12-20-2012, 10:51 AM
Congrats to the team for finding a way to win a tough defensive battle of a game. Lots of lessons learned there to be sure.
South Carolina's style of defense (which will be repeated by some upcoming top teams) was pressure defense with strong (wo)man-to-man deny on all passes. Defenders stayed glued to their targets; which helped them force turnovers and helped eliminate the 3 pointers. Stanford's style of 3-point shooters need time and space (usually via catch and shot), and neither time nor space was available very often with SC's defense. That defensive style also puts more of a premium on offensive players who can "rise" to a shot (with no dribbles), and those that can dribble confidently in traffic and shoot (Amber and Toni; in one of last plays Mikaela showed she can, but confidence wise, she usually doesn't).
So in essence this became a scrum that Stanford managed to win with the collective effort and skills of every player.
Being smaller and faster, and in deny position on D, South Carolina was able to get many deflections as too often Stanford players tried to dribble in traffic. The shame of it was, that in most cases, playing to their height was an unused option. Meaning , with strength, chinning the ball straight up to their entire height, and putting up a soft shot. That technique alone would reduce turnovers, and unleash the Stanford secret weapon, Chiney's offensive rebounding.
Along those same lines of lessons learned, it seems like they are still figuring out what works best with Chiney in a high pressure game. Nneka for example had much more bulk/strength and could fight for and hold her offensive position when posting up. Chiney is lighter and is more easily pushed out of the post. So Chiney and the team need to be more in sync on when and how to get Chiney the ball. And Chiney needs to be much more aware of the ball coming her direction at any time. On one play, Mikaela passed the ball but not high enough. In another, Jos was afraid to make the pass when Chiney had a solid post. So recognizing Chiney will have to do it slightly differently, on the Mikela play for instance, the a defensive player was fronting Chiney. The play was there to bounce the ball off the backboard to get it to Chiney. But all team members have to read the defense and practice these skills in a way that acknowledge Chiney's style will be a little different at times to get the ball.
Lessons learned comes after the game and when back at practice.
But real-time, at least they managed to solve the problems the D of SC presented enough to get a win.
South Carolina's style of defense (which will be repeated by some upcoming top teams) was pressure defense with strong (wo)man-to-man deny on all passes. Defenders stayed glued to their targets; which helped them force turnovers and helped eliminate the 3 pointers. Stanford's style of 3-point shooters need time and space (usually via catch and shot), and neither time nor space was available very often with SC's defense. That defensive style also puts more of a premium on offensive players who can "rise" to a shot (with no dribbles), and those that can dribble confidently in traffic and shoot (Amber and Toni; in one of last plays Mikaela showed she can, but confidence wise, she usually doesn't).
So in essence this became a scrum that Stanford managed to win with the collective effort and skills of every player.
Being smaller and faster, and in deny position on D, South Carolina was able to get many deflections as too often Stanford players tried to dribble in traffic. The shame of it was, that in most cases, playing to their height was an unused option. Meaning , with strength, chinning the ball straight up to their entire height, and putting up a soft shot. That technique alone would reduce turnovers, and unleash the Stanford secret weapon, Chiney's offensive rebounding.
Along those same lines of lessons learned, it seems like they are still figuring out what works best with Chiney in a high pressure game. Nneka for example had much more bulk/strength and could fight for and hold her offensive position when posting up. Chiney is lighter and is more easily pushed out of the post. So Chiney and the team need to be more in sync on when and how to get Chiney the ball. And Chiney needs to be much more aware of the ball coming her direction at any time. On one play, Mikaela passed the ball but not high enough. In another, Jos was afraid to make the pass when Chiney had a solid post. So recognizing Chiney will have to do it slightly differently, on the Mikela play for instance, the a defensive player was fronting Chiney. The play was there to bounce the ball off the backboard to get it to Chiney. But all team members have to read the defense and practice these skills in a way that acknowledge Chiney's style will be a little different at times to get the ball.
Lessons learned comes after the game and when back at practice.
But real-time, at least they managed to solve the problems the D of SC presented enough to get a win.