MSU WBB

[BobcatDel]

I know I sound like a broken record, but can’t for the life of me figure out why we don’t have Smith and Braxton on the court at the same time? They’re both able to cover the 3 pt shot which is a weakness for us and they’re both able to rebound. I’m excited with the offense they’re both bringing this season. They both only play 20 minutes a game. I’m thinking having them on the court together would only improve our offense and defense. We could be dominant inside which would open up outside shooting. We can get away with what we do with the bottom half of the league, but we are not going to beat Idaho, Idaho State, UNC or PSU unless we adapt and increase our defensive intensity.

In my favorite broken record response.

Yes you are sounding like a broken record. No Binford is not going to change it at this point. Both will be on court at same time in situational alignments.

No they can not cover the 3 point shot. They are not that fast, they would wear out quickly. If you did that to me, I would clear a side and let my guards take you to the hoop all day long, all day long, and all day long until you fouled out or got sagging help. Then I would feed my bigs inside against your smaller inside defense. That is not a winning strategy in my opinion.

Why would an opponent worry about stopping our outside shooting and opening up the outside. We really don’t have an outside game. We rank 9th in league in 3 point percent shots....only Lundberg at near 40 percent was a threat out there. We have had plenty of open look 3s, have taken more 3point shots than our opponents and as an opposing coach I will let you shoot out there all you want if you are going to try the big double inside. With Lundberg gone we have only Kuderer shooting 32.8 percent from 3 range. Last year we had 4 ladies that shot better than Kuderer outside. So as an opposing coach, please try the big double on offense and I will sag and double or triple team in the box like Idaho State did....then my smalls are going to sag to stop your passing lanes and swat away the ball when your big brings it down to dribble. Unless others like Martell, Squires, Mochi, and Wright start getting comfortable and hitting outside.....

Yep. Two bigs would help on offensive boards where we lag. But we are currently 2nd on defensive boards in conference so not much help there.

No our two bigs are not 40 min players.

What is your rotation going to be when you set them? Brynley and Wright on inside with Mochi, Squires, Kuderer outside....or Kuderer, Wright inside with Squires, Mochi, VanSickle outside? Are you going to try to uptempo game with smaller lineup in.

Do you think you can play a 3 or 4 day tourney with your bigs playing 35 min per game?

I disagree. Our competition hasn’t been kicking our butts by clearing out and driving. Our competition is raining threes on us without anyone being in their face contesting the three. Big sky guards aren’t creating offense, they’re spotting up and hitting open threes! Check the stats! How many times do we have to yell cover the three during a game? Also with playing a 2/3..... they’ll still be another big inside to contest guards diving to the hoop! ( I’m sure you’re aware that we do a great job blocking shots). It’s call having twin towers! Our bigs aren’t 40 minute bigs, but having them on the court for 30 isn’t a big deal. They’re not the prototypical plodding Big Sky Big! Anywhere else they’ll be a 4! We are only getting 20 minutes now. Plus their shooting percentages are very strong. They’re also our best passers. I believe that Martell and Squires can hit threes if put in a spot up situation. I like a rotation of Smith, Braxton, Wright, Martell, Kuderer, Squires, Mocchi and Van Sickle. You wouldn’t need to sit your bigs at the same time...... you can either rotate them out or switch defenses. Even go smaller at times. What I do know is what we’re doing now doesn’t work against the top teams. Binford can stick to what she’s doing now and get an early ticket home from Boise or try some new things to improve a team with a .500 record. Montana on Saturday is going to remember that our bigs ate them alive in Bozeman. They’re going to cover the pick and roll and make us hit our outside shots. So we better have a strategy in place to counter. BTW we have another Big joining us next year. She’s not a jump shooter. Fallyn is another Big! We are going to have 3 bigs fighting for time next year! According to your post, I don’t see much improvement over this year if we don’t switch our strategy.

I disagree. Our competition hasn’t been kicking our butts by clearing out and driving. Our competition is raining threes on us without anyone being in their face contesting the three. Big sky guards aren’t creating offense, they’re spotting up and hitting open threes! Check the stats! How many times do we have to yell cover the three during a game?

I never said they weren't. The comment I made was in response to the comment we should bring out the bigs to cover the guards and they could stop the 3s. However, I noted that I don't believe our bigs are fast enough to stop any of the good guards and would leave us open to a penetration or inside game... and teams would take advantage of that. Opposing coaches would change tactics and adjust to beat us on the inside. Morrow killed us every time she took it down the left side of the lane when they cleared out and UNC's Smith can penetrate anyone if she wants to and did on us when open. If you don't believe that opponents would change tactics...... well OK.


I believe that Martell and Squires can hit threes if put in a spot up situation

Why do you believe this? In terms of the Big Sky we have taken the 3rd most 3 point attempts in the league and are 7th in % made. There have been plenty of open 3 point shots but they aren't falling at this point. Tori had 3 wide open uncontested 3 shots in Weber game that I saw and they didn't go. Tori and Oli percentages are both down even with folks concentrating defensive efforts on Clair for most of the season. I know Tori can turn it around like lightning but so far she just can't get comfortable and that is probably breeding a little loss of confidence which in turn makes it tougher to hit em. I think coach said something to the effect "she needs to shoot herself out of it". Two others that could shoot the 3 ball in HS were Mochi and Wright.... however, you can see the freshman timidity/tentativeness in them... they just aren't confident in their game enough to let it go... they will grow into it.


they’ll still be another big inside to contest guards diving to the hoop! ( I’m sure you’re aware that we do a great job blocking shots).

