WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72

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RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - cardfan1996 - 02-05-2023

Tara gives no other options any chance. It took Lepolo turning her ankle for Tara to let go her security blanket and only for 2 games (2 games which you won handily without Lepolo and Agnes on the bench for the most part against Top 10 competition).

Bosgana would have definitely helped in this game, and in both earlier losses because she can create off the dribble. So can Nivar.

This game was still just 2 pt deficit when Tara decided Lepolo needed to come back in the game even though she was horrible on both offense and defense.

The problem with Lepolo and Agnes is that you start the game in a scoring drought. This is apparent to most bball folks except this staff

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - TonyLima - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 04:05 PM)BobK Wrote: I believe we offered Ladine or couldn’t I do know Stanford was interested as was she. Her dad had coached at Burton in SF she presumably she lived there.
I have wondered for awhile if her grandfather is Kirk who played at Stanford on the 60s ? Great HS player. Anyone know?

TV folks said she was from SF. Her dad is Clint. No idea about Kirk.

[Image: BCFA8999-344D-46EC-AB11-5FF30B0A608A.jpeg]

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - treetop11 - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 04:24 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 03:55 PM)BostonCard Wrote: We weren’t looking too good when we lost back to back games against Colorado and UCLA two years ago. Unless you are a truly dominant team (and we aren’t), to win a title it takes a combination of talent and luck. I think we could win our last six, but it would take better play than today to do so, and, against the very top teams (eg South Carolina), we probably need them to not play their best as well.

BC

We lost those because Fran was in the starting lineup and we couldn’t defensive rebound at UCLA or defensive rebound or hold on to the ball at Colorado.

We can get back on track if, like 2021, we change the starting lineup. Brink for Belibi was an easy decision. I have no faith she will replace Agnes and Lepolo with the right players, or replace them at all.

Tara keeps recycling bad decisions. We already saw how ineffective on offense Agnes and Lepolo in November. We saw how bad Haley was at the 1 in the very first exhibition game. Why are we still seeing this stuff in February?

So what's your answer?

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - cardfan1996 - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 04:51 PM)treetop11 Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 04:24 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 03:55 PM)BostonCard Wrote: We weren’t looking too good when we lost back to back games against Colorado and UCLA two years ago. Unless you are a truly dominant team (and we aren’t), to win a title it takes a combination of talent and luck. I think we could win our last six, but it would take better play than today to do so, and, against the very top teams (eg South Carolina), we probably need them to not play their best as well.

BC

We lost those because Fran was in the starting lineup and we couldn’t defensive rebound at UCLA or defensive rebound or hold on to the ball at Colorado.

We can get back on track if, like 2021, we change the starting lineup. Brink for Belibi was an easy decision. I have no faith she will replace Agnes and Lepolo with the right players, or replace them at all.

Tara keeps recycling bad decisions. We already saw how ineffective on offense Agnes and Lepolo in November. We saw how bad Haley was at the 1 in the very first exhibition game. Why are we still seeing this stuff in February?

So what's your answer?

Go back to my first post this year and every subsequent posts. What I’ve said since November, sit Lepolo, start any two of Nivar, Bosgana and Ashten though Ashten seems to have checked out to me (and I don’t blame her getting 2 minutes of playing time here and there). And stop the absolute insanity of Haley running the 1 completely. It’s stupid.

You start a lineup that can beat S. Carolina or UConn. You can’t beat S.Carolina without Ashten. You can’t beat S.Carolina without a 3-post lineup stopping Boston and help on rebounding so I’d make sure Ashten was engaged and playing 20-30 minutes/game. It sounds preposterous to go from 2 minutes per game to 20 minutes but she clearly needs the game reps.

You sit Agnes to the right of Lolo Green and if we need someone who is hyper focused defensively on just their assignment (in other words, we need a face guard), then Agnes can come in for a few defensive possessions. I’d sit Lepolo to the right of Bosgana who if she is not starting, should be first off the bench. Both Bosgana and Nivar are solid ballhandlers and more importantly, can pass in the post.

