Other WBB NCAA games

[CG3Dad]

Wife and I are really enjoying a great AZ vs Washington State game. OT. 15.3 secs to go!
67-65 AZ.

Now...tied at 67 each. 10.5 secs to go

UPDATE ***
Washington State wins 69-67. My wife is VERY excited! I haven’t heard her cheer this loud since her Dallas Cowboys played.

Lol

Might just put on the LMU vs AZ game (if I can find it?) from preseason a couple of years ago for old times sake, when we beat UCLA then AZ coming out.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ZagDad84]

COUGS WIN!!!

Split a double team made a lay-up at the buzzer.

Congrats to all Cougs and Coug Fans.

It has been a long time.

ZagDad

[seacatfan]

Cougs HAVE to be ranked in the next poll. They are now all alone in 2nd place in the Pac 12. I don't think the national media is paying any attention, but they have to be one of the biggest stories in the country this season.

My offer to CougTracks to trade Coach Ethridge for Coach Wynn still stands...

[Coug Tracks]

Gritty win against a really good UA program. WSU is still at a talent deficit in most games but there is a toughness individually and as a team I haven't seen really ever. We were down 16 w/ a couple of minutes to go in the 3rd quarter and it pretty much looked over. They just kept hanging around and grinding it out.

WSU has zero history and that's keeping us out of the Top 25. Polls lag but if they keep winning that will take care of itself.

Still going to be a no thank you seacatfan.

[ZagDad84]

Here you go Coug Tracks.

Front page of ESPNW - Highlight video of the Cougs win:

Link: https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Cougs HAVE to be ranked in the next poll. They are now all alone in 2nd place in the Pac 12.

Probably not this week. They were ranked 34th (receiving votes) in the AP poll and were not ranked in the USA Today's poll. Today's upset win should get them close to the Top-25 in this next round of polls.

There should be some significant movement in the polls this week as lots of ranked teams played each other. Just today #5 South Carolina hung on against #10 Kentucky (75-70) giving Kentucky 3 losses, #8 Texas A&M nipped #13 Arkansas (74-73) giving Arkansas their 4th loss. Of course the WSU upset of #7 Arizona and unranked Nebraska (6-4) took down #23 Michigan State (68-64) for both Arizona's and MSU's 2nd losses of the season.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the week was West Virginia's (8-2) dismantling of #17 Texas (92-58) on Saturday to give Texas their 2nd loss of the season.

Other ranked teams losing this week, include #11 Oregon to #1 Stanford (70-63), #10 Kentucky getting hammered by #8 Texas A&M 77-60, #13 Arkansas getting soundly beat by unranked Tennessee 88-73, AND #19 Indiana getting nipped by #12 Maryland on Monday 84-80.

I would expect to see Kentucky and Arkansas to drop significantly in the polls with two losses this week each even though most of the losses were to higher ranked teams. Most likely not near enough to help our Zags this week, but another loss or two and they would be ripe for the picking. Texas should drop significantly by getting hammered by an unranked, but very good WVU team. Indiana and Oregon will probably drop a spot or two by losing to higher ranked teams.

Lady Zags could (and probably should) jump Texas and possibly jump Indiana, so maybe Zags might be a Top-20 team this week.

If the Zags and Cougs keep winning, most of the teams (if they play the games) will play each other during league play giving additional loses to those teams directly in front of our local teams.

Lots of games involving ranked teams have been cancelled or postponed due to Covid, so keep your fingers crossed the ladies get to keep playing.

ZagDad

[seacatfan]

I saw WSU was barely in the "others receiving votes" category, but thought maybe w/ a 7-1 record that could easily be 8-0 the pollsters would finally notice them and jump them over some other teams. I keep waiting for Iowa to enter the polls but they blew it with a loss to Northwestern. Yeah, looking at the polls again maybe Tennessee is the most likely team to enter the Top 25 if anyone else drops out (although they barely beat a bad LSU team and looked bad doing it today apparently).

[ZagDad84]

I saw WSU was barely in the "others receiving votes" category, but thought maybe w/ a 7-1 record that could easily be 8-0 the pollsters would finally notice them and jump them over some other teams. I keep waiting for Iowa to enter the polls but they blew it with a loss to Northwestern. Yeah, looking at the polls again maybe Tennessee is the most likely team to enter the Top 25 if anyone else drops out (although they barely beat a bad LSU team and looked bad doing it today apparently).

Yeah, but it is the SEC, so that counts for quite a bit right?

Michigan State should drop out this week with their loss to to unranked Nebraska.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Posted at ESPNW from the AP:

Washington State Cougar's women score at OT buzzer to beat No. 7 Arizona Wildcats
Associated Press
2:30 PM PT

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Charlisse Leger-Walker made a layup at the buzzer in overtime and Washington State rallied past No. 7 Arizona 71-69 on Sunday.

"Those who know me, know I don't get too high or too low but when I made that shot I was so high," she said. "Just to get that final shot go in was so amazing and I'm so glad my teammates had the trust in me to let me try and make that play."

It wasn't her only key play, either.

Leger-Walker made a layup with two seconds left in regulation to tie it at 60, converting after a pass from sister Krystal Leger-Walker.

The sisters combined for eight of the Cougars' 11 points in overtime.

Washington State (7-1, 5-1), predicted to finish last in the Pac-12 this year, beat a Top 10 team for the first time since the 2016-2017 season. The Cougars have won four in a row, with its only loss by four points to highly ranked Oregon, and likely make its first appearance in the AP Top 25 when ratings come out Monday.

"I couldn't be happier for this team and where we are going and the future of this program," coach Kamie Ethrdige said. "We put the ball in Charlie's hands and gave her space so she could at least attack the rim at the buzzer and it won us the game."

