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Regarding the UC Davis game, I was down in Fresno earlier in the year and watched Fresno pretty much dominate Davis; especially on the perimeter (and Fresno is not a great team).

Conclusions so far as we head into Conference:  For teams like UC Davis who do not have a strong defensive post, Fingal is much more effective operating down low as opposed to @ the high post, which is where she was for much of the game.  Offensively, we are not making the opponent uncomfortable and this leads me to wonder why Tara is not making the long-term investment of Prechtel and have two bigs in the lineup at all times.  Yes, Prechtel has some mobility issues defensively, but down in the block she is big and strong enough to defend well and she REBOUNDS. Offensively, she can score outside as well as inside.  We would not have given up all those UC Davis offensive rebounds if Prechtel was in the lineup.  As a comparison, Oregon State's 6'6 Kennedy Brown and 6'4 Taylor Jones make mistakes all the time, but Coach Scott Rueck has seen the future with these two talented players (and what a problem they will present for opponents), so he's gone with them.  Tara has Prechtel on a short leash.  When she makes a foul or miscue, she comes out.  Haley (God bless her, she's awesome), makes mistakes every game, but she stays in.

You can really see how Alanna Smith's graduation has hurt this team defensively, but especially offensively.

Agree with other posts about Carrington.  Her presence is vital to this team's success in Conference and post-Conference.  If she and Dodson don't return, I don't see the current lineup becoming the offensive juggernaut that will create problems for other teams.  Even with Kianna's slump, the current lineup (as talented as they are), are simply too easy to defend and because we are a streaky 3-point shooting team, we don't have that as a reliable offensive option, as exposed in the Texas game. 

Well, we survived and advanced. UCD running the same offense as us (and in fact teaching it to Tara) definitely helps explain why they were tracking us so well on defense - I was very impressed with their defense, as we probably only got about 3 or 4 clean backdoor cuts the entire part of the game I watched. Tara seemed to have us start taking jumpers early in the 4th and that seemed to help keep them honest on defense, which in turn opened up the floor. 

I also felt like we rebounded much better in the second half, especially Jones, who seemed to be getting every other rebound for us. Indeed, she definitely had a landmark freshman game, stats line wise: 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. What I like so much about her game is she can Plan A the Princeton but also Plan B the one-on-one. 

I'm starting to wonder if something is more systematically off with Kiana Williams. She has had flashes of her old self this season, but for the most part, she's had a rough shooting stretch that began this spring, continued into the Pan-Am this summer, and has largely plagued her this fall. Coming into this game, if you can believe it, she had the third worst shooting percentage on the entire team, ahead of only Lacie Hull and Anna Wilson...

...and relatedly, I feel like one problem we have this year is that some of our best offensive options like Jump, Belibi, and Prechtel, are not strong defenders, and our best defenders, like Wilson and Lacie Hull, are not especially prolific on the offensive end. That means we're either giving up something on offense or on defense with any given set, because with Carrington out, our best dual purpose players are Lexie Hull, Jones, and Williams (and sorta Nadia Fingall), and with Williams in a shooting funk, we're basically either giving up something on offense, or else on defense.

I love our frosh, but unless the others come along on defense quickly or Carrington comes back, we're going to have a hard time keeping up those 80+ point games we had at the start of the season...

I share your concerns about the team with Carrington out and Williams in an extended offensive slump.  Those two are supposed to be out key guards, our go-to players on the perimeter.  When Williams has a game like today, not making a lot of obvious mistakes but also not really imposing herself on the game at all, it will be hard to win.  I don't know what is going on with Kiana.  I love her game but lately she has been passing up open threes, and generally not trying to get her shot going.  Maybe that's a function of the slump getting to her mentally, which would be understandable.  If that doesn't turn around, the ceiling for the team is much lower.  We need Carrington back for sure.  We need Williams "back" as well.

I am very impressed with Fingall, playing well and hard after her ACL tear.  She's been a warrior.  Lexie and Lacie are playing hard and generally well too.  Our frosh are all doing really, really well, but I don't think we can lean on them this much this early and expect to beat top teams like we will face in conference.

