JohnHenry
03-14-2004, 05:06 PM
Okay. I did one of the most painful things in my recent memory and watched last night's game again. Some thoughts...
No doubt about it, we got taken to the woodshed again. OU came out and executed a superb game plan, but we helped some along the way.
A recurring theme in all 4 of our losses this season has been a breakdown in offensive execution. The post has been our bread-and-butter, but two things have really made the difference for us all year: guards hitting shots/making plays, and rebounding, rebounding, and more rebounding.
Hey Sherri's a smart cookie. Nothing Texas does is very difficult to figure out:
-They are very talented and smart at every position.
-They're gonna run a pretty standard half-court set on offense, and send the ball into their very capable posts for high % shots. If you collapse on them, their posts will either greet the challenge with a sweet move/bucket-and-one, or kick it out to an open player.
-If you try stunts or have the match-ups to shut down the post game, they have deadly shooters and play-makers who will make you pay.
-They're gonna run high post screen-and-shoot from 15-20 feet, and they'll hit 'em.
Defensively, Texas is old-school:
-They are gonna play tough, in-your-shirt man-to-man defense and dare you to beat them one-on-one. -
-They communicate and switch off well, and slide in and out of double-teams very efficiently. They will take charges and anticipate what you want to do, getting in the passing lanes, harassing the ball and forcing TOs.
-They use their strength and positioning to crash the boards relentlessly.
-They have no quit and a ton of hustle.
Well, Sherri Coale put one over on us last night in large part because we didn't accomplish a lot of those things. We lost our offensive patience and poise, missed open looks and didn't win the rebounding battle. Sherri probed us for weaknesses, found them, and kept exploiting them until we overcommitted to stop something, then she adjusted and probed some more. But we helped her out. If you watch the game agin you'll notice these things:
-OU spread the floor and used a lot of motion, using back doors and finding creating open spaces for their guards to work in. This played to their strength with Jackson and Villa. Texas got turned around and screened out far too often, and Jody did not adjust our matchups to plug the big leaks. Some of this was probably poor communication on Texas's part.
OU tried many of the same things in our previous two meetings, with far less success. Why wasn't Coco Reed employed more often to guard Dionnah? Kala was obviously still not up to snuff last night, and although she gave a great effort, she simply didn't have the gas to keep up with Ms. Jackson.
- On defense, OU collapsed in quickly on our post players EVERY TIME, much like they did against KSU, and harassed the ball alot, creating TOs and otherwise making it impossible for TJ and Stacy to get the on-on-one situations they thrive on. Many bad shots were taken here.
This worked in large part because Texas had an annoying tendency to sag inside the perimeter on offense, making it easier for OU's already quick guards to harass the post and still recover to the outside if the ball was kicked out. If Texas had stayed disciplined and SPREAD THE FLOOR, Stacy and TJ would've been more effective, having more time to read/draw in the double and triple-teams and find the open player, and also would have made OU have to work harder on defense.
Instead, we continually sagged in, creating logjams and allowing OU to clog the paint, where consequently they had better rebounding position most of the night. Jackson was seemingly everywhere, but we didn't exactly force her to have to cross the High Plains to get there.
TJ and Stacy also had a tendency to hold the ball too long before making their decisions. This tells me that we weren't giving them many viable options with our spacing.
We played right into their hands for much of the game. Coaching or execution? You decide...
It also hepled OU immensely that we couldn't hit water from a boat on the perimeter last night. Hey, that happens. The important thing is to give yourself more chances by rebounding, but we didn't crash the boards like we have all season long.
So there you have it.
All of Texas's potential weaknesses have been exposed this week. Saavy tournament coaches will have taken notice. There is nothing left for us to do but execute and then execute some more. A lot of folks around the country are questioning Texas's heart and hustle after last night, and our performance may (rightly or wrongly) have cost us a #1 seed. Not that it'll matter to Jamie Carey and Stacy Stephens; they'll get this team back on track, but will that be enough?
Texas has responded well to butt-whippings this year, as someone has mentioned. But the grind of the Big 12 has taken it's toll. We haven't put together a complete game or dominated anyone in 4 weeks. Yes, the Big Dance looms, but that should be something of a break for us (at least the first 2 games...).
I think Texas still has the moxie - and now the motivation, as well - to win the whole shootin' match. But we will have to string together 5 outstanding performances to do it (the 1st round will likely be a cruise), and that's gonna be mighty tall order with everyone gunning for you.
The good news is, we don't have to face another Big 12 team for at least 2 weeks.
The bad news is, we may have to play 2 or 3 more of them to win a national championship.
