Uconn is in trouble..
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No matter how big you are, the idea that you can just continuously dump the ball into Brown all the time and have her shoot 60% or even the almost 80% she's doing this year is foolish. What that approach leads to is a lot of turnovers as the opponent sets up the D to pick off passes to Brown, as UConn did with Baylor. Texas was totally obliterated by UConn in the 2015 NCAAs using that approach, but last year they kept things relatively close by using the bigs much more effectively just sliding in at key points.
Last year Davis took more than twice as many shots as Brown, and it wasn't because she was the target of an overabundance of passes. It was simply that she led the Bears in offensive rebounds despite her small size, and she put a lot of them right back in the hoop. UConn will love it if the Bears are stuck in the same "feed it to the bigs," while Davis has to twiddle her thumbs the next time they meet. Margin would be at least double the next time if that were so.
And every team is beatable, just as even UConn lost a game two years ago even with Stewart and Jefferson and Tuck. But you have to have a good plan and a very smart coach.
Last year Davis took more than twice as many shots as Brown, and it wasn't because she was the target of an overabundance of passes. It was simply that she led the Bears in offensive rebounds despite her small size, and she put a lot of them right back in the hoop. UConn will love it if the Bears are stuck in the same "feed it to the bigs," while Davis has to twiddle her thumbs the next time they meet. Margin would be at least double the next time if that were so.
And every team is beatable, just as even UConn lost a game two years ago even with Stewart and Jefferson and Tuck. But you have to have a good plan and a very smart coach.
bballcrazy
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How about just guard her :cray:
C'mon, she wasn't exactly on Baylors game plan, obviously, or they just flat out suck and I don't think they suck.
Dangerfield could also hurt Uconn as she can be a gunner and she is streaky so I say let her shoot as she will not hit like she did, it's just one game, plus she is tiny and teams can shoot over her or post her up. She is not Jefferson who is much longer and a better switch defender. Their only weakness I see right now is that those that didn't play as much last year are not as good at passing, they missed cuts quite a bit, especially Collier, she doesn't see or read the floor as good as the team last year but is the hustle player.
The other players helped with the fact that she is small, you have to give Uconn credit they are very unselfish and rotate very well on help. Plus those who were saying they don't have height well that just blew up as they are quick and long and get their freaking arms and hands around everything.
Butler was better than I thought she was, I had written her off. As far as Baylor, they will be the team with transfers. Other than Mompremier, Brown and Cave, the others won't be in the rotation. Davis is not an AA, whoever pointed out that she was given gimmes from Johnson was correct.
Coach Jumper
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Coach Jumper
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If you have a player with the height and size of Kalani Brown, you design your game to take advantage of that mismatch. She is bigger and stronger than any player out there. If teams swarm her to deny the entry pass, that means one of their shooters is open. If teams triple team her when she gets the ball, that means two of her teammmates are free for uncontested shots. Kim is better off investing time teaching Kalani to react faster to the double or triple team and kick the ball out then trying to figure out how to get her 1-dimensional 5'11 post more involved. It doesn't matter that Nina has been their best player the past three years; she isn't now, and she will have to be a role player, not the go-to.
For the record, Baylor would have won if not for some careless fouls by Mompremier and especially Brown in the first half. UConn couldn't stop them in the post. Use the same gameplan and have the big girls watch the fouls, and Baylor wins...with or without Nina Davis.
Lauren Cox has the potential to be a more important part of the rotation than Davis once she settles down. She can contribute on offense in more ways rather than offensive rebounds and putbacks...of which Nina was completely shut out of in the UConn game by some determined boxing out, and she couldn't contribute anything else in the game other than some assists around the perimeter to people that can actually shoot the ball.
Um, so let me get this straight. The Baylor bigs (those 6-3 and over) combined to go 6-13 against UConn and that is considered unstoppable? Guess standards have really been lowered nowadays. Used to take at least 60% shooting before any of us began to even think about going to "unstoppable" adjectives.
Fact is, the good teams have developed defenses to stop teams that rely too heavily on the post dump-in strategy and use them to get buckets on the other end, which is what UConn did pretty effectively. Any game that is won by a dozen points or less there will always be some fans who say "if not for some silly fouls or dumb turnovers, we would have won," but then there is also the real world where the mistakes are just part of every game.
