Sherri likes shooters

[SoonerNorm]

I think we can all agree that Sherri has always liked shooters. She also liked a great center (Courtney) inside. We don't have Courtney but Kaylon is playing the best basketball of her career. Another good coach who likes shooters is Bill Finnelly. When each of those coaches have good interior play, their teams are hard to beat because you have to be a really good half-court defensive team to outscore them.

Sherri now has what I never envisioned she would have a few short weeks ago...good interior play, good perimeter shooting, and players who can penetrate. That is the best possible scenario for a coach and I believe that is what sets this team apart from other OU teams in recent years. When you are multifaceted, it creates so many problems for a defense, it is hard to prepare for and cover all of those weapons. If you look at Baylor, they do not have all of the ingredients for a complete offensive team. Sherri does. I hate what happened to Enemkpali because she was such a great player. Losing her pretty much takes the starch out of Texas' firepower.

I'm not saying we are UCONN but, we aren't Arkansas St. either. Sherri has a very good team. Yes, top 15 right now, I don't care what the polls say. We can still improve. Still need work on rebounding, cut down a bit on dribbling, improve zone defense, etc, etc...just about any coach would find some things their team needs to work on but, Sherri has got to be beyond happy with her team right now.

The way Gioya, Gabbi, Peyton, Maddie, and Kaylon have elevated their play in the last 6-7 games is something I never imagined. I just didn't think it was possible. I have no idea how good this team can become but, one thing I know, anything is possible.

 

[sybarite]

Good post. All it has taken was for something or someone to get the message and start working. I don't know who it was. Maybe it was a group. But, something transformed this team's determination after Arkansas. Sherri said she saw it beginning at Arkansas (the day that Kay Kay sat out).

All of the components are, indeed, there. They need a bit more development to challenge UConn. I have always considered Maddie to be someone who could aspire to a Breanna Stewart type career. She has completely different skill sets available to her than do most guards. Although she covered Donohoe, she is a guard.

Gioya is hot right now. You just can't keep up 62% shooting from behind the arc. We need for Maddie, Gabbi, Nicole, and Peyton to get in the flow as well. It was encouraging that Maddie and Peyton drove the nail in the OSU coffin by hitting two threes that quickly made it 24-10, and we never looked back. Peyton hit three threes. Derica hit one. It is infectious. We hit six on a night when Gioya hit zero.

 

[sybarite]

Although Sherri likes shooters, she has been in love with Stacy Dales since she first saw her---the shooter who had great court vision and could pass. We have had great ball-handlers, DRob. We have had some great shooters. I don't think we have had the combination since Stacy.

Now, suddenly, we have Gioya who does both well. Gabbi is beginning to show that she does both well, very well. Maddie has always been regarded as the second coming of Stacy Dales, since the day she was signed. We have three with LaNesia and Peyton not doing all that badly. But, as good as the court vision of Maddie, Gabbi, and Gioya is, we cannot forget the one who is the baby of the freshman class who is well-known for her court vision---Penzo.

 

[j2d2]

I think the weakest link in this lineup is KayKay. She tends to disappear for a half. She is a poor rebounder even when she is playing well. If she can consistently play just decently, we have the people who can win games.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Speaking of shooters, how well can Johnson, Llanusa, Roberts, and Wilson shoot from outside?

 

[rocjunkie]

Speaking of shooters, how well can Johnson, Llanusa, Roberts, and Wilson shoot from outside?

Llanusa can score from any where on the floor, I haven't seen the other three, but Ana will be something special.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Llanusa can score from any where on the floor, I haven't seen the other three, but Ana will be something special.

Great news!

 

[zacj33]

Not trying to be negative, but I have seen Llanusa play multiple time the last 2 years and shooting is her weak point right now. She is not a terrible shooter, just not consistent. She is only a sophomore so obviously that can change by the time she gets to Norman.

That's the only one of the recruits mentioned that I have seen very much. Saw the Wilson girl play once and didn't notice her being a great shooter, but it was a game that she was much more athletic than the other team and she used that to her advantage. She might have shot one or two 3's the whole game.

 

[SKSooner]

I really think Sherri empowers the players and that they are finally start to believe in what they are able to accomplish. They are playing with confidence.

It took a long time for Britney Brown to really blossom, but she did. I would have never dreamed Brown would finish around the basket, especially in transition, like she did later in her career. I am starting to see similar things with the way our guards are penetrating and attacking right now.

Sherri's best teams have always had the ability to "step on people's throat" and play with a ton of confidence. We are starting to see that. I hope it continues.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I don' think anyone started working harder. Things just started coming into focus for some.

If you watch the first 10 minutes of the OSU game we were moving without the ball better than I have seen us move since probably the Stacy Dales days. That makes quite a difference. We didn't do as well when they went into the zone. You also have to move without the ball against a zone and we became pretty stationary.

It helps that Carter, Little, Ortiz, Sharane and Maddie have a very high motor. They seem to have a better handle on how to control it. Hope the good things continue.

 

[scrybe]

I think we're short-changing this group when we start basing our expectations for a great season on hope. These girls did not suddenly develop the talent that has allowed them to rip off seven straight wins. Individually, they were capable of doing that all along. The transformation started when the parts finally came together and these very talented Sooner players started playing as a team.

I don't expect that to change anytime soon. In fact, I think if these Sooners can stay reasonably healthy, their level of play will only get better.

 

[SoonerNorm]

I think we're short-changing this group when we start basing our expectations for a great season on hope. These girls did not suddenly develop the talent that has allowed them to rip off seven straight wins. Individually, they were capable of doing that all along. The transformation started when the parts finally came together and these very talented Sooner players started playing as a team.

I don't expect that to change anytime soon. In fact, I think if these Sooners can stay reasonably healthy, their level of play will only get better.

If you are saying the team started performing better when the players started playing up to their capabilities, I agree with you.

 

[YCN]

I think we're short-changing this group when we start basing our expectations for a great season on hope. These girls did not suddenly develop the talent that has allowed them to rip off seven straight wins. Individually, they were capable of doing that all along. The transformation started when the parts finally came together and these very talented Sooner players started playing as a team.

I don't expect that to change anytime soon. In fact, I think if these Sooners can stay reasonably healthy, their level of play will only get better.

Could not agree with you more. There is no I in Team. The thing that suggests that this team should only get better IS the fact they they are playing exceptionally well as a team, and against that background it is correct to think that they will only get better.

This team could very well be 11-0 in Big 12 play before they go to Waco.

 

[SoonerinNC]

Sherri was clearly experimenting in the preseason, giving a number of players 15-25 minutes a game. Some several games. Exception was Maddie but i guess she knew how she was going to use her going in.

That made it hard for them to get into a comfortable flow. I doubt that anyone was dogging it, except for Kaylon who was disappearing for long stretches.

I am amazed how they have come together. If they play well at Baylor I think we can relax and believe they are for real. At one point I couldn't see them finishing in the top of the Big 12. And I am usually a glass half full person.

 

[SoonerNorm]

Sherri was clearly experimenting in the preseason, giving a number of players 15-25 minutes a game. Some several games. Exception was Maddie but i guess she knew how she was going to use her going in.

That made it hard for them to get into a comfortable flow. I doubt that anyone was dogging it, except for Kaylon who was disappearing for long stretches.

I am amazed how they have come together. If they play well at Baylor I think we can relax and believe they are for real. At one point I couldn't see them finishing in the top of the Big 12. And I am usually a glass half full person.

Clearly, Maddie was struggling early as was Kaylon and others. What has amazed me the most is, how they all started playing at a much higher level at once. I can't recall any time in OU women's basketball history when that has happened this way. I'm willing to bet Sherri never saw this coming either.

 

[scrybe]

Clearly, Maddie was struggling early as was Kaylon and others. What has amazed me the most is, how they all started playing at a much higher level at once. I can't recall any time in OU women's basketball history when that has happened this way. I'm willing to bet Sherri never saw this coming either.

Agree with most of your observations, Norm. But I'm not sure that Sherri was caught by surprise by this team's about-face. After all, Sherri recruited these girls; she must have believed they were capable of playing on a high level.

Let me say that I believe some of the seniors on last season's team never reached the potential that Sherri envisioned when she recruited them (not saying they were bad players). But I think she hit a grand slam with almost every player in her last two recruiting classes (and with Maddie and Peyton as well). Did Sherri know how good they would be when she was recruiting these kids? I think she had a pretty good idea, and I doubt she's all that surprised with the way they're playing now.

 

[Oliver Hardy]

I think she might have been a bit surprised, Scrybe. She was so frustrated and upset at those pre-conference games. I lost count of how many times we got sideline shots of her pulling her hair in frustration, or hiding her eyes with her hand or just grimacing and shaking her head in disbelief.

I think she knew they all had the talent to be good, but after last year's performances, I think she had a little bit of that "Oh, crap" here we go again in her head too.

If nothing, Sherri is realistic.

This current squad has just been amazing the last 7 games. Not even the 2002 squad seemed this together, but it was close.

For a guy who didn't think we'd win a Big 12 game, I think we could be undefeated going into Baylor in late February. That's a big if, we have to beat Texas and OSU at home as well as play ISU, which is never easy for us.

I'm not betting on it happening, but I'm sure interested to see if it might happen.

Baylor is just going to be tough. I think we might be able to win both times, but we are going to need perfect play, luck and hope that the refs don't screw up those games.

 

[sybarite]

There were signs during the preseason that this could happen. We have also witnessed a history of Sherri's teams in which they did develop during the conference season into contenders. Usually, it has been on a lesser scale and a bit more gradual.

I keep wondering how Kaylon's benching might have been a trigger. It is curious that nobody has come within eleven points of OU since she sat out the Arkansas game. Was it the benching? What did that have to do with anything? Sherri also said it was during that game that Gioya began to emerge.

I don't know that we were all that surprised when we beat WV, Kansas, and Tech. We won at home and Tech and KU appeared to be lesser teams. It was the next three that really defined how far we had come in the transition.

Texas was good. But, we dominated them at their strength. That, in itself, as remarkable. They had beaten three pretty good teams. Moreover, we lost Gioya after only a few minutes, and Gioya was the key to our transformation. Then, came something as shocking as the benching of Kaylon.

We had seen Maddie during her freshman year. She sat on the bench for the first three games and didn't show us much. Then, we started her for three games in Hawaii, and she showed us what a young star looks like. Just the change of putting her in a starting role had changed her approach to the game.

As she entered against Texas, Sherri is said to have told her to take control of the game. Really? She had done nothing this year to suggest that she was ready to take control of the game. If we had a leader, it was Gioya, maybe Peyton. Ortiz was still a work in progress and probably not ready to take control in a game against a top five team.

It worked. Maddie took control of the game against Texas, and I don't think she came out of the lineup one time after entering for the next two games, Texas and TCU. She gave us the floor leader that we needed. If she had just put Maddie in the game, I don't know that the transformation would have occurred. It was the act of telling her to take charge that did it. She knew Maddie.

What was just as interesting was that Gabbi, the point guard, accepted this. She brought the ball up to the frontcourt, but gave it up to Maddie and let Maddie exert control over the game. It made Maddie step up. But, it also seemed to remove the shackles from Gabbi's game. She became the shooter that she had been in high school. She only took shots that she could make, rather than trying to force it. She quit making turnovers.

So, we had Kaylon's benching, the insertion of Maddie which also led to Gabbi's freedom. But,something else seemed to happen. Peyton had always been getting her eleven points. But, she had also had some shots blocked. Now, Peyton was only taking shots when she was open. She began to be critical in when she got steals and fast breaks. She became the principle thief, and it helped her get open shots as she came down court fast, looking for open shots in a defense that was not yet set. She also became our best rebounder.

Two key moves seemed to generate this transition. I think that even Sherri is surprised that it happened so quickly, although she is probably confident that it would. Now is when they begin to build tomorrow.

 

[soonermike22]

Part of the team playing better, is that the individuals on the floor have started playing with more energy, more confidence, and appear to know better where they are supposed to be. Hate to use this word, but with individuals playing harder, team is better, making individual players better-synergy. Youth maturing, and learning what they can do and what not to do.

 

[Mac]

Dungee is said to be a great 3 point shooter... I think her old AAU team Cyfair used her as a spot up shooter/zone buster...