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LGHL Visiting Locker Room: Badgers Ball Knower talks Wisconsin women’s basketball
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- 0 Replies
Visiting Locker Room: Badgers Ball Knower talks Wisconsin women’s basketball
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Mark Stewart / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Discussing, and lamenting, the 2024-25 Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team.
Ohio State women’s basketball is one of three remaining undefeated teams in Division-I basketball. The Buckeyes are 16-0 despite replacing three starters and playing with 10-player active roster, all the while with a freshman running point and pushing the Scarlet and Gray to the top of the early Big Ten standings.
For Wisconsin, the Badgers started the conference strong with a win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, but followed it with five straight losses to the likes of the Indiana Hoosiers, Minnesota Golden Gophers and Maryland Terrapins.
Even so, the Badgers have an All-American caliber forward in Serah Williams and a returning roster featuring 75.7 percent of their 2023-24 scoring core. To learn more about the Badgers from someone who knows them well, Land-Grant Holy Land talked with Drew Hamm from the independent Badgers Ball Knower blog.
Not only does Hamm know all there is to know about the Badgers, he also creates an annual conference preview document that even Maryland head coach Brenda Frese supports.
Here’s what he had to say about Wisconsin, in the Visiting Locker Room:
Land-Grant Holy Land: Head coach Marisa Moseley brought in Carter McCray from the Horizon League this offseason, and the move to the Big Ten hasn’t been too big of a jump for the sophomore. How has she helped the Badgers?
LGHL: Serah Williams is having another Serah Williams-esque season for Wisconsin. What is Williams doing differently this year than her previous two?
LGHL: The move to a 15-team Big Ten Tournament has turned the bottom of the standings into something like a soccer relegation battle, with teams hoping to avoid being relegated to the couch in the first weekend of March. Right now, the Badgers are in 14th place. Looking at their remaining schedule, do you see Wisconsin staying in the top 15?
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Mark Stewart / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Discussing, and lamenting, the 2024-25 Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team.
Ohio State women’s basketball is one of three remaining undefeated teams in Division-I basketball. The Buckeyes are 16-0 despite replacing three starters and playing with 10-player active roster, all the while with a freshman running point and pushing the Scarlet and Gray to the top of the early Big Ten standings.
For Wisconsin, the Badgers started the conference strong with a win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, but followed it with five straight losses to the likes of the Indiana Hoosiers, Minnesota Golden Gophers and Maryland Terrapins.
Even so, the Badgers have an All-American caliber forward in Serah Williams and a returning roster featuring 75.7 percent of their 2023-24 scoring core. To learn more about the Badgers from someone who knows them well, Land-Grant Holy Land talked with Drew Hamm from the independent Badgers Ball Knower blog.
Not only does Hamm know all there is to know about the Badgers, he also creates an annual conference preview document that even Maryland head coach Brenda Frese supports.
Here’s what he had to say about Wisconsin, in the Visiting Locker Room:
Land-Grant Holy Land: Head coach Marisa Moseley brought in Carter McCray from the Horizon League this offseason, and the move to the Big Ten hasn’t been too big of a jump for the sophomore. How has she helped the Badgers?
LGHL: Serah Williams is having another Serah Williams-esque season for Wisconsin. What is Williams doing differently this year than her previous two?
LGHL: The move to a 15-team Big Ten Tournament has turned the bottom of the standings into something like a soccer relegation battle, with teams hoping to avoid being relegated to the couch in the first weekend of March. Right now, the Badgers are in 14th place. Looking at their remaining schedule, do you see Wisconsin staying in the top 15?
Continue reading...
LGHL What to watch on Ohio State women’s basketball road trip to Wisconsin, Penn State
- News
- 0 Replies
What to watch on Ohio State women’s basketball road trip to Wisconsin, Penn State
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Buckeyes head to Madison and State College for a backtracking two-game road trip
The No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball team is now comfortably into the Big Ten schedule, riding a 16-game winning streak to start the season. Ohio State is one of only three remaining undefeated teams alongside the No. 1 UCLA Bruins and No. 4 LSU Tigers, and the Buckeyes take that momentum on the road for a pair of away trips.
