Definitely not our best game tonight in offense. We knew this could happen, they are definitely a really good team. I guess it is a bit unrealistic to expect a win when you shoot 18/52 from the floor. It just wasn’t our day, a lot of easy looks didn’t go in. Congrats to Harvard for their defensive game, it was really tough to run any offensive plan today. I think we needed a bit more from Kitty running our offensive game, I felt that she left Cece and Avlijas run the plays a bit too much.
The good part is that, given that it is not an upset loss, it shouldn’t change anything too much. Winning next weekend at Princeton should still give us the regular season title and NET-wise we should still be perfectly fine as we have no Q3/Q4 defeats and a Q1 win, which most bubble teams don’t have.
Yes, the standings are now tighter, but the only way Columbia can ensure winning the regular season outright (regardless of the results of Princeton’s and Harvard’s other games) is getting a victory at Jadwin next Saturday. They’re still in control of their own destiny.
The #1 seed this year has a huge advantage for obvious reasons. And we know Griffith and Co. are hungry to win the title outright for the first time.
How’s this not an upset? Columbia already won the Cambridge end; and your remark the other day read that if Harmoni Turner wasn’t dominant, you couldn’t see Harvard giving Columbia trouble - this afternoon, Turner made only five of fourteen shots attempted.
I don’t consider this an upset either… Harvard had a NET ranking of 35 entering this game and with their backs to the wall (a loss would virtually eliminate them from the #1 seed), you had to figure they’d put up a strong fight.
While Turner wasn’t very efficient from the field, she dished out 7 assists and grabbed 8 rebounds… and she was a huge reason why Columbia was held to a season-low 54 points. She had 4 steals and wreaked havoc on D all game long. She showed us today why she’s the favorite to win the Ivy POY.
Am I upset that we lost today? A bit. It wasn’t our best. I think if our shooting had been a bit more on point, we would have won.
Is this loss an upset? Heck no! In NCAA terms, an upset is when a considerably lower ranked team wins over a higher ranked team. Up to this morning, Harvard was ranked #35 while Columbia was ranked #43 in NET. For the committee, this is not considered a bad loss so it shouldn’t hurt our March madness aspirations too much. Also, games between Harvard, Princeton and Columbia this season are really close to a 50/50, so loosing is always a possibility. I had expectations because of our momentum and because I think we are overall a slightly better team.
Regarding Turner, it is impossible to consider she had a bad game if you saw something more than the scoresheet. She was 5/14 on the floor, but all contested shots. She ran the entire offense for Harvard. She forced 8 (!!) shooting fouls by herself. She was the shadow of Weiss on defense. She was the only way Harvard could break our full court press. It is because of games like this one that she will most likely win Ivy POY, Mid-Major POY, and probably be drafted in a few months if she declares.
Harvard is overall a very good team and Turner is an excellent player. However we were ahead of Harvard at the start of the fourth quarter, and should have won the game easily, but for a number of uncharacteristic mistakes. I would not be surprised if Coach Griffith moves Broom into the starting line-up. Incidentally, why wasn’t Lance Medow the announcer for today’s home game?
I agree we should have, but it is what it is. We missed big ones and got sloppy when we didn’t have to. Broom might be getting more minutes as the season progresses, as she should be a starter next season, but I don’t think I see her as a starter for certain type of tough games yet. The only change I could think of making sense is swapping her with Avlijas, because of her inconsistency in the shooting, but she is a better defender that Broom right now and really good on 1 on 1 defense. She was on top of Turner all game and did a pretty good job. You could put Broom in her spot, but I believe Broom is still a bit inexperienced for big matchups, and sometimes commits stupid mistakes (it’s a matter of time that she becomes consistent). If you payed attention today, every time Avlijas was out, Kitty would take the defensive match-up against Turner, but I don’t know if this is something you want to do all game. It could be really tiring for Kitty, and I think is crucial that she is on point to be able to run our offense.
Regarding Lance, I believe he is our designed coverage for ESPN+, but today’s game was on national TV (ESPNU), so I guess they brought a special team of commentators
I think it’s a mistake that Megan only plays 7 players in these big games. Our bench players are very good and having a bigger rotation would keep our stars fresh. Coach G did our chances a disservice today with her short rotation.
Perri Page is a great player on both ends of the court and I don’t think she’s being used well by Megan. She’s being shuttled in and out incessantly and not able to get into the flow of the game. I don’t understand why Megan doesn’t give her more minutes and keep her in for longest stretches.
Two of the players in our starting lineup are a little inconsistent. Avlijas and Rafiu. They both had bad games. I would
like to see more of mia broom and Perri Page in their stead. I actually think Mia’s a better talent than Kitty, if less experienced. Kitty had a bad game too (but so did everyone).
The most likely scenario is that we have a three way tie for the ivy title at 12-2. It’s going to be a tall order to go into tiger town and win. I don’t see the tigers beating harvard either in cambridge.
Who do you put in? Simmons is a great defender but I don’t think she has blended well enough into our offense to play good in this type of games yet. Arrebola still lacks a bunch of versatility both on offense and defense. Tor might have been a good option to guard Rodriguez/Glenn-Bello, but in very specific scenarios, as she is not strong enough at the post to handle Abigail Wright.
I agree about Mia, but she is not there yet. Page has had a lot of minutes this year and shown even more inconsitency than Rafiu. She seems to not be capable to energetically defend without fouling every other time, and usually takes a lot of wrong decisions in offense.
Excellent points, re: the seven player rotation and Perri Page. Those kids were gassed by the start of the final quarter; and the not so subtle message to those kept glued to the bench or shuttled in and out is that they’re not to be trusted - at least not when it matters most and player performance will be impacted, adversely, when there’s no closure as far as this sense of trust is concerned.
I agree. Playing 7 players when you have the quality reserves we do is both bad for the team cultire and spirt and bad tactically. Harvard wore us down. I hope Coach G learns from this and changes this strategy for Princeton.
Regrettably, 89, and barring an injury we’d all hate to witness, she’ll continue playing seven in the remaining inflection point games of the current season. Though my wish would be that their offense attempt to at least take 25 seconds or more off the clock during each offensive possession; thus allowing the kids a small though improved opportunity to gain a little more rest when they have the ball. And, of course, she could be using the second halves of her various games against the Sisters of the Poor to practice the incorporation of a more delayed game offense as standard fare. I understand the argument of worshipping at the NET altar; but, in the long haul, winning games takes care of NET and both she and most of her devotees would have, in retrospect, gladly settled for a twenty-five point win last Friday night, followed up by a one point win on Sunday afternoon, than what they ended up getting!
Megan loves to press and so does Harvard. Both teams were struggling at the end but the Crimson had a little more in the tank. The press gave the Tigers fits in the 3rd quarter at Levien. I am sure Carla will make adjustments but the Lions appear to have more weapons.