(01-07-2018 10:40 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  I just don't know what to say about this team. They had some not so great outings in the OOC season, but the Dayton game seemed to show the same kind of team that finished last season, and I thought they just needed some time to gel together, so that type of play became the norm.

But the last few games they look like a completely and totally different team. For all the issues with the offense, it was the defense against EMU that was just terrible. No way EMU should be able to score 70 on this team, but UT looked very, very slow and disorganized on defense. In all 3 MAC games the opponents ran the floor better in both directions. Rockets have not been getting steals and fast breaks which was a staple of the offense last year. I think that has been a big reason why offensive production is down. The team used to feed on those opportunities and then go on runs where they would put 10 or 12 points up in a bunch. Not doing that at all this year. I seem to remember Cullop saying before the season that this team had more speed than any she had a UT, but they certainly haven't shown it.

I honestly don't think it's a matter of talent. I think they have all that, but there's something that happened to the chemistry of the team it seems to me. Players are trying to do things that they shouldn't - e.g. Cunningham is a scorer, but she seems to spend a lot of time trying to be a playmaker, which often doesn't turn out well. Maybe it is a leadership problem - Janice and Sophie were clearly the leaders of the team, and there is a void there now. There isn't one player who acts like a coach on the floor, directing players and encouraging good plays and calling out the bad ones.

Never expected such a quick fall after last season.

You may had hit on something. I wonder if Sophie, given the outgoing and positive person she is, wasn't really valuable to the team chemistry. One thing I noticed particularly in the last two games is that the opponent gets to all of the loose balls first. And they seem to get all of the contested rebounds. Not to hit on St Fort but there was a contested rebound in the Eastern game where she appeared to have position and the ball, lost it to an aggressive opponent who then put it up as a shot after offensive rebound and missed the bunny, then moved inside St Fort for a second offensive rebound and put it back up for two points. Really bad play by rocket.