[81alum]

I'm confused.  We sat in Chalk Talks where coaches, Tempie and Kate, said we had few to no plays for the posts.  How were they supposed to look good offensively?      Then we had a few plays late in the season and both McCall and Kaylee made plays.  Depsite that they played 41 minutes per game shot 52% and averaged 11.5 points per game.    Free our Posts!!!!  8) :)

Bob, the idea that our posts are good offensive posts but that the nature of the offense prevented them from showing it has some merit.  It is true that at the beginning of the season the offense was deliberately channeled through the guards as we buried the old "feed it to Ogwumike inside" triangle offense.  We had to do this to break old habits and learn the new guard oriented offense.  It also was not practical to do too much inside when Bonnie was switched to the stretch 4 position since we would have only a single post inside, who was often mobbed by two or more defenders who were waiting for rebounds.

All that said, neither Erica, nor Kaylee, nor Kailee had good back-to-the-basket moves when the season began.  We asked Tempie about that at a Chalk Talk and she reminded us that Chiney had only one move as a frosh, too, and that she expanded her offensive moves considerably as she moved from frosh to sophomore to junior season.  But she acknowledged the problem and said they were working on the bigs to expand the number of moves. 

Early in the year McCall and Kaylee seemed to score only after getting feeds that allowed her to face up, or on offensive put-backs.  They did not seem to be able to face the entrance pass and then drop step or otherwise move around a defender to the rim successfully.  Kaylee also seemed to get the ball immediately under the basket quite a few times--often because of her amazing rebounding prowess-- but she did not have a move that allowed her to step out and around for a layup.  Otherwise she would have converted many more of those O boards she got.

At the end of the season I saw more plays designed to feed the ball to the posts--mainly because the roll part of the pick and roll began to work a bit more--when it was a complete failure for the first half of the season.  But I don't remember any deliberate entrance passes to set up a back-to-the-basket move, which was of course the bread and butter play of the triangle when the Ogwumikes were featured.  However, by the end of the season, I saw both Kaylee and Bird attempt and sometimes execute a few dropstep moves.  So there were the first glimmerings of progress.

Something else that Bird could accomplish over the summer that would be very useful--she needs to dramatically improve her free throw shooting, and if she could develop the 8-10 foot jumper that she sometimes executed last season, that would do her a world of good. 51% free throw shooting is just not going to get it done. 

Kaylee was 55% on free throws, also not where it should be.  Karlie, by the way, was shockingly 14/29 on free throws for the season.  You just don't expect that from such an accomplished sharp shooter, even if the comparison with her sister's 91% is perhaps unfair.  I have to believe it was related to injury.

[81alum]

I'm confused.  We sat in Chalk Talks where coaches, Tempie and Kate, said we had few to no plays for the posts.  How were they supposed to look good offensively?      Then we had a few plays late in the season and both McCall and Kaylee made plays.  Depsite that they played 41 minutes per game shot 52% and averaged 11.5 points per game.    Free our Posts!!!!  8) :)

Bob, the idea that our posts are good offensive posts but that the nature of the offense prevented them from showing it has some merit.  It is true that at the beginning of the season the offense was deliberately channeled through the guards as we buried the old "feed it to Ogwumike inside" triangle offense.  We had to do this to break old habits and learn the new guard oriented offense.  It also was not practical to do too much inside when Bonnie was switched to the stretch 4 position since we would have only a single post inside, who was often mobbed by two or more defenders who were waiting for rebounds.

All that said, neither Erica, nor Kaylee, nor Kailee had good back-to-the-basket moves when the season began.  We asked Tempie about that at a Chalk Talk and she reminded us that Chiney had only one move as a frosh, too, and that she expanded her offensive moves considerably as she moved from frosh to sophomore to junior season.  But she acknowledged the problem and said they were working on the bigs to expand the number of moves. 

Early in the year McCall and Kaylee seemed to score only after getting feeds that allowed her to face up, or on offensive put-backs.  They did not seem to be able to face the entrance pass and then drop step or otherwise move around a defender to the rim successfully.  Kaylee also seemed to get the ball immediately under the basket quite a few times--often because of her amazing rebounding prowess-- but she did not have a move that allowed her to step out and around for a layup.  Otherwise she would have converted many more of those O boards she got.

At the end of the season I saw more plays designed to feed the ball to the posts--mainly because the roll part of the pick and roll began to work a bit more--when it was a complete failure for the first half of the season.  But I don't remember any deliberate entrance passes to set up a back-to-the-basket move, which was of course the bread and butter play of the triangle when the Ogwumikes were featured.  However, by the end of the season, I saw both Kaylee and Bird attempt and sometimes execute a few dropstep moves.  So there were the first glimmerings of progress.

Something else that Bird could accomplish over the summer that would be very useful--she needs to dramatically improve her free throw shooting, and if she could develop the 8-10 foot jumper that she sometimes executed last season, that would do her a world of good. 51% free throw shooting is just not going to get it done. 

Kaylee was 55% on free throws, also not where it should be.  Karlie, by the way, was shockingly 14/29 on free throws for the season.  You just don't expect that from such an accomplished sharp shooter, even if the comparison with her sister's 91% is perhaps unfair.  I have to believe it was related to injury.