I'm sure I've heard at a chalk talk that Tara does indeed dislike midrange jumpers as the least bang-for-the-buck comparing points scored with shooting percentage. She is very interested in analytics. Furthermore, when the assistant coaches told us at chalk talk in recent weeks that the team was working on "shot selection" and "taking better shots" I think they meant higher percentage shots--layups and treys.
It was shortly after I began to hear the talk about "taking better shots" that I noticed the offense stagnating and a lot of time consumed passing the ball around the perimeter. I wonder if they have been instructed NOT to take mid range jumpers, or if their spontaneity had been drained and they were overthinking. In addition, the trouble with all those analytics is--the defense knows them just as well as the offense, and can defend accordingly.
This problem is VERY reminiscent--almost eerily so--with the problem we had a few years ago when teams figured out we were flummoxed by the zone. We even lost at home to Western Illinois. Our three point shooting had just gone flat and without it the zone was killing us. Anna Wilson shot 3/15 from three point range that game, Williams was 3/11, Smith was 0/3, etc.
Back then, at a chalk talk we learned that the zone at first had taken us by surprise since few teams would play it, and we had to install a zone offense deep into the season. Several things helped. First, Nadia Fingall was instructed to stand at the elbow, almost at the free throw line, in the soft part of the zone. She would get the ball and shoot from there. Second, McPhee and Carrington simply had the ability to drive through zones to the basket and score on contorted shots.
That 17-18 season was the worst season in a couple of decades, with 11 losses, so I don't think I want to make too close a comparison. But the feeling that teams have "solved" our offense and we are having problems "solving" their defense gives me an unpleasantly familiar feeling.
I wonder which of our bigs could hit the shot from the elbow consistently--at least 50% of the time. Maybe Betts, Iriafen, Brink, or Prechtel? I've seen all of them except Belibi able to do that. Using Betts as a 10 foot jump shooter as we did Fingall might work if they spend a week practicing it.
It was shortly after I began to hear the talk about "taking better shots" that I noticed the offense stagnating and a lot of time consumed passing the ball around the perimeter. I wonder if they have been instructed NOT to take mid range jumpers, or if their spontaneity had been drained and they were overthinking. In addition, the trouble with all those analytics is--the defense knows them just as well as the offense, and can defend accordingly.
This problem is VERY reminiscent--almost eerily so--with the problem we had a few years ago when teams figured out we were flummoxed by the zone. We even lost at home to Western Illinois. Our three point shooting had just gone flat and without it the zone was killing us. Anna Wilson shot 3/15 from three point range that game, Williams was 3/11, Smith was 0/3, etc.
Back then, at a chalk talk we learned that the zone at first had taken us by surprise since few teams would play it, and we had to install a zone offense deep into the season. Several things helped. First, Nadia Fingall was instructed to stand at the elbow, almost at the free throw line, in the soft part of the zone. She would get the ball and shoot from there. Second, McPhee and Carrington simply had the ability to drive through zones to the basket and score on contorted shots.
That 17-18 season was the worst season in a couple of decades, with 11 losses, so I don't think I want to make too close a comparison. But the feeling that teams have "solved" our offense and we are having problems "solving" their defense gives me an unpleasantly familiar feeling.
I wonder which of our bigs could hit the shot from the elbow consistently--at least 50% of the time. Maybe Betts, Iriafen, Brink, or Prechtel? I've seen all of them except Belibi able to do that. Using Betts as a 10 foot jump shooter as we did Fingall might work if they spend a week practicing it.