Games 596-597: Elite 8 begins to take shape

NCAA Tournament regional semifinals

597 - (4) Stanford women vs. (1) Louisville
March 23 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY
ESPN

ACC player of the year Asia Durr had 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting and added five of Louisville's 17 assists, while Myisha Hines-Allen scored 17 points and passed the 2,000-point plateau for her career in an 86-59 win.

I've liked the Cardinals to reach the national title game and nothing changed after Friday's performance. They're well-balanced (two others were in double figures and six total players scored at least eight points), are a good defensive team (opponents are averaging just 57 points in three tournament games) and have Durr, a future WNBA star who is capable of taking over any game.

596 - (5) Clemson vs. (1) Kansas
March 23 at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, NE
CBS

Well, Bill Raftery out-dribble drove himself in this one.

18:07 left in the first half: "a little dribble drive blow by!"



Other games watched:

(6) Oregon State women vs. (2) Baylor - Huge upset for OSU, which snapped Baylor's 30-game winning streak.
(5) West Virginia vs. (1) Villanova
(11) Syracuse vs. (2) Duke
(3) UCLA women vs. (2) Texas

Games 590-591: Moving on to the Sweet 16

591 - (12) Florida Gulf Coast women at (4) Stanford
March 19 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA
ESPN2

590 - (5) Duke women at (4) Georgia
March 19 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, GA
ESPN2

Very rarely do you get a 4-5 matchup in the second round of the tournament and it turns into a blowout.

That happened Monday as Duke was in control from the early stages of the second quarter and won 66-40.

It was just a three-point game after one, but the Blue Devils dominated the second, holding Georgia without a point for 7 1/2 minutes and just two points in the period. Que Morrison's lay-up at the 2:41 mark finally put an end to the drought and made it a 28-14 game, though Duke scored the final seven points of the first half and led by 20 or more for the entire second half.

A combination of really good Duke defense and a ton of close shots missed by Georgia turns into a horrifying night for Georgia, which shot 23% (16-of-68) from the field.

Leaonna Odom led the way for the No. 5 seed, scoring 16 points, while Lexie Brown added 14 points, six assists and seven steals, becoming the school's single-season steals leader in the process.

Duke, which has played in the national semifinals four times but has never won a title, heads to Albany for the regional semifinals and will play unbeaten Connecticut.



Other games watched:

(11) Buffalo women at (3) Florida State
(7) Arizona State women at (2) Texas

Game 496 - Stanford at USC

January 24 at Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA
ESPNU

Pretty impressive win for USC, which won 69-64 without Scoochie Smith All Star Bennie Boatwright (foot injury).

Jonah Matthews was great off the Trojans' bench, knocking down 4-of-6 from three-point range for a game-high 18 points. Matthews, who tied his season-high in points and bounced back from a two-point, 0-of-6 shooting performance in USC's loss to Stanford on January 7, is an excellent shooter (42% from three on the year) with a smooth release and he picked up a lot of the slack with Boatwright and his 15 points per night unavailable.

Also got a chance to see several nice performances from the big men in this game, in particular Stanford's duo of Reid Travis (team-high 16 points, 7-of-12 shooting) and Michael Humphrey (14 points, 6-of-8). USC's Chimezie Metu (12 & 10 with five assists) and Nick Rakocevic, who started in place of Boatwright and hit half of his eight field goal attempts and grabbed eight rebounds, both played well.

Games 473-474: Sunday doubleheader

Game 474 - Stanford women at Arizona State
January 7 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, AZ
ESPN

"Basketball"

Total times said: 39

Play-by-play man Paul Sunderland: 18
Color commentator Andy Landers: 21

Andy

Game 473 - Drake women at Southern Illinois
January 7 at SIU Arena in Carbondale, IL
The Valley on espn3

Drake kept up its regular season dominance of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Becca Hittner handed out seven of Drake's 23 assists and the Bulldogs won their 26th consecutive regular season conference game, 75-64. Both teams were 3-0 in league play to start the day.

Hittner also scored 15 points - right on her season average - to lead six players with at least nine points, while six players had at least two assists. Meanwhile, the Drake defense had 15(!) steals & forced 25 turnovers. It was just a five-point game at the 4:30 mark of the third quarter after Southern Illinois got a steal and lay-in from Kristen Nelson, but the hosts didn't convert another field goal until 24 seconds remained in the quarter and by that time Drake led 61-49.

Great game for Makenzie Silvey, who had five assists and five steals and along with Kylie Giebelhausen led Southern Illinois with 13 points. The Salukis still haven't won their first four conference games since 1991.

Scoochie Smith All Stars

Historic day for the all-name team as we add our first announcer:

The team

Game 396 - (2) Stanford women vs. (1) South Carolina

NCAA Tournament national semifinals
March 31 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX
ESPN2

Two huge things in this game, which South Carolina won 62-53 to advance to its first-ever national title game:

1. A'ja Wilson was the best player on the floor. The junior All America grabbed 19 (!) rebounds, eight on the offensive end, and added 13 points, four assists and three blocked shots. She started a bit slowly, as did most of the Gamecocks, but caught fire as her team turned a nine-point halftime deficit into the lead for good with a dominant third quarter.

