12-19-2012, 11:08 PM
I usually like to watch a game twice before commenting much, but this time I don't have that luxury.
My game ball goes to Toni. While she did have 3 turnovers (Chiney had 4), she handled the ball during much of the critical part of the game, and of course went 7 for 7 from the FT line with 6 of those coming in the last 22 seconds. (Garvin says she missed two 3ptrs in the first half, but the stats only lists one.)
Chiney did have the scoring load on her shoulders for the first 39:38 of the game. What I saw was that generally we pulled 4 players out to the 3pt line and isolated Chiney to go one-on-one (hopefully). (The idea seems to be that fewer defensive hands reaching in might mean fewer turnovers and more goals.) Hence there was little movement since anyone cutting into the lane without the ball would crowd Chiney. Hence Jos was in position to take only one shot and get only one OR. Unfortunately, Chiney wasn't as successful at this offense as Nneka, perhaps because they were better prepared for it. They kept enough pressure on Chiney so that the passes into her weren't easy and were the source of a number of turnovers. When she did get the ball, she was usually far from the basket and had to make moves to get closer, or throw up prayers. Hence few assists. Fortunately, Chiney sank a lot of prayers. This style of play also impacted our offensive rebounds. You can't crash the boards from the 3pt line without giving up fast breaks.
It was a physical game. Players were just run over and knocked flat on their backs with no apology. Hands swatting at everything and sometimes hitting the ball. The officials blew a number of calls. I have to say I was worried that it would devolve into the basketball equivalent of penalty kicks (which I believe So. Carolina would be happy to see).
Our biggest lead was 14-7. Even though we were ahead most of the second half, it was by less than 2 possessions, making the outcome a roll of the dice or the bounce of the hoop or the tweet of a whistle. So. Carolina got a couple of those bounces with 3 pointers, the last with 3 seconds to go, leaving us only 2 pts ahead. (Btw, their 3pt percentage was very close to their season average.)
I think tie balls where the team retains possession don't count as turnovers, but if you're on the wrong parity, you get charged with a turnover. My recollection is that except for that, we'd have had even more turnovers.
No 3ptrs. A few years back, I remember the KZSU announcer talking about our streak of games with a 3ptr. I also remember some games with but one 3ptr, including our previous game against So. Carolina. But since I haven't heard such a streak mentioned recently, I guess it got broken but I can't remember when. We only tried 4 three pointers, only one in the second half (by Bonnie, (apparently) with the shot clock running down). I think most of those were contested.
As frustrated as we were at shooting, imagine how the Gamecocks (or is it Gamehens?) felt. 63 shots, 11 blocks, 18 baskets. 28.6%. They were outmatched in height and yet tended to try most of their shots within 10 feet of the basket. It appeared that we dropped off any player but one at the three point line. They weren't even taking shots at the foul line, but we were covering them there.
We actually did better in rebounding than I expected. So. Car. got 28.2% of the offensive rebound chances (they averaged 50%). Stanford got 33.3% of their offensive rebound chances. (VG says only 5 OR, but there were also 4 team ORs)
VG wrote "she [Jos] kept bringing it down and letting the smaller Gamecocks get a hand on it". Wasn't that at most twice, since she only had 2 turnovers? Yes, it was frustrating to see that turnover with 6:18 in the game, but she was too far out for a good shot and had 3 opponents on her so getting a pass off wasn't going to be easy. I think it is obvious that her role today was to be there for defense (7 blocks, 6 DR) and not for offense (only tried 1 shot; only got 1 OR). If you're told to be out at the 3 point line, it doesn't matter much if you're taller than your opponent.
Yes, Amber did sink that shot at the end of the first half and wound up with 11 points. But in my book she played like she wasn't playing against good players. Her errors were generally unforced, and she'd throw the ball where it would be stolen. In my book, she shouldn't be our quarterback.
An interesting question is why didn't Mikaela play more? She was 2 of 3 FG with 6 rebounds, 1 TO. She did get to 3 fouls in her 22 minutes. But her numbers seem better than Taylor + Bonnie combined (0 of 3 FG with 3 rebounds, 0 TO, 1 foul in 24 minutes).
A question I'd have is whether we'd ever use this offense again this season. Probably not. Not against Tennessee; not against UConn; not against the #8 team. We'll run plays like this, but not so exclusively. This seems suited only for a shorter team that is very strong defensively. Frankly, I hope we don't. We have offensive weapons that weren't properly utilized in this game.
A silver lining: For the second time this year, our team was challenged, this time by a lower ranked team. We stuck with it and won. That's a good character-building experience and may help us later.
Fortunately (I hope!), we have the Tennessee game before the next polls are decided. If we beat Tennessee reasonably well, I hope the voters will keep the same order of voting for the top few spots. It doesn't really matter if the polls come back with Stanford second behind UConn, because that will be settled shortly. But the worry would be if some voters use this game (plus beating Tennessee by less than 23) as an excuse to put Baylor ahead of Stanford, despite our victory on a neutral court. Voters that do that might vote Baylor ahead of Stanford even if Stanford beats UConn by a slim margin.
Finally, kudos to Dawn Staley for the players she put together on this team and their style of play. Imagine if one of them were 6'4" or one of them was a 50% 3pt shooter. If I were coach of one of the D-II schools, I'd be trying to emulate this. While they haven't yet beat a ranked team, I'm sure they will.
