SLT USD vs ORU | Sunday Mar 5 12:30 PM | MidcoSN

[dbyote]

Mar 6, 2023 10:15:26 GMT -6 Men's League Waterboy said:

Mar 6, 2023 8:27:29 GMT -6 kiyoat said:

This was the most disappointing part for me.  Remember in the 2021 NCAA, where Oregon leveraged their length and athleticism advantage over us to great effect, pressing and trapping in the first quarter?  We played well down the stretch, but the gap was too big at that point.

Then Dawn (or one of the players, I don't' remember which) said in an interview that they had made breaking the press a point of emphasis in the offseason.  It really showed in that 2021-22 season when we played Power-5 teams that thought they could just bully us.  I saw it multiple times through that season, how well the passing, awareness and cool-headedness was (is that a word?).

Fast forward to this year, and it seems that our players have forgotten it.  Or maybe its just one of those things that has to be constantly reinforced by the coaches?  I don't know, but its disappointing. 

It's because the players who got their asses kicked by Oregon WERE SENIORS who had seen everything a mid-major could possibly see by that point and then got another year of eligibility after that. 

There is no substitute for talented experience. All the coaching in the world can't slow the game down for a kid. They can tell you what's coming. They can draw it for you. Until that size and weight and speed is on your ass, it doesn't much matter. And if you're still trying to find yourself as a player, and you've got essentially a whole (eight-person) team trying to gain that experience and mold their own talents and find themselves as college players all the coaching in the world isn't going to make much of a difference. 

Great post. There is no viable alternative to facing live bullets. As Mike Tyson used to say, "Everybody has a plan til they get punthed in the faith." Pun intended

I think coaches can impact games by making adjustments but the 5 on the floor still have to execute. I think we were simply incapable of certain things this year. At the same time, it is hard not to pass judgment. I'm as guilty as anyone.

[Men's League Waterboy]

I don't have any idea whether or not this coaching staff is the answer or not. I'm not trying to say it is or isn't.

All I'm saying is that it's pretty damn hard to tell right now with the pieces it was given and I fell like some grace and understanding needs to be extended to that whole team, coaches and players. They were put in a hell of a pickle in a lot of ways this year and they showed up and battled pretty damn hard. I understand that yesterday's game was a bit of a letdown and not the prettiest thing in the world, etc.

But I think better days are coming.

[kiyoat]

Yeah, as someone already mentioned in this thread, we will look very different next year. Yes, the three recruits we are bringing in will help with depth (maybe someone will even get a lot of minutes), but I think the currently injured players coming back will have an even bigger impact. Grange, Mazurek and Bergstrom could all potentially be starters or part of the 7-deep.

PG ----Bergstrom/ NAA/ --------Klosterbuer
SG ----Larkins/ -----Carson/ ------Kieffer
SG/W Grange/ -----Hanson/ -----Hempe
W/F --Duffney/ -----Broughton/ Haydon
C -----Mazurek/ ---Demers/ -----[transfer player?]

Looks like we might suddenly have a 3-deep at every position, with a good deal of playing experience!

(I'm only guessing at starters and backup positions)

Bergstrom/NAA/Klosterbuer was a tough one to guess, but I think Broughton might actually get more playing time than the 2 new guards, due to roster needs.

[gopheryote]

Unpopular opinion: the coaches made the right call mid-season when then put the brakes on the pace and slowed things down. It was VERY frustrating to watch yesterday when - even after a missed ORU shot - the ball didn't move until a few seconds passed (heading back up court) and ORU could always set up the press. It was a one-thing-at-a-time approach to getting the ball across half court.

But that was because the game didn't "slow down" for many of the younger players, so they had to litterally slow it down. Kudos to Grace for adjusting, as she obviously is most comfortable playing fast. Experience is the only way to adjust to game speed, and now a lot of younger players have it.

[Men's League Waterboy]

I think you're exactly right.

With eight kids on the floor and, frankly, a real lack of playmakers, playing fast wasn't terribly realistic.

Put simply, if you're getting pressed and your three-guard rotation has seven assists to 10 turnovers you're getting drilled every time. 

[Men's League Waterboy]

Preach.

Easy as hell to "support" a winning program. True support means putting that red on and showing up and being there for the kids representing your school when things aren't going everybody's way.

[soofooyote]

A hard season to go through for players, coaches, and fans. We all learned a lot about what we have, and what we need. The rubber will meet the road next November when we see what the product is like on the court in year 2. These young women and their coaching staff will work hard this offseason to put this behind them. We need them to get stronger, healthy, and to grow from this experience. I'll continue with my howling pack membership and will renew my season tickets again next year like I always do. I think we will like the results.

[yote18]

Most criticism on here has been valid and reasonable. No one’s saying the players are bad they had a tough hand dealt to them and they did what they could do. Next year we have the power to be back at 1 or 2 so anything below that will be a serious question mark as the summit league isn’t THAT good. I stand by my criticisms/comments on the coaching throughout the year though. It’s going to take time to develop Kayla as a coach which is why some of the assistants were interesting hires given they’d been fired at every stop they were at and it shows. Not exactly the best idea for a first time HC at a program with high expectations.

End of the day we’re all Yotes that have the same ambitions just different mindsets on it. Anyway onto next season!

[88grad]

I think we did as well as we could have = for all of the reasons already mentioned. I'm hoping for a productive and healing off season. I'm looking forward to next year!

[kiyoat]

I sure as hell hope the coaching staff and players are smart enough to stay off of fan boards. At the very least they should take every thing typed in an anonymous fan board with a huge grain of salt. I was surprised and disappointed, frankly, when AD Herbster referenced fan boards publicly in his remarks about extending Coach Nielson. Weak.

Many of us fans use this board as a place to vent frustrations just as much as a place to celebrate Coyote teams, coaches and players. Nothing wrong with that, IMHO. If we didn't care so much, it probably wouldn't bother us much if the team isn't successful. Some fans have a lot more perspective, and knowledge about the game, and why teams have good and bad performances. Some fans don't. I enjoy reading everyone's different perspectives and opinions. Sometimes I even enjoy reading outbursts of irrational and nasty criticisms, because I'm feeling the same way after a humiliating loss. People all react differently.

I'm not endorsing "flaming" or "trolling" or any abusive antisocial language or behavior on a message board, of course. But I certainly haven't seen anything like that on here since that one disgruntled football dad. That was fun.

[marco]

We played a team with much more experience we beat them twice but it was not our day. Losing the 2 kids in the portal who both started for power 5 schools hurt. Losing some of our best players to injuries made it hard. There were some good moments and I am proud of the team. They plan on having a full roster next year maybe some portal help and some good kids coming in I look for good things. I remember the first year coach P was here we lost in the first round to Omaha I was upset about the coaching then and I was wrong so I think we will be back strong again

[yotenation]

I personally am excited for the future of this program. These young ladies endured an incredibly difficult season. There were highs and lows like we expected. There was also a lot of growth. I'm proud of the way they battled. I don't for one second believe that this season will have a disastrous effect on recruiting. What is program has done in the past 10 years means a lot more than one down season where everything seems to go.

Criticism of coaching is obviously fair game. But I don't put much stock in broad pronouncements that we were "completely out coached." Did our staff completely out coach the ORU staff in the first two meetings? Sometimes the players just fail to execute at a high level. If there is a specific criticism, that's completely fair. But if it's just "we got beat badly so obviously we were out coached," that's not terribly helpful or fair.