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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5124482, member: 12088"] This is just me engaging in a thought experiment. I watched the game a second time last night and it struck me that Hannah and Olivia are not exactly a well-oiled machine. They can play together — those concerns are clearly misplaced, and Olivia is clearly a great point guard. But Hannah seems to be a unique individual on the court. Saying she plays well with others doesn’t quite catch her brand of mischief and mayhem. This is especially clear on defense. She roams the court as a sort of free operator terrorizing opponents. She’s quick enough to get back to whoever she’s left open more often than not. But she isn’t really tasked with precise switches or coverages. In fact, to require that of her might limit her usefulness. On offense, I thought I saw something similar. Niele sets screens for her, and there are plays as well. But she often simply breaks down an opponent on her own. This works really well now because most teams are still figuring out their defensive schemes. USC made lots of mistakes and Hannah exploited them really well. Later, I expect the scout on her will make things harder and screens and plays will matter more. My point, trivial as it is, amounts to little more than saying that Hannah mainly does her thing and the rest of the team knows to make room for that. Olivia and Hannah don’t get in each other’s way, and Olivia appears to understand Hannah well. They certainly don’t fight over the ball, if that’s what the pundits thought might happen. Olivia is too smart for that. It also helps that the two of them are already playing in midseason form and few other backcourts are that far along yet. This isn’t to say that ND’s team defense didn’t break down occasionally. One example, Hannah got stuck isolated on TVO at the left elbow and she just bulled her way to the rim, keeping the smaller guard on her hip. Hannah was helpless, swatted at TVO’s arm a couple times to no avail. It probably should have been whistled for an and-one. In other words, Hannah needed help but none came. This is a vulnerability since she works best doubling on someone else’s defensive assignment, but can be exposed against bigger guards. I’m sure Niele will solve this problem before long. I can imagine Hannah and Olivia playing one-on-one in the gym and though Olivia probably couldn’t stop Hannah, I doubt she could prevent Olivia from scoring either. Teams with a strong big guard might be able to exploit this… until, of course, their team defense closes this off. Texas would be an interesting challenge with Harmon and Booker, if they can force switches. On the other hand, I suspect SC would be an easier opponent for them. [/QUOTE]

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