armchair
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Let's forget about coaching for a moment and look at the players and the problem of who to play. The coaches certainly don't know--and it's hard to blame them as NOBODY, let's repeat that, NOBODY on this team has played well this year. That's saying something--or nothing. Maybe we give Graves a pass for her usual hard work, but of course hard work doesn't put the ball in the basket either.
We sux in many ways, starting with our offensive play against zone defenses. So who would we--the true experts--play against a zone defense like the one the Vols saw yesterday and have seen all year. Let's begin with the premise that what we've done all year hasn't not worked and as largely been pathetic.
Who do we play at PG, for starters? I did not see the start of the game yesterday but I assume Cooper started. She played more than any other guard--3/4 of the game. Why? She has played, and shot, poorly against zone defenses all year. Does HW not look at the team stats? This must be plain: Cooper is the WORST shooter on the team, has the worst shooting percentage of any of our regulars--and yet guess who has taken the second most shots on the team this year--nearly twice as many as Cooper and Reynolds? Guess who took 15 shots yesterday and made, count 'em, 3! Cooper. Granted, nobody on this team shoots well--Carter is 37 percent, Reynolds 36 percent, Cooper...34 percent. Still, bottom line: You don't want your worst shooter taking 15 shots! That's more of the LOW IQ basketball that is killing this team.
Reynolds should be the PG on this team. She has--by far--the best assist/turnover ratio on the team. She is the best rebounder among our guards. And, importantly, she has an asset--size--that can in theory be helpful in breaking down a zone. She can use her size to split defenders and get inside to shoot or pass. That's an important asset against a zone. She is also our toughest guard--and let's also mention the fact that she was our best player in two recent games. She's an OK defender and OK shooter--but on the whole I would absolutely make her my starting PG and stick with her.
Next? DeShields. She has to play and play more than 24 minutes. She's dour, there is a negative quality to her on-court personalty that I think is detrimental to the team; I can understand why HW and the coaches have benched her--but we are so talent poor that she has to play. So she is my shooting guard to go with Reynolds, and I stick with her.
Next? Now it gets a bit more difficult, or it might for me. It won't for HW. Graves. She will be in the lineup because she's a hard-working veteran who will bang. The problem with Graves is that she has spent too much of her career inside and simply does not offer enough movement and scoring away from the basket. She, like Cooper, is not effective against a zone, except for her rebounding. It doesn't matter--HW is going to play her. So there's three--Reynolds, DeShields and Graves.
Now what? Two more spots that could go to Russell, Nared, Carter, Dunbar or Middleton. One coaching decision that I liked yesterday was that WE played more zone defense. We can be effective playing zone ourselves, and when Dunbar was in the game we were playing zone. You could play Dunbar at the other forward position to give us some desperately needed scoring punch--and then play zone. You NEED to make threes against a zone defense--it is a MUST. We are a bad three-point shooting team--this is a big reason why our offense sux. This is why we must play Dunbar, IMO, and start playing a zone defense ourselves almost exclusively. So now I've got Reynolds, DeShields, Graves and Dunbar.
And for my 5th starter? I'm going unconventional, going against what HW has done all year--and that has been a big fail: I'm playing Nared as my 5th starter. She has been a disappointment offensively--who hasn't?--but she still has a lot of potential, and must play to realize it. She is 6'2" and long and athletic, can run the floor--and her length be a real asset defensively as well. We need those qualities. I like what she can potentially offer in combo with the other four.
What I do with Russell is use her to spell/backup Graves. Russell is paying too many minutes and simply does not have sufficient impact on the game. I also think Russell and Graves together have not been good for the offense. Neither one of them is a natural scorer. They play too close together, they do not work off one another very well, in terms of passing, and I think our offense is too stagnant with them together. We try to force too many passes to them. Without Russell we get--in theory-- more movement and more space. Dunbar can move around and find shots. But here's the weakness in my lineup: It's good to have a big body like Russell who can catch a pass inside, draw defenders--and then kick it out. We would miss that a bit--but we don't do it much right now, and not very well.
So, against a zone defense, my lineup is this:
PG--Reyolds.
Shooting guard: DeShields
Forward/wing: Nared
Forward/Wing: Dunbar
Center: Graves/Russell
Mind you, I think this lineup should try to play uptempo and run as much as possible--everybody in the group can run. But it also potentially offers more against a zone when we are playing half-court.
With this starting group I play a 1-3-1 zone-Reynolds at the point, DeShields on a wing, Dunbar in the middle and Nared on a wing. Graves/Russell inside. That could be effective against a team that is a fairly good outside shooting team. You could play 2-1-2 against a team that was stronger inside. I do not think playing only 1 of Graves/Russell should hurt our rebounding--not with Nared, DeShields and Dunbar and Reynolds. Those four plus either Graves/Russell should be plenty good enough on the boards--and, more important, might give us some more dynamism on offense, if there is any chemistry, which we haven't had all year.
I think trying to get the ball inside all the time to two bigs that aren't really scorers has hurt the offense--we stand around too much, we throw the ball away trying to force it inside. Get freakin' players moving, move the ball and shoot it. Warlick needs to disabuse herself of this notion that we must play man defense and that we must pound the ball inside. Hasn't worked.
I spell DeShields with Carter and spell Reynolds with either Middleton or Cooper, and spell Graves with Russell.
