Coaching and Player Development?

Talia's 3 point shooting % is down, but every other other statistic you can think of is better. Rebounding, assists, TO's, steals, blocks, 2 point shooting % etc. So because her three's aren't hitting she's not getting better? Aleah's 3 % shooting went down 7% in her Soph. year and Talia's is only down 5%. I think your concerns over her development are unrealistic.

When things aren't going well, fans pile on. SR was a brilliant coach not long ago, and now is apparently awful, with his ego not allowing him to adapt to the changing game and/or player strengths.

I don't really know exactly what's gone wrong, but here's my view:

- While there are examples of good development historical, there are other examples of players that didn't improve much over their career - we don't think about them much because they never evolved to more than role players. Some players we expected to develop that left haven't developed much elsewhere either, although I'd put Taya largely in that category. Player development has a big component of a) the player has a physicality that has a dramatic upward ceiling relative to their current raw skills and b) has the mental capacity to really slow the game down and develop really refined, subtle skills. Marie was a big example of a), and it was clear she had a high ceiling early in her career due to how quick her feet were relative to her size. To her and the staff's credit, she realized it. Aleah was an example of b); no significant physical upside from where she came in as a frosh, but developed ways to get her shot off quicker and create space with consistency (very difficult to do), developed an effective slashing game to help open up her outside game. Both of those are pretty rare trajectories anywhere.

- On the complaints of Rueck controlling the offensive play-calling, we saw the reverse of that with CR and WT, where they (at times) opened up the game for the players to freelance and utilize their individual skills, and everyone complained that the offense was indecipherable and non-existent. Rueck does indeed prefer to maximize odds of every possession, and generally has never had players that can be effective in a more wide-open offensive system. I'm sure he probably does want players that can recognize a unique opportunity and ad hoc opportunistic offense, but he doesn't have players that can do that well today. And I agree that he's also unlikely to successfully recruit ones that can given his system.

- As for TvO, I believe her issues are mental. She played the best when she had Aleah on the court with clear responsibility for running the show and being the player responsible for making it happen, and there was little expected of her being effectively still a HS player. Aleah's former role has been on her shoulders now since last year, and she's often pressing as a result. I disagree that her stats are generally improved - she is more involved in the game overall, but her efficiency, especially in big games, as not been good. I thought adding Timea would help her efficiency, with another player that can go and get off a shot when we need a bucket. That hasn't happened yet, and I do think a lot of that is not the coaches at this point, but it will take time as well.

At the end of the day, it ultimately falls on the coaches regardless. I don't know if the problem is that the coaches aren't evolving with the game or if the system just isn't as effective with the current group of players. What does seem to be clear is that they struck gold historically with a few players that are singularly program difference-makers in Sydney, Mic and Aleah, both from a skill and cultural leadership. It simply may be the we don't have a player like that on the roster, and a lot of our success historically was simply due to landing those types.

Nice job with this post.

The game is changing the same way women's high school changed in Oregon.

My wife was a math teacher and had never played bb. Her high school, 6A, in the Metro area decided to form a women's program. No men takers as coaches. So, my wife as JV coach and a woman school councilor as the Head Coach volunteered. As a recreational player for several years, I was my wife's unacknowledged guru. lol The girls had to learn to dribble, shoot, rebound in the same way we teach 3rd and 4th graders today. There weren't many wins.

Fast forward to Smith arriving at Oregon City. He convinced his girls to play like boys. Pressure the ball, reach in, put hands on the ball handler, bump, fast break, and move people out from under the basket. At the same time the referees allowed that added contact. What style won the state championship for many years until other coaches started using the same tactics and more athletic girls arrived on the scene at all schools. O.C.

I've been watching OSU since maybe 2014/2015. There used to be only Connecticut (Oregon City) winning the tournaments. Now the coaching and talent is dispersed. The game has not become racehorse, but it's speed has picked up. OSU needs to enter the way things are, not how they have been.

Most of the best teams wouldn't think about that kind of trend they move on if they fear any kind of a spiral. We could be missing it. This trend is setting a new pressidence. This shouldn't be about any one person but what we owe to the program itself. We all know Rueck is a tremendous person. It's possible he has peaked. This is not NAIA but the big leagues.

He is not going anywhere.  He has been "annoited" by Barnes.