It's been nearly two days and I still can't believe what happened on Sunday. I never thought everyone of the guards would go cold at the same time. I never thought we would lose to anyone by double-digits this year. Winning streak over. Perfect season over. Unstoppable team belief over. The only streaks that continued were Langhorne's double-digit scoring streak and losing in Durham streak. Why do we always have to get our asses kicked the first we play them each year?
We scored the most points against Duke all year, consequently gave up the most points all year. It was a humbling experience and I hope the ladies learn from it. We will find out on Friday, then sunday, then thursday and definitely on the 28th against Carolina.
Positives (Yes there were some)
Langhorne. 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 7 rebounds. Consistently beat Bales in the low post (only misses were jumpers). Still trying to figure out why she rarely got the ball in the second half.
Rebounding. We matched them board for board, which is something I couldn't believe when looking at the box score.
Turnovers. We didn't have that many, which was also a shock considering the score.
Negatives
Guard defense. consistently a step slower and a step behind. How many times did Harding have to drive the lane before she was stopped? Where was the help defense off the screen? Why were we hedging so much on the screens set by Bales, were we that afraid that Harding was going to pull up from 21 feet? Why was Coleman following Smith to the three-point line knowing that she's not the greatest shooter from out there? That left her open for the back door screen. Did we ever think about trying to take a charge on all those run outs by Duke? What happened to Sa'de's speed?
Harper. She's 6'4 and for some reason when she plays against a person, just a bit taller, she shrinks to 6'1. There is no reason for Bales to ever block her shot or for her to miss as many lay ups as she did. She gets so afraid of contact and then doesn't attack the glass.
Shooting. We had enough open shots that we shouldn't have missed that many of them. What ever was going on inside their heads on gameday needs to be addressed?
Mental toughness. The team faced a big deficit and instead of locking down on defense, they shrunk up and just tried to match Duke basket for basket. I thought we had gotten over that flaw.
Langhorne and Coleman. I know there are 8 stars on the team and they are all about team ball, but the two of them need to step up when the team needs them. Coleman looked passive when her shots weren't falling, while Langhorne doesn't command the ball. When you shoot 77% from the floor and the person guarding you is slow, ask from the damn ball and take it at her everytime.
Gameplan. I liked the first half plan to spread the floor and get the ball to the open shooters. In the second half I had no idea what we were doing. Instead we tried to challenge Bales, but not initiate any contact. we took I think three 3s in the second half. Who cares if we missed in the first half, they were good looks. Where were the Langhorne isolations? Where was the high low play to attack the double team, where Harper streaks from the top of the key to get the pass from the double teamed Langhorne?
Bottomline: We were outhustled and worked. Duke wanted it more and the ladies couldn't handle it. I expected to see more heart out of this team. The team needs to worry about kicking everyone else's ass before worrying about playing Duke again. If we drop below 5, it will be a travesty.
2 comments:
I totally agree with all your negative points. The man to man defense is now outplayed. We need to first work on some zone defenses. We are not always faster than our opponets, when a defense is not working change it. Our defense S.U.C.K.S. we are all out of shape and slow. You're wanting to know what happened to Sade's speed it was still there, but not enough to stop someone who is faster than you. What happened to the starting guards defense (Shay & KT)?
By the look of Sa'de & others they look overweight and slow. That is the heaviest and slowest I have ever seen Sa'de. She is about 10 lbs. overweight. These girls need to start playing as a team and let those egos go. I watched them not pass the ball around like before. If Langhorne is the person scoring then let's get her the ball rather than taking 10-12 shots a game, trying to build our own stats. Doron, Toliver, Coleman & Newman shot us out. Get the ball INSIDE and play defense ladies.
Not only are we missing our assignments. We need to learn how to listen to our floor leaders and let those Egos go. All shots are not good shots. We even shot off balance, ridiculous shots. Lets get it together ladies before we play UNC, because they are coming with it.
I couldn't agree with you more on defense. Seem like they were afraid of getting foul. We had only two players with 3 fouls. Offense: what happen to the unselfish team offense? There were too much of one on one. What made Shay think that she could run right up to Bales and tried to shoot over her? Very unwise move.
Coleman must play her best game if they want to beat top teams.
Coleman needs to get over showing her frustration on bad foul calls and when her shots are not going in.
LANG must touch ball more. HARPER must catch the inside passes in the paint.
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