[chimera]

This could be a a year of streak busting, in a bad way.  I don't think we deserve to be ranked.  Losing to top teams is not a good case for a ranking.  Belmont is our only decent win.  Losing last night to a low RPI team is a bad loss, at home even more so.  Everything is going badly.  Injuries have hurt.  The schedule has not fit the team very well, too many super hard games, which maybe affected the team confidence against WI last night.  We have a young team struggling with a new offense and not playing consistently good defense.  I am not just being alarmist when I say we are in real danger of missing the NCAAs.  We might be lucky to get one win out of the next three games, might well lose them all, and again, that is at home.  If we win one, we would be at 7-7.  We could also go something like 10-8 in conference or more optimistically 12-6.  That still leaves us short of 20 wins ahead of the conference tourney.  Getting ahead of things here I know, but the situation is that bad right now. 

I don't believe it is reasonable to expect the team to improve by a lot.  Sure, they will improve some and getting the injured players back will help a lot, but the turnovers and other issues have been constant even with those players in the line-up.  The freshmen will improve but the big jump usually happens when they have an offseason and come back knowing what they need to do, not during a season.  The experienced players are what they are.  Some of our experienced players have not shown the growth we have seen from previous groups.  Brit improved a lot since her freshman/soph years but she is out.  Kaylee seems to be the same player she was coming in for the most part.  Same with Marta.  Alanna improved a lot but can struggle trying to carry a heavier load like the past game.  The youth thing is a bit of an excuse.  Look at Oregon last year.  Plenty of freshmen, even teams with lots of them, play smart, tough, focused basketball.  We are not doing that.  Also gotta say when a whole team seems to struggle and/or not improve as much as seems they should, it is on the coaches.  When one player struggles it is probably her issues.  When they all do, when it is a team-wise problem, that is probably on the coaches, assuming the talent is there.  Is the talent there?  Should be.  I am beginning to have my doubts.  I also doubt the wisdom of so many big changes to the offense so often.  I did not love the previous version of the offense.  This new one confuses me.  Just does not seem to get us the sort of shots we need to get. 

[chimera]

This could be a a year of streak busting, in a bad way.  I don't think we deserve to be ranked.  Losing to top teams is not a good case for a ranking.  Belmont is our only decent win.  Losing last night to a low RPI team is a bad loss, at home even more so.  Everything is going badly.  Injuries have hurt.  The schedule has not fit the team very well, too many super hard games, which maybe affected the team confidence against WI last night.  We have a young team struggling with a new offense and not playing consistently good defense.  I am not just being alarmist when I say we are in real danger of missing the NCAAs.  We might be lucky to get one win out of the next three games, might well lose them all, and again, that is at home.  If we win one, we would be at 7-7.  We could also go something like 10-8 in conference or more optimistically 12-6.  That still leaves us short of 20 wins ahead of the conference tourney.  Getting ahead of things here I know, but the situation is that bad right now. 

I don't believe it is reasonable to expect the team to improve by a lot.  Sure, they will improve some and getting the injured players back will help a lot, but the turnovers and other issues have been constant even with those players in the line-up.  The freshmen will improve but the big jump usually happens when they have an offseason and come back knowing what they need to do, not during a season.  The experienced players are what they are.  Some of our experienced players have not shown the growth we have seen from previous groups.  Brit improved a lot since her freshman/soph years but she is out.  Kaylee seems to be the same player she was coming in for the most part.  Same with Marta.  Alanna improved a lot but can struggle trying to carry a heavier load like the past game.  The youth thing is a bit of an excuse.  Look at Oregon last year.  Plenty of freshmen, even teams with lots of them, play smart, tough, focused basketball.  We are not doing that.  Also gotta say when a whole team seems to struggle and/or not improve as much as seems they should, it is on the coaches.  When one player struggles it is probably her issues.  When they all do, when it is a team-wise problem, that is probably on the coaches, assuming the talent is there.  Is the talent there?  Should be.  I am beginning to have my doubts.  I also doubt the wisdom of so many big changes to the offense so often.  I did not love the previous version of the offense.  This new one confuses me.  Just does not seem to get us the sort of shots we need to get.