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RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Lisa Gardner — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:49:09 GMT

The Illini got beat by Marquette tonight: 72-64. And so the Illini won't play a third game in this year's WNIT. Marquette is part of the Big East, and one of the few Big East teams that didn't make the NCAA's. For more on the Big East and the whoppings they have been laying down at the NCAA's this year, see http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney08/notebook?page=notebook/dish080325.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Scott Pierce — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:15:20 GMT

[quote]SonofaBulldog (3/24/2008)

I only watched this game via the gamecast on espn.com; but it seems to me that there was some poor coaching at the end. You are down 4 with 1:20 or so left and you don't start fouling? Especially considering you only have 2 team fouls in the half, you know you're bound to need some hacks at the end. Instead the gamecast showed the first fouls occurring with 20-17 seconds left in the half. Why would you wait that long?quote]

Actually, Drake got it down to 1 with :47 left. So, get a stop and get the ball back with about :15 left. Drake still had a timeout to use, so that's putting you in a position to win. And they did exactly that, getting the stop with :21 left. The ball went out of bounds and they gave it to Illinois. Laura and I had a great angle on it. It was a bad call from the same ref that didn't give Drake a call all night.

Plus, if you start fouling, down 4 with 1:20 left, eventually you're not going to have a shot clock to work with. And you're then HOPING a 77% FT shooting shooting team misses enough to give you the ball with a one possession game.

You ask a good question about this end-of-game scenario. I hope that clears it up.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Grandpa — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:42:20 GMT

Good game, ladies. A great effort to keep getting back into the game each time Illinois had a streak of 6 or 8 points.

The 5 fouls needed to get Illinois into the one-and-one only burned about 20 seconds. It should have taken less time, but those refs really didn't want to call fouls. On the last one, Jordan gave an obvious hand check twice only to have the ref ignore it and she had to chase down the ball handler again to finally grab her to get a call. Anyway, inside of 2 minutes we were closing fast and getting good stops. The fouling started when it became necessary. As Mecha Bulldog said, if you want to pin the loss on one thing at the end of the game, it was the two missed rebounds after the two missed free throws. Both teams had problems with turnovers ad shooting percentages.

We would have played Marquette at Marquette. It was the Creighton game that could have been in Des Moines.

It was fun while it lasted. Thanks for a great winning season, ladies.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Mecha_Bulldog — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:04:38 GMT

Fouling wasn't really the problem at the end. Rebounding, now that was a problem down the stretch.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

cgdcreek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:12:01 GMT

Not gonna be negative at this point. She certainly does teach defense.
Big, big task next year on offense. Guess that's obvious, losing like 3,600 points in Jill and Lindsay.
But, Drake certainly has a history of somebody new stepping up the next year.

Double MVC Championship this year, we'll take it!

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

SonofaBulldog — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:40:29 GMT

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Drakey — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:38:23 GMT

Dogs lose.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Drakey — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:31:39 GMT

Down by 1 with less than a minute to go.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

DUBulldog — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:19:23 GMT

cgdcreek (3/24/2008)

Come on, Bulldogs, get us another big run!

Score? Time?

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

cgdcreek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:17:44 GMT

Come on, Bulldogs, get us another big run!

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

PiPhi1997 — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:59:36 GMT

Turk's teammate, Stephanie Chelleen, from Lincoln plays at Illinois. I wonder how much time Chelleen gets, if any. It would be fun for Drake to get out to a great lead so the girls could be on the floor together. Let the 3s fly, Turk!!

I'm staying in DM, so I'll be sporting the blue at the Well again tonight.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

PiPhi1997 — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:18:19 GMT

oops, wrong thread.

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

PiPhi1997 — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:46:12 GMT

Thanks for the great run-down! You have made my research much easier! Just read Drake Nation!

RE: Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Lisa Gardner — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:32:13 GMT

I think a lot depends on how well the Bulldogs handle Jenna Smith, a 6'3" center/forward all-American candidate. She'll be on the boards at both ends and in the paint near the basket at the offensive end. She's their leading scorer.

Illinois will be tough defensively. Their head coach is long-time Stringer assistant and former Iowa standout Jolette Law. She's in her first season, and rebuilding a program that had waned in a conference that just isn't as tough as it used to be. In other words, they can be beaten by an MVC Co-champ now.

Still, the Bulldogs will have to be a presence on the boards and they need to take care of the ball. And they are going to have to bring their A-game in other ways, too, and quite possibly play the best basketball they have played all year.

Illinois knocked off Ohio State early in the big 10 tournament and that feat seemed more impressive before I watched OSU fall to Florida State (probably the absolute last team to get an at-large bid to the NCAA's this year) last night. The Illini did make it to the finals of the Big 10, which is an accomplishment. But it's the big 10, not the big 12. Neither of the top two teams in the regular season Big 10 championship made it past the first round of the NCAA's. Iowa got beat today.

Two other big 10 teams -- Indiana and Wisconsin -- are already out of the NIT, losing their first games.

The Illini have had a long lay-off since the Big 10 tourney. They might be a little rusty early as a result. Then again, they might not.

Regardless, good luck to the Bulldog players.

Drake (23-10) vs Illinois (19-14)

Grandpa — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:34:31 GMT

Drake (23-10) will play Illinois (19-14) in the WNIT in Champaign at 7:00 pm on Monday, March 24th. (Click here to put a countdown timer on your desktop.)

Should Drake win, we will play either Marquette at Marquette or Creighton. How about that? We could play Creighton in the Knapp Center one more time this season!

Who is going? How is Illinois playing? Will we win? Another Big 10 team, Indiana is still a possibility down the road! Let's go Drake!