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Fort Hays State Postgame Thread

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BobbyJ said:
Agree. Brady wasn't used much in post ups last year, Edwards handled 90% of them. And El Alfy has never had to or learned the footwork. Her HS aged club teams allowed her to basically cruise around the perimeter to get the ball because they had no capable passers. Best hope would be Strong but she's more valuable at the high post with options. UConn had better score a lot in transition or make a lot of 3s.
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When Azzi is back they will have the shooters and I could see them playing Paige at the 4 again in a 4 guard offense.
 
MooseJaw said:
Really? We must have completely different ways to interpret what we saw today. I saw what is to be the beginning of a very good line up for our bigs. Ask any and all teams if they would take our line-up of bigs Saraha, Janna, Ice and Aayanna and trade us theirs. The trade offers would be near unanimous. By mid-season we will be running over most if not all our opposition. Of course this is just my opinion, and as such it is beyond contestation. :cool:
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Thanks for a dose of realism. This was the first college game for Sarah and Jana, plus Jana is coming off a serious injury. Let's not forget that in addition to Geno, UConn has Chris Dailey and Jamelle Elliott to coach the bigs. Chris may be the best x's and o's bigs coach around, and Jamelle the toughest. Ice and Sarah are both very good passers -- As JoePgh said, Ice and Jana need to better seal off their defenders, then the entry passes will be there all game. A couple of passes from the guards were also ill-timed or -executed.

We'll all be oohing and aahing over the bigs 10 games into the season.
 
Sarah, Jana and Ice will be just fine. Those who are being hyper critical need to take a chill pill.

It takes time for post players to develop. Ice is in her second season playing. She will improve. Jana and Sarah are both "rookies" in the their first year of college ball.

The inside game willl develop over time. This team is still getting to know each other. And there are still 3 players coming back from injuries that need to be integrated back into the flow.
 
Ball movement must have been a preseason emphasis. It was very good. Sometimes people just assume that a player is a center based on height. I base it on skillset and innate tendencies (which may have to be undone...not easy). I say this because while Ice and Jana are tall, their tendencies from what I have seen are more that of a power or small forward as opposed to a back to the basket and seal center. So, give them a minute. It's a different feel altogether. I actually expected Jana to court with foul trouble early. She's very aggressive and needs to adjust her (horizontal) force. I liked all the different lineups which I think should be prioritized in any exhibition game. I didn't see anything alarming or unexpected at this stage of the season.
 
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JoePgh said:
I attended the game in person, and I agree with most of what has been written here. Here are some random observations that I don't think anyone else has offered:
  1. The new scoreboards at Gampel are amazing -- I huge video screen of the game in the middle, and a fairly complete box score for each team on either side. But you have to search to find the game score when it isn't being shown on the gamecast.
  2. No one commented on the defense, which looked to be in much better order than the offense. Fort Hays wasn't having any luck getting inside, except for offensive rebounds, of which they had 11 (too many).
  3. Despite the problems with scoring in the paint, the box score (available at uconnhuskies.com) shows a 42-18 advantage for UConn in points in the paint. Watching the game live, it seemed as if UConn was taking nothing but jump shots, but perhaps that was a false impression. I wouldn't be surprised if UConn's guards had most of the paint points on short jump shots.
  4. Paige was 12-for-14 in shooting, and I believe that she made her first 12 shots and missed her last two. Several of her shots would make Jayson Tatum proud if he had made them.
  5. Overall, UConn shot 50% (37-74) and help Fort Hays to 29% (18-62). Fifty percent shooting isn't bad for the first game.
  6. UConn took 35 3-point shots and made 13 (37%), which are Celtics-like numbers. Even with that good-but-not-great shooting percentage on 3's, the score certainly piled up when they starting going in during the second quarter.
  7. Further regarding 3-point shooting, Allie was 2-for-10 and Sarah was 1-for-6. So if you exclude those two nervous freshmen from the total, the remainder of the team shot 10-for-19, over 50%. When those two frosh get their nerves under control and Azzi returns, UConn could start shooting over 40% from 3 on high-volume shooting. It will take a lot of paint points by opponents to overcome that.
  8. Regarding Ice, I did not like the fact that UConn's first two shots of the game were jump shot attempts by Ice from outside the paint. I think Geno corrected that at the next timeout, because she did not keep doing that. BUT, UConn got exactly 2 points from its center position: Ice was 0-5 and Jana scored just one field goal on a putback. Neither of them attempted a free throw. In fact, UConn had only 2 free throw attempts for the entire game (both by Qadence late in the game), which reflects the absence of inside offense.
  9. Regarding Jana, I would say that she has been badly over-hyped based on this game. She did show herself to be a strong rebounder (9 rebounds in 11 minutes, including 4 offensive rebounds), but she only took one shot. As another poster mentioned, numerous post entry passes were stolen because neither Jana nor Ice sealed off their defenders before the pass came to them. Moreover, Jana's fouling proclivity (4 fouls in 11 minutes of playing time) is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed for UConn to have an adequate presence in the paint.
  10. Qadence may be a more critical player than we thought. She was 4-for-8 and 2-for-5 from 3, and got 5 rebounds. She did not seem to be out of position or out of sync with her teammates at any time.
  11. Ashlynn played like a senior for all of her 32 minutes. It would have been nice to see KK as well, but Ashlynn is certainly solid at that off-guard position. She had 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3 of 6 from 3), and a team-high 4 steals.
  12. Kaitlyn Chen is going to be the point guard on this team, and she is perfectly suited to the role. She had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists vs. 3 turnovers (on those post entry passes that were stolen) in a team-high 35 minutes. A concern is that she and Ice both had 4 fouls.
  13. Sarah has NOT been over-hyped. She played calmly and steadily. Apart from her 3-point shooting malaise, she played a strong (no pun intended) 28 minutes with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists vs. 1 turnover, and 2 steals.
I think the inside offense is the only major concern from this exhibition. Hopefully Ayanna and Morgan can be back soon to help with that; they are probably more important to the team at this point than Azzi or KK.
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Your last point is spot on. They really need Ayanna and Morgan to be healthy. That gives them a very talented backup at the four and 15 fouls at the five, which they will need.
 
