Well, I've been kinda dreading offering it. (and I write this having just learned results of the UAB game
)
I don't disagree with what Russdawg and eddawgfan have written, regarding the season's home games. The MTSU game was only one game, and the only one I've seen and all I can comment on. Nothing that follows is written out of anger or retribution (for the time spent, the price of the ticket and the trip). Nor is this about the pain of an important loss.
Y'all
it was awful basketball. Awful to look at, awful to have paid money to see. It was a 40-year journey back in time in women's basketball history. I
regretted attending the game. I couldn't imagine making the trip
next season. Those are offered as
confessions, not insults.
Yes, the refereeing was ludicrously terrible--on both sides. It was called as if each ref started the game with only 4 fouls in their quota, and had to hold them until the end.
Yet my initial impression from the first 5 minutes of the game was that we were taller, stronger, and athletically superior to the team MTSU had on the court. I knew we could (and should) dominate their girls. But...
Observation 1: (and evidently this traveled with us to B'ham Saturday) we could not shoot,
and we shot like we knew we couldn't shoot. We were playing dominating defense early, but as we continued to miss open shots and layups at the other end, you could see MTSU's confidence grow. They stopped fearing us and focused on patiently working their own offense until it began to produce.
Observation 2: The game was played as if from one of those eras when the defensive game has tactically stymied all offensive schemes. It was the basketball equivalent of World War I trench warfare--the offense just kept throwing itself futiley against an impenitrable wall.
I saw repeated here something I noticed a few weeks ago at a male high school game (between state contenders). Instead of players passing, moving or dribbling into an
open spot to take an unchallenged shot, they passed or dribbled the ball
through the open spot until they
made contact with the defenders, and then tried to "get off" some kind of shot. At that point, they've ceded all advantages to the defenders. Maybe the idea is to create contact and try to get to the free throw line and put defenders on the bench with fouls (see comment above on the refereeing to understand the tactical illogic in that thought). I just don't know, but would love to hear from our forum coaches on the current offensive philosophy.
All I can say is, I'd certainly prefer our shooting chances from 3 feet further out if relatively open and unchallenged. And I would not relinquish control over my destiny to the vagueries of CUSA referees. If drawing fouls is
not one of the goals of this kind of play, then our players just have no feel for anticipating defensive movement and floor spacing. I don't know any other way to explain it.
Taking the ball into the teeth of the defense was the impetus for many of our turnovers. I don't remember a lot of unforced turnovers. I'd describe them as forced,
but with an assist from us.
Observation 3: It didn't look like we lost intensity from fatigue, but rather from futility and loss of confidence, especially when Brea Edwards got hot from outside. She was stroking the ball; we were chunking, heaving, and flinging it. It wasn't that our technique was so obviously bad, but I'd say lack of forethought or estimation for where the optimal launch point would be. Individually, the result was loss of rhythm and compromised timing.
Observation 4: This is just an aside, but I was shocked at how
unathletic Cleaver looked, doing anything, with or without the ball.
I'm sorry everything I had to say was so negative, but it was truly the worst basketball I've seen since watching a childrens' game. Now maybe we aren't so much
bad as MTSU and UAB were just well-prepared for us defensively, anticipating us to the spot. But come tourney time, that's just as bad as being awful.