South Carolina - Printable Version

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South Carolina - FarmDad.01 - 03-20-2012

They seem to be as offense challenged as Hampton. And about as short.

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Re: South Carolina - CompSci87 - 03-20-2012

Small players call for a small font? Seriously, FarmDad.01 posted in Times New Roman, which for some unknown reason looks smaller at the default size than the default font does.

Anyway, yeah -- checking their roster and season stats, SCar's tallest starter is 6'0". They have two other players who are 6'0" even, and only two players taller than 6 feet: a 6'1" player who is glued to the bench and a 6'3" player who averages 8.0 minutes. Their season stats and list of wins/losses don't look too impressive.

Here is a "dance card" on South Carolina from Swish Appeal: http://www.swishappeal.com/2012/3/15/2872667/2012-ncaa-womens-tournament-south-carolina-sec

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Re: South Carolina - meos - 03-20-2012

South Carolina plays a small ball style, channeling their olympian coach Dawn Staley. They have 3 prime-time guard slasher/scorers who stay on the attack penetrating to the basket the entire game. If they are "on", they can be a challenge to handle. They did beat Tenn at the Summit this year. I expected them to do some damage in the NCAA tourney after seeing them play several times during the year.

Staley maybe uniquely (from personal game experience) knows what to do with talented smalls to give her team a chance. And she also knows Tara very well (as Tara was her olympic coach).

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Re: South Carolina - 81alum - 03-20-2012

South Carolina is 25-9, with their best win being at Tennessee, as Soem said.

Coach: Dawn Staley.  Staley was a player for Tara on the 1996 Olympics team.  They have a mutual respect for each other.  South Carolina fans note that Dawn is infamous for ranting and raving at officials.  Watching her do that is part of the entertainment.  Dawn, however, says she is trying to be more professional this year.  We'll see what happens if we get Missy.

South Carolina runs a guard-oriented team.  It is one of the stronger defensive teams in the country, holding good quality opposition to 50.7 ppg and allowing only .371 made shots and .215 from three.  Those gaudy defensive numbers were wracked up against the likes of Tennessee, Kentucky, LSU, and Vandy, so unlike Hampton those numbers seem to be significant.  From what I could see South Carolina plays a lot of man and likes to front players to deny them from receiving passes.

Its offense has been suspect most of the year, scoring just 61.3 ppg and making only .399 of its shots.  Lately, though, as its frosh have matured,  it has been playing better offense, scoring 80 in round one and 72 in round two.  About 28% of its shots are from 3 point range–and they have one terrific three point shooter in Markesia Grant (36% but streaky–she has made as many as 5  7 in one game this year.)  South Carolina runs a lot of pick-and-roll plays to get its speedy guards either open for mid range jumpers or loose to take it to the basket.

South Carolina has 9 players who get 10 minutes or more a game.  This seems to be part of its defensive strategy, to keep fresh, energetic defenders in the game. 

South Carolina is led by 3 veteran guards known as the  “eeshas.”  They are all very capable of scoring, stealing, and assisting and seem to rotate the lead in those categories on a night to night basis. 

The three “eeshas” hit free throws at 65-75%, but the team as a whole only shoots them at .587.

Markesia Grant (27 minutes).  5'6" guard.  Senior, leads the team in scoring.  Do not laugh at her height.  While she tends to be streaky, she needs almost no room to get a shot off.  Has taken the most 3 point shots and makes 36%.  11 ppg  Her other nickname on the team is "Grannie."

La’Keisha Sutton (30 minutes).  5'8" guard.  Senior, second (barely) to Markesia in scoring.  Excellent set shooter, reasonable mid range jumper.  10.4 ppg.

Ieasia Walker (30 minutes).  5'8" guard.  Junior, leads in assists and capable scorer.  Tends to do the point more and defer to the other eeshas, although she may have the best “moves.”  8.0 ppg.  The only player on the team with a positive assist/turnover ratio–and only just positive.  She has 62 steals for the year to lead the team.

In addition, two fairly regular starters are

Charnee Stevens (20 minutes).  6'0" forward.  Senior.  Good rebounder but not too active offensively.  5 rpg.

