(02-07-2025, 11:01 AM)BillBradley Wrote: I just rewatched the second quarter because I wanted to better understand what happened. It was 24-13 when ND went on a 26-2 run. During that stretch, so many of their points came in transition while our players were simply jogging back. We would miss a shot, crash the boards, and they would get an easy transition bucket at the other end while our rebounders were somewhere between half court and the top of the key. Or, we would turn it over and same thing - half our team would jog back. One response to this could be "well, Notre Dame is just way faster than us. That's why they are so good." Yeah, not having any of that. There is no excuse for a team to ever take plays off on defense. Our team showed very little interest in competing. That's why ND scored 96 instead of 76, even with the turnovers. And if we hit a few shots along the way, we score 62 instead of 47. 76-62 is more like what it should have been. Embarrassing.
While I am sure not many people want to hear this , but Tara stayed too long. When the handwritting of all the changes were on the wall she should have taken her most deserved achievements and retired. She left Kate in the same mess, more or less, that Shaw left Taylor. College sports have changed by a brobdingnagian magnitude and we can't live in the past. Unfortunately I think in the now current era, basketball coaches, men and women, have to focus on the one year benefit one can get from a transfer. You can no longer recruit 3 or 4 good 18 year olds and expect them to be around when they are 20. I don't think anyone has a real solution to this mess, but trying to recruit and develop players like in the past is a road to failure.


