[mbdude]

Nice post.  I agree that it's unreasonable to expect us to go through the regular season undefeated.   And it would not be surprising that we lost a game we "should have" won.  I'll add a little prediction: throughout the season, we will always be the highest-ranked team of those with the same number of losses.  Thus, if we are one of, say, six teams with two losses, we will be the highest-ranked of those six.

I think it will be very interesting to see how playing time is managed the remainder of this year.  Tara has had a tight rotation of 7 or 8 in recent years, but it sure seems like we have more than 7-8 real contributors.

But really, my main hope is for our injured players to recover quickly and fully, and for no major injuries down the road.

Tara is such a strategic tactician that I think we will continue to see a lot of different lineups depending on the opponent.  And we have a lot of talented players who do different things that we can play that way.  I really think this team goes 14 deep in terms of playing meaningful minutes.

I won’t talk about the starters (Williams, Lexie, Jones, Jerome or Fingall) or the injured Carrington and Dodson.  Here are the situations where the remaining 7 players get in the game during meaningful minutes:

Wilson - when you need strong on ball defense on a guard and as a backup ball handler for Williams
Brown - when you need a backup ball handler for Williams and the defense is letting players drive to the basket 
Jump - when you need to destroy a zone or any defense that is sagging in the paint and daring 3-pt shots
Moschkau - Same as Jump.  We saw this in a game when we needed outside shooting and Jump missed several in a row.  In came Moschkau and she hit a couple of big threes.
Lacie - when you need a strong defender on a bigger guard / wing
Belibi - when you need defense, particularly when you need a post defender who can also switch onto a guard.  Think of how many times last year opposing guards switched on to Coffee and drove right around her.  Belibi is the complete opposite of that
Prechtel - When you need size on defense (opposing stationary post) or scoring from the post position

I agree with your take.  The player I am most concerned about w/r/t her development has been Brown.  Her game doesn't yet seem as well-rounded as I think a PG needs to be.  Moschkau is basically the 3rd or even 4th option at her position so it's tough to evaluate her.  She can shoot, we know that.

The Hulls are simply a luxury to have, two great "glue" players IMHO.

Re: assessment of Brown - I don't think she is that strong a ball bandler, and slower to make decisions; her only move (or appears to be) is a drive to the basket with her right hand

Article from Jane Pauley about practice, finals, being no.1 No mention of an injury to Kiana
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/...BXSvpS_0|7

[mbdude]

Nice post.  I agree that it's unreasonable to expect us to go through the regular season undefeated.   And it would not be surprising that we lost a game we "should have" won.  I'll add a little prediction: throughout the season, we will always be the highest-ranked team of those with the same number of losses.  Thus, if we are one of, say, six teams with two losses, we will be the highest-ranked of those six.

I think it will be very interesting to see how playing time is managed the remainder of this year.  Tara has had a tight rotation of 7 or 8 in recent years, but it sure seems like we have more than 7-8 real contributors.

But really, my main hope is for our injured players to recover quickly and fully, and for no major injuries down the road.

Tara is such a strategic tactician that I think we will continue to see a lot of different lineups depending on the opponent.  And we have a lot of talented players who do different things that we can play that way.  I really think this team goes 14 deep in terms of playing meaningful minutes.

I won’t talk about the starters (Williams, Lexie, Jones, Jerome or Fingall) or the injured Carrington and Dodson.  Here are the situations where the remaining 7 players get in the game during meaningful minutes:

Wilson - when you need strong on ball defense on a guard and as a backup ball handler for Williams
Brown - when you need a backup ball handler for Williams and the defense is letting players drive to the basket 
Jump - when you need to destroy a zone or any defense that is sagging in the paint and daring 3-pt shots
Moschkau - Same as Jump.  We saw this in a game when we needed outside shooting and Jump missed several in a row.  In came Moschkau and she hit a couple of big threes.
Lacie - when you need a strong defender on a bigger guard / wing
Belibi - when you need defense, particularly when you need a post defender who can also switch onto a guard.  Think of how many times last year opposing guards switched on to Coffee and drove right around her.  Belibi is the complete opposite of that
Prechtel - When you need size on defense (opposing stationary post) or scoring from the post position

I agree with your take.  The player I am most concerned about w/r/t her development has been Brown.  Her game doesn't yet seem as well-rounded as I think a PG needs to be.  Moschkau is basically the 3rd or even 4th option at her position so it's tough to evaluate her.  She can shoot, we know that.

The Hulls are simply a luxury to have, two great "glue" players IMHO.

Re: assessment of Brown - I don't think she is that strong a ball bandler, and slower to make decisions; her only move (or appears to be) is a drive to the basket with her right hand

Article from Jane Pauley about practice, finals, being no.1 No mention of an injury to Kiana
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/...BXSvpS_0|7