[treetop11]

Haven't posted this season, but have enjoyed reading the threads. Just wanted to point out one thing that I think may have been missed through all the reactions to our offensive output. Around Jan 25, I believe Tara made a major decision to focus Cam on the low block. This followed the loss at USC where Cam went 0-5 from 3 and hadn't been shooting it that well from the perimeter, along with a couple other 0-2 games. Before then, we had Cam on the perimeter, sometimes in 4 out sets, which allowed Kiki a/or Haley room to attack. Since then, our lineups have been Haley, Hannah, Cam and ALWAYS one other big if not 2. I think Tara just committed to a strategy of pounding it down on other teams. Mistake? I think maybe so. Not only is it awful to watch as many have posted, but it's also not that fun to play and the team seems to have lost some of their joy. It has allowed Betts to get on the floor. Maybe that was a factor in her decision making. But we are slow and very susceptible to guarding the perimeter and stopping dribble penetration. Our losses have been due to other teams scoring "enough" from the outside or with dribble penetration, while we just can't seem to get into the 70's. UCLA absolutely torched us in the 2nd half yesterday because we were just too slow. 

It's pretty simple in my book. In order to get the Natty, we have to exploit teams doubling and tripling Cam. I would surround her with shooters, and even though I don't have a lot of confidence in Lapolo or Agnes or Bosgana's shots, they can hit enough of them to make teams pay. My preferred lineup would be Haley, Cam, Hannah, Lepolo, and Demetre. Go figure, the Cal Stars team. I would even pull Cam out on the perimeter and let Haley go to the low block. Basketball offense is all about finding advantage and exploiting it. Cam and Haley are both good passers. With 3 good enough shooters on the perimeter, if we can't figure out how to distribute the ball when doubled, then we deserve to lose. Maybe Tara will prove to be right, that we need to play to our strengths, play big, and pound it down low. It's way different once we get out of conference and teams don't know us as well. All these P12 players know how to play against each other, but teams around the country won't have that advantage, even with film, and we could drill them. 

Last note, say what you want about 1996, but the dude/chick knows hoop. My guess is he/she played college hoop a/or has coached at least at high level AAU or high school varsity. 1996 provides specific examples, even showing on film what he/she is talking about. Not a troll at all in my book. Most of the vitriol towards him/her have to do with tone. Really, who TF cares?  Just respond to the basketball points, or don't respond at all. When it gets to the point where a large chunk of posts are about spelling corrections, name corrections, negativity/tone corrections, the board loses a lot of its fun value. This is a big reason why I've decided to not post this year. Hardly anyone would really respond to my basketball points. I posted at the beginning of last season during the "point guard debate" that Lacie would take all the minutes as the fifth player and that Jana just wasn't good enough and she might even transfer. Not only did I get the classic "but she was a 5 star recruit and rated # whatever in the recruiting rankings, she has to be more talented than Lacie who was not even in the top 100 or whatever", I also got scolded for suggesting someone might transfer. Blecchh.

I always liked your posts in the past and thought you knowledgeable, but here I think you're plain wrong. You talk about Tara almost exclusively having Brink post low and we constantly pound it into the paint. But that's just not true. Take yesterday's loss to Ucla for example. It looked to me that Brink was at least half the time (and maybe more) at the high post/free throw line area). In fact, she shot at least a few mid range shots from there and made at least a couple and drove down the lane several times from up high as well as did a lot pf passes from there - recall her errant pass to Haley down in the closing seconds of the game? Bessoir and Sontag were often fronting Cam when she was in the low post and we were unable to feed her. Cam would then move out of the low post to get freed and open things up. 

In watching the game, I was complaining to myself that we weren't feeding the post enough nad having Brink out high too much. I wanted to see her get the ball down low more and either score or draw fouls especially in the second half when Bessoir and Sontag were in foul trouble. Instead we were spending too much tim eon the perimeter and Brink was part of that. And more so, I wanted to see more bigs than less, We saw Brink and Belibi, but I would have liked to have seen more Brink-Betts or Prechtel. 

As far as your lineup goes, it's real close to what we had in much of the 4th Q when we blew the games. Belibi would sub in for Jump or Demetre, but that was the only significant difference. If you are assuming that not having Jump and Demetre instead of Belibi, keep in mind thosetwo were only 1 for 5 from three while and Belibi outscored them both. We have also seeen that lineup in past games and it hasn't been the answer. Two games Brooke was hot from three, but in others, so-so. I believe that Tara has been correct when she goes to two posts. It's fine and even when teams sag, we can get good spacing and openings IF we have good movement and movement with the ball  with some screens - the problem is when we get stagnant, usually by handing Haley the ball on the perimeter and she dribbles around looking to go one on one.

Your defense of 1996 is off base. People weren't criticizing this "dude/chick" just because he/she was negative - most everyone was not pleased with the negative based on false statements - some which seemed made up. When it was clear that the Oregon game disputed 1996's claims, he/she wasn't gracious enough to admit being wrong, but made up more BS. The BS is best exemplfied by his/her assertion about too much PT causing tiredness and bad play late in games and increasing injury or potential injury. I addressed the PT thing in another post. To this, I will add that our MBB team has played dramatically better since Haase tightened the rotation to basically 8 players where guys PT has increased at the end of a long season. MBB has not only improved W-L but gone from barely watchable to highly watchable. I doubt very seriously that 1996 played or at least of any siginificance or e/she would not be complaining about PT. Also, players seldom if ever worry about too much PT because they are scared of injury - they want to play. Even when they are hurt or get hurt during a game, more often than not, it's the player who wants to go back in. There are probably a few abusive coaches today, but the large majority are more conservative with injuries than the players themselves.

