And I have to post this from the Pete, that Pitt had the ball up 5 with like 30 seconds, and Yale played out the possession??? How was Yale going to score 5 points in 5 seconds???? It was the dumbest coaching decision I think I’ve ever seen.
Pitt women beat Yale 79-74
- Thread starter mike10003
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I said the same thing as I was sitting there. There were 35 seconds left when Yale got called for the offensive foul (technically 35 point something, but I don't remember what the "something" was). You have to have two possession to win. You simply cannot let Pitt run the shot clock all the way down and then take a shot, because even if Pitt misses, like Pitt did, you get the rebound with about six second left on the clock and you can't score twice like that.
I thought Yale was a school filled with smart people. How on earth did no one on that team, head coach, player, assistant coach, trainer, equipment manager, no one, realize the game situation and realize that they had to foul? Even if they were only down three instead of five, with that amount of time left I think you still have to foul. But down five? No brainer.
And apparently no one for Yale had any brains.
BTW, with respect to the game, I think we all knew this, but this is going to be a really long season for our Panthers. They are, well, not good. Not good at all. Not even close to good.
What they do have is a bunch of players who were really busting their asses out there, giving what they had to give. At this point you can't ask for much more than that.
What they do have is a bunch of players who were really busting their asses out there, giving what they had to give. At this point you can't ask for much more than that.
—One observation is that this team - even though they took some questionable shots and made some poor passes, will play much more disciplined than what we’ve seen the last few years.
—Also, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the game that Bella Perkins played, did not expect her to be able to score like that.
—Also Jordan did a nice job shooting the ball.
—Liatu never seemed to get in sync with the offense, but she ground out some good stats.
—Coach Verdi was giving them heck in the timeouts, but he seems to have a good way of yelling at them without getting angry at them, if that makes any sense…
—We were fortunate to have the Ever-Ready Bunny, Marley W. on Yale’s point guard, Clark. Clark was really good but Marley pressured her pretty much the whole game. Clark is from the Pittsburgh area.
—The Pitt bench is thin. Could be a problem playing Malcolm so many minutes…. They need her to hit some 3s to offset her defense…
—Pitt did have some nice structured plays where they hit a player breaking to the hoop for some easy buckets.
—Agree it’s going to be a tough season. Need to recruit a difference-maker or three…
Go Pitt.
—Also, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the game that Bella Perkins played, did not expect her to be able to score like that.
—Also Jordan did a nice job shooting the ball.
—Liatu never seemed to get in sync with the offense, but she ground out some good stats.
—Coach Verdi was giving them heck in the timeouts, but he seems to have a good way of yelling at them without getting angry at them, if that makes any sense…
—We were fortunate to have the Ever-Ready Bunny, Marley W. on Yale’s point guard, Clark. Clark was really good but Marley pressured her pretty much the whole game. Clark is from the Pittsburgh area.
—The Pitt bench is thin. Could be a problem playing Malcolm so many minutes…. They need her to hit some 3s to offset her defense…
—Pitt did have some nice structured plays where they hit a player breaking to the hoop for some easy buckets.
—Agree it’s going to be a tough season. Need to recruit a difference-maker or three…
Go Pitt.
I was watching the bench during a second half timeout, and Verdi was diagramming up a play for them to run. I could see his white board with the play on it, because he had it turned to face the players on the bench. They came out of the time out and ran exactly what he drew up and got an easy layup out of it.
If only it was that easy all the time!
I not only couldn't believe what I was seeing during those 30 seconds, but also
prior to that. We went up by 15, in the 3rd Qtr, Yale got back in it, and got it down
to four with minutes to go. I was expecting a press or more aggressive D, yet they
did nothing of the sort. They had momentum, yet they seemed ok with trading
buckets with us. I have no idea what their coach was thinking. The last 30 seconds
were head scratching to say the least.
Given the overall talent level, I was impressed with the way we played. There are
some decent players, but in no way are they elite ACC players. I liked the hustle
and the upbeat attitude. Coaching?...Night and day difference IMO. For starters,
how about 11 total TO's. Compare that to the last several years.
Marley is much improved, but still isn't a polished PG at this point. She's a Soph and
works hard. She goes to the hoop hard, and does run the offense. I'd like to see her
give up the ball on the break when there's help running free on the wing. 7-6 A/T0 not
so good. She basically shut hot shooting Clark down in the 2nd half. I like her, and
her future is bright.
