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Message: [QUOTE="Carnac, post: 4163768, member: 5798"] Excellent post Eric. You checked ALL the boxes in your observations. Not much to add. However will piggyback on a couple of your comments. 1. [B]The last 2 games - against the worst 2 teams in the BE - have been super fun to watch. [/B] Yes they have. When I read this comment, I immediately thought of former Baylor head coach now at LSU, Kim Mulkey. We regularly chide her for penchant of scheduling bakery items for her preseason games....i.e., cupcakes and twinkles. She does that for a reason. She gets the same desired results from scheduling those sub-par teams as UConn did against Butler and Xavier. Practice is nice, but freshmen and reserves that didn't get a lot of minutes the year before need real playing time in real games to learn , get comfortable with the system and their teammates and gain personal confidence BEFORE the season starts. As I have said many many times, Scheduling a "soft" preseason slate of games works for her. Mulkey knows exactly what she's doing. Right now she has LSU ranked #12 at 15-2. Before she got there, LSU fans could not remember the last time the Tigers were ranked. You're right, these last two games have been fun to watch. I saw some things that made me smile and gave me hope for the future. :D 2.[B] ONO - I get that Xavier is not filled with elite post players, but I noticed that almost every time she got the ball in the post, not only did she go strong to the basket, but she also went strong thru contact.[/B] I couldn't agree more. ONO's pay window is in the paint, not at the top of the key. If she is to become a force in the paint, she can't be afraid of, or shy away from contact. We have enough players that shoot from 10-15 feet out. We need a post presence. Olivia can very easily be THAT presence. I don't compare her to South Carolina's post, Aliyah Boston (IMHO the best post in the country), but Boston has proven since the day she arrived on campus that she is not afraid of contact in the paint. I'd really like to see ONO spend more time on the block, and get the ball when she's open. I also liked her aggressiveness in blocking those 8 shots WITHOUT fouling. You're not going to block every shot. if you can make a player change their shot, you've done your job. Players that got their shots blocked early in the first half were reluctant to keep trying over and over again. as the game progressed. With those 8 blocks (and only 2 fouls), ONO made a statement while guarding the paint..........(finger wagging) no no no, not today. " ;) 3[B]. CW - another good game stats wise. Also noticed her energy the last 2 games has really ratcheted up. Full of piss and vinegar. [/B] I noticed that too. It made me wonder WTH did she have for her pregame meal? :eek: Whatever it was, she needs to have that at every PGM from now on. She got a couple of nice passes on a fast break that led to a basket. That was a wonderful sight. Those passes hit her in stride, and she rode them all the way to the basket. Poetry in motion. 4. [B]Evina - coming off the bench suits her. [/B]Yes!! She's much more effective coming off the bench. With Nika back running the point, it relieves her of that duty. She's much more effective at the 2/3. 5. [B] I know this may have fans calling for "MORE MINUTES FOR PIATH". Maybe we will see that. Bottom line is she was much better than against Butler. [/B]Say it again!! She hit her first 4 attempts today. Tell me that does not boost her confidence. Tell me she does not feel better about herself than she did 5 days ago. She worked hard to get her man on her hip, open herself up for an entry pass and they were feeding her. I like that. She sits on the bench the whole game. When she does get in, give her some touches on the block and see what she does with it in a real game against real competition. TV color analyst Meg Culmo noted that she gets the ball out of her hands quickly when shooting in the paint. Piath still has a long way to go, but not as far as this time last year. It was nice to see Piath and Amari in the game together. Caroline Ducharme - I'm really liking what I'm seeing from her. CONSISTANCY!!! She's making the most of the additional playing time with Paige and Azzi being out. It's going to be hard to pull her out of the starting lineup when they return. Of course Paige starts,. Azzi will have to work her way into the starting lineup. You don't pull a 20 ppg player out of the starting rotation. SNY studio co-host Kara Wolters noted that during the games, her expression NEVER changes. She goes about her business and she plays with amnesia. If she misses a shot or two, she forgets about it and keeps shooting........which I'm sure she's been coached and told to do. You know Geno has given her the green light. That is exactly what we need....players that are not afraid to shoot. Notice how much better she is NOW after getting this extended playing time than she was at the beginning of the season? Coincidence?........I think not. More playing time = more confidence. She's more comfortable now than she was before the holiday break. Another 20 point game today. Geno was looking for someone to step up after Paige went down, he found her. :) Everyone feels good right now after these last two games. Our team looked real good, played good to great defense at times. Today was a good day. :) [/QUOTE]

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