[Hieronymus]

This is a key point and has been all year.  I know we did not have experienced three point shooters except Jump, but I never got why players who were shooting 33% and up into the 40% range, even if the number of shots taken was low, were a worse bet than forcing the ball inside over and over.  When the team is shooting 30ish percent as a whole, why are wide open threes by players who don't suck at shooting them such a bad thing?  So many times early in a possession one of our perimeter players had an open shot, but they almost never took it, I'm sure be design so they could run the offense.  But mostly a turnover or a late shot clock struggle resulted.  The offense needs to allow for quick shots when the defense is not fully set.  We seemed to be trying to run offense, when the goal is really to make shots, if that makes any sense.

Agreed, although from where I was sitting I don't think Mississippi was giving us many open threes.  Their perimeter players were quick enough to cover Jump or Nivar or Lepolo and sag to the middle as soon as the ball was passed in.  I think what was needed was for Betts, Brink, and Iriafen to send crisp passes back out of the paint to Jump, but once the ball came in it stayed in, and Brink forced it up through a thicket of arms.  We seemed to be obsessed with the outside/in passing but had no inside/out passing.  On the occasions when this Did happen, if the pass was to Lepolo or Nivar they would usually pass up the shot and pass again or dribble a little to look for a better angle.  Way too much hesitation. 

Lepolo's three point shot may not be pretty, but it has been effective and she needs to use it more.  Nivar shot 23% from three on the year and absolutely must fix that if she is going to play many minutes next year.

Lepolo isn't a terrible outside shooter, but she needs a ton of space to get it off. It's not a very quick shot, she isn't very tall and she often jumps forward when she shoots. The last thing is a total killer in tough games. A good defender can sag and still cause her troubles on the shot.

And yes right now Nivar is just bad from the outside.

[Hieronymus]

This is a key point and has been all year.  I know we did not have experienced three point shooters except Jump, but I never got why players who were shooting 33% and up into the 40% range, even if the number of shots taken was low, were a worse bet than forcing the ball inside over and over.  When the team is shooting 30ish percent as a whole, why are wide open threes by players who don't suck at shooting them such a bad thing?  So many times early in a possession one of our perimeter players had an open shot, but they almost never took it, I'm sure be design so they could run the offense.  But mostly a turnover or a late shot clock struggle resulted.  The offense needs to allow for quick shots when the defense is not fully set.  We seemed to be trying to run offense, when the goal is really to make shots, if that makes any sense.

Agreed, although from where I was sitting I don't think Mississippi was giving us many open threes.  Their perimeter players were quick enough to cover Jump or Nivar or Lepolo and sag to the middle as soon as the ball was passed in.  I think what was needed was for Betts, Brink, and Iriafen to send crisp passes back out of the paint to Jump, but once the ball came in it stayed in, and Brink forced it up through a thicket of arms.  We seemed to be obsessed with the outside/in passing but had no inside/out passing.  On the occasions when this Did happen, if the pass was to Lepolo or Nivar they would usually pass up the shot and pass again or dribble a little to look for a better angle.  Way too much hesitation. 

Lepolo's three point shot may not be pretty, but it has been effective and she needs to use it more.  Nivar shot 23% from three on the year and absolutely must fix that if she is going to play many minutes next year.

Lepolo isn't a terrible outside shooter, but she needs a ton of space to get it off. It's not a very quick shot, she isn't very tall and she often jumps forward when she shoots. The last thing is a total killer in tough games. A good defender can sag and still cause her troubles on the shot.

And yes right now Nivar is just bad from the outside.