Shocker WBB 2020-21 AAC Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

But I think that is actually a mild negative. It means freshmen were not recruited and developed, so you have to hit the Juco ranks hard.

It may be. Plus jucos take a while to get up to speed as well so you get maybe a good 1.5 years out of them. One thing I did not think HCKA did very well was balancing out her classes. She had opportunities to do that but to me it just didn't seem to be anything she thought was important. Some coaches like to have balanced classes others don't seem to concerned about it. IIRC, she had the same situation in her last couple of years at UTEP. With players moving around these days with such ease perhaps it's not that important.

Any thoughts on Seraphine, Carla and Asia apparently moving on?

[flyingMoose]

Any thoughts on Seraphine, Carla and Asia apparently moving on?

Seraphine never did develop a little 10-foot pull-up jumper that I thought she could have used effectively. Carla came here as a zone-buster and wound up being the lock-down defender against the op's small forward.

Or were you asking something else? In the case of Seraphine and Carla, I assume they got their degrees (or will) and are heading back home.

[1972Shocker]

Seraphine never did develop a little 10-foot pull-up jumper that I thought she could have used effectively. Carla came here as a zone-buster and wound up being the lock-down defender against the op's small forward.

Or were you asking something else? In the case of Seraphine and Carla, I assume they got their degrees (or will) and are heading back home.

I was wondering whether 1) I am interpreting their eligibility correctly and 2) if you are suprised at all that Seraphine, Carla and Asia have decided to pass on the final year of eligibility (assuming they have that extra year at their disposal.

[flyingMoose]

I was wondering whether 1) I am interpreting their eligibility correctly and 2) if you are suprised at all that Seraphine, Carla and Asia have decided to pass on the final year of eligibility (assuming they have that extra year at their disposal.

In the case of Seraphine and Carla, I assume they are going back home even if they are eligible for another year. The only reason to stay is if they are working on a graduate degree. This, of course, assumes they do not intend to stay in the States. I have no idea about that part of the equation - that is, whether there is any intereston their part and how the paperwork would even work.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks with one of the best, if not their best, offensive quarters of the season on senior night leading Tulane 24-22. The Shocks were up 22-14 with 2 minutes to go but Tulane closed out on an 8-2 run.

Both teams cooled off in the 2nd quarter but the Shocks still maintain the lead at the half by 1 at 37-36. Tulane had the only field goal between the 2 teams over the final 6 minutes of the quarter.

DJ McCarty if suited up tonight and getting playing time which was good to see. This would be a big upset if the Shocks can hang on for another half. The Shocks have lost 3 in a row coming in and Tulane has won 9 in a row.

Tulane has a strong 3rd quarter outscoring the Shocks 21-15 to take a 57-52 lead. However, the Shocks responded to take the 4th quarter 22-17 and the teams head to OT tied at 74-all. One negative for the Shocks is that Seraphine Bastin fouled out with 9 seconds left in regulation. Asia, Mariah, Carla and Trajata all in double figures. That kind of scoring balance has been missing much of this year and no doubt is helping the Shocks greatly to get this game to OT with a good chance to win it.

Shocks pull out the nice senior night win 84-83. Asia got the ball back after having her shot blocked and was filed on the second chance put back with 15 seconds to play. Asia hit both free throws put the Shock on top. Tulane missed a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left, got the rebound but missed a final shott attempt aas time expired.

Congrats to the Shocker seniors as they played very well in this game. If the Shocks had played like this more often they would have had a far better season.

The Shocks can probably beat about anybody in this league except maybe UCF. But winning 4 games in 4 days in the AAC Tournament seems pretty unlikely.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Enter Conference Tournament as No. 9 Seed

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/3/2/womens-basketball-shockers-enter-conference-tournament-as-no-9-seed.aspx

So the Shockers upset of Tulane last night coupled with ECU's 53-56 loss at Memphis allowed the Shocks to jump ahead of ECU and Cincy into 9th place. The Shocks finished AAC play at 5-11 while ECU and Cincy were both 4-11.

The Shocks draw 8th seeded Tulsa for a 1st Round game at 1:00 pm CT in the opening game of the AAC Tournament.

The Shockers lost at home to Tulsa 58-65 and lost at Tulsa this past Sunday 49-61 although the game was much closer than that score indicates. I do think the Lady Shocks have been playing better over their past 5 games with 2 of their 3 losses very close games with #2 seed South Florida.

This a game that the Shockers can win. Although the reward to the winner of this game is an appointment with top seed UCF (14-1 in AAC play) and their nasty defense at Noon CT on Tuesday.

