Observations ASU and OSU Games

#1
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alexvol

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#1
First the ASU game last nite :The ASU coach gave the game to Lady Vols by playing man defense and not employing a zone .....any zone;the man gave freedom for the Lady vol athletes to operate;Mercedes had the best 1st quarter of her career and carried the Lady Vols offensively in 1st qtr ;they coasted in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Diamond took over in the 4th quarter and carried the LV's to victory; and finally you have to give credit where credit is due to Holly Warlick in deploying a zone defense at the right time in the game which slowed the tempo for ASU and confused them for quite awhile...this was the turning point in the game imo.

Ohio State game: Obviously the key to winning this game is to slow down Mitchell who is averaging over 30 points per game in last 10 games and scored 45 last night.She is lethal from long range and off the bounce.The only way to slow her down imo is to take the ball out of hands and or deny her the ball as much as possible.How can you do that ? I would try several defenses on her : 3/4 court trapping press to take ball out her hands and then drop back into a 1/3/1 zone or a variation ( junk defense ) zone,box and one defense with the one ( playing man) being on Mitchell like a bug on a windshield....rotate fresh players on Mitchell and when she gets the ball in front court trap her.Rotate these defenses and maybe ....just maybe you can slow down Mitchell ....if so and OSU does not employ a zone against us ,the Lady Vols will likely be the winner.
 
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#2
#2
alexvol said:
First the ASU game last nite :The ASU coach gave the game to Lady Vols by playing man defense and not employing a zone .....any zone;the man gave freedom for the Lady vol athletes to operate;Mercedes had the best 1st quarter of her career and carried the Lady Vols offensively in 1st qtr ;they coasted in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Diamond took over in the 4th quarter and carried the LV's to victory; and finally you have to give credit where credit is due to Holly Warlick in deploying a zone defense at the right time in the game which slowed the tempo for ASU and confused them for quite awhile...this was the turning point in the game imo.

Ohio State game: Obviously the key to winning this game is to slow down Mitchell who is averaging over 30 points per game in last 10 games and scored 45 last night.She is lethal from long range and off the bounce.The only way to slow her down imo is to take the ball out of hands and or deny her the ball as much as possible.How can you do that ? I would try several defenses on her : 3/4 court trapping press to take ball out her hands and then drop back into a 1/3/1 zone or a variation ( junk defense ) zone,box and one defense with the one ( playing man) being on Mitchell like a bug on a windshield....rotate fresh players on Mitchell and when she gets the ball in front court trap her.Rotate these defenses and maybe ....just maybe you can slow down Mitchell ....if so and OSU does not employ a zone against us ,the Lady Vols will likely be the winner.
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+++++++++++++

Its as old as middle school ball, and just as effective in college... Face-guard her, start to finish.
 
#3
#3
Face guard Mitchell or employ a 3-2 zone. If she gets the ball near the top or extended foul line, send a double to make her get rid of the ball. Alston is not 100% so she may not be a threat like she was during the regular season. OSU doesn't play good defense because the expend so much energy running down the court on offense and then back on defense. They love to reach so the Lady Vols must teach.
 
#4
#4
Carter + Superglue = Low scoring Mitchell. Carter is the best defender we have and she could give Mitchell a tough time. If that doesn't work, some of the previously mentioned ideas.

Lady Vols are going to have to play like Roller Derby b-ball in this tourney. The officiating last night was pretty much "have at it girls".
 
#5
#5
87&91ALUM said:
Carter + Superglue = Low scoring Mitchell. Carter is the best defender we have and she could give Mitchell a tough time. If that doesn't work, some of the previously mentioned ideas.

Lady Vols are going to have to play like Roller Derby b-ball in this tourney. The officiating last night was pretty much "have at it girls".
Click to expand...

Carter can't stop dribble penetration. She may take away the outside shot, but Mitchell will drive past her and either score or get to the free throw line.

I agree with everyone who says that the best way to defend her is to deny her the ball. Might even be better to have someone like Nared on her to just get in her face and not worry about the other 4 OSU players similar to what they did against Miss State and Vivians the first time out.
 
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#6
#6
Coach Jumper said:
+++++++++++++

Its as old as middle school ball, and just as effective in college... Face-guard her, start to finish.
Click to expand...

The only problem I see in the trap is she is good enough that it is not likely to work and that will leave another OHS player open for an easy shot. If they can play a 4 person zone and play her one on one they may be able to slow her down. We will see which defense is used.
 
#7
#7
Coach Jumper said:
+++++++++++++

Its as old as middle school ball, and just as effective in college... Face-guard her, start to finish.
Click to expand...

Coach I would have responded earlier but this 77 year old goes for a five mile walk each day (weather permitting ) just to get my blood running to my brain.:)It is really going to be interesting to see how Holly and crew decide to defense Mitchell.She has some time to devise a plan.We both agree that you must slow down Mitchell to be successful .There is no one on LV squad that can guard her one on one because you have to drive her off the 3 point line and then she will go by you in a flash.Face guarding her will exhaust anyone in about 4 minutes so have to rotate bodies on her in 4 minute cycles.So imo some combination of defenses will be needed......zone/man/press.
 
#8
#8
VOLINVONORE said:
The only problem I see in the trap is she is good enough that it is not likely to work and that will leave another OHS player open for an easy shot. If they can play a 4 person zone and play her one on one they may be able to slow her down. We will see which defense is used.
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That is what I meant by the box and one .Play zone with 4 people with Mercedes on back end for the break thru of zone and play Mitchell man ....one on one all over the court.
 
