Angel was awesome tonight

Glad to hear that she was a positive and inspirational leader tonight.

It looked like that should’ve been a foul on Cardosa, but there there was a replay that seemed to show Angel grabbing Cardosa’s uniform with her left hand and essentially pulling her over. It seems like Angel was being pushed down and lost her balance, and the hold may have been somewhat of an effort to hold herself up. I think it should’ve been a no call, because they were both just trying to block each other out.

That picture and video show Cardosa hacking Reese very badly and she should’ve been called for a foul. I think the refs really helped South Carolina last nights.

I've argued for decades that a player shouldn't foul out of a basketball game.

They could make every foul beyond the 5th to give the opponent a free throw, or an extra free throw, or some additional penalty.

But to knock a star completely out of the game affects the game way too much.

And this isn't just about last night, but about all basketball games. A few cheap calls by an overeager official can completely change the game. And that's a shame.

quote:

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This is probably one of my favorite performances of her career.

She gave that giant hell in the paint, blocked multiple shots, hit a long midrange jumper in a clutch spot, dealt with getting mauled the entire game, played like 38 minutes, and pumped Van Lith all night — including immediately after fouling out on some absurdly bad breaks.

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Same here. Last year, I think the combo of Boston & Cardoso outsized Angel and held her way below her averages, and I thought it might happen again. But Angel outplayed the bigger Cardoso... and played as well as any game I've seen her in. And her passion made the game more enjoyable.

Not sure what to say about the officiating. It's hard to tell on TV sometimes. Cardoso was all over Angel's arms on that shot block, which should have been a foul. When Angel returned the favor and blocked a couple of Cardoso's shots, I held my breath a little because on at least one of them, looks like there might've been some contact on Angel (though she might've got the ball clean first). Some called fouls, including when Cardoso fell on Angel, did not look like fouls. Some things that weren't called look like they should've been called. Definitely affected the game.