If we face a team that wants to play man against us, we might have to alter the lineup--but maybe not. We need a well-defined rotation before the damn season ends. Playing anybody and everybody in all sorts of combinations has been a disaster. Pick one, for chrissake and stick with it.
We sux in many ways, starting with our offensive play against zone defenses. So who would we--the true experts--play against a zone defense like the one the Vols saw yesterday and have seen all year. Let's begin with the premise that what we've done all year hasn't not worked and as largely been pathetic.
Who do we play at PG, for starters? I did not see the start of the game yesterday but I assume Cooper started. She played more than any other guard--3/4 of the game. Why? She has played, and shot, poorly against zone defenses all year. Does HW not look at the team stats? This must be plain: Cooper is the WORST shooter on the team, has the worst shooting percentage of any of our regulars--and yet guess who has taken the second most shots on the team this year--nearly twice as many as Cooper and Reynolds? Guess who took 15 shots yesterday and made, count 'em, 3! Cooper. Granted, nobody on this team shoots well--Carter is 37 percent, Reynolds 36 percent, Cooper...34 percent. Still, bottom line: You don't want your worst shooter taking 15 shots! That's more of the LOW IQ basketball that is killing this team.
Reynolds should be the PG on this team. She has--by far--the best assist/turnover ratio on the team. She is the best rebounder among our guards. And, importantly, she has an asset--size--that can in theory be helpful in breaking down a zone. She can use her size to split defenders and get inside to shoot or pass. That's an important asset against a zone. She is also our toughest guard--and let's also mention the fact that she was our best player in two recent games. She's an OK defender and OK shooter--but on the whole I would absolutely make her my starting PG and stick with her.
Next? DeShields. She has to play and play more than 24 minutes. She's dour, there is a negative quality to her on-court personalty that I think is detrimental to the team; I can understand why HW and the coaches have benched her--but we are so talent poor that she has to play. So she is my shooting guard to go with Reynolds, and I stick with her.
Next? Now it gets a bit more difficult, or it might for me. It won't for HW. Graves. She will be in the lineup because she's a hard-working veteran who will bang. The problem with Graves is that she has spent too much of her career inside and simply does not offer enough movement and scoring away from the basket. She, like Cooper, is not effective against a zone, except for her rebounding. It doesn't matter--HW is going to play her. So there's three--Reynolds, DeShields and Graves.
Now what? Two more spots that could go to Russell, Nared, Carter, Dunbar or Middleton. One coaching decision that I liked yesterday was that WE played more zone defense. We can be effective playing zone ourselves, and when Dunbar was in the game we were playing zone. You could play Dunbar at the other forward position to give us some desperately needed scoring punch--and then play zone. You NEED to make threes against a zone defense--it is a MUST. We are a bad three-point shooting team--this is a big reason why our offense sux. This is why we must play Dunbar, IMO, and start playing a zone defense ourselves almost exclusively. So now I've got Reynolds, DeShields, Graves and Dunbar.
And for my 5th starter? I'm going unconventional, going against what HW has done all year--and that has been a big fail: I'm playing Nared as my 5th starter. She has been a disappointment offensively--who hasn't?--but she still has a lot of potential, and must play to realize it. She is 6'2" and long and athletic, can run the floor--and her length be a real asset defensively as well. We need those qualities. I like what she can potentially offer in combo with the other four.
What I do with Russell is use her to spell/backup Graves. Russell is paying too many minutes and simply does not have sufficient impact on the game. I also think Russell and Graves together have not been good for the offense. Neither one of them is a natural scorer. They play too close together, they do not work off one another very well, in terms of passing, and I think our offense is too stagnant with them together. We try to force too many passes to them. Without Russell we get--in theory-- more movement and more space. Dunbar can move around and find shots. But here's the weakness in my lineup: It's good to have a big body like Russell who can catch a pass inside, draw defenders--and then kick it out. We would miss that a bit--but we don't do it much right now, and not very well.
So, against a zone defense, my lineup is this:
PG--Reyolds.
Shooting guard: DeShields
Forward/wing: Nared
Forward/Wing: Dunbar
Center: Graves/Russell
Mind you, I think this lineup should try to play uptempo and run as much as possible--everybody in the group can run. But it also potentially offers more against a zone when we are playing half-court.
With this starting group I play a 1-3-1 zone-Reynolds at the point, DeShields on a wing, Dunbar in the middle and Nared on a wing. Graves/Russell inside. That could be effective against a team that is a fairly good outside shooting team. You could play 2-1-2 against a team that was stronger inside. I do not think playing only 1 of Graves/Russell should hurt our rebounding--not with Nared, DeShields and Dunbar and Reynolds. Those four plus either Graves/Russell should be plenty good enough on the boards--and, more important, might give us some more dynamism on offense, if there is any chemistry, which we haven't had all year.
I think trying to get the ball inside all the time to two bigs that aren't really scorers has hurt the offense--we stand around too much, we throw the ball away trying to force it inside. Get freakin' players moving, move the ball and shoot it. Warlick needs to disabuse herself of this notion that we must play man defense and that we must pound the ball inside. Hasn't worked.
I spell DeShields with Carter and spell Reynolds with either Middleton or Cooper, and spell Graves with Russell.
If we face a team that wants to play man against us, we might have to alter the lineup--but maybe not. We need a well-defined rotation before the damn season ends. Playing anybody and everybody in all sorts of combinations has been a disaster. Pick one, for chrissake and stick with it.
