What can Sherri do?

[soonermike22]

Sometimes, A causes B. We have some inexperienced players. They are more likely to let their opponent loose. The opponent then gets to the interior forcing someone from the interior into action resulting in about half the fouls that Griffin and Kay Key get. It will help when everyone learns to stay in front of their opponent. Kay Kay also gets fouls when she loses her opponent, and she reaches around when beaten. Learning better defense will help to keep them on the court.

Sherri said that Griffin had a bad day. Yet, she was on the court when the lead was built. There is more to it than rebounding and scoring. There is also maintaining defensive integrity. Louisville had difficulty getting penetration when we had our bigs on the floor, and Louisville depends on getting to the basket more than we do. They live for layups. They had more difficulty getting inside with Griffin and Kay Kay on the court. It's not all about rebounding. Can we prevent layups?

Kornet was on the court when we built that lead as well. We lost a lot of blocking out when Kornet went out. I think she was 3 of 7 which is good enough to keep her on the floor for the other things that she does. She is working on the boards and is one of those who does block out-----as is Kellogg. Kellogg seems to be one of our more effective people around the boards.

We still have some learning to do. We hurt ourselves yesterday when we lapsed into playground basketball at times. We are good as a team. Louisville had difficulty when we played as a team. When we become impatient, we get into trouble. Don't make it happen. Do the things that enable it to happen naturally. I didn't even see the game, but I heard from Coltan what was making it work, or not. His description matched what was happening on the scoreboard.

Practice. Learn your positions, especially on defense. As we relax, the offense will come. Practice hard. We now have a few games that are not against Louisville.

A+ analysis. Sybarite has it right. I watched the game in person, and the 2 Nicoles did a lot good not in the stat sheet. And didn't get lost on defense, or turn the ball over like our future stars did. Carter, Edwards, and also Williams are not as good at staying where they are supposed to be on defense, (in front of offensive player mostly), or at protecting the ball. They WILL get there and be really good I think, but you have to play the players that do ALL basketball stuff when playing, not must a few "oh wow" plays. It only takes one or two "oh sh*t" plays to erase a bunch of good ones.
Our less experienced players will develop, but lets play the players that play best.
And P Durett doesn't produce much, so I agree about working other players into her playing time.

 

[badger]

We absolutely must make more of our shots, whether they're the threes or the frees or everything that counts toward the scoreboard. If there's anything we can do more on the practice end to translate to the game end, I hope Sherri gets on it, because we are in a position to succeed if more of our shots fall. The turnovers and the fouls haven't caused us to lose a lot in the past, it's the shots that we are open (or unguarded completely in the case of free throws) that we miss that kill us.

To Sherri's credit, her Sooner teams hardly ever if at all lose games that we are predicted to win. If we're favored, we win by a lot, if we're the underdogs, we fight hard and don't make it is easy for the opponent... or we beat em outright.

If only our football team put up as much of a fight and had a winning gameplan against the No. 5 team in the country a week or so ago.

 

[badger]

And before anyone gets smarky, I know how simple making more shots sounds. I might as well have said "We need to score more than the opponents."

The thing for me is that we create such great open looks, or get sent to the line so often that we should be making more of our shots. We're in position --- seal the deal!

 

[Oliver Hardy]

I knew we were in trouble the minute we had to sit both Williams and Griffith and replace them with Durrett. I appreciate the effort she made and she has improved a bit from last year, but...

I would hope that beginning this week Kellog would begin to get her minutes. I think Kellog may prove to be an invaluable addition on the floor this season, especially when Kay-Kay and Nicole G. get in foul trouble.

The only part of Griffin's game I am concerned about now is her consistency. Call it fire, intensity, or whatever. She has grown so much and she is invaluable to us now, but she has got to learn and be consistent with being a go-to force on the floor every game.

I also wish my favorite player, Campbell would sometimes take a breath, if you understand me.

Kornet and Williams have GOT to stop those little ticky-tack hand fouls. Kay-Kay could cut her fouls in half every game if she would just stop making the that little wrist slap she does when she is defending one-on-one.

Morgan, please shoot more!

I think this season has great potential. I am enjoying it more than I did last year so far.

 

[badger]

I also wish my favorite player, Campbell would sometimes take a breath, if you understand me.

I wonder if you're referring to the tendency to try to get a quick steal after our team turns over the ball, usually resulting in a silly little whistle from a nearby ref?

Aaryn used to do the same thing... but now she's a senior

 

[Oliver Hardy]

With Kornet, yes, but not with Kaylon.

