Natalie Achonwa started for the Fever and had a pretty good game - 21 minutes, 4-6 from the field, 3-4 from the line, 11 points, 5 rebounds.
She has started every game and played an average of about 20 minutes. 7.7 points, 51.5% from the field, 76.9% from the free throw line, 6.3 rebounds. Very good production for the minutes. Stephanie Mavunga is her backup.
if she chose Stanford over ND when picking a school, do we make any Final Fours this decade?
It was good before Skylar
2006-07: 6,364
2007-08: 7,016
2008-09: 7,168
Skylar years
2009-10: 8,377
2010-11: 8,553
2011-12: 8,571
2012-13: 8,978
Current
2016-17: 8,104
2017-18: 7,342
Clearly, Skylar brought a lot of people to the arena partly because the team was much better with her, partly because she was such a good face of the program, and partly because she was a well known high school star in South Bend. Regardless, attendance spiked when Skylar arrived. I assume non-local interest spiked comparably.
Regarding the drop-off last season... Ticket prices have been raised significantly the last two seasons. Prices still aren't close to the cost for men's tickets, but the days of four good seats for the season for $400 are long gone. A lot of people, especially older fans, bought the four pack for two people for the comfort of having empty seats next to them. Price hikes have eliminated some season ticket buyers altogether, but the price hikes also have caused a lot of people (including me) to scale down from four seats to two. My observation from last season is that actual in-person attendance was not significantly different from 2016-17.
The other question to ask in addition to the number of fans Skylar brought to the program is how many great players has she brought to Notre Dame? ND might have gotten Kayla McBride (top 20) and Jewell Loyd (top 5) anyway, but I have to believe having Skylar there mattered; and with the floodgates opened, ND has been fishing in the big pond consistently.
dramatic Final Four wins will boost sales for the upcoming season. Let's hope that a major boost in prices isn't part of the deal!
Pays off. Skylar is coming into her own. She put on a clinic. What a great role model. I am blessed to have seen her play since she was in the 9th grade.
than I've ever seen her
Looks like somebody is trying to play her way into the starting point guard position on the U.S. national team.
Are You Basing Your Header on WNBA Play This Year?
If so, the head on head is that Sky is averaging 23.00 ppg and 6.0 assists per game.
Sue Bird averages 6.6 assist per game (most in the league) and 8.7 points per game. But, on Seattle, she doesn't have to score a lot of points because she's (largely) dishing off to Breanna Stewart (21.5 ppg) and Jewell Loyd (20.1 ppg).
But the assist queen and field general roles are exactly what is expected of Ms. Bird on the U.S. National Team, as well. And that's what I believe Sue Bird is very much going to be the starting point guard when the 2018 FIBA World Cup begins in September.
And guess, what, the guard starting next to her will be Diana Taurasi, who is still pumping in 18.6 ppg.
Since the last Olympics, some points you see on boards regarding the U.S. National team is:
- it's a tight-knit club and once you're in, it's hard to be thrown off;
- Coach Dawn Staley is actually a long-time member of that club (player, assistant coach, now head coach) and likes her peers;
- nonetheless, the U.S. leadership has to look for a time when their 35+ year-old guard duo starts riding off into the sunset.
But that won't be for this tournament. Dawn wants to get off to a resounding start and she wants best available on deck. And guess what, Bird and Taurasi -- both of whom took the winter season off -- look refreshed and are playing well.
The open slot is that of Lindsay Whelan, who is no longer playing internationally. One could make an argument that Seimone Augustus and/or Angel McCoughtry might also be "walking the line" this year, with the likes of Skylar, Jewell Loyd, Layshia Clarendon, Kayla McBride and Chelsea Gray playing well and knocking on the door. Even the Indiana Mitchells -- Tiffany (who played for Dawn at South Carolina) and Kelsea (who is doing well at the pro level) need to be considered.
My gut is that there will not be that much turnover for this initial turnover, but there very well could be for the Olympics two years after that, particularly with Augustus/McCoughtry.