[stopandpop]

Regarding the UC Davis game, I was down in Fresno earlier in the year and watched Fresno pretty much dominate Davis; especially on the perimeter (and Fresno is not a great team).

Conclusions so far as we head into Conference:  For teams like UC Davis who do not have a strong defensive post, Fingal is much more effective operating down low as opposed to @ the high post, which is where she was for much of the game.  Offensively, we are not making the opponent uncomfortable and this leads me to wonder why Tara is not making the long-term investment of Prechtel and have two bigs in the lineup at all times.  Yes, Prechtel has some mobility issues defensively, but down in the block she is big and strong enough to defend well and she REBOUNDS. Offensively, she can score outside as well as inside.  We would not have given up all those UC Davis offensive rebounds if Prechtel was in the lineup.  As a comparison, Oregon State's 6'6 Kennedy Brown and 6'4 Taylor Jones make mistakes all the time, but Coach Scott Rueck has seen the future with these two talented players (and what a problem they will present for opponents), so he's gone with them.  Tara has Prechtel on a short leash.  When she makes a foul or miscue, she comes out.  Haley (God bless her, she's awesome), makes mistakes every game, but she stays in.

You can really see how Alanna Smith's graduation has hurt this team defensively, but especially offensively.

Agree with other posts about Carrington.  Her presence is vital to this team's success in Conference and post-Conference.  If she and Dodson don't return, I don't see the current lineup becoming the offensive juggernaut that will create problems for other teams.  Even with Kianna's slump, the current lineup (as talented as they are), are simply too easy to defend and because we are a streaky 3-point shooting team, we don't have that as a reliable offensive option, as exposed in the Texas game. 

Well, we survived and advanced. UCD running the same offense as us (and in fact teaching it to Tara) definitely helps explain why they were tracking us so well on defense - I was very impressed with their defense, as we probably only got about 3 or 4 clean backdoor cuts the entire part of the game I watched. Tara seemed to have us start taking jumpers early in the 4th and that seemed to help keep them honest on defense, which in turn opened up the floor. 

I also felt like we rebounded much better in the second half, especially Jones, who seemed to be getting every other rebound for us. Indeed, she definitely had a landmark freshman game, stats line wise: 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. What I like so much about her game is she can Plan A the Princeton but also Plan B the one-on-one. 

I'm starting to wonder if something is more systematically off with Kiana Williams. She has had flashes of her old self this season, but for the most part, she's had a rough shooting stretch that began this spring, continued into the Pan-Am this summer, and has largely plagued her this fall. Coming into this game, if you can believe it, she had the third worst shooting percentage on the entire team, ahead of only Lacie Hull and Anna Wilson...

...and relatedly, I feel like one problem we have this year is that some of our best offensive options like Jump, Belibi, and Prechtel, are not strong defenders, and our best defenders, like Wilson and Lacie Hull, are not especially prolific on the offensive end. That means we're either giving up something on offense or on defense with any given set, because with Carrington out, our best dual purpose players are Lexie Hull, Jones, and Williams (and sorta Nadia Fingall), and with Williams in a shooting funk, we're basically either giving up something on offense, or else on defense.

I love our frosh, but unless the others come along on defense quickly or Carrington comes back, we're going to have a hard time keeping up those 80+ point games we had at the start of the season...

I share your concerns about the team with Carrington out and Williams in an extended offensive slump.  Those two are supposed to be out key guards, our go-to players on the perimeter.  When Williams has a game like today, not making a lot of obvious mistakes but also not really imposing herself on the game at all, it will be hard to win.  I don't know what is going on with Kiana.  I love her game but lately she has been passing up open threes, and generally not trying to get her shot going.  Maybe that's a function of the slump getting to her mentally, which would be understandable.  If that doesn't turn around, the ceiling for the team is much lower.  We need Carrington back for sure.  We need Williams "back" as well.

I am very impressed with Fingall, playing well and hard after her ACL tear.  She's been a warrior.  Lexie and Lacie are playing hard and generally well too.  Our frosh are all doing really, really well, but I don't think we can lean on them this much this early and expect to beat top teams like we will face in conference.