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Message: [QUOTE="Dillon77, post: 4135477, member: 6620"] Like you, [USER=730]@Alydar[/USER] and several other posters on The Boneyard and The Bench, I did watch those games. At the expense at being thrown into the corner of a gym with Tim Fudd and his airhorn :eek: ;) , may I inquire into what your major gripes were with the way Cori Close coached that team? You know my posts well enough from over the years that I'm not trying to bait you here. I'm genuinely interested in your take. So interested that I printed out the team stat sheets and read them over again while watching the 2nd half of the SC-Maryland game. The stats are, of course, overwhelming. The U.S. was #1 in scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, all the rebounding categories (save offensive rebounding -- 3rd), assists and Assist/Turnover ratio. I was going to ding 'em on the 14.1 turnovers per game, but only Mali had less. If you recall, the team had some interesting personnel decisions being made late in the selection process, then one starter summarily disappeared after the first game. I actually thought one of Close's stronger mid-tourney decisions came when altering her starting line-up; inserting a #3 -- Sonia Citron -- into the lineup; as a 4. And, of course, Citron thrived in that role (as did the team), playing well with Caitlin Clark, Te-Hina Paopao, Azzi Fudd and the two centers (Laurens Betts and Ware). Also, I liked the way Close employed Diamond Johnson off the bench as a Vinnie Johnson-type of "microwave" spark. Was it all smooth? No, the gold medal game against Australia was labored; although, they looked very efficient in the run-ups against Spain and Hungary. Substitutions possibly could've been smoother, but Payton Verhulst continued to play hard after she was taken out of the starting 5 and Sania Feagin started making some contributions later on. And the Jewell Spear departure notwithstanding, proceedings seemed to be pretty normalized. I certainly can understand your perspective of Close as UCLA Coach (although she did win an NIT, no?), but not sure her performance for the U.S.A. merits a slam. So, that said, what did I miss? Thanks. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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