If you look closely at most of Kaylon's fouls, you will see that Kaylon, instead of keeping her hand and wrist rigid and straight up tries what I would describe as a block move by "breaking" her wrist and bringing her hand down like a slap. She ALWAYS ends up hitting the hand or arm of her opponent.

Seriously, like 90 pecent of her fouls are that little limp-wrist-like manuveur. It is fostered often by her getting beat on a drive by not moving her feet, but I've seen her do it frequently all over the court.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I was really surprised at how well we played against Louisville, even dominated them at times.

It appeared we were rushing things when we lost the lead and fell behind by 10. Quick shots under pressure out of rhythm and rushing on layups that we should have hit. We could have beat them pretty well on just the open layups we missed. Louisville didn't miss many of those. Louisville played with more poise most of the game.

The foul trouble in the first half is just a preview of things to come. Sherri has to trust he bench more and get more than a 7 person rotation. That was a problem last year. It is a disaster this year.

Two points and ZERO rebounds in 23 minutes by your third big in the tough games will not get it. Those minutes need to go to Kellogg and Wyatt. With the way we are scoring Wyatt can't do worse from the outside and she seems solid on D and in ball handling. Kellogg looks more effective than Portia in the tough games based on her short time in the game yesterday. Don't know why she didn't get any second half time.

I love Sherri as a coach and would not have another one but I have been critical of her lack of development of depth for some time. She seems to really get her key players prepared to play 35-40 minutes a game but it is a different deal this year with the way the fouls are called. An effective 8 person rotation yesterday would have been a winner.

I don't think Edwards will be as good against the tough teams this year but I still like her potential. I like our aggressiveness but we must quit trying to get balls that are in solid control by our opponents.

I liked Carter from the first game and she just continues to advance. Still too many bad fouls and still hesitant to really let it go on offense but we would have a big problem without her particularly the way Campbell and Kornet are picking up fouls.

I think this team, short of another tough injury, will be the best in recent years. If we can play Louisville that tough we can battle any team in the country. I am very proud of our players and coaches. It will be an exciting year.

 

[scrybe]

I was really surprised at how well we played against Louisville, even dominated them at times.

It appeared we were rushing things when we lost the lead and fell behind by 10. Quick shots under pressure out of rhythm and rushing on layups that we should have hit. We could have beat them pretty well on just the open layups we missed. Louisville didn't miss many of those. Louisville played with more poise most of the game.

The foul trouble in the first half is just a preview of things to come. Sherri has to trust he bench more and get more than a 7 person rotation. That was a problem last year. It is a disaster this year.

Two points and ZERO rebounds in 23 minutes by your third big in the tough games will not get it. Those minutes need to go to Kellogg and Wyatt. With the way we are scoring Wyatt can't do worse from the outside and she seems solid on D and in ball handling. Kellogg looks more effective than Portia in the tough games based on her short time in the game yesterday. Don't know why she didn't get any second half time.

I love Sherri as a coach and would not have another one but I have been critical of her lack of development of depth for some time. She seems to really get her key players prepared to play 35-40 minutes a game but it is a different deal this year with the way the fouls are called. An effective 8 person rotation yesterday would have been a winner.

I don't think Edwards will be as good against the tough teams this year but I still like her potential. I like our aggressiveness but we must quit trying to get balls that are in solid control by our opponents.

I liked Carter from the first game and she just continues to advance. Still too many bad fouls and still hesitant to really let it go on offense but we would have a big problem without her particularly the way Campbell and Kornet are picking up fouls.

I think this team, short of another tough injury, will be the best in recent years. If we can play Louisville that tough we can battle any team in the country. I am very proud of our players and coaches. It will be an exciting year.

:clap:clap:clap

 

[sybarite]

I knew we were in trouble the minute we had to sit both Williams and Griffith and replace them with Durrett. I appreciate the effort she made and she has improved a bit from last year, but...

I would hope that beginning this week Kellog would begin to get her minutes. I think Kellog may prove to be an invaluable addition on the floor this season, especially when Kay-Kay and Nicole G. get in foul trouble.

The only part of Griffin's game I am concerned about now is her consistency. Call it fire, intensity, or whatever. She has grown so much and she is invaluable to us now, but she has got to learn and be consistent with being a go-to force on the floor every game.

I also wish my favorite player, Campbell would sometimes take a breath, if you understand me.

Kornet and Williams have GOT to stop those little ticky-tack hand fouls. Kay-Kay could cut her fouls in half every game if she would just stop making the that little wrist slap she does when she is defending one-on-one.

Morgan, please shoot more!

I think this season has great potential. I am enjoying it more than I did last year so far.

Good analysis.