#9
#9
Amb3096 said:
Carter can't stop dribble penetration. She may take away the outside shot, but Mitchell will drive past her and either score or get to the free throw line.

I agree with everyone who says that the best way to defend her is to deny her the ball. Might even be better to have someone like Nared on her to just get in her face and not worry about the other 4 OSU players similar to what they did against Miss State and Vivians the first time out.
Click to expand...

I agree deny Mitchell the ball.
 
#10
#10
87&91ALUM said:
Carter + Superglue = Low scoring Mitchell. Carter is the best defender we have and she could give Mitchell a tough time. If that doesn't work, some of the previously mentioned ideas.

Lady Vols are going to have to play like Roller Derby b-ball in this tourney. The officiating last night was pretty much "have at it girls".
Click to expand...

Agree that Carter is best one on one defender out front but neither she nor anyone else in America can stay with Mitchell for any extended period of time....they will be exhausted after 4 minutes.You have to take the ball out of her hands out front thru double teams or deny her the ball and no one can guard her one on one that is on Lady Vol team ....hopefully slow her down and keep her under 20 points .If they can do that then you can chalk it up as a win.
 
#11
#11
Possibly the best way to play Mitchell is to play offense against her. Deliberately go at her and get her in foul trouble. Just a thought from another oldster. You all have a good day.
 
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#12
#12
Carter isn't the team's best man defender. There really isn't a really good one, but DeShields, Nared, and Cooper are better. Carter is good at help defense and reading the passing lanes but not at stopping her opponent. She isn't starting anyway.
 
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#13
#13
Talented guards have beaten our guards off the dribble all year. The way to slow down Mitchell is to play zone--which takes advantage of our size and length. Wasn't DD playing up top in the 2-3 zone we played? If we stick with that, put DD on the side where Mitchell is most comfortable, as her length should bother the OSU player. I'm sure we'll play some man in this game, but I think we're asking for trouble if we do. We are better defensively playing zone, IMO. As Alex said above, our zone defense was a big factor in our victory last night. Now, OSU probably has better personnel, and more size, than ASU--but a good zone defense can cause problems for anybody if your players are alert and not standing around flat-footed.
 
#14
#14
Zone and free their worst shooter. I mean a really packed in zone with big perimeter pressure on Mitchell. Someone will have the open shot we have to make it their worst three point shooter.
 
#16
#16
She has to hop on one leg just to get started with her dribbling demonstrations.
 
#17
#17
armchair said:
Talented guards have beaten our guards off the dribble all year. The way to slow down Mitchell is to play zone--which takes advantage of our size and length. Wasn't DD playing up top in the 2-3 zone we played? If we stick with that, put DD on the side where Mitchell is most comfortable, as her length should bother the OSU player. I'm sure we'll play some man in this game, but I think we're asking for trouble if we do. We are better defensively playing zone, IMO. As Alex said above, our zone defense was a big factor in our victory last night. Now, OSU probably has better personnel, and more size, than ASU--but a good zone defense can cause problems for anybody if your players are alert and not standing around flat-footed.
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++++++++++++++

you utilize a standard 2-3, 3-2, 2-1-1, 1-3-1 etc for one of two reasons in basketball:

1) Because they're so much better than you you have to go fetal, or, 2) because you're so much better than them that you use it to take the heat off your foe.... The exception to this rule is the box-1 utilized to stop a player that is unstoppable one on one.

In the case of Mitchell, it is a strategy.
 
#18
#18
LVJeff said:
Carter isn't the team's best man defender. There really isn't a really good one, but DeShields, Nared, and Cooper are better. Carter is good at help defense and reading the passing lanes but not at stopping her opponent. She isn't starting anyway.
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Cooper? !!!

IMO, you put some length on her. DD, Nared, and Graves, if we can spare Graves size inside.
 
#19
#19
Who ever gets the assignment, it should be understood that that the team must guard her. There needs to be help defense from both sides. Don't go zone because she will get lost and not have to work as hard. Need to do what the Spurs did to Curry last night.
 
#20
#20
One improvement is that more players are stepping up and contributing. Cooper brought us back down the stretch against GB. Russell played tough in the 1st half last night, and DD iced it at the end. Nared had a bad game against GB, but scored in double digits last night, as did Reynolds. Graves sat half the game, but had 11 rebounds in the 2nd half. DD doesn't feel like she has to carry the team, which has to alleviate some of the pressure and lets them play looser.
 
#21
#21
37620VOL said:
Who ever gets the assignment, it should be understood that that the team must guard her. There needs to be help defense from both sides. Don't go zone because she will get lost and not have to work as hard. Need to do what the Spurs did to Curry last night.
Click to expand...

++++++++++++

Now for the $64 question:

WWHWD?

(What Will Holly Warlick Do?)

++++++++++

I say she doesn't focus on Mitchel, instead opting to stop the "other" players and Mitchell ends with over 30.
 
#23
#23
who was that idiot girl who signed with the *uckeyes instead of Tn last year? I hope we break her little heart... Yes, I'm petty like that.....lol


What's the difference between a OSU coed and a cow? about 10 lbs.
 
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#24
#24
PointGuard said:
Deny her the ball with DD 1st face guard line with help from Carter as needed
Click to expand...

If you overwork your best offensive player on defense, you have to have another offensive player to take her shots.

there is no reason to use our best player, when we have the athletic prowess of : MeMe, Coop and Draya.
 
#25
#25
This is such a nice group of people...could stay here all day...but, gotta go...:crap2:

PS. Whatever strategy Holly and staff go with, I hope it works...they may even try to employ a few from this thread...wouldn't doubt it one bit...:rock:

GO LADY VOLS!
 
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