#1 Iowa - #1 South Carolina National Championship Game Thread
- Thread starter M1911A1Hawkeye
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skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
Johnson was motivated after last year’s shade by Caitlin (which wasn’t cool let’s be honest).
Johnson lost 30 pounds and worked tirelessly on her jump shot. And Cardoso and Johnson’s D on Caitlin was the difference imo. She really took Caitlin out of her 3 point game once she started guarding her. So much so Caitlin was even driving for wild two point shots instead of needed 3 pt attempts in those last few minutes.
I hope Caitlin also uses this as motivation and works on her basically nonexistent midrange game. Just learn to stop and pop. She will need it at the next level. She could be deadly.
Those running bank shots on the right side are fun to watch, but against premier athletes they push her further out and are a much, much lower percentage shot. And the WNBA is full of premier players.
Having said that, would have liked to have seen more multiple screens being set to get Caitlin easier looks with Johnson guarding her. Caitlin logged a ton of minutes this season, especially coming down the stretch. Her legs had to be rubbery after that amazing first quarter and the tough D on her.
Also, a few minutes for Goodman et al, and play the a 4 and 5 together some? But guarding the perimeter would have been a problem.
Hannah is a finesse 4 and not a physical 5. Jensen was visibly frustrated with her lack of blocking out I believe and maybe that is why she never reentered?? But man they asked a lot of her this year. Playing out of position like that.
I disagree Huck. They were taller AND better. Some real matchup nightmares and seemed to shoot the ball much better this year. They earned it.
We had a great season - fought hard, played great team ball, and had some epic Caitlin moments. Thank you Caitlin! Thank you Hawks! It was fun.
And it appears Bluder has put together her best recruiting class. On paper at least.
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skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
And the only team to beat South Carolina in the past few years. That is saying something because the SEC is full of studs and quality teams.
BigD
Well-Known Member
6’7” yah think? Was that shack in a wig?
One thing that is exceptional clear to me.
The coaching staff is able to get eventually get every ounce out of their players. AND, knows how to knit together the best unit they can with what they have. All you have to do is look at Affolter, Marshall, and the difference in Stuelke in just one year.
I mean, it's one of the reasons why I always feel a bit of extra 'pride' when Iowa football does well and why I appreciate Ferentz.
With the attention of two final fours in a row, definitely a short, but wide open window for recruiting. The existence of Clark will keep that window cracked open for 10-15 years. Or more. Hopefully long enough for Coach B to hang it up and Coach Martin to step in.
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Nothing to hang heads about. I'm bummed the ride is over but happy I was able to witness it all. What a season.
If not for covid Clark woulda gotten 21 more assists to finish 1st all time in that plus get 10 more rebounds to get to 1000 of those. Her overall numbers are out of this world. I watched not all of her games but since the middle of her Freshman yr I saw most of them that were on TV anyway. There's never been anyone like this in the womens game and I know that's been said a million times.
I'm bummed that they couldn't quite win it all. But man there's 300 plus other schools that wish they'd have been in the last 2 final 4s and championship games and weren't. Haters gonna hate there's no convincing those that don't want to be. But man what a run this has been
If not for covid Clark woulda gotten 21 more assists to finish 1st all time in that plus get 10 more rebounds to get to 1000 of those. Her overall numbers are out of this world. I watched not all of her games but since the middle of her Freshman yr I saw most of them that were on TV anyway. There's never been anyone like this in the womens game and I know that's been said a million times.
I'm bummed that they couldn't quite win it all. But man there's 300 plus other schools that wish they'd have been in the last 2 final 4s and championship games and weren't. Haters gonna hate there's no convincing those that don't want to be. But man what a run this has been
There's like 350 teams in D1 women's basketball. Any single one of them, save one, would have preferred a loss in the championship.
In the spirit of goalpost moving...
You're not a GOAT team if you don't have consecutive Final Four wins.
That leaves Iowa the only one to do it in the last half decade (half decade sounds more impressive than 5 years). South Carolina's never done it.
Iowa, Mississippi St, Notre Dame, UConn (repeatedly), Tennessee and in the way back machine, USC.
South Carolina's an upstart. Who cares if you didn't lose during the regular season or won a championship. It's nothing if you don't have consecutive Final Four wins.
Love it... There's been a lot of that going on lately as I'm sure you're well aware.
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
Having said that, would have liked to have seen more multiple screens being set to get Caitlin easier looks with Johnson guarding her. Caitlin logged a ton of minutes this season, especially coming down the stretch. Her legs had to be rubbery after that amazing first quarter and the tough D on her.
THIS: Caitlin was exhausted by the rabid D during the UConn game
That Croatian Witch hounded her relentlessly the entire time we were on offense from bringing
the ball inbounds to the end of our possession
She only had a day to recover and SC played the first game and had more time to recover
The SC player was just as relentless as the UConn player
Throughout the entire second half I was waiting for more screens when Caitlin crossed half court
Since nobody else was capable of scoring and there were many empty possssions, I wondered why
we didn't set 2/3 player screens every time down the court
If Caitlin shoots behind screens from LogoLand everytime, she certainly would have made
three more 3's, and the game would have been closer and there would have been more pressure
on the GameCocks
The tournament draw for the Hawks was incredibly Tough:
West Virginia, Uconn and South Carolina Took its Toll on the Hawks
Caitlin was certainly The SuperWoman of college basketball, women and men
I am fairly certain that she has not time or desire to suffer social media
The Sports World knows what she has achieved with style and class
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I'm fully aware of it.
The goalpost moving is comical. And hypocritical. I started a list of it in another thread somewhere.
I couldn't put it into words what I was seeing, until my wife did. Just how vicious women are to other women. She's not super passionate about sports. Yes, she's a native Iowa and I'm not. She's a UNI grad, I'm the out-of-state Hawkeye. So, absolutely, she's been on the Caitlin/Hawks train, but not like me.
It was my wife who'd sing out "gaslighting"....."gatekeeping"....when these former female players and female media people worked so hard to negate the success of a young woman. It's a fascinating double standard. And indicative of the societal undulation we're seeing, but that discussion is far deeper and is best left elsewhere.
vegashawki
Well-Known Member
Bluder & Jan pass the torch to Caitlin & Kate
It is pretty rare for someone who plays at genius-level to make a good coach. It is just too hard for them to understand how normal people see the game. Larry Legend is about the only exception to this rule that I can think of.
I think the obvious Bluder successor is Jennie Baranczyk (nee Lillis). She was really good at Drake, and she is now replicating that in a P5 conference with Oklahoma. Style-wise, it is clear she was influenced a lot by Bluder.
Perhaps she has a good enough thing going that she wouldn't want to follow a legend at Iowa, but she would be a great choice.
#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
I thought the same thing when she was at Drake. She would be a very natural choice to take over the reins.
judzeehawk
Well-Known Member
I want to applaud each and every one of you for keeping the women's threads alive. It just goes to show people do actually do care about women's sports! Go Hawks!
PS Women's officiating is absolutely HORRIBLE! @ClintoIafan
PS Women's officiating is absolutely HORRIBLE! @ClintoIafan
