[81alum]

Fantastic win! Great performances by Bosgana and Demetre. It's becoming clear that we need to play through Nunu and Demetre. Bosgana is getting better at picking her spots. So great to see.

Not to be a downer, but this wasn't a big surprise. Teams that let us run our stuff are going to be in trouble. Florida St is an awful defensive team. Awful. We pretty much got any shot we wanted, all game long, when we ran our offense. They weren't defensively aggressive, bumping cutters, in the passing lanes, etc...all the things that bother us and put pressure on our guards to create. Terrible game planning by the FSU coaches. Massey has them as the 100th ranked defense in the country. For a team with that level of talent and athleticism, that's really bad.

It's going to be a different story against NC State. They are way better defensively. Massey has them at #11 in defense. IMO, Nunu is going to have to have a big game and our guards need to contribute offensively (maybe 15-20 points in total) for us to win. But we have a chance.

Florida State is awful defense almost by design.  They simply want to outscore everyone they play which is how they average 96 points a game.  They trade away their defense for more offense in many coaching, practice, and recruiting decisions they make.  It makes for basketball that is probably more fan friendly, but they would certainly be better off with a modicum more defense.

I think we are an especially bad matchup for them for the reasons you point out.  Our offense is, frankly, easier to disrupt with a decent defense than is an offense like theirs that requires few assists and not a lot of passing.  And so our offense is especially helped by their style of play.

One factor that I think works in our favor on Sunday against North Carolina State is that our coaches have seen almost all the North Carolina State players and have scouted them last year.  We are a team that is so oriented toward scouting reports that I think our defense benefits more from familiarity with the opponent than most defenses do.   Will that be enough?  Probably not.  But if a few things go our way anything is possible.  We are a team that has players who are capable of having really good days, and if they all do....

[81alum]

Fantastic win! Great performances by Bosgana and Demetre. It's becoming clear that we need to play through Nunu and Demetre. Bosgana is getting better at picking her spots. So great to see.

Not to be a downer, but this wasn't a big surprise. Teams that let us run our stuff are going to be in trouble. Florida St is an awful defensive team. Awful. We pretty much got any shot we wanted, all game long, when we ran our offense. They weren't defensively aggressive, bumping cutters, in the passing lanes, etc...all the things that bother us and put pressure on our guards to create. Terrible game planning by the FSU coaches. Massey has them as the 100th ranked defense in the country. For a team with that level of talent and athleticism, that's really bad.

It's going to be a different story against NC State. They are way better defensively. Massey has them at #11 in defense. IMO, Nunu is going to have to have a big game and our guards need to contribute offensively (maybe 15-20 points in total) for us to win. But we have a chance.

Florida State is awful defense almost by design.  They simply want to outscore everyone they play which is how they average 96 points a game.  They trade away their defense for more offense in many coaching, practice, and recruiting decisions they make.  It makes for basketball that is probably more fan friendly, but they would certainly be better off with a modicum more defense.

I think we are an especially bad matchup for them for the reasons you point out.  Our offense is, frankly, easier to disrupt with a decent defense than is an offense like theirs that requires few assists and not a lot of passing.  And so our offense is especially helped by their style of play.

One factor that I think works in our favor on Sunday against North Carolina State is that our coaches have seen almost all the North Carolina State players and have scouted them last year.  We are a team that is so oriented toward scouting reports that I think our defense benefits more from familiarity with the opponent than most defenses do.   Will that be enough?  Probably not.  But if a few things go our way anything is possible.  We are a team that has players who are capable of having really good days, and if they all do....