Gabby's next challenge - Kitija Laksa?

[meyers7]

Oh, and BTW:

View attachment 18413

 

[USFMB]

Am I remembering correctly that Ferreira was playing hurt last year at the end of the season? Feet maybe?

Is this the same injury.

Yes, same injury. She missed games at the beginning of the season, but was able to put in some minutes in later games. Recently, she has not played at all.

 

[huskeynut]

You may be right, although I point out that Gabby was assigned to guard Arike Ogunbowle & Kelsey Mitchell, two players that played on the perimeter. I guess we will know for sure tomorrow night.

I would not be surprised if Geno has Gabby, Kia and some else switching off on Laksa. Nothing more frustrating for a player like Laksa to have to face different style defenders. We know Geno likes to "shut down" the opponents top scorer.

It's going to be a fun game.

 

[CocoHusky]

Oh, and BTW:
View attachment 18413

In that case consider it intentional

 

[USFMB]

I would not be surprised if Geno has Gabby, Kia and some else switching off on Laksa. Nothing more frustrating for a player like Laksa to have to face different style defenders. We know Geno likes to "shut down" the opponents top scorer.

It's going to be a fun game.

The one thing Laksa has going in her favor is her quick release. She is used to getting the ball and immediately shooting, even if there is no defender around. So, because of that, she is tough to defend.

 

[CocoHusky]

The 6'5"' center is Katelyn Weber. She has started nine games. Freshman Tamara Henshaw, who is about 6'2," has started, in her place, the past five games.

FWIW, Laura Ferreira will not play against UCONN. She is now expected to be out for the rest of the year, due to her lingering injury. Despite her condition, she played off the bench in nine games.
For more player info see: USF Combined Team Statistics.
http://www.gousfbulls.com/pdf9/5086312.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=7700

Sucks for USF to lose Ferreira to injury. Always liked her game versatile and determined.

 

[oldude]

Lots of very good discussion on which Husky will earn the primary assignment to defend Laksa: Gabby, Kia, Lou or TEAM. Here's my last point in favor of Gabby.

Every time Geno & his coaches gameplan, they probably ask the question, "How can this team beat us?" If the answer to that question is, "No way, no how." then they can try some things out on offense and defense to see how certain players react in certain situations, not unlike a controlled scrimmage in practice.

With USF, while it is unlikely that the Bulls can defeat the Huskies, I think the coaching staff takes that possibility seriously against a talented, well-coached team like USF. IMO, the only way that USF threatens UConn is if Laksa goes off for 20-30 points and everybody else on the Bulls feeds of her energy to play way above their heads. The best way to burst USF's bubble and take them out of the game early is to put Gabby on Laksa, deny her the ball, and if she should get the ball, get in her face to harass the ball and challenge her shot. Every time she tries to come off a screen, another Husky jumps out aggressively to meet her. If the Huskies do it right, Laksa will be lucky to shoot 30% and they will force some turnovers = fast break points.

As I said originally on this thread, it should be great fun to watch.

 

[JavaMan]

The one thing Laksa has going in her favor is her quick release. She is used to getting the ball and immediately shooting, even if there is no defender around. So, because of that, she is tough to defend.

Point taken. BTW, we have one of those also.

 

[USFMB]

Nice to see that we NOW have a top twenty match up.

American WBB ‏@American_WBB 28m28 minutes ago
.@UConnWBB remains in the No. 1 spot and @USFWBB moves up two places to No. 20 in the @AP_Top25 Poll AP Poll http://apne.ws/2jvEkhC

 

[drweo]

A quick, unscientific look at a couple USF boxscores raises the question: Does Laksa ever pass? The two I reviewed had her at zero assists. If her game is limited to only shooting, then it doesnt matter which of UConn's excellent defenders has primary responsibility for her: The primary defender and the switches will slow/shut her down and will also reduce the times her teammates can get her the ball in the first place.

 

[VAMike23]

We switch so much and so often this year that I don't know how meaningful this debate really is. Our standard D bears little resemblance to the D of the last several years.

