Dawn Plitzuweit Interviews (MidcoSN)

[ElsenMidco]

Here’s this season’s first “Coach Talk” installment with Coach Plitzuweit.
youtu.be/6Mo8YcJrJUE

[kiyoat]

great interview as always, Jay!

- talking about the benefits of a tough schedule
- praise for MacKeever and Trimboli
- scouting Tulsa

[ElsenMidco]

Here's this week's "Coach Talk" segment from Midco Sports Tonight:

[kiyoat]

Thanks, Jay! I was just watching the Mt Marty Post-game, and thinking: This is where Coach P really shines. After manhandling an NAIA team, how do you honestly asses the game without disrespecting the opponent? She is all class. At one point she even called Mt. Marty the "Western Illinois of the NAIA".

Maybe a little hyperbole, but you can see the players mirror her in their comments, and their respect for the opponent as well. I know that is a trait you will see with a lot of coaches, but I've always thought that about Dawn.

[kiyoat]

A paraphrased transcript of the interview:

The conference season started out with a tough road test, with a quick turnaround. (three games in seven days)
"A great opportunity for us to see how tough we really are. I thought our young ladies passed that test..."

In Fargo, the defense sparked the offense. 18 of your first 27 points were off turnovers.
"..Our goal was to attack early.  We didn't do a great job in our half-court defense, but when we turned them over we were able to score...."

Western Illinois came in averaging over 80 points a game, and you held them to 58.  What were the keys to that?
"We knew we had to limit arc shots from certain players, knew we had to get back in transition defense.  Last year they really beat us in transition.  This time we did a much better job in conversion defense, and not fouling.

That's a lot to ask on one day's prep.  Our kids were really locked-in"

Is it fair to say you beat them at their own game?
"We were fortunate to turn them over a lot.  They are a hard team to turn over.  We were also attempting a lot of 3's.  More than any team I have ever coached.  That wasn't necessarily the game-plan, but it ended up that we did kind-of beat them at their own game, somewhat.

We went with a smaller lineup, and that was hard for Western to defend.  We were hitting shots, so that helped.  Western is unusual in the Summit in that they run a zone, and have a true shot-blocker in Braun.  She does a fantastic job, gave us fits last year.  We tried to stay away from her."

Now you have Fort Wayne on the schedule, thoughts on the match-up?
"Fort Wayne has changed their offense from a ball-screening, get-to-the-rim style to more floor-spacing, ball-sharing, and shooting from the arc.  You are seeing that from a lot of Summit League teams, good outside shooting.  We will have to get out to shooters early and often."

[canislatrans]

Great coaches at USD, across the board, enjoy it Coyote Fans!

[coyotecrazie5]

[kiyoat]

Some quick hits from the interview: (paraphrasing)

On AA back from injury:
I thought she played aggressively; had her explosiveness back.... we missed her on the defensive end....

On outscoring last two opponents 96-32 in the lane:
...Fort Wayne is a smaller team overall, so it's not a surprise that we were attacking the rim.... Fort Wayne was more difficult this time around to dribble drive against, and our girls had to make some difficult shots.

On Ft Wayne shooting 38%:
I was satisfied with that, but the area we could have done better in this game was keeping them off the free-throw line...

On Omaha:
The last time we played them we did a good job containing them in the first half, but in the second half they got to the free-throw line a lot against us, and got too many offensive rebounds. We need to clean that up....

On Oral Roberts:
We need to get off to a faster start then the last time, when we scored at a 20% clip in the first quarter. We have to get to the rim, and finish more aggressively.




Sounds like a hard lady to please.... good.

"Stay thirsty, (for a championship) my friends"