WBB: Open Practice - Printable Version
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WBB: Open Practice - 81alum - 10-27-2022
Cardinal and White Scrimmage
Maples Pavilion
Saturday, October 29
Doors open at 11AM.
Let's discuss what we would like to see in this open practice, and then let's discuss after the practice what we actually do see.
I think at last year's open practice our main takeaways were Emma-Nnopu's defense and freshman Iriafen's post moves.
This year I will be looking to see about sophomore improvement and first impressions of freshmen. Given what Tara has already said about Lepolo at point it will be particularly interesting to see her play. It could be Jones vs. Lepolo leading the two squads.
Also of great interest will be the big-on-big play. We will get our first look at Betts and I would not be surprised to see her going up against Iriafen at some point. From watching Betts's high school tapes I think she is truly polished and seems to have most of the moves already, but I was less certain about her speed up and down the court. We will get a better look on Saturday.
Since this is our first look at the freshmen, we might want to start learning their numbers, although there is little chance of getting Betts mixed up with anyone else. It is going to be weird to see new people in Nos. 12 and 24.
10 Lepolo
12 Nivar
24 Papadaki
31 Green
51 Betts
RE: WBB: Open Practice - WBB fan - 10-27-2022
(10-27-2022, 04:04 AM)81alum Wrote:Cardinal and White ScrimmageMaples PavilionSaturday, October 29Doors open at 11AM.
Let's discuss what we would like to see in this open practice, and then let's discuss after the practice what we actually do see.
I think at last year's open practice our main takeaways were Emma-Nnopu's defense and freshman Iriafan's post moves.
This year I will be looking to see about sophomore improvement and first impressions of freshmen. Given what Tara has already said about Lepolo at point it will be particularly interesting to see her play. It could be Jones vs. Lepolo leading the two squads.
Also of great interest will be the big-on-big play. We will get our first look at Betts and I would not be surprised to see her going up against Iriafan at some point. From watching Betts's high school tapes I think she is truly polished and seems to have most of the moves already, but I was less certain about her speed up and down the court. We will get a better look on Saturday.
Since this is our first look at the freshmen, we might want to start learning their numbers, although there is little chance of getting Betts mixed up with anyone else. It is going to be weird to see new people in Nos. 12 and 24.
10 Lepolo
12 Nivar
24 Papadaki
31 Green
51 Betts
Lepolo in #10 -- hope that's a good omen, a storied number, going all the way back to Jennifer Azzi
Baez87 - Baez87 - 10-28-2022
Part of the fun in the preseason is the speculation of who will play and for how many minutes? We love to speculate on who the starters will be, yet, with so many outstanding players on the team and the potential of the incoming players, the issue usually becomes who will get substantially playing time. There are only 200 minutes to go around and fifteen players vying for playing time. At this point, before we’ve even had the opportunity to see thirty percent of the team play, uncertainties and anticipations abound.
If we look at playing time through three tiers of players, we get the players who most fans think will get the majority of minutes; those that because of past demonstration or future promise might get significant minutes; and those that, at this time, might be valuable to the practice squad, unknown, or rising stars.
I think that most of us might put Haley, Cam, Hannah, Fran, Ashten, and Kiki in the first tier playing the bulk of the two hundred minutes. Aggie, Lauren B, and Brooke could be competing for most of the remaining minutes. The group to watch with anticipation could be the third tier — Jzaniya, Elena, Stavi, Talana, Indya, and Lauren G.
Who will show the most development over the summer? Who might rise to be a starting point guard? Who will be a star player in the future? However the season plays out, it promises to be an exciting, and perhaps, a surprising one. Bring on the open practice scrimmage, the loaded exhibition season, and the much anticipated season! And, most importantly, bring your friends and neighbors to the games and let root these talented women on to a brilliant season!
RE: Baez87 - WBB fan - 10-28-2022
(10-28-2022, 10:24 AM)Baez87 Wrote: Part of the fun in the preseason is the speculation of who will play and for how many minutes? We love to speculate on who the starters will be, yet, with so many outstanding players on the team and the potential of the incoming players, the issue usually becomes who will get substantially playing time. There are only 200 minutes to go around and fifteen players vying for playing time. At this point, before we’ve even had the opportunity to see thirty percent of the team play, uncertainties and anticipations abound.
If we look at playing time through three tiers of players, we get the players who most fans think will get the majority of minutes; those that because of past demonstration or future promise might get significant minutes; and those that, at this time, might be valuable to the practice squad, unknown, or rising stars.
I think that most of us might put Haley, Cam, Hannah, Fran, Ashten, and Fran in the first tier playing the bulk of the two hundred minutes. Aggie, Lauren B, and Brooke could be competing for most of the remaining minutes. The group to watch with anticipation could be the third tier — Jzaniya, Elena, Stavi, Talana, Indya, and Lauren G.
