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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5115640, member: 12088"] [B]Azzi[/B] is not known for her defense [U]because she's known for something else[/U] and it distracts us from noticing her defense. Azzi is a fine defender -- maybe not Nika-in-your-face on ball defense, but she does not make a lot of mistakes, and she can be at the front of the full court press as we saw against Texas and NC State two years ago. She's a focused, high-IQ player who already understands Geno's schemes. Something similar can be said of [B]Kaitlyn[/B], who led the press for Carla for the last 3 years. She's learning a new system, so we should expect a few lapses, but those will disappear soon enough. [B]Allie[/B] was a very good defender in high school. There used to be a few videos of games from her senior year -- not just highlights -- and she was the anchor of that team's defense, more so than their offense. It was a small team with only one other player her size and a bunch of speedy little guards who knew how to score. She is still learning Geno's defense, and so we shouldn't be surprised by a few mistakes. The other thing visible in those videos is her leadership. The rest of the team looked to her to get the tough basket and to rally the defense. This is the same thing Ash experienced in high school, and Paige too, and Nika showed it too, and Evina too. If the anchor player plays good aggressive defense the rest of the team rallies. The other player who knows how to energize a team with her defense is [B]Morgan[/B]. She's also still learning Geno's defense, but her energy and commitment is really obvious. And if anyone watches her high school games from last year, they'll see an intense leader of a great team -- not a naturally great scorer, but a scrappy kid who never gives up. If Morgan had arrived last season instead of Ash, I have little doubt we'd be talking about her role on the team in the same way right now. Her trajectory may be slightly more gradual merely because she won't get as many minutes as Ash did last season. But the end point is probably the same -- leading the team for a season or two. Allie may not have the same intense energy Morgan has, but she will be great soon enough. As for [B]Kaitlyn's turnovers[/B], she makes more than I'd like for the moment, and aside from picking up her dribble too soon I can think of one particular mistake from the closing minutes against USF that is probably typical. She drove and kicked a pass to Allie in the corner. But the pass wasn't well prepared and Allie wasn't really open to shoot, so she passed it back to the top. A moment later, Kaitlyn made a similar drive and got trapped by a double team in the lane and tossed up a desperation shot that missed. What she didn't see but should have was Allie now wide open in the same spot. This was a mistake and tantamount to a turnover. I'm confident those mistakes will not recur as Kaitlyn gains more familiarity with the read and react style Geno teaches. She, herself, said in a presser that Carla's offense involved more plays and she was still finding her way here. At Princeton her offense was brilliant, but in a different system. It will shine again once she gets comfortable. You can already see hints of it with her midrange jump shot, which is almost as automatic as Ash's [/QUOTE]

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