LwrcasefaN said:
Ball movement must have been a preseason emphasis. It was very good. Sometimes people just assume that a player is a center based on height. I base it on skillset and innate tendencies (which may have to be undone...not easy). I say this because while Ice and Jana are tall, but their tendencies from what I have seen are more that of a power or small forward as opposed to a back to the basket and seal center. So, give them a minute. It's a different feel altogether. I actually expected Jana to court with foul trouble early. She's very aggressive and needs to adjust her (horizontal) force. I liked all the different lineups which I think should be prioritized in any exhibition game. I didn't see anything alarming or unexpected at this stage of the season.
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Jana looks like a center. Definitely no way a SF.
 
I find the hyper critical comments about the post players to be quite foolish
As I see the games live with some reasonably good seats, it allows one to follow a player and not necessarily follow the ball
Re JAE rebounding was very good, and she worked very hard defensively
He put back on offensive rebound was good to see
Having not played in a competitive basketball game in a few years, I thought her performance was reasonably good, considering the circumstances
Re ice : she has obviously dropped quite a few pounds, and it was obvious by the way she ran the floor.. significantly better than last year
Additionally, she moved much better defensively than last year, especially on switches with players away from the basket
Apparently in evaluating the performance, many posters seem to think that it’s only about how many points scores
The team doesn’t need the center position to be great just to be steady and not make big mistakes

A few other random thoughts
Sara, Strong’s basketball, IQ and feel for the game is as good as I’ve ever seen or a freshman
Her ability to guard people in space at her size is very impressive
Never gets out of position, defensively and has very quick hands
There was a High screen in the second half
In which she stepped back, instead of rolling to the basket, and was wide-open for the three and knocked it gown
She and page can run that anytime they want
, I was beyond impressed with her

Kaitlyn Chen is as I remember her from the game with a Princeton a few years ago
Seems to be more effective as an off guard, and not as a point guard

Allie Z I think will have to improve defensively to get major minutes
Got beat a number of times off the dribble
But seems to be very good at finding the open space on the floor for the wide-open three
I suspect she will make it better percentage going forward

For all those bemoaning that the team did not play well
Would you have thought differently in the first half they made five or six more open3’s
And last, but not least page is beyond extraordinary
She didn’t even break a sweat today
 
I know it's only 1 game, and an exhibition game, at that, but I see the 2 most improved players being Shade and Q. I liked the way both of them moved around the court. Last year, it seemed that those two just stood in the corner most of the time, waiting for a pass.
I liked the way both of them ran or drove to the basket.
 
