Nine assists, 20 turnovers: Same problem every game; those numbers show that we are a sloppy, poor passing team with an offense that does not create easy baskets. 39 percent shooting, Some problems are becoming clear:
1) We are a bad offensive team, badly coached offensively--and particularly bad against zone defenses, because we force passes inside too much. Warlick has the players obsessed with getting the ball inside when defenses are playing zone against us precisely to stop our inside game! Duh! We have no plan B, no real sense of purpose beyond getting it inside, and thus we have no rhythm. Our ball and player movement is FAR too slow. Guards should be ready to catch and shoot on kickouts, but they aren't ready.
2) Reynolds and Cooper are playing poorly and are not good against zone defenses, at all: I think the two of them were 3 for 14 tonight, and have been shooting badly all year. I believe Reynolds's shooting percentage is under 30 percent this year. She has been completely ineffective all year--and same with Cooper since her good first game. When we get healthier both of these players should be spending more time on the pine, as we're going to be seeing zone defenses all year, unless teams are really committed to man defense. Teams would be crazy not to play zone against us. Our guard play generally has been pathetic--Carter with a good game tonight, however. I want to see Middleton more; she is not great, but she has a nice jump shot and offers more outside scoring potential against a zone.
3) We are losing the three-point shooting game within a game badly every game. We had 1 tonight, WSU had 8. A consistent problem. When you are playing zones, you have to make threes. We don't. Again, I think this is why Middleton, when she gets healthy, needs more minutes. She is not as athletic as Cooper--but the zones defenses are mitigating our athleticism. We need people in the game who can make outside shots. BADLY. Can Middleton? I don't know, but she good form--she shoots a real jumper as opposed to the set shots we see from Reynolds and Cooper.
4) Russell is simply not all that good. That really became apparent tonight--sadly! Playing against a seriously undersized team, she had 2 baskets. I think, like everybody, she is partly a victim of our CRAP offense, but she has not impressed this year. She works hard but doesn't accomplish much. She needs have better hands--I think her hands are pretty good, but she fumbled away three passes in the first half tonight. She also has to be more decisive when she gets the ball. Also, when one of our bigs has the ball, why doesn't the other set some picks and let's see if we can get some layup opportunities for our guards. Alas, that does not seem to be part of our offense. We get almost NO layups out of our offense--whereas Notre Dame is brilliant at using picks to get layups. This is another obvious weakness in our offense.
4) DeShields has been a bit underwhelming. I expected a bit more from her. She has been good in a couple of games, but generally a bit spotty. Had a weak game tonight. I'm sure her legs are one issue and our CRAP offense (have I mentioned that?) is another issue--but don't feel like we're getting the Full DeShields at this point.
5) We need to get Nared healthy and see what she and Middleton can do, I think. We have to find a guard who can make outside shots. If not, then we probably should play a bigger rather than a smaller lineup--with Carter at PG and DeShields at the 2, with Graves, Nared and Russell. That might be a nice lineup down the road--but it will take Nared a while to get in a groove--though of course nobody gets in a groove on this team. Still, we are playing guards that are consistent net negative contributors, and that has to change.