Not sure where you are getting that stat. But through 15 games we rank only 8th in the league in blocked shots. Only teams with less blocks than us are NAU, Weber, and SUU.

[BobcatDel]

BobcatDel
I respect that you think I sound like a broken record, but don’t see you offering any ideas. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we need to do to improve. I didn’t even realize that Fallyn is’nt a guard.

Someone sent me a note and told me I had been "challenged" so got your note above. So good challenge.

It's just more fun to "arm-chair coach" the online "arm-chair coaches". Just kidding.

Ok.. I don't live on this board so give me a bit. I will try to put together a few of my thoughts and post them later today when I get a few minutes.

[BobcatDel]

BobcatDel
I respect that you think I sound like a broken record, but don’t see you offering any ideas. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we need to do to improve. I didn’t even realize that Fallyn is’nt a guard.

Someone sent me a note and told me I had been "challenged" so got your note above. So good challenge.

It's just more fun to "arm-chair coach" the online "arm-chair coaches". Just kidding.

Ok.. I don't live on this board so give me a bit. I will try to put together a few of my thoughts and post them later today when I get a few minutes.

What would I do? My two cents…. Maybe not even worth two cents.

First, I don’t believe the answer is a “positional” thing. I am with the coaches… at this point in the season, they know who is tired, who has a tweaked muscle or ankle (like Oli against ISU and Weber), who is not feeling well, who plays best in what position, what lineup is best defensively and offensively and who plays better the deeper in minutes they go and who plays best with fresher legs. I see them for an hour or so a couple times every other week in a game setting and am not at practice so I don’t proclaim to second guess the coaches in many areas. I know how difficult it can be to coach and get kids to execute and produce.

Second, the team is positioned right where I thought they would be based on the league this year (except for ISUs strong performance). With the loss of the leading scorer on the team, the sixth leading scorer in the conference, it will be a real coaching and team maturation test if they can hold this position into the tourney and perhaps get a surprise knock-off win. I think the team can be a winner next year but see below about my skepticism if some fundamentals don’t change.

Third, you probably do not agree… but what I do see, it isn’t about playing someone in a new spot… there are some basic fundamentals that bother me and where I would focus my effort. Some of this is very harsh… .sorry, some of it is done for effect to get my point across.

1) I often refer to our offense this season as the “flat foot” girls. We do not move well without the ball and the further into the game we go the more we stand around. I might be able to mark spots on the floor with a magic marker where people stand the whole game (OK I am being a bit facetious). Nobody seems to move well without the ball. I do think the change to more of a motion offense is the right call for this team. It seems to get the girls moving and with just one outing they seemed to like it and adapt fairly quickly to it… even the younger ladies.

2) This team lacks leadership. Back in the Nordgaard/Ferris day if a player was killing us with their offense Riley/Peyton would come to the bench and say let me have her, “this isn’t going to happen on my watch”. I don’t see a true leader on the court with this group. I know Claire and Blair are team captains and now you just have Blair on the court. At times I see Blair act the part and a bit of Oli. I would have a “come to Jesus meeting” or “butt kicking” (or whatever you want to call it) meeting with either the junior lineup or perhaps Blair and Oli and let them know that it isn’t acceptable to let this continue. If they don’t want to step up and hold their peers accountable on the court, in practice, in the weight room, then I am going to ask Haley and Fallyn to step in because you don’t seem like you want it. I’m not sure I see that intense desire, that grit, that determination anyone on this junior class wants to be a champion and I would start building to the future if they can’t step up.

3) Rebounding…. I have two questions: A) Have you seen a ball go the floor this year in open space and five Bobcat ladies stand there gawking or running away from the ball? B) Would this happen in the Riley Nordgaard/Rebecca Hatchard/Peyton Ferris era? I will answer B … no you would not have seen this with Riley on the court… you would have seen piles of girls, floor burns, hair and pieces of jersey flying, bruises and bodies tossed about. In just two recent games we got to see UNC continuously rescue balls while our girls stood there and watched… at Weber we saw our offensive rebounding be the “standing around lets see if the ball lands in my hands approach” or “isn’t that interesting that ball is falling to the floor over there and I get to watch someone go get it”. In particular our offensive rebounding is atrocious…. our defensive rebounding effort is better. (Side note …if we don’t get this, you can write off winning in Missoula this weekend as they are going to pound the boards and stop our inside play as a key focus).