BobbyJ said:
Agree. Brady wasn't used much in post ups last year, Edwards handled 90% of them. And El Alfy has never had to or learned the footwork. Her HS aged club teams allowed her to basically cruise around the perimeter to get the ball because they had no capable passers. Best hope would be Strong but she's more valuable at the high post with options. UConn had better score a lot in transition or make a lot of 3s.
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Low post scoring is becoming a thing of the past in basketball, at all levels. Our team seems to be pretty well positioned to take advantage of this trend.
 
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oldude said:
There were about 4-5 botched post entry passes, all of which were due to post players not pinning their defenders on their backs when receiving the entry passes. Jamelle has some work to do in order to clean that up.
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All of the passing was atrocious. Geno needs to get the practice players jumping out into the passing lanes. Very sloppy...
 
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Their perimeter defensive rotations gave up too many open looks, something that may bite them in the tush against top teams like ND, USC and the Gamecocks.
 
JoePgh said:
I attended the game in person, and I agree with most of what has been written here. Here are some random observations that I don't think anyone else has offered:
  1. The new scoreboards at Gampel are amazing -- I huge video screen of the game in the middle, and a fairly complete box score for each team on either side. But you have to search to find the game score when it isn't being shown on the gamecast.
  2. No one commented on the defense, which looked to be in much better order than the offense. Fort Hays wasn't having any luck getting inside, except for offensive rebounds, of which they had 11 (too many).
  3. Despite the problems with scoring in the paint, the box score (available at uconnhuskies.com) shows a 42-18 advantage for UConn in points in the paint. Watching the game live, it seemed as if UConn was taking nothing but jump shots, but perhaps that was a false impression. I wouldn't be surprised if UConn's guards had most of the paint points on short jump shots.
  4. Paige was 12-for-14 in shooting, and I believe that she made her first 12 shots and missed her last two. Several of her shots would make Jayson Tatum proud if he had made them.
  5. Overall, UConn shot 50% (37-74) and help Fort Hays to 29% (18-62). Fifty percent shooting isn't bad for the first game.
  6. UConn took 35 3-point shots and made 13 (37%), which are Celtics-like numbers. Even with that good-but-not-great shooting percentage on 3's, the score certainly piled up when they starting going in during the second quarter.
  7. Further regarding 3-point shooting, Allie was 2-for-10 and Sarah was 1-for-6. So if you exclude those two nervous freshmen from the total, the remainder of the team shot 10-for-19, over 50%. When those two frosh get their nerves under control and Azzi returns, UConn could start shooting over 40% from 3 on high-volume shooting. It will take a lot of paint points by opponents to overcome that.
  8. Regarding Ice, I did not like the fact that UConn's first two shots of the game were jump shot attempts by Ice from outside the paint. I think Geno corrected that at the next timeout, because she did not keep doing that. BUT, UConn got exactly 2 points from its center position: Ice was 0-5 and Jana scored just one field goal on a putback. Neither of them attempted a free throw. In fact, UConn had only 2 free throw attempts for the entire game (both by Qadence late in the game), which reflects the absence of inside offense.
  9. Regarding Jana, I would say that she has been badly over-hyped based on this game. She did show herself to be a strong rebounder (9 rebounds in 11 minutes, including 4 offensive rebounds), but she only took one shot. As another poster mentioned, numerous post entry passes were stolen because neither Jana nor Ice sealed off their defenders before the pass came to them. Moreover, Jana's fouling proclivity (4 fouls in 11 minutes of playing time) is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed for UConn to have an adequate presence in the paint.
  10. Qadence may be a more critical player than we thought. She was 4-for-8 and 2-for-5 from 3, and got 5 rebounds. She did not seem to be out of position or out of sync with her teammates at any time.
  11. Ashlynn played like a senior for all of her 32 minutes. It would have been nice to see KK as well, but Ashlynn is certainly solid at that off-guard position. She had 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3 of 6 from 3), and a team-high 4 steals.
  12. Kaitlyn Chen is going to be the point guard on this team, and she is perfectly suited to the role. She had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists vs. 3 turnovers (on those post entry passes that were stolen) in a team-high 35 minutes. A concern is that she and Ice both had 4 fouls.
  13. Sarah has NOT been over-hyped. She played calmly and steadily. Apart from her 3-point shooting malaise, she played a strong (no pun intended) 28 minutes with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists vs. 1 turnover, and 2 steals.
I think the inside offense is the only major concern from this exhibition. Hopefully Ayanna and Morgan can be back soon to help with that; they are probably more important to the team at this point than Azzi or KK.
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Bueckers played like who she is - the best college player in the country. Can't take her for granted.

