Post by beaverstever on Mar 23, 2021 17:49:16 GMT -8
From the get-go, Henderson was picking up Aleah full court. Not aggressively, but close enough to make Aleah wary. Henderson has elite quickness, and is always a threat to pick her pocket for an easy two, and it happened a few times.
I think I've told this story before (and probably the last time we had an elite defender throw off our PG), but I remember well playing at Dixon and being defended by Pat Strickland. Pat was a lightning-quick defensive specialist for OSU for those that recall from 91-93. Anyway, I tried to dribble by him at mid-court, and he promptly took the ball away from me and laid it in. So the next time, I fake right and went to go around my back with the dribble - he sees this and steps forward into me as me as soon as I start the ball around my back, I bounce off him and the ball keeps going by. He walks over and picks it up and scores on me again. From then on, I did not bring the ball up the court - I passed it to someone else.
For some reason, we can't seem to learn the Pat Strickland lesson. Briefly, Taya did come back and set a half-hearted screen that forced Henderson to back off, but otherwise, Aleah was left to be wolf-tracked. And this resulted in Aleah making her high-post entry passes almost from half-court, which hung in the air and force the offense to start way higher than normal. Additionally, while she's trying to read the defense and set the offense, her brain has to constantly be thinking about if Henderson is in range to pick her dribble. The game speeds way up, everything gets rushed and you play on your heels.
The answer is not to go get a faster PG. Savannah is fast, and she got picked easily as well. The answer is to allow the players to only need to dribble against elite defenders with quick hands when they are making an aggressive move that puts the defender on their heels. For Aleah, we could easily have had say Taya or Mack bring the ball up (their defenders would not be interested in guarding full-court) and give it to Aleah past mid-court, allowing her to set the offense much closer to the basket, and start her dribble only after reading the defense. Yes, it would have burned some shot-clock as Taya moved to her position, but at least Aleah would start the offense with her head straight and the post not needing to go fetch a 30 ft pass.
And I can't really blame SR for this - Aleah should be asking for this. TVO didn't ask for it either, for that matter, and suffered the same fate. Bottom line, as soon as I saw Henderson pick Aleah up full court and Aleah not wanting to dribble much past half-court against her, I knew we were in trouble - this team is built around Aleah playing confident, and her entire team did not pick her up today by helping get the wolf off her. From my view, Henderson literally erased us having an aggressive, confident Aleah leading the offense. I'm not saying that it makes up 20 points, I'm saying that's the catalyst for us not taking any fight to them.
Anyway, that's my rant once again. Maybe someday we'll figure out how to not desert our PGs against elite, quick defenders.
I think I've told this story before (and probably the last time we had an elite defender throw off our PG), but I remember well playing at Dixon and being defended by Pat Strickland. Pat was a lightning-quick defensive specialist for OSU for those that recall from 91-93. Anyway, I tried to dribble by him at mid-court, and he promptly took the ball away from me and laid it in. So the next time, I fake right and went to go around my back with the dribble - he sees this and steps forward into me as me as soon as I start the ball around my back, I bounce off him and the ball keeps going by. He walks over and picks it up and scores on me again. From then on, I did not bring the ball up the court - I passed it to someone else.
For some reason, we can't seem to learn the Pat Strickland lesson. Briefly, Taya did come back and set a half-hearted screen that forced Henderson to back off, but otherwise, Aleah was left to be wolf-tracked. And this resulted in Aleah making her high-post entry passes almost from half-court, which hung in the air and force the offense to start way higher than normal. Additionally, while she's trying to read the defense and set the offense, her brain has to constantly be thinking about if Henderson is in range to pick her dribble. The game speeds way up, everything gets rushed and you play on your heels.
The answer is not to go get a faster PG. Savannah is fast, and she got picked easily as well. The answer is to allow the players to only need to dribble against elite defenders with quick hands when they are making an aggressive move that puts the defender on their heels. For Aleah, we could easily have had say Taya or Mack bring the ball up (their defenders would not be interested in guarding full-court) and give it to Aleah past mid-court, allowing her to set the offense much closer to the basket, and start her dribble only after reading the defense. Yes, it would have burned some shot-clock as Taya moved to her position, but at least Aleah would start the offense with her head straight and the post not needing to go fetch a 30 ft pass.
And I can't really blame SR for this - Aleah should be asking for this. TVO didn't ask for it either, for that matter, and suffered the same fate. Bottom line, as soon as I saw Henderson pick Aleah up full court and Aleah not wanting to dribble much past half-court against her, I knew we were in trouble - this team is built around Aleah playing confident, and her entire team did not pick her up today by helping get the wolf off her. From my view, Henderson literally erased us having an aggressive, confident Aleah leading the offense. I'm not saying that it makes up 20 points, I'm saying that's the catalyst for us not taking any fight to them.
Anyway, that's my rant once again. Maybe someday we'll figure out how to not desert our PGs against elite, quick defenders.