Re: the rebounding problem. As I said, Lepolo and Agnes do not help make up for the rebounding lost when Tara sat Kiki. Lepolo will freeze and stare at rebounds in her area. Agnes (and Hannah) will either take off before a rebound is secured or Agnes will just stand and stare on the perimeter because she was hyper focused on her defensive assignment but never blocks out.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - spike5882 - 02-05-2023

I didn’t see the game so just looking at stats and reading comments here. It seems like rebounding was an issue and offense generation. No minutes for Betts or Bosgana, who both seem to aid in those regards. Also, only 10 mins for Iriafen who had the second most rebounds in very limited minutes.

What am I missing in why she didn’t put any of these three into the game to help?

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - 81alum - 02-05-2023

We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

This year we are still struggling to get an offense that works. We are on our 3rd offense in less than a year, and it shows.

RE: WBB: Stanford @ Washington Sunday 12pm - M T - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 03:17 PM)JohnR34231 Wrote: Earlier in the year Lepolo was getting a lot of kudos for her efforts.
I guess that's freshmen. Up and down play.

I think it is fan fickleness. They can't see beyond how the last quarter turned out.

+/- per 40 minutes (including today, only stats for players who played today):
Lepolo 22.35
Jones 18.01
Brink 24.88
Jump 19.80
Emma-Nnopu 12.58
Nivar 26.57
Demetre 19.38
Prechtel 15.53
Irafen 22.14
Belibi 14.23

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - chimera - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 06:00 PM)81alum Wrote: We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

This year we are still struggling to get an offense that works. We are on our 3rd offense in less than a year, and it shows.

I agree. This has been a very strange season to me. Even seasons where we lost 10 games, things felt more stable than this season does as far as the rotation, what sort of contributions various players could make, and how to get the most out of the team. The things the coaches have tried this season mostly made sense to me (like they would care about that!) early on, but every potential line-up has shown issues that are serious enough to hold the team back. Can't be good to change things up so much in the schemes and the rotation. The question now is can changes that might help be made in time to gel?

Of all the guards that have gotten playing time - Jump, Emma-Nnopu, Nivar, Lepolo, Bosgana, and Harriel (who is also not playing after having a good enough game to draw praise and go to the post-game presser) - none strike me as true defensive stoppers to the point that they should play because of how good their defense is. All of them have played good defense at times. So who should play and how much? What do we value in guard play given what Jones and Brink can do and how many good posts we have? The key to this season has always been what can we get from the perimeter. Given that we seem to have bad defensive games like today even playing a line-up that is more defensive oriented on the perimeter with Emma-Nnopu, we should look instead to players who can be offensive threats on multiple levels - shooting, passing, driving, etc. and work on their defense. That says play Bosgana to me, and Nivar, at the 2 a whole lot more.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - old spanish trail - 02-05-2023

In lieu of Jump?

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - stopandpop - 02-05-2023

I agree with many of your posts about possible lineup changes that could give us more offense from the perimeter. Most teams have found their best rotation by now (and as several of you said), players on those teams are comfortable on who starts, who comes in and when.

I'm mystified by something else. Supposedly we have two All-Americans. I would think our playmaking should consistently put them in positions to score or get fouled. Every time down the court, the first and second options should be Haley and Cam. Part of the problem is, we not very good at setting effective screens.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - 81alum - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 06:30 PM)chimera Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 06:00 PM)81alum Wrote: We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

This year we are still struggling to get an offense that works. We are on our 3rd offense in less than a year, and it shows.

I agree. This has been a very strange season to me. Even seasons where we lost 10 games, things felt more stable than this season does as far as the rotation, what sort of contributions various players could make, and how to get the most out of the team. The things the coaches have tried this season mostly made sense to me (like they would care about that!) early on, but every potential line-up has shown issues that are serious enough to hold the team back. Can't be good to change things up so much in the schemes and the rotation. The question now is can changes that might help be made in time to gel?