Courtney Newton (12 minutes).  5'9" guard/forward.  Formerly a guard–but slowed by four knee surgeries and a hip surgery and now used more on the interior.  Boxes out well and plays defense.  She starts but usually does not play that long.

Bench:

Some good energy with larger players.

Ashley Bruner. (22 minutes).  6'0" forward.  Junior.  7.2 ppg.  Her weakness is FT% at .386.  5 rpg

Aleigsha Welch (21 minutes).  6'0" forward.  Frosh.  7.6 ppg and leads the team in rebounding with 5.9. 

Elem Ibiam.  (8 minutes).  6'3" forward.  Frosh.  Their one tall player, not sure why she has not been used more, but I would expect to see more of her given our height.

Tina Roy (12 minutes).  A three point specialist, but she is making only .254. 

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Re: South Carolina - M T - 03-21-2012

I have been impressed with Staley's coaching.  The teams get more dangerous as we go along.

Looking at the team record against RPIs (< 100)
  Wins:  2x29, 31, 2x41, 66, 89
  Split: #5, #25
  Losses: 116, 88, 31, 20, 18, 2x9
If you ignore a couple of stinkers, they seem to deserve an RPI in the low to mid 20s.

Based on 81alum's info, I'd say that our biggest concern on offense is bringing the ball down the court.  If we get it near the 3pt line, we ought to be able to lob it in, or shoot and expect to rebound.  On defense, it seems to not let the hail of 3s happen as they did to Tenn.

From the notes and quotes on the So. Carolina @ Tennessee game (won 64-60 by So. Carolina) at the Tenn. site:
The Lady Vols won the competition on the glass, 44-36. Each team pulled down 13 offensive boards, but the Gamecocks won second-chance opportunities, converting them to the tune of 14 points.

TENNESSEE ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH Holly Warlick
"We just couldn't find a way to get the ball inside tonight and capitalize with our bigs."
"Obviously, it looked like we couldn't find her. Give [So. Carolina's] Markeshia [Grant] credit for knocking down seven three-pointers and her teammates for getting the ball to her. She gave her team a lot of energy."
"South Carolina is a pressure ball team, so you can't turn the ball over. The turnovers for us resulted in layups for them. ... We had crucial, crucial turnovers. We had crucial and-one plays.

SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH DAWN STALEY:
(On what was key to defeat Tennessee)
"We locked in on our post players. We needed [Tennessee's] Glory Johnson not to play as many minutes because we know she is a difficult matchup for us. We wanted to go at her and draw some fouls, just put her back on her heels a little bit, and I felt we accomplished that once we stuck to the game plan. Our game plan was to get her off her feet by pump faking twice, and finally, we got our players to lock in on that in the second half and we drew some fouls, and she didn't play as many minutes as she usually plays."

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Re: South Carolina - 81alum - 03-21-2012

Thanks MT, those are very helpful quotes.  Tennessee did eventually figure out how to "solve" South Carolina and crushed them in the rematch 74-58.  I would think looking at the first game will teach us how NOT to play South Carolina and looking at the second game may give us clues as to how to get it inside.

Quote:"We weren't ready to guard or defend (the Gamecocks') athleticism in Knoxville," Tennessee associate head coach Holly Warlick said. "We've gone back and we really put in the time with our defensive effort. I think you're seeing it pay off."

Quote:The Lady Vols shot 50.9 percent (27 of 53) for the game and limited the Gamecocks to 34.9 percent shooting (22 of 63). They held a 38-30 rebounding advantage and hit 15 of 20 from the free-throw line.

"I think finally we figured out that defense and rebounding is the philosophy here," Baugh said. "That's Tennessee basketball. It opens up a lot in the transition game, especially where we're most comfortable."

Grant, who had scored 27 points in the regular-season game, had 13 this time for South Carolina, and Ieasia Walker added another 13 points.

http://espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=320632633

Not sure that tells us exactly what Tennessee did.  Clearly "Grannie" was not hot and did not hit 7 3 pointers, and Tennessee was "hot" and scored above 50% for the game!  Maybe it was as simple as that.  I wish the game were still available on ESPN3. 

