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Post by kiyoat on Oct 26, 2020 10:28:00 GMT -6
Midco Sports is airing their coaches show tonight. Seems like a good time to start the thread. Why a separate thread for men/women? I vaguely remember regretting combining them last year. I don't recall the specifics....
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 8:56:12 GMT -6
So far I only see the full video of the coaches show on Facebook. Not sure how to embed or link from there, but I'll give it a shot: LINKideally, I'd like to see this cut into segments on YouTube. I think they've done that in the past...
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 9:24:54 GMT -6
Lots of good discussion on all the teams and coaches. They also interviewed one player for each team, and just included a small clip for each one of those players.
Since I'm most interested in how we will match up with State, I'll type out some of the highlights of that segment.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 9:38:43 GMT -6
AJ on PG grad transfer Haley Greer:
Graduating Riley last year, (she was) such a solid point guard in our system, had been in our system for a while. It opened up a need to add another player that had experience in that position. We talked to a lot of people that were in that graduate transfer world, because we wanted someone who had experience and would be elligible.
We narrowed in on Haley.... she has such a good and dynamic personality. It's hard to be a grad transfer.... you are expected to pick up a new system in a matter of months.... she has a high basketball IQ. She adds another important piece to a team that probably lost a lot when we graduated Riley. She's been a good fit for us...
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 9:56:26 GMT -6
Tom N:
Other than that point guard spot,.... you could put a line-up of players that are 6'-1" across the board out there, if you wanted to. Talk about those other positions.
AJ:
Yeah, I don't look down much in practice. I'm looking up to a lot of people out there.... for us, that's always been done for those positions, like the wing, 4, even 2. Tylee is a 2 for us. She's a 6-2 guard. To be quite honest, we might even use her at some 1 because of how she's grown and evolved here.
So we could have a team that has five 6-foot plus players on the floor. We love that utility. We've worked hard to kind-of get back to that. A few years ago, we were a little more guard-oriented. We scored a lot from the 1 & 2 spots. I think now we're getting back to our more traditional 3, 4, 5.... those big, long athletic wings that can do a lot of different things. I really like that part of our team.
Myah's back, and really healthy. I think people will be pleasantly surprised to see the shape she's in, and just not having to limp around. This is the best she's performed so far (early in the season) in her career. And the healthiest she's been.
Tori's back, and doing really well. We've just got a really good group of versatile, good young people that will fit well in our system.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 10:07:09 GMT -6
Interesting comments from AJ about his philosophy on recruiting tall players at every position. I'm not going to argue for or against that strategy. Clearly he has been successful with his system. I'll just say that there is always a trade-off when you value size at the expense of some other factors, like perimeter shooting, ball-handling and quickness.
I mean, even power 5 programs (men's and women's) often have some highly skilled, but relatively shorter guards. If you can have size across the board without sacrificing skill, then that's the best of both worlds of course. I guess it will be interesting seeing that how it plays out between our two programs.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 10:25:00 GMT -6
Tom N: ...talk about offense/defense adjustments [paraphrased]
AJ:
I think offensively we've made adjustments over the years, but we've had a bit of a similar plan.
But defenses, over the years, we've had dramatic changes. 6 or 7 years ago, we hardly played zone. Now in the last couple of years we're playing a lot more zone than we've ever used to. We're working at it. We're not just throwing it in... We're trying to be a really good zone team, and add that to what we do.
We've added some full-court pressure, which we never used to do.
We used to switch more, now we use the switch a little more selectively... We handle ball screens a little differently....
So I think we've evolved a lot, over the years. And some of that comes from just how the style of play in college is. What's happening now. Offensively, teams are so different from 4 or 5 years ago.
So offensively, you can just be who you are, and stick to that plan. But defensively I really think you've got to change with the game.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 10:38:12 GMT -6
I'm not a great BB X's and O's guy, so maybe someone else can comment on this. I just don't get the idea that you evolve your defense, but leave your offensive strategy the same. They aren't separate entities in a vacuum. I feel like this relates to recruiting strategy, too. Like if you use full-court press a lot, (or play teams that press a lot) you'd better have some quickness and skilled ball handlers to put in the game.
