Again, I was at the game and was impressed, as everyone else was, with the offensive exhibition by the starters. I agree that Megan Walker looked really good today, and it is easy to see why she was the #1 high school player last year. She seems to do everything well, including moving without the ball. She is certainly the athletic peer of anyone else on the team, and it isn't taking her long to see opportunities to be aggressive on offense. She is clearly #7 on the depth chart.
This is the second game where Kia was the #1 scorer, and it is mainly because of her 3-point shooting. So far, she is the most reliable 3-point shooter on the team. I think she does benefit from the defense worrying about everyone else first, but that's a good way to get her points. I now see no circumstances where she will be out of the starting lineup.
At the other end of the bench, I thought that Mikayla Coombs, when she finally got in the game, clearly outplayed Molly. Molly was the replacement when Crystal came out of the game, suggesting that she is under consideration to be the backup PG. But (as has been noted) she still seems to be more concerned with avoiding mistakes than with playing aggressively and opportunistically. Not only does she seem reluctant to shoot, but she also never makes an aggressive move to the basket -- the only backcourt player on the team of whom that can be said after these two exhibition games. By contrast, Mikayla played aggressively and made some mistakes, but aggressive mistakes are very forgivable. I think she will soon displace Molly (if she hasn't already) as Crystal's primary backup.
I don't quite see why Lexi Gordon is stuck at the end of the bench, playing only the last 5 minutes of each of these exhibition games. I thought that her minutes (in both games) were creditable, and should earn her more time. I get that she apparently has a conditioning problem, but obviously that can't be solved in a short time, and I would think that 10 to 12 widely spaced minutes would be more appropriate for her.
By contrast, Andra Espinosa-Hunter has gotten a lot of minutes in both exhibition games, and I'm not exactly sure why. She has played capably but (to me) has not distinguished herself in a way that warrants all those minutes. She is a little bit more offensively aggressive than Molly, but not a lot. She also seems more concerned with avoiding mistakes than finding opportunities to make an impact. That is understandable for a freshman early in the season, but none of the other three freshmen have played that way, and (in my opinion) they have had more of an impact on the games on a per-minute basis than she has.
Will we be untouchable? Its going to be fun to watch!