I am so impressed with Shade's fitness. When others get tired. she doesn't. She scored a driving lay-up with three minutes left in the first half merely because she was in far better shape and could outrun everyone.

She is the player you want in the last five minutes of the game as everyone starts falling apart. Of course if a rank amateur like me can spot this the coaches indeed know this as well.

Jana doesn't need to score on this team. Needs to think she is Dennis Rodman/Maurice Lucas on defense and in rebounding. She will get cheap baskets doing so too .
 
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It is an exhibition game, so I only look for two thing, 1). which players are able to play & if those players used the off season to work on their craft. 2). Which of the freshies shows confidence in their game. That is it for me. Those two things. But it was great to see the smiles again of the players today.
 
LwrcasefaN said:
Jana...power forward. Ice...small forward. I was being lazy.
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Jana is a college center but this is game 1. Maybe PF in capability too but I don't believe as much of a PF. She looks like her game is all Center to me at this brief point. The two baskets she had in 2nd half (one called off) were that of a Cetner. PF's tend to get bumped more go flailing or shoot with some sort of urgency more than they should and/or get easily bumped into losing balanace. Her shots despite contested a bit were of ease as was her rebounding but I’ll watch again.

As for Ice. While she doesn't play like PF - she could never be a Small Forward. Right now she should be considered A Stretch 4. and a Center for UCONN's purposes/ stick her tehre force her ot be more physical She doesn’t t seem to have much comfort scoring inside. But as a small forward it would be the combo of she doesn’t shoot well enough to be a 3 or in some cases if a 3 doesn't shoot well enough then they can overcome by penetration and passing. She can't penetrate much as a wing nor is she that good of a passer as a Wing. And she has no shot to defend wings but has the body to defend Power Forwards and Centers.

Off-topic a bit from our discussion: And I read somewhere on here I think some were criticizing Ice of actually taking the outside shots. That’s her strength. She has a very good shot for a big. Were they complaining when she wasn't shooting pretty well vs SoCal and Iowa? You can tell if her season progresses as a big as much as we hope is if she can score on that 1st qtr spin move drive while being contacted. And if she could become a more anticipatory and forceful rebounder.
 
JoePgh said:
I attended the game in person, and I agree with most of what has been written here. Here are some random observations that I don't think anyone else has offered:
  1. The new scoreboards at Gampel are amazing -- I huge video screen of the game in the middle, and a fairly complete box score for each team on either side. But you have to search to find the game score when it isn't being shown on the gamecast.
  2. No one commented on the defense, which looked to be in much better order than the offense. Fort Hays wasn't having any luck getting inside, except for offensive rebounds, of which they had 11 (too many).
  3. Despite the problems with scoring in the paint, the box score (available at uconnhuskies.com) shows a 42-18 advantage for UConn in points in the paint. Watching the game live, it seemed as if UConn was taking nothing but jump shots, but perhaps that was a false impression. I wouldn't be surprised if UConn's guards had most of the paint points on short jump shots.
  4. Paige was 12-for-14 in shooting, and I believe that she made her first 12 shots and missed her last two. Several of her shots would make Jayson Tatum proud if he had made them.
  5. Overall, UConn shot 50% (37-74) and help Fort Hays to 29% (18-62). Fifty percent shooting isn't bad for the first game.
  6. UConn took 35 3-point shots and made 13 (37%), which are Celtics-like numbers. Even with that good-but-not-great shooting percentage on 3's, the score certainly piled up when they starting going in during the second quarter.
  7. Further regarding 3-point shooting, Allie was 2-for-10 and Sarah was 1-for-6. So if you exclude those two nervous freshmen from the total, the remainder of the team shot 10-for-19, over 50%. When those two frosh get their nerves under control and Azzi returns, UConn could start shooting over 40% from 3 on high-volume shooting. It will take a lot of paint points by opponents to overcome that.
  8. Regarding Ice, I did not like the fact that UConn's first two shots of the game were jump shot attempts by Ice from outside the paint. I think Geno corrected that at the next timeout, because she did not keep doing that. BUT, UConn got exactly 2 points from its center position: Ice was 0-5 and Jana scored just one field goal on a putback. Neither of them attempted a free throw. In fact, UConn had only 2 free throw attempts for the entire game (both by Qadence late in the game), which reflects the absence of inside offense.
  9. Regarding Jana, I would say that she has been badly over-hyped based on this game. She did show herself to be a strong rebounder (9 rebounds in 11 minutes, including 4 offensive rebounds), but she only took one shot. As another poster mentioned, numerous post entry passes were stolen because neither Jana nor Ice sealed off their defenders before the pass came to them. Moreover, Jana's fouling proclivity (4 fouls in 11 minutes of playing time) is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed for UConn to have an adequate presence in the paint.
  10. Qadence may be a more critical player than we thought. She was 4-for-8 and 2-for-5 from 3, and got 5 rebounds. She did not seem to be out of position or out of sync with her teammates at any time.
  11. Ashlynn played like a senior for all of her 32 minutes. It would have been nice to see KK as well, but Ashlynn is certainly solid at that off-guard position. She had 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3 of 6 from 3), and a team-high 4 steals.
  12. Kaitlyn Chen is going to be the point guard on this team, and she is perfectly suited to the role. She had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists vs. 3 turnovers (on those post entry passes that were stolen) in a team-high 35 minutes. A concern is that she and Ice both had 4 fouls.
  13. Sarah has NOT been over-hyped. She played calmly and steadily. Apart from her 3-point shooting malaise, she played a strong (no pun intended) 28 minutes with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists vs. 1 turnover, and 2 steals.
I think the inside offense is the only major concern from this exhibition. Hopefully Ayanna and Morgan can be back soon to help with that; they are probably more important to the team at this point than Azzi or KK.
Expand ...
I was at the game as well and this summary from JoePgh really nails it. We saw the same things.

