Sunday V. Colorado

I agree with everything except Corosdale’s passing; she made some really bad passes that were turnovers. Jelena had a tough first half, but really improved in the second half. I loved her hook shot and passing, but yes, she does need to show more determination holding onto the ball.

I would have said Utah, though they didn’t fair too well today. They shot very poorly against Oregon today (including 27% on FTs). I think their coach said this is her most talented team in her tenure. That was also their first game back, so missing all that time likely didn’t help.

Poor free throw shooting again tonight; the first three games - 57.7%, 64.0%, 63.6%.

This is going to be a problem and will cost us a game or two.

Jelena had 12 rebounds. I had no idea.

Did Taylor really only play 11 mins?! She has to get better at staying out of foul trouble, we don’t have enough steady scorers

Was a fun game to watch. Observations, most of which have been made here already:
- Taylor Jones will have to get used to being game-planned against early this season, since, beyond Aleah, what role many of the other Beavers will play are a bit unknown to opponents (and us) at present.
- Colorado had a solid game plan (for her) - go right at her, and they have some skilled bigs that let the refs include themselves in the game. Will see more of that until Taylor starts showing a bit more restraint.
- Aleah was dynamite - but I already feel like we will need to watch her minutes - I recall sizzling shooting from her in past seasons right up until she hit the wall - hope other guards will help make that not happen.
- Sasha seems like the most polished freshman guard we have had since Syd or Jamie or......in other words, the future for her is incredibly bright. I love her demeanor and see a star in the making.
- Savannah can provide some good relief minutes in the guard rotation as well.
- Jazz still has issues finishing, and while she has cut back on the tendency to try to pass though people, it is not completely out of her system. Love her speed down the court, and I did see progress in her game.
- Mitrovic needs to get used to Pac-12 physicality (which is possible), and Pac-12 refs (might not be possible), and will need to learn not to bring the ball down from Jones. But the passing, shooting range, rebounding, back to the basket moves, etc. AND the fact she doesn't have to be the go-to big thanks to Taylor ahead of her gives me great hope that she will be good for 12 minutes, 7 points, 8 boards and 2 blocks game in and game out - which would put her way ahead of Ruth and give Taylor the needed relief. And she represents the kind of size and skill that will be tough for teams to counter once she gets her sea legs.
- Mack is going to be good. She doesn't have to be the star, just needs to be solid, and she's already that.
- Subasic will provide some good minutes as well....
- 10 players played, 9 played meaningful minutes. I think this is the deepest team SR has had where the drop off isn't precipitous, so I look forward to the Beavers keeping the energy high(er). I also think SR will not shorten the bench this year, and we will see a lot of minutes moving around.
- Taya is still knocking the rust off (esp. in the passing game), but her positioning for rebounding was nice to see, and she is a stabilizing presence out there. The neat thing this year is with Mack and Subasic we can keep a Taya sized/skilled player out there all game long.
- I know it was "just" Colorado (JR has them going the right direction, and they seem to be a tougher out every year), but my biggest concern entering Pac-12 play was replacing the "go get a bucket at any time" ability Destiny brought to the table. I think as this team figures out what each member of the team can do, we will be able to get a reasonable shot every time down - I really liked all the movement without the ball (better than in year's past at this point in the season, in my opinion), and a lot of talent at every position.
- I don't think the pre-season prognostications were that far off - there are some really solid teams ahead of us, but we will be in every game.....l
- We will however, lose a game or two thanks to our FT shooting, or lack thereof if we don't work on that a bit. Thankfully Colorado had a lot of players flirting with fouling out, but I could see teams with a deep bench and down 10 "fouling for profit" starting early in the 4th......and profiting from it.
Will be an intriguing season, since the team I saw on the floor will likely finish in the top half, but the headroom of many players is really high this year and we could really surprise should a few Kolbie leaps occur.....
Go Beavers!