Gamafn

I also like their trajectory, but they still got blown out (and out-rebounded by 11) by Notre Dame. You could just as easily say that UM started four forwards, since four of their ‘guards’ are over 6’. We could do that as well if we had four or more long, athletically skilled players. But we have at most two (Hargrove and Potts if she’s back to pre-injury level). And I don’t expect the current coaching staff to develop or recruit more (please prove me wrong!). Hence their likely direction unfortunately differs from ours.

Respectfully, I don’t see anyone on our roster who has tournament-level speed in their skill set with the possible exception of Britt. In fact, I would assert that team speed/quickness/athleticism is a big liability against most quality opponents. Plus, to run you first have to rebound and we just lost our only high quality rebounder. Now, if we add an athletic big and a couple of quick tenacious guards, that could change. But I don’t expect Amy to be aggressive in the portal given her emphasis on culture/family. We’ll probably add one big who can play well against mediocre competition but will be dominated against the good teams.

Cazzie’s point above is the bottom line. The west coast schools have substantially raised the bar for competing near the top of the B1G. We have a chance to be as good or maybe even slightly better next year if everything falls right. But that’s just not a good enough trajectory for the top 4-5 any more.

Not sure the traditional position numbers mean much anymore, but if you mean play Hargrove as a small forward on a 3-player front line then I might agree. Would put arguably our 5 best players on the floor more often as well as improving rebounding. Two problems - only one front line sub and defensive matchups. Still need an athletic rim protector imo.

Agree that we’re not going to fully replace AM. But if Bozan (or someone else) can become a 10/8 post player and most everyone else improves we should be pretty good. Not many teams will have 4 bigs next year as good as Potts, Petrie, Hargrove and Bozan, assuming all 4 return and continue their improvement trajectories. AM has been pretty spectacular for most of the last month or two, but she’s still ‘only’ 16+/8 for the year and 14/9 for her career.

First, as a fairly frequent Amy critic, I want to say that her coaching during at least the last half of this season has been terrific. Almost everyone on the roster has noticeably improved, especially offensively. As I find myself thinking ahead to next year, IF: - everyone returns, - Bozan, Pietrie, Prince, Hargray, Nissley and Hake continue their upward improvement trajectory, - Potts and Weidner return to at least the contribution level they had when they went down, - Amy continues to push the 2025 buttons, and - the two new freshmen can contribute at somewhere near the level of the departed Moriarty and Rimdal, then I think we could be better next year even without bringing in another big. Of course, it’s unlikely that ALL these will happen, so I’d still like to see better defensive intensity and the addition of a rim protector with some athleticism. But there is considerable reason for optimism. Agree or disagree?

We just don’t play smart team D most of the time. UW killed us with back doors and drives to their right, especially Ladine. Defense 101 says ‘take away the right hand of a righty.’ Didn’t happen. Add in low energy D in the 2nd half and we’re blown out at home on senior day. We need a major infusion of quickness for next year, as well as a serviceable replacement for Markowski.

Generally good D against an offensively challenged opponent, but the key was 27 assists! Unlike a few other games where they tended to pass sloppily and just jack up threes, here their passing was crisp and open looks often resulted from paint touches first. Replicate this with <12 turnovers and we win on Sunday even without 16 3s.

We had two big runs, one in late 1st qtr and early 2nd fueled by offense (3 pt shooting), and the other last 2/3 of the 4th qtr and into ot fueled by (dare I say it!) defense. Kudos to: our early 3 pt shooting our late ft shooting and D BRITT! their poor ft shooting and coaching

Too much criticism against the team imo, and I’m often one of the team’s worst critics! Way too many bonehead turnovers and missed bunnies, but I’ve concluded that that’s just an unfortunate part of this team’s dna. Otoh defense wasn’t bad and offensive execution was somewhat improved. Rebounding was strong. And Amy wasn’t turnstyling subs, especially in the second half. Finally BP was outstanding! We can only hope she doesn’t burnout.

Agree recruiting bigger and quicker players is a must, but here are two other factors: hoops IQ and development. This current team doesn’t pass, anticipate or move their feet well. Not sure how much of that is coaching vs innate hoops IQ and lack of quickness, but it’s substandard. Betts from UCLA is 6’7”, but she wasn’t anything special as a 1st year player (6 pts and 3.5 rb). Her trajectory, i.e. development, has been remarkable. Compare that to AM, or for that matter to her predecessor Kate Cain, two 4-year center starters for Amy who have basically flatlined. That’s 8 years of minimal development in our posts.

Minnesota - ok it was 19! But the larger point imo is that this team still has quite a bit of potential even without Potts, but is generally underperforming. Of course losing Potts hurt, but other than Hake none of the veterans has played consistently well or noticeably elevated their games. Occasionally yes, consistently no.

This team must lead the country in unimpressive 20+ pt margin wins. Says something about their schedule to date. They will be exposed in the next three games unless the defensive effort and offensive efficiency show drastic improvements. Today I saw one player play consistently well - Hake.

Agree about resetting and touch. Watch the Iowa State post (Crooks) and there are a number of similarities - both all-stars, same height, long arms and stout, can’t jump and lacking quickness. AM rebounds better because Crooks is pretty immobile, but Crooks is a much better scorer because she has quicker post moves and positioning, better touch and they reset her a lot. Probably can’t coach touch but you can coach the rest.

Went from a game where everyone played well to a game where almost no one played well. How is that even possible?