Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4874187, member: 12088"] Yes, by "better" I meant something like what [USER=1738]@bbsamjj[/USER] means by balanced. But beyond just scoring, I think ND is a much better defensive team. In part, this is because of Hannah, but also the entire rotation are well-trained defenders. This is a hallmark of Niele's teams. USC, by contrast is not well-balanced in scoring -- hence my noting that Juju carries them -- but also is not a strong defensive team. Strong defense is not a hallmark of Lindsay's teams. Now, to be fair to Hannah, this doesn't reflect all that well on Juju, who can make a hero-play on defense as well as any of the greats, but isn't often required to play an intense switching defense. Hannah plays in a more disciplined system, though she is allowed to take chances often, and this is one of the reasons she gets so many steals. All this is to say USC's greater success so far is more due to Juju than ND's success is to Hannah, though Hannah has had a tremendous season so far. Here's a goofy thought experiment: switch their teams. What would ND be with Juju as opposed to USC with Hannah? The odd conclusion is that ND is the 'better' team, which tells me Juju is the player I'd choose for my team. [/QUOTE]