SoonerSports

[sybarite]

A new weekly show is on FSSW at 10:00 Wednesday throughout the year. The debut was today. After some introductory items about other sports, it was mostly about football this time of year. But, some of the introductory remarks included:
--Sherri selected to the Hall of Fame
--Gabbi winning a Gold Medal

It also said that the team had evolved from a young to an experienced team with Gabbi at the point. Kay Kay was said to be a star. Gioya and Peyton were mentioned as the scorers. LaNesia was mentioned for quickness, and Maddie was called "the Glue." It gave accolades to a 6-4 newcomer, EJ.

I was surprised that there was no mention of Vivi. I guess they couldn't get everyone in.

 

[TheMont]

I feel like I've said this a billion times, but this team's ability to go far hinges the most on KayKay's playing time. We are a different team when she plays freely without foul trouble.

 

[sybarite]

Fouls/Minutes
4/24 Stanford 24 pts 10 Reb LOSS
4/6 Quinnipiac 12 pts 0 REB
4/29 Texas 8 pts 7 Reb LOSS
3/29 West Virginia 14 Pts, 10 Reb
4/25 Oklahoma State 20 Pts, 5 Reb
4/31 Kansas 20 pts, 9 Reb LOSS
4/29 Baylor 15 Pts, 5 Reb
3/24 Kansas State 13 Pts. 12 Reb
5/31 Iowa State 9 Pts, 7 Reb LOSS
1/23 TCU 14 pts 11 Reb

Kay Kay's performance was confusing. She had fewer than four fouls twice. We won both of those games. We were 4-4 in the last ten when she had four or five fouls. In games we won, she averaged 22.7 minutes, 14.7 Pts, 7.1 Rebounds. In games we lost, she averaged 28.7 minutes, 15.2 Pts, 8.1 Rebounds. She was better in games we lost!?

 

[soonermike22]

I feel like I've said this a billion times, but this team's ability to go far hinges the most on KayKay's playing time. We are a different team when she plays freely without foul trouble.

FOR DISCUSSION ONLY!! I disagree completely.
We have too many talented players for our success to hinge on one player. Obviously if KayKay is playing well we are a better team, but ViVi will be a competent back-up, and maybe a push on team capabilities when she is playing. Early last year, we had no substitute to demand inside presence, so we really needed KayKay-not so much later in the year. And against big centers, she did not have a good year at all-ie texas.
Our year hinges on multiple players improving, both starters and subs. We will be able to overcome everyone except Gabbi disappearing in a game or two because of depth and multiple scoring weapons.
But we could use KayKay having a all-conference type year.

 

[TheMont]

That does seem bizarre. I just looked over the stats for those 4 losses to see if I could see any trends.

Let's not consider the Iowa State loss at all because it was one of the most poorly officiated games I've ever seen (the other being the Kentucky game in the Virgin Islands). I didn't rewatch the game, but I think it's fair not to blame all of KayKay's fouls on her because that game was a mess.

For the Kansas game, she got her 4th foul intentionally with ~30 seconds left to stop the clock and force KU to shoot FTs. She played a pretty complete game.

The Texas game in the B12 tournament was similar to KU. She picked up her 4th foul (offensive) with ~30 seconds left, trying to make something happen. She (and the rest of the team) looked flat that game.

The Stanford game, on the other hand, was pretty typical KayKay. She picked up her 1st foul less than 2 minutes into the game and picked up her second a few minutes later, forcing her to sit a lot. Then she came back in the 2nd half and played extremely well offensively. Again, I'm just going off of memory and stats, but it seems like she had a ton of dominant second half performances (between her 2nd and 4th fouls) this eason. Someone - I think it was Syb - recently posted team leaders in points, rebounds, minutes, etc. KayKay was first in points and rebounds but third or fourth in minutes. I'm not sure, exactly, what her performances in wins vs. losses means (if anything), but when she plays controlled and focused, she is a star and we need her.

 

[TheMont]

FOR DISCUSSION ONLY!! I disagree completely.
We have too many talented players for our success to hinge on one player.

Oh, absolutely! Gabbi is super important, so are our 3-point shooters, Maddi's versatility, etc. But in my opinion, if KayKay can play complete games, she increases the potential of this team the most.

And, obviously, the growth of ViVi & McKenna will also help this team tremendously.

 

[sybarite]

Kay Kay was an enigma. We played Texas three times.

Minutes--Points---Rebounds--Fouls
21---7----5----5
23---9----5----5
29---8----7----4

Which game did we win? We won the first. Do you see why? I don't.

14-----8-----8---1
29----15---11---5
22----11---10---4

These are Stafford's numbers. We won the first game. Stafford wasn't as good in that game, but they still had Nneka, and she had her best game against us, and lost.

I don't see a real clear pattern. What I did see was a Kay Kay that was improving throughout the year, partially due to the fact that she was getting some help from Vivi. I think Kay Kay's fouls against WV came in the last three minutes rather than early.

I don't know that we needed for Kay Kay to be great. We just needed for her to be good, not let the opposition run over her, and be some kind of threat. Sherri likes to go to the post to start the offense. That doesn't always work that well, and Kay Kay is apprehensive about going over some centers. She hasn't learned to go around them yet, at least not consistently. When she does, she is effective. She is very effective on putbacks because they don't have time to set up to block her shot. Half or more of her points in those twenty point games were putbacks.

I don't know that Kay Kay can be a star on offense. She just needs to play a role. The scorers should be Peyton, Gioya, and Maddie with some help from Gabbi. Kay Kay can get rebounds and putbacks. If they are hitting, Kay Kay should be open. Drive and drop. Since she and Vivi spent the last few games rotating every four minutes due to fatigue, it tended to keep Kay Kay fresh which cut down on her fouls, until four minutes left. Who are our creators? That is who must step up?

 

[SoonerNorm]

I don't think we will be great again until we have great players at PG and at center. We have a really good PG but not at center. I hope that Nancy is getting a lot stronger and more aggressive to become a great center.

 

[sybarite]

I don't know that you need a great center. You need a center who can play a role effectively.

I don't know that I think Nancy should be more aggressive. At the state tournament, they had a tendency to call fouls on her, and only on her, for being around the ball, even when she didn't foul.. Some officials may be watching for her to become aggressive. But, what has been obvious is that she intimidates everyone.

She can be effective simply because she is long. She seems longer than Griner. Her hands seem to reach up forever. She can stand still and block shots on both sides of the lane without hardly moving. People alter their shots around her. Fifty percent shooters become twenty percent shooters. Even in AAU, she blocks everything around her.

Her guards wanted to take all of the shots themselves, and passes to her were rare, and bad. She got mostly putbacks. She does have a nice touch and can hit from the top of the key quite nicely.

I don't look for a lot of muscle mass. She is so tall that she looks skinny. She really isn't. She has a rather normal build.

I look for Nancy to be an opportunity. She creates a mess on the inside. The other team panics when she gets the ball. The other team quits shooting a lot when she is inside. They concentrate so much on her because she can get the ball without jumping. It opens up the interior for a good forward to become a superstar. If I were Lauren Cox, I wouldn't consider going anywhere else. Whoever comes into the lineup in that role will almost certainly be an All-Big Twelve performer. She made a freshman at Cypress Woods look like an All-American when it was really that they didn't pay as much attention to the freshman.

6-9 changes things.