I was hoping to see a much improved Hutcherson. She's 6'2" but kinda frail. I feel she
should be good, but doesn't exactly fill up the stat sheet. 4 pts, Zero rebounds. 11 min.
She's better on the wing, can shoot if open, but is overpowered inside.
Perkins impressed me. She can create own shot and is a 3pt threat. Those two 3's at
the end were from NBA land. I didn't see anyone on last year's team who can do what
she does. She's a major addition to this program.
I like our forwards, King, Ayudele and Jordan. They all rebounded, and scored. They also
fought hard inside. King was not at her best, but she also "roughed up" the opposition
inside and forced her way to 16 pts. She's tough. As a group they're decent forwards,
but like last year there's no big. ACC is gonna be a challenge for them. One thing I did
see was a few post up moves inside. Obviously they're being coached. I NEVER saw
that the last few years.
Malcom moved better than last year, and showed some court awareness. Her D is a
liability, due to her lack of quickness. The important thing is she CAN shoot. They need
to get her open as she's a pure shooter.
Overall it's only one game. How good is Yale? A Palooka? LOL. Anyway the coaching in
this one game appeared to be WAY better. Substitutions actually made sense. That alone
is a big difference. AGAIN, ONLY 11 T0's!!
They were prepared, organized, and basically showed they had a clue as to what basketball is. Let's see them against some tougher competition.
some decent players, but in no way are they elite ACC players. I liked the hustle
and the upbeat attitude. Coaching?...Night and day difference IMO. For starters,
how about 11 total TO's. Compare that to the last several years.
Marley is much improved, but still isn't a polished PG at this point. She's a Soph and
works hard. She goes to the hoop hard, and does run the offense. I'd like to see her
give up the ball on the break when there's help running free on the wing. 7-6 A/T0 not
so good. She basically shut hot shooting Clark down in the 2nd half. I like her, and
her future is bright.
I was hoping to see a much improved Hutcherson. She's 6'2" but kinda frail. I feel she
should be good, but doesn't exactly fill up the stat sheet. 4 pts, Zero rebounds. 11 min.
She's better on the wing, can shoot if open, but is overpowered inside.
Perkins impressed me. She can create own shot and is a 3pt threat. Those two 3's at
the end were from NBA land. I didn't see anyone on last year's team who can do what
she does. She's a major addition to this program.
I like our forwards, King, Ayudele and Jordan. They all rebounded, and scored. They also
fought hard inside. King was not at her best, but she also "roughed up" the opposition
inside and forced her way to 16 pts. She's tough. As a group they're decent forwards,
but like last year there's no big. ACC is gonna be a challenge for them. One thing I did
see was a few post up moves inside. Obviously they're being coached. I NEVER saw
that the last few years.
Malcom moved better than last year, and showed some court awareness. Her D is a
liability, due to her lack of quickness. The important thing is she CAN shoot. They need
to get her open as she's a pure shooter.
Overall it's only one game. How good is Yale? A Palooka? LOL. Anyway the coaching in
this one game appeared to be WAY better. Substitutions actually made sense. That alone
is a big difference. AGAIN, ONLY 11 T0's!!
They were prepared, organized, and basically showed they had a clue as to what basketball is. Let's see them against some tougher competition.
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I thought they played well last night from what I seen. Yes they were hot and cold, but, last years team would have folded and lost big. This team just kept playing and playing with some heart. Only 1 game, so allot has yet to be seen. I think they will win more then 3 conference games this year with an upset along the way.
In normal circumstance those two threes would be bad shots. Given the game situations when she took them they were absolutely awful shots.
But they both went in.
It's been a long time since Pitt had a player with the confidence and the swag to take a shot that bad in a situation that big. So that's something.
They had something like five of their top six or six of their top seven back from last season, but they were still only picked to finish 6th in the Ivy League. They were missing their second player with local ties (Clark is the other) who started some games for them last season, I assume injured because I am pretty sure she was there but not dressed. But the team they put on the court last night wasn't very good.
As for Perkins' late 3ptr's....I couldn't believe she even attempted them. As for "swag,"
ok I'll go with that. I gotta believe the coach was yelling, "NO, NO....oh ok, GREAT shot!"
She did have 21 pts, 9-20 FG's, 3-8 threes, Zero TO's, and 2 assists. Those are strong
stats. Plus 38 minutes, that tells me that Verdi wants (needs) her on the floor.
As for Yale...ok apparently they're experienced. Talent wise, Clark is a player, but Marley
shut her down when they needed her. They had a few others who could hit the open J.
They were in sync enough to work for and get open looks. They scrapped inside, but we
were tougher in there. Overall, I've seen worse, but agree they weren't very good.
Anyway a good start for us. I looked up 2023-24 pre season ratings. ACC has two in the
top 10...... VaTech #8, ND #10; and UNC #16, Louisville#17, FlaST#18. League play is
going to be a real challenge as usual.
I see where Pitt has signed two players for next season:
Audrey Biggs, a 6-foot guard/ forward from Kentucky.
Kiara Williams, a 6-foot forward from Florida.
Go Pitt.
Audrey Biggs, a 6-foot guard/ forward from Kentucky.
Kiara Williams, a 6-foot forward from Florida.
Go Pitt.
I don't know how much info is out there on Womens Bball recruiting. My guess
is there may not be a lot of talented bigs coming out of h.s. Is there a Vader
somewhere who keeps tabs on Womens recruiting? It's possible Verdi might
be relying on the portal, and plans to get a big to transfer here.
You can win with 6'0"- 6'-2" forwards especially against mid major type teams.
The ACC and the other major conferences is a different deal entirely. They can
put a 6'3" - 6'4" or 5" on the floor with their forwards. VaTech for instance has
6'6" two time ACC player of the year, Elizabeth Kiley as their big. That of course
is an exception, but the top teams can do that. By the way they play Iowa tonight,
ESPN 2. Iowa went to the NCAA championship game last year and they have All American
Caitlin Clark back. That should be one hell of a game. It'll tell us just how good
VaTech is. They should be one of the better if not the best in the ACC this yr.
You wanna see top level Womens college hoops, watch this one.
If we have learned anything in the last month it was the overrating of the intelligence of your average Ivy Leaguer...
Well, after reading your post, I thought I'd google Yale Womens Bball coach.
So here goes, her name is Dalila Eshe, played at Univ. of Florida. She was an
SEC All League player and spent a few years in the WNBA. So obviously she was
a player. She was an assistant coach at a few colleges before coming to Yale. You
would think any coach with a background like that would have never done what
she did that last half minute here the other night. That was a brain fart of
immense proportion. Anyone hear a post game explanation?
I guess we can agree it wasn't her Ivy League education and overrated intelligence
that led to her decision making.
Iowa's starting lineup is 6-3, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, 5-9. They don't even have anyone taller than 6-3 on their roster. Fortunately for them, you absolutely do not need a really tall player to be a good women's college basketball team. Just find some people who can play.
Well, 6'3" is getting there height wise. As far as "finding some people who can play" of course
this is true.....But it sure as hell helps when you can have a BIG "who can play." As you know,
Caitlin Clark was the National College Player of the yr. last year. She's 6'0" and is back this yr.
A player of Clark' skill level, along with her other not so big team mates is not the norm. She
is so talented that it allows for a smaller line up to excel. But again, they do have a 6'3"
player. I consider 6'3", 4" and up as BIGS in womens college bball.
Then there's LSU's 6'3" Angel Reese, who like Clark is a true difference maker. Last yr
on a championship team she averaged 23ppg, and 15 rebpg. Those are BIG #'rs. Of
course these two players are exceptions. As for Pitt, with three players in the 6'2"
range, we wouldn't be at a disadvantage against Iowa when it comes to height. But
as you said "just find some people who can play, Think we could stay within 40
against them?
No, we probably wouldn't. But not because they are taller than us. Because they have people who can play. The notion that 6-3 is big enough but 6-2 is not is silly.
It's really hard for a program in the place where Pitt is to get a good 6-4, 6-5, 6-6 player. If those players are good they are going somewhere else.
It should also be noted that the, by far, best teams in Pitt women's basketball history had a 6-3 center and frequently played with only two players on the court taller than 6-0. But people like Shavonte Zellous and Marcedes Walker and Mallory Winn could play. So their team won, at least a lot more than Pitt teams normally do.
I did watch the second half of VaTech and Iowa.
Caitlin Clark is definitely an elite among the elite. She went for 44 in an Iowa win
(80-76). She was basically unstoppable. Both teams had solid players on the floor
who could play. The best players on the floor, as is often the case, were guards.
VaTech's Big, Kitley, had a good fourth Qtr, but was basically neutralized by an
aggresive Iowa D with smaller inside players. As for Pitt, what I'd obviously like to
see is us land a player or two with some height, 6'3" or 4" who CAN play.