My game ball goes to Toni. While she did have 3 turnovers (Chiney had 4), she handled the ball during much of the critical part of the game, and of course went 7 for 7 from the FT line with 6 of those coming in the last 22 seconds. (Garvin says she missed two 3ptrs in the first half, but the stats only lists one.)
Chiney did have the scoring load on her shoulders for the first 39:38 of the game. What I saw was that generally we pulled 4 players out to the 3pt line and isolated Chiney to go one-on-one (hopefully). (The idea seems to be that fewer defensive hands reaching in might mean fewer turnovers and more goals.) Hence there was little movement since anyone cutting into the lane without the ball would crowd Chiney. Hence Jos was in position to take only one shot and get only one OR. Unfortunately, Chiney wasn't as successful at this offense as Nneka, perhaps because they were better prepared for it. They kept enough pressure on Chiney so that the passes into her weren't easy and were the source of a number of turnovers. When she did get the ball, she was usually far from the basket and had to make moves to get closer, or throw up prayers. Hence few assists. Fortunately, Chiney sank a lot of prayers. This style of play also impacted our offensive rebounds. You can't crash the boards from the 3pt line without giving up fast breaks.
It was a physical game. Players were just run over and knocked flat on their backs with no apology. Hands swatting at everything and sometimes hitting the ball. The officials blew a number of calls. I have to say I was worried that it would devolve into the basketball equivalent of penalty kicks (which I believe So. Carolina would be happy to see).
Our biggest lead was 14-7. Even though we were ahead most of the second half, it was by less than 2 possessions, making the outcome a roll of the dice or the bounce of the hoop or the tweet of a whistle. So. Carolina got a couple of those bounces with 3 pointers, the last with 3 seconds to go, leaving us only 2 pts ahead. (Btw, their 3pt percentage was very close to their season average.)
I think tie balls where the team retains possession don't count as turnovers, but if you're on the wrong parity, you get charged with a turnover. My recollection is that except for that, we'd have had even more turnovers.
No 3ptrs. A few years back, I remember the KZSU announcer talking about our streak of games with a 3ptr. I also remember some games with but one 3ptr, including our previous game against So. Carolina. But since I haven't heard such a streak mentioned recently, I guess it got broken but I can't remember when. We only tried 4 three pointers, only one in the second half (by Bonnie, (apparently) with the shot clock running down). I think most of those were contested.
As frustrated as we were at shooting, imagine how the Gamecocks (or is it Gamehens?) felt. 63 shots, 11 blocks, 18 baskets. 28.6%. They were outmatched in height and yet tended to try most of their shots within 10 feet of the basket. It appeared that we dropped off any player but one at the three point line. They weren't even taking shots at the foul line, but we were covering them there.
We actually did better in rebounding than I expected. So. Car. got 28.2% of the offensive rebound chances (they averaged 50%). Stanford got 33.3% of their offensive rebound chances. (VG says only 5 OR, but there were also 4 team ORs)
VG wrote "she [Jos] kept bringing it down and letting the smaller Gamecocks get a hand on it". Wasn't that at most twice, since she only had 2 turnovers? Yes, it was frustrating to see that turnover with 6:18 in the game, but she was too far out for a good shot and had 3 opponents on her so getting a pass off wasn't going to be easy. I think it is obvious that her role today was to be there for defense (7 blocks, 6 DR) and not for offense (only tried 1 shot; only got 1 OR). If you're told to be out at the 3 point line, it doesn't matter much if you're taller than your opponent.
Yes, Amber did sink that shot at the end of the first half and wound up with 11 points. But in my book she played like she wasn't playing against good players. Her errors were generally unforced, and she'd throw the ball where it would be stolen. In my book, she shouldn't be our quarterback.
An interesting question is why didn't Mikaela play more? She was 2 of 3 FG with 6 rebounds, 1 TO. She did get to 3 fouls in her 22 minutes. But her numbers seem better than Taylor + Bonnie combined (0 of 3 FG with 3 rebounds, 0 TO, 1 foul in 24 minutes).
A question I'd have is whether we'd ever use this offense again this season. Probably not. Not against Tennessee; not against UConn; not against the #8 team. We'll run plays like this, but not so exclusively. This seems suited only for a shorter team that is very strong defensively. Frankly, I hope we don't. We have offensive weapons that weren't properly utilized in this game.
A silver lining: For the second time this year, our team was challenged, this time by a lower ranked team. We stuck with it and won. That's a good character-building experience and may help us later.
Fortunately (I hope!), we have the Tennessee game before the next polls are decided. If we beat Tennessee reasonably well, I hope the voters will keep the same order of voting for the top few spots. It doesn't really matter if the polls come back with Stanford second behind UConn, because that will be settled shortly. But the worry would be if some voters use this game (plus beating Tennessee by less than 23) as an excuse to put Baylor ahead of Stanford, despite our victory on a neutral court. Voters that do that might vote Baylor ahead of Stanford even if Stanford beats UConn by a slim margin.
Finally, kudos to Dawn Staley for the players she put together on this team and their style of play. Imagine if one of them were 6'4" or one of them was a 50% 3pt shooter. If I were coach of one of the D-II schools, I'd be trying to emulate this. While they haven't yet beat a ranked team, I'm sure they will.