Of all the guards that have gotten playing time - Jump, Emma-Nnopu, Nivar, Lepolo, Bosgana, and Harriel (who is also not playing after having a good enough game to draw praise and go to the post-game presser) - none strike me as true defensive stoppers to the point that they should play because of how good their defense is. All of them have played good defense at times. So who should play and how much? What do we value in guard play given what Jones and Brink can do and how many good posts we have? The key to this season has always been what can we get from the perimeter. Given that we seem to have bad defensive games like today even playing a line-up that is more defensive oriented on the perimeter with Emma-Nnopu, we should look instead to players who can be offensive threats on multiple levels - shooting, passing, driving, etc. and work on their defense. That says play Bosgana to me, and Nivar, at the 2 a whole lot more.

Would you play them and bench Jump? Jump to me was more effective in past years coming off the bench. I've been thinking a lot about how Jump changes the game, and wondering if she should at least split her time more with Bosgana. Jump's shot has not been "on," really, for a while now. She misses treys most of the time when she has to move laterally, and so screens don't really do it for her. The best pure catch-and-shoot player we have ever had, but she scores reliably only in transition or when there is a big defensive breakdown. She has shown the ability to cut on the baseline and to hit some 8 foot floaters--perhaps we need to see a lot more of that when her treys are not falling.

And now we have the added problem of our best three point shooter (lately) being Demetre, a "big." Playing her for her offense at the 3 just exacerbates the guard problem. It is hard enough against a speedy team to put 2 bigs out there, but 3? I am reminded just a little of the issues we had with Bonnie Samuelson, who we kinda turned into a "stretch four" by her senior year to get her out of the wing position. But again, we don't need more 4s and 5s.

In a very strange way, Jones distorts things. She has enormous talent and so we don't want to sit her of course, but her strength is from the mid range in--where we already have an abundance of talent. If we played 2 genuine posts and Demetre and Jones, we would have only one guard, really. So we can't. Jones is a most unconventional player which leads to some very unconventional lineups.

Enormous talent, but it doesn't all fit together perfectly.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - petersalas - 02-05-2023

I truly think this team plays to the level of the competition and not with the mindset to dominate. I get disappointed with loses, but don’t overreact because it’s a game and win or lose, I can’t do anything about it.

A few of observations about this team that they need to improve on are end of clock plays and also inbounding after a time out has been called. They have improved the free throw shooting, so I haven’t given up hope. But as you said the improvements over the season are not there yet. Hope that changes soon!

(02-05-2023, 06:00 PM)81alum Wrote: We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

This year we are still struggling to get an offense that works. We are on our 3rd offense in less than a year, and it shows.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - ljw63 - 02-05-2023


