Duke

[champion110]

OK guys, barring a miricle from a overrated CUSA team, what will it take to beat Duke?

Obviously, Erica has to keep doing what she is doing. Who knows? Maybe this is a grand plan to get Duke concentrating on her while Amisha comes alive.

Trina will have to go up against Iciss Tillis. Iciss is dangerous because she can hit from many places. She can even nail the 3. Her weakness is her size. She is tall enough, but not strong. Frierson will need to out muscle her.

Amisha will have her work cut out against their post player (can't remember her name). Their post gets into foul trouble easily and is not consistent. So, this depends (and the game depends) on Amisha stepping it up. She has to make the open layups too.

I would probably put Amber on Alana. We may have to double team her even. She is VERY good. She, also, uses her left hand and that makes her difficult to defend. She has a giant arm span and uses it well, as well.

Tasha needs to pressure pressure pressure. She is capable of hitting a tres, as well. She needs to step up and do that to keep their defense from collapsing on our post.

Lakiste needs to step in on fire. Her speed is a great advantage and we will need every advantage out there for this one.

This game makes me nervous, I will have to admit. Duke used to not be a legit team, but now is a very legit top 2 team. We have to be focused and ready to do this. Last night was not an upset. This will be.

I would probably put Amber on Alana.

Thats what it sounds like they are going to do.

I think the keys to our victory are:
1. Hit the easy shots missed layups cost us a lot of points last night. we'll need those points the rest of the tourney
2. Our big girls have to stay out of foul trouble
3. Don't fall behind early in the game. we tend to do that against good teams (e.g., Tennessee) and then play them well the rest of the game.
4. Complete game from everyone Erica can't carry us all the way to N.O. by herself

[glm47]

Concerning stopping Beard, make her work like hell to get the ball -face guard her all over the floor even when she doesn't have the ball. Second, take away her left hand - overplay her to that side and make her go to her right and use the right hand.

[champion110]

Good points. They have another guard that was injured last year named Monique Curry. I have watched her play and would equate her offense with Obaze's. Defense is not as good, though. She is like Amber in that she can make big plays and does it quietly, so you don't notice. I think she will probably fall to Erica.

[RougeDawg]

From the Texas Tech site:

Here is my prediction in the La Tech v Duke matchup.

The officials will protect the Duke stars. La Tech's inside girls will be in foul trouble early.

That just leaves Beard to shut down wonder woman which she can do.

Game to Duke because the media's player of the year must make it to the finals. No way TV and the NCAA let Duke lose in the Sweet 16..

I'm just happy that someone outside of Ruston noticed the NCAA bias toward the media darlings!

[HogDawg]

I think the keys to our victory are:
1. Hit the easy shots missed layups cost us a lot of points last night. we'll need those points the rest of the tourney
2. Our big girls have to stay out of foul trouble
3. Don't fall behind early in the game. we tend to do that against good teams (e.g., Tennessee) and then play them well the rest of the game.
4. Complete game from everyone Erica can't carry us all the way to N.O. by herself

I agree with all of your points. But I want to add a comment to one of yours and add a couple of my own:

1) Hit the easy shots - Take what the other team gives us. Last night I was stunned at how many "easy" shots the Lady Techsters missed. It was one of those times I could REALLY see a difference between MEN'S basketball and WOMEN'S basketball. Men just don't miss easy layups and 2 foot shots like that at this level. The Lady Techsters should have beaten T Tech by 30 points.

2) Trina Frierson needs to be more physical - Trina looked terrible against Montana and in the first half against T Tech. She eventually got physical against T Tech and it made a huge difference. But I noticed that Budke fed her the ball REPEATEDLY when we started the 2nd half. It was almost as if Frierson was in a funk and Budke was determined to get her out of it. Against Duke, she better come ready to play.

3) More players need to contribute - What bothers me MOST about the last two games? Only a couple of players contributed in each game. Other players --such as Carter and Frierson-- need to step it up an notch. Frierson improved in the 2nd half against TT, but we need a full 40 minutes out of her AND Carter.