[1972Shocker]

Seraphine Bastin Named Ambassador Award Winner

https://goshockers.com/news/2022/3/6/womens-basketball-bastin-named-ambassador-award-winner.aspx

Congrats to Serpahine. This is the only AAC post-season award for any of the Shocker players. I have to say I am a little surpirised that Mariah McCully was did not make at least the All-AAC 3rd team and perhaps even the 2nd team. Mariah was 8th in the league in scoring in Conference games.

UCF's Diamond Battles won both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Both of these awards pretty much had to go to a UCF player and since they pretty much dominated defensively it is not surprising their best player would win both of these awards.

[shock-it-to-me]

One and done

[ShockerFever]

One and done

Nobody cares. As long as the coach isn’t a meanie, that’s all that matters. Pay Adam’s $250k per year and lifetime extend her.

[1972Shocker]

One and done

Yep. Lost to Tulsa for the 3rd time this year. This was 86-88 in overtime. That is both a ton of points for this Shocker team to score and is also a ton of points for this Shocker team to allow.

The Shockers had 5 players in double figures plus DJ McCarty had 9. Unheard of for this team even with OT. Unfortunately, it still was not enough.

The Shockers shot 33-58 (57%) from the field including 8-15 (53%) from three which is spectacular for them. They also made 12-15 (80%) of their free throws. Tulsa shot 47%/35%/73%. The Shocks also outrebounded Tulsa 39-26. So how did the Shockers managed to lose this game. About the only thing left is turnovers and that was a disaster. The Shocks turned it over 27 times to only 12 for Tulsa. Tulsa outscored the Shocks off turnovers 32-12 and despite being outrebounded by 13 Tulsa was able to get off 15 more shots than did the Shockers. The Shocks outscored Tulsa 10-3 on second chance points although Tulsa actually have more offensive rebounds by 10-9. Seraphine had 8 turnovers, Mariah had 6 turnovers and Jane had 5 turnovers while Carla and Asia had 3 each. I'll have to watch he replay tonight but the turnover stat certainly seems to tell the tale. In looking at the play-by-play for the OT period the Shocks had 5 turnovers to none for Tulsa. That is very difficult to overcome.

Interesting first half. The Shocks won the 1st quarter 26-14. Tulsa won the 2nd quarter 26-12.

Probably doesn't make a lot of difference. #1 seeded UCF awaits Tulsa tomorrow. I can pretty much guarantee Tulsa won't come anywhere near 88 points or the 78 points they scored in regulation against UCF.

You have 4 Shocker players (Mariah, Asia, Seraphine, and Carla apparently playing their final games as Shockers who combined for 63 of the Shockers' 88 points. It's almost like HCKA wanted to let the departing players have one last hurrah as she only played 8 players and the 4 departing players played a total of 150 minutes or 37.5 minutes each on average. The 5th starter, Jane Asinde played 37 minutes as well, DJ McCarty played 19 minutes, Trajata Colbert played 13 minutes and Nhug Bosch Duran play 6 minutes.

With these 4 players apparently moving on (at least they had senior nights), next year would seem to be a major rebuilding year for the Shocks. Problem is the Shocks had to upset Tulane at home in the final regular season game to avoid finishing 11th (last place). At least they don't have far to fall.

Assuming no defections, the Shocks have Jane Asinde, the injury prone DJ McCarty, Trajata Colbert, Shamaryah Duncan (who did not play today) and the diminutive Nhug Bosch Duran returning next year that might make a semi-decent but not great starting lineup. But there is little to nothing behind them unless 6-4 Ella Anciaux, also did not play today, can make a big jump (not literally). At this point, my expectations for next year are pretty subdued unless HCKA can pull-off a major recruiting haul and if that hasn't happened in the past 5 years that is certainly not a high probability, especially for a coach that only has 2 years remaining on her contract (assuming she hasn't been stealth extended).

HCKA did sign one player to a NLI in the early signing period. Ambah Kowcun, a 5-10 wing who is finishing up her 2nd year at North Dakota State College os Science and is reportedly a good perimeter shooter. Ambah hails for Adelaide, Australia. So perhaps she will help fill Carla Bremaud's role.

At this point she has 5 scholarships available if she wants to use her full alotment of 15 which she usually has. She started this year with 15 scholarships but 2 of those players, Mariah McKinney and Jayze'lee Waihi left the team duing the season. Waihi, I think left pretty early on during the fall semester. Maybe never made it to Wichita. Would not surprise me if she brings in a couple more Jucos.

