A few thoughts on TVO

I said this in another thread but...TVO made a big splash right away and a lot of fans bought into this idea that she was OSU's next superstar, an elite player who would have the ability to take over games and pull OSU along for win after win.
Last year, the truth was far more evident when it was brutally obvious she could not play point guard. She lacks high-end quickness and ballhandling skills. Her passing is too often sloppy.
She is a good shooter and more suited to play the 2. However, she does not have a physical advantage over opposing guards. Personally, I believe she's closer to 5-10 than 5-11, making her more of a tweener. She is not overly agile for a guard and can't create her own shot unless she uses strength to power her way to the basket.
Opposing teams have figured all of this out (even if some OSU fans haven't). Teams like Colorado can just D up on her and she falls apart. You cut off the path to the basket and get in her face on the perimeter and she's much more inclined to just put up bad shots.
Without a good point guard on the team, TVO just isn't nearly as effective as she can be.
Let's not forget that she scored 17 against Utah just a couple days ago. Not every team is going to be able to defend her like Colorado. Yes, she can shoot and rebound and get some assists (also commits a lot of turnovers) and is a solid defender most of the time. But let's stop with the ideas that TVO is an elite player. 
And it's not the sophomore slump...if that were to have happened it would have been the latter part of last season. 

I wouldn't get too down about it. She's a good player. Her shooting will return. But the Beavers really, really, really need a point guard.

She's been largely solved by the Pac-12 defenses; her strengths have been taken away, and she hasn't been able to neutralize her weaknesses. It will be up to her to solve these in her off-season by building a lot more into her offensive repertoire. You seen NBA players do this all the time when their speed advantage declines as they age; they build crafty alternatives that keep them effective (or they disappear from the league).

TvO has two big strengths; deep range and physicality at the basket. Her range has been neutralized by not leaving her open, and she hasn't developed an effective step-back to compensate (very hard to do, although it's something she has worked on). Her advantage at the basket is neutralized by double-teams, and her teammates haven't found a way to make opponents pay. I thought we'd see her back down and post-up guards, it's not really happening. I think she's too impatient - too often this results in fade-away 10 footers that is not a consistent shot for her. She should be able to Larry Bird/Dirk N anybody in the league as far out as the elbow with that move shoulder in/fade-out more, but she just doesn't have it down to a consistent shot (actually misses it most of the time, and seems to really shoot it flat).

If you watch Pili, she has lots of limitations, and her repertoire was somewhat neutralized by Mit vulturing over her, despite Pili being so much quicker. But I think Pili is a pretty good example of a player with a lot of limitations figuring out how to be consistent.

The biggest problem with this team is NOBODY is even remotely consistent game-to-game. That was true last year once Jones went down. Really, Jones is the only player you could count on for similar offensive stats game-to-game. Timea looks like she will get there, and I thought Reagan would be that type of player, but she gets solved by some teams as well. TvO was expected to be the most consistent offensive threat on this year's team, and she doesn't have enough of a variety of consistent scoring moves to make that happen. I know she wants to be that player, and so hopefully that's what she brings to the game next season. Aleah did exactly that between her Jr and Sr. year - Aleah could be solved her jr year, but she brought a lot more to the table her senior year and she really elevated her game. She was never out-quicking Pac-12 defenses, but the game really slowed down for her and she picked her weapons very well.

Bottom line, I absolutely believe TvO can be a first-tieam level player with her abilities, but she has to hone her craft a lot more to get there.

Assuming Martha is with OSU next season, we should have 3 with PG skills. Although our 2 incoming High Schoolers will have never experienced the pressure of PAC-12 caliber defenders, and it will take time for them to adjust.

Remember, Martha played on the German National Team, and did have experience against high caliber defenders. I watched many of Martha's games over the summer, and saw someone who could handle the ball pressure in the WCBB game.

Pretty much agree on everything you said about TVO. She's already been all-Pac-12. But she's not necessarily a volume scorer. She's more of a well-rounded player with great shooting range but not great athletic ability when it comes to basketball. She's good. She's not elite.
The lack of consistency on OSU speaks to a lack of a true point guard who is a Pac-12 level starter, along with the overall youth of the team. Rueck probably isn't making it any easier for them either, but that's a different subject.
Pili is only listed at 6-2. But she's great because she has a great skill set around the basket but has range all the way out to the 3-point line. She leads the Pac-12 in scoring with 20.86 points a game and in percentage at 607 and actually leads the Utes in steals with 25.
She actually was scoring against Mit early. Mit's play got a lot better in the second half. Beers actually played very well against her but once again got into foul issues.