[navdc]

So so thin in the post is pretty scary. Injury, transfer, early exit for any reason makes us pretty vulnerable if they don't find another true big. We can get away with a stretch 4, which some of these wings can play but it still requires some kind of big post to deal with other bigs/rebound inside. So funny we will now have a plethora of guards - the opposite problem we had for so many years. I just don't see Tara switching to a run and gun offense but she may be forced into it.

[navdc]

So so thin in the post is pretty scary. Injury, transfer, early exit for any reason makes us pretty vulnerable if they don't find another true big. We can get away with a stretch 4, which some of these wings can play but it still requires some kind of big post to deal with other bigs/rebound inside. So funny we will now have a plethora of guards - the opposite problem we had for so many years. I just don't see Tara switching to a run and gun offense but she may be forced into it.

[2006alum]

So so thin in the post is pretty scary. Injury, transfer, early exit for any reason makes us pretty vulnerable if they don't find another true big. We can get away with a stretch 4, which some of these wings can play but it still requires some kind of big post to deal with other bigs/rebound inside. So funny we will now have a plethora of guards - the opposite problem we had for so many years. I just don't see Tara switching to a run and gun offense but she may be forced into it.

Indeed! RIP, Triangle Offense. We won't be seeing you again any time soon... That said, it's exciting for us to move toward a more up tempo, guard-oriented offense. For the longest time we were prone to collapsing against a full court press (see, e.g., the utterly painful last ten minutes of our final four game against Texas A&M in 2011), and even last year we struggled mightily with the zone (see, e.g., the utterly painful elite eight game against Washington). Having some players who can drive into the basket from outside, and for us to generally have players who can threaten from both inside and outside will really give us more to work with. Tara was the master of exploiting our size and skill advantage when we had the Ogwumikes, but we were such a one-note team back then.

[2006alum]

So so thin in the post is pretty scary. Injury, transfer, early exit for any reason makes us pretty vulnerable if they don't find another true big. We can get away with a stretch 4, which some of these wings can play but it still requires some kind of big post to deal with other bigs/rebound inside. So funny we will now have a plethora of guards - the opposite problem we had for so many years. I just don't see Tara switching to a run and gun offense but she may be forced into it.

Indeed! RIP, Triangle Offense. We won't be seeing you again any time soon... That said, it's exciting for us to move toward a more up tempo, guard-oriented offense. For the longest time we were prone to collapsing against a full court press (see, e.g., the utterly painful last ten minutes of our final four game against Texas A&M in 2011), and even last year we struggled mightily with the zone (see, e.g., the utterly painful elite eight game against Washington). Having some players who can drive into the basket from outside, and for us to generally have players who can threaten from both inside and outside will really give us more to work with. Tara was the master of exploiting our size and skill advantage when we had the Ogwumikes, but we were such a one-note team back then.

[81alum]

We need a big.  Our only bigs in the 2018 season are Fingall, Coffee and Smith.  Smith looks more like a stretch 4.  I guess we really have to hope Coffee develops, otherwise, we will probably play small.  I do think if Carrington stays injury free, she'll be one of the better players and a 2 or 3 year starter at the SF position.  Dodson can probably back her up at the 3, but with her size, can move over to the 4 (and if as good as her ranking, able to make U17 team, etc) and play minutes with Carrington.  Fingall is likely our starting post player.  If Coffee develops, she will back up Fingall, unless Smith gets stronger, then she can play some back up 5.  I still hope we land a post for our final schollie (Harris, Jarosinski, etc).

Dodson is 6'3" and though she is listed as a wing, Olson says she is "explosively athletic" and "plays at the rim" with a "fluid interior game" and is "active on glass" and "scores in traffic."  So I think she sounds like a prototypical stretch 4--not from necessity by by design.  She is going to be a matchup nightmare since she will be able to play inside or out.  I'd be surprised if she winds up at the 3 rather than the 4.

Moschkau is 6'2" and listed as a wing.  Here is what Olson said about her:  "Agile perimeter performer with tweener-4 game; stretches the defense to the arc; interior game exploits mismatches, finishes plays in traffic; active on glass; versatile"  and "Long, agile and versatile perimeter prospect with length, wingspan on perimeter."  Between her and the Hulls I think the 3 is covered. 

This is years away folks, and these kids will grow and develop over the last year or last two years of high school.  But I suspect that one or more of the wing prospects--Dodson, Moschkau, Lexie and Lacey Hull--will wind up at the 4. 

