I do think that their offense was more than adequate, but they have never developed the type of passing, motion offense that we have come to appreciate at UConn. Their great team in 1997-98 relied a lot on Holdsclaw creating her own shot, Catchings driving to the basket and Jolly hitting from long range. Not that these are bad things, clearly, teams should play to their strength.
I think the challenge lies in the years where the talent is a little leaner, and teams must really work their offense to score. It has been clear to me in the past few years that Tennessee relies a lot on their athleticism and the individual talents of their players rather than a constant moving offense where the players know where and when the next shot is coming. UConn this year was a good example of that. Obviously, our talent level was much higher than lots of teams, but we didn't have a clear superstar or overly athletic players a la Johnson and Stricklen.
Pat is a great coach who has always gotten a lot out of her players. She is also a great recruiter. She preached defense and rebounding as the keys to winning games, and it clearly worked, as she has won 8 championships. I think that facet of the game has caught up to Tennessee, as teams are starting to play better defense and coaches are having to become more creative on offense. Teams like Green Bay and Marist can win lots of game by running offense.
Doggydaddy, that Tennessee's 8 national championships and 18 Final Fours were merely the result of stellar pressure defense, more talent, or more natural ability that had absolutely nothing to do with coaching?
Clearly, coaching had a lot to do with it. They were coached to play that stellar defense. She recruited the talent. And they did have the natural ability. But the offensive structure that UConn has is not evident with Tennessee.