It begins Thursday night in Madison, Wisconsin, and ends Sunday afternoon in State College, Pennsylvania as the Buckeyes take on two sides near the bottom of the Big Ten standings. With the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins coming to Columbus on Jan. 23, these two games have all the characteristics of trap games.
They are matchups against teams where Ohio State has a clear advantage but wins only count at the end of 40 minutes of basketball. Here’s what to watch across the road trip:
The source of frustration in both games will likely come inside the paint. That’s where Wisconsin forward Serah Williams and Penn State’s Gracie Merkle do their best work.
Williams, the reigning First Team All-Big Ten and Defensive Player of the Year, is a force. After returning to Wisconsin for a third season, the Brooklyn, New York native continues to improve for the Badgers.
At the time of publishing, the 6-foot-4 forward leads the Big Ten in both total rebounds and blocks. Offensively, Williams is one of three players in the conference averaging a double-double in points (18.5) and rebounds (11.2), which isn’t something even UCLA big Lauren Betts can say.
Williams is also the third of those three players that have faced Ohio State this season. The other two are Illinois’ Kendall Bostic and Rutgers’ Destiny Adams. Bostic had 17 points and 13 rebounds, but to the Buckeyes’ credit, those points came more from the midrange. Head coach Kevin McGuff had his post defense ready against the Fighting Illini and it forced the big to move out of the paint.
Adams was another story. The Rutgers forward terrorized the Buckeyes to the tune of 31 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 forced charges (with the charges all coming in the first quarter).
Ohio State will need to bring the same intensity it brought against Bostic against Williams. The Wisconsin big is quicker than Bostic and is better at running the floor too. It’ll be a test for forward Ajae Petty, but the Kentucky transfer won’t be able to do it alone. Expect the Buckeyes to double up the forward when she inevitably gets the ball in the paint. In two previous games against the Buckeyes, Williams averages 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
For Merkle, the 6-foot-6 center is an unknown test for Ohio State. Merkle’s in her first season at Penn State after transferring from Bellarmine of the A-Sun. The big averaged 15.1 points and 11 rebounds per game with Bellarmine and since moving to the Big Ten, hasn’t seen much of a decrease. Merkle leads Penn State with 16.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
The Penn State center plays a different game than Williams, using physicality inside the paint as the primary weapon, offensively. Defensively, Merkle ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 31 blocks. To put that into context, Ohio State’s Elsa Lemmilä, who has 30 blocks playing nine fewer minutes per game than Merkle.
On both Thursday and Sunday, Petty and Lemmilä will have their hands full.
So far this season, freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge hasn’t had any strong string of games where she wasn’t missing time or entire games. Cambridge took a knock against the Charlotte 49ers that took her out of the game and a bigger fall on her shoulder against Ball State that kept the freshman out nearly four full games.
When healthy and available, Cambridge makes the fantastic look easy. This week, the freshman picked up her first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for leading Ohio State back from a 16-point deficit to the Michigan Wolverines. In Ann Arbor, Cambridge scored 22 points in the second half, leading the Buckeyes to the win. Against Oregon Sunday, Cambridge was a little more subdued but still came away with 13 points and four rebounds.
Should Cambridge play 20 minutes against Wisconsin, it’ll be five games in a row where the freshman hit that total, the longest streak in the young point guard’s career. Having Cambridge on the court is vital for the Buckeyes because she brings speed and unpredictability to games.
Will the guard take a deep shot, run in for a midrange, attack the basket, or find an outlet? Each time Cambridge gets the ball, opponents have to work that much harder.
Despite returning to the court in four consecutive games since hurting her right shoulder, Cambridge still wears a sleeve on that should when not on the court. Coach McGuff assured that Cambridge is fine, even with the shoulder harness.
Even so, with the campaign slightly over halfway to completion, nobody is really at 100%, but for Ohio State, having Cambridge on the floor brings skills that teams struggle to stop.
In the fourth quarter against Oregon, with the Ducks slowly erasing their deficit, McGuff opted to go with graduate senior Madison Greene, but not due to injury.
“Her experience as the game was getting a little tighter,” said McGuff. “Madison is one of our best on-ball defenders and they were really driving the ball on us today.”
