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Watched the last 7 or 8 minutes of this game today. I realize MT didn't play their best but I was surprised at how "un-athletic" their girls appeared as compared with ours. I confess to being no expert on basketball but I just can't believe they beat us by 19 points yesterday.
I watched the second half of this game, and saw the January game in person at Murfreesboro. Two possible explanations:Originally Posted by olddawgfan
In the segment of the game you watched, MTSU was slowing it down, playing "smart ball" instead of physical ball to take advantage of our (necessary at that point) over-playing on defense. By then, with that score, physical/hustle play was all we had left in our bag. Foul shots and transition layups were about our only way left to score. I think on mid-range jumpers in the second half we were 0-for-ever! MTSU played court chess and got lots of layups off of back cuts.
The TV images (angles) were visually deceiving. When I saw the game in Murfreesboro, I was immediately struck by the physical contrast. It was wide receivers (us) vs. defensive linemen and linebackers (them). They've got a lot of "chunky" girls, but they are muscular, agile, skilled, and foot quick.
It's one of the ironies of the ladies game. at least at this point in its evolution. In the absence of a vertical, above-the-rim game, it's easier to create space horizontally. Sometimes it's a Charles Barkley game under the basket.
To our advantage, evidently the refs called the first half like they did in Murfreesboro, quashing MTSU's physical play with quick whistles. Give MTSU their due. They beat us soundly after their biggest advantage had been effectively nullified.
DOH'T! My bad. You were talking about the MTSU - USM game and I started babbling about our game with them.
Sometimes the gift of encouragement is just setting the bar low for others to exceed.
I'm rooting for Southern Miss in the final. We KNOW we were as talented as they are. Beat 'em once, "turned it over" to them in the last second at Ruston.
Whereas WKU and MTSU clearly have much better programs than us right now. Yet USM beat MTSU three times, WKU once. I'd like to see WKU and MTSU falter to slow some of their momentum. We can hang with USM's program NOW.
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