4) Better coaching - Quit letting ONE (1) player from the opposition KILL us before making adjustments. We never did stop Deming (from Montana) and she burned us for 29 pts. Stop Deming and you stop Montana, I guarantee it. Last night, it was deja vu. Erin Grant, a meek little T Tech player who only scored 4 pts against Maine, torched us for 19 pts in THE FIRST HALF alone. Budke finaly shut Grant down in the 2nd half, but he should have adjusted sooner. Against Duke he won't have the luxury of waiting until halftime to stop a key player. If he is slow to react against Duke, Beard will NUKE us, whereas the other girls only burned us.

HD

[faninmonroe]

Duke looks beatable right now - Marquete's zone slowed down Duke somewhat.

Duke is playing pretty piss poor - if they play like that against us - we win easy

I expect the #1 ranked Due to show up for us.

[weunice]

I expect the #1 ranked Due to show up for us.

Have we ever played a team that did not bring their A game? Yes, I expect the world beaters we have heard about all season to be geared up to play us. We are going to have to be healthy and play the game of the year to make it past Duke.

[champion110]

I noticed that Duke trapped Marq. constantly. Not sure if they will do that with us or not. When you use the trap against an athletic team like the Techsters, you open up someone down the court. We will have to take care of the ball and exploit the trap to make them stop doing it.

Amisha just HAS to be in this game. If they watch tapes of the first two games, they will concentrate on Erica Smith Taylor.

I say open up the game with a Tasha 3 pointer. Then go to Amber for a good slash. After that, we play to the post. By the time they make adjustments, Erica picks up her game and goes at them.

Frierson can take Iciss Tillis, but she will have to be on. Iciss is a skinny girl, but she has a magic tough. She is all about finesse. Frierson is all about toughness.

If Amisha is on, we can take the post from that slow girl they have down low. Amisha just HAS to be playing the way she did before the last two games.

Duke is an EXCELLENT team. They have a lot of weapons. This is going to take great coaching and everyone executing well for us to have a chance.

[EJ]

Take the ball to the goal and get to the foul line. If Marquette can do it, I am sure Amber Obaze and Erica Smith-Taylor can do it even better.

[glm47]

Unfortunately, I think it has already been predetermined that Duke needs to get to the final four and preferably the championship game. The brackets were set up to allow that to happen.

Don't expect any favors from the officiating.

[markay714]

Y'all act like we're dealing with professional wrestling or something with this "predetermined" garbage that Duke needs to get to the championship game or whatever. Clearly seeding is an issue if you have to work harder to get to the same goal. In close games those "favors from the officitiating" thing can matter. If our team comes out hot and plays even remotely as well as they did Monday night and Duke plays like they did last night, it won't matter. Obviously neither of those things are givens.

Wouldn't it be nice if the tourney for the women was more like the men's - where you didn't even have the hint of agendas!

[Dwayne From Minden]

Y'all act like we're dealing with professional wrestling or something with this "predetermined" garbage that Duke needs to get to the championship game or whatever.

Wouldn't it be nice if the tourney for the women was more like the men's - where you didn't even have the hint of agendas!

Yep, and that's the problem with the women's game - it may change next year with the 8 sites, but that is yet to be seen...

Even the NATIONAL talking heads all week have basically said the same thing - emphasizing how the men's tournament needs to get away from the "pod" system so that it will not revert to the farce that the women's tournament has become, where agendas and predetermined teams take precedent over competition...

[TechDawgMc]

I was pleased to see the Techsters shift into a zone occassionally against TTech and really confuse the offense. That's something we haven't seemed willing to do in the past. Duke has shown a tendency to be vulnerable to zone defenses. I hope we at least try it -- and use it if it works.

We certainly don't need to let Dukes point guard blow by us the way Grant did Monday, but I was very impressed with Budke's halftime adjustment in that regard. No points in the second half. Game might have been a lot tighter if Bicknell were there (sorry, couldn't resist the easy shot)