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Message: [QUOTE="Dillon77, post: 4585071, member: 6620"] You know, for a guy who lives in the town Yogi Berra adopted as his hometown, I can say this: the Stanford-Ole Miss game was deja vu all over again. Why? I had seen another team from the Magnolia State -- Mississippi State -- follow the same game plan against Notre Dame. And it was another 5-pt. game, but in the case of ND, they won it. Sam Purcell devised an aggressive game plan and unleashed it: wear Soni Citron down (sound familiar?) and attack/pester the other ND ballhandlers constantly. Since ND has a short roster to begin with, there weren't a lot of options for Coach Ivey, so even though the Bulldogs often had 4 guards in, she kept two bigs in all the time: most notably Lauren Ebo and Maddy Westbeld. And those two probably carried the day for the Irish by rebounding (18 for Ebo, 15 for Westbeld), defending (Ebo on Carter and blocking 5 shots, Westbeld on weakside help) and clogging the lane in the 2nd half. Citron kept her cool on defense (4 steals) and hitting crucial FT's down the stretch. I bring this up because if Tara wasn't getting the guard play she needed, I thought she should've gone big and helped out Brink, not just on offense, but defense. Jones is a good enough point forward to get the ball to, say, Brink and Prechtel. But it didn't happen. Not even tried. Tara gave an interview earlier this month on Betts saying how she uses certain players a lot one game and might not be there the next. Well, theoretically that sounds plausible, but in reality it's Brink, Jump, Jones and a rotating cast that didn't gel. And a bit disengaged....one thing I can say about the Irish is they are desperate and played like it. Heck, high school senior Cassan Prosper was in the defensive posture we all learned and smacking her hands and the floor. Ebo...not a small person...was hitting the floor for loose balls. Needed passion against Purcell's team. So did Stanford. Will be really interesting to see personnel usages by the Cardinal next year. (BTW, kudos to Sam Purcell of Mississippi State. What a good run by the Bulldogs with a team he stitched together from returnees, those who had taken a year off and transfers. And he comported himself with class. Really won over the South Bend crowd.) [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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