I think that Sherri may have been frustrated with Griffin yesterday due to her passivity on offense, but not defense. When she was in the game, the defense was better. But, Sherri wants her to become more of a threat inside to take the pressure off of the guards. If Griffin scores, it opens up the game as people drop off to protect against her, and it also tends to create open jump shots for others. She was offensively passive. But, her defense is essential right now.

Morgan is having some difficulty with the rules. She hasn't figured out what they are calling on drives. She has how many charges? She is one who tends to shoot threes when they are falling, but not as the only one. Sharane needs to back off threes for a while. We might look at Gioya and Derica for help with threes, but Kornet tends to be close on her shots. Right now, Sharane isn't.

I prefer to have Sharane concentrating on getting to the rim or getting ten foot jump shots. She is good at that, and it is often an old-fashioned three. Does she make more threes this way than Vegas does from the three point line---let's see a challenge. If the two of them are going well, we aren't in bad shape.

 

[sybarite]

A+ analysis. Sybarite has it right. I watched the game in person, and the 2 Nicoles did a lot good not in the stat sheet. And didn't get lost on defense, or turn the ball over like our future stars did. Carter, Edwards, and also Williams are not as good at staying where they are supposed to be on defense, (in front of offensive player mostly), or at protecting the ball. They WILL get there and be really good I think, but you have to play the players that do ALL basketball stuff when playing, not must a few "oh wow" plays. It only takes one or two "oh sh*t" plays to erase a bunch of good ones.
Our less experienced players will develop, but lets play the players that play best.
And P Durett doesn't produce much, so I agree about working other players into her playing time.

Exactly!

 

[gosooner2]

I did not see or hear the game so my comments come only from the box score and what I have seen in prior games.
We beat Gonzaga and stayed close to Louisville only because of Free throws, my concern is that that advantage will become smaller and smaller as the year plays out. Either because other teams will learn or the refs will revert.
Vegas and Morgan both played 45 minutes. I understand wanting to win this game as a feather in Sherri's cap, but you cannot build depth just in practice. We really do not have as many "gimmie" games this year for learning experiences. I am not saying they should not play if they have to, but comes the night they both have foul trouble I am afraid we are going to look to someone with very little experience. Perhaps Nicole K should spend some time at the 1 or 2 if Edwards and Wyatt just can't cut it.

 

[OKUman]

I did not see or hear the game so my comments come only from the box score and what I have seen in prior games.
We beat Gonzaga and stayed close to Louisville only because of Free throws, my concern is that that advantage will become smaller and smaller as the year plays out. Either because other teams will learn or the refs will revert.
Vegas and Morgan both played 45 minutes. I understand wanting to win this game as a feather in Sherri's cap, but you cannot build depth just in practice. We really do not have as many "gimmie" games this year for learning experiences. I am not saying they should not play if they have to, but comes the night they both have foul trouble I am afraid we are going to look to someone with very little experience. Perhaps Nicole K should spend some time at the 1 or 2 if Edwards and Wyatt just can't cut it.

I did see the game, and I agree with you about playing more girls and building that depth. Why not play Wyatt and Kellogg in the game when the first half fouls were putting players on the bench. I would bet you a ton that Kellogg would be 5 X better than Durrett. As soon as Durrett comes in the game it is an automatic turnover. Kellogg is tall strong and fast and would be better already if she had been playing more. And when we needed a three in the LU game, Wyatt should have been and probably would have give us some points when we were not scoring. Anyway just my opinion.

 

[SoonerNorm]

It is very common when someone says "so and so should not be playing", others will jump on him and point out that Sherri knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, etc, etc, etc. But in this case, it seems pretty unanimous that Portia is not getting the job done and others deserve a chance.

 

[35TangoTango]

It is very common when someone says "so and so should not be playing", others will jump on him and point out that Sherri knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, etc, etc, etc. But in this case, it seems pretty unanimous that Portia is not getting the job done and others deserve a chance.

The only problem is that what Portia played in the Louisville game was 3rd string center - at this point, there's probably no one else prepared to do that. I definitely think Kellogg should be ahead of Portia in the power forward rotation, but I doubt that Kellogg is ready to play center.

 

[badger]

I fully expect everyone to play against UT-Arlington. Here's hoping some of those capitalize on that opportunity and expand our 7-player rotation

 

[Options]

SoonerNorm spot on about starting lineup

 

[SoonerNorm]

The only problem is that what Portia played in the Louisville game was 3rd string center - at this point, there's probably no one else prepared to do that. I definitely think Kellogg should be ahead of Portia in the power forward rotation, but I doubt that Kellogg is ready to play center.

The only thing we know about that for sure is, Portia isn't ready to play power forward or center.