(12-03-2013 10:28 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(12-03-2013 09:58 PM)rocketfan70 Wrote:  

(12-03-2013 04:54 PM)hwut1 Wrote:  

(12-03-2013 03:05 PM)rocketfan70 Wrote:  

(12-01-2013 10:38 AM)hwut1 Wrote:  This has been a good discussion...I would like to add few things for consideration...Within the offenses that the Ladies run, it is important that all five players on the court shoot when open (last year we had some players that other teams sagged off of so much that it made it hard for her team mates to get open)...basically there two shots that are bad shots ...shooting when not open and not shooting when open...I have heard Coach stop practice many times to tell one of the players not to pass up an open shot....if they do pass up open shots they can join her on the bench... it breaks down an offense when a team works the ball around to get an open look and then have the player pass up the an open shot..as I have heard the Coach tell Ana and others that they were recruited to shoot the ball... not recruited to break an assist record...This team is going to continue to mature and get better with each game...in order to do that it is important that every player remain a threat to score...we haven't had a team with so much offensive potential in a long time...

I agree that there is better balance roster wide on the potential to score. This team will most certainly score more points than last year's team. The downside is that many of these offensive players are not playing good defense. Opponents are scoring far too many easy baskets inside and with too many open 3 point looks. I would guess that the opponents points/game will also be up substantially this year. Regarding Capatosto, I would conclude that if her shot selection improves, then the stats you quote above will more dramatically demonstrate her value. Because there is no doubt that through the first six games she has launched quite a few low percentage shots.

You are right...two things have contributed to the increase in points given up...one is the limited number of players that have been available due to injuries ..that means the ladies needed to be more aware picking up fouls .... with the limited number of fouls we could give and number of healthy and not so healthy players the coaches had to give up something defensively.... some games the outside shot and other games the inside game..unfortunately the only players that have stayed healthy so far are Ana, Inma, and Sophia....the second thing contributing to giving up more points defensively is the number of possessions the other teams are getting because of the increased number of points we are scoring...plus the coach has increased the tempo of our offense....at practice running a full court drills with the objective of scoring with in eight seconds ...the purpose is to get a shot off before the defense can set up and to wear the other teams down..as the result our possessions are much shorter...! GO BLUE.....

If it is an intended strategy to compromise defensive pressure in order to maximize offensive opportunities, then I think that could be a mistake. Its easier to play at a consistently high level defensively, if the players buy in, work hard, and have the talent, than to execute at a high level offensively game after game. There will be poor shooting games (e.g. St Mary's) and you might be able to stay in the game if the defense plays well.

I agree that is it easier to maintain a consistent level of play on D than on O where shooting can be hot or cold. Still, it takes a deep bench to play intense D all game---and not just out of concern for fouls---it is also very tiring. I am just guessing here but maybe with the new rules favoring the offense over the defense, the coaches are putting more emphasis on the Offense this year. Or it could be a matter of coaching to the strength of the current players----the absence of Smith who probably did not get the credit she deserved for her defense and rebounding efforts could also be a factor.

Good points

Remember that we graduated 3 really top notch defensive players this past year in Yo, Cre and Naama. None of them got the publicity of Dola for their defense, but they were all very good, each in their own way. On top of that, they had all been playing together, and with Dola, for 4 years. Top notch defense, more so than offense, requires true team play, where everyone knows what everyone else is supposed to do, is doing and will do.

This year on the other hand we are playing a ton of new players who have only played together for a few months, and because of injuries some of them haven't even played together that much. Also, it is a very rare high school player to come into college ready to play Cullop defense. Mostly in HS they are gonna be significantly better than most of the opponents they play and so that learning the footwork and the disciplined defensive strategies is just not as high a priority for them or their coaches. Recker and Capotosto really struggled with their footwork and court positioning on D as freshmen, but both have improved tremendously since then, for example. So I think it is just gonna take a while for this group to learn how to play D, and to gel as a cohesive unit.

I don't think that this is an intentional change in philosophy by the coaches. I'd be surprised if Coach doesn't cringe when she sees the opponents scores in some of these games. But it it just gonna take a while to get the team up to that level of defense we have been used to. It might take a season or so, but I think we will get there.