After the glow of another super win at Walsh, we got in the car and listened to Hall Line on the way home. Our good buddy "Pat from West Caldwell" called into the show and crowed again about the awesome WBB program and after the break ***astonishingly*** the WSOU crew started in on a good recap on the game and a review of the player and program strengths - of the WBB team. I do not recall ***ever*** hearing that much air time on Hall Line for the women's team. And then, just as we were nearing home, who but Coach Bozzella himself put a call in. I was playing simulated virtual air guitar on the highway. Awesome.
Before wading through the many posts that are sure to bring my blood to a boil, I want to post some observations from the game last night. I am not intending to document the game or cover everything like a reporter, just point out things that I believe are significant in the development of the WBB program and game play in particular.
Know Your Position - at any one time there at least six viable point combinations getting deployed and mostly without confusion. The standard one is Powell and Richardson, with Powell technically PG, but as with Simmons and Simmons, either might be running point on a given play or stretch. I noticed that when Smith was in, she was frequently backed up at 2 by Powell or Richardson, or she was the backup at 2 herself. Finally, I see that there have been combinations with any of the three are alone at point, with Mosley or Inman (alas) at the 2. Not usually for long - for tactical rests - but we do not fall down. Now any of you will say - pish - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Rotations and Seal Offs - this is another flavor of Know Your Position, but in year 3, I'm seeing stronger team understanding of the dynamic mechanics of playing a defense against a varied attack. We may not see as many steals this year, but we may see more proper charges taken at critical junctures. Byrne just knows how to draw the charge and looks like she *loves* to cause it to happen. How awesome is that!?! I actually think her grittiness is helping to motivate Gordon to do the same. I do not recall Gordon trying to draw a charge before this year, but she's trying (now she does not move as quickly laterally as Byrne, so she has to be careful in this area). Inman was becoming stronger last year, second half, in the matter of not getting tricked out of position and this year she was going to get a ton of minutes defensively because she was repeatedly shutting off drive attempts. But single player strengths do not a team make - more frequently than I can remember, I'm seeing successful defensive sets where players properly close off drives in pairs without giving up the house to do it. Now any of you will say - posh - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Play Execution - oh my, on a night when our Killer Treys were *not* on display, and when some of our dribble drives were getting stuffed, I saw well-executed attack variety, mostly solid ball passing (although I would prefer that the lazy light looping toss was expunged from all player mindset - we got nicked by the alert Princetons on this a few more times than I want to see), but the thing I loved the most was how many points were gained by a drive and surprise baseline dish to Gordon and or Jones and or whomever (!!) to get the layup from 6 inches. Smiles. Cheers. Joy of the Game being well-played. Naturally, Richardson has showcased some seriously good ankle breakers - there was one play in the second quarter where she broke the defending PG's ankles one way and then the ***other*** way on the same play, and the young woman literally fell to the floor and *then* Richardson took it to the hoop with the fans screaming to lift the roof off the house, vamping, hooting, hollering, oh yeah, I was one of them, LOL! But the show-style is not the main way we're getting points. Mid-range jumpers and layups are a solid meaty part of the offense. Now any of you will say - fizz-buzz - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Stepping Up - we lost Egan (who was solid defensively) and we now have lost Inman (who is also solid defensively). I noticed that Mosley immediately got a lot more playing time last night. And I was more than pleased. She has to step up (due to the losses) and she is and will step up. It's like she was actually ready. We have lost in the depth department, but as Mrs BP reminds me what Coach Knight says, he never thinks for a minute about what could have been when a player is lost to injury because "that's why you have a bench". Another element of stepping up, when Bryne fouled out, it put Molyneaux on the spot. She got and is likely to get more minutes than perhaps she's ready for (again - based on losing Inman for the year). This will actually hasten her development. She can block and loves to do it but she will only get her game-tiger on to grab the ball in the scrums underneath if she gets minute. So - this is a work in progress, but there is depth to work and grow with. Now any of you will say - shazzbot - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Composure - As was noted in the game reports, this was a game of runs. There were a number of telling points in the game where runs by the Princetons were stopped, but for my money, the most important one occurred after Byrne was quickly fouled out of the game by this really terrible referee crew. Now - hold on a second - I get it - you adjust to the refs so don't go laying that on me. I've paid close attention to the various WBB crews and I have some knowledge about the crew rating methods year over year. In general there are some solid crews - the crew we had for the RU game has one of the best refs in the league - there are a lot of rather mediocre crews and there are a few outright puke-fests - last night's crew is the worst of them. As soon as I saw who was doing the game, I turned to my son before the game and said, this is the worst, just watch, they are going to eff this game to hell. And they did. What's a good game to me? Same call both ends. What's a bad game to me? When rolling dice gives better odds. Byrne was sent off (those blankers protected the key Tiger big with four fouls on her for almost two quarters and took out three of our players within less than a quarter's worth of time). Anyway, here's my ***BP Turning Point of the Game***: Byrne sits down and Gordon (with three fouls and our last big to deploy) simply has to come in to stave off the Tiger Push. First attack down, and a miss, and Gordon ***ferociously*** takes the ball with a solid outlet. We get the points. Next attack down, and a miss, and Gordon ***ferociously*** takes the ball with a solid outlet. We get the points. Unlike for the last forever, while the team bent against well-executed pressure from Princeton (a really good team by the way), they did not break and prevented the game from getting to a one-to-three point mud wrestle heart ache.
Now any of you will say - tro-lo-lo-lo-loooooo - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like.
