Preview:
For years ASU has been a thorn in our side--posing problems with its perennial close defense and pinning us with defeats since long before Oregon became a dominant conference rival. No matter what players she has, CTT always seems to know how to disrupt our offense and make us look ugly. ASU is 7-2 this year, having narrowly lost to UCLA and having been blown out by Arizona. There are a lot of new faces on their team, but the philosophy is always the same: hockey-line changes maximizing endurance for an aggressive defense--even if that means sacrificing some talent or consistency on offense. 10 players average 15 minutes or more a game.
On offense, ASU is led in minutes and in points by Canadian junior guard Taya Hanson. Hanson scores 13 ppg and hits treys at 30%. Their second leader in points and minutes, and leader in assists, is freshman guard Jaddan Simmons, who seems to be ASU's rising star. She is scoring 10 ppg but is not much of a three point shooter yet. 5'11" sophomore forward Eboni Walker is third in scoring and the leader in rebounds. 6'3" freshman forward Katelyn Levings has started all nine games.
ASU is quite young as a team and the key offensive players are not that tall. I am not sure how well CTT's aggressive defense will disrupt our offense--it might. But I am fairly confident that our defense will pose nightmares for their offense. At worst, this could become one of those low scoring defensive slugfests. At best....I won't tempt the woofing gods.
For years ASU has been a thorn in our side--posing problems with its perennial close defense and pinning us with defeats since long before Oregon became a dominant conference rival. No matter what players she has, CTT always seems to know how to disrupt our offense and make us look ugly. ASU is 7-2 this year, having narrowly lost to UCLA and having been blown out by Arizona. There are a lot of new faces on their team, but the philosophy is always the same: hockey-line changes maximizing endurance for an aggressive defense--even if that means sacrificing some talent or consistency on offense. 10 players average 15 minutes or more a game.
On offense, ASU is led in minutes and in points by Canadian junior guard Taya Hanson. Hanson scores 13 ppg and hits treys at 30%. Their second leader in points and minutes, and leader in assists, is freshman guard Jaddan Simmons, who seems to be ASU's rising star. She is scoring 10 ppg but is not much of a three point shooter yet. 5'11" sophomore forward Eboni Walker is third in scoring and the leader in rebounds. 6'3" freshman forward Katelyn Levings has started all nine games.
ASU is quite young as a team and the key offensive players are not that tall. I am not sure how well CTT's aggressive defense will disrupt our offense--it might. But I am fairly confident that our defense will pose nightmares for their offense. At worst, this could become one of those low scoring defensive slugfests. At best....I won't tempt the woofing gods.