After watching all of the games (not including the pre-season scrimmage), my assessment of the players as of the loss to Washington is as follows:
Jones – She seems to coast in unimportant games. Still the player to count on in most games. I do not especially like her at point guard, but on this team she may be the best option. However, at Washington I do believe she was the best person for that slot at the end.
Brink – Better than last year. She seems like a natural four and will only get better. Still the best defensive player we have. May be the best player in the country. However, against Washington she looked lethargic (understandable given her bad cold). She was a step slower and not as strong.
Iriafen – Improved over last year. Great scorer. Still needs to improve defensively. She does not do well against players as tall or taller defensively, Looks like she could learn to play the four.
Belibi – Seems to below par right this year. She can still run the court and is always a threat to score. She can defend any interior player shorter than her and probably up to two inches taller than her but bigger players can dominate her. She can guard the perimeter but does not shoot except under the basket. In the summer 3x3 she actually had a fairly good three point shot.
Prechtel – Her height gives her many advantages and she can certainly shoot the 3. She is not a great defender or rebounder for her size but she presents a serious match up problem for any team. Underutilized so far this year.
Demetre – Very good shooter, decent rebounder. A little slow on defense. Very good 3 point shooter, Very good passer. Should get much better with playing time. Needs to play more because of her three point shot.
Betts – Agile for her size and a very good shooting touch. She will be dominant in the next few years but even today a real asset. A little slow running the court but you can build a team around her. Underutilized so far.
Jump – Perhaps the best 3 point shooter in college. Quick release although she does shoot from the waist so can be defended. Adequate to good on defense. However, she is wasted without another three point shooter on the floor. Has not learned to use screens well.
Emma-Nnopu – A solid player. Very good on defense but not our best (IMO). Underrated on offense. Very unselfish. Needs to overcome her reluctance to shoot. I would use her to guard a hot shooter but until she does more on offense she should remain on the bench for much of the game.
Lepolo – Surprisingly good for a freshman. Adequate on defense if her opponent is small. Not adequate in guarding a taller opponent. Adequate to good shooter, but very reluctant. Very good playmaker at times; at other times she seems to disappear. Should get better and better. Not the PG you want in the tournament at this time.
Nivar -Another surprisingly good freshman. Good defenisve player, Good shooter. Should continue to improve. Does not seem to have a major weakness. However, at the moment she is not a big asset. She does not seem to see the court as well as you would like for a point guard. I think over the next three years she should grow into a really good player.
Bosgana- Greatly improved this year. Probably our best defender (IMO) outside the paint. Good quickness and anticipation. Great length. Her offense is good although I think she sometimes looks for her shot before looking for a pass. Seems to be about a 35% 3 point shooter. If we had to play UConn again she would be the best defender on Buechers (if she were healthy). Does not get to play enough. Would have been a real asset against Washington.
Harriel- Underrated. She seems to be solid at everything. Good shooter, Good defender. Good on assists. When playing PG she pushes as well as Lepolo. Seems to see the court well (as do Jones and Lepolo). I wish she had played more early in the season to see if she improved. An underutilized asset. Maybe better (maybe a lot better) than what we now use at PG but maybe not – we don't know for sure
I have not seen enough of Papadaki or Green to have much of an opinion. They both seem to have potential. Papadaki in particular seems very athletic.
If I were the coach I would play both Brink and Jones a lot (as Tara does). Jump is a constant threat but is wasted without another three point shooter. We will not win the NC and maybe not go far if either Lepolo or Nivar is the PG. Contrary to popular opinion on this board I would play Jones at PG if the other team does not press. I would do that to get Demetre and Bosgana into the lineup, not because Jones is especially strong at PG. I think our strongest lineup is Brink, Demetre, Bosgana, Jump, and Jones. I would like to see Harriel get more opportunity but it may be a little late in the season for that. I would use Prechtel as a sub more frequently than she is currently used. Betts and Iriafin are good subs depending on the opponent, Betts for bigger centers, Iriafin for less agile opponents, I would use Belibi to rest Brink but only if another big is in. Nivar and Lepolo can provide depth at guard (as I said earlier I would like to see more of Harriel) If the other team presses we need Lepolo, Nivar or Harriel in the game at PG. I would use Emma-Nnopu as a defensive specialist if a smaller guard is severely hurting us with 3 point shooting

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - Card10Fan - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 06:00 PM)81alum Wrote: We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

Spot on. We have 8 McDonalds All Americans. 2 All Americans. Washington had 1 in Daniels. Our talent is superior to every team aside from UConn or South Carolina. You would never know that based on our play on the court. So yeah it’s frustrating to watch because the talent is there, but the results don’t back that up. We have no offensive or defensive identity. Who is the leader on this team? What upperclassman want to take charge? AZ is a very quick turnaround with travel. I don’t have a good feeling about that game either.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - cardfan1996 - 02-05-2023

Brink, Haley and Hannah are set.
We need another point guard and 3 player, preferably a 1 and 3 that DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS.

Nivar, Hannah, Bosgana, Haley and Brink

Nivar, Hannah, Haley, Brink, Ashten

(You have exactly ZERO chance against S.Carolina without Ashten’s defense on Boston and rebounding. Zero. Zilch. None. Why I keep coming back to her (though it looks like she has checked out) is because she plays on the perimeter on offense and teams respect her shot despite her percentage and that leaves SPACING for Haley to penetrate and do what she does best. She allows Brink to roam and be a true 4 on defense).

