The transformation of Jessica Shepard

[oldude]

Whatever we BY’ers feel about MM and her ND team, you have to give Muffet credit for an incredible coaching job this season in the face of 4 season ending knee injuries to key players. While she may not earn the COY award, this may well be the best job she’s ever done.

Of all the things MM has accomplished this season, the most remarkable, imo, is the transformation of Jessica Shepard from a talented player with size who preferred to hang around the perimeter and shoot 3’s to a legitimate low post player (sound familiar?)

One statistic absolutely stands out. Last season at Nebraska, Shepard put up 89 3-pt shots, making 28. This season at ND, Shepard shot and missed once from beyond the arc all season long.

I do believe that tomorrow night will be the end of the line for Shepard & ND, but I have to respect her willingness to transform the way she plays for the good of her team.

 

[BoomBoom]

Shepard is a beast in and around the paint. She is quick down low and has touch. I'm most impressed with her other intangibles: is decisive, persistent, and unflappable. Shepard, Turner, Mabrey, Ogunbowale, and Young next year are going to be a formidable starting 5.

 

[CocoHusky]

Whatever we BY’ers feel about MM and her ND team, you have to give Muffet credit for an incredible coaching job this season in the face of 4 season ending knee injuries to key players. While she may not earn the COY award, this may well be the best job she’s ever done.
Of all the things MM has accomplished this season, the most remarkable, imo, is the transformation of Jessica Shepard from a talented player with size who preferred to hang around the perimeter and shoot 3’s to a legitimate low post player (sound familiar?)
One statistic absolutely stands out. Last season at Nebraska, Shepard put up 89 3-pt shots, making 28. This season at ND, Shepard shot and missed once from beyond the arc all season long.
I do believe that tomorrow night will be the end of the line for Shepard & ND, but I have to respect her willingness to transform the way she plays for the good of her team.

I agree with your conclusion that Muffet has done an incredible coaching job but I disagree with how you reached this conclusion.
For starters Jessica making 28 of 89 3Pt attempts (31%) is a very respectable percentage for a post player-Stefanie Dolson shot 32% for her career. Geno would kill to get Azura up to 31% from her current 17% on 51 attempts. If you go back and look at the Nebraska roster you would easily see why Jessica taking 89 3pt attempts WAS NOT a bad idea. Likewise if you look at the ND roster you can easily see why Jessica taking only 1 3pt shot attempt also makes perfect sense. Jessica has also improved her assist totals this year and the reason is simple, she is passing to better teammates. IMO this was an obvious coaching move for Muffet to make.

 

[Dillon77]

Whatever we BY’ers feel about MM and her ND team, you have to give Muffet credit for an incredible coaching job this season in the face of 4 season ending knee injuries to key players. While she may not earn the COY award, this may well be the best job she’s ever done.

Of all the things MM has accomplished this season, the most remarkable, imo, is the transformation of Jessica Shepard from a talented player with size who preferred to hang around the perimeter and shoot 3’s to a legitimate low post player (sound familiar?)

One statistic absolutely stands out. Last season at Nebraska, Shepard put up 89 3-pt shots, making 28. This season at ND, Shepard shot and missed once from beyond the arc all season long.

I do believe that tomorrow night will be the end of the line for Shepard & ND, but I have to respect her willingness to transform the way she plays for the good of her team.

When practice started at the beginning of the year, MM spoke about how Shep's versatility was something unique to that Notre Dame team, from her ability to shoot from just about anywhere and her passing acumen to dribbling and rebounding. When her petition was accepted and she became available, the most natural position to put her was in the low post, given Brianna Turner's absence and the fact that a slowly recuperating Kat Westbeld was/is a high post. Once Mik Vaughn went down with ACL #3, the low post was pretty much Shep's, wiith Koko Nelson spelling both Shep and Westbeld.

Offensively, she has embraced the role: when she seals the corner of right lane, you know there's a bank shot coming and most people are not going to stop it. And she's developed a nice spin more to the left. For someone that can hoist the three, she rarely even shoots from the foul line anymore, so into the low post of the job she has become. The passing among she, Kat and Koko is a joy to behold...I think ND should use it as a recruiting tool. All credit to the players and Muffet, but I think a lot of this has to go to Carol Owens, our post coach and MM's long-time, calming right-hand.