After trailing for most of the game, the Cougars went on an 11-3 run to make it 57-all with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter.

Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with 17 points and five assists. Krystal Leger-Walker had 14 points and nine assists. Bella Murekatete added 14 points for the Cougars.

Arizona (8-2, 6-2 Pac-12) led by 16 but shot just 11% in the fourth quarter, allowing the Cougars to come back. Aari McDonald had 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats.

"They gave us a really tough time in the second half," coach Adia Barnes said. "It was a tough break but it has to be a learning lesson for our team. We made some tough shots down the stretch but it wasn't enough."

Article Link with video: https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...izona-wildcats

In all fairness, watching Arizona play defense against the Cougs today on the last play of OT, reminded me a lot of watching the Lady Zags play defense on Portland on the last play of our game in the WCC tournament.

Like the Zags last year in the WCC tournament against Portland, you could have been sure that either Andrews or Fowler were going to handle the ball on the last play against the Zags, the Wildcats should have been pretty sure that one of the sisters (Charlisse or Krystal Leger-Walker) would have been the one to handle the ball on the last play since they had scored 8 of the Cougs last 11 points. The Wildcats played a similar defense as the Zags with a similar result.

Great news for the Cougs, not so good for the Wildcats and some unwanted memories for Zag fans.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Cougs make it into AP Top-25 at #25.

Great job Lady Cougs. Well Earned.

As expected Michigan State dropped out as did Missouri State. Tennessee and WSU made it into the Top-25 this week. Kentucky drops from #10 to #12 despite 2 losses last week. Arkansas drops from #13 to #17 with their 2 losses this week.

Apparently, if you are a mid-major, if you are not playing games during the week is sufficient to drop you in the Top-25 rankings.

Lady Zags move up 1 spot to #20 this week bypassing Texas.

Link: https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basket...sociated-press

USA Today Coaches poll comes out tomorrow.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

From the AP and posted by ESPNW:

No. 25 Washington State Cougars earn 1st ranking in women's basketball AP Top 25
Associated Press
10:35 AM PT

Kamie Ethridge was surprised to hear that Washington State had never been ranked before.

Now the Cougars coach can add that to the team's list of accomplishments: They entered The Associated Press women's college basketball poll at No. 25 on Monday.

"I honestly didn't know we'd never been ranked," Ethridge said. "I heard a lot about the lows we've experienced and talked to our team about the fact we have no banners. We have one NCAA tournament appearance in the history of the NCAAs. A big part of our recruiting players was about hanging the first banner and being a first. How exciting it is to be on the way up."

The ranking comes a day after Washington State beat then-No. 7 Arizona 71-69 in overtime on a buzzer-beating layup by freshman Charlisse Leger-Walker. Washington State (7-1) has won five of its first six Pac-12 games for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

"We're enjoying the process right now," said Ethridge, who took over the program in 2018. "The team has had a lot of firsts and this is another one of those. We'll celebrate and acknowledge and enjoy the feeling."

While Washington State was enjoying its first ranking, Stanford tightened its grip on the No. 1 spot in the poll. The Cardinal received 29 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel. They were followed by Louisville, North Carolina State, UConn and South Carolina. The Wolfpack received the other No. 1 vote.

Not much was expected from the Cougars this season, who were picked last in the Pac-12 preseason polls by the media and coaches.

"The team grabbed hold of being picked 12th and carried that with a big fat chip on their shoulder," Ethridge said. "They don't verbalize a lot. ... They have a lot of pride about what they can do with this program."

They've definitely opened some eyes with two victories over Top 25 teams after also beating Oregon State last month. It's the first time since the 2014-15 season that they have two wins over ranked opponents. The lone loss came by four points to Oregon.

Ethridge hopes to guide the team to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1991.

The schedule doesn't get easier for the Cougars, with four straight road games, starting with a trip to Los Angeles this weekend to face USC and No. 8 UCLA. The Cougars don't return home until Jan. 27 when they have back-to-back games against No. 1 Stanford. The Cardinal continued their winning ways this week, beating then-No. 11 Oregon. The Ducks moved up one spot to 10th.

JOINING THE REST OF THE PACK

Washington State was the final Power Five program to earn a ranking. Every other team in the Pac-12, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC has had at least one appearance in the Top 25.

Link: https://www.espn.com/womens-college-...ball-ap-top-25

Well done Lady Cougs.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

For those keeping track of the Polls.

While the polls "supposedly" are not supposed to have any impact on the NCAA selection committee, in a 64-team field, if you are in the Top-25 your chances of getting an at-large bid is pretty good. In a 48-team field, depending on the number of "automatic qualifiers" and the number of "at-large" bids, if you are in the Top-15 you would have a pretty good chance and in the 16-25 you would have a chance, maybe not so good.

I just found out that Ohio State Wbb is taking a self-imposed, post season ban due to improprieties in an effort to avoid further NCAA sanctions. Ohio State is currently ranked 15th in the AP poll. Thus, one more obstacle in front of the Lady Zags has been removed.

ZagDad

[seacatfan]

Congrats to the Cougs, well deserved.

[SkipZag]

Go Cougars!!

The Lady Zags know they have to win out... with this year as unpredictable as it is, they just need to control what they can and hope for the best, and I think they can and will.

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

The Lady Zags know they have to win out... with this year as unpredictable as it is, they just need to control what they can and hope for the best, and I think they can and will.

IMO, it all depends on how many team tournament the NCAA decides to hold. A 64-team tournament, you probably could still lose a game (I did not say that) or maybe even 2 and still get in. If the NCAA holds a 48-team tournament, you better win out to be assured of getting in. I would expect that this year's GU team would have to be ranked near or in the Top-10 to get into a 16-team tournament. Likely, nope, but just win baby and let the chips fall where they may.

ZagDad