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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 4430577, member: 12088"] I watched the replay of the Creighton SD St game this evening and noticed something I think is quite typical of the non-top-5 teams: they tend to have point guards who don't keep the ball moving. Several trips in a row, Mogenson brought the ball up and then picked up her dribble at the top of the 3 pt line. It was as if she expected to be able to stand there unimpeded and initiate a play. Of course, a defender immediately got in her face, and she had to energetically swing the ball around to try to force the defender back. This wasted a few seconds until a teammate came out of position to bail her out. So much for whatever play they wanted to run. A big, like Liv or Dorka, can get away with this because they're not so easily challenged, and part of the point of having them in the high post is precisely to force the opposing big to come out and guard her. This is also the difference between Nika and Azzi or Paige when they bring the ball up. Nika will occasionally make this same mistake, picking up her dribble before she's ready to distribute the ball. We saw this against Texas a few times. On lots of other trips, Nika didn't do this, and things ran much more smoothly. By contrast Azzi and Paige [B]never[/B] make this mistake. They keep their dribble alive until they know what to do with the ball. I think we're a cut above most other teams because our guard play is simply superior, and not just in Azzi. Nika is on the whole an excellent point guard, and Lou knows better than to give up the dribble early. In fact, she's so efficient that she hardly holds the ball at all. She catches a pass and either shoots, drives or passes almost immediately. Caroline is similar in this respect. Azzi brought the ball up a few times against Morris, and simply blew past her at the top of the key taking it the length of the court and right to the rim. It looked like the Longhorns weren't even a factor for her. Caroline did that a couple of times in that close game against DePaul last year, taking the ball the length of the floor and straight to the rim. Guards like that don't stop the ball themselves -- the other team has to stop them, if they can. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach