I think there were a lot of messages being sent last night, as well as perhaps in recent games. Sherri has done this in the past (sitting Kay Kay at Arkansas last year). I get the impression that she is doing it more this year. I may go back and look at the minutes played in specific games relative to occurrences at some point.
If she is sending the messages that I think she is, it may be because she, for the first time recently, has someone on the bench on whom she can count. We have at least eight or nine contributors who can actually contribute. Everyone has had their moment in the sun.
I don't know exactly what messages were being sent last night, but the alternation of Maddie and McKenna on offense and defense was some sort of very loud message. Maybe they understood. I didn't. McKenna is not a good defender yet, and Maddie is one of our best. So, it doesn't make sense for it to be an offense/defense thing. It may relate to how Maddie was used and what she did with it. They put Maddie at a high post a lot last night, and most of it was wasted. Maddie made some mistakes shooting and passing from that position. I thought they would use that to make her a distributor. She used it only to shoot or feed Kay Kay (often badly).
We know what Gabbi can do. But, she seems very stubborn in doing exactly what has got her some time on the bench. All she really needs to do is to settle down. Mixed in with the superlatives, T'Ona also made some really dumb mistakes that she continues to make. But, Sherri didn't seem as agitated about those.
I think it was the Kansas game in which Sherri ripped into McKenna very angrily when she called timeout after some mistakes by McKenna. It was probably the most agitated that I have seen Sherri. Last night, she absorbed McKenna's mistakes which were the same.
I don't begin to know what she has told each to do. But, she seems inclined to make a point this year. She has the depth to do it.
