A Final Look at 2021-22
Plus who beat me in the Hoopla Groupla
Before I begin, some news about what this newsletter will be like for the next month.
*AFTER THURSDAY’S POST, HOOPLA WILL BE IN HIBERNATION FOR THE REST OF APRIL*
This newsletter has been a blast to make, and I thank everyone for reading. The women’s basketball season has been a bit of a grind at times, even for how much I love writing it, so taking a break for a few weeks after the season ends makes sense for me.
Now I will say, sometimes things come up that I feel I have to write about. Maybe the Browns will sign another awful human being, why stop now? If something like that happens, you’ll see me here before May. If not, I’ll see you on Thursday, then again in a few weeks. Love you all <3
The 2021-22 women’s college basketball season is over, with South Carolina finishing its season-long conquest with a rather emphatic victory over UConn. Aliyah Boston is very good, Destanni Henderson had an incredible game, Dawn Staley is the coolest coach in America and the Gamecocks so thoroughly deserved the win.
But now, my payment. The reward for the free group was that I would shout you out in this Hoopla if you beat me. Well, 12 of you did just that, and here you are:
A special congratulations to ccart18, who finished atop the group and in the 94.9 percentile among all ESPN brackets. And to Lukefrom2011, nbc22 (Veronica Burton Disrespect), drewhamm5, patrickmayhorn, sarahswag13 (the patberger special), tone44, Rossm500, sean_mintert20, CowboysFanatic101 (Varda), dep61 and vt_ben, you are all better than me and I will sit in sorrow at the thought of my fraudulence. Congratulations.
More embarrassingly, I got *two* out of six of the Big Ten teams correct, with Indiana and Ohio State making the Sweet 16. I had Maryland (Round of 32) one round short, Michigan (Final Four) and Nebraska (Round of 32) one round too far and Iowa (Elite Eight) two rounds too far, yikes.
Thankfully, almost no one was able to nail down this conference better than me. Many of you matched my 2 for 6, but by my count, just two brackets got at least half exactly correct. If I am wrong and I missed you getting at least 3, I will shout you out in the next Hoopla, where I will be even more ashamed.
As it stands, these are the two that should be taking over this newsletter with their Big Ten knowledge.
dead and red, fred - 4 correct (Michigan, Maryland, Ohio State, Nebraska)
Moose Madness - 3 correct (Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska)
Moose, you may have finished in dead last, but you got the picks right where it mattered.
Overall, here is how many got each of the Big Ten teams exactly right (based on my count, which could very easily be wrong):
Nebraska - 10/25 (40%) correct
Indiana - 9/25 (36%)
Maryland - 7/25 (28%)
Michigan - 5/25 (20%)
Ohio State - 4/25 (16%)
Iowa - 2/25 (8%)
Brackets are hard, but thanks again to everyone who participated!
I’ve already said so many words about the Big Ten this year, and I will have even more words when I do the team previews over the summer. For now, I just wanted to share a few more scattered thoughts about some things, and maybe some storylines that I wish I got to talk about more.
Players I Overlooked
As the season went on and the race for the conference crown heated up, I feel that I didn’t talk enough about some players that really impressed, despite being on teams that struggled. Here are a few of those names who deserved proper credit for the seasons they had:
Sara Scalia, Minnesota: Scalia has been a consistently strong scorer in her three years for the Gophers, but she took it to another level as a junior. Scalia’s 17.9 PPG was eighth in the Big Ten, and it was done thanks to her excellent efficiency from three (41.3%) that ranked fifth in the conference (min. 2 attempts per game). Scalia stepped up and turned into a reliable primary scorer for Minnesota, and can become a true star next year if she can improve her all-around game.
Osh Brown, Rutgers: The grad transfer had comically good stats at Ball State last season (18.9 PPG, 12.9 RPG). Though she didn’t quite match that with the Scarlet Knights, she still had a strong year with 10.8 PPG and 9.1 RPG, numbers that impress even more considering how ghastly this team’s offense was most of the year. Brown was put in a tough position with a new head coach as part of a Frankensteined roster, so for her to nearly average a double double anyway is quite a feat.
Makenna Marisa, Penn State: I certainly brought Marisa up throughout the year, but she had a spectacular campaign that needs more attention. 22.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game is tremendous, and her shooting clips were dramatically improved from her first two years (38.5 FG%, 30.5 3PT% in 2020-21 to 42.8 FG%, 34.1 3PT% in 2021-22). If the Nittany Lions can build around Marisa just a little in her senior year, this team could be dangerous. I really hope they do, because man, Marisa is a special talent.
I Love Purdue
Purdue did not make the NCAA Tournament, something that seemed obvious at the start of the season. Instead, the Boilermakers made it interesting before a few bad losses down the stretch, but they still snagged an NIT win before ending their season.
That’s all great for first-year head coach Katie Geralds, but it is the words I have seen from the players on this roster that excite me more than the results.
This is so cool, and it makes me so excited for this Purdue program.
The Boilermakers were a fun little story this year, but I’m expecting them to have true NCAA Tournament aspirations with Geralds at the helm in year two. I am absolutely drinking the Purdue Kool-Aid based on tweets, so what?
The Maryland Dilemma
Maryland went 23-9. Maryland earned a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Maryland won two games in the tournament before falling to top-seed Stanford. With broad strokes, this seems like a good season worth talking about.
And yet, I feel like I barely talked about this team all year. Maryland slightly underperformed based on their insanely high expectations, and they often fell to the side compared to the top teams or the unexpected ones.
I’m not sure what to do about this, but I wanted to not that yes, I did notice that I feel like I didn’t talk about Maryland much. If the Terrapins were the juggernaut they had been so many times before, would I have? I’m not sure.
Here’s what I think is worth noting about Maryland’s 2021-22 campaign:
Yes, it did fall short for them. Sweet 16 isn’t good enough for this group on purely talent level, but there was a whole lot more going on here.
And by that, I mean injuries. This roster did not see the floor at full strength all that often this year, and that sucks. Ashley Owusu is one of the most game-changing guards in the Big Ten, and she was not 100 percent this year. Diamond Miller also couldn’t stay healthy. Hopefully we see them back to what we know in 2022-23.
Angel Reese deserves even more kudos, though. Reese averaged 17.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 3.1 blocks per game. That is disgusting, especially for her first full collegiate season. The core of her, Owusu, Miller, Mimi Collins and Shyanne Sellers is going to be so much fun to watch.
I’ll see you on Thursday, then most likely again in May. Thanks for following along with me for a wonderful season of college hoops.
If you are interested in more Big Ten women’s basketball content like this, you can subscribe with the button at the top or bottom of the post, or share it with the button below. Thanks!