And I do agree most heartily.
Because (1) it is taught well (2) it is learned well (3) it is executed on the court well.
After all these years, we know what we should be seeing on the floor. The foundation is behind the bench.
Before wading through the many posts that are sure to bring my blood to a boil, I want to post some observations from the game last night. I am not intending to document the game or cover everything like a reporter, just point out things that I believe are significant in the development of the WBB program and game play in particular.
Know Your Position - at any one time there at least six viable point combinations getting deployed and mostly without confusion. The standard one is Powell and Richardson, with Powell technically PG, but as with Simmons and Simmons, either might be running point on a given play or stretch. I noticed that when Smith was in, she was frequently backed up at 2 by Powell or Richardson, or she was the backup at 2 herself. Finally, I see that there have been combinations with any of the three are alone at point, with Mosley or Inman (alas) at the 2. Not usually for long - for tactical rests - but we do not fall down. Now any of you will say - pish - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Rotations and Seal Offs - this is another flavor of Know Your Position, but in year 3, I'm seeing stronger team understanding of the dynamic mechanics of playing a defense against a varied attack. We may not see as many steals this year, but we may see more proper charges taken at critical junctures. Byrne just knows how to draw the charge and looks like she *loves* to cause it to happen. How awesome is that!?! I actually think her grittiness is helping to motivate Gordon to do the same. I do not recall Gordon trying to draw a charge before this year, but she's trying (now she does not move as quickly laterally as Byrne, so she has to be careful in this area). Inman was becoming stronger last year, second half, in the matter of not getting tricked out of position and this year she was going to get a ton of minutes defensively because she was repeatedly shutting off drive attempts. But single player strengths do not a team make - more frequently than I can remember, I'm seeing successful defensive sets where players properly close off drives in pairs without giving up the house to do it. Now any of you will say - posh - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Play Execution - oh my, on a night when our Killer Treys were *not* on display, and when some of our dribble drives were getting stuffed, I saw well-executed attack variety, mostly solid ball passing (although I would prefer that the lazy light looping toss was expunged from all player mindset - we got nicked by the alert Princetons on this a few more times than I want to see), but the thing I loved the most was how many points were gained by a drive and surprise baseline dish to Gordon and or Jones and or whomever (!!) to get the layup from 6 inches. Smiles. Cheers. Joy of the Game being well-played. Naturally, Richardson has showcased some seriously good ankle breakers - there was one play in the second quarter where she broke the defending PG's ankles one way and then the ***other*** way on the same play, and the young woman literally fell to the floor and *then* Richardson took it to the hoop with the fans screaming to lift the roof off the house, vamping, hooting, hollering, oh yeah, I was one of them, LOL! But the show-style is not the main way we're getting points. Mid-range jumpers and layups are a solid meaty part of the offense. Now any of you will say - fizz-buzz - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Stepping Up - we lost Egan (who was solid defensively) and we now have lost Inman (who is also solid defensively). I noticed that Mosley immediately got a lot more playing time last night. And I was more than pleased. She has to step up (due to the losses) and she is and will step up. It's like she was actually ready. We have lost in the depth department, but as Mrs BP reminds me what Coach Knight says, he never thinks for a minute about what could have been when a player is lost to injury because "that's why you have a bench". Another element of stepping up, when Bryne fouled out, it put Molyneaux on the spot. She got and is likely to get more minutes than perhaps she's ready for (again - based on losing Inman for the year). This will actually hasten her development. She can block and loves to do it but she will only get her game-tiger on to grab the ball in the scrums underneath if she gets minute. So - this is a work in progress, but there is depth to work and grow with. Now any of you will say - shazzbot - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like. And I do agree most heartily - because it is taught well and it is learned well and it is executed on the court well.
Composure - As was noted in the game reports, this was a game of runs. There were a number of telling points in the game where runs by the Princetons were stopped, but for my money, the most important one occurred after Byrne was quickly fouled out of the game by this really terrible referee crew. Now - hold on a second - I get it - you adjust to the refs so don't go laying that on me. I've paid close attention to the various WBB crews and I have some knowledge about the crew rating methods year over year. In general there are some solid crews - the crew we had for the RU game has one of the best refs in the league - there are a lot of rather mediocre crews and there are a few outright puke-fests - last night's crew is the worst of them. As soon as I saw who was doing the game, I turned to my son before the game and said, this is the worst, just watch, they are going to eff this game to hell. And they did. What's a good game to me? Same call both ends. What's a bad game to me? When rolling dice gives better odds. Byrne was sent off (those blankers protected the key Tiger big with four fouls on her for almost two quarters and took out three of our players within less than a quarter's worth of time). Anyway, here's my ***BP Turning Point of the Game***: Byrne sits down and Gordon (with three fouls and our last big to deploy) simply has to come in to stave off the Tiger Push. First attack down, and a miss, and Gordon ***ferociously*** takes the ball with a solid outlet. We get the points. Next attack down, and a miss, and Gordon ***ferociously*** takes the ball with a solid outlet. We get the points. Unlike for the last forever, while the team bent against well-executed pressure from Princeton (a really good team by the way), they did not break and prevented the game from getting to a one-to-three point mud wrestle heart ache.
Now any of you will say - tro-lo-lo-lo-loooooo - this is standard, this is what real basketball should look like.
And I do agree most heartily.
Because (1) it is taught well (2) it is learned well (3) it is executed on the court well.
After all these years, we know what we should be seeing on the floor. The foundation is behind the bench.
