On Thursday Paul called out through his and Sonja's website and wondered of my whereabouts. Actually I had sort of mentally hibernated because I just really did not know what to make of last Tuesday's Marquette game. Yes, we had won but the mechanics and game basics I needed to see just were not there. I saw lots of dribbling, particularly in the 1st 1/2 of the game. Actually I saw lots and lots of dribbling all around the top and passes to others who were also standing around the top who then dribbled a lot more while apparently hoping that someone on defense would fall down so we could pass to their non-defended position.
Years ago there was a commercial where the senior citizen actress became famous for asking, Where's the Beef? Well after dozing on and off through parts of today's game against St. Johns I am asking, Where's the Heart? because I did not see heart or hustle where the players on the floor looked or acted like they really wanted the ball. As a result, today we no longer were able to slip by with a win.
What Louisville does not have are front court players who are a threat to score either off the pass or rebound. Mo is gone, for at least this year. Today's those starters contributed a total of 0 points and 2 rebounds. Without a front court threat, future opponents will continue to overload on Shoni and the fans will continue to watch lots of guards dribble the ball with no picks, screens or give and goes because there is no place for them to go except to continue to dribble and pass to each other around the perimeter. The season could become extremely long unless somoene steps up to the task of if not dominating, at least holding their own in the front court. My vote, which holds no value, is to start Sarah and Cierra. Let them play until they foul out for enough games that they finally gain enough game time experience to be able to mature into the powerful and dominating players they will eventually become.
I agree with much of what Sandy has written, particularly the part about way to much dribbling around the perimeter while everyone else is standing around. I do not agree that Louisville lacks front court players who have the ability to score. The reason they are not scoring is that they are not getting the ball. Schimmel took as many shots as Vails, Warren, Dyer, Taylor, and Hammond combined. Not getting the ball inside is the result of a 3-guard line up with only one good passer and no offensive scheme to get people open inside. Even the national ESPNU announcers commented on the poor spacing of the Cards' interior players. As long as Walz goes with three perimeter players and has no offensive scheme to get good looks for the bigs, Louisville will continue to lose games to the top half of the Big East.
ReplyDelete--PDX Phil
Agree that UL needs to improve the inside game. In the Marquette game, I saw the UL "bigs" posting hard numerous times and not getting the ball. Sara, Cierra, and Shawnta are my candidates. Cierra and Sara need to quit with the silly fouls so they can stay on the court more. It's almost a guarantee that they will foul within a minute or two of being on the floor.
ReplyDeleteStark61
Agree that UL needs to improve the inside game. In the Marquette game, I saw the UL "bigs" posting hard numerous times and not getting the ball. Sara, Cierra, and Shawnta are my candidates. Cierra and Sara need to quit with the silly fouls so they can stay on the court more. It's almost a guarantee that they will foul within a minute or two of being on the floor.
ReplyDeleteStark61