[81alum]

Well, ghsfcal, there was one positive--we cut our turnovers down significantly.  We never went through one of those atrocious stretches as against Colorado where we turned the ball over on seven consecutive possessions.  We had 10 for the game tonight.

Here is another positive.  Utah's star player Wicijowski was 1/6 in the first half.  Tempie said we were working to be able to double team their posts when they got the ball, and the scheme worked.  Our poor offensive showing should not obscure the fact that we had a great defensive showing.  Utah got only 12 points in the paint, we got 10--so we essentially neutralized their big post advantage.  If we had not, we would have lost.

We have not talked too much about our defense here at the Cardboard, but I would say that it has been moderately successful to very successful--depending on who we play.  In our losses we gave up 87 to Texas--that was our worst defensive game, and it had something to do with the pace of the game as well.  But the other three were 70, 54, and 59.  If we can get our offense clicking even modestly better than it currently is, our defense is good enough to win a lot of games. 

But I think you are right to point to a seeming offensive regression.  Against UConn we scored 88.  Against Texas we scored 81.  We have the same players.  Is it simply that other teams have figured out how to stop us?  Is the offensive regression all explained by scouting reports?  Or is it coaching overload--giving the players too much to think about so they stop playing the game naturally?

I really hope your pessimism about making the NCAAs turns out to be off base--but the fact that we are even talking about it is worrisome.  I certainly do worry that even if we do reasonably well with the rest of the schedule we won't manage to get the 4-seed we need to host the first two games.  For that we are going to have to beat the best teams in the Pac 12--not just the worst.  And that means starting this weekend in Washington. 

One oddity tonight--Bri Roberson had only 7 minutes even though we were expending a lot of guard energy pressing.  When she was in she made one brilliant play for a layup-and-one.  She seems to have good finishing skills when she gets to the basket.  I'd like to see more of her.  McPhee was in some and made a great block and another great steal.  But she is being used very sparingly too.  I saw her caught out of position on defense once, leaving her man open for an open trey.  Maybe that was it.

[81alum]

Well, ghsfcal, there was one positive--we cut our turnovers down significantly.  We never went through one of those atrocious stretches as against Colorado where we turned the ball over on seven consecutive possessions.  We had 10 for the game tonight.

Here is another positive.  Utah's star player Wicijowski was 1/6 in the first half.  Tempie said we were working to be able to double team their posts when they got the ball, and the scheme worked.  Our poor offensive showing should not obscure the fact that we had a great defensive showing.  Utah got only 12 points in the paint, we got 10--so we essentially neutralized their big post advantage.  If we had not, we would have lost.

We have not talked too much about our defense here at the Cardboard, but I would say that it has been moderately successful to very successful--depending on who we play.  In our losses we gave up 87 to Texas--that was our worst defensive game, and it had something to do with the pace of the game as well.  But the other three were 70, 54, and 59.  If we can get our offense clicking even modestly better than it currently is, our defense is good enough to win a lot of games. 

But I think you are right to point to a seeming offensive regression.  Against UConn we scored 88.  Against Texas we scored 81.  We have the same players.  Is it simply that other teams have figured out how to stop us?  Is the offensive regression all explained by scouting reports?  Or is it coaching overload--giving the players too much to think about so they stop playing the game naturally?

I really hope your pessimism about making the NCAAs turns out to be off base--but the fact that we are even talking about it is worrisome.  I certainly do worry that even if we do reasonably well with the rest of the schedule we won't manage to get the 4-seed we need to host the first two games.  For that we are going to have to beat the best teams in the Pac 12--not just the worst.  And that means starting this weekend in Washington. 

One oddity tonight--Bri Roberson had only 7 minutes even though we were expending a lot of guard energy pressing.  When she was in she made one brilliant play for a layup-and-one.  She seems to have good finishing skills when she gets to the basket.  I'd like to see more of her.  McPhee was in some and made a great block and another great steal.  But she is being used very sparingly too.  I saw her caught out of position on defense once, leaving her man open for an open trey.  Maybe that was it.