A lot will depend on the team makeup, but right now I see Sky and Jewell as being major players for the Whelan slot. What's interesting is that Taurasi often slides into the point role, which means the new guard could be just as much a scorer as distributor. Sky and/or Jewell fit that mode.
If and when the taller guards (Augustus/McCoughtry) rotate off, that's when I can see Kmac coming into play to challenge for a slot.
on Olympic team, I don't think Tiffany Mitchell or Layshia Clarendon have a chance, as they are not playing well this season. And Clarendon isn't even starting, having logged only 92 minutes this season (in their six games). The PER and Assists/game of the contenders you list:
PER__Ass
27.5__3.4__Loyd
23.5__6.2__C. Gray
21.7__6.0__Diggins
20.0__4.3__Taurasi
19.5__1.8__K. Mitchell
18.1__6.6__Bird
15.5__2.8__McBride
11.3__2.2__T Mitchell
5.5 __2.2__L. Clarendon
I think Chelsea Gray is a serious contender, but Skylar should be the front-runner to take Whalen's spot. Taurasi is still good on offense, but her defense is not good. Bird at least extends a consistent effort defensively, but she is not good on defense either. However, I agree that both will make the team and even start.
...right now and should be in very prime contention for that Clarendon spot.
Maybe one -- at most, two -- other new folks may make the team, but I think the real key for larger change will be for the Olympics in 2020.
In my mind, the perfect segue might be having Bird become an assistant to help with back-court play.
BTW, I got all those names off the U.S. National Team roster. Clarendon had come off a hot year in 2017...didn't realize she had been having such a limited (and down year). Boy, things change quickly.
Thanks for the input...I always find National Team discussions interesting.
where the Storm blew them out in LA. Bird did look good both with her passes/assists and her 3 point shot. She probably is a lock but i do think the national team shoudl bring in younger blood. I was hoping with Geno gone in wouldn't be such a click but you can't arge performance and both her and Taurasi do work hard on their craft. I really hope they find a spot for Skylar.
Is Candace Parker still on the US team? She did not look that good on LA's team. It might have been just a bad game.
..and that Seattle game was by far her worst. She just scored 24 against Chicago.
Here are her stats (see link).
She has announced that she no longer plays international ball, so she won't be in any of the upcoming discussions on who will be on the team/who won't be.
PER__Ass
25.2__3.2__Loyd
24.8__6.0__Diggins
23.0__5.7__C. Gray
21.7__4.4__Taurasi
19.1__2.4__K. Mitchell
15.1__6.1__Bird
12.8__2.0__McBride
11.9__2.9__T Mitchell
8.5__3.1__Whalen
8.5 __1.9__L. Clarendon
out by the announcer for the 3x3 World Championships for leading previous US teams to 3&3 World championships in 2012 (Diggins) & 2014 (Loyd). They said Ionescu is playing a similar role on this years team as the "spoon that stirs the coffee" as those two did back then.
The current team with 4 Ducks (Sabrina, Boley, Gildon, & Hebard) went 4-0 in pool play beating all 4 teams by getting 21+ before the 10 minutes ran out including defending world champ Russia (21-13). I watched all 4 games so far as they are a lot of fun. They start the elimination round today where USA plays Italy. We will see if they can match Sky and Jewell's feat which were the only times the USA won it all.
in the quarters to Italy 17-14 so don't even get to the medal round. Italy won it all beating Russia 16-12, the same team the 4 Duck women beat 21-13. I watched Italy's only loss to a Czech team which one of their players got injured during their match against Italy but still managed to win 21-20 to win their pool. They lost to Russia in the quarters and also didn't medal.
Quarters is a tough time to lose one close game. USA was by far the youngest team. Team USa will need to put together a good plan before the Olympics to get top players so they can win the Gold. The international teams have very crafty veterans and the game is different than regular bball so you do need to understand strategy. I do think Sabrina should be on that team given this experience as she was clearly the best player on USA but the rest should be open and hopefully we get an ND player on the team.