Hard to believe that at this point that Paige could surprise to the upside, but she did. Just at a different level than everyone else. Looks stronger.

The arena also surprised to the upside. New scoreboards are big and cool, and it seemed like the lighting features were also improved, and a new big “UCONN” sign at the player introductions.

Q looked quick and confident, sophomore jump. Ash looked like Ash (only in better shape, which is crazy), and Chen looks really good. Not as quick as KK but capable of finding lanes and creating. Mildly surprised we did not see KK, hopefully just protecting her for the opener on Thursday.

Allie will shoot it better and our bigs will play better. Sarah is as advertised. The smaller lineup with Sarah at center was the most effective.

No Nika-level on ball defenders but they all got after it. Sarah is a ballhawk.

KK, Cheli and Azzi warmed up with the team before the game. Azzi looks totally ready, could not get a read on Morgan. Caroline, Aubrey and Ayanna were at the game but did not participate in warmups. Ayanna had the sling on some of the time and off some of the time.

All in all, a fun afternoon. Good crowd considering it was an exhibition.
 
JoePgh said:
I attended the game in person, and I agree with most of what has been written here. Here are some random observations that I don't think anyone else has offered:
  1. The new scoreboards at Gampel are amazing -- I huge video screen of the game in the middle, and a fairly complete box score for each team on either side. But you have to search to find the game score when it isn't being shown on the gamecast.
  2. No one commented on the defense, which looked to be in much better order than the offense. Fort Hays wasn't having any luck getting inside, except for offensive rebounds, of which they had 11 (too many).
  3. Despite the problems with scoring in the paint, the box score (available at uconnhuskies.com) shows a 42-18 advantage for UConn in points in the paint. Watching the game live, it seemed as if UConn was taking nothing but jump shots, but perhaps that was a false impression. I wouldn't be surprised if UConn's guards had most of the paint points on short jump shots.
  4. Paige was 12-for-14 in shooting, and I believe that she made her first 12 shots and missed her last two. Several of her shots would make Jayson Tatum proud if he had made them.
  5. Overall, UConn shot 50% (37-74) and help Fort Hays to 29% (18-62). Fifty percent shooting isn't bad for the first game.
  6. UConn took 35 3-point shots and made 13 (37%), which are Celtics-like numbers. Even with that good-but-not-great shooting percentage on 3's, the score certainly piled up when they starting going in during the second quarter.
  7. Further regarding 3-point shooting, Allie was 2-for-10 and Sarah was 1-for-6. So if you exclude those two nervous freshmen from the total, the remainder of the team shot 10-for-19, over 50%. When those two frosh get their nerves under control and Azzi returns, UConn could start shooting over 40% from 3 on high-volume shooting. It will take a lot of paint points by opponents to overcome that.
  8. Regarding Ice, I did not like the fact that UConn's first two shots of the game were jump shot attempts by Ice from outside the paint. I think Geno corrected that at the next timeout, because she did not keep doing that. BUT, UConn got exactly 2 points from its center position: Ice was 0-5 and Jana scored just one field goal on a putback. Neither of them attempted a free throw. In fact, UConn had only 2 free throw attempts for the entire game (both by Qadence late in the game), which reflects the absence of inside offense.
  9. Regarding Jana, I would say that she has been badly over-hyped based on this game. She did show herself to be a strong rebounder (9 rebounds in 11 minutes, including 4 offensive rebounds), but she only took one shot. As another poster mentioned, numerous post entry passes were stolen because neither Jana nor Ice sealed off their defenders before the pass came to them. Moreover, Jana's fouling proclivity (4 fouls in 11 minutes of playing time) is an urgent problem that needs to be fixed for UConn to have an adequate presence in the paint.