Yes, she's not as fleet-footed on defense, both horizontally and vertically, but the effort is there, night in and out. Also, given our resource issue, I'm sure she's told to not get in foul trouble in the first half. ND needs her on the court. And there's another surprise...her physical training used to be mocked, but I'm sure she's over 30 minutes a game in the tournament. This can be evidenced by the way she was banging the boards hard throughout the second half against Oregon. Her persistence was invaluable.

The interesting aspect of this is when Turner comes back next year and Westbeld graduates, Shepard will probably evolve to the high post and add her talents to that position, working with Turner. My gut is she'll be even more effective, even if her stats might not show it.

Thanks for noticing...... We Irish fans have and appreciate everything about it.

 

[Dillon77]

I agree with your conclusion that Muffet has done an incredible coaching job but I disagree with how you reached this conclusion.
For starters Jessica making 28 of 89 3Pt attempts (31%) is a very respectable percentage for a post player-Stefanie Dolson shot 32% for her career. Geno would kill to get Azura up to 31% from her current 17% on 51 attempts. If you go back and look at the Nebraska roster you would easily see why Jessica taking 89 3pt attempts WAS NOT a bad idea. Likewise if you look at the ND roster you can easily see why Jessica taking only 1 3pt shot attempt also makes perfect sense. Jessica has also improved her assist totals this year and the reason is simple, she is passing to better teammates. IMO this was an obvious coaching move for Muffet to make.

...and a necessary one, as I reasoned in my post. She had to play the low post.

 

[Go/huskies]

For someone who had a lot of bad things to say about Jessica at one time, (got ripped a new one here and blocked by several posters) I have been super impressed by her. She seems like a very likable young lady, a hard nosed player who just wants to win. I was surprised that she has only taken 1 3 this season since she took so many at Nebraska, thinking it was a big part of her game, but I noticed she only took 2 her freshman year, so maybe it’s not such a big part of her game, maybe she will be able to take some next year with Turner down low to clean up some of her misses.

 

[McFly]

Does she ever get called for a foul? She certainly throws her not inconsiderable bulk around under the basket, seemingly with impunity.

 

[oldude]

I agree with your conclusion that Muffet has done an incredible coaching job but I disagree with how you reached this conclusion.
For starters Jessica making 28 of 89 3Pt attempts (31%) is a very respectable percentage for a post player-Stefanie Dolson shot 32% for her career. Geno would kill to get Azura up to 31% from her current 17% on 51 attempts. If you go back and look at the Nebraska roster you would easily see why Jessica taking 89 3pt attempts WAS NOT a bad idea. Likewise if you look at the ND roster you can easily see why Jessica taking only 1 3pt shot attempt also makes perfect sense. Jessica has also improved her assist totals this year and the reason is simple, she is passing to better teammates. IMO this was an obvious coaching move for Muffet to make.

While your analysis makes sense, what I am mostly going on is my observation of Shepard’s 1-11 game vs UConn last season when Gabby shut her down and she made little effort to establish herself in the post.

 

[CocoHusky]

While your analysis makes sense, what I am mostly going on is my observation of Shepard’s 1-11 game vs UConn last season when Gabby shut her down and she made little effort to establish herself in the post.

Well the year prior to that Jessica did alright against better post defenders (Morgan and Stewie) than Gabby.

 

[JoePgh]

She must have lost 40 to 50 pounds vs. her weight when UConn played Nebraska. That is a credit to both her and the Notre Dame assistant coaches and physical trainers. Now she is a Sherman tank instead of a blimp.

 

[JordyG]

When practice started at the beginning of the year, MM spoke about how Shep's versatility was something unique to that Notre Dame team, from her ability to shoot from just about anywhere and her passing acumen to dribbling and rebounding. When her petition was accepted and she became available, the most natural position to put her was in the low post, given Brianna Turner's absence and the fact that a slowly recuperating Kat Westbeld was/is a high post. Once Mik Vaughn went down with ACL #3, the low post was pretty much Shep's, wiith Koko Nelson spelling both Shep and Westbeld.