Who will show the most development over the summer? Who might rise to be a starting point guard? Who will be a star player in the future? However the season plays out, it promises to be an exciting, and perhaps, a surprising one. Bring on the open practice scrimmage, the loaded exhibition season, and the much anticipated season! And, most importantly, bring your friends and neighbors to the games and let root these talented women on to a brilliant season!
In that 1st tier, you list Fran twice. Did you mean Kiki? She's missing entirely from the list. I, for one, expect to see her get significant minutes.
All the rest, I totally agree with, especially the exciting season coming up, and BRING people to the games, get not only your own but other butts into the seats.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - 81alum - 10-28-2022
I think Belibi and Prechtel may recede a bit--with the rise of Iriafan and Betts. The seniors may settle into roles as team leaders and mentors to the younger players. I imagine both will get more minutes than Jerome did her last years, but I would not be surprised to see Betts and Iriafan getting more minutes than either Belibi or Prechtel by the end of the season.
Lepolo may also get a lot more minutes than folks are predicting, based upon Tara's early comments that she is the best freshman point-guard in many years. She could get more minutes backing up Jones than Nivar gets backing up Jump.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - bl82 - 10-28-2022
(10-28-2022, 01:46 PM)81alum Wrote: I think Belibi and Prechtel may recede a bit--with the rise of Iriafan and Betts. The seniors may settle into roles as team leaders and mentors to the younger players. I imagine both will get more minutes than Jerome did her last years, but I would not be surprised to see Betts and Iriafan getting more minutes than either Belibi or Prechtel by the end of the season.
Lepolo may also get a lot more minutes than folks are predicting, based upon Tara's early comments that she is the best freshman point-guard in many years. She could get more minutes backing up Jones than Nivar gets backing up Jump.
All good points, starting with Iriafen and Betts vs. Belibi and Prechtel. We obviously have to adjust our expectations about Lepolo — and therefore also about Nivar. Until the past few days, thought Nivar might be our top defender against quick PGs, but now I’m rethinking here role. Nivar seemed to be more of a combo guard than a true PG in HS and if Lepolo is the PG of the future, then Nivar becomes the SG of the future, which means, among other things, that her long-range shooting may be more important to her development than her ball handling and passing. This raises the question of who our best 3-pt shooter under 6-3 (Demetre) and not named Jump will be this year. I have no idea, but whoever it is, they might find themselves with a lot of PT and at the very least playing the van Gytenbeek role.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - 81alum - 10-28-2022
(10-28-2022, 02:57 PM)bl82 Wrote:(10-28-2022, 01:46 PM)81alum Wrote: I think Belibi and Prechtel may recede a bit--with the rise of Iriafan and Betts. The seniors may settle into roles as team leaders and mentors to the younger players. I imagine both will get more minutes than Jerome did her last years, but I would not be surprised to see Betts and Iriafan getting more minutes than either Belibi or Prechtel by the end of the season.
Lepolo may also get a lot more minutes than folks are predicting, based upon Tara's early comments that she is the best freshman point-guard in many years. She could get more minutes backing up Jones than Nivar gets backing up Jump.
All good points, starting with Iriafen and Betts vs. Belibi and Prechtel. We obviously have to adjust our expectations about Lepolo — and therefore also about Nivar. Until the past few days, thought Nivar might be our top defender against quick PGs, but now I’m rethinking here role. Nivar seemed to be more of a combo guard than a true PG in HS and if Lepolo is the PG of the future, then Nivar becomes the SG of the future, which means, among other things, that her long-range shooting may be more important to her development than her ball handling and passing. This raises the question of who our best 3-pt shooter under 6-3 (Demetre) and not named Jump will be this year. I have no idea, but whoever it is, they might find themselves with a lot of PT and at the very least playing the van Gytenbeek role.
Also good points. Our best shooting guard at the 2 position after Jump might be someone we don't suspect. Emma Nnopu has hardly played, but we've seen her drain a few treys. How about Harriel? Never seen her play. Bosgana has been a slasher, and her name has not come up in the preseason interviews, so somehow I doubt that she will be the 2nd bomber. We don't really know anything about Papadaki or Green.
Nivar's high school highlights show her doing everything: assisting, layups, floaters, treys. She has a certain relaxed fluidity to her movement. She really is an all-purpose combo guard. Will be fun to see her develop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caoHZRpHLVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P9JgI3by4A
RE: WBB: Open Practice - bl82 - 10-28-2022
Lepolo needs to get a lot of early PT because there will be some important games later in the year when the matchups will not allow us to go with an all-big lineup and Lepolo needs to be prepared and confident. JJ Hones played more than 25 mins per game as a frosh and Marta Sniezek was over 19 mins per game as a frosh without being even a semi-credible offensive threat. Granted these two didn’t have to compete against the likes of Haley for PT, but I would hope Lepolo could average 15-20 mins in the non-conference season to help jump start her development.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - old spanish trail - 10-28-2022
I think you are correct, and I think Tara does also. She was effusive in her praise of LePolo, and she doesn't hand out that kind of praise often.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - OCcardinal - 10-28-2022
(10-28-2022, 03:44 PM)81alum Wrote: Nivar's high school highlights show her doing everything: assisting, layups, floaters, treys. She has a certain relaxed fluidity to her movement. She really is an all-purpose combo guard. Will be fun to see her develop.Nivar is seriously skilled. In fact she won the McDonald's All American skills challenge last March, beating out fellow 5 stars Paris Clark (who I've seen pegged as Arizona's potential starting shooting guard this season) and Duke's star frosh guard Ashlon Jackson.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - TreeHugger - 10-29-2022
Nivar is great and will contribute for sure. She’s a pretty strong shooter.
Lepolo may not shoot as well but her handles are fantastic and can always find an open player as she’s a phenomenal passer.
(10-28-2022, 05:19 PM)OCcardinal Wrote:(10-28-2022, 03:44 PM)81alum Wrote: Nivar's high school highlights show her doing everything: assisting, layups, floaters, treys. She has a certain relaxed fluidity to her movement. She really is an all-purpose combo guard. Will be fun to see her develop.Nivar is seriously skilled. In fact she won the McDonald's All American skills challenge last March, beating out fellow 5 stars Paris Clark (who I've seen pegged as Arizona's potential starting shooting guard this season) and Duke's star frosh guard Ashlon Jackson.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - Card10Fan - 10-29-2022
Those who attended, please share a recap for the rest of us! Any standout players? Starters? Who looks most improved? Thoughts on the freshman ?
RE: WBB: Open Practice - CompSci87 - 10-29-2022
Lepolo and Nivar both looked good in the scrimmage. One of them usually brought the ball up. Nivar is very quick. Lepolo has a good handle, and can score too; she hit a couple of 3 pointers, plus layups and midrange.
Kiki Iriafen really stood out. Good both inside and from midrange. Agnes Emma-Nnopu is still a tough defender but also showed some offensive game.
Hard to guess who will start. The White team had Haley and Cam, but Red had lots of quality players too. White won 115-114, FWIW. Haley and Cam were in great form. Cam mostly played inside but was outside taking 3s at times.
I didn't see Fran play. I got there a few minutes late, so could have missed her playing very early. She was suited up and looked fine.
Betts didn't do a lot. She'll have to develop more by practicing against our other great and more experienced posts.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - martyup - 10-29-2022
(10-29-2022, 12:52 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: White won 115-114.
Did anyone play defense?
RE: WBB: Open Practice - jonnyss - 10-29-2022
(10-29-2022, 01:11 PM)martyup Wrote:(10-29-2022, 12:52 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: White won 115-114.
Did anyone play defense?
imo we do not have a problem at point guard. haley looked much better - lower, tighter handle, hit the one 3 i saw her try. lepolo runs the offense, plays high energy d, and scores inside and out. yes, looks a bit like marta but a better scorer. nivar is good all around.
kiki has added a reliable mid-range shot.
brooke floats for-seemingly-ever, then her mid-range shot goes in. still getting beat on defense though.
elena hit 2 of 3 3-pointers in the last 15 minutes (all of the game that i saw).
for those waiting for hannah to develop reliable mid-range and inside shots, your wish has been granted.
ashten and cam are picking up where they left off: both looked skilled and confident; ashten is still the better outside shooter.
perhaps the biggest surprise to me was agnes, who seems finally to have mastered the offense and defense. to me she has always looked quick but a bit lost. today she was a confident flash. led the fast break several times.
fran and lauren b did not play in the latter part of the game.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - skip75 - 10-29-2022
Agree with everything above.
Fran had tape and/or a splint on her left thumb.
Hannah Jump impressed me with some moves to get freed up for mid-range jumpers and with some drives to the basket that she finished nicely.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - BosCard - 10-29-2022
I
(10-29-2022, 01:17 PM)jonnyss Wrote:(10-29-2022, 01:11 PM)martyup Wrote:(10-29-2022, 12:52 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: White won 115-114.
Did anyone play defense?
imo we do not have a problem at point guard. haley looked much better - lower, tighter handle. lepolo runs the offense, plays good d and scores inside and out. nivar is good all around.
kiki has added a reliable mid-range shot.
brooke floats for-seemingly-ever, then her mid-range shot goes in. still getting beat on defense though.
