Agree that ND Guards -- Particularly Sky -- Look Good
by dillon77 (2018-06-10 15:59:04)
Edited on 2018-06-10 15:59:45

In reply to: Of the guards you listed as ready take Whalen's spot  posted by Fighting_Artichoke

Post Reply Return to McGraw's Bench

...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.

Thanks for the education. I did see the Storm/Sparks game
by Domerduck  (2018-06-11 13:48:04)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

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.
Parker's Only Played Four Games This Year...
by dillon77  (2018-06-11 16:50:58)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

..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.

Updated stats for those guards from my post above
by Fighting_Artichoke  (2018-06-11 15:50:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

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

Nice to see ND guards 1 & 2. Both Loyd & Diggens were called
by Domerduck  (2018-06-12 04:12:21)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

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.
Sky & Jewell still on the only USA3x3 World champs-OR4 lose
by Domerduck  (2018-06-12 11:43:14)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

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.