[1972Shocker]

Just finished watching the replay. It was a pretty entertaining game, especially the 2nd half as the lead bounced back and forth pretty much throughout the half. Tempo plays a very uptemp style and I think the Shocks were trying to match that as much as they good. The Shocks played very well when they weren't turning the ball over. I thought a lot of the turnovers were mostly carelessness on the part of the Shocks with a few with them trying force things. Perhaps a little bit sped up from how they are used to playing.

Mariah got off a acrobatic 10 foot runner in the lane at the buzzer at the end of regulation and it all but went in as it rimmed out. So close to a Shocker win. This game was about as close as you could get. A little ragged at times but a lot of action.

Thanks to Mariah, Asia, Seraphine and Carla fof their contributions to the program. I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

[1972Shocker]

BTW, Asia Strong did make quite the circus shot in the final minute of overtime:

0

[1972Shocker]

A quick look ahead to next year:

With 4 starters (Mariah, Asia, Seraphine and Carla) apparently moving on (at least they had senior nights), next year would seem to be a major rebuilding year for the Lady Shocks who finished 9th in the AAC this year. They were picked by the AAC coaches to finish 8th in the preseason poll and I though they had a shot of bettering that. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Other than UCF there was not team in the league that I thought the Shocks could not beat. They played 2nd place USF very competitively in both games.

Assuming no defections, the Shocks have Jane Asinde, the injury prone DJ McCarty, Trajata Colbert, Shamaryah Duncan and the diminutive Nhug Bosch Duran returning next year that might make a semi-decent but not great starting lineup. 6-4 Ella Anciaux has the size but is limited athletically.

HCKA did sign one player to a NLI in the early signing period. Ambah Kowcun, a 5-10 wing who is finishing up her 2nd year at North Dakota State College of Science and is reportedly a good perimeter shooter. Ambah hails for Adelaide, Australia. Ambah did put together a pretty good sophomore year at North Dakota State College of Science as she played an average of about 30 minutes per game and averaged 19.6 PPG while shooting 42.7% from the field overall and 36.9% on 3-pointers. And she took a lot of shots. 14.9 shots per game including 8.3 treys. Mariah led the Shocks with 13.2 shots per game including 4.3 treys. Despite being a perimeter shooter Ambah did get to the line 121 times knocking down 105 of those for outstanding 86.8%. Seraphine got to the line the most of the Shocks this year hitting 77-93 for 82.8% which led the AAC. Ambah also grabbed 4.2 assists per game and dished out 3.9 assists per game with a 1.8 assist to turnover ratio. How well and to what extent those stats will translate to the D-1 level is very difficult to predict. Ambah's NDSCS team finished the year at 27-2, are ranked #21 in the NJCAA D-1 rankings and are the top seed in the upcoming Region XIII tournament. Ambah looks good on paper and perhaps might be able to step into Carla Bremaud's role.

Ambah Kowcun 2021-22 stats: https://www.ndscswildcats.com/sports...cun_ambah_ztre

At this point HCKA has 5 scholarships available (presuming everyone else returns) if she wants to use her full allotment of 15 which she usually does.

At this point I am guessing the 2-deep depth chart based on what we think the roster looks like right now would be as follows:

Point Guard: DJ McCarty, Nhug Bosch Duran, Tanya Platanova
Wing #1: Ambah Kowcun, DJ McCarty
Wing #2: Shamaryah Duncan, Melissa Secchiaroli
Forward: Jane Asinde, Carla Budane
Center: Trajata Colbert, Ella Anciaux

We'll have to see how HCKA fills her roster out on the recruiting trail. I think how much Tanya, Melissa, Carla and Ella can contribute are all bit question marks.

DJ needs to stay healthy and I hope she plays mostly at the point but HCKA may not have that luxury. Nhug got quite a bit of playing time this year. Will just have to see how her game develops. She is pretty small. Listed at 5-7 but looks tiny next to 5-8 Seraphine Bastin. A totally different playing style from Seraphine. Seraphine may very well have been the strongets player on the team.

Shamaryah showed some flashes of becoming a good, solid player but needs to be able to bring that consistently. She certainly looks athletic enough to get the job done.

Melissa did not play a lot this year and looked like the game was a bit to fast for her. Hopefully, her game will come along next year.

Carla is kind of in the same boat as Melissa.

Very difficult to predict how Ella will do. Certainly has the size but not much athleticism and doesn't get all that much out of 6-4 height. However, she is a wide body and takes up a lot of space and needs to learn how to put that to good use. Seems like a pretty smart player and looks like she has a pretty decent shooting stroke out to 15 feet.

Based on what 4 starters the Shockers are losing I expect the AAC coaches will not give the Shocks much love in next falls preseason picks.