I am not a big supporter of Sherri. I think the game has passed her by a bit. She seems to be guard happy. Reminds me of former mens coach Bruce Drake from the 40's and 50's. Had a theory of basketball class by him. He had an offense called the Drake Shuffle. He stated that with his offense and 5 quick little guys he could win. Unfortunately, Kansas came in with 4 quick big guys and a center who hit hook shots from 15 feet away.
Also I, like many of you wish she would set more screens, any screens.
But I also believe in fairness.
No word in this thread about the great game by Maddi Williams who rebounded with the best and blocked shots by a 6-3 all-american. And by the way, turned in a double double.
No word about the way Robertson got open for her shots and her overall game.
No word about how well Tatum ran the offense.
And no word about how well Pellington played until late in the game. Just complaints about her turnovers, justified, but not indicative of her overall performance.
UConn was off their game but we led with only 3:40 left in the game over a team that fried #2 Notre Dame. They finally started playing tough defense and exploited our weakness inside against a gassed Mandy Simpson. Sherri has got to take some chances and give her some rest. A big lady like her just can't be effective for 40 minutes, particularly how hard she tries.
All I get from the game thread is a lot of negative stuff and how bad Sherri and Colton are. I don't have a clue how talented a coach Colton is and I seriously doubt that anyone on this board has any more knowledge about him. For all I know he could be one of the best assistants in college basketball.
Nepotism becomes a problem if the offspring doesn't perform. For that reason I usually advise against it but it seems to work in softball and womens gymnastics. And everyone on the football board couldn't wait to get Mike Stoops back until we got him.
I agree with everything except your first paragraph. We will learn soon enough since she is probably approaching the end of her career. I suspect she'll remain until next year's class leaves, just to see the program rebuilt.
I wondered if this team might give UConn more trouble than we have in recent years. It has more athleticism and exceptional skills than any we've had recently. I don't know if you could call Taylor athletic. But, she has a very special set of scoring skills.
Madi is as good as she wants to be.
When Shaina tries to take control of a game, she is often a disaster. We surged to a twelve-point lead largely off the scoring of Madi an Taylor. Then, Shaina and Mandy began trying to make some things happen, resulting in missed shots and turnovers. If we had had the ball being shot by Madi, Taylor, Jessi, and Tatum, we might have been better off. Shaina hit a couple of threes in the first game. Any more, they aren't even close. Not her skill---yet. It hurt when people started trying to do things.
Can you really reach over the back that often without fouling? UConn was a much better team. I'm surprised that we hung with them like that. But, I don't think all of Katie's and Collier's reach over rebounds were legit. I'm not concerned because this was more a learning experience that a good shot at winning---which came close.
I had thought something similar might happen. We have enough skill sets to stay on the floor with UConn unless they are hot. I did not expect us to have the lead at the end of the first three quarters. It did not surprise me that we hung close. I expected the ending. That is good championship caliber seniors against freshmen. Geno commented how much it had meant to have Dangerfield this year. He likes having a stable point guard. Well, he also had Katie and Collier taking control. That is an experienced trio of good players who are on a title quest. They went up against four freshmen and two sophomores..
We used reserves for 13 minutes. UConn used reserves for ten. This was a game for starters.
In their two close games, (10 points over St. Johns) UConn won them at the free throw line. St. Johns won it on the floor, lost it something like 14-2 at the free throw line. They beat us 14-5 at the line.
I am not fond of any family hires in ANY sport.
