@ Drake

[kiyoat]

You thought this insane week of Yote sports was over?  Think again.

Our fearless, quickly battle-hardened Yotes now hit the road against a familiar opponent.  Drake WBB draws fans well in Des Moines, so this will yet again be a tournament atmosphere, but this time a hostile one.

Monday, 6PM ESPN+ @ Drake

Our overall record vs Drake is 5-6, but we are ahead 5-2 in the D-1 era.

3 of the last 5 matchups have gone to overtime

They were picked #2 in the preseason poll behind Missouri State, getting 2 first-place votes

They just beat Creighton on Wednesday at home 82-79 LINK

[kiyoat]

Time to turn the page, folks. Really big opportunity today!

We will need our offense to step up against a high-scoring tempo team like Drake.

This is the same system we had with OU, but with a little less size/ Athleticism. The bigger challenge here is that they have been running it and recruiting for it for a while now. Well-oiled.

[yoteforever]

Agreed. Get the confidence back. They need to erase Friday from their minds somehow. I think they’ll be fine

[Men's League Waterboy]

Drake's obviously a good team and I'm not trying to take anything away from them but I would think that it's going to be a bit of a welcome change in pace from what the Yotes saw against Williams in particular in the Oklahoma game and a good chunk of the South Carolina lineup in the first two outings.

[kiyoat]

Nov 15, 2021 11:18:32 GMT -6 Men's League Waterboy said:

Drake's obviously a good team and I'm not trying to take anything away from them but I would think that it's going to be a bit of a welcome change in pace from what the Yotes saw against Williams in particular in the Oklahoma game and a good chunk of the South Carolina lineup in the first two outings.

Yup, this is more of a "peer program" matchup.  Both are perennial mid-major contenders from the same(ish) region.  I'd guess we recruit against them frequently, although I can't recall any specific recruit where that was the case.  The last time we played it was a classic with the Monica Arens buzzer-beater and the OT win.

[kiyoat]

[yote18]

I’d classify this as a must win (if you’re holding out hopes for a potential at large and higher seeding). I think we’ll compete well against Drake today, but I’m concerned still with our reliance on our super seniors for scoring. We NEED the younger players and the bench to continue the rhythm if Hannah, Liv, or Chloe get in foul trouble. I know I’m being a little critical on that, but we relied on them a lot last season too and it makes me nervous that we haven’t had anyone step up yet as a consistent scoring option.

I think today’s game comes down to the wire like years past, but what’ll make or break today is the Yotes free throw shooting. We are great at getting to the line, but we are averaging a .589 percentage between the first two games (OU: 13-22, SC: 10-17). I think in order to win today we have to convert at least .70 of the free throw attempts and get some more points from Krull and the bench.

[Men's League Waterboy]

There's little doubt that just about everybody not named Liv Korngable needs to play better than they have in the first two games. I don't think there's much danger in saying the trio of Krull, Watson and Lamb won't continue shooting this poorly.

[yoteforever]

Nov 15, 2021 11:57:09 GMT -6 Men's League Waterboy said:

There's little doubt that just about everybody not named Liv Korngable needs to play better than they have in the first two games. I don't think there's much danger in saying the trio of Krull, Watson and Lamb won't continue shooting this poorly.

Exactly. We’re fine. There’s 112 days from today till the Summit League title game. 112

Chill out. We could lose 2-4 more games between now and league play. Might win em all. Might lose em all. Who knows? These girls know how to play the game and Dawn and staff know how to coach. 2 games doesn’t define a season, especially when 1 of them was a 2 point loss to a team picked 5th in Big 12. And that’s a game we could’ve won as easily as we lost it.

Wanna look at panic, knee jerk comments made prematurely? Go back in time to football thread. Just let it play out. Sooner or later skills rise to the top.

[Men's League Waterboy]

Totally agree. I think the desire for the at-large bid seems to skew some perceptions and expectations around these parts. That's going to be a rare enough occurrence that nobody benefits from fixating on it. It will take care of itself if it's meant to be. Focus on the stuff you control, which is that you're a STELLAR mid-major program with a perfect rival/barometer a little over 100 miles north. Just keep slugging, improving and working day after day and go out and beat the Jacks in March.

[kiyoat]

Nov 15, 2021 11:32:38 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

... I'd guess we recruit against them frequently, although I can't recall any specific recruit where that was the case. ...

Ok, I looked back at recruiting threads and it looks like Krull, Larkins and Broughton all held Drake offers before committing to the Yotes. I guess my memory isn’t as sharp as I remember it…

[kiyoat]

Nov 15, 2021 11:57:09 GMT -6 Men's League Waterboy said:

There's little doubt that just about everybody not named Liv Korngable needs to play better than they have in the first two games. I don't think there's much danger in saying the trio of Krull, Watson and Lamb won't continue shooting this poorly.

I wanted to take a look, and you are right, of course.  But you were also right in the other thread, saying that this team is built differently than past Yote teams.  Krull and Watson aren't going to suddenly turn into McKeever and Monica (in terms of shooting).  They are much better than their performances so far, but I wouldn't call either a "lights out" shooter.  both of them last year hit around .370 FG, which isn't great.  But, it's better than the .059 and .091 they have shot so far this year.

Here's some data that compares our starters against their career averages, and for the points I normalized it to minutes played.  So this is "points per 40 minutes played".

	points(40m)	points(40m)	FG%	FG%	3P%	3P%	FT%	FT%
player	career	2022	career	2022	career	2022	career	2022
Lamb	15.6	15.3	.461	.324	.401	.231	.785	.750
Korngable	13.5	25.8	.451	.567	.367	.400	.783	.667
Sjerven	25.4	17.0	.556	.368	.237	.333	.688	.500
Krull	11.9	2.6	.370	.059	.224	.000	.714	.500
Watson	9.4	2.6	.367	.091	.263	.167	.611	.000

Surprisingly, Lamb still has been scoring at about her average clip.  She's just scoring less efficiently.  Hannah isn't doing terrible compared to her average from the arc and the stripe.  I think having to sit with fouls is a bigger factor.  Kyah's FT average of 61% surprised me a little bit.

I'm sure the other aspects of Krull and Watson's games balance this out, or they wouldn't be starting.  As fans we just have to get used to this team's identity and embrace it.  I mean, basketball teams with shutdown defenses are hella fun to watch, amirite?

[kiyoat]

The algorithm-based poll at MasseyRatings has us losing to Drake 68-72.

Me, after reading that:



If I had a subscription to that site, I'd be violently cancelling it right now... (It's a free site)

[Coyote Fan]

I know Kiyoat already mentioned it but we have a 6PM start on ESPN+. I will be watching the entire game live. At this point in the season I don't think a win is likely but is certainly very possible. It would be great to see better passing tonight and a more consistent effort. It would also be great to see other players step up other than the big 3. After this year there will be no choice as others will have to step up. Later in the year, maybe in post season I might see a different outcome but for now I gotta pick Drake. I see it as 69-61 for the Des Moines crew.

[Men's League Waterboy]

Yotes 81-73. Lamb gets grooved in early, Sjerven dominates in the middle and Krull finds a little more breathing room on penetration. Get right game.