Offensively, she has embraced the role: when she seals the corner of right lane, you know there's a bank shot coming and most people are not going to stop it. And she's developed a nice spin more to the left. For someone that can hoist the three, she rarely even shoots from the foul line anymore, so into the low post of the job she has become. The passing among she, Kat and Koko is a joy to behold...I think ND should use it as a recruiting tool. All credit to the players and Muffet, but I think a lot of this has to go to Carol Owens, our post coach and MM's long-time, calming right-hand.

Yes, she's not as fleet-footed on defense, both horizontally and vertically, but the effort is there, night in and out. Also, given our resource issue, I'm sure she's told to not get in foul trouble in the first half. ND needs her on the court. And there's another surprise...her physical training used to be mocked, but I'm sure she's over 30 minutes a game in the tournament. This can be evidenced by the way she was banging the boards hard throughout the second half against Oregon. Her persistence was invaluable.

The interesting aspect of this is when Turner comes back next year and Westbeld graduates, Shepard will probably evolve to the high post and add her talents to that position, working with Turner. My gut is she'll be even more effective, even if her stats might not show it.

Thanks for noticing...... We Irish fans have and appreciate everything about it.

I said so in another thread, where I asked why people that hate Muffet can't admit she's a great coach, that this to me is Muffet's greatest coaching job. Hands down. She has seemingly held this team together with spit and safety pins, yet they've only lost 3 games: Once to UConn, and twice to Walz. I also posited again that Muffet remains in my mind the 2nd greatest coach in WCBB. Yeah, better than Tara.

As for Turner, if there are a such thing as basketball gods can we please just have her play one full year without injury? Please? I think she's earned it. She deserves it. Not to mention one year with her playing high/lo with Shepard would be a treat for WBB fans.

 

[oldude]

Well the year prior to that Jessica did alright against better post defenders (Morgan and Stewie) than Gabby.

I can’t say that I remember much about the prior year’s game other than UConn winning by 40+. I see that Shepard was 5-9, without a 3-pt shot. Don’t know exactly when & where during the game those shots were taken and who was guarding her at the time.

 

[eebmg]

While your analysis makes sense, what I am mostly going on is my observation of Shepard’s 1-11 game vs UConn last season when Gabby shut her down and she made little effort to establish herself in the post.

What I remember from that game was every shot Sheppard took was challenged hard. Imho, it got in her head so she also missed some she normally would not miss and it is one of my favorite parts of UConn's defense. Always challenge whether 3 pt or interior. Westbeld worries me more since she can be a real sneaky weapon. Very consistent lately and not likely to get rattled.

 

[CocoHusky]

I can’t say that I remember much about the prior year’s game other than UConn winning by 40+. I see that Shepard was 5-9, without a 3-pt shot. Don’t know exactly when & where during the game those shots were taken and who was guarding her at the time.

Well Jessica started the game so it was either Morgan or Stewie guarding her in the post.

 

[oldude]

Well Jessica started the game so it was either Morgan or Stewie guarding her in the post.

So what you’re saying is that Shepard played as a true post her freshman year, moved to more of a wing last year and then moved back to the post this year. Well that certainly shows versatility.

 

[CocoHusky]

So what you’re saying is that Shepard played as a true post her freshman year, moved to more of a wing last year and then moved back to the post this year. Well that certainly shows versatility.

Nah... I don't think Shepard has EVER shown enough versatility to be considered a "wing" by any stretch of the imagination. Jessica has show versatility in her skill set to be able to occasionally step out and hit the three and initiate the offense from the high post. Similar versatility to Stefanie Dolson-who no one would ever confuse with being a wing player.

 

[DeeHusky]

Really like watching her game, she’s a joy to watch in Notre Dame’s offense. I love when she gets an offensive rebound and put it back up and get the and-1. She’s a really good three point shooter, I wonder why she didn’t use it much this year. - Love her game, I just hope she doesn’t do as well against UConn.

 

[ritter]

Still can’t get over that the NCAA didn’t make her sit out a year. Was there ever an explanation why?

