[M T]

Remember that ESPN makes its money off viewership.  They will promote controversy and they will play to the larger audiences.  UConn and Tennessee have the two biggest audiences in women\'s basketball.

We fans tend to think from a home team perspective.  Will Jeanette tighten up and have an off day shooting?  Will Chiney get into early foul trouble?  Will Stanford commit too many turnovers?

If we think from our opponent\'s perspective we may see a different view.  Of course we know they think things like, "How do we counteract the rebounding of the O team?"  and "What can we do to rattle the 3 point shooting?"

But A&M\'s team isn\'t always the team that beat Baylor.  Stanford of course wants to be able to beat the best that A&M could possibly offer, and the coaches are aiming for that.  But if Stanford doesn\'t have a perfect game, Stanford may well beat the Aggies anyway.  Will our B game beat their A game?

Here are some notes from an Aggie blog about games earlier in the season that mention some of the shortcomings of A&M, just like we discuss the shortcomings of Stanford:

A&M needs someone to step up in a big game (i.e. Duke, Baylor). Danielle Adams was 4-of-15 shooting; Sydney Colson 1 of 12; Sydney Carter 3 of 10; and Adaora Elonu 0 of 6. That’s a combined 8 of 43 for 18.6 percent. Yikes. Baylor’s defense was good, but not that good.

The Aggies took 17 more shots, but because of Griner and Baylor’s tough half-court defense settled for too many 3-pointers, hitting only 3 of 13.

A&M has to find more quality depth for quality opponents. The Aggies exerted a lot of energy on defense to keep Baylor from scoring, but they also had to work just as hard on offense to find openings because of ...

Tyra White is a big-time player. If she hadn’t stepped up and scored 29 points, the Aggies would have been in trouble.

A&M freshman post Karla Gilbert played great. She made mistakes, but wasn’t scared. She’s going to get a whole lot better.

Adams has struggled against Baylor. She was 4-of-16 shooting in the first meeting, including 0 of 5 on 3-pointers. A&M lost 63-60. If Adams had only made one or two more shots. ...

[Colson] was a respectable 5-of-12 shooting in the first meeting [against Baylor] this year, but she was only 1 of 7 on 3-pointers. A&M has to have some perimeter punch to free up the middle for Adams. Colson also had six turnovers, including one in the final minute.

Adams scored only 11 points in the 61-58 loss at Duke this season. She was 5-of-18 shooting. Colson was 1-of-7 shooting, but did have eight assists. She also had five turnovers.

Some of those are from  http://www.aggiesports.com/blogs/aggiesp...d=blogDest.  Others are from the same blog.

[M T]

Remember that ESPN makes its money off viewership.  They will promote controversy and they will play to the larger audiences.  UConn and Tennessee have the two biggest audiences in women\'s basketball.

We fans tend to think from a home team perspective.  Will Jeanette tighten up and have an off day shooting?  Will Chiney get into early foul trouble?  Will Stanford commit too many turnovers?

If we think from our opponent\'s perspective we may see a different view.  Of course we know they think things like, "How do we counteract the rebounding of the O team?"  and "What can we do to rattle the 3 point shooting?"

But A&M\'s team isn\'t always the team that beat Baylor.  Stanford of course wants to be able to beat the best that A&M could possibly offer, and the coaches are aiming for that.  But if Stanford doesn\'t have a perfect game, Stanford may well beat the Aggies anyway.  Will our B game beat their A game?

Here are some notes from an Aggie blog about games earlier in the season that mention some of the shortcomings of A&M, just like we discuss the shortcomings of Stanford:

A&M needs someone to step up in a big game (i.e. Duke, Baylor). Danielle Adams was 4-of-15 shooting; Sydney Colson 1 of 12; Sydney Carter 3 of 10; and Adaora Elonu 0 of 6. That’s a combined 8 of 43 for 18.6 percent. Yikes. Baylor’s defense was good, but not that good.

The Aggies took 17 more shots, but because of Griner and Baylor’s tough half-court defense settled for too many 3-pointers, hitting only 3 of 13.

A&M has to find more quality depth for quality opponents. The Aggies exerted a lot of energy on defense to keep Baylor from scoring, but they also had to work just as hard on offense to find openings because of ...

Tyra White is a big-time player. If she hadn’t stepped up and scored 29 points, the Aggies would have been in trouble.

A&M freshman post Karla Gilbert played great. She made mistakes, but wasn’t scared. She’s going to get a whole lot better.

Adams has struggled against Baylor. She was 4-of-16 shooting in the first meeting, including 0 of 5 on 3-pointers. A&M lost 63-60. If Adams had only made one or two more shots. ...

[Colson] was a respectable 5-of-12 shooting in the first meeting [against Baylor] this year, but she was only 1 of 7 on 3-pointers. A&M has to have some perimeter punch to free up the middle for Adams. Colson also had six turnovers, including one in the final minute.

Adams scored only 11 points in the 61-58 loss at Duke this season. She was 5-of-18 shooting. Colson was 1-of-7 shooting, but did have eight assists. She also had five turnovers.

Some of those are from  http://www.aggiesports.com/blogs/aggiesp...d=blogDest.  Others are from the same blog.

[81alum]

I wonder if Tara\'s mentions of Mel might have been because Tara knew that Toni was still not healthy (given\'s Garvin\'s report that Toni was limping and did not work out this morning.)  

I\'m reminded of how little information we had about Jayne\'s foot last year.  Tara may have been unwilling to broadcast the truth about Toni\'s foot for fear it would help A&M\'s gameplan.

So how does this change things?  

1. Keeping Jeanette out of foul trouble is shaping up to be very important, lest we have another Tennessee debacle.  

2. I\'m beginning to think that we might see more zone, just to preserve our guards.

3. Now that A&M knows about Toni, they will no doubt redouble their  efforts to wear down our guards.  If I were them I would do full court press and tight man to man all night, liberally substituting.  Also lots of guards slashing to the basket in the hopes of accumulating fouls--especially if Tara sticks in man.

[81alum]

I wonder if Tara\'s mentions of Mel might have been because Tara knew that Toni was still not healthy (given\'s Garvin\'s report that Toni was limping and did not work out this morning.)  

I\'m reminded of how little information we had about Jayne\'s foot last year.  Tara may have been unwilling to broadcast the truth about Toni\'s foot for fear it would help A&M\'s gameplan.

So how does this change things?  

1. Keeping Jeanette out of foul trouble is shaping up to be very important, lest we have another Tennessee debacle.  

2. I\'m beginning to think that we might see more zone, just to preserve our guards.

3. Now that A&M knows about Toni, they will no doubt redouble their  efforts to wear down our guards.  If I were them I would do full court press and tight man to man all night, liberally substituting.  Also lots of guards slashing to the basket in the hopes of accumulating fouls--especially if Tara sticks in man.