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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4404562, member: 12088"] One last thought on the significance of practicing team D (I promise) -- I suspect that the teams that don't emphasize it also tend to have poor cohesion and weak team culture. In the case of Maryland, I don't think Brenda Friese succeeded in inculcating a strong culture of camaraderie and sacrifice for the team, and this seems to be connected to their attitude about defense. As the slogan from two years ago -- All gas, no brakes -- suggests, their concept was simply to outrun opponents rather than to smother their offense with tight defense. It was thrilling to watch when it clicked. But it led to lots of transfers, which I take to be an indicator of a weak team culture. There are other ways to build team culture, as Lisa Bluder's teams at Iowa demonstrate -- they are usually weak on D, but they stick together. I also think of what Terri Moran does at Indiana. They play very consistent, intense team D, and their scoring tends to come mainly from sets and a team concept... and they seem to have a very cohesive team culture. Contrast that with Kentucky or Baylor or LSU or Tennessee after Pat's tenure and what you often see on offense is a bunch players who happen to be standing near one another. They may run screens or even a weave, but often this gives way to planned or unplanned isolation sets. If you look at their deffensive schemes they're either a close woman-to-woman set that doesn't switch well or a loose, passive zone. A close cover woman-to-woman defense that switches well is not easy to run -- this is what Geno mainly runs along with an active (i.e. rotating) zone, and the two schemes complement each other. But I digress. My main point is that a focus on D builds team culture, and the sign of the lack of it is that the starters tend to transfer. I haven't seen interviews with Angel Reese, for example, in which she explains why she left, and she may not fully realize what the problem was at Maryland. I'm just speculating here. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach