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Message: [QUOTE="Dillon77, post: 2962245, member: 6620"] Dang...I hate this kind of week with a few pre-holiday deadlines, not to mention the usual holiday stuff. Missed this entire thread yesterday. Hrrumph.:rolleyes: Anyways, Olddude and Coco, appreciated the insight that both of you gave on ND's two bigs. A few reactions. - As late as the post-Binghampton game presser, Muffet has talked about how "We still miss Kat." The appearance of "we" and "Kat" really gets to the crutch of what that high post position does for ND, particularly when manned by Achonwa (as Coco brought up) and Kat. Westbeld had such an inherent knowledge of what MM was trying to do that once the ball got into her, many of the inherent decisions for that offense were made: look for the high/low to Turner/then Sheppard; drive to the hoop if there are lanes; take the elbow jumper; move the ball to the weakside or merely keep the ball rotation moving. In fact, I'll maintain that one reason the Irish succeeded last year without a true pg is that once "lead" guards Mabrey or Young got the ball into Kat, the offense was off and running. - Shepard, although with some very adept ball-handling and passing skills to compliment her good jumper, is still at heart a low post. Her ability to seal and go to the hoop was a gimme in the NCAAs. (Thanks Kat and Mabrey for the passes.). At heart, I think ND recognizes this and they're trying to come up with plan B. - Coco -- when you say "ailing," do you mean hurt? Bri claims she's 100+ healthy, so I'd say she's still rehabbing what must've been a pretty serious ACL. Down low, it does not affect her that much, but a player like Megan Walker can expose the loss of lateral movement when she moves outside. Who knows if and when that will return fully, but I'd say the issue is more defensive in nature (Vaughn is going through the same thing.). - I think the key is finding those complementary "bigs" that can work with each other and within the team's prescribed offensive approach. It will be very interesting next year to see how Stanford's Belibi and Prechtel do (and then joined by Brink in 2020), what Dawn does with Boston and Amihere at SC, how Cox migrates to the low post in Baylor(I think well). And in South Bend, who will take what post positions among Vaughn, Cosgrove and Patterson. I could see Ms. Brunelle very much working in the Kat position.... [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach