ORU (Wed Dec 21) 12PM

[hoopsmom]

That was a very fun game to watch, full of energy and teamwork. The girls are starting to get their chemistry, to figure out where each girl best catches her passes. One thing, though, when the other team misses shots, they should try harder to get the rebound, rather than let it go out of bounds. That way, the opposing defense does not have time to set up their press.

[yote18]

I agree with hoopsmom, watching the live stream we really struggled with ORU’s press and it did rattle us a bit. We ended up finding ways to break through though. You can sense some nervousness still which I think is the reason we’re seeing so many turnovers. These two wins though should help set the tone for conference play and calm their nerves, I know it’s calmed mine a bit.

Still a lot of season left and I’ll be curious to see how the Dakota games go. Take care of business at home and get some wins on the road and we’ll be in a good position. I expect a couple road losses but this is a fresh breathe of air after non-con.

[MD]

This reminds me of something my division officer would say when the US Navy was silly enough to let me operate nuclear reactors.

"There is no such thing as an emergency, emergencies happen when something happens and someone panics."

[dbyote]

Dec 22, 2022 10:19:13 GMT -6 yote18 said:

I agree with hoopsmom, watching the live stream we really struggled with ORU’s press and it did rattle us a bit. We ended up finding ways to break through though. You can sense some nervousness still which I think is the reason we’re seeing so many turnovers. These two wins though should help set the tone for conference play and calm their nerves, I know it’s calmed mine a bit.

Still a lot of season left and I’ll be curious to see how the Dakota games go. Take care of business at home and get some wins on the road and we’ll be in a good position. I expect a couple road losses but this is a fresh breathe of air after non-con.

It hurt losing Grace in that aspect.  I will say though that you can't replicate experience when it comes to dealing with pressure.  You can try to simulate it in practice but there is nothing like live game jitters to amplify it.  In my observation, Carson did pretty well in helping.  She's long, has a decent handle, and can throw over the top.  Last year we had Liv, Chloe, and Maddie who were all capable of handling/breaking the press.  Those girls had faced a ton of live bullets to get as comfortable as they were in those situations.  

Maci Guebert did admirably but she hasn't seen a ton of action as the primary ball handler.  My hunch is that injuries to two starting guards also hurts our ability to handle the pressure.  We'll get better at it, but it's going to take some time.  If I were the Jacks, I would press us the whole game and make Larkins defend on every possession until she gets into foul trouble.  That will be the recipe to beat us until the rest of the crew gets more comfortable.  We witnessed some growth in yesterday's game in all of those facets relative to where we were a few weeks ago.  If we can build on it we will be in decent shape.  Coaching the press break can make a difference but it is hard as a player if you haven't seen it before.  Watch AJ on the men's side.  He is like having a coach on the floor in those situations.  He makes the occasional mistake, but he is seldom rattled and knows where do go with the ball depending on whether it is man or zone press.