a top 25 team by at least one poll. Green looked like a good and maybe the one. Trivia last time Illinois WWB rated top 25. My guess never
Illinois went to Sweet 16 a couple of times in the late nineties when Angie Lee was Iowa's coach.
 
Crazy day around the conference.

Michigan lost to Toledo (a very respectable mid major) at home. Game came down to the final possession. Trailing by 1, Leigha Brown had a decent look to win. But she missed it and Michigan had to foul. Ended up losing by 3.

Purdue nearly took down Maryland, leading by 1 with a couple minutes to go. Looked to be headed to overtime before Sellers of Maryland made a buzzer beating three pointer.

Indiana, still playing without Berger, trailed PSU at half. Played a very clean second half to win comfortably.
 
Former Iowa target and NC State transfer Sophie Hart apparently committed to the Gophers today, per Gopher message board. A good post is exactly what the Gophers need to join their three excellent freshman (with another good freshman redshirting due to injury).
 
Former Iowa target and NC State transfer Sophie Hart apparently committed to the Gophers today, per Gopher message board. A good post is exactly what the Gophers need to join their three excellent freshman (with another good freshman redshirting due to injury).
Wow I didn’t even know she was in the transfer portal.
 
Watched the Neb/Mich game last night and Michigan looked impressive. The Michigan defense gave Nebraska all sorts of issues with pressure defense and double teaming ball screens and the posts. Not sure the Iowa roster can duplicate that defensive game plan for 40 min. though.

The Nebraska posts were completely taken out of the game.
 
Huge result for Iowa's conference championship hopes. Ohio State lost Madison Greene for the season, so I thought Indiana would be a slight favorite. That definitely isn't a game they expected to lose.
Indiana had definitely been playing on borrowed time since Berger went down. Berger is a steady scorer but Indiana really misses is her defense and ball handling. Hugely atypical for them to give up 26 points in the fourth quarter and have 21 turnovers on the night.
 
The turnaround at Illinois is amazing. Greene looked like a good hire on paper. Did not expect this big of jump so quickly. Normally a rebuild of a down program takes a little time.
 
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