What we need with the last position, in my opinion, is a legitimate 5.  And those are rare enough to find at all, let alone a five who can be admitted.  That is probably where Shayley Harris comes in.  6'5".  Again, Olson:  "True center with superior size brings shot blocking presence; dominant defender in key; rebounds, outlets and initiates fast break; emerging back-to-basket game; mobile in uptempo game." (Olson)

[81alum]

We need a big.  Our only bigs in the 2018 season are Fingall, Coffee and Smith.  Smith looks more like a stretch 4.  I guess we really have to hope Coffee develops, otherwise, we will probably play small.  I do think if Carrington stays injury free, she'll be one of the better players and a 2 or 3 year starter at the SF position.  Dodson can probably back her up at the 3, but with her size, can move over to the 4 (and if as good as her ranking, able to make U17 team, etc) and play minutes with Carrington.  Fingall is likely our starting post player.  If Coffee develops, she will back up Fingall, unless Smith gets stronger, then she can play some back up 5.  I still hope we land a post for our final schollie (Harris, Jarosinski, etc).

Dodson is 6'3" and though she is listed as a wing, Olson says she is "explosively athletic" and "plays at the rim" with a "fluid interior game" and is "active on glass" and "scores in traffic."  So I think she sounds like a prototypical stretch 4--not from necessity by by design.  She is going to be a matchup nightmare since she will be able to play inside or out.  I'd be surprised if she winds up at the 3 rather than the 4.

Moschkau is 6'2" and listed as a wing.  Here is what Olson said about her:  "Agile perimeter performer with tweener-4 game; stretches the defense to the arc; interior game exploits mismatches, finishes plays in traffic; active on glass; versatile"  and "Long, agile and versatile perimeter prospect with length, wingspan on perimeter."  Between her and the Hulls I think the 3 is covered. 

This is years away folks, and these kids will grow and develop over the last year or last two years of high school.  But I suspect that one or more of the wing prospects--Dodson, Moschkau, Lexie and Lacey Hull--will wind up at the 4. 

What we need with the last position, in my opinion, is a legitimate 5.  And those are rare enough to find at all, let alone a five who can be admitted.  That is probably where Shayley Harris comes in.  6'5".  Again, Olson:  "True center with superior size brings shot blocking presence; dominant defender in key; rebounds, outlets and initiates fast break; emerging back-to-basket game; mobile in uptempo game." (Olson)

[CompSci87]

Who is going to the open practice. Can't wait for the reports

I was there. I meant to post about it last night but didn't get around to connecting to the Cardboard with a real computer. It's too hard to type anything long on a phone. Not that I have that much to say anyway.

When I came in, they were doing some 5-on-0 offensive drills, which is something I hadn't really seen before. It looks pretty odd at first.

As usual most of the time was taken up with a scrimmage. Defense seemed ahead of offense, and it didn't help that no one was shooting well. That is, except for one of the male practice players who was hitting 3's to keep the white team in it. Later Tara asked us if we'd recognized him -- it was Casey Jacobsen!

Anna Wilson didn't participate in drills or the scrimmage. She was suited up but just stayed off to the side shooting. Tara said she didn't practice "today" but implied she might be back soon. I don't remember exactly what she said on that. I noticed she looks really tiny compared to the other players; she's not the shortest by listed height, but is very slim.

Karlie still has a cast on her left wrist. She was mostly off to the side shooting too. She didn't scrimmage, but did play in some of the drills, including passing and catching the ball. I didn't catch just when the cast would be off and when she'll be full go, but I got the impression it shouldn't be too long. (I see the FBC report at http://fbccardinalnews.blogspot.com/ says the cast was going to come off the next day.)

Coffee looks much improved in the post, but she still had a couple of awkward plays where she didn't know exactly how far underneath she was and put up a shot that was way off.

The freshmen who could play all blended in well in the scrimmage. Carrington had one very pretty move to the basket that split defenders and got some oohs from the crowd. The crowd was mostly pretty quiet otherwise.

My eye for defenses isn't all that great, but I thought I saw some zone. Later Tara pointed out that they had been working on zone and thought they'd use it more this season, so maybe I was right. Obviously they need to play some zone in practice, at least on the scout team, so that they can work on their anti-zone offense. That of course was one of the things that didn't go well last year, and Tara specifically mentioned they are working on adding to and improving zone offense this year.

As usual Tara introduced all the players and had some words to say about each one. Since I waited too long to post this, I don't remember much. She was high on all the freshmen and said they came in ready to contribute. She said that although Carrington is only working at guard now, eventually (I assume in a future year) she will be able to play all positions from 1 through 4.

On the team in general, Tara said that they are a full month ahead of where they were at this time last year. They're already putting in plays for special time and score situations, which is something that often gets left to the last minute because more vital things still need work.

Although coaches are not allowed to talk about recruits who have not signed an LOI yet, Tara did acknowledge that four have verballed for 2017, including our second Canadian recruit, and two have already verballed for 2018. She didn't give names, but of course we know them already.

I can't think of much else that's not also in the FBC report.