Off the bench: Ashten/Bosgana/Nivar (whichever one is not starting), Kiki, Brooke (only if she plays with good defenders and rebounders because she is targeted by the other team because of her slow feet), Lepolo, Fran

You probably not going beyond 7-8 deep (5 starters/ 2 bench players) from Elite 8 onward.

Either lineup gets you a PAC-12 regular season and tourney title easily. You will need better perimeter shooting to get to a Final Four and to that championship game but the new starting 5 need significant playing time together

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - 81alum - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 07:46 PM)ljw63 Wrote: Contrary to popular opinion on this board I would play Jones at PG if the other team does not press. I would do that to get Demetre and Bosgana into the lineup, not because Jones is especially strong at PG. I think our strongest lineup is Brink, Demetre, Bosgana, Jump, and Jones.

Great observations. I've been mulling over the point guard issue too (haven't we all?) and I think I have reluctantly come to the same conclusion about Jones. Yes, her play is somewhat diminished when she has to play pg, but the alternatives now seem like dead ends--hopefully that changes in future years.

Those five you name should open up the offense, but possibly would be vulnerable to a team with elite, quick, small guards. I've even wondered about playing a zone in such cases.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - cardfan1996 - 02-05-2023

We beat Colorado and Utah comfortably at home with Nivar at point (and subbing in Harriel). We need Haley doing what she does best - defensive rebounding.

Haley is also a dreadful (not strong enough word IMO) defender on the perimeter. She refuses to come out, get in a defensive stance and guard. She is equally horrible at running out to contest shots. Her playing 1 being a terrible idea is more than just her turnovers on offense or the fact she has no legs in the 4th quarter of games to do anything other than make layups. The only perimeter player she can defend is one without a 3-pt shot (e.g. Shaina Pellington and Kiki Rice)

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - 81alum - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 08:08 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote: Nivar, Hannah, Bosgana, Haley and Brink

Nivar, Hannah, Haley, Brink, Ashten

I am not sold on Nivar at point this year. I don't think there is time enough left in the year for her to develop into a championship caliber point guard. In fact, she has been fairly reluctant to shoot and her FG% is 12% lower than Lepolo's. That's a lot. Her assist rate is pedestrian, too, with 1 assist every 12 minutes she plays. She may well develop those skills heading into next year, but they are not there yet. I am beginning to realize that Jones is probably the best option, despite all the obvious issues with it that we have talked about all year.

(02-05-2023, 08:24 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote: Haley is also a dreadful (not strong enough word IMO) defender on the perimeter. She refuses to come out, get in a defensive stance and guard. She is equally horrible at running out to contest shots.

Being a 1 on offense does not mean defending the opponent's 1 on defense, so I don't see how playing Jones at point would have anything to do with her (curious) defensive lapses.

MT is the other Cardboarder who has often observed Jones' poor perimeter defense, and he has certainly pointed out some whoppers, too. They are so obvious that I have to think it is by design. We sag off whichever player we want to take the three, and Jones seems to be the designated sagger. She is then available to cut off driving lanes and to double whenever the ball comes into the paint.

What is the alternative interpretation? That an All-American, #1 ESPN recruit playing for the winningest coach of all time is allowed to commit egregious defensive lapses over and over with no correction? It just doesn't make sense to me. It almost seems as if Jones is a rover on defense, leaving the worst opponent open.

In the past, there have been occasional admissions by Tara that we DON'T want to contest every shot--we want to contest all the good shooters and encourage the bad shooters to shoot. I don't know if this is always what is happening with Jones, but my brain just boggles at any alternative explanation for Jones's frequent decisions not to contest a perimeter shot. That does not mean that Tara's strategy necessarily works. Elle Ladine is proof of that.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - cardfan1996 - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 08:26 PM)81alum Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 08:08 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote: Nivar, Hannah, Bosgana, Haley and Brink

Nivar, Hannah, Haley, Brink, Ashten
I am not sold on Nivar at point this year. I don't think there is time enough left in the year for her to develop into a championship caliber point guard. In fact, she has been fairly reluctant to shoot and her FG% is 12% lower than Lepolo's. That's a lot. Her assist rate is pedestrian, too, with 1 assist every 12 minutes she plays. She may well develop those skills heading into next year, but they are not there yet. I am beginning to realize that Jones is probably the best option, despite all the obvious issues with it that we have talked about all year.

