Orangutan, I have always enjoyed your presence on our forum and appreciate your thoughtful insights, so I'm compelled to ask, do you see, as I do, a big difference in competitive fire on this Irish team compared to Muffett's squads of the past? This group is certainly less demonstrative than folks like Cable, Huffman, Achonwa, McBride, Diggins, who wore their hearts on their sleeves. They also seem to be less mentally tough. Up until the Stanford game last year, ND had won 27 straight games decided by single digits. Might be off by one or two but I think that's the number. ND had been a team that always found a way to win. This team found a way to lose.Over a long period of time, I consistently credited Muffett with being the second best coach in the game, always emphasizing her ability to develop an absolute warrior mentality in her players, a refuse-to-lose kind of defiance. It will be interesting to see where things go from here. How does she handle it from a motivation standpoint and instill that confidence? Also, she has a lot of teaching to do regarding scheme. The fluidity of the offense is too sporadic. When they get into a drought, people stop trusting the offense and each other. I feel like maybe the last few years the program sustained itself due to the values that Skylar brought to the program and passed down to the players she played with. Last year's seniors were the last link to the Diggins era. Once Madison Cable graduated, I no longer see that kind of competitive fire left anywhere on this team. I think, to give credit, Allen shows a fair amount of it, but doesn't get much help. There was a theory on the ND board that her teammates put almost too much trust in Allen, to the point of relying on her to make everything happen on offense instead of thinking for themselves. Possibly there's some truth to that. Arike is hugely talented, but tries to do too much herself and therefore has become wildly inconsistent. Agreed. Turner, who once looked like such a huge talent, plays with what looks to me a kind of tentative fear ever since she suffered that injury...never looks truly dominating any more. Agreed. Westbeld seems to have become consistent, but, alas, on the liability side of the ledger. Westbeld has been very good this year. Unspectacular but does the little things, works hard, fills the stat sheet. Last night was not her best effort, though. Just 2 rebounds in 31 minutes is uncharacteristic. Maybe she was bothered by Tennessee size and athleticism. I dunno, something seems to have gone out of the equation for the Irish despite what looks like almost unbeatable talent on paper. Thoughts? I think it's mostly about consistency. This team shows flashes of greatness but they don't perform consistently for 40 minutes like past teams did.