[treetop11]

Haven't posted this season, but have enjoyed reading the threads. Just wanted to point out one thing that I think may have been missed through all the reactions to our offensive output. Around Jan 25, I believe Tara made a major decision to focus Cam on the low block. This followed the loss at USC where Cam went 0-5 from 3 and hadn't been shooting it that well from the perimeter, along with a couple other 0-2 games. Before then, we had Cam on the perimeter, sometimes in 4 out sets, which allowed Kiki a/or Haley room to attack. Since then, our lineups have been Haley, Hannah, Cam and ALWAYS one other big if not 2. I think Tara just committed to a strategy of pounding it down on other teams. Mistake? I think maybe so. Not only is it awful to watch as many have posted, but it's also not that fun to play and the team seems to have lost some of their joy. It has allowed Betts to get on the floor. Maybe that was a factor in her decision making. But we are slow and very susceptible to guarding the perimeter and stopping dribble penetration. Our losses have been due to other teams scoring "enough" from the outside or with dribble penetration, while we just can't seem to get into the 70's. UCLA absolutely torched us in the 2nd half yesterday because we were just too slow. 

It's pretty simple in my book. In order to get the Natty, we have to exploit teams doubling and tripling Cam. I would surround her with shooters, and even though I don't have a lot of confidence in Lapolo or Agnes or Bosgana's shots, they can hit enough of them to make teams pay. My preferred lineup would be Haley, Cam, Hannah, Lepolo, and Demetre. Go figure, the Cal Stars team. I would even pull Cam out on the perimeter and let Haley go to the low block. Basketball offense is all about finding advantage and exploiting it. Cam and Haley are both good passers. With 3 good enough shooters on the perimeter, if we can't figure out how to distribute the ball when doubled, then we deserve to lose. Maybe Tara will prove to be right, that we need to play to our strengths, play big, and pound it down low. It's way different once we get out of conference and teams don't know us as well. All these P12 players know how to play against each other, but teams around the country won't have that advantage, even with film, and we could drill them. 

Last note, say what you want about 1996, but the dude/chick knows hoop. My guess is he/she played college hoop a/or has coached at least at high level AAU or high school varsity. 1996 provides specific examples, even showing on film what he/she is talking about. Not a troll at all in my book. Most of the vitriol towards him/her have to do with tone. Really, who TF cares?  Just respond to the basketball points, or don't respond at all. When it gets to the point where a large chunk of posts are about spelling corrections, name corrections, negativity/tone corrections, the board loses a lot of its fun value. This is a big reason why I've decided to not post this year. Hardly anyone would really respond to my basketball points. I posted at the beginning of last season during the "point guard debate" that Lacie would take all the minutes as the fifth player and that Jana just wasn't good enough and she might even transfer. Not only did I get the classic "but she was a 5 star recruit and rated # whatever in the recruiting rankings, she has to be more talented than Lacie who was not even in the top 100 or whatever", I also got scolded for suggesting someone might transfer. Blecchh.

I always liked your posts in the past and thought you knowledgeable, but here I think you're plain wrong. You talk about Tara almost exclusively having Brink post low and we constantly pound it into the paint. But that's just not true. Take yesterday's loss to Ucla for example. It looked to me that Brink was at least half the time (and maybe more) at the high post/free throw line area). In fact, she shot at least a few mid range shots from there and made at least a couple and drove down the lane several times from up high as well as did a lot pf passes from there - recall her errant pass to Haley down in the closing seconds of the game? Bessoir and Sontag were often fronting Cam when she was in the low post and we were unable to feed her. Cam would then move out of the low post to get freed and open things up. 

In watching the game, I was complaining to myself that we weren't feeding the post enough nad having Brink out high too much. I wanted to see her get the ball down low more and either score or draw fouls especially in the second half when Bessoir and Sontag were in foul trouble. Instead we were spending too much tim eon the perimeter and Brink was part of that. And more so, I wanted to see more bigs than less, We saw Brink and Belibi, but I would have liked to have seen more Brink-Betts or Prechtel. 

As far as your lineup goes, it's real close to what we had in much of the 4th Q when we blew the games. Belibi would sub in for Jump or Demetre, but that was the only significant difference. If you are assuming that not having Jump and Demetre instead of Belibi, keep in mind thosetwo were only 1 for 5 from three while and Belibi outscored them both. We have also seeen that lineup in past games and it hasn't been the answer. Two games Brooke was hot from three, but in others, so-so. I believe that Tara has been correct when she goes to two posts. It's fine and even when teams sag, we can get good spacing and openings IF we have good movement and movement with the ball  with some screens - the problem is when we get stagnant, usually by handing Haley the ball on the perimeter and she dribbles around looking to go one on one.

Your defense of 1996 is off base. People weren't criticizing this "dude/chick" just because he/she was negative - most everyone was not pleased with the negative based on false statements - some which seemed made up. When it was clear that the Oregon game disputed 1996's claims, he/she wasn't gracious enough to admit being wrong, but made up more BS. The BS is best exemplfied by his/her assertion about too much PT causing tiredness and bad play late in games and increasing injury or potential injury. I addressed the PT thing in another post. To this, I will add that our MBB team has played dramatically better since Haase tightened the rotation to basically 8 players where guys PT has increased at the end of a long season. MBB has not only improved W-L but gone from barely watchable to highly watchable. I doubt very seriously that 1996 played or at least of any siginificance or e/she would not be complaining about PT. Also, players seldom if ever worry about too much PT because they are scared of injury - they want to play. Even when they are hurt or get hurt during a game, more often than not, it's the player who wants to go back in. There are probably a few abusive coaches today, but the large majority are more conservative with injuries than the players themselves.