This Was The Season That Was! WBB - 2018/2019

[Red Don]

2018 /19 Women's Basketball Game Schedule
http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=100&SPID=25&SPSID=31

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Husker Ladies (14-16) (9-9) (0-1)

Coming off a 21 Win Season in 2017/18, the Husker WBB Team lost a ton of leadership and experience from graduation. There was only a single Senior on this year's team. This lack of experience is reflected in this season's 14 wins, despite returning several stand-out starters and a top-20 class of recruits; And their not qualifying for post-season play.

Inexperience was particularly evident in inability to close out contested games. Ten losses were decided by ten points or less, and six of the losses were decided by five points or less.

Next Year's team will have Three Seniors, Two Juniors, and the returning class of Four Freshmen, now seasoned Sophomores. With an incoming class of three highly-regarded recruits, the WBB Team is Poised to Improve on last season's record and return to Post-Season play.

McKeown: Husker women are bullish on future, even with no tournament bid
"We just need to get over the hump. What’s it going to take to make that happen?”

Leaders. Clear go-to players. Williams is bullish on this, and it’s good to hear.

91 percent of the Huskers’ scoring returns. Haiby, a gifted scorer and NU’s best player driving to the basket — Williams seems especially insistent that center Kate Cain can dominate games more than she thinks. Brown has natural scoring talent, Taylor Kissinger is the team’s best shooter and Hannah Whitish has been that player before. A three-player recruiting class includes Australian star Issie Bourne, who has international experience and is one of the nation’s best young players.

it’s not hard to envision NU making a run to the NCAA tournament. A run to the second weekend, in fact. The pieces are there.

https://www.omaha.com/huskers/plus/mckewon-amy-williams-husker-women-are-bullish-on-future-even/article_3cd66e40-7b83-579d-816e-5964626b22f9.html

Season Over

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GOOOOOO LADY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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GRIT; NO QUIT LADY HUSKERS!

Quick Run-Down:

Sat, 10/27

Secret Scrimmage vs AZ ST (66-57) - Pssst! Huskers 9 pts short; outrebounded by only 3

...(Exhibition Game)
Sat, 11/3 vs Nebraska-Kearney (94-41) - Ladies start Fast; Freshmen Look Good! Should be Fun Year

Out-of-Conference (11) Record: 5-6

Wed, 11/7, vs Drake, (L, 83-77) - Close Loss; Both teams roar back fm deficits in high-scoring

Sun, 11/11, vs USC Upstate, (W, 87-64) - Kissinger sets new School Record; 6 of 6 Treys in Win

Fri, 11/16, @ Washington St, (L, 87-84 2OT) - Down 13 pts @ HT; Ladies rally, unable to finish in OT

...(Miami Thanksgiving Classic @ Miami, FL - Record: 1-1; Third Place)...
Fri, 11/23, vs Miami, (L, 82-68) - Ladies rally fm 22pts down; but leave too many pts on the floor
Sun, 11/25, vs Radford, (W, 77-39) - Huskers bounce-back B1G-Time in Coach Amy's 30th NU Win

...(ACC/Big Ten Challenge: Series Record: 2-6)...
Thu, 11/29, @ Louisville, (L, 85-68) - AP#4 Louisville's stifling Defense proves too much to overcome

Sun, 12/2, @ Creighton, (L, 74-65) - Disappointing Loss-Ladies Fight Backbut Shots Won't Fall
Wed, 12/5, vs Kansas, (W, 58-52) - Frosh shine in Ladies 6 pt win in close game
Sat, 12/8, vs San Jose State, (W, 96-63) - Teamwork + Shots Falling = Huskers Dispatch Spartans
Sat, 12/15, vs Denver, (W, 96-71) - Romanowski=33pts (8-8,3s) Huskers=96 pts; 5 in Double Digits
Tue, 12/18, @ Arkansas, (L, 84-80) - Uneven Refing - Scoreboard problems contribute to close Loss

Merry Christmas!

B1G Conference Play (18) Record: 9-9
Fri, 12/28, vs Michigan, (W, 70-56) - Team Gels in 4th Qtr goes on 33-13 run for the Win!
Mon, 12/31, @ Ohio State, (W, 78-69) - First Win in six tries vs Ohio State - Monkey's off our Back

- 2019 - Happy New Years!

Thu, 1/3, @ Iowa, (L, 77-71) - Huskers Hang Tough despite Iowa's Gustafson (28/17) & 43 pts in Paint
Tue, 1/8, vs Maryland, (L, 81-63) - Tale of the Tape; Terps Outshoot Huskers @ FGs & Treys
Sun, 1/13, vs Rutgers, (L, 63-59) - Grit, No Quit Lady Huskers Rebound to Tie, final shots won't fall

