WBB: So. Carolina & Tennessee - Printable Version

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WBB: So. Carolina & Tennessee - M T - 12-19-2012

Ouch!  #10 Tennessee got embarrassed on the road at Baylor.  Next game for Tennessee is hosting Stanford.  I'm sure they will be playing with extra emphasis.  I hope this doesn't distract the players from the So. Carolina game.

But first up is Dawn Staley's So. Carolina Gamecocks.  10-0 so far, but no wins against ranked teams.  One OT win over Drexel, after being down 14 at the half.  RPI: about 15.. They haven't played in 10 days.  We played them in the Sweet 16 round last year and won 76-60.
Last year's game summary: http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/032512aac.html
Cardboard discussion:  http://thecardboard.org/board/index.php/topic,5747.msg42275.html


They play 5 players; the 6th player plays 12 minutes less than the 5th. Their top scorer averages just 12 points, but her FG% is slightly better than Chiney's!  Their top 5 players are shooting 47%.  Stanford's top 5 shoot 55%.  Their starters 3FG% is 31%.  Stanford top 5 3FG% is 40%.  Last year, we shot 52.8% to their 36.8%.  Nneka had 39 points.  We only attempted 1 3PT, while they hit 33% of their 12 3pt attempts.

Their starters are short: two at 6'0", 5'10", 5'9", 5'8", but they seem to be a better rebounding team than Stanford.
So. Carolina has a +16.4 rebounding margin.  Stanford is +14.5.  So. Carolina gets just under 50% of the rebounds under their basket, and 73.5% at the defensive end.  Stanford gets 42.3% and 71.6%.  Last year, even though they put up 15 more shots, the teams tied in rebounds.

Expect a defensive game.  So. Carolina ranks second in the nation in scoring defense.  Their games average 65 - 45. Stanford games average 78.5 - 51.1.  They average 9.5 steals/game with 6 players averaging 0.8 steals/game or better.  Stanford is at 5.6 steals/game, with only two players averaging more than 0.8 steals/game.  Last year, turnovers were about even.

If So. Carolina were to win, it would be their first victory over Stanford or over a #1 team.  It would be Dawn Staley's 250th win.

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Re: WBB: So. Carolina & Tennessee - 81alum - 12-19-2012

Even though South Carolina lost two of its outstanding guards to graduation (including Grant who was their killer from three point range), their overall philosophy and appearance will be very similar to what we saw last year. They continue to be a terrific defensive team. 

South Carolina only has 10 players listed on their roster, but all ten average at least 13 minutes a game.  They rotate a lot so as to keep defensive intensity very high.  Think of how Pacific played for the first 12 minutes but sustain it for 40.  They average 9.5 steals per game.  I imagine we will see a lot of press and will need our guards to be on the top of their games with ball handling.  Their opponents actually score fewer points in the second half than in the first--so their defense does not wither away but seems to get stronger as the game goes on, which may be a testament to their rotation scheme.

On offense last year we did a lot of high-low passing to Nneka in the first half.  Reminds me a little of what we were doing against Pacific--perhaps that was the plan? In any case, that was obviously designed to take advantage of the other team's inferior height, and I presume we shall try that again.  And I presume Dawn knows it is coming and has been preparing to stop it.  Last year they did figure out how to stop the high-low by the second half, and Nneka simply had to take over, putting the ball on the floor.  I hope we do not put everything on Chiney again, but I now see our strategy in the Pacific game as possibly a deliberate warm-up.

Last year we found we could not defend their quickness in man, but had to go to a zone.  So far this year, South Carolina has not shown that it can be prolific with three point shots, so this may be what happens again.  How much zone have we played this year so far?

Looking ahead to Tennessee--yes, they did poorly against Baylor.  Tennessee is a very young team and one would expect erratic performances on the road.  I worry that they will be very motivated for us when we get them at home. 

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