While WBB has made vast strides in the last generation, there still are relatively few teams capable of playing for a natty in any given year. There is far less parity than in MBB. This means that Tara gets stuck having to play a lot of creampuffs and only gets a few key tests each year. This was one of those tests. I have heard Tara and the assistant coaches talk about this repeatedly--not in so many words--but Tara is a teacher, and Dawn has just given her a critique of her lesson plan. Testing a young team against a more experienced champion is a wonderful way to expose weaknesses early in the season and to help you figure out where to concentrate your efforts for improvements.
And improve we will. What has always distinguished Tara from her competition is the November-to-March transition. All teams may improve some, but Tara's teams often improve by leaps and bounds, and frequently look very different in March. Those of us who are obsessed with Stanford WBB and have followed it for decades recognize the pattern. The fact that we just played the national champions to overtime in November bodes extremely well. South Carolina is not going to improve as much as Stanford will improve, so I like our chances if we get to play them again.
So what did we learn?
1) We have confirmed our new point guard. The biggest question mark going into the season is erased. Mana from heaven compared with where we were one year ago. The worry that Lepolo--a freshman point guard unlike any other that Tara has had--would wilt under pressure turned out not to be true. She did not get 10 assists to 0 turnovers against a creampuff, but she did get 6 assists to 3 turnovers against the national champion--and scored enough to keep the defense honest. That debate should be over.
2) The same old saw about Brink fouling too much applies--I am at the point where I think it is just part of her DNA. She probably won't change, so what we need instead is an excellent person to back her up. We need Betts in particular to come along, and she will. We need to plan for games in which Brink plays only a little more than 20 minutes, on a regular basis.
3) Iriafen has further to go than her miraculous domination early season hinted. Good to know. She needs to be given the green light to start hitting her jump shot, which has appeared excellent. Dawn said her offense improved when it recognized that it needed to "take what the defense gives you." That applies especially to Iriafen. When the post is absolutely clogged, she can be very accurate from 6-8-10 feet out, and even hit treys occasionally. She needs to take what the defense gives her.
4) It is official, Jones is in an offensive slump. The coaches need to change some things to get her out of it. She was not playing well against the weaklings, and yet we hoped she would rise the the occasion against South Carolina. She had an OK first half (gorgeous over-the-shoulder layups when they work) but too much was put on her in the second half. How do we get her back to her old self? Admit that the Jones-as-pg experiment did not work, and also recognize that we need other players to be able to take the shot with time running down. Who? It would be best if Lepolo developed some of that, since as the ball handler she could be put in that position the most. But let the pressure off of Jones, play her at wing, and let her be joyful. She will become an automatic double-double again, and turnovers will recede too.
And improve we will. What has always distinguished Tara from her competition is the November-to-March transition. All teams may improve some, but Tara's teams often improve by leaps and bounds, and frequently look very different in March. Those of us who are obsessed with Stanford WBB and have followed it for decades recognize the pattern. The fact that we just played the national champions to overtime in November bodes extremely well. South Carolina is not going to improve as much as Stanford will improve, so I like our chances if we get to play them again.
So what did we learn?
1) We have confirmed our new point guard. The biggest question mark going into the season is erased. Mana from heaven compared with where we were one year ago. The worry that Lepolo--a freshman point guard unlike any other that Tara has had--would wilt under pressure turned out not to be true. She did not get 10 assists to 0 turnovers against a creampuff, but she did get 6 assists to 3 turnovers against the national champion--and scored enough to keep the defense honest. That debate should be over.
2) The same old saw about Brink fouling too much applies--I am at the point where I think it is just part of her DNA. She probably won't change, so what we need instead is an excellent person to back her up. We need Betts in particular to come along, and she will. We need to plan for games in which Brink plays only a little more than 20 minutes, on a regular basis.
3) Iriafen has further to go than her miraculous domination early season hinted. Good to know. She needs to be given the green light to start hitting her jump shot, which has appeared excellent. Dawn said her offense improved when it recognized that it needed to "take what the defense gives you." That applies especially to Iriafen. When the post is absolutely clogged, she can be very accurate from 6-8-10 feet out, and even hit treys occasionally. She needs to take what the defense gives her.
4) It is official, Jones is in an offensive slump. The coaches need to change some things to get her out of it. She was not playing well against the weaklings, and yet we hoped she would rise the the occasion against South Carolina. She had an OK first half (gorgeous over-the-shoulder layups when they work) but too much was put on her in the second half. How do we get her back to her old self? Admit that the Jones-as-pg experiment did not work, and also recognize that we need other players to be able to take the shot with time running down. Who? It would be best if Lepolo developed some of that, since as the ball handler she could be put in that position the most. But let the pressure off of Jones, play her at wing, and let her be joyful. She will become an automatic double-double again, and turnovers will recede too.