Some Good Minutes for Bench | The Boneyard

Some Good Minutes for Bench

Kyla did a fall-away on one shot. I think she's learning from Pheesa.

Molly took and made 2 shots.

Nat had a very solid game, 13 and 9 boards.

Crystal looked like a starter, with 11 and 7 assists.
 
I agree that Butler played really well today. Dangerfield also is really starting to come around now. You can just see her gaining confidence with each good outing. She has also become a lot more active defensively, and is starting to create havoc for opposing offenses a la Mo Jet.
 
Molly's two baskets were exactly what I'm sure the coaches would like to see more of -- a three swished from the corner as the shot clock was expiring, and a Crystal-like drive around a couple of flat-footed defenders for a difficult layup.

She has the skills...
 
TitleTown said:
I agree that Butler played really well today. Dangerfield also is really starting to come around now. You can just see her gaining confidence with each good outing. She has also become a lot more active defensively, and is starting to create havoc for opposing offenses a la Mo Jet.
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Some will think it heresy, but only if they have short memories:

At this point in their respective careers, Crystal Dangerfield is better than MoJett was as a frosh, and I am not sure it's even close. Moriah continued to develop and became an all-time great. That is now the challenge in front of Chrystal. Will she grow and solidify her game going forward as much as Mo did? Look out world!
 
augustaTC said:
May just be me, but I thought Nat and Kayla had some pretty good minutes. And Kayla seemed a bit speedier today (or maybe just wishful thinking)?
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Kyla is improving her fittness and playing with a ton of heart. Be patient, she is going to be a good player, and improving with each opportunity.
 
I was most impressed with Nat. True, she put it on the floor unnecessarily and took a hard foul for it. Crystal's eyes in the back of her head pass to the trailer was fun. On an inbounds pass in the 4th quarter she had a wide, wide open Kyla but waited 'til she had 2 players on her to make a doomed pass. Her defense is still not up to snuff, but it is coming. Molly's 3 was a ton of fun for the bench.
 
BigBird said:
Some will think it heresy, but only if they have short memories:

At this point in their respective careers, Crystal Dangerfield is better than MoJett was as a frosh, and I am not sure it's even close. Moriah continued to develop and became an all-time great. That is now the challenge in front of Chrystal. Will she grow and solidify her game going forward as much as Mo did? Look out world!
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Mo had one advantage over Crystal. She was bigger and longer. My guess is that she was at least 1" taller and her reach was 3" more. Mo could beat her defender, elevate, and lay the ball up off the glass. Crystal's reach is shorter, so she has to try to protect the ball. On defense, Crystal just misses tipping some passes that would have been steals for Mo. That said, Crystal is one of the best freshman passers I've seen. She also displayed more of her offensive repertoire today. She's an ankle breaker extraordinaire.
 
Glad this was posted - I thought they all played really well. Crystal Dangerfield might as well have been a starter as Kia was just in to get her feet wet. They had a total of two turnovers while scoring 33 points and shooting 67% from the floor, 67% from 3, and perfect from the line - with 11 assist and 14 boards. Pretty good stats from the bench.
 
TitleTown said:
I agree that Butler played really well today. Dangerfield also is really starting to come around now. You can just see her gaining confidence with each good outing. She has also become a lot more active defensively, and is starting to create havoc for opposing offenses a la Mo Jet.
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Yup!!! :)
 
I'm very impressed with Danger over the last couple of weeks. I think we are almost as well off with her out there as Kia ...EXCEPT for defense. She's improved a lot but still shaky at times. Tends to get lost. Of course the other thing is relative height, and there's not much she can do about that except take jumping lessons from Gabby.
 
Shorty Dee said:
They played really well today. Crystal passes the ball well, but the pass to a trailing Napheesa was sport center worthy. Crystal is only a freshman.
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It wasn't the pass so much as the fact that she saw Pheesa when she had just been running full tilt the other way. Brought me right out of my chair.
Any post game interviews today?
 
Geno and staff have done it again. Sharpening the skills (do what you do best) of the bench players.
Who? Who can we trust? Danger and Nat--that's who. With Kia coming back in full by the NCAA tourney, that means Danger is a bench player. Name one team who has a lead guard coming off the bench--who is equal to Danger. I can't. NUff said.

Nat is moving well around the court. She ran the floor well on the fast break. She also has that little "pop-out to the foul line" defense and then scurries back underneath. Nat can rebound, pass (including a great outlet pass)and she can clog up the middle. She is getting comfortable in the high post (that was a pretty pass to Kyla.) Nat seems confident in her 13 footer and more comfortable on her inside scoring. In general, her defense is adequate for a sub. IMHO, Geno now has the 7 player rotation he feels most comfortable with in an important game/tourney. Kyla and Molly could do some emergency minutes, but I don't see them at all in the final big games in the NCAA tourney.
There are 4 weeks before the final four games. Lots of practice time. Lots of insights from the best staff. Lots of rest, if needed. Lots of anxiety for the other teams to deal with. What a wonderful season this has been so far. I am enjoying every minute of it.
 
mntncougar said:
It wasn't the pass so much as the fact that she saw Pheesa when she had just been running full tilt the other way. Brought me right out of my chair.
Any post game interviews today?
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She brought you out of your chair. She made me yell an expletive: Oh *! :eek: She's worth the price admission. We've got a good one folks. She's as quick as any guard at the D-1 level complete with handles. A team's worst nightmare is Crystal coming at you running full speed on a fast break with Pheesa and Gabby filling the lanes. Two things are certain here, 1. UConn is going to score. 2. Dangerous is going to make a pass that Magic Johnson himself would be proud of. :)
 
Geno wants to minimize the number of minutes his starters play during this 3 game tournament. He wants to get them out of the game as soon as he can. This means more time for the bench. The bench looked good yesterday against Tulsa, real good. We all know once the NCAA tournament begins, Geno's bench will shrink down to Butler and Dangerfield, and the starters will be expected to play 36-40 minutes, depending on the opponent, and how quickly they can put the game away.
 
MilfordHusky said:
Kyla did a fall-away on one shot. I think she's learning from Pheesa.

Molly took and made 2 shots.

Nat had a very solid game, 13 and 9 boards.

Crystal looked like a starter, with 11 and 7 assists.
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I thought that Butler had one of her better games though it was funny when she put the ball on the floor before missing a shot and several people around me all said "why does she do that" at the same time.
 
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