Game Thread - vs. Nebraska in NCAA play-in game - Wed 3/18 ESPN2 in Durham at Cameron

Obviously got to take it one game at a time but I like our path. 1 and 2 seeds generally are a cut above the rest of the field. Beating Nebraska, Baylor, and Duke of course is difficult but certainly more doable than trying to upset a team like UCLA last year. Play-in game can help us too if we win and then go into the Baylor game with confidence.
 
UR site has it up on the women's schedule, but still no article or other announcement there 90 minutes later. They've posted a bunch of stuff on socials of course, but amazing to me they A) didn't have an article prepped and ready to go for the site with some blanks to fill in and hit publish, or B) even starting from scratch, get something written yet.
 
ESPN Analytics rating it 71.5% chance of Nebraska win.

Looks like Penn State was the only common opponent...the Huskers beat them 101–83 at Penn State while we beat them 70–54 at Henrico.
 
Fairly regular participant over the past 20 years. They were a 10-seed last year, losing by 5 to Louisville. The year before, they were a 6-seed, beating Texas A&M before losing to Oregon State. Couple of Sweet Sixteens in 2010 and 2013.
 
UR site has it up on the women's schedule, but still no article or other announcement there 90 minutes later. They've posted a bunch of stuff on socials of course, but amazing to me they A) didn't have an article prepped and ready to go for the site with some blanks to fill in and hit publish, or B) even starting from scratch, get something written yet.
Probably proofreading the release as we post. :)
 
Talia Goodman with her breakdown of the bracket, picks UR or Nebraska over Baylor as her upset pick for the Sacramento 2 region. Maggie is also one of her players to watch from the region.

Upset pick: Nebraska/Richmond over Baylor

All three of these teams have underachieved a bit this season. This is a chance for one of them to come out on top and advance in the postseason to face bigger fish. Richmond has one of the best players in the nation in Maggie Doogan, and everyone (me included) will be sat for her final NCAA Tournament run. Taliah Scott at Baylor has been going off all year long and Nebraska, while they’ve struggled as of late, certainly has the talent to earn a win here.

 
Obviously not overmatched in this one as you'd expect in a game between the last two teams in. Their guards aren't great, but they get the job done. Tough and gritty. As a group they don't shoot the 3 nearly as often (or as well as) we do, but they can score. Bigs are in many ways the same - - - not super athletic but tough and smart. Britt Prince (wing type of game but plays PG) is a very good player all the way around and will be a very tough matchup for us. Think we will need Wright to step up on defense to help slow her down. We don't have anyone who I'd want covering her in the first five - - just bad matchups there. I'd look for Wright to get in for Newell early if Prince gets going at all. They are exactly what you'd expect for a Nebraska team. Tough, physical, smart. And they are gonna be bigger than us in the backcourt and the wings and probably play bigger than us at the big spots too.

Don't think they have the personnel (outside of Hake who can really defend the perimeter) to pressure us at all 5 spots like Mason and others did that got us out of sync, but they are pretty solid defensively and will pressure some to create the pace. We will need to shoot the three ball well to have a chance (always true really for us). They are very solid on offense. They will push tempo and we will have to be careful of them going on runs! That said, their offense was lights out in the early part of the season but not nearly as good in the later half or so of the season

We can play with them, but we have to be prepared to answer their pressure. We can't let them take us out of our game offensively as happened a few times late in the year. We are going to have to have a good night shooting the 3 ball (which will involve doing a good job getting good looks ) and limit our turnovers. They are gonna score some points on us I think. We are going to have to play really good defense to extend their possessions and keep the game at a slower pace then they would like. Normally I like us in a pace game, but I think thats a little scary here and I'd rather take my chances of getting them out of sync in a slower game. So, we are gonna have to be at our best or very close in our half court offensive. Maggies is going to need to be at her Maggie best including no foul trouble and really limit her turnovers. She is the best player on either team and needs to be all that on game day!

They average 80 a game and when the games are high scoring is when they thrive. Hold them in the 60's and I think we win. 80's is their game. Hold 'em to 70-75 and it will be a white knuckler! I picked against us getting in and was happily wrong, so I will predict we drop a close one 71-69 and hope to be wrong again!
 
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