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Message: [QUOTE="UConnCat, post: 4010692, member: 15"] I typically like Cohen's work but I'm left scratching my head after reading his take on Wednesday night's game. He seems to be making 2 points. First, he seems to think Team USA needs a guard who hunts shots in order to be really dominant and prove they're the best team on earth. In the past 2 major international events -- 2016 Olympics and 2018 World Cup -- Team USA pretty much showed the world they're the best team on earth. The 2016 team was the best USA team ever and dominated that event. The 2018 World Cup team was not quite as dominant but still won pretty convincingly. Those teams proved to be quite capable of getting a bucket when they needed one. USA's leading scorers in 2016 were Diana and Maya and in 2018 were Diana and Stewie (playing the wing). USA has always had a style of play and that style has been wildly successful. Have they not been successful enough? Based on an exhibition game? In terms of style of play, I can't ever recall a USA team that had a player who wants/needs to shoot as much as Arike. It'll be interesting to see if in the future USA BB goes that route. Maya Moore's first major WNT tournament was at the 2010 World Cup in Prague. Maya was young, excited and looking for her shot . . . a lot. Her veteran teammates thought too much and let her know about it. Geno didn't have to say a word and Maya learned how to play within the USA system. Speaking of Maya, Cohen's second point is about the 3 (wing) position on Team USA. I agree with his overall point but his memory is a bit off. He writes: "[I]Wednesday night was an indication that Dawn Staley still seems to view Stewart as a regular wing option. It would be a stretch to call the position a 'hole', but the US haven't really played with a natural 3 at a major tournament since Tamika Catchings retired (and Angel McCoughtry started picking up major injuries)."[/I] He's right that the wing position is an issue but he seems to have forgotten that Maya Moore was the natural 3 who played that position for Team USA in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Geno created a bit of a controversy in London in 2012 when he sat Parker and inserted Maya in to the starting lineup at the wing. He did this because the spacing with Charles, Parker and Catchings playing together was terrible and the offense bogged down. The same thing happened in Tenerife in 2018 when Dawn started Griner, Charles/Nneka and Stewart. That lineup forced Stewie to the wing where she played great (won MOP), but it is not her natural position and the offense didn't look great. It looks like Dawn plans to do the same thing with Griner, Wilson and Stewie. We'll see how that looks but issues at the wing probably explain why Nneka did not make the team and Pheesa did. Team USA is still searching for a replacement for Maya Moore. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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