Some observations: Joyner Holmes REALLY wants the ball. She's always waving "I'm OPEN" and sometimes when she gets the ball, she just drove it straight to the basket. Also, really odd hearing her introduced as a "guard", although her display on the screen shows G/F Bri Taylor is losing playing time. She gets the start and then draws her typical 2 fouls in 5 minutes and then is on the bench, again. Olamide finally looks comfortable with the ball and playing in a group of players. Last year she looked totally lost The ball was finally falling for Kelsey this game Lashann, unleashed! Brooke her usual stellar self Lots of steals and fast breaks - KA ball, finally Khaleann more aggressive than her sister, which results in more fouls (quickly) than her sister Lots of dishes (assists) which is good Defense really knew what they were doing. There definite switch-offs where a player knew immediately to back off and go guard someone closer to the post when a NW player moved a certain direction in the arc Still, the opposing team shot more 3's than we should have let them I wonder if I'll ever see Joyner dunk?
#5 - Did you see the post game interview with Karen? Nell Fortner asked a very direct question about why Lashann wasn't getting more playing time before the NWS game. Coach Aston didn't dodge the question - hopefully we'll see more of Lashann moving forward because her energy/style of play seem infectious and she seems to be a defender capable of applying pressure on the ball without picking up a lot of fouls.
Nell loves Higgs and I'm glad she asked the question. For clarification, was Karen's response to Nell's question that we would see more of Higgs because of her energy/style and that she applies pressure without picking up a lot of fouls? I wasn't sure if those were your thoughts or Karen's. It's great if Higgs is going to get more minutes. In the NWS game, she seemed more comfortable and beginning to hit her stride.
My take on Lashann. Karen spoke to Lashann's focus on defensive principles - I guess Lashann has been freewheeling a bit too much. She also said that sophomores sometimes forget some of the lessons learned as a frosh and they need Lashann to partially hit the 'restart' button and when that happens, we'll see more of her on a nightly basis.
Everyone would love to be able to keep Higgs on the floor. Her steals along with overall defensive pressure are a real plus. Offensively, her penetration is unique and is a real weapon. What keeps her minutes down is in my opinion her risky defensive approach (freewheeling). This risky behavior can be extremely positive......however, against really good players (teams) it can be a very real liability. When she gets beat off the bounce.........or tries for a steal and gets out of position, it puts the rest of the players in a scramble mode. It was not quite as bad when we have McGee-Stafford to clean up in the paint. However, this year by not having any real positive inside defensive presence..........her approach is even more a liability. Coaches really hate it when 4 players are playing great defensive fundamentals and one player overplays her hand and puts the team defense in a bind. If Higgs would simply play good, fundamental defense, she could still get her steals with her quick hands and anticipation. Her offense still needs to improve in several areas and can also be seen as freewheeling.........but I think it is primarily putting the team defense in a bind that keeps her minutes down.
Great comments about Lashann. No question she brings explosiveness, and as many have said before, does things with the ball others just aren't capable of. It's amazing how quickly she piles up the points, when she's on. Sometimes it seems she goes from nothing to the game's high scorer in a flash. Of course, it doesn't quite happen that way, but her runs have that feel to them. IIRC we saw that in last year's Elite 8 matchup with the Huskies. She and Ariel, along with Stewart and Tuck for UCONN, all scored about 20 points each. But the other three all played 30-something minutes, and Lashann fewer than 20. But no question if she's a defensive liability, her scoring is going to be negated by those lapses. I don't think we'll have to worry about those issues for too long, though; I'm confident she's going to do great things for the team this season.
