12-20-2012, 01:43 AM
MT--
To be fair, the reason Jos' bringing the ball down is stuck in my head is because she put the ball in a contested space at least a couple of times in the final minutes of a close game - one trying to dribble the ball in traffic, the other bringing down a potential offensive rebound to waist height instead of holding it over her head and tossing it out to the perimeter - not sure if they counted it as a turnover or not, as she may never have officially had the rebound. But the one where she was standing 6 feet from the hoop, with Chiney on the far side of the lane, and three smaller defenders around her, really stuck out when she lost the ball trying to dribble in the middle of the crowded lane after her one offensive rebound of the game. Primarily as a rebounder and defender or not, having a starter attempt 1 shot in 36 minutes, especially one with as dramatic a height advantage as she enjoyed, is tough on offensive balance.
The 1-4 I was describing was the initial set I saw us in most of the time - ball handler up top, almost always Amber on the right side, two wings in the corners, and a double post. Then the non-Chiney post, either Jos or Mikaela, would come high to set a pick for the ball handler, and try to isolate Chiney inside. If the defender on the pick hedged well, bring the ball back out and reverse and try to enter again or reset (or, a little too often, try a threaded pass either straight or on the bounce through traffic to Chiney). The major problem seemed to be that South Carolina's on-ball defense denied the easy pass inside to Chiney, so even if she got good position she often didn't receive the ball in a timely fashion, allowing her defender to work around to front or 3/4 her and deny the ball. But more generally, cutters through the lane setting up cross screens on Chiney's defender, or forcing a switch, would've been nice to see. And especially late in the game, South Carolina was dropping the two wing defenders in to crowd the lane quickly once the ball went in. Given how the team was shooting, don't know if kick-outs once those defenders dropped in would be advisable, but it seemed to me like a lot of Chiney on 3 offense late. Of course, sometimes that worked - the "and 1" she converted split the double team and got up before the third defender could join the fun.
More generally, Stanford won for one important reason - South Carolina can't shoot very well. The blocks were in part a result of that - undersized forwards and guards trying to drive into the lane and get to the hoop against Jos and Chiney. I kept hoping for more zone, especially helping out against Welch, who was the Gamecocks' only real consistent offense. This game strikes me as good preparation for both UCLA and C.al, although they'll have more size - not great shooting teams that rely on quickness, steals and turnovers to generate transition opportunities at the basket.
Glenn, I agree that South Carolina is a good team - although their record is a bit misleading, as they've only played 3 teams with winning records thus far (and 6 that are RPI 140+). But I also watched the teams that I compare them with, Baylor and UConn, dismantle Tennessee and destroy Penn State respectively; they're both better than South Carolina. With a similar effort on Saturday, I don't think there's any way Stanford wins in Knoxville.
God, I want to win there.
VG
To be fair, the reason Jos' bringing the ball down is stuck in my head is because she put the ball in a contested space at least a couple of times in the final minutes of a close game - one trying to dribble the ball in traffic, the other bringing down a potential offensive rebound to waist height instead of holding it over her head and tossing it out to the perimeter - not sure if they counted it as a turnover or not, as she may never have officially had the rebound. But the one where she was standing 6 feet from the hoop, with Chiney on the far side of the lane, and three smaller defenders around her, really stuck out when she lost the ball trying to dribble in the middle of the crowded lane after her one offensive rebound of the game. Primarily as a rebounder and defender or not, having a starter attempt 1 shot in 36 minutes, especially one with as dramatic a height advantage as she enjoyed, is tough on offensive balance.
The 1-4 I was describing was the initial set I saw us in most of the time - ball handler up top, almost always Amber on the right side, two wings in the corners, and a double post. Then the non-Chiney post, either Jos or Mikaela, would come high to set a pick for the ball handler, and try to isolate Chiney inside. If the defender on the pick hedged well, bring the ball back out and reverse and try to enter again or reset (or, a little too often, try a threaded pass either straight or on the bounce through traffic to Chiney). The major problem seemed to be that South Carolina's on-ball defense denied the easy pass inside to Chiney, so even if she got good position she often didn't receive the ball in a timely fashion, allowing her defender to work around to front or 3/4 her and deny the ball. But more generally, cutters through the lane setting up cross screens on Chiney's defender, or forcing a switch, would've been nice to see. And especially late in the game, South Carolina was dropping the two wing defenders in to crowd the lane quickly once the ball went in. Given how the team was shooting, don't know if kick-outs once those defenders dropped in would be advisable, but it seemed to me like a lot of Chiney on 3 offense late. Of course, sometimes that worked - the "and 1" she converted split the double team and got up before the third defender could join the fun.
More generally, Stanford won for one important reason - South Carolina can't shoot very well. The blocks were in part a result of that - undersized forwards and guards trying to drive into the lane and get to the hoop against Jos and Chiney. I kept hoping for more zone, especially helping out against Welch, who was the Gamecocks' only real consistent offense. This game strikes me as good preparation for both UCLA and C.al, although they'll have more size - not great shooting teams that rely on quickness, steals and turnovers to generate transition opportunities at the basket.
Glenn, I agree that South Carolina is a good team - although their record is a bit misleading, as they've only played 3 teams with winning records thus far (and 6 that are RPI 140+). But I also watched the teams that I compare them with, Baylor and UConn, dismantle Tennessee and destroy Penn State respectively; they're both better than South Carolina. With a similar effort on Saturday, I don't think there's any way Stanford wins in Knoxville.
God, I want to win there.
VG