Kiki with a reliable mid-range suggests she will be more likely to start vs Belibi because you don’t want Brink exclusively at the high post because she is so effective down low. Kiki and Brink switching off high vs low post makes sense if they are both effective at either position.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - 81alum - 10-29-2022
I attended the scrimmage today and will offer my impressions. I am deliberately not reading other write-ups until I have posted, so we will soon see if several of us can each independently confirm that we saw the same things. So here are my observations in order of importance.
1. Iriafen was stupendous. If a hypothetical observer watched this practice who knew nothing about our players and was told in advance that we had two returning All-Americans on the team, the observer would have identified Iriafen as one of them. Iriafen has extended her range and made multiple jump shots from outside. She also showed she could aggressively drive to the basket. Her inside moves were as strong as ever--perhaps stronger. This is only one practice, of course, but if this is typical of Iriafen then she has to be a starter. She seemed more consistent, more athletic, stronger, and more accurate than Brink. But put both of them on the floor at the same time and wowsers.
2. Lepolo is the point guard of the future, and she might be the point guard of right now. She moved the ball up the floor with skill against the defense of Emma-Nnopu. She will have few problems with the press. She also went 3/3 from three point range before her first miss, and also drove and dished, and drove and floated two pointers successfully. She was not perfect but in one practice it is clear she has the ball handling and the perimeter shooting that we so desperately needed. Her passes were sometimes rockets like Sniezek's. She no doubt needs practice and refinement to be able to assist within our offense, but I can see her starting at some point this year. It will take more than one practice to form an impression of her defense, but she seemed competent from what I could glean.
3. Nivar is skilled and played a little point and a little shooting guard. She had one spectacular slash to the basket with an over the shoulder make, and created a couple of other highlight plays. Fabulous potential, although I get the impression she will need to work into our system for a while.
4. Emma-Nnopu showed some real offensive improvement today, making treys, layups, and slashing to the basket. Given her terrific defense I think she is showing the potential to play her way into the rotation.
5. Demetre played well, I thought, making some difficult step back jumpers in traffic. I did not see enough, however, to know for sure if she has significantly improved and earned starter's minutes or not.
6. Prechtel played well. She was probably our best three point shooter on the floor and converted a couple around the basket that she might not have in previous years.
7. Brink did not seem to be at her best today. Perhaps she was trying too hard to facilitate others, but she certainly did not take over the game. She did fine--just was not as amazing as she often is. She did try more perimeter shots with partial success.
8. Jones was Jones. She did make at least one trey and her jumper seemed accurate in the midrange. Again she may have backed off a bit to give the youngsters more of a chance. She had one spill and somersaulted out of bounds and came up limping, but she returned no worse for the wear, fortunately. What a terrible thing that could have been.
9. Belibi did not play. I did not hear the reason why. In fact Tara had to use two male practice players to round out the teams, something I would not have expected with 15 on the roster.
10. Betts did not get that many minutes. Her height was obvious, but she may not be as fluid and as athletic as the shorter Iriafan was at the same point last year. I see her as being inserted for defensive matchups and rebounding but probably not as a starter until she gets faster, quicker, and develops a few more moves around the basket.
11. Jump had an odd day. She missed (I think) all of her trey attempts, and she seemed a bit frustrated. But she also revealed what she has clearly been working on--slashing to the basket. She had several successful cuts to the basket and I think she has clearly diversified her offensive potential. Once her trey starts dropping this will be a major asset for her (and us!)
12. Bosgana, Harriel, and Papadaki all played--I did not see Green play. Bosgana made a nice trey and Papadaki had one or two good offensive moments. Harriel looked athletic and competent on defense. The truth is, though, that I could not really concentrate on watching any of them since my eye was so firmly affixed to Iriafan, Lepolo, and others. All these three might be able to help us this year, but I need to watch them for longer before I can say much more.
OK, now I have read the earlier comments and I think there is a fair amount of agreement. Perhaps I underestimated Brink and Jones's performances today. Sometimes it is possible for star players to play very well and make it look unexceptional, and fans can take them for granted. Nevertheless, I will stand by my observation that Iriafen today was the best player on the floor.
Interesting to hear about Belibi's thumb. I hope it is something minor and that it heals in time for the pre season.
As for whether anyone played defense--yes, there was some real defensive effort, but I also think they were probably cautioned not to be too physical. The worst possible outcome would be an injury during a scrimmage, as Jones nearly went down. Even so, our players were playing against the most talented team they are likely to face until South Carolina, so this really does feel significant.
RE: WBB: Open Practice - mbdude - 10-29-2022
was players put on 2 separate teams? or was it a free substitution type scrimmage
RE: WBB: Open Practice - skip75 - 10-29-2022
(10-29-2022, 02:48 PM)mbdude Wrote: was players put on 2 separate teams? or was it a free substitution type scrimmageSome players shifted from Cardinal to White and vice versa at the quarter breaks.