In Reply to: South Carolina lost to Oklahoma posted by KirklandBruin on January 22, 2026 at 20:02:16
I think I'm more afraid of SoCaro than I was before I watched it. They have a ton of talented players. I won't go through the roster, except for one. They've added at 6'7" freshman from France. Her mother played in WNBA. This was her third game. She has no clue how defense is called in the NCAA. She grabs and pulls all the time. She got 2 fouls, one right after another. Pulled a player, foul. Ball inbounded her mark, immediately pulled and fouled.
But, on O, holy cow. She was 3-6 (she'd have played a lot more, if it wasn't for her 4 fouls). These include a three pointer, a basket with a nice touch around the rim, and a 16 footer. She took a 12 foot turnaround. Missed it, but looked smooth as silk. And, she fit right into SoCaro's passing schemes. When she figures out this isn't wrestling, look out.
On the Oklahoma side, Aaliyah Chavez is phenomenal. She's averaging 18.8 pts, 4 a, and 4 reb. That's after her season got off to a slow start. The only players in the last 10 years that had better averages in those stats as a freshman were Hidalgo, Brueckers, and another superstar I'm forgetting (Not Watkins). Chavez makes some dumb freshman mistakes out of overexuberance. But, she is amaaaaazing.