Sara Scalia enters the transfer portal

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1. Sara Scalia was good. It was fun when her shooting was hot. She's one of the better shooting guards.

2. Her shooting at times was cold, like 1-10 to start a game. That is a good way to slump out from a tournament.

3. That SG spot now belongs to future star Mara Braun. Braun's skills are closer to Paige Buekers than Scalia.

4. Scalia was a hard worker focused on improving and winning. The coaching staff this last season was not on the same page. The team stumbled and bubbled into the start of the season with insufficient focus. They got better the last 1/3 of the season. I don't blame Scalia for shopping for a focused coaching staff better fitting who she is.

5. I am optimistic about the Whalen coaching staff. I saw improvements late in the season. Stats show that turnovers decreased. Games where less likely to be coughed up.

6 We all know Whalen was making the leap from playing ball to coaching in the Big Ten. She gets freebie years. Whalen no matter what gets to coach two more years.

7. Whalen delivered the amazing recruiting class because of her stature. -- and that Mallory Heyer was the first to commit and started a chain reaction.

We will show our gratitide to Whalen. Thank you for that.

Payoff in 2023-24.
 


Actually, Sara mentioned she didn't feel like coming in with a whole new Gopher team where she only knew a couple of the players.

She also mentioned that the departure of Powell and Sissoko had an impact on her decision. And that she started thinking about moving on during the last couple of weeks of the season.
 

Bfan said:
1. Sara Scalia was good. It was fun when her shooting was hot. She's one of the better shooting guards.
:)
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Bfan said:
2. Her shooting at times was cold, like 1-10 to start a game. That is a good way to slump out from a tournament.
was she different than any 3 point shooters? I don't think so, even Curry in Golden State has cold stretches, if it happens to be in the playoffs that is never ideal but I don't think she was more prone to cold shooting than most. My impression was that she was never cold for a whole game (except for 1 this year). She would show up in the game at some point.
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Bfan said:
3. That SG spot now belongs to future star Mara Braun. Braun's skills are closer to Paige Buekers than Scalia.
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I have hardly seen her play. I hope and suspect you are correct based on her high ranking but if you can elaborate I would love to "hear" what you have to say.
Bfan said:
4. Scalia was a hard worker focused on improving and winning. The coaching staff this last season was not on the same page. The team stumbled and bubbled into the start of the season with insufficient focus. They got better the last 1/3 of the season. I don't blame Scalia for shopping for a focused coaching staff better fitting who she is.
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Last 1/3 of the season pretty much coincides with the departure with Jasmine. Justin Gaard said the team played looser after Jasmine's departure. What that means is very much up to debate. I never felt the coaching staff wasn't focused but not sure how I would notice that. I often felt the players weren't focused and that was mostly defensively in my opinion.

Bfan said:
5. I am optimistic about the Whalen coaching staff. I saw improvements late in the season. Stats show that turnovers decreased. Games where less likely to be coughed up.
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what were the change in stats? do you have concrete numbers?
Bfan said:
6 We all know Whalen was making the leap from playing ball to coaching in the Big Ten. She gets freebie years. Whalen no matter what gets to coach two more years.
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(y), I do sometime wonder what would happen if they finished dead last in the conference next season but even then I think you are probably right that she would get another year to see how the fab four improve in year 2.
Bfan said:
7. Whalen delivered the amazing recruiting class because of her stature. -- and that Mallory Heyer was the first to commit and started a chain reaction.
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(y)
Bfan said:
We will show our gratitide to Whalen. Thank you for that.

Payoff in 2023-24.
Click to expand...
:)
🎆🎇
 

Bfan said:
1. Sara Scalia was good. It was fun when her shooting was hot. She's one of the better shooting guards.

2. Her shooting at times was cold, like 1-10 to start a game. That is a good way to slump out from a tournament.

3. That SG spot now belongs to future star Mara Braun. Braun's skills are closer to Paige Buekers than Scalia.

4. Scalia was a hard worker focused on improving and winning. The coaching staff this last season was not on the same page. The team stumbled and bubbled into the start of the season with insufficient focus. They got better the last 1/3 of the season. I don't blame Scalia for shopping for a focused coaching staff better fitting who she is.