(02-05-2023, 08:24 PM)cardfan1996 Wrote: Haley is also a dreadful (not strong enough word IMO) defender on the perimeter. She refuses to come out, get in a defensive stance and guard. She is equally horrible at running out to contest shots.
Being a 1 on offense does not mean defending the opponent's 1 on defense, so I don't see how playing Jones at point would have anything to do with her (curious) defensive lapses.

MT is the other Cardboarder who has often observed Jones' poor perimeter defense. It is so obvious that I have to think it is by design. We sag off whichever player we want to take the three, and Jones seems to be the designated sagger. She is then available to cut off driving lanes and to double whenever the ball comes into the paint.

What is the alternative interpretation? That an All-American, #1 ESPN recruit playing for the winningest coach of all time is allowed to commit egregious defensive lapses over and over with no correction? It just doesn't make sense to me.

In the past, there have been occasional admissions by Tara that we DON'T want to contest every shot--we want to contest all the good shooters and encourage the bad shooters to shoot. I don't know if this is always what is happening with Jones, but my brain just boggles at any alternative explanation for Jones's frequent decisions not to contest a perimeter shot. That does not mean that Tara's strategy necessarily works. Elle Ladine is proof of that.

Then I don’t know who you lineup is then if you want Jones to play a 4 on defense. Brooke is probably the only player worse at perimeter defense (or any defense) than Haley. I give Haley the edge because of her strong defensive rebounding. Brooke can score. Brooke can pass (I would say even better than Haley which may be controversial). But Brooke does not play defense or rebound. Tara has surely known this since the S.Florida loss where we were demolished on the offensive boards by the player Brooke was suppose to block out and defend.

You said:
“What is the alternative interpretation? That an All-American, #1 ESPN recruit playing for the winningest coach of all time is allowed to commit egregious defensive lapses over and over with no correction? It just doesn't make sense to me.”

Haley is caught in switches all the time with good perimeter shooters and doesn’t guard them. If she is sagging, she is certainly not close enough to help anybody in the post out. She and Fran are the only players that are coached on a “neither here nor there” defensive strategy. They are neither close enough to contest the player they are responsible for, nor are they close enough to double effectively and frankly Brink doesn’t need their help. Fran’s lapses led to 3 straight 3-pointers by Westbrook in the UConn game. 9 easy pts on open shots in a game where points were hard to come by.

You are either coaching it or allowing it.

RE: WBB: Stanford 67 -- Washington 72 - chimera - 02-05-2023

(02-05-2023, 07:19 PM)81alum Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 06:30 PM)chimera Wrote:
(02-05-2023, 06:00 PM)81alum Wrote: We are currently less than the sum of our parts.

This is a very un-Tara like team. In all the years I have watched her teams, I don't think there has been a single year in which the team did not improve over the season. Even in bad years, we usually went further than expected at the end, and bad early season losses disappeared by the end of the year.

This year we are still struggling to get an offense that works. We are on our 3rd offense in less than a year, and it shows.

I agree. This has been a very strange season to me. Even seasons where we lost 10 games, things felt more stable than this season does as far as the rotation, what sort of contributions various players could make, and how to get the most out of the team. The things the coaches have tried this season mostly made sense to me (like they would care about that!) early on, but every potential line-up has shown issues that are serious enough to hold the team back. Can't be good to change things up so much in the schemes and the rotation. The question now is can changes that might help be made in time to gel?