  10. Qadence may be a more critical player than we thought. She was 4-for-8 and 2-for-5 from 3, and got 5 rebounds. She did not seem to be out of position or out of sync with her teammates at any time.
  11. Ashlynn played like a senior for all of her 32 minutes. It would have been nice to see KK as well, but Ashlynn is certainly solid at that off-guard position. She had 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3 of 6 from 3), and a team-high 4 steals.
  12. Kaitlyn Chen is going to be the point guard on this team, and she is perfectly suited to the role. She had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists vs. 3 turnovers (on those post entry passes that were stolen) in a team-high 35 minutes. A concern is that she and Ice both had 4 fouls.
  13. Sarah has NOT been over-hyped. She played calmly and steadily. Apart from her 3-point shooting malaise, she played a strong (no pun intended) 28 minutes with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists vs. 1 turnover, and 2 steals.
I think the inside offense is the only major concern from this exhibition. Hopefully Ayanna and Morgan can be back soon to help with that; they are probably more important to the team at this point than Azzi or KK.
Expand ...
This^^^

People with blinders on who are like "oh this is just an exhibition game". Well I don't care how good Ft Hayes will be in DIVISION 2 - there were times we simply could not run any effective offense. Yet again, relying on Paige to bail us out. 2 of the quarters were terrific. 2 of them substandard. In fairness, Ft Hayes played some VERY stout defense...

I don't believe in throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but Joe nailed it in his comments. Ice seems to have regressed - what's the opposite of a sophomore leap? Whatever it is, she showed it this game. And Jana - all the hype comments I read about from Geno - was he talking about the same player we saw today? Those 2 need a LOT of work. And Allie - I guess shooters need to keep shooting, but she was ... not good today.

On the flip side - Paige was in NPOY form in just her first preseason game. Ash certainly was everything we could have hoped for and more (ie. sophomore leap). Anyone who thinks Chen isn't starting, and going to play substantial minutes, needs to think again. KK will be a tempo changer, but Chen is going to be special. Sarah didn't do anything super flashy, but boy is she a very very good all around player. Q had some head-scratching moments (bad passes, ill timed shots, poor defense, etc.), but her Q4 play (no pun intended) should earn her more minutes next game.

And to be fair, we only played 8 today. Morgan was not available, Azzi is almost ready to come back, and I think KK was just held out for precaution, so that will give us 11. No idea about Carol, Aubrey, Yanna, but 11 is really good.

Overall I'd give the post play a C- and the guard/wing play an A-. The only reason the post didn't get a "D" is because Sarah, Ash, and Paige all spent some time scoring in the post and they were effective (mostly)...
 
I used to tell my players' parents at the start of the year meeting to expect the team to play poorly in the scrimmages and early games. It takes the players a bit to figure out what needs to happen.

I agree with most of the concerns in the previous posts. I also think all the concerns are fixable.

Stuff I learned today:

Ziebell, at least for right now, must have the green light to shoot when open. She shot an airball today. I wonder how many more she shoots in her career. I guess less than five.

I hope Strong doesn't have to play the 5. She could handle it of course but she can be so effective on the perimeter on both ends of the floor.

They didn't bring Chen in to be a backup. She played well today but I have seen her dominate. She shouldn't have to but she can.

I am hoping that the best five does not include four guards like last year..

On paper, this group is loaded with high quality guards which would imply that Shade should log fewer minutes this year. I hope the minutes diminish but she is vital to this team's success going forward.
 
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