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WBB: George Washington Thread - SControl - 11-18-2015

Hope I'm not overstepping my bounds but I thought I'd get the ball rolling before Saturdays game (apologies in advance 81Alum! ;)).

Anyway, after stumbling upon a mock list for next years WNBA draft I noticed a player from GWU high on the list (Jonquel Jones), right behind UCONN's Stewart + Jefferson and S. Carolina's Mitchell. I had no idea the team we are playing this weekend featured such a player. This team beat Dayton 3x last season (the same Dayton team that gave UCONN fits in the big dance) and eventually lost to Gonzaga. Along with Jones, they feature a BIG starting frontcourt:

#35 Jonquel Jones 6-4 F
#3 Caira Washington 6-2 F
#25 Kelli Prange 6-5 F (although the team picture suggests she is a little shorter than the 6-4 Jones) http://www.gwsports.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/gewa-w-baskbl-mtt.html
#13 Shannon Cranshaw 5-9 G
#4 Lauren Chase 5-5 G

Their two (blow out) games of the season were vs Grambling St (10-20 last season) and American University (NCAA team last season that lost their 2 top scorers), where they won 85-58 and 78-48 respectively. Their starters seem to play heavy minutes and I can expect us having a slight edge over their guards. Tt will be be interesting to see how our bigs do defensively against this team but either way it should be a good one @ home.

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - TheFarm07 - 11-18-2015

Sounds like McCall and Johnson will have their hands full inside.  Our perimeter game will have to be sharp to take pressure off of them

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - Mike - 11-18-2015

Having their hands full might be a bit of an understatement: GW led the nation in rebounding last year with that same front court trio. One weakness, however, might be Caira Washington, who had 100+ fouls last season.

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - BobK - 11-18-2015

Great info, thanks

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - 81alum - 11-18-2015

Thanks for getting us started!

Yes, this is a quality, top-20 team that won their conference and will probably win it again this year.  Given that a lesser Gonzaga team led us with all but five minutes of the last game gone, I am concerned about a higher level of competition before our team has really begun to jell.  If we struggle to win this one, then we will have even more problems with Texas and Tennessee coming up.  We are going to learn what we are made of.

Given that they have 6-5 and 6-4, athletic posts, I can't see our inside offense scoring much.  Erica could well have a tough offensive day.  We had better be able to hit jump shots.  That might mean a different lineup.  Marta may not get a lot of time--Lili, Bri, and Karlie probably will get a lot of time.  McPhee could also do well if she can hit some jumpers and not try taking it to the hoop every time.  If ever there were a time for a stretch four--this would be it.  Maybe Alanna, if she can stay out of foul trouble.  But can Alana guard one of their giants, given her tendency to foul?  We may find out.

On defense, I wonder if Coffee might get some time?  Tara usually emphasizes our defense first.  Who is most likely to be able to bother 6-4 Jonquel Jones?





Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - SControl - 11-18-2015

I would expect Tara to throw multiple bodies on Jones, clog up the paint, and possibly try to get their bigs in some foul trouble (if they don't beat us to it) since they seem to have limited bench play. Our guards offense will win this game if our bigs can make their bigs take tough shots and limit o-boards. Would love to see Coffee in the game.

Great note about GWU's rebounding @Mike. Last year their front court averaged 26 rebounds/game. Nobody shot better than 35% beyond the arc:
Jones 12.5 r/g (4 off reb./game)
Washington 7.7 r/g (led the team with 102 pf/game as previously noted)
Prange 5.8 r/g (took second most 3's on the team)

I just watched a few games from last season (vs Dayton and vs Gonzaga) on the WatchESPN app and Jones is very, VERY active, from the block, can step out to shoot beyond the arc, and will sometimes bring up the ball with the intent to go straight to the basket. No big emphasis on their guard play but their bigs can get the job done. They seem to break down with strong dribble drives and their weaknesses came out when Gonzaga sped up the game, put a lot of pressure on the ball, and faceguarded their pg.

Anticipating an early season test on Saturday. Maybe the team will surprise us and click in the 2nd half, like they did in Spokane .  We will see what the team can do against bigger, athletic teams, not only like Texas (with 6'5 Lang and 6'7 Boyette, formerly McGee-Stafford) and Tenn (with 6'6 Russell + a hefty sized rest of the team), but in conference play (with Oregon's Alleye, C.al's Anigwe, OSU's Hamblin, USC's surprise in Fagbenle).