Of all the guards that have gotten playing time - Jump, Emma-Nnopu, Nivar, Lepolo, Bosgana, and Harriel (who is also not playing after having a good enough game to draw praise and go to the post-game presser) - none strike me as true defensive stoppers to the point that they should play because of how good their defense is. All of them have played good defense at times. So who should play and how much? What do we value in guard play given what Jones and Brink can do and how many good posts we have? The key to this season has always been what can we get from the perimeter. Given that we seem to have bad defensive games like today even playing a line-up that is more defensive oriented on the perimeter with Emma-Nnopu, we should look instead to players who can be offensive threats on multiple levels - shooting, passing, driving, etc. and work on their defense. That says play Bosgana to me, and Nivar, at the 2 a whole lot more.
Would you play them and bench Jump? Jump to me was more effective in past years coming off the bench. I've been thinking a lot about how Jump changes the game, and wondering if she should at least split her time more with Bosgana. Jump's shot has not been "on," really, for a while now. She misses treys most of the time when she has to move laterally, and so screens don't really do it for her. The best pure catch-and-shoot player we have ever had, but she scores reliably only in transition or when there is a big defensive breakdown. She has shown the ability to cut on the baseline and to hit some 8 foot floaters--perhaps we need to see a lot more of that when her treys are not falling.

And now we have the added problem of our best three point shooter (lately) being Demetre, a "big." Playing her for her offense at the 3 just exacerbates the guard problem. It is hard enough against a speedy team to put 2 bigs out there, but 3? I am reminded just a little of the issues we had with Bonnie Samuelson, who we kinda turned into a "stretch four" by her senior year to get her out of the wing position. But again, we don't need more 4s and 5s.

In a very strange way, Jones distorts things. She has enormous talent and so we don't want to sit her of course, but her strength is from the mid range in--where we already have an abundance of talent. If we played 2 genuine posts and Demetre and Jones, we would have only one guard, really. So we can't. Jones is a most unconventional players which leads to some very unconventional lineups.

Enormous talent, but it doesn't all fit together perfectly.

I wouldn't bench Jump necessarily. I would play either Bosgana or Nivar at the 2 with Jump at the 3 at times. I would sub Demetre in for Jump at the 3 if that works defensively as well. I might go small with Bogana at the 3, Nivar at the 2, and Lepolo at the 1 along with Jones and Brink. Just mix things up more. If the coaches are set that the two post starting line-up was not optimal because teams could sag too much because we had only one shooter, that line-up is out unless they get more perimeter offense. They scrapped it but did not try to change the perimeter players to make it work better. Maybe it would work if they had someone like Bosgana at the 2, since you get some driving and some outside shooting too.

The current smaller line-up has only one shooter still and rebounding is worse. My preferred line-up would have Lepolo getting less time because she is not playing quite as well as previously (still hurt a bit?), and supposes we can get good defense with various guards, not just Emma-Nnopu - if they want to stay small, it is Brink, Jones, Jump, Bosgana and Nivar against teams that do not pressure that much (because I don't think Nivar is there yet as a ball handler under pressure), and if a team pressures a lot maybe sub Lepolo for Nivar. If they want to go big I would go Brink, Iriafen, Jones, Jump/Bosgana and Nivar with Lepolo in at the 1, not Jones when a sub is needed there. I would definitely play Demetre, and would sub her in at the 3 and/or the 4 depending on the opponent. I know I have not laid out a real rotation here, just how things might start out for the perimeter group.

I appreciate Jump for her shooting, her steadiness, and her improvement over her career. She is a fantastic shooter and a good defender. She doesn't rebound much, even for a guard. She is not a driver, nor is she a big assist generator or someone who passes into the post often. She needs to play for her good qualities, but I think she should not play 40 minutes a game. It would do her good to get some rest during games and it would do the team good to get different looks at that spot. I guess my main point is we need more variety in our perimeter subbing, less of just switching from Lepolo to Jones as the pg and more mixing in Nivar and Bosgana. Harriel may deserve more of a look too. Stop leaning on Jump (not because she is bad but because others can help in different ways). If Jump is getting blanketed and the team is not able to spring her for shots, switch things up with someone else, and then try again with Jump after a bit.