The Gamecocks trailed 29-20 at the break, then used a 13-0 run to out-score the second-seeded Cardinal 21-8 and hold them to 4-of-21 shooting in the third.

2. Thanks in large part to an ankle injury suffered midway through the second quarter, Karlie Samuelson was a non-factor. Samuelson was the nation's leading 3-point shooter coming into the night (49%), but played sparingly and missed both of her long range attempts. The Cardinal as a team shot just 4-of-14 from behind the arc.

There were other key factors, of course, none bigger than the work of Allisha Gray. The South Carolina junior guard scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including a huge shot with 4:13 to go in the game, falling away on the baseline for a banked in bucket that turned into a three-point play and a 53-45 lead.

Marta Sniezek had a really nice first half off the bench for Stanford, scoring eight points and handing out four assists. But the sophomore guard, like most of the Cardinal in the second 20 minutes, struggled, and was held scoreless with just two more assists.

Game 347 - (2) Stanford women vs. (1) Oregon State

Pac 12 championship
March 5 at Key Arena in Seattle, WA
ESPN2

Oregon State's defense came into the title game tied for eighth nationally in scoring defense, but it was the Cardinal defense that was the most impressive.

True, Stanford came in 21st allowing an average of just 56 points, but the Beavers fell well below that in a 48-43 defeat. Oregon State scored seven points in each of the final three quarters and shot 16% from the field in the second half. Outstanding Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese was harrassed with double teams all night and never really got going, finishing with 13 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Amazingly, OSU started the game hitting its first six shots and led 16-3 5 1/2 minutes in.

The most impressive individual performance came from Alanna Smith, who was great off the bench with 18 points and half of Stanford's eight blocked shots.

It was fitting that these two closed the Pac 12 season with such a close contest. In the two regular season meetings, OSU won 72-69 in double overtime in January and 50-47 in late-February.

The Cardinal won their 12th Pac 12 title.

Game 321 - Oregon State at Stanford

February 22 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA
ESPNU

Outstanding shooting night for Stanford, which made 57% of their shots and never trailed in a 79-66 win.

Not only was the offense playing at a high level - Reid Travis and Marcus Allen each scored 17 points and combined to hit 15 of their 22 field goals to lead the way - but the Cardinal defense had 13 steals and forced 21 turnovers.

Its been a miserable season for Oregon State and the Beavers couldn't capitalize on their first Pac 12 win over Utah last weekend and fell to 1-15 in league play and 5-24 overall. The good news for OSU is second-leading scorer Stephen Thompson, who scored a career-high 31 against the Utes but struggled Wednesday with just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, post players Drew Eubanks and Gligorije Rakocevic, who didn't (combined 37 points), and Tres Tinkle, who was leading the team in scoring before suffering a wrist injury, are all sophomores.

Things should be better for the Beavers in 2017-2018.

* Meanwhile, color commentator Brad Daugherty is doing just fine this season. Daugherty said the word "basketball" a total of 46 times during the broadcast and he displayed the type of balance only the greats achieve: 24 times said in the first half, 22 in the second.

Game 286 - UCLA women at Stanford

February 6 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA
ESPN

With an 85-76 victory, UCLA did something it hadn't done in more than 18 years - win at Maples. Jordan Canada scored 25 points and handed out five assists and the Bruins snapped a 16-game losing streak at No. 8 Stanford, winning for the first time since January, 1999.

Monique Billings added 21 points, 15 rebounds (seven on the offensive end) and four blocks and Kari Korver was 5-of-7 from three-point range for No. 15 UCLA, which snapped another 16-game losing streak, beating a ranked team on the road for the first time since November, 2012.


Other games watched:

Louisiana at Georgia Southern
Texas women at Baylor

Game 195 - (13) San Francisco women at (4) Stanford

NCAA tournament first round
March 19 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA
ESPN2

This one got out of hand towards the end of the first half and into the second (Stanford won 85-58) so some Connecticut talk started.

Here's commentator Mary Murphy on how to beat the three-time national champion Huskies, who won their 70th consecutive game in Saturday's first round:

"You have to play very, very well."

Thanks, Mary.


Other games watched:

(9) Providence vs. (1) North Carolina (mens)

Game 62 - Colorado at Stanford

January 3 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA
ESPN

Colorado built a lead as large as 16 points a little over two minutes into the second half, yet had to hang on for a 56-55 win.

The Buffaloes made only three field goals over the final 10 minutes, allowing the hosts to get it to that one-point deficit. But the real story was the Colorado defense, which permitted just 31% from the field.

Great night for post player Michael Humphrey (19 points, 8-of-15 from field), but his Stanford teammates were a combined 9-for-39 (23%).

Also a big night for one of the Pac 12's finest players in Josh Scott (14 points, 14 rebounds), who led Colorado to its fifth consecutive win in the series. The last four have come by the following margins: 1, 5, 3, 2.