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - Jskass - 11-18-2015

maybe we'll press a lot on Saturday?

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - yvonne - 11-19-2015

Since George died 92 years before Naismith hung up the peach basket, he'd probably have a difficult time picking up the rules. Plus, factoring in decomposition, I've got to give the edge to our women.

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - 81alum - 11-21-2015

The highlight reel from GW's latest game against American is scary.

http://www.gwsports.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/111715aaa.html

Their tall posts can shoot threes and midrange jumpers, and they are very experienced.  This is going to be a very challenging game.

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - BostonCard - 11-21-2015

Game on!

We are up 8-5 early.

BC

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - Viking_Guy - 11-21-2015

Now 42-28 Stanford, playing excellent ball late in the "second quarter" - it will be a LONG time before I get used to saying that.

After being down 19-11 in the first quarter. 

Now halftime, 46-30.  31 point quarter for the Cardinal.

VG


Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - BostonCard - 11-21-2015

73-57 late in the fourth.  Looks like a pretty comfortable win.

BC

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - CompSci87 - 11-21-2015

In the first quarter it looked like it would be a struggle. We fell behind, then crept back some to trail 19-15 at the break. Their bigs were bigger and eating up rebounds, while we weren't getting out on Jonquil Jones and she was popping in 3s.

In the second quarter we tightened up the defense, started boxing out better, and got our running game going. Won the quarter 31-11 to go up by 16. At some point Tara put Karlie on Jones instead of Kaylee, and that worked great. Karlie was able to bother Jones a lot on the perimeter, and Jones didn't manage to post up on her inside to use her height advantage.

Second half was pretty even. We prevented any serious comeback but didn't extend the lead until late when mostly subs were in.

Jones is the real deal. She got a nice ovation from the crowd after fouling out late. But we could handle the rest of GWU fine while still containing her enough to win by a solid margin.

Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - M T - 11-21-2015

This was the first time I've seen Stanford play this year.  (By the way, I almost stayed home but it turned out that parking was a lot easier than I expected.  Attendance was low and the garage had lots of room.)

I have to admit that early in the game I thought "Tara is great, but even she can't teach height".  Our ladies were losing every rebound, not because they weren't in a reasonable place, but that the player behind or in front of them was just reaching higher.  And Jones was just killing us.  Jones had 15 points in the first (10 min) quarter and a double-double by half time.  She had all but 4 of GWU's points in the first quarter. 

In the first half, there were 37 rebounds under GWU's goal, of which GWU got 18, compared to only 16 rebounds under Stanford's goal.

Just 6 1/2 minutes into the game, we were down 11-19. It looked bad.

But then we turned it around.  9 minutes later, we took the lead for good at 27-26.  With 3s by Karlie, Karlie, and Lili, 2 1/2 minutes later we were up by double digits for the rest of the game.  I don't recall a game that looked so one-sided (for good reason rather than luck), and turns around for equally good reason for the other team.

After dominating the 2nd quarter 31-11, Stanford basically kept the #22 team at arm's length.  Jones never again threatened to take over the game.  She wound up with 27 points (50% inside the arc, 84% from 3), 17 rebounds (7O, 10D), 1 assist, 3 blocks.  Importantly, she had no free throws.  She's obviously a really good shooter, and had great moves, but she should have been able to take her team on her back more in the 2nd half.  We did try to deny her the ball, but she should have been able to get open.

I have to say that Tara can't teach height, but she did coach them to neutralize the other team's height advantage.  We wound up getting 46 rebounds to their 50, but more because we shot 46% to their 29%.

I was impressed with the team's play.  We made mistakes, but it is early.  I think we're better than #15.


Re: WBB: George Washington Thread - Mike - 11-22-2015

I think the move to put Karlie (and Brittany to give Karlie a breather) on Jones was part common sense and part astute observation:

** It took a minute after Jones' first couple of all-net 3s for us to realize that she could stay out on the perimeter and sink those all night. So Kaylee had to vacate the block and go out and defend her. Problem -- Jones has a lightning first step that most guards would envy. She zips past Kaylee and finds the basket defended by only one big (Erica), one that we can't afford to get into foul trouble.

** We can't put 6'3" Alanna on her because of her 4-fouls-in-5-minutes-in-the-last-game still in mind.

** So who's our most dogged defenders? Lili and Bri are only 5'7"; that won't work. Kailee is 6'3" but too slow. That leaves Karlie and Brittany, both 6-foot. Turns out what we needed wasn't height, but quickness to defend her.