Our young players are up and down and it is difficult for Whalen or us to know who is going to show up and when.
Katie: people comment on her turnovers and wild shots. She makes some bad passes but she also makes some passes that no one else can. Her three-point shooting (30.6%) is similar to Heyer (31.1%) and Braun (34.4%). She plays the toughest defense on the team, she fouls a lot, but she draws a lot of fouls and turnovers. It is suggested that she shouldn't play in the last five minutes of the game. She played from 5.29 to 3.06 minutes in the 4th and had 2 assists, 1 3-pointer, and 2 turnovers.
Battle: has a great mid-range jump shot and likes to drive to the basket. She has 33% more assists than anyone else and is third on the team in rebounds. She leads the team in turnovers (98 to Katie's 92) partly because she plays significant minutes. She can't or won't shoot 3-pointers and only has 4 this season. She also gets beat on defense too much and needs to improve passing and ball handling. In the last 3.06 min today, Battle had 1 jumper, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls, and 2 turnovers. So, I don't see Battle as being much better than Katie. I think Battle is the choice when you need to slow things down and get control and Katie is choice if you need to inject energy into the game and push the ball.
Heyer: has been very consistent this season except for the last couple of games. She is second in rebounding (17 behind Micheaux), has had many double-doubles, and is the only one that gives Micheaux help under the basket. She is second in number of 3-points shots (one more than Katie). She plays some good defense but gets beat and overpowered too much. I think she will get stronger and better on defense by next year.
Braun: is a fantastically, talented shooter and can take over a game. But, she has had a long slump that can't be attributed entirely to other team's strong defense. She doesn't like to shoot with someone in her face and she doesn't take it to the basket enough--if she did play in traffic, she would get double digits every game on free throws because she is outstanding at the line. On the other hand, she doesn't play defense hard enough, gets beat a lot, and maybe is conserving energy for offense. She has had several games without a foul and averages one foul per game, which suggests that she not having much contact. Braun is much taller than Katie but has about the same number of rebounds (82 to 73) and blocks (4 to 2) in spite of more minutes.
In conclusion, the freshmen are up and down and have strengths and significant weaknesses. It is hard to tell who is going to be on and when. I think you have to rotate them a bit to keep them fresh and maybe let them see what is happening from the bench. Some players are good at making adjustments in the game and inexperienced players may need time to be coached and think on the bench.
I won't go into detail on our upperclassmen. Micheaux is a double-double machine. She has cut down her fouls and traveling. I can't criticize her much because she is doing most of the physical work for the team. Cizinano has had some good minutes. She maybe doesn't have the speed and physical talent as the others. I think her development will be slower but she will be a great player by her senior year. Gradwell appears to be hitting her stride now. She is not afraid to shoot 3-pointers and has made them recently. I think she needs more playing time.