Having a tight lead late isn’t something the Buckeyes are used to this season, it’s either coming back or blowing teams away. When Ohio State needed baskets, McGuff still opted for Cambridge, showing the level of trust built quickly for the freshman.
The Nittany Lions have a way of starting their season off strong and building up talk around their program. This season was no different, but the conversation around the program started the wrong way one week into the season.
Onward State published a piece with interviews from former players who talked about their time in the program under head coach Carolyn Kieger. It included allegations of trauma and abuse that the program responded to the next day.
Once games began, the talk around the program went away and games began. The usual “Is Penn State a contender?” conversation resurfaced when the Nittany Lions won their first eight games, including a 20-point victory over the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC.
Penn State came to Earth when December hit, with the Nittany Lions losing eight of their last nine games.
The Nittany Lions suffered more roster turnover than most in the offseason. Program staple Makenna Marisa’s eligibility ended, former Maryland Terrapin All-American Ashley Owusu left the program after a season dealing with injuries and both Leilani Kapinus and Shay Czeki left Krieger’s program to play for Vanderbilt and Indiana, respectively.
Only 17 percent of the roster’s scoring from last season returned, with Jayla Oden and Alli Campbell the big returnees. Outside of Merkle, Penn State added former Michigan State Spartan Gabby Elliot, who is averaging 11.9 points and 4.8 rebounds. Plus, a sophomore campaign for Moriah Murray who leads the Big Ten with 44 made three-point shots.
All-in-all, it’s a Penn State side that’s full of intrigue. In one game, they’re losing to the Minnesota Golden Gophers 90-54 and in another, they narrowly fall to the Oregon Ducks 63-61.
Currently, the Nittany Lions are on a West Coast trip, losing their first of two games in Los Angeles 95-73, to the USC Trojans. Who will this team be when they return home for Sunday’s game against Ohio State?
At this point, it’s hard to tell, which makes for good television (streaming in this case).
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Buckeyes head to Madison and State College for a backtracking two-game road trip
The No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball team is now comfortably into the Big Ten schedule, riding a 16-game winning streak to start the season. Ohio State is one of only three remaining undefeated teams alongside the No. 1 UCLA Bruins and No. 4 LSU Tigers, and the Buckeyes take that momentum on the road for a pair of away trips.
It begins Thursday night in Madison, Wisconsin, and ends Sunday afternoon in State College, Pennsylvania as the Buckeyes take on two sides near the bottom of the Big Ten standings. With the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins coming to Columbus on Jan. 23, these two games have all the characteristics of trap games.
They are matchups against teams where Ohio State has a clear advantage but wins only count at the end of 40 minutes of basketball. Here’s what to watch across the road trip:
Serah Williams and Gracie Merkle
The source of frustration in both games will likely come inside the paint. That’s where Wisconsin forward Serah Williams and Penn State’s Gracie Merkle do their best work.
Williams, the reigning First Team All-Big Ten and Defensive Player of the Year, is a force. After returning to Wisconsin for a third season, the Brooklyn, New York native continues to improve for the Badgers.
At the time of publishing, the 6-foot-4 forward leads the Big Ten in both total rebounds and blocks. Offensively, Williams is one of three players in the conference averaging a double-double in points (18.5) and rebounds (11.2), which isn’t something even UCLA big Lauren Betts can say.
Williams is also the third of those three players that have faced Ohio State this season. The other two are Illinois’ Kendall Bostic and Rutgers’ Destiny Adams. Bostic had 17 points and 13 rebounds, but to the Buckeyes’ credit, those points came more from the midrange. Head coach Kevin McGuff had his post defense ready against the Fighting Illini and it forced the big to move out of the paint.
Adams was another story. The Rutgers forward terrorized the Buckeyes to the tune of 31 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 forced charges (with the charges all coming in the first quarter).
Ohio State will need to bring the same intensity it brought against Bostic against Williams. The Wisconsin big is quicker than Bostic and is better at running the floor too. It’ll be a test for forward Ajae Petty, but the Kentucky transfer won’t be able to do it alone. Expect the Buckeyes to double up the forward when she inevitably gets the ball in the paint. In two previous games against the Buckeyes, Williams averages 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
For Merkle, the 6-foot-6 center is an unknown test for Ohio State. Merkle’s in her first season at Penn State after transferring from Bellarmine of the A-Sun. The big averaged 15.1 points and 11 rebounds per game with Bellarmine and since moving to the Big Ten, hasn’t seen much of a decrease. Merkle leads Penn State with 16.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
The Penn State center plays a different game than Williams, using physicality inside the paint as the primary weapon, offensively. Defensively, Merkle ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 31 blocks. To put that into context, Ohio State’s Elsa Lemmilä, who has 30 blocks playing nine fewer minutes per game than Merkle.
On both Thursday and Sunday, Petty and Lemmilä will have their hands full.
Jaloni Cambridge Consistency
So far this season, freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge hasn’t had any strong string of games where she wasn’t missing time or entire games. Cambridge took a knock against the Charlotte 49ers that took her out of the game and a bigger fall on her shoulder against Ball State that kept the freshman out nearly four full games.
When healthy and available, Cambridge makes the fantastic look easy. This week, the freshman picked up her first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for leading Ohio State back from a 16-point deficit to the Michigan Wolverines. In Ann Arbor, Cambridge scored 22 points in the second half, leading the Buckeyes to the win. Against Oregon Sunday, Cambridge was a little more subdued but still came away with 13 points and four rebounds.
Should Cambridge play 20 minutes against Wisconsin, it’ll be five games in a row where the freshman hit that total, the longest streak in the young point guard’s career. Having Cambridge on the court is vital for the Buckeyes because she brings speed and unpredictability to games.
Will the guard take a deep shot, run in for a midrange, attack the basket, or find an outlet? Each time Cambridge gets the ball, opponents have to work that much harder.
Despite returning to the court in four consecutive games since hurting her right shoulder, Cambridge still wears a sleeve on that should when not on the court. Coach McGuff assured that Cambridge is fine, even with the shoulder harness.
Even so, with the campaign slightly over halfway to completion, nobody is really at 100%, but for Ohio State, having Cambridge on the floor brings skills that teams struggle to stop.
In the fourth quarter against Oregon, with the Ducks slowly erasing their deficit, McGuff opted to go with graduate senior Madison Greene, but not due to injury.
“Her experience as the game was getting a little tighter,” said McGuff. “Madison is one of our best on-ball defenders and they were really driving the ball on us today.”
Having a tight lead late isn’t something the Buckeyes are used to this season, it’s either coming back or blowing teams away. When Ohio State needed baskets, McGuff still opted for Cambridge, showing the level of trust built quickly for the freshman.
Who is Penn State?
The Nittany Lions have a way of starting their season off strong and building up talk around their program. This season was no different, but the conversation around the program started the wrong way one week into the season.
Onward State published a piece with interviews from former players who talked about their time in the program under head coach Carolyn Kieger. It included allegations of trauma and abuse that the program responded to the next day.
Once games began, the talk around the program went away and games began. The usual “Is Penn State a contender?” conversation resurfaced when the Nittany Lions won their first eight games, including a 20-point victory over the Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC.
Penn State came to Earth when December hit, with the Nittany Lions losing eight of their last nine games.
The Nittany Lions suffered more roster turnover than most in the offseason. Program staple Makenna Marisa’s eligibility ended, former Maryland Terrapin All-American Ashley Owusu left the program after a season dealing with injuries and both Leilani Kapinus and Shay Czeki left Krieger’s program to play for Vanderbilt and Indiana, respectively.
Only 17 percent of the roster’s scoring from last season returned, with Jayla Oden and Alli Campbell the big returnees. Outside of Merkle, Penn State added former Michigan State Spartan Gabby Elliot, who is averaging 11.9 points and 4.8 rebounds. Plus, a sophomore campaign for Moriah Murray who leads the Big Ten with 44 made three-point shots.
All-in-all, it’s a Penn State side that’s full of intrigue. In one game, they’re losing to the Minnesota Golden Gophers 90-54 and in another, they narrowly fall to the Oregon Ducks 63-61.
Currently, the Nittany Lions are on a West Coast trip, losing their first of two games in Los Angeles 95-73, to the USC Trojans. Who will this team be when they return home for Sunday’s game against Ohio State?
At this point, it’s hard to tell, which makes for good television (streaming in this case).
Continue reading...
