[chimera]

I had a bad feeling when in the chalk talk before the game Kate said the team had a great, "competitive" week of practice.  Seems to more more often than not when she says that we play a stinker of a game.  The more I think of it, the weirder this game was.  If we practiced all week to stop them from shooting threes, why was it so hard to do that?  We've been a good defensive team, pretty much every season, and can do that sort of thing with the right scheme and effort.  What has happened to Marta.  Coaches were very pleased with her progress so far and she finished well last year, but so far, she is struggling. 

Agree on the shooters.  Hard to ask them to come in cold, and we did have people who can shoot out there, although they were not hitting on the night, so maybe coaches did not feel we needed another shooter?  I don't get why a team like Gonzaga can get their shooters open and we have such trouble doing the same.  If I never see another handoff at the top of the arc, I will be happy.  Offense ran poorly and the defense was not good enough except for the brief spell when we had the run that go us back into the game.

What I think is going on is that what we had last year and what I think we have this year is a good team, not a great team like we got so used to in 2007 - 2014 or so.  Great teams find ways to win when they are not playing that well.  Good teams sometimes do not.  We did not last night.

[chimera]

I had a bad feeling when in the chalk talk before the game Kate said the team had a great, "competitive" week of practice.  Seems to more more often than not when she says that we play a stinker of a game.  The more I think of it, the weirder this game was.  If we practiced all week to stop them from shooting threes, why was it so hard to do that?  We've been a good defensive team, pretty much every season, and can do that sort of thing with the right scheme and effort.  What has happened to Marta.  Coaches were very pleased with her progress so far and she finished well last year, but so far, she is struggling. 

Agree on the shooters.  Hard to ask them to come in cold, and we did have people who can shoot out there, although they were not hitting on the night, so maybe coaches did not feel we needed another shooter?  I don't get why a team like Gonzaga can get their shooters open and we have such trouble doing the same.  If I never see another handoff at the top of the arc, I will be happy.  Offense ran poorly and the defense was not good enough except for the brief spell when we had the run that go us back into the game.

What I think is going on is that what we had last year and what I think we have this year is a good team, not a great team like we got so used to in 2007 - 2014 or so.  Great teams find ways to win when they are not playing that well.  Good teams sometimes do not.  We did not last night.