Farm07, I couldn't find the speculation about Tara and Kate - can you post a link to what you saw?
And yeah, Oregon's defense was pretty bad against MSU (they've never been an especially great defensive team, IMHO). I also feel like they lost a step in team cohesion with Bando graduated, McGwire transferred, and Boley on the team. Boley isn't really a high post the way McGwire was, so there's less opportunity for Hebard to get involved, which partially explains her lower numbers. But part of it is also that Boley generally looks to shoot rather than pass; it seemed like 75% of the times I saw her get the ball she shot it rather than pass it, which again means fewer passes inside to Hebard. It feels odd to say because Boley was doing a ton of their scoring, but I also think because she takes more shots outside, when they miss and don't get the rebound, it set the MSU team up to get out quickly in transition on offense, which meant that Oregon couldn't get back on D in time, exacerbating their defensive weaknesses. When more shots were going inside to Hebard or McGwire, they generally went in, and it gave the team time to get back on D. (Oregon had a total of 38 missed shots, and MSU got 35 points off fast breaks.)
I also thought Oregon's ball handling was not great - so many terribly sloppy turnovers - and all things considered, they were basically outcoached by Suzy Merchant, who I thought had a very good game plan for that game.
BTW- Tennessee was basically a two-woman team of Westbrook and Meme Jackson. I think they doubled the scoring output of the rest of the team combined. The UT-Tennessee game was probably the biggest mismatch between the talent of the players and the efficacy of the coaching I've seen in a long time. Neither team seemed to have an especially great plan and just relied on their players making plays.
PS: I found the tweet: https://twitter.com/macsmith413/status/1...6317431808
And here's what Mechelle Voepel had to say in response:
Tara will still be coaching after you and I have retired. :)
And yeah, Oregon's defense was pretty bad against MSU (they've never been an especially great defensive team, IMHO). I also feel like they lost a step in team cohesion with Bando graduated, McGwire transferred, and Boley on the team. Boley isn't really a high post the way McGwire was, so there's less opportunity for Hebard to get involved, which partially explains her lower numbers. But part of it is also that Boley generally looks to shoot rather than pass; it seemed like 75% of the times I saw her get the ball she shot it rather than pass it, which again means fewer passes inside to Hebard. It feels odd to say because Boley was doing a ton of their scoring, but I also think because she takes more shots outside, when they miss and don't get the rebound, it set the MSU team up to get out quickly in transition on offense, which meant that Oregon couldn't get back on D in time, exacerbating their defensive weaknesses. When more shots were going inside to Hebard or McGwire, they generally went in, and it gave the team time to get back on D. (Oregon had a total of 38 missed shots, and MSU got 35 points off fast breaks.)
I also thought Oregon's ball handling was not great - so many terribly sloppy turnovers - and all things considered, they were basically outcoached by Suzy Merchant, who I thought had a very good game plan for that game.
BTW- Tennessee was basically a two-woman team of Westbrook and Meme Jackson. I think they doubled the scoring output of the rest of the team combined. The UT-Tennessee game was probably the biggest mismatch between the talent of the players and the efficacy of the coaching I've seen in a long time. Neither team seemed to have an especially great plan and just relied on their players making plays.
PS: I found the tweet: https://twitter.com/macsmith413/status/1...6317431808
And here's what Mechelle Voepel had to say in response:
Tara will still be coaching after you and I have retired. :)