[81alum]

I hate to be the half-empty voice on last night's decisive win, but I had two concerns: (1) our defensive success depended again on clogging the key & conceding open 12-15 foot shots -- worked great against Kal & AZ State & not well vs either of the WA schools which had guards that could shoot; and (2) Chiney looked far less than 100% last night, with many of her 13 first half rebounds coming essentially flat footed & her usual energy seemingly absent throughout -- hopefully she's just a bit tired and not nursing an injury that will linger.  And pretty impressive that she can still have the #s she did last night without her A game.

Big kudos to Lilli, Amber & Briana for the energy they brought vs a tough defensive team.  Without the strength inside the Cardinal has had in recent years, their contributions will be increasingly important.

Chiney was pulled earlier than usual, and if she has been a little less energetic of late, then she warrants watching tomorrow.  I don't think anything is wrong, but you never know with Tara's players.

You raise an interesting question--was our defense against ASU the same defense that we used against Washington--just better executed and/or less competently attacked?  I think it was quite a different defense, since we knew going in that ASU was more apt to slash than to bomb, while Washington had several excellent three point shooters to keep us from clogging the paint.  ASU was a player defense but we sometimes were 6 feet off of our assigned players.  It is hard to "get around" your defender when they are playing so far back--a little like defensive backs giving a ten yard cushion.

I don't see how we could have done that against the likes of Plum.  As a result, Plum, Davis, and Wetmore got 7 layups against us (not counting many free throws from fouls while they were driving), while we gave up exactly 1 layup to an ASU guard--Promise Amukamura.

[81alum]

I hate to be the half-empty voice on last night's decisive win, but I had two concerns: (1) our defensive success depended again on clogging the key & conceding open 12-15 foot shots -- worked great against Kal & AZ State & not well vs either of the WA schools which had guards that could shoot; and (2) Chiney looked far less than 100% last night, with many of her 13 first half rebounds coming essentially flat footed & her usual energy seemingly absent throughout -- hopefully she's just a bit tired and not nursing an injury that will linger.  And pretty impressive that she can still have the #s she did last night without her A game.

Big kudos to Lilli, Amber & Briana for the energy they brought vs a tough defensive team.  Without the strength inside the Cardinal has had in recent years, their contributions will be increasingly important.

Chiney was pulled earlier than usual, and if she has been a little less energetic of late, then she warrants watching tomorrow.  I don't think anything is wrong, but you never know with Tara's players.

You raise an interesting question--was our defense against ASU the same defense that we used against Washington--just better executed and/or less competently attacked?  I think it was quite a different defense, since we knew going in that ASU was more apt to slash than to bomb, while Washington had several excellent three point shooters to keep us from clogging the paint.  ASU was a player defense but we sometimes were 6 feet off of our assigned players.  It is hard to "get around" your defender when they are playing so far back--a little like defensive backs giving a ten yard cushion.

I don't see how we could have done that against the likes of Plum.  As a result, Plum, Davis, and Wetmore got 7 layups against us (not counting many free throws from fouls while they were driving), while we gave up exactly 1 layup to an ASU guard--Promise Amukamura.