I'll start off with the obvious - the NCAA tournament schedulers are idiots. Vic was only slightly more diplomatic in his assessment of the 9:00 PM start. On to the game...
East Carolina (23-9, 11-5) won the AAC tournament, the first non-1 seed to do it (they were the 3rd seed), to guarantee their spot in the NCAA tournament - the Pirates' 3rd appearance and 1st since 2007. Head coach Kim McNeill was named the AAC conference coach of the year. Her squad was 11-18 last season and the other AAC coaches didn't expect much from them this season, placing them dead last in preseason conference voting and it wasn't even close. ECU had 19 total points - 13 points behind 10th place Wichita State's 32. To put it in perspective, that was a bigger gap than the difference between 10th and 7th (11 points).
How did the Pirates end up 3rd in the AAC? Senior guard Danae McNeal and freshman forward Amiya Joyner. McNeal was named the conference's Most Improved Player as well as the Defensive Player of the Year. Her 17.6 ppg and 94 steals led ECU. McNeal must've put in some serious time on her FT shooting in the offseason - improving from 62.5% last season to 83.3% this season. Joyner (6' 2") was the AAC Freshman of the Year almost averaging a double double (10.5 ppg, 9.7 rebounds).
McNeill, like Vic, leans heavily defense. The 24.16 turnovers forced a game was good for 3rd nationally, Texas finished at 14th (20.32). Their turnover margin (+7.34) was 4th, the Longhorns were 21st (+5.09). I haven't seen them play but just going off their assist numbers, they aren't one of the most efficient passing teams in D1 (0.8 assists to turnovers, 190th nationally). ECU as a team registered 431 assists this year, led by G Micah Dennis's 89. Texas had 538 (1.03 assist-turnover, 72nd) with Rori's 213 good enough to place 5th in program history for assists in a season with a few more games to play hopefully.
ASSISTS
In an interview after the matchup was announced, McNeill described Texas, "“They’re huge. Their inside play, they’re really big and they bring some big kids off the bench." “The thing that concerns me the most is their offensive rebounding,” McNeill added. “They led the Big 12 in offensive rebounding. So that was a huge theme of (Monday’s) practice. Everybody’s got to get involved in rebounding. It’s not just on Amiya (Joyner), it’s on the guards. Everybody’s got to get involved. It’s not necessarily the first shot I’m concerned about, it’s the second shot.”
McNeill mentioned that the Longhorns have "about three kids that can shoot the three." That brings up a very important question: Will Sonya Morris play? Vic was cautiously optimistic about her status during his media availability session earlier this week.
ECU and Texas had 1 common opponent this season: USF, the AAC regular season champion. The Longhorns lost at home to the Bulls 70-65 early in December. South Florida thumped ECU 72-48 late in January.
Family Ties: Vic and daughter Blair Schaefer won't be the only family duo roaming the sidelines this Saturday. Kim McNeill's associate head coach is her husband, Cory McNeill.
The Longhorns should dominate inside the paint and advance to (likely) face 5-seed Louisville (RV) Monday. The Cardinals and 12-seed Drake square off at 6:30 Saturday in the Moody. In the 4 'expert' brackets I've seen, 3 of them have Papa John U ousting Texas from the tournament. Side note: I've always liked Candace Parker - she has the Longhorns ending their tournament run against the Gamecocks in the Final 4.
@mln59 @thar0902 @icdb17 @wb3032 @BrownHorn
East Carolina (23-9, 11-5) won the AAC tournament, the first non-1 seed to do it (they were the 3rd seed), to guarantee their spot in the NCAA tournament - the Pirates' 3rd appearance and 1st since 2007. Head coach Kim McNeill was named the AAC conference coach of the year. Her squad was 11-18 last season and the other AAC coaches didn't expect much from them this season, placing them dead last in preseason conference voting and it wasn't even close. ECU had 19 total points - 13 points behind 10th place Wichita State's 32. To put it in perspective, that was a bigger gap than the difference between 10th and 7th (11 points).
How did the Pirates end up 3rd in the AAC? Senior guard Danae McNeal and freshman forward Amiya Joyner. McNeal was named the conference's Most Improved Player as well as the Defensive Player of the Year. Her 17.6 ppg and 94 steals led ECU. McNeal must've put in some serious time on her FT shooting in the offseason - improving from 62.5% last season to 83.3% this season. Joyner (6' 2") was the AAC Freshman of the Year almost averaging a double double (10.5 ppg, 9.7 rebounds).
McNeill, like Vic, leans heavily defense. The 24.16 turnovers forced a game was good for 3rd nationally, Texas finished at 14th (20.32). Their turnover margin (+7.34) was 4th, the Longhorns were 21st (+5.09). I haven't seen them play but just going off their assist numbers, they aren't one of the most efficient passing teams in D1 (0.8 assists to turnovers, 190th nationally). ECU as a team registered 431 assists this year, led by G Micah Dennis's 89. Texas had 538 (1.03 assist-turnover, 72nd) with Rori's 213 good enough to place 5th in program history for assists in a season with a few more games to play hopefully.
ASSISTS
- 268 Terri Mackey (1981-82)
- 255 Kamie Ethridge (1983-84)
- 226 Kamie Ethridge (1984-85)
- 220 Amy Claborn (1988-89)
- 203 Edwina Brown (1999-00)
- 200 Kamie Ethridge (1985-86)
- 180 Rori Harmon (2021-22)
- 178 Sug Sutton (2018-19)
- 172 Carla Cortijo (2007-08) & Kenya Larkin (2001-02)
In an interview after the matchup was announced, McNeill described Texas, "“They’re huge. Their inside play, they’re really big and they bring some big kids off the bench." “The thing that concerns me the most is their offensive rebounding,” McNeill added. “They led the Big 12 in offensive rebounding. So that was a huge theme of (Monday’s) practice. Everybody’s got to get involved in rebounding. It’s not just on Amiya (Joyner), it’s on the guards. Everybody’s got to get involved. It’s not necessarily the first shot I’m concerned about, it’s the second shot.”
McNeill mentioned that the Longhorns have "about three kids that can shoot the three." That brings up a very important question: Will Sonya Morris play? Vic was cautiously optimistic about her status during his media availability session earlier this week.
ECU and Texas had 1 common opponent this season: USF, the AAC regular season champion. The Longhorns lost at home to the Bulls 70-65 early in December. South Florida thumped ECU 72-48 late in January.
Family Ties: Vic and daughter Blair Schaefer won't be the only family duo roaming the sidelines this Saturday. Kim McNeill's associate head coach is her husband, Cory McNeill.
The Longhorns should dominate inside the paint and advance to (likely) face 5-seed Louisville (RV) Monday. The Cardinals and 12-seed Drake square off at 6:30 Saturday in the Moody. In the 4 'expert' brackets I've seen, 3 of them have Papa John U ousting Texas from the tournament. Side note: I've always liked Candace Parker - she has the Longhorns ending their tournament run against the Gamecocks in the Final 4.
@mln59 @thar0902 @icdb17 @wb3032 @BrownHorn
