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Message: [QUOTE="jonson, post: 2476381, member: 6034"] Having watched Oregon all this season (and last) I agree with almost all of this post--and especially the last paragraph. But I don't think Giomi would have been much of an answer for McCowan. Giomi does move very well but, at this point, she is not very strong and gets banged around and pushed every which way by players big and small when she's on the court--usually during the last minutes of a blowout. I do think she has potential and perhaps a couple of years from now she'll be a very different player, but not before she adds a considerable amount of strength. I also don't think that Graves is quite as uninterested in defense as you state. This is a very young team--still--(the three best players are 2 sophomores [Ionescu and Hebard] and a freshman [Sabally], with the leadership mainly coming from the first), and they obviously have a lot to learn about positioning, etc. As effective as she has been in all but a few games, Hebard is still very raw in many ways and even considered redshirting her freshman year (the high school competition in Alaska can't be all that much for someone with her size and athletic ability). She works hard and she'll get better at both ends of the court, but at present she is very much a work in progress--albeit a very good one. And McGuire, as has been pointed out, is slow and that leads to a lot of fouls. So, yes, there's hesitancy there (and with Hebard, too) as regards being physical. She's a very good shooter from the top of the key and that does stake some pressure off Hebard, but, in McGuire's case, the pluses and minuses mostly (imo) cancel one another out. Sabally is another story completely, but she is still learning how to adjust to the US game. So far she's done a terrific job in that regard (early on it seems like she was being called for traveling about every other possession). She's very athletic--kind of glides down the court effortlessly--and is a significant talent with (already) an impressive range of skills (handling the ball, driving, shooting 3's, etc.). But right now defense isn't one of them. I have no doubt the defense will come given her smarts and work ethic, but that's likely somewhere down the road. The Mississippi State game was a good learning experience--a top 5 team on the road after a 3000 mile plane flight--and I have no doubt the Ducks will benefit from it. And although I think they'll always have difficulty with really athletic and quick teams, I do think that by the end of the season, and on a neutral court, they would be able to give M. State a much better challenge than they did on Wednesday. [/QUOTE]

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