5. I am optimistic about the Whalen coaching staff. I saw improvements late in the season. Stats show that turnovers decreased. Games where less likely to be coughed up.

6 We all know Whalen was making the leap from playing ball to coaching in the Big Ten. She gets freebie years. Whalen no matter what gets to coach two more years.

7. Whalen delivered the amazing recruiting class because of her stature. -- and that Mallory Heyer was the first to commit and started a chain reaction.

We will show our gratitide to Whalen. Thank you for that.

Payoff in 2023-24.
Click to expand...
Scalia was Whalen's first in-state name committment. I don't believe she would be the player she is now if not for the last two years of coaching. Yes, she worked hard to her credit. But a noticable change from her freshman year, especially offensivley. Loyalty out the window here.
 



gmarx said:
Scalia was Whalen's first in-state name committment. I don't believe she would be the player she is now if not for the last two years of coaching. Yes, she worked hard to her credit. But a noticable change from her freshman year, especially offensivley. Loyalty out the window here.
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Mr, me, I, I and given the lure of the portal, the WNBA, and NIL who really wants to coach in this environment.
 

I understand that losing is a drag and it becomes a habit. I also understand how next year would look like a big hill with a new, inexperienced team. What puzzled me about Sara was her mediocre defensive play. She is quick enough to do better. Did she have to take time off on defense to recover from playing 35-40 minutes a game? Or, was she focused on her offensive statistics? She really fell in "love" with Indiana's coaches and players quickly.
 

Gophers112233 said:
interesting interview... huh..

saying she wants to play with players she knows.. but then leaves.. to a BRAND new team..

would be playing with 8 players she knew if she stayed here.. huh..
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Yes, thanks! Other notes she said:

Why Indiana?

A good fit for me. I knew them kind of from playing them. It’s a good culture. What they do is how I want to play.

Mackenzie and Grace are really good players. I want to play alongside other good players. They want to win.

Oklahoma was another choice that interested her.



She knew she was going to enter the portal after the season ended. It crossed her mind the last couple weeks.



She said:

A big thing for me was all the players who already left. Kadi and Jazz. I don’t want another rebuild for me. I want to experience winning.



I want to be along other players that want to win like I do.



I didn’t know how I would feel with new players.
 




Bfan said:
Yes, thanks! Other notes she said:

Why Indiana?

A good fit for me. I knew them kind of from playing them. It’s a good culture. What they do is how I want to play.

Mackenzie and Grace are really good players. I want to play alongside other good players. They want to win.
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really, well Sarah, imagine that such a unique characteristic in a bb player.:rolleyes:
Bfan said:
Oklahoma was another choice that interested her.
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It is beyond me why anyone would want to play at an Oklahoma school. I've been to Oklahoma and in my opinion it is the least interesting state in the country. Yes, including Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota. But alas, I guess she doesn't care about anything other than BB at her next stop.
Bfan said:
She knew she was going to enter the portal after the season ended. It crossed her mind the last couple weeks.
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Will be interesting to see where Sissoko ends up, figured she would have landed somewhere by now.
Bfan said:
She said:

A big thing for me was all the players who already left. Kadi and Jazz. I don’t want another rebuild for me. I want to experience winning.



