Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5274000, member: 12088"] I think it depends what you mean by ‘athletic.’ Personally, I think the term is misused for the most part. Being strong and quick isn’t all there is to athleticism, in my view. But by that narrow definition, Kneepkens comes up short. The fact that she’s a great player shows how inadequate that definition is. She has a smooth shooting touch, understands court positioning, moves well without the ball. These are also things I’d include in the term. But she is not particularly strong or quick. It also depends on what style of play the coach teaches. Here’s an example: Dawn teaches a style that depends on having a strong, long and quick lineup. This has worked really well for SC for over a decade. But this season, she didn’t have the right lineup to make the most of that style. Raven, Bree, Sania and Joyce are perfect for the game Dawn wants to play. Chloe, Tessa, Te-Hina, Maryam don’t exactly have the strength or speed to make that style work. And don’t get me wrong. I think all of them are excellent players and athletes, especially Chloe and Tessa. And SC was a great team this season even with a lineup that didn’t exactly fit Dawn’s game. Tessa is one of my favorite players in the country, just to point to one player. The simple fact is Chloe is not a great anchor of the frontline for Dawn, and Tessa is not a great perimeter defender. Neither is Te-Hina. But this is what Dawn needed them to be. As a side note, this really highlights the magnitude of the loss of Ashlyn to SC. She is exactly the sort of athlete Dawn’s game is made for. Back to Kneepkens: does her type of athleticism fit whatever sort of game it is Cori coaches for? Against UConn, it was clear that overall team speed was a problem for UCLA, and this was apparent also in the two losses to USC earlier in the season. Jones and Barker were two of the quicker players, by position, on the roster. Losing then and adding Kneepkens solves one problem, perimeter shooting, but may exacerbate the other, team speed. Jaquez and Rice may not be enough by themselves to solve that problem. If you have a different assessment of Kneepkens’ skills, I’d love to hear it. Edited to add: the narrow definition of ‘athletic’ is often code for teams that don’t shoot well but rebound and defend well and win most of the 50-50 balls. I think of athletes more expansively and include subtlety and cleverness, lightness of touch and just being smart with one’s movements. Paige is not ‘athletic’ by the narrow definition, but she absolutely is by the more expansive one. Also, I think playing against an ‘athletic’ team is often a bruising experience. But this isn’t necessarily what I value in sports. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

Forum statistics

Threads: 164,461

Messages: 4,397,088

Members: 10,210

Latest member: noelle