What a season it's been already....
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
No doubt about it, we got taken to the woodshed again. OU came out and executed a superb game plan, but we helped some along the way.
A recurring theme in all 4 of our losses this season has been a breakdown in offensive execution. The post has been our bread-and-butter, but two things have really made the difference for us all year: guards hitting shots/making plays, and rebounding, rebounding, and more rebounding.
Hey Sherri's a smart cookie. Nothing Texas does is very difficult to figure out:
-They are very talented and smart at every position.
-They're gonna run a pretty standard half-court set on offense, and send the ball into their very capable posts for high % shots. If you collapse on them, their posts will either greet the challenge with a sweet move/bucket-and-one, or kick it out to an open player.
-If you try stunts or have the match-ups to shut down the post game, they have deadly shooters and play-makers who will make you pay.
-They're gonna run high post screen-and-shoot from 15-20 feet, and they'll hit 'em.
Defensively, Texas is old-school:
-They are gonna play tough, in-your-shirt man-to-man defense and dare you to beat them one-on-one. -
-They communicate and switch off well, and slide in and out of double-teams very efficiently. They will take charges and anticipate what you want to do, getting in the passing lanes, harassing the ball and forcing TOs.
-They use their strength and positioning to crash the boards relentlessly.
-They have no quit and a ton of hustle.
Well, Sherri Coale put one over on us last night in large part because we didn't accomplish a lot of those things. We lost our offensive patience and poise, missed open looks and didn't win the rebounding battle. Sherri probed us for weaknesses, found them, and kept exploiting them until we overcommitted to stop something, then she adjusted and probed some more. But we helped her out. If you watch the game agin you'll notice these things:
-OU spread the floor and used a lot of motion, using back doors and finding creating open spaces for their guards to work in. This played to their strength with Jackson and Villa. Texas got turned around and screened out far too often, and Jody did not adjust our matchups to plug the big leaks. Some of this was probably poor communication on Texas's part.
OU tried many of the same things in our previous two meetings, with far less success. Why wasn't Coco Reed employed more often to guard Dionnah? Kala was obviously still not up to snuff last night, and although she gave a great effort, she simply didn't have the gas to keep up with Ms. Jackson.
- On defense, OU collapsed in quickly on our post players EVERY TIME, much like they did against KSU, and harassed the ball alot, creating TOs and otherwise making it impossible for TJ and Stacy to get the on-on-one situations they thrive on. Many bad shots were taken here.
This worked in large part because Texas had an annoying tendency to sag inside the perimeter on offense, making it easier for OU's already quick guards to harass the post and still recover to the outside if the ball was kicked out. If Texas had stayed disciplined and SPREAD THE FLOOR, Stacy and TJ would've been more effective, having more time to read/draw in the double and triple-teams and find the open player, and also would have made OU have to work harder on defense.
Instead, we continually sagged in, creating logjams and allowing OU to clog the paint, where consequently they had better rebounding position most of the night. Jackson was seemingly everywhere, but we didn't exactly force her to have to cross the High Plains to get there.
TJ and Stacy also had a tendency to hold the ball too long before making their decisions. This tells me that we weren't giving them many viable options with our spacing.
We played right into their hands for much of the game. Coaching or execution? You decide...
It also hepled OU immensely that we couldn't hit water from a boat on the perimeter last night. Hey, that happens. The important thing is to give yourself more chances by rebounding, but we didn't crash the boards like we have all season long.
So there you have it.
All of Texas's potential weaknesses have been exposed this week. Saavy tournament coaches will have taken notice. There is nothing left for us to do but execute and then execute some more. A lot of folks around the country are questioning Texas's heart and hustle after last night, and our performance may (rightly or wrongly) have cost us a #1 seed. Not that it'll matter to Jamie Carey and Stacy Stephens; they'll get this team back on track, but will that be enough?
Texas has responded well to butt-whippings this year, as someone has mentioned. But the grind of the Big 12 has taken it's toll. We haven't put together a complete game or dominated anyone in 4 weeks. Yes, the Big Dance looms, but that should be something of a break for us (at least the first 2 games...).
I think Texas still has the moxie - and now the motivation, as well - to win the whole shootin' match. But we will have to string together 5 outstanding performances to do it (the 1st round will likely be a cruise), and that's gonna be mighty tall order with everyone gunning for you.
The good news is, we don't have to face another Big 12 team for at least 2 weeks.
The bad news is, we may have to play 2 or 3 more of them to win a national championship.
What a season it's been already....
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]
[This message has been edited by JohnHenry (edited 03-14-2004).]