It does sound like defending "Grannie" to prevent her from heating up from 3 is crucial--so that sounds like it might be Toni's job.  West Virginia also tried to deny us the ball inside and they did have some success until we burned them with backdoor cuts and Amber's penetration.  South Carolina will have seen that so expect them to be prepared against the back door cuts.  They lack the quality centers that West Virginia had, though, so I'm not sure how they will be able to guard against lob passes.  Finally, one would hope that we could kill them with offensive rebounds--but they apparently do a very good job of boxing out despite their lack of height.

Mechelle Voepel says about our matchup:

Quote:(5) South Carolina vs. (1) Stanford (ESPN/ESPN3, 11:30 p.m. ET Saturday): Nothing so far has really slowed the Cardinal as they attempt to make their fifth consecutive Final Four appearance. But they have to look out for the physical defense and all-around gumption of the Gamecocks, who are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002.

South Carolina had to go the same road to the regional semis that St. John's and Duke did: beating a team on its home court in the second round. For the Gamecocks, that was Purdue. South Carolina has relied on slowing down games and keeping scores low most of this season. Yet in the NCAA tournament, the Gamecocks' offense has been hot, too, as they've shot 51.3 percent in the first two rounds. This is also an interesting coaching matchup: Stanford's Tara VanDerveer coached South Carolina's Dawn Staley and Gamecocks assistant Nikki McCray on the 1996 Olympic team.

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/tournament/2012/story/_/id/7716771/2012-women-ncaa-tournament-sweet-16-first-impressions

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Re: South Carolina - 81alum - 03-22-2012

Of all the quality teams South Carolina has played, Tennessee seemed to me to be somewhat similar to Stanford, at least insofar as they have strong post play and a general balance to their team.  On ESPN3 the Tennessee/South Carolina game from the SEC semis (in which Tennessee beat South Carolina 74-58) is still available, so I watched it and took notes. 

Carolyn Peck was commentator–for whatever that is worth.  She observed that South Carolina takes twice as many three point shots as its opponents, and that therefore it was critical to defend the three.  After all, that is what killed Tennessee the first time they played.  In that game Grant hit 7 threes.  Peck thought that South Carolina needed to defend Tennessee by forcing them to keep the ball out of the paint and dare them to shoot threes.  That advice would be even more true for Stanford than for Tennessee, given our problems with 3 point shooting.

I don't like Peck, but her advice made sense.  I was amused, though, to see that both teams seemed to do the opposite.  Tennessee opened up with a 2-3 zone against South Carolina.  The two Tennessee guards ran back and forth along the three point line trying to guard the South Carolina guards, but South Carolina  usually got their 3 point shots off unmolested, or they penetrated and dished or penetrated and took mid range jumpers.  They rarely made entry passes.  When they did, the forwards usually passed back to someone on the perimeter.  In short, Tennessee stayed in a zone and made South Carolina prove it could shoot threes, but South Carolina did not get super hot shooting as they did in the first game.  South Carolina wound up 7-22 from three.  I presume Tennessee would have done something different if Grannie started making lots of long range shots, but she wound up with 3 of 9.

Instead of clogging the paint at the other end, South Carolina opened up in man against Tennessee.  Even so, Tennessee had only moderate success in getting into the paint at first.  The man to man stayed close enough to make entry passes risky, but as the game wore on, Glory Johnson (like Nneka?) was able to get the ball more often.  She finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, 5 of them O boards.  Vickie Baugh also had 10 rebounds.  The superior inside presence also showed up in Tennessee out rebounding South Carolina 37-24, and in Tennessee getting 15 points out of free throws to just 7 for South Carolina.  Fortunately for Tennessee, they were also 5-12 from beyond the arc, which gave them balance.