The team will have a closed scrimmage (presumably against another school, but Tara didn't say whom) on Saturday, then a week later the schedule starts with an exhibition against her sister Heidi's team, UCSD, and a week after that the first real game.

[CompSci87]

Who is going to the open practice. Can't wait for the reports

I was there. I meant to post about it last night but didn't get around to connecting to the Cardboard with a real computer. It's too hard to type anything long on a phone. Not that I have that much to say anyway.

When I came in, they were doing some 5-on-0 offensive drills, which is something I hadn't really seen before. It looks pretty odd at first.

As usual most of the time was taken up with a scrimmage. Defense seemed ahead of offense, and it didn't help that no one was shooting well. That is, except for one of the male practice players who was hitting 3's to keep the white team in it. Later Tara asked us if we'd recognized him -- it was Casey Jacobsen!

Anna Wilson didn't participate in drills or the scrimmage. She was suited up but just stayed off to the side shooting. Tara said she didn't practice "today" but implied she might be back soon. I don't remember exactly what she said on that. I noticed she looks really tiny compared to the other players; she's not the shortest by listed height, but is very slim.

Karlie still has a cast on her left wrist. She was mostly off to the side shooting too. She didn't scrimmage, but did play in some of the drills, including passing and catching the ball. I didn't catch just when the cast would be off and when she'll be full go, but I got the impression it shouldn't be too long. (I see the FBC report at http://fbccardinalnews.blogspot.com/ says the cast was going to come off the next day.)

Coffee looks much improved in the post, but she still had a couple of awkward plays where she didn't know exactly how far underneath she was and put up a shot that was way off.

The freshmen who could play all blended in well in the scrimmage. Carrington had one very pretty move to the basket that split defenders and got some oohs from the crowd. The crowd was mostly pretty quiet otherwise.

My eye for defenses isn't all that great, but I thought I saw some zone. Later Tara pointed out that they had been working on zone and thought they'd use it more this season, so maybe I was right. Obviously they need to play some zone in practice, at least on the scout team, so that they can work on their anti-zone offense. That of course was one of the things that didn't go well last year, and Tara specifically mentioned they are working on adding to and improving zone offense this year.

As usual Tara introduced all the players and had some words to say about each one. Since I waited too long to post this, I don't remember much. She was high on all the freshmen and said they came in ready to contribute. She said that although Carrington is only working at guard now, eventually (I assume in a future year) she will be able to play all positions from 1 through 4.

On the team in general, Tara said that they are a full month ahead of where they were at this time last year. They're already putting in plays for special time and score situations, which is something that often gets left to the last minute because more vital things still need work.

Although coaches are not allowed to talk about recruits who have not signed an LOI yet, Tara did acknowledge that four have verballed for 2017, including our second Canadian recruit, and two have already verballed for 2018. She didn't give names, but of course we know them already.

I can't think of much else that's not also in the FBC report.

The team will have a closed scrimmage (presumably against another school, but Tara didn't say whom) on Saturday, then a week later the schedule starts with an exhibition against her sister Heidi's team, UCSD, and a week after that the first real game.

[BobK]

Thanks Tim.


Anna still out now almost 7 months is very troublesome. 

[BobK]

Thanks Tim.


Anna still out now almost 7 months is very troublesome. 

[CompSci87]

Thanks Tim.
It's USD that Heidi coaches and we play.  You know Harbaugh's old school.

No, it's UCSD, not Harbaugh's old school USD. I checked before posting.

[CompSci87]

Thanks Tim.
It's USD that Heidi coaches and we play.  You know Harbaugh's old school.

No, it's UCSD, not Harbaugh's old school USD. I checked before posting.

[paloalto]

Thanks for the report.  I am interested to see what Sniezek can do.  She was one of my favorite players last season.  I don’t know anything about Coffee.  All I know is 6’5” female basketball players with coordination and athleticism are a rare commodity so we will see if she is ready for prime time.

[paloalto]

Thanks for the report.  I am interested to see what Sniezek can do.  She was one of my favorite players last season.  I don’t know anything about Coffee.  All I know is 6’5” female basketball players with coordination and athleticism are a rare commodity so we will see if she is ready for prime time.

[BobK]

Tim I have ucsd's schedule on my fridge and a friend on the team.  But sometimes I need correcting.  :'( :P

Thanks

[BobK]

Tim I have ucsd's schedule on my fridge and a friend on the team.  But sometimes I need correcting.  :'( :P

Thanks

[CompSci87]

Tim I have ucsd's schedule on my fridge and a friend on the team.  But sometimes I need correcting.  :'( :P

Thanks

[CompSci87]

Tim I have ucsd's schedule on my fridge and a friend on the team.  But sometimes I need correcting.  :'( :P

Thanks