Well, the overtime streak had to end at some point and while I would rather it never end, I am glad it happened in the regular season. We played Carolina tight with 7 players, but once we got to 5 it was going to be rough, especially with lack of height.
There are several reason why we lost today.
1. Depth. We have the best starting five in America, problem is no one on the bench can play because they don't get minutes. Ashleigh hasn't hit a jumper in weeks, Jade looks disinterested because she doesn't get to play and Kat and Drey can probably give a great scouting report of the different bench chairs in the ACC. We won't go far in either tournament if Drey doesn't see minutes. I am pretty sure she knows how to rebound and that's all we would need her to do to spell Laura and Crystal.
We were exhausted at the end of boths halves because no one can come off the bench. If we don't feel Kat can play PG, slide her to the 2 and let Marissa play the point for a while.
2. Rebounding. Carolina outrebounded us by 13 and mainly because of hustle. The guards need to help keep the more athletic teams off the glass.
3. Daron's inexperience. I want to say we had a great game plan defensively, as we held Carolina to 71 points in regulation and I think Daron did a great job that way. But I think today he coached not to lose instead of to win. We were doing great, passing the ball around looking for open shots, but with the game in hand we went to isolation plays and worked on dribbling the shot clock out. Problem with that is that Carolina is long and can contain Kristi and Marissa, plus it gives us no chance at a rebound as the Heels can stand around waiting for the shot. We did the same thing versus GT. If we played to win, we would all be celebrating. But it's something he can learn from.
His inexperience didn't help with the refs either and that's not a slight on him because he can't do anything about that. Jesus could have been the coach and the refs wouldn't have given us calls. Sylvia knows how to work the refs and after 0 free throws in the first half, UNC shot 38 in the second half, while we shot 11. Our whole team was in foul trouble despite no one having more than 1 in the first half. Yet Carolina never was in foul trouble. In fact, the refs evened it up right away as Langhorne had 3 fouls less than four minutes into half #2. I am sure Commissioner McGlade will put a little extra into the checks of Wesley Dean, Eric Brewton and Joe Cunningham this week.
4. We settled for outside shots. We should have pounded it more downlow, but I do realize Carolina's length made that tough.
5. Kristi's pressing. She was great at distributing the ball, but you can see she's trying to will each shot. Someone needs to relax her when she misses.
Carolina isn't better than us, they just have more depth. But from now to the end of the season, Drey should see at least 10 minutes a night and Kat at least 5 considering the teams we are playing the rest of the way.
It's time to rebound against Miami and make sure we don't lose again this year. We need some breaks but we can still get that one seed.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Heels Depth Outlast Terps in Double Overtime
Posted by Joey Nations at 5:56 PM
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6 comments:
True Jade and Ashleigh need to contribute more. Jade proved what kind of a player she was when Lang was out but once she got back it seems like they don't need her anymore. I think both have confidense issues, which I have to blame the coaching staff. You go from playing unbelievable ball to barely playing at all...got to work on your mind. The same goes for Drey and Kat. We will not win another championship with 5 players and until the coaches realize that and decide to get the other players involved, then that's that.
Our coaches are killing our starters and it is no excuse for it. Newman and Perry was big contributers in 2006, but now they are playing very limited minutes. It is hard to play this game looking over you shoulder and that is what is goiing on. If they miss a shot they are coming out, make a mistake coming out. But we will let our perimeter players soot us out of a game and not play a lick of defense and that is alright. This mess started after the game against North Carolina last year at comcast and it is getting worse. This team wins because of talent and if we could get the coaches to get there heads out of the sand and realize you need more than 5 we might get back to final four.
I think that you are way off base on the bench. The bench are not getting to get in a rhythm when they get in the game. They are having to play looking over there shoulder. Everyone keep saying contribute more, the coach must show confidence in the players. The bottom line is that we will not win in the tournament this way. Newman and Perry was allowed to play ther game in 2006, but now they are getting spot play. Try playing this game in 2 mins spurts and see how affective you will be. There are many coaches that would love to have this talent and our coaches are blowing it.
Thanks for setting me straight on Ashleigh and Jade. :) Whatever the problem is, I know we need them in order to go all the way. I'd also like to see us play our two freshman more, one who was a McDonalds All American and top recruit.
Go Terps!
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