[Hieronymus]

So this team wasn’t very tall - Nunu was undersized at 6’2” and Stevenson as back up is also the same height. The rest of the roster was average-ish, but probably still a bit small.

The bigger problem was quickness. You had 4 key players - Demetre, Bosgana, Stevenson and Heal - who to varying degrees struggled against quicker opponents. And nobody else was really a speed / quickness demon. Shay probably was the closest, but she wasn’t skilled or experienced enough. 

The end result is as BillBradley noted it’s hard for skill to beat athleticism. It was fun to watch women’s soccer make it to the college cup doing just that - but it’s really rare in college sports. So this team could beat weaker teams and some mediocre ones by being good at basketball. But against quicker mediocre teams and really anybody good or better, the offense just died and the perimeter defense collapsed. Without an ability to drive or get some back door stuff, opponents just sat on the perimeter shooters and nobody could get a shot off consistently. Similarly, on defense either they had to collapse into the paint to cover drives leaving the 3 open, or they got torched at the rim. And the lack of size meant there wasn’t a post game or good shot blocking to relieve some of the pressure.

Maybe a new offense helps going forward, but I do rot think the defense is fixable without more size and speed.

[Hieronymus]

So this team wasn’t very tall - Nunu was undersized at 6’2” and Stevenson as back up is also the same height. The rest of the roster was average-ish, but probably still a bit small.

The bigger problem was quickness. You had 4 key players - Demetre, Bosgana, Stevenson and Heal - who to varying degrees struggled against quicker opponents. And nobody else was really a speed / quickness demon. Shay probably was the closest, but she wasn’t skilled or experienced enough. 

The end result is as BillBradley noted it’s hard for skill to beat athleticism. It was fun to watch women’s soccer make it to the college cup doing just that - but it’s really rare in college sports. So this team could beat weaker teams and some mediocre ones by being good at basketball. But against quicker mediocre teams and really anybody good or better, the offense just died and the perimeter defense collapsed. Without an ability to drive or get some back door stuff, opponents just sat on the perimeter shooters and nobody could get a shot off consistently. Similarly, on defense either they had to collapse into the paint to cover drives leaving the 3 open, or they got torched at the rim. And the lack of size meant there wasn’t a post game or good shot blocking to relieve some of the pressure.

Maybe a new offense helps going forward, but I do rot think the defense is fixable without more size and speed.