Thu, 1/17, @ Illinois, (W, 77-67) - Husker Ladies rush into lead, Don't look bk. Veerbeek career hi 19 pts
Sun, 1/20, vs Minnesota, (W, 63-57) - Not so 'Nicea' Sparks 'No Quit' Huskers; Take down #23
Thu, 1/24, vs Northwestern, (L, 58-54) - 'No Quit' Huskers rally fm 10 pt deficit, lead in final minute, fall short
Sun, 1/27, @ Wisconsin, (L, 70-69) - Disappointing Buzzer-Beater Loss To The Badgers
Thu, 1/31, @ Purdue, (W, 84-64) - Hot-Shooting Husker Gals Gel, Blow Past Boilermakers
Thu, 2/7, @ Michigan, (L, 67-61) - Ladies Play Tough; But Let Game get Away from them At the end
Sun, 2/10, vs Purdue, (W, 67-61) - Grit, No Quit Lady Huskers Down 10, Surge To Win! Leigha w/30 pts
Thu, 2/14, @ Maryland, (L, 89-63) - 7th Ranked Maryland Outshoots Lady Huskers winning by 26 pts
Sun, 2/17, vs Michigan State, (W, 82-71) - Husker Ladies on FireBlow-Out #24
Thu, 2/21, @ Northwestern, (W, 71-64) - Huskers ahead by 20; survive frantic NW Rally for the Win
Mon, 2/25, vs Iowa, (L, 74-58) - Game Story - Hawkeyes out-shoot Huskers 52.6% to 34.8%
Sat, 3/2, @ Penn State, (W, 79-74) - Taylor with 4 Treys & Sam with 10 straight FT's in a nail-biter Win


...B1G Tournament @ Indianapolis - (Record: 0-1)
Wed, 3/6 thru Sun, 3/10 (Sixth-seeded Husker Ladies Earn Bye)

Thu, 3/7, vs Purdue, (L, 75-71) - Ladies fall @ #11 seed Purdue, rally to a 1 pt game; inexperience shows


Jeff Sagarin Ratings: (discontinued for the 2018/19 wbb season)
Realtime rpi (women's): http://www.realtimerpi.com/rpi_Women.html
Warren Nolan (women's): http://warrennolan.com/basketballw/2019/rpi-live

(Link to Prior Years' Game Summaries)
2017/18: https://forum.huskermax.com/index.php?threads/this-was-the-season-that-was-wbb-2017-2018.98318/
2016/17: https://forum.huskermax.com/index.php?threads/this-was-the-season-that-was-wbb-2016-2017.90965/
2015/16: http://forum.huskermax.com/index.php?threads/this-was-the-season-that-was-wbb-2015-16.79823/

 

[Powder Creek]

Thanks RD

 

[Red Don]

 

[Red Don]

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211778329
Great Picture and article at the Link including the new 2018-19 Women's Basketball Guide
(Sorry but the original picture is to big to upload )

 

[Husker Mort]

Is there any hope, Don? This is shaping up to be a terrible season.

 

[Red Don]

I'm sure I am not the best one to ask ; No doubt we overachieved last season. So far this season we've underachieved; But look at who we've lost to: Drake, Washington St, Miami & Louisville, all well-regarded teams and three in the top 25. Both Drake and Washington State were winnable games.

I think the newcomers replace the talent that we lost to graduation, but we are missing their experience. With all the newcomers, talented as they are, I don't think the team has developed the level of mental toughness they had as a team last year, sort of a 'Us Against the World' coming off a the prior 7 win season, but I believe that should come with time. So far, I haven't seen any 'Quit' in this team, showing an ability to rally from deficits; one of the characteristics of last year's team.

The big Ten will be tough again this year, and we won't be sneaking up on anybody, but I think its too early to start counting them out based on the 2-4 record.

Last year they lost to Creighton @ PBA; We'll see how well they do in tomorrow's game.

 

[Red Don]

Is there any hope, Don? This is shaping up to be a terrible season.

Here are Coach Amy Williams thoughts regarding the 2-5 record.

Amy Williams' message to Husker women's basketball fans after slow start? Don't panic.
It’s not the start Williams wanted — and KU is no pushover — so questions of “what’s wrong?” have begun to percolate among the fan base....

This season, NU’s four true freshmen are more talented than the seniors they replaced. Guard Sam Haiby is Nebraska’s leading scorer, in fact. But their collective potential points to larger roles currently inhabited by older players. As a result, some players try to do too much on offense and, perhaps, not quite enough on defense because they’re “hugged up” on their individual matchups, Williams suggested....

First things first: improving the defense. NU is allowing 73.4 points per game. Watching game tape this week, Williams said she wants defenders helping each other more often. Nebraska’s turnover rate, 16.3 per game, is too high as well.....

And she said she’s not worried about the off-the-court chemistry. The team gets along great, Williams said. On the court, she said, it’s about figuring out how to complement each other.

More at the Link(s): https://www.omaha.com/huskers/womens-basketball/amy-williams-message-to-husker-women-s-basketball-fans-after/article_4729036f-6e5e-5515-80eb-01a682c01bf6.html

Williams not worried about Whitish's shooting woes
Despite not shooting well, Whitish is still receiving a lot of attention from opposing teams...

Williams is not worried about Whitish, however. In fact, she said she is happy with Whitish’s ability to affect the game without scoring until she finds that shooting groove....

“Hannah is at a point where she really feels ready to break through,” Williams said. “But I think she hasn’t quite yet this season played up to what we all know she is capable of playing.”

https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/womens-basketball/williams-not-worried-about-whitish-s-shooting-woes/article_df207d78-323a-5422-87b2-55133687c5da.html

 

[Husker Mort]

Thanks, man. Appreciate the insight.

 

[Husker Mort]

...and that’s a winner!

 

[Red Don]

...and that’s a winner!

Kansas was a good game, but turned into a nail-biter near the end; we failed to put them away in the 3rd Qtr when we had a 14 pt lead, and wound up holding on to win by six.

Our incoming Freshmen are all very talented; all could be starters (or could play starter minutes) now, but I think we need to play with more TEAM discipline and mental toughness, which takes time to develop.

IMHO, the future is bright.

(appreciate your contributions to the WBB forum )