South Carolina was able to stay close because they took 10 more shots than Tennessee, which helped to compensate for a big disparity in accuracy (Tennessee was above 50%, South Carolina around 35%.)  How did they get more shots?  South Carolina had a 3 turnover advantage and also had 16 offensive rebounds.  Those offensive rebounds were scattered across the entire team–no one had more than 2!  I think this was because they were almost all off of long jump shots that made for long, random rebounds for which tall post presence was not that useful

What is the takeaway from this game?  DEFENSE: we need to be prepared to shut down any of their three point shooters if they get hot, and we should pay particular attention to Grant.  I’m a little worried about whether we have enough speedsters to guard all three of their guards at the same time.  Can  Joslyn defend La’Keshia Sutton?  This might be where we miss Jasmine and Alex.

OFFENSE:  I see no reason not to pound it inside, but it will take some creativity to figure out the entrance passes.  Perhaps what worked against West Virginia (putting all five on the perimeter to initiate plays) will work against South Carolina, except that it will now lack the element of surprise.  I’m glad that Tara is a genius.  The fact is that our two best posts are much better than their two best posts, and so getting it into their hands will be a priority.

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Re: South Carolina - treefan - 03-22-2012

excellent write up and analysis. Defense and rebounding are definitely keys. Also, my biggest concern against quick backcourts is limiting our TOs. For us to have only 6 vs. WVA was outstanding. Keep that up and we win, and by dominating inside with O sisters. I have a feeling Chiney is ready to go off and have a brobdingnagian game.

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Re: South Carolina - 81alum - 03-23-2012

I've been trying to square something odd that has implications for how we defend South Carolina.

After Tennessee lost to South Carolina in their first game, the Tennessee coaches acknowledged that they "were not ready to defend their athleticism."  Then in the 2nd game Tennessee came out and played exclusively zone despite the fact that this left South Carolina mostly open to shoot their 3s. 

I did not see the first game.  Did Tennessee try to guard South Carolina in man in the first game, get burned so badly that they decided they could not guard South Carolina in man, and then switch to a zone for the second game?  Or is Tennessee always playing zone now no matter what...

I wonder if we will also play mostly zone against them, fearing that otherwise at least one of the three South Carolina Eeshas will be free to run loose?

It is odd because one does not normally think of the zone as the best way to defend against the three point shot, but it may be that coaches fear the speed of the 3 Eeshas more than their three point shooting?

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This in from Dawn Staley:

Quote:Coach Staley says her strategy for Saturday is simple.

"Pretty much just stick with what got us there from a defensive standpoint," said Staley.  "We have to disrupt. We got to them make them think about our pressure rather than fluidly running their team and getting shots where they are comfortable."

http://www.wistv.com/story/17233357/%75sc-women-head-to-sweet-16-with-hometown-sendoff

Quote:Staley said the key to giving Stanford just its second loss of the season will be taking advantage of her team’s quickness.

“They have a height advantage, probably at every position. For us, we have a speed advantage. So we’ve got to use it,” Staley said.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/womens-basketball/news;_ylt=A0PDk0ARMW1P7jgAngRMvrYF?slug=ap-ncaa-scarolina-staleysteam

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Re: South Carolina - FarmDad.01 - 03-23-2012

Offense: High lobs into the post.

Defense: See if any of SC's perimeter shooters gets hot; if so, sic C. Ogwumike on her.

Early key: Fast breaking off defensive rebounds. Get the Gamecoquettes down 10, they aren't the kind of team that can claw its way back over the remaining minutes.

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Re: South Carolina - CompSci87 - 03-23-2012

(03-23-2012, 09:44 PM)FarmDad.01 link Wrote:Defense: See if any of SC's perimeter shooters gets hot; if so, sic C. Ogwumike on her.

Yes -- I was going to mention that in response to 81alum's query about whether Jos could defend one of SC's three guards. If needed, we can always put Chiney, or even Nneka, on one of them and have Jos guard an SC post player.

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Re: South Carolina - M T - 03-24-2012

Here is the rule:

Quote:Rule 10, Section 3. (Women) Player/Substitute Technical Fouls
Art. 3. Grasping either basket in an excessive, emphatic manner during the officials' jurisdiction when the player is not, in the judgment of an official, trying to prevent an obvious injury to self or others.

Where was the call?  (There is exactly the same wording for the men.)

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