Maybe I'm wrong and someone will garner a noticeably higher # of minutes directly attached to one Laksa. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

 

[huskeynut]

The one thing Laksa has going in her favor is her quick release. She is used to getting the ball and immediately shooting, even if there is no defender around. So, because of that, she is tough to defend.

Good point. However, Laksa getting the pass in position to use her quick release is another thing to look for. Unless she can run her defender off screens she could have a very long night.

And Kia Nurse absolutley loves a defensive challenge.

Looking forward to a real good game tomorrow night. Best to the Bulls.

 

[BobbyJ]

Lots of very good discussion on which Husky will earn the primary assignment to defend Laksa: Gabby, Kia, Lou or TEAM. Here's my last point in favor of Gabby.

Every time Geno & his coaches gameplan, they probably ask the question, "How can this team beat us?" If the answer to that question is, "No way, no how." then they can try some things out on offense and defense to see how certain players react in certain situations, not unlike a controlled scrimmage in practice.

With USF, while it is unlikely that the Bulls can defeat the Huskies, I think the coaching staff takes that possibility seriously against a talented, well-coached team like USF. IMO, the only way that USF threatens UConn is if Laksa goes off for 20-30 points and everybody else on the Bulls feeds of her energy to play way above their heads. The best way to burst USF's bubble and take them out of the game early is to put Gabby on Laksa, deny her the ball, and if she should get the ball, get in her face to harass the ball and challenge her shot. Every time she tries to come off a screen, another Husky jumps out aggressively to meet her. If the Huskies do it right, Laksa will be lucky to shoot 30% and they will force some turnovers = fast break points.

As I said originally on this thread, it should be great fun to watch.

IMO, the only way a player can get 30 on UConn is if she's similar to Kelsey Mitchell in that she's a good ballhandler who has the green light to go wherever she wants and shoot whenever she wants. For someone to do it running off screens and getting banged all night is just too hard against that tight , switching defense.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Kitija Laksa ... quite the player, but when I see her name in print I think of some Scandinavian pickled fish dish! More and more European players are filling US college ranks. Is their prep better in Europe? Do European rules make for better prep?

Laska is Latvian.

 

[oldude]

Laska is Latvian.

Latvians eat a lot of pickled fish, specifically a pickled herring dish called "marineta silke"

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Laska is Latvian.

Okay, when I think of Kitija Laksa I'm inclined to think of a pickled or smoked herring dish in Riga's Central Market.

 

[USFMB]

Laksa comes from a basketball family.

Here is a short video of her discussing her background and USF.

Bullstrong: Women's Basketball - Kitija Laksa - GoUSFBulls.com

 

[iamcbs]

The 6'5"' center is Katelyn Weber. She has started nine games. Freshman Tamara Henshaw, who is about 6'2," has started, in her place, the past five games.

FWIW, Laura Ferreira will not play against UCONN. She is now expected to be out for the rest of the year, due to her lingering injury. Despite her condition, she played off the bench in nine games.

For more player info see: USF Combined Team Statistics.

http://www.gousfbulls.com/pdf9/5086312.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=7700

Sorry to hear about Laura Ferreira, she's a decent player. But w/o Courtney Williams where does the scoring come from to match up with Connecticut? Laksa is a shooter, she's not a scorer and to have a shot at beating Connecticut a team has to be able to score and score in bunches...

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Okay, when I think of Kitija Laksa I'm inclined to think of a pickled or smoked herring dish in Riga's Central Market.

Since my family is Latvian, I suggest perogs, pigs knuckle, gruba putra soup, and Aldaris beer(Zelta Gold).

 

[USFMB]

Sorry to hear about Laura Ferreira, she's a decent player. But w/o Courtney Williams where does the scoring come from to match up with Connecticut? Laksa is a shooter, she's not a scorer and to have a shot at beating Connecticut a team has to be able to score and score in bunches...

We didn't match up with UCONN scorewise even when Courtney was here.

This year our scoring is spread across more players and we are averaging about the same.

Now, if we could reproduce the same numbers that we had in the game we scored 129 points, then we might have a chance against UCONN. LOL