goTULA.NEt

and I guess not too much...TU Women beat Memphis in the first round...they now get UConn

http://tulanegreenwave.com/news/2018/3/ ... inals.aspx

Take the Huskies, lay the 40 points.

They played good ball in the tourney, after playing terribly for prior 2 months. Changes needed.

DrBox wrote:They played good ball in the tourney, after playing terribly for prior 2 months. Changes needed.

Players needed. They desperately need a quality point guard. The one they have signed in Florida looks outstanding with a tournament MVP award. They need quality size. Two girls signed over 6' 4", one a really good player and one that plays well when she wants to. They also signed a good-sized guard from John Curtis. Hopefully she can come close to filling the huge void left by the departure Kolby Morgan. This class seems to fill the needs well. If this doesn't work, it will be time to look deeper.

Very respectful showing in the tournament. A 26 point loss to UConn on a neutral court here in CT (I'm being sarcastic) is nothing to hang your head about. They fought despite the score. Anxious to see what the recruits for next season will bring, especially with Kolby Morgan graduating.

ON paper (ESPN recruiting ratings) the class coming in is similar to the last few classes. Maybe it's better - I hope it is. But where's the recruiting been for the last few years?
And then there's the issue of steady decline - turning a once NCAA program into a NIT program. And we've basically been NIT for a decade+. They blamed it on C-USA, but haven't improved in the AAC.

If anyone saw what UConn did to Cinci last night, they saw the real Huskies in action. Geno was not happy with the performance against our Lady Wave. Some blamed it on the Northeaster that hit the state Friday being a distraction. I don't know if I buy it or not, but they played much better D last night, holding the Bearcats scoreless for over 15 minutes going on a 38-0 run. They play USF this evening in the AAC Championship game. Geno has them pointing to another run to the Final Four and a potential National Championship. Lay the points!

The Lady Wave needs to work on being competitive each and every time they play the Huskies. By competitive, I mean like what we saw a year ago, when we came within 4 points of beating them (lost by 3). When we get to that point, we'll start winning the occasional game against them, and at that point we'll be a perennial NCAA team, expected to go DEEP in the dance. That's what so many other teams that have been in their conference in the past were able to do. Rutgers and Notre Dame among them. Lisa Stockton needs to leverage the opportunity to compete on the national stage against the very best into recruiting classes that reflect that challenge. Its not our gym, our schedule or our campus holding us back. We need to scan the globe for the best talent we can possibly get, and sell them on the opportunity to become the next program to challenge the Huskies.

It's long overdue for this coaching staff to be shaken up. What a shame that one of the best players in the program's history played on a below .500 team her senior year. No help!

DfromCT wrote:If anyone saw what UConn did to Cinci last night, they saw the real Huskies in action. Geno was not happy with the performance against our Lady Wave. Some blamed it on the Northeaster that hit the state Friday being a distraction. I don't know if I buy it or not, but they played much better D last night, holding the Bearcats scoreless for over 15 minutes going on a 38-0 run. They play USF this evening in the AAC Championship game. Geno has them pointing to another run to the Final Four and a potential National Championship. Lay the points!

The Lady Wave needs to work on being competitive each and every time they play the Huskies. By competitive, I mean like what we saw a year ago, when we came within 4 points of beating them (lost by 3). When we get to that point, we'll start winning the occasional game against them, and at that point we'll be a perennial NCAA team, expected to go DEEP in the dance. That's what so many other teams that have been in their conference in the past were able to do. Rutgers and Notre Dame among them. Lisa Stockton needs to leverage the opportunity to compete on the national stage against the very best into recruiting classes that reflect that challenge. Its not our gym, our schedule or our campus holding us back. We need to scan the globe for the best talent we can possibly get, and sell them on the opportunity to become the next program to challenge the Huskies.

I think the one major difference between your Rutgers/Notre Dame comparison is that Tulane and the rest of our conference are G5, not P5. Don't think it doesn't make a difference. It does, in every sport. No AAC school other than UConn will ever be able to get the quality of recruits that a P5 program does. UConn is a P5 team trapped in a G5 conference. I realize quality players want to play against the best, but they also want to have a legitimate chance at beating said "best", which they won't perceive as happening at an AAC school. They're surely not interested in having their heads bashed in by UConn for four years.

RobertM320 wrote:

DfromCT wrote: The Lady Wave needs to work on being competitive each and every time they play the Huskies. By competitive, I mean like what we saw a year ago, when we came within 4 points of beating them (lost by 3). When we get to that point, we'll start winning the occasional game against them, and at that point we'll be a perennial NCAA team, expected to go DEEP in the dance. That's what so many other teams that have been in their conference in the past were able to do. Rutgers and Notre Dame among them. Lisa Stockton needs to leverage the opportunity to compete on the national stage against the very best into recruiting classes that reflect that challenge. Its not our gym, our schedule or our campus holding us back. We need to scan the globe for the best talent we can possibly get, and sell them on the opportunity to become the next program to challenge the Huskies.

I think the one major difference between your Rutgers/Notre Dame comparison is that Tulane and the rest of our conference are G5, not P5. Don't think it doesn't make a difference. It does, in every sport. No AAC school other than UConn will ever be able to get the quality of recruits that a P5 program does. UConn is a P5 team trapped in a G5 conference. I realize quality players want to play against the best, but they also want to have a legitimate chance at beating said "best", which they won't perceive as happening at an AAC school. They're surely not interested in having their heads bashed in by UConn for four years.

M320, I can appreciate your point, and think there's a lot of validity to it. But at the same time, I don't think it's as true in Basketball as it is in Football, and it's even less of a factor (though still a big one) for Women's basketball. On the Men's side there's a lot of teams scattered throughout the "mid majors" that have a lot more talent than a lot of bottom feeding P5 (or P6) conferences. On the women's side, we don't hear about them as much, but they're out there. We all agree that it takes a lot less top recruits to turn around a basketball program. Giving the women, who care more about education because they know that their WNBA or other pro careers aren't going to set them for life, an opportunity to have every game on TV, play THE BEST team in the country at least 2x a year, and get a Tulane degree should be a pretty solid sell. Not to mention New Orleans, with all it has to offer and all of it's diversity. I'm convinced Tulane Women's Basketball could be as good as LaTech was in the 80's.

I absolutely cannot buy into the statement I underlined in your post. More than half of the P5 women's teams are bad. They don't care. Those that care, in the P5 and G5, can make it work. You might only beat UConn once every few years, but to get to that point would be a HUGE step up.