I'm not so sure about that. Lee is big and not that mobile and likes to park herself in the paint. Audi seems to play better against those types. Now if KSU replaces her with a smaller, faster post who can score more than 5 feet from the basket things could actually turn out worse for us.
**** WBB: Cyclones at West Virginia - Gamethread - 12 noon Fox TV ****
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Their other bigs are Sanchez and Maupin. Both are averaging 12-16 minutes and score 4ppg. They have one other tall player - Lester - who plays 10 min and averages 2ppg. With three posts I suspect they will try to get physical with Crooks, Take the fouls and (a) put her on the line and (b) don’t allow her to establish any rhythm. The three do average ten boards per game between them. That says something as well.
I had to spend a few hours to let the game digest before posting. This years Twister Sister team seems to really struggle at small fast moving guards that know how to come off the screen. Since the early full court press and traps, there have been improvements each game, but much like the comeback, it is feeling like to little to late. Going back to UNI and Iowa, both killed this team with screens and quick moving guards.
The concerns I have going forward are handling that and the offense. All off season it was talk of down to Audi and then kick out to a three point shooter. Today, Audi looked very tired. She may also be sick but played through it. There were a few stretches earlier this year, where you could see how tired she was and no one really helped shoulder the burden.
Looking back, the past 7+ years, with one exception, CBF seems to have a player he wants to spotlight and build the offense around. Before it was Ashley Jones, now it is Audi. The exception was last year when it was split between Audi and Addy. Some load share during Freshmen year. It feels like this focus on Audi leads to so many telegraphed passes. No shot fakes or dribble drive, screen off to fake a three for a floater. Most of the time it is look for Audi first or dribble, give it to Emily/PG of the time or Addy until they can get it down to her.
Well the question becomes how does this get fixed. I don’t think it can this year. The team needs at least 2 players who are willing to drive the ball. Audi is doubled, the drive to either free her or to take the basket. I would be great if these players had speed. But this will go, against that flow of feeding Audi.
Maybe I a, wrong. I will admit to that.
As was said in Ted Lasso.. “It’s the hope that kills”
Time for me to be a goldfish before the next game.
The concerns I have going forward are handling that and the offense. All off season it was talk of down to Audi and then kick out to a three point shooter. Today, Audi looked very tired. She may also be sick but played through it. There were a few stretches earlier this year, where you could see how tired she was and no one really helped shoulder the burden.
Looking back, the past 7+ years, with one exception, CBF seems to have a player he wants to spotlight and build the offense around. Before it was Ashley Jones, now it is Audi. The exception was last year when it was split between Audi and Addy. Some load share during Freshmen year. It feels like this focus on Audi leads to so many telegraphed passes. No shot fakes or dribble drive, screen off to fake a three for a floater. Most of the time it is look for Audi first or dribble, give it to Emily/PG of the time or Addy until they can get it down to her.
Well the question becomes how does this get fixed. I don’t think it can this year. The team needs at least 2 players who are willing to drive the ball. Audi is doubled, the drive to either free her or to take the basket. I would be great if these players had speed. But this will go, against that flow of feeding Audi.
Maybe I a, wrong. I will admit to that.
As was said in Ted Lasso.. “It’s the hope that kills”
Time for me to be a goldfish before the next game.
Addy and Audi pretty much have the same split of points this year as last. To me it makes sense to feed Audi, she scores a ton efficiently.
Good points. If there is anything I’ve learned this year it’s this team takes what is given to it. Against ASU and AZ it was the guards stepping up. Against TTech it was guards driving. While there is lots of improvement to go, Audi is doing a much better job of passing out to open shooters. Now if only they could consistently drain the ball. The one thing I’ve seen glimpses of…and would like to see a lot more of…is guard movement to create openings. Guess we will see…but my biggest wish is to see the threes fall at much better rates. That opens up all sorts of things and to me is the critical difference between this team being average and very good.
Fennelly’s aversion to any real pressure defense lets our opponents basically run whatever offense they want.
Whether it’s to avoid foul trouble, or save energy for when ISU has the ball - we don’t “disrupt” what other teams want to do. We need to force more turnovers with on-ball pressure.
Whether it’s to avoid foul trouble, or save energy for when ISU has the ball - we don’t “disrupt” what other teams want to do. We need to force more turnovers with on-ball pressure.
Her development from last season to this season is already obvious. She has elite moves in the post. She needs to work on ball handling, free throw shooting, and passing along with lateral quickness. She's a pretty good passer, but she needs to make quicker decisions and run the show from the post.
I agree, I feel most of the time the guard aren't giving her much to pass to because they just stand around when the ball goes in.
I will agree with you there but she still needs to make a pass out to them to keep them involved unless that is what they are to do just stand there.
