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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 06/29/17 12:37 pm ::: FiBA U18 3x3 World Cup |
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First day of pool play for US Women's team. Beat Hungary 13-9 and Japan 22-15.
About what you'd expect from US. Not great shooting. Size and strength advantage. Dominated boards. Drove to hoop. Good defense.
Against Hungary US didn't score for nearly the first three minutes, which can be deadly in a ten minute game, but were only down 4-0 and dominated the rest of the way. Finally scored with a free throw.
Against Japan the US had a HUGE size advantage and DeCosta and Bailey completely dominated inside. Japan had no chance.
But Japan's diminutive Takahashi ended up as women's player of the day for her play in Japan's upset win over Switzerland and loss to the US. She could shoot from the arc, but mostly used quickness to flash past bigger slower players. Really fun to watch.
<iframe width="440" height="248" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SHpeV0-6jj8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Way too many sloppy turnovers and bad shots for US today. Based just on watching these games, if I was recruiting for my college team, DeCosta is my clear top choice. Williams and Bailey are entirely different but tied for 2/3, and Littleton would be 4.
Didn't know Kara Lawson is coaching this team. No coaching allowed during the game, btw. So, like tennis, coaches are in the stands, not on the sidelines, and can only coach before and after games.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 06/29/17 12:56 pm ::: |
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By the way, Pool A (and their records after today) is US (2-0), Australia (2-0), Japan (1-1), Hungary (0-2), and Switzerland (0-2). US plays Switzerland and Australia on Saturday.
The games are all both live and archived on the FIBA 3x3 YouTube channel.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 07/01/17 2:44 pm ::: |
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US beat Switzerland 19-11, and Australia 20-11 today. Japan also beat Australia and somehow out of the three way tie among Aus, Japan and Hungary at 2-2, Hungary , along with 4-0 US, moves on to tomorrow's medal rounds from Pool A.
DeCosta also won the Bronze in the skills contest. Littleton didn't make it out of the qualifying round in the shoot out contest.
The US looked really good and was named the Team of the Day. They shot much better today. DeCosta was terrific.
<iframe width="460" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JdjyyaveJM0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The US plays France in the quarter finals tomorrow. France has beaten the US for the gold medal in the last two years championship games. One of those two teams will go home without a medal this year.
Switzerland went 0-4 and is done, but one of the Swiss girls won gold in the skills contest.
Last edited by ArtBest23 on 07/02/17 4:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 07/01/17 4:42 pm ::: |
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BTW, major choke by Australia.
USA-AUS was the last game of pool play. It was known before the game started that to advance to the medal round, Aus had to either win, or lose while scoring 12 or more pts.
After five and a half minutes they had ten.
In the remaining 4:30 they scored 1 more point, for a total of 11, and handed the tiebreaker to Hungary.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 07/02/17 9:48 am ::: |
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The US finally beat their nemesis France, then went on to beat Russia and the Czech Republic, to win the Gold Medal. DeCosta and Bailey were named to the all tournament team. DeCosta was named tournament MVP.
Great job!
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GlennMacGrady
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Joined: 03 Jan 2005 Posts: 8227 Location: Heisenberg
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Posted: 07/02/17 12:30 pm ::: |
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If you watched this, did DeCosta show an outside shot? Re 3pt shots, she was 0-3 on the U16 team and 0-0 on the U17 team. |
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willtalk
Joined: 13 Apr 2012 Posts: 1093 Location: NorCal
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Posted: 07/02/17 2:06 pm ::: |
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GlennMacGrady wrote: |
If you watched this, did DeCosta show an outside shot? Re 3pt shots, she was 0-3 on the U16 team and 0-0 on the U17 team. |
From my memory she was 2 for 3 from 3pt range. She really didn't shoot that many 3's. I didn't see the games against France and Russia though.
What I found interesting and different about 3x3 it really exposes you defensively. Quickness seems to trump height or size as Japan showed against much taller teams. I totally concur with Art Bests evaluations of the USA players. I felt that Littleton was the weakest link primarily because she was a real liability on defense. She couldn't really stay in front of anyone but the slower guards. I actually wonder if she will have that same problem in college. She is a really big girl and I wonder if genetically it will hurt her down the line. Some people just naturally put on weight as they mature and for a guard that can end up being a problem. KLM comes to mind.
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ArtBest23
Joined: 02 Jul 2013 Posts: 14550
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Posted: 07/02/17 4:34 pm ::: |
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GlennMacGrady wrote: |
If you watched this, did DeCosta show an outside shot? . |
Yes. She seemed to have a complete game.
I also thought it was interesting they had her, rather than either of the guards, in the skills contest, and she won Bronze.
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ArtBest23
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Posted: 07/02/17 4:53 pm ::: |
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willtalk wrote: |
GlennMacGrady wrote: |
If you watched this, did DeCosta show an outside shot? Re 3pt shots, she was 0-3 on the U16 team and 0-0 on the U17 team. |
From my memory she was 2 for 3 from 3pt range. She really didn't shoot that many 3's. I didn't see the games against France and Russia though.
What I found interesting and different about 3x3 it really exposes you defensively. Quickness seems to trump height or size as Japan showed against much taller teams. I totally concur with Art Bests evaluations of the USA players. I felt that Littleton was the weakest link primarily because she was a real liability on defense. She couldn't really stay in front of anyone but the slower guards. I actually wonder if she will have that same problem in college. She is a really big girl and I wonder if genetically it will hurt her down the line. Some people just naturally put on weight as they mature and for a guard that can end up being a problem. KLM comes to mind. |
Bailey also got beat badly trying to defend smaller guards, but was terrific in the paint. She and DeCosta are both listed as 6'3" but their games are entirely different. Bailey was the high scorer for the U.S., but it's hard to tell how dominant she will be when she's not the biggest player on the floor. DeCosta you can tell is going to be a star. She can play anywhere on the floor and has a complete game.
I thought Littleton was the sloppiest and least disciplined of the four.
Williams looked good in stretches but she needed to be a little more aggressive offensively. She just vanished for long stretches, although if they counted assists, she probably would have had a LOT. She was more inclined to lob it into Bailey than to shoot.
Australia was nearly as tall as the US, but nowhere near as athletic. Japan really embarrassed them with their quickness. The US was tall but also very athletic. Nobody could effectively defend Bailey and DeCosta at the rim.
I was more impressed with DeCosta than I've been with anyone I've seen from the 2017 class. Somebody is going to get a really good player in 2018. I'd be interested in Clay's thoughts on her. I assume he's familiar with her game and her recruiting.
Last edited by ArtBest23 on 07/02/17 5:35 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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ArtBest23
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GlennMacGrady
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Posted: 07/02/17 8:10 pm ::: |
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Thanks for the links. Watched the whole final. Bailey with 11 points was the most effective scorer in that game. She scored at will in the low paint. DeCosta didn't take an outside shot in that game, but had a couple of athletic drives.
For the seven game tournament, Bailey had 40 points, DeCosta 35, Littleton 32, and Williams 22.
I distinctly remember watching several games last summer and having similar reactions to Acquira DeCosta and Megan Walker: very athletic from the mid-range in, but with no outside shots. DeCosta is now two or three inches taller than Walker with probably more athletic potential. If she now has a long shot, she'll be very good in college. |
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