JuJu Watkins on SC has got to be one of the best players in the country. To me she’s the best player on the court, pound for pound.
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Yeah, I’m okay with anyone else on USC shooting but you cant leave her open
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She can shoot in traffic. Averaging 26 points a game.
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Wilke looks to be the best shooter on the Utes. She is nails.
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Utah blowing this one open. 61-44, start of the fourth. Pili has been awesome.
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Hold on ladies
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It’s the Pili show, again. It seems Wilke is becoming more consistent.
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What a performance! So great to see the Utes back on track.
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Pili - 13-16 from the field including 5-6 from three
Thats a night!
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Great win. Without Pili, our 3 pt % would be 20%. Sheeesh. Just ridiculous.
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It’s going to be interesting against UCLA, which just upset #3 CU in Boulder. UCLA has great size.
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With Kneepkens this team would make a legitimate run at the ship. Just might anyway.
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While the team misses Kneepkens terribly, I am not sure we would still have the horses for the championship. As I have said earlier, any team with a decent big is going to have good games against us, and have more of an ability to slow down Pili’s inside game.
I was in Connecticut and in the game prior to the Utah/South Carolina game, I watched UCLA up close and personal just chew up and spit out Florida State. They are a big team and returned both of their senior guards (covid years). Charisma Osborne had 22 against CU last night and the big Lauren Betts had 20. UCLA is bigger and better than last year, and frankly, I think should be the favorites to win.
That said, I have noticed that after Stanford successfully pressed hard on the outside against us, that USC worked pretty hard last night and, like Stanford, really pressured the Utes motion on the outside, which of course opens up the middle for Pili, if they can get her the ball without turning it over.
Nice to see Palmer back, and she played energetically for the time she had. She was a bit rusty last night and saw her pass up a couple of open threes to drive. That was a pretty big brace on her knee.
Third game in a row where I praise Wilke. Her shooting is really finding the mark, after a slow start. I wonder if Juddy has worked with her on her shot.
About Watkins, she is just great and really knows how to get her shot off the dribble. McQueen, Young, and Wilke all took turns trying to guard her. If we had a bit more mobile size (maybe Ross as she matures in her game) would have been a better match up. I actually thought, maybe put Ross on her, but Ross was busy playing defense against the USC bigs.
I was on pins and needles watching the game, then all of a sudden I look at the score and we are up 17 points. Though it was a 20 point win, it sure didn’t feel like it.
Final note, saw Coach Roberts talking to the refs during breaks during the 3rd quarter. There were at least three very hard fouls by USC in that quarter where I thought they could have been called (what are they?) Tier one fouls? Very hard fouls where there was not attempt to play the ball. That said, the refs were terrible for both sides last night. USC had several they got away with and Utah got away with a lot as well. It was a physical game.
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Good stuff, Lucky. Candidly, if I were coaching against Utah, I wouldn’t let Pili beat me. I would go with a modified match-up zone and have 2 on Pili. Let Utah inconsistent outside shooting beat you. If so, so be it.
Once Pili gets going, she does it from both inside and outside. This opens up more outside shooting opportunities for other Utah shooters. So, my strategy is hounding Pili with a 5 and 3/4, just smother her. UCLA has enough of size to challenge Utah outside shooters, anyway. If Utah shooters start to hit their shots, then change it up, if necessary. In short, defend Utah inside-out.
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Glad you are being candid. That is what I would do as well. The main thing with missing both Kneepkens and Palmer is their more consistent outside shooting which allowed Pili to wreak havoc.
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Don’t you guys know that opposing coaches are reading this message board? Stop giving them good ideas!
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I’ve got a solution that would bring very formidable inside presence and height to the Utah women’s basketball team, and probably an NCAA championship. Keba Keita makes an announcement that he is gender fluid, some days he assumes the identity of male, other days female. It’s only coincidence that the male and female days so happen to correspond to the days the men and women’s teams have competition respectively.
I’d hope an NCAA ski competitor wouldn’t try something like the above against the Skiing Utes.
Next weeks topic for discussion: What if Napoleon had a B-52?
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Everybody knows all the most knowledgeable coaches share their insight on boards like this or Facebook fan groups.
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Got a biggie against UCLA tomorrow afternoon. We need fan support – I’m going.
Utah is currently tied for 5th in the conference with USC and WSU. We really could use another big win tomorrow. Certainly will be a very tall task.
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I’ll be there. It’ll be close.
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