[mbdude]

Our scoring drop off from this year to last year isn't as bad as I thought. Last year top 3 scorers averaged 39 pts total per game in league scoring for season. To this point this year top 3 scorers average 39 pts total per game.
Last year team averaged 71 pts per game in conference and gave up 57
This year averages are 68 and 56

last year McCall, Samuelson, and Mcphee were at 13.8, 11.5, and 13.4 respectively
this year McPhee 16.8,  Smith 12.2, Williams 10.8 (before Colorado game)

[mbdude]

Our scoring drop off from this year to last year isn't as bad as I thought. Last year top 3 scorers averaged 39 pts total per game in league scoring for season. To this point this year top 3 scorers average 39 pts total per game.
Last year team averaged 71 pts per game in conference and gave up 57
This year averages are 68 and 56

last year McCall, Samuelson, and Mcphee were at 13.8, 11.5, and 13.4 respectively
this year McPhee 16.8,  Smith 12.2, Williams 10.8 (before Colorado game)

[81alum]

Our scoring drop off from this year to last year isn't as bad as I thought. Last year top 3 scorers averaged 39 pts total per game in league scoring for season. To this point this year top 3 scorers average 39 pts total per game.
Last year team averaged 71 pts per game in conference and gave up 57
This year averages are 68 and 56

last year McCall, Samuelson, and Mcphee were at 13.8, 11.5, and 13.4 respectively
this year McPhee 16.8,  Smith 12.2, Williams 10.8 (before Colorado game)

Thanks for the reminder and the comparison, mbdude.  Yes, our rose colored glasses can make us forget about the challenges last year.  Bird's senior year was a little bit down from her junior year.  There were games when Karlie couldn't get a shot off, and this board was filled with posts bemoaning that fact.  McPhee was good but not as good as she is this year and she was even streakier.  Smith didn't catch on offensively until toward the end.  It took Tara most of the year to get our offense firing consistently last season. 

And here she is working on it again.

[81alum]

Our scoring drop off from this year to last year isn't as bad as I thought. Last year top 3 scorers averaged 39 pts total per game in league scoring for season. To this point this year top 3 scorers average 39 pts total per game.
Last year team averaged 71 pts per game in conference and gave up 57
This year averages are 68 and 56

last year McCall, Samuelson, and Mcphee were at 13.8, 11.5, and 13.4 respectively
this year McPhee 16.8,  Smith 12.2, Williams 10.8 (before Colorado game)

Thanks for the reminder and the comparison, mbdude.  Yes, our rose colored glasses can make us forget about the challenges last year.  Bird's senior year was a little bit down from her junior year.  There were games when Karlie couldn't get a shot off, and this board was filled with posts bemoaning that fact.  McPhee was good but not as good as she is this year and she was even streakier.  Smith didn't catch on offensively until toward the end.  It took Tara most of the year to get our offense firing consistently last season. 

And here she is working on it again.

[mbdude]

Alanna's inconsistency has been mentioned numerous times relative to her scoring.
Following are points/game for McCall in  a string of games  from last year: 15  9  11 7  9 16  8 17  8  9  10 23  9.  Just pointing out that inconsistency can  affect players that we considered to be foundation of team. and remember all the bunnies that she was missing for a time

[mbdude]

Alanna's inconsistency has been mentioned numerous times relative to her scoring.
Following are points/game for McCall in  a string of games  from last year: 15  9  11 7  9 16  8 17  8  9  10 23  9.  Just pointing out that inconsistency can  affect players that we considered to be foundation of team. and remember all the bunnies that she was missing for a time

[81alum]

Good point. 

Furthermore, "inconsistency" implies that the player is making an inconsistent effort or has inconsistent focus.  But it could be that one team has a particular player who can defend Alanna very well and the next team does not.  So-called inconsistency may have nothing whatever to do with the player but with variations in the defending teams. 

It is a team sport, and the hope is that if the opposing team defends Alanna well they must be opening up an opportunity for someone else.  When the opportunity that is opened is for Kaylee or for Marta, then they have to take advantage of the defenders' focus on Alanna.

[81alum]

Good point. 

Furthermore, "inconsistency" implies that the player is making an inconsistent effort or has inconsistent focus.  But it could be that one team has a particular player who can defend Alanna very well and the next team does not.  So-called inconsistency may have nothing whatever to do with the player but with variations in the defending teams. 

It is a team sport, and the hope is that if the opposing team defends Alanna well they must be opening up an opportunity for someone else.  When the opportunity that is opened is for Kaylee or for Marta, then they have to take advantage of the defenders' focus on Alanna.

[2006alum]

True, although that said, the best players find a way to score even against tough defenses. And despite her rocky end to conference play, Bird had two stretches after conference play began where she scored at least 10 points per game for 10 straight games (which I'll define as evidence of being a consistent scoring threat): once her junior year and once last year. Chiney scored 10+ point in every single game her senior year, and every game but one her junior year. Those are our only consistent 10+ game double figure scorers since Nneka graduated.

And I think that's why we've had such up and down success since Chiney graduated - without reliable, go to scorers, in tight games we've often not been sure who we can count on to get us points. McPhee, this season, has been the closest thing we've had. And not incidentally, McPhee is on an eight-game streak at 10+. If she can score 10+ at Washington and Washington State, she'll join that club. (If, woofing gods, I said if!)

[2006alum]

True, although that said, the best players find a way to score even against tough defenses. And despite her rocky end to conference play, Bird had two stretches after conference play began where she scored at least 10 points per game for 10 straight games (which I'll define as evidence of being a consistent scoring threat): once her junior year and once last year. Chiney scored 10+ point in every single game her senior year, and every game but one her junior year. Those are our only consistent 10+ game double figure scorers since Nneka graduated.

And I think that's why we've had such up and down success since Chiney graduated - without reliable, go to scorers, in tight games we've often not been sure who we can count on to get us points. McPhee, this season, has been the closest thing we've had. And not incidentally, McPhee is on an eight-game streak at 10+. If she can score 10+ at Washington and Washington State, she'll join that club. (If, woofing gods, I said if!)

[Viking_Guy]

The other issue: McCall had Samuelson, as well as McPhee and Smith.  It's not all on Alanna - we replaced two scoring threats with one in Williams and a defender/rebounder in Johnson.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

The other issue: McCall had Samuelson, as well as McPhee and Smith.  It's not all on Alanna - we replaced two scoring threats with one in Williams and a defender/rebounder in Johnson.

VG