Maybe I'm over-thinking it. I remember last year they had one of the lowest turnover rates in the league. Riley C-J was part of that, but I think they all play pretty disciplined.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 10:49:01 GMT -6
Comments after the AJ interview:
Brad Newitt: This is a team that's been willing to adjust how they play based on their personnel, .... I'm not sure there's any team in the Summit League (and very few in the country) that can put up a lineup of five players over 6-foot that are all very athletic and can move.
That's what makes playing zone (maybe) very attractive for a team like SDSU. They can really cover some ground when they do that.
Tom N: Mike Jewett, the associate head coach, has kind of taken over, defensively. He maybe talked AJ into that.
Brad: Maybe a little. I think some coaches are reluctant to go to that zone, but it worked well for them at times last year. Go back to that Summit Leage Championship game. I felt like SDSU really didn't have the same talent level that USD did, but they were able to hang in that game because of their defense. THey held USD to their lowest point total, if I remember right, and almost won it.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 11:07:30 GMT -6
Other than talking about last year, this was the only other part of the Coach P interview:
Jay E: ...talk about some of your new players [paraphrased]
Coach P: It's going to be important for all of our young ladies to be ready to play, because we just don't ever know what can transpire. It's like that every year, but this year even to a different level because of potential quarantine or isolation situations.
With that being said, I think our five seniors have done a tremendous job of helping coach and teach our (new players)...
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 11:09:40 GMT -6
Wow, not a very revealing interview for Coach P. Maybe she is keeping it close to the vest, I guess.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 27, 2020 14:33:56 GMT -6
Here's a better link to the Summit WBB coaches show (just posted to youtube)
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Post by easmus on Oct 30, 2020 6:00:26 GMT -6
If you think back to the last couple years under Amy, SDSU offense was very much a high-low, get a mismatched or position on the defenders drop it in for a layup. That is highly effective in a tournament setting when you get to game 3 and have tired legs. That’s why so many times I feel like we’ve been beat by them is they’re shooting 55% because they’re pounding it inside and we’d be shooting 33% shooting jumpers.
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Post by kiyoat on Oct 30, 2020 7:01:35 GMT -6
If you think back to the last couple years under Amy, SDSU offense was very much a high-low, get a mismatched or position on the defenders drop it in for a layup. That is highly effective in a tournament setting when you get to game 3 and have tired legs. That’s why so many times I feel like we’ve been beat by them is they’re shooting 55% because they’re pounding it inside and we’d be shooting 33% shooting jumpers. Yeah, I don't remember the specifics, but when State had two dominant bigs on the floor at the same time it was always tough to penetrate the lane for our offense, and I do remember a lot of quick inside passes leading to easy "bunnies" for the Bunnies (pun intended). Ober-Thompson in 2016 were tough in that championship game. Players like Sjerven help us level the playing field in the paint. I just hope she is able to stay out of foul trouble. Plenty of teams will have that strategy, and come right at her. Next year if Sjerven stays for a 2nd senior year we would have both her and Williston. Think about that.
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Post by kiyoat on Nov 18, 2020 10:40:50 GMT -6
SDSU's WBB just released their non-con schedule: gojacks.com/news/2020/11/17/jackrabbits-announce-non-conference-schedule.aspxIt isn't quite the insane murderer's row they had last year, but it is filled with great regional teams, many of which we have also played recently. They got Gonzaga to fly back out to Joe Foss Field a second time in less than a week on Dec 6th, unless they are just planning on hanging out in Sioux Falls for a week? Impressive schedule considering circumstances, as usual. Color me shocked they got Iowa State to travel to Brookings this year. The Cyclones have been avoiding the Jacks for many years, and reneged on a new series with the Yotes recently. Maybe Covid has changed Fennelly's scheduling strategy. They are ranked #15, and a Jacks upset would be a massive boost for the conference. Plus, I would love to see Fennelly crying to the refs again. The "Norwegian Thugs" comment from CycloneFanatic message board was priceless.
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