When they went 2 posts last night Tomancova got put in the corner, did you see that wide open 20 footer she took last night? It went about as expected. Theres just no reason for anyone to guard our bigs outside the paint. This team needs to get bigger and more skilled down low, thats the bottom line.
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B1G Game 8: Gophers Host Wisconsin (1-22-20)
- Thread starter Ignatius L Hoops
- Start date
There’s a defensive side of the court too, so letting a team like Wisconsin score in the paint at will because of small defenders isn’t a great plan. I wouldn’t worry about a little perceived clogging. Rebounding and defense, that sounds awesome!
Ball Like A Boss
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It must really be hard to recruit a post player. Lindsay needs to make that a priority!
CutDownTheNet
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As far as long term solution goes, you’re quite correct. We need to get bigger and more skilled down low. That’s a recruiting issue and a training issue.When they went 2 posts last night Tomancova got put in the corner, did you see that wide open 20 footer she took last night? It went about as expected. Theres just no reason for anyone to guard our bigs outside the paint. This team needs to get bigger and more skilled down low, thats the bottom line.
But for right now, we have to make the best out of our current resources, including post resources. Posts can be trained to shoot from deep (so that we can spread them out, and if they get disrespected, they can burn the defense that ignores them). Lynx player (ex maybe?) Rebekkah Brunson took only one three per year until Cheryl Reeve asked her to learn the three. She said OK Coach, and came back next year with one of the better three percentages in the league.
Nobody’s asking our posts to shoot like somebody with initials DP. But if they improve their shot from deep to give us an extra 3 points here and there and thus give our guards more space to work by parking out wide, that’s a good thing.
Tomancova is now 1 for 3 on the year from deep, after that missed 20 footer. Before that, she shot 50% technically speaking, just not enough data points. Her shot looks weird and clumsy, shooting bullets from the shoulder. Almost like Napheesa Collier’s shot when Reeve drafted her. First thing they said was, we gotta fix your shot, and between Walt and other assistant coaches, they did. Now I’m not suggesting Barbora is next Rookie of the Year. And I wouldn’t even change her shot, she’s probably too used to it. But believe it or not, she can shoot the 3 and Whalen knows it and that’s why Whalen parks her on the short corner 3.
Right now, the coaches just gotta work hard to make all posts not named Taiye just a little bit better. And as good as she is, probably even Taiye could learn some new tricks. Maybe Janel McCarville has some spare time and could be hired for a while as a consultant?
And @Shades makes a very valid point about defense too. For some sad but true comedy, look at some video and watch Masha’s or Sara’s doomed attempt at defending a 6’3” post.
Whalen is between a rock and a hard place at the moment. In some scenarios she absolutely needs to put in two posts, at least for defense if no other reason. But that makes our point production drop off. So what we gain on the defensive end is (at least partially) offset on the offensive end. But we’re forgetting the positive benefit of rebounds.
We need a mix of both small ball and two-post ball, but at the same time need to make the rock less rocky and the hard place less hard. That comes with training and practice. I know, not much time for training at this late date in the season. But the Coaches just gotta do their best to make their team even better. Cuz if we play all small ball the rest of the season, then we can only hope for the sporadic streak of brilliance that allows us to beat a team like Purdue, or almost beat a team like Iowa.
This the most realistic analysis I have read for awhile on this forum.As far as long term solution goes, you’re quite correct. We need to get bigger and more skilled down low. That’s a recruiting issue and a training issue.
But for right now, we have to make the best out of our current resources, including post resources. Posts can be trained to shoot from deep (so that we can spread them out, and if they get disrespected, they can burn the defense that ignores them). Lynx player (ex maybe?) Rebekkah Brunson took only one three per year until Cheryl Reeve asked her to learn the three. She said OK Coach, and came back next year with one of the better three percentages in the league.
Nobody’s asking our posts to shoot like somebody with initials DP. But if they improve their shot from deep to give us an extra 3 points here and there and thus give our guards more space to work by parking out wide, that’s a good thing.
Tomancova is now 1 for 3 on the year from deep, after that missed 20 footer. Before that, she shot 50% technically speaking, just not enough data points. Her shot looks weird and clumsy, shooting bullets from the shoulder. Almost like Napheesa Collier’s shot when Reeve drafted her. First thing they said was, we gotta fix your shot, and between Walt and other assistant coaches, they did. Now I’m not suggesting Barbora is next Rookie of the Year. And I wouldn’t even change her shot, she’s probably too used to it. But believe it or not, she can shoot the 3 and Whalen knows it and that’s why Whalen parks her on the short corner 3.
Right now, the coaches just gotta work hard to make all posts not named Taiye just a little bit better. And as good as she is, probably even Taiye could learn some new tricks. Maybe Janel McCarville has some spare time and could be hired for a while as a consultant?
And @Shades makes a very valid point about defense too. For some sad but true comedy, look at some video and watch Masha’s or Sara’s doomed attempt at defending a 6’3” post.
Whalen is between a rock and a hard place at the moment. In some scenarios she absolutely needs to put in two posts, at least for defense if no other reason. But that makes our point production drop off. So what we gain on the defensive end is (at least partially) offset on the offensive end. But we’re forgetting the positive benefit of rebounds.
We need a mix of both small ball and two-post ball, but at the same time need to make the rock less rocky and the hard place less hard. That comes with training and practice. I know, not much time for training at this late date in the season. But the Coaches just gotta do their best to make their team even better. Cuz if we play all small ball the rest of the season, then we can only hope for the sporadic streak of brilliance that allows us to beat a team like Purdue, or almost beat a team like Iowa.