Any time an offensive shot is taken we should have three girls getting position to block out and crash the boards, at the same time one player is dropping back to prevent the long open floor pass and the other stopping or slowing the outlet pass/play if the other teams get the rebound. The people who attack the rebound and those that fall back to protect depend on where the shot is to be taken. The girls know this and the coaches teach this and they simply aren’t executing on the floor. I would run drill upon drill upon drill upon drill until that sinks in. I would run offensive rebounding and blocking out drills until there was a fist fight or Blair got so pissed she would dress down someone right there in practice. You would run blood runs every time you don’t block out or go after a lose ball in practice or after film review. The point is you would understand by the time practice was over for the week that rebounding was important and if you don’t think you can block out and go after a ball then I will find somebody who wants to do that for a future team.

4) Defense… our ability to stick with a lady, to fight through a screen, and switch is seriously lacking. Our inside folks seem to be doing better at fighting with the other big folks and keeping the ball away from the post. But we are slow to help out when someone comes down the lane and at times we get lazy with drop down help to get in passing lanes. Our guards are slow defensively, don’t move well laterally and don’t seem to have the ability to fight through screens and keep a hand up in a face…our switches are slow… leaving good shooters time to have an open three ball. There are some kids that just love defense (Hatchard was one), they thrive on stopping you…. we don’t have one of those on the team right now… although I think Kamden is the closest and could be it. I might have James Williams from the football team come in and set screens for an hour. If you couldn’t fight through his screens and/or make a clean switch to make a D stop, you would run blood runs. I would probably run that drill until you puked. You would understand by the end of each week and after each game…. if you think it is acceptable to let two guards from two teams tie their all time highest scoring records on you… you aren’t the one who deserves to be out here on the floor at game time…. I want someone who has the grit and wants to say I held them to their all time “lowest” scoring games. Sorry, but you would either “get it” on defense or I would start giving more playing time to Hilborn and Fitzgerald because I need to build something for the future and as an upper classman you aint cutting it.

5) On the shooting there are several things. First, we seem to be reluctant to take those mid-range jumpers… either have to air it out from 3 or get it to the bigs inside seems to be the strategy. If open inside, the bigs inside are the right move, but boy every game you see some wide open 10-12 footers we pass up… and that is a high percentage shot. I would work some of the offensive sets with people taking those mid-range shots. Second, Oli-Tori-Gabby-Haley-Ashley-Martha would have to make 200 3 point shots per day. I would set up some type of reward system to whoever got to 200 makes first. After that, they would work two on two drills using screens and shooting the 3s while working themselves open off the screen….you gotta be able to take your shot quicker, you don’t have time to sit and build a campfire while sizing up your 3 ball…. The times when you can both build a campfire and have a sip of coffee while contemplating your 3 ball are going to be a luxury. You know what would disappoint me, that’s if one of our upper classman/captains isn’t already pulling the group together to do some of this before practice…. that would tell me something too. You don’t have to have a coach around to run drills like this.….I want some gym rats! Gym rats that want to be champions.


Bottom line, it’s the fundamentals that will stop this team from being champions. Some of it is youth but some of it is basic execution. I sound harsh but I love the Cat Ladies and want them to be successful. And it sure is easy to talk tough rather than live it like the coaches and the ladies are doing.

[aucat]

Bobcat Del, I couldn't agree more! Heck, there have been games when I WANTED TO LEAVE MY SEAT and RUN INTO THE HUDDLE and have one of those
"Come to Jesus" meetings when the other team was shooting 3s lights out. You are absolutely correct about Riley and Peyton as to how they
would respond to a player on their way to ringing up 37 points.

When the opponent sets records for threes. When the opponent has players setting records for all time scoring records.
COME ON! This is on our Defense. It's on our players. It's on our coaches ultimately. There again, I have never coached, but I played. And I can relate to that mentality about tough D. We played a lot of man defense. I always took it as a challenge to get up in my man's face and become his
second skin, and in general make life miserable for him. It takes a player being in shape and being motivated. As I said, in the final analysis, it is the coach's responsibility to 1. Recruit players who are tough and will play hard D. 2. To get your players in shape. 3. To motivate them, though I DO think that much of this should come from the leaders on the team.

Last year I went down to the Rockin R for the Griz game. We had blown them out at home, so we had a big crowd on hand expecting a tough, hard-fought contest. The game was basically over half way through the first quarter.

I hope I don't see a repeat of that type of effort Saturday. I can take a loss. No problem. But dang it, I want to see DESIRE. I want to see HUSTLE. I want to see players DIVING for the ball. I want to see players BOXING OUT. I want to see TOUGH D. Play hard and play smart and still get beat? No problem, you gave it your best. But many times I have seen pathetic efforts this year. Other times great efforts.

Let's have a great effort in Missoula Lady Cats!

[BelgradeBobcat]

Seniors are important. We have none. That being said, everything posted above is correctable. This team might still figure it out. I would expect the team from Missoula to sag off on Saturday. If we're nervous our open threes will clank and we'll be in a hole right away-like last year. We need to get off to a good start. And Smith and Braxton need to stay out of foul trouble early...easier said than done.

[Catlady]

Found it amusing that when crunch time came today Binford had Braxton and Smith in at the same time. I’m not sure, but one of them got the rebound to seal the game. I really loved our defensive intensity in the 2nd half!