[qwerty49]

We definitely found our #1 lock-down defender yesterday. And she proved to everyone that height has little to do with it.

I don't think enough props can be given to Anna Wilson for her performance yesterday.

Watching the semifinal, it became apparent to me what screwed up Oregon was denying their movement with the ball.  UCLA had the lateral quickness to cut down on penetration angles, and that kept them from having to overrotate their defenses to cover and thus leave open someone, generally a perimeter shooter.  With the Hulls out there, they can deny passing angles with their length, but were consistently trailing the play on drives.  Going under the screen, they couldn't recover in time to stop the drive, and that was leading to their foul trouble.

Wilson was having none of that.  Fighting through screens, or diving quickly under them and getting into the driving lane opposite, she forced Ionescu to either pull up (which, to be fair, Sabrina does really well), or kick the ball back out.

One under-praised moment in particular - simple pick and roll with Hebard in the second half, and Dodson comes off to deny the drive.  Wilson, instead of continuing to trail after Ionescu, darts quickly into the passing lane to deflect away a Ionescu drop pass that would've led to an easy layup for Hebard.  That's just great anticipatory defense and speed.

The other thing for Wilson is that she was more willing that the Hulls have been recently to shoot.  Even though she was ineffective, going 1-7 from 3, she was willing to pull the trigger.  I've been noticing a reluctance of the twins to shoot from deep recently - a whole lot of "upfake, then try to reset" or "upfake, and take two steps forward to shoot the baseline 15 footer."  Anna simply released the ball when she was in the right spot and open.

I noticed in the blowout that Wilson seemed to have the best time matching up with Ionescu.  Hoping she sees more time against penetrating guard-oriented teams in the coming weeks.

VG

Completely agree with you about Wilson.  She was really really good last night defensively and she had the hardest job since Ionescu had the ball in her hands most of the night.  Oregon was setting a lot of hard screens and the Hulls were having trouble getting over them (they tend to try and slide around the screen).  Wilson is more physical and she slides/fights through the screen and recovered quickly and on-balance when she was bumped.  Exciting that we have so many good perimeter defenders and that they are different kinds of defenders.  The Hulls have quick feet and use their length.  Wilson has quick feet and is very athletic.  All three of them have high basketball IQ's on the defensive side.

[qwerty49]

We definitely found our #1 lock-down defender yesterday. And she proved to everyone that height has little to do with it.

I don't think enough props can be given to Anna Wilson for her performance yesterday.

Watching the semifinal, it became apparent to me what screwed up Oregon was denying their movement with the ball.  UCLA had the lateral quickness to cut down on penetration angles, and that kept them from having to overrotate their defenses to cover and thus leave open someone, generally a perimeter shooter.  With the Hulls out there, they can deny passing angles with their length, but were consistently trailing the play on drives.  Going under the screen, they couldn't recover in time to stop the drive, and that was leading to their foul trouble.

Wilson was having none of that.  Fighting through screens, or diving quickly under them and getting into the driving lane opposite, she forced Ionescu to either pull up (which, to be fair, Sabrina does really well), or kick the ball back out.

One under-praised moment in particular - simple pick and roll with Hebard in the second half, and Dodson comes off to deny the drive.  Wilson, instead of continuing to trail after Ionescu, darts quickly into the passing lane to deflect away a Ionescu drop pass that would've led to an easy layup for Hebard.  That's just great anticipatory defense and speed.

The other thing for Wilson is that she was more willing that the Hulls have been recently to shoot.  Even though she was ineffective, going 1-7 from 3, she was willing to pull the trigger.  I've been noticing a reluctance of the twins to shoot from deep recently - a whole lot of "upfake, then try to reset" or "upfake, and take two steps forward to shoot the baseline 15 footer."  Anna simply released the ball when she was in the right spot and open.

I noticed in the blowout that Wilson seemed to have the best time matching up with Ionescu.  Hoping she sees more time against penetrating guard-oriented teams in the coming weeks.

VG

Completely agree with you about Wilson.  She was really really good last night defensively and she had the hardest job since Ionescu had the ball in her hands most of the night.  Oregon was setting a lot of hard screens and the Hulls were having trouble getting over them (they tend to try and slide around the screen).  Wilson is more physical and she slides/fights through the screen and recovered quickly and on-balance when she was bumped.  Exciting that we have so many good perimeter defenders and that they are different kinds of defenders.  The Hulls have quick feet and use their length.  Wilson has quick feet and is very athletic.  All three of them have high basketball IQ's on the defensive side.