 

[Shmermerer]

She must have lost 40 to 50 pounds vs. her weight when UConn played Nebraska. That is a credit to both her and the Notre Dame assistant coaches and physical trainers. Now she is a Sherman tank instead of a blimp.

She was also coming back from an ACL tear which could have been a culprit of the weight gain. She was not that big in high school.

 

[Charliebball]

Does she ever get called for a foul? She certainly throws her not inconsiderable bulk around under the basket, seemingly with impunity.

that was part of the transfer deal............not only could she play a year early, there would be no foul calls on her until next season................

 

[Wbbfan1]

While you have to respect Student Privacy, IMO the NCAA ought to publish something to the Media that more or less explains why some waiver requests are approved and some aren't. Why approve Jessica Shepard and disapprove Te'a Cooper. How about publishing something that states these are the reasons we might approve a transfer request Notre Dame got a huge advantage, while South Carolina could have used Te'a Cooper this year. So. Carolina did request a waiver.

Still can’t get over that the NCAA didn’t make her sit out a year. Was there ever an explanation why?

 

[my2cents]

There is no doubt that Muffett McGraw is a great coach, thats why she is in the Hall Of Fame. She has done an exceptional job this year with all their injuries. However, it's not like she was left with a bare cupboard. They have excellent players.
Looking forward to a great game for all fans, should be exciting.

 

[bbballfan23]

Her “transformation” is all fine and well but she’s about to face the best front court in college basketball tomorrow night in Gabby & Pheesa. Good luck to her.

 

[scubadog]

Still can’t get over that the NCAA didn’t make her sit out a year. Was there ever an explanation why?

During the N.D./ Oregon game , which I finally watched yesterday, since we were in Albany Monday, Lachina stated the reason submitted by Shepard to the NCAA as: " an Accumulation of Personal issues ". If I were a transfer , I would submit the reason, and force the same decision. Sounds like the same old NCAA favoritism bologna to me !

 

[JSB60]

Still can’t get over that the NCAA didn’t make her sit out a year. Was there ever an explanation why?

Because she transferred to Notre Dame and they needed her this year.

 

[scubadog]

Because she transferred to Notre Dame and they needed her this year.

" Accumulation of Personal Issues "

 

[MSGRET]

Still can’t get over that the NCAA didn’t make her sit out a year. Was there ever an explanation why?

While Shepard was approved and Cooper wasn't may be because Nebraska approved and Tenn rejected the request for waiver. The NCAA asks for the opinion from the school that the athlete is transferring from. Shepard was allowed to transfer by the Nebraska coach, while Cooper was put on a year's probation from the team for fighting, left the school and signed on with SC. These are two separate types of transfers after the circumstances are reviewed.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Because she transferred to Notre Dame and they needed her this year.

From what I saw Monday night, South Carolina sure could have used Cooper. Especially after Cuevas went down for the season.

 

[DefenseBB]

She must have lost 40 to 50 pounds vs. her weight when UConn played Nebraska. That is a credit to both her and the Notre Dame assistant coaches and physical trainers. Now she is a Sherman tank instead of a blimp.

Huh? No, she isn't. She might have lost weight from what she was at Nebraska but to say she's a Sherman Tank is absurd. Take another look, Shepard, a wonderfully skilled player, will be the worst conditioned athlete in the final four of all the rosters.

 

[UConnCat]

" Accumulation of Personal Issues "

My favorite topic: transfer waiver requests for immediate eligibility.

Shepard said she transferred because she wanted to get better and play for championships. When she and ND applied for immediate eligibility McGraw continually referred to the request as a "hardship waiver," clearly oblivious to the irony that the term "hardship waiver" originally involved student-athletes who were transferring closer to home not away from their home. Whatever. Then we were told Shepard's reasons in support of her waiver request were personal. Now we're told it was the old "accumulation of personal reasons" as if that explanation is sufficient.

And people wonder why Dawn Staley was upset with the NCAA.

The NCAA needs to grant immediate eligibility for all transfers or establish and publish the criteria to be applied to waiver requests. Without that you're left with "accumulation of personal issues" nonsense and coaches, players, media and fans who are left questioning the integrity of the NCAA's decisions.

Now on to the games . . .