There were a lot of Vol fans last year who criticized the over reliance on the dump-ins to Russell and Graves, not because of the shooting percentage because they combined to go around 54%, but simply because the strategy was often way too obvious and resulted in too many turnovers and tie-ups, and even if Russell got FTAs, at 54% for FT% that was no big bonus.
Davis has never been a "go to" player, and she has always been a role player whose job is to hang around and mop up on the misses. It's a great role with few turnovers and usually a lot of points when the avenues are opened to her, which they usually were last year and allowed a 5-11 player to lead the Bears with 16.3 ppg. Put it this way, she scored 105 more points than DeShields on 52 less shots, and yes DD has a couple inches on Davis. If Davis was on the Vols, would you be clamoring to have her frozen out so the the ball could be fed to Russell again for that 54% shooting, when she can get a shot off?
Kim could indeed shunt last year's leading scorer off to little supporting roles for her "better" big players, but she'd be incredibly clueless to do so.
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I wasn't talking about "The Baylor Bigs". I was specifically talking about Kalani Brown, who went 3-4. And I think her 75% for the game is better than Nina's 0-4 and 0% for the game, but that's just me.
Which is why you adjust your coaching to know when to use your massive 6'7 post as a decoy to keep defenses honest. If they constantly send 2 players to deny the entry pass, you get the ball to the open player for an easy jump shot. If they gamble on single coverage, you throw the ball up where only the 6'7 player can get it and score or get fouled...just like Kim did with Griner.
That's because they would pass up wide open shots to force the ball inside instead of taking what the defense gives them. Baylor's guards had no such problems.
HAHAHAHA! Davis was an AA the last two years. She wasn't no damn role player. She was their leading scorer and Niya Johnson was a master at getting Nina the ball at the right spot at just the right moment so she could score. Let's not pretend that she was exclusively offensive rebounds and putbacks. If she attempted putbacks from every offensive rebound she got, that would still only account for about 20% of her shots taken the last 2 years. She was efficient because Johnson knew how to find her.
Put it this way...if Davis was on the LVs and was only able to score from offensive rebounds, fast breaks, and pinpoint perfect passes from a PG who graduated last year, and there was a 6'4 player who had a whole lot more versatility on offense and defense, then I'd expect that Davis' minutes would go down once the more well rounded player started to produce more. And there's no comparison between Davis and DeShields. Davis is limited in what she can do, but has historically been efficient...which is starting to change for her now as her FG% and rebounding has been dropping every year. She peaked as a sophomore. Diamond can score in many different ways. If both of them went to the WNBA draft after this season, do you really think any team would take Davis over DeShields? Not a chance. She may have had a more decorated college career, but she will be lucky if she makes a WNBA roster because of her limited abilities.
Were you saying that when Brittney Griner was an incoming freshman too?
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Brown may be 6'7" but a) when she brings the ball down to waist level she becomes 5'5"; b) when she gets the ball in her hands she needs to put the ball on the floor; and c) using her as a decoy won't work against a good defense. UConn didn't need to collapse down on her until after the inlet pass was made.
And as you pointed out, Baylor wasn't very good at lobbing passes inside.
Of course if she is allowed to establish position 2 feet from the hoop she is tough to stop, but Butler was pretty effective in forcing her a little further from the basket than she was comfortable.
Another key to the game was the play of freshman Dangerfield and the lack of play from Cox. I'd guess that by March Cox will be ready for a bigger role and that will make Baylor much more dangerous.
And as you pointed out, Baylor wasn't very good at lobbing passes inside.
Of course if she is allowed to establish position 2 feet from the hoop she is tough to stop, but Butler was pretty effective in forcing her a little further from the basket than she was comfortable.
Another key to the game was the play of freshman Dangerfield and the lack of play from Cox. I'd guess that by March Cox will be ready for a bigger role and that will make Baylor much more dangerous.
Point a.) Has been a long standing problem for taller posts. Russell does the same thing. Griner got better at catching, turning and putting the ball in thr basket in one fell swoop. If Mulkey can get Brown to do the same, she would be unstoppable. I admit I'm intrigued by Kalani because of her height, width and strength. She has the potential to be a dominant force. She did a great job of being a decoy against UCLA and had six assists to go with her boatload of points and rebounds. She just needs consistency.
I have no doubt that Cox will be very good by the end of this season. She has great footwork and post moves, plus she has a face up game. Even though they lost to UConn, there's a lot of potential here.
You know this thread needs to be renamed to 'UConn not in trouble'.
After watching Baylor, Texas and other top teams play, Uconn is not in trouble. The type of players UConn recruits, the UConn system and coaching staff makes them not in trouble even in a rebuilding year.
I am thrilled with the Lady Vols class coming next year and hope that the players and coaches figure out this year.
After watching Baylor, Texas and other top teams play, Uconn is not in trouble. The type of players UConn recruits, the UConn system and coaching staff makes them not in trouble even in a rebuilding year.
I am thrilled with the Lady Vols class coming next year and hope that the players and coaches figure out this year.
bballcrazy
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Wow just wow. You specifically said Baylor's bigs were unstoppable against UConn and then you squirm back and say that a player who took only 4 shots against them represented the "unstoppable force???" You need a clue.
As said, if you watched any Baylor games last year, you would see that Davis's big role was to hang outside and wait for the right moment to knife inside for a rebound or a feed from another guarded player for a bucket. She did not usually set up for a feed that would draw the defense to her. Her role was to be the lurker and the team's leading scorer.
But by all means push the feed the bigs routine that sets up for a 14-point to a team that got smacked down by a team like Drexel. Are you by any chance Holly's offensive guru? Woe to the Vols if it's so.
And you have to beat them, because they aren't going to beat themselves. They don't have 'overwhelming' talent this year like they did for the last few, but they have enough talent to be in just about every game. I don't think they win all of their upcoming games against top 10 teams, but they will only lose to a team that brings their 'A' game.
They don't have a lot of 'experience' but they are the only team with players that have the experience of winning an NC.
No, I said Mompremier and Brown were unstoppable. If I were you, I would sign up for a Remedial Reading Comprehension course. See, here's my statement:
"For the record, Baylor would have won if not for some careless fouls by Mompremier and especially Brown in the first half. UConn couldn't stop them in the post. Use the same gameplan and have the big girls watch the fouls, and Baylor wins...with or without Nina Davis."
Did I say "Baylor players over 6'3"? No, I said Mompremier and Brown got in foul trouble. In the next sentence, I referred to them as "the big girls". See how that works? Anyone with a fifth grade level of reading comprehension would understand that.
Now this is classic backtracking, because you've been saying that Nina's game was getting offensive rebounds and putbacks. You completely ignore the fact that she played alongside the best passing PG in college who could find her in positions to score. You think teams would ignore the leading scorer and AA on the team on defense because she was "usually not set up for a feed"? Maybe they were guarding that blistering scorer Niya Johnson instead of the AA and leading scorer Nina Davis? Please. Nina was great at sneaking away from her defender and getting open for a brief moment and Johnson could find her with the pass so she could score an easy layup. Alexis Jones is a good passer, but not as good as Johnson and it's showing based on the fact that Nina is having a harder time scoring now than she did playing with Johnson for 3 years.
Tennessee's two post players scored 37 points and had 22 rebounds. They were also the only players to shoot over 50%. They were at their best on offense when Diamond drew multiple defenders and dumped it to Nared for easy buckets in the 3Q and when they isolated Mercedes in the low post. But you're right....Diamond should have taken those shots again because 25% > 50%. Maybe MeMe and her blistering 1-8 shooting too. :loco:
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Well aren't you just the WBB expert. Poor old UCONN would have just stood around and let it happen. You should give Mulkey a call and let her know your great plan. "For the record," Baylor got outplayed, outcoached and lost to a better team. I would love to know what excuses you have for the TENN lose to Penn State. You should call Holly with your advice. Blah, blah, blah and blaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Mompremier & Brown played a combined 41 minutes and between them, playing the same position, they took 8 shots. Since Kim really doesn't play them together much I'd say they had ample opportunity to "dominate".
Digging up dubious excuses for the Baylor loss? A better one would be the improbable performance of a certain freshman pg in her second college game.
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