Brianna Banks | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Brianna Banks

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LOL As I said in my post, wisea$$, I tried to register and pay the darned .75 cents but the site won't let me. I already read the free paragraphs so thanks for nothin'.
Bad credit rating, ha!
 
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I share your enthusiasm re: BBanks, and she may well develop into a great defender capable of giving SkyDigg some trouble. However, a player like Diggins requires great team effort. She has an incredible handle and she is constantly working off screens, etc. You try to follow her over the screen and she can take it to the lane in a heartbeat. You cheat under and she rises for the jumper. I think a lot of the time, the coaches are going to want our D to switch or even look to trap/double sometimes when Diggins has the ball, so one perimeter player is going to have to work as hard as the next. Not that one player won't have primary responsibility when we're in M2M defense, but you get my point. BBanks may well get the primary assignment on Diggins at some point, but I wouldn't necessarily throw her in the deep end just yet .......

This year we should have an improved bunch of perimeter defenders and depending on the lineup on the floor, our ability to switch effectively should be a strength: Kelly (who won't always be on the perimeter) and Tiff are excellent defenders and very quick, Bria is improved and we have added BBanks the waterbug: Geno says he is going to try and put her in situations where UCONN can exploit her defensive talents. OTOH, per the coaches' most recent comments, KML's on-ball defense needs some work and I'm not sure where CDoty will be defensively as far as lateral quickness and explosiveness. This is a still question mark. She's very smart so I think she'll be OK. Inside, we are a little softer around the basket without Maya coming over to help when a player (like Diggins) gets into the lane. Stef is much improved when it comes to altering and blocking some shots but she is still just a soph and is not like Tina was in her last couple of years (obviously no knock on Stef). Maya's help defense--which along with her rebounding was her biggest contribution defensively--will be sorely missed.

Incidentally, the two greatest defensive switching teams that I ever saw were both active around the same time. First, the 1989 Illinois team with Kendall Gill, Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Lowell Hamilton and Stephen Bardo. Glen Rice's Michigan team beat them at the last second if memory serves, either in the Final Four or the regional final. Anyway, that Illinois team could switch all day and never care who ended up on whom. Five mid-size, tremendously athletic guys, basically. Just an unbelievable team. The other team was the Detroit Pistons of the late 80s. Not the same as far as being equivalent in size and athleticism across the board, but boy could they rotate on defense. It was a thing of beauty for a team that didn't play a very 'elegant' brand of basketball on the offensive end ...

Absolutely right! That was a very good Illinois team that lost to Michigan in the national semifinal on a Sean Higgins putback of a Terry Mills jumper after beating Michigan two times during the regular season. I was a Michigan fan, but certainly appreciated how well the undersized Illini played. I have that game on DVD BTW. It is ironic that during the course of that game, mention is made of the women's national championship being played the following day back when the women played on back to back days - Tennessee vs Auburn.

Those who believe that Bill Walton was the best passing big man of all time might change their minds after seeing Terry Mills in the aforementioned game against Illinois and in the championship game against Seton Hall.
 
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