I want to be along other players that want to win like I do.
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Again, seems to lack self awareness. So egocentric to think wanting to win is such a unique characteristic. Is wanting to win code for talented basketball player? I can't imagine a basketball player that makes it to a division 1 school and doesn't want to win.
Bfan said:
I didn’t know how I would feel with new players.
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Ragnor said:
Again, seems to lack self awareness. So egocentric to think wanting to win is such a unique characteristic. Is wanting to win code for talented basketball player? I can't imagine a basketball player that makes it to a division 1 school and doesn't want to win.
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Like any of us, I can't know why Sara said what she said or what she really means, but it seems to me that when an athlete talks about "wanting to win" she really means that she wants to play with others who want to work hard enough and/or who have the talent to win. Everybody "wants to win," but not everybody has the talent or the drive to work hard enough to get there. Since it isn't considered appropriate to say that your former teammates or coaches don't work hard enough or aren't skilled enough to get the job done, people often choose a less confrontational explanation for their behavior.
 

www.crimsonquarry.com

Indiana Women’s Basketball Transfer Breakdown: Sara Scalia

What the Minnesota transfer brings to IU women’s basketball.
www.crimsonquarry.com www.crimsonquarry.com

Breaking it down​

Sara Scalia is coming to Indiana because Sara Scalia is a three point specialist. Hitting the deep ball has not the Hoosiers’ forté as of late, so head coach Teri Moren used the portal to add a long-range assassin. Last year Scalia was second in the Big Ten in three point attempts (269) and makes (111) for a 3PT% of 41.3, which was fifth-best in the league. She’s a top-tier shooting guard, and to get a better understanding of why, we went to the film room.

Scalia is effective as a shooter because she doesn’t need a ton of time to get a shot off. Minnesota used ball screens to get her separation really well last season. All it took was a split-second of hesitation from the defense in terms of switching or staying and the ball was already through the net. Getting into a rhythm is such a big part of three point shooting and Scalia uses what the defense is giving her to dictate hers. It really works.

Screens (both on and off-ball) were a big part of Scalia scoring 592 points last year, but that doesn’t mean she’s reliant on teammates to get good looks. Most often, it’s #14 creating a shot for herself. As I mentioned a moment ago, she’s really good at reading her defender and taking what she’s given. This means that late in possessions, she matches up against fatigued opponents and takes them out of the play with a simple but effective v-cut. A couple steps inside the arc, a deceptively hard plant and boom. She’s catching a pass from 24 feet out, unperturbed.

Off the dribble she isn’t necessarily going to blow by anyone, but Scalia has a couple moves that she can drive with consistently. My one interesting note here is that despite being a righty shooter, she predominantly dribbles with her left. This forces her stepbacks to look super emphatic because she needs a little extra space to pull the ball across her body. It makes AND1-type plays look more AND1-ier, it’s really something.

Defensively she’s fine. Much like the subject of our first breakdown, Alyssa Geary, most of the film available is against UConn which makes defensive highlights hard to come by. The Huskies had some success forcing Scalia to run through razor screens and across the entire defense to stick with Azzi Fudd, but everyone UConn plays has problems with that. Scalia is not a liability defensively.

Above all, if there’s one thing you need to know about Sara Scalia, it’s that she has the greenlight from wherever:

That happens... a lot. She can and will pull up from anywhere this side of the timeline and while they don’t always go in, she rarely misses badly. Giving the good three shooter a player comp of Steph Curry feels a bit cliché but it’s warranted here. Scalia got Curry range!
Usage and expectations
Scalia is here to shoot threes. Her previous experiences with B1G basketball make her a prime candidate to emerge from a very crowded Guard stable and start alongside Grace Berger (I would bank on it, but it’s also June and the incoming freshmen guards look really good too so who knows. We’ll get to them later). She’ll be expected to hangout beyond the arc and attempt as many shots as she can.

The respect Scalia garners from opposing defenses should open up the middle, making life in the post much easier for Mackenzie Holmes. Compared to the past few years the offense will look quite different. Given the personnel changes don’t be surprised if we see more shot attempts per game and an overall increase in pace of play. We’d love to see Scalia become a more opportunistic defender (quick doubles and steals), but a consistent 15-20 points per night from the portal will be more than enough. Scalia’s potential to catch fire in any given game will make IU WBB must-see TV all season long
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Scalia is a member of the Hoosier team competing in the 3x nationals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Indiana women's basketball guards Sydney Parrish, Sara Scalia and Lexus Bargesser and forward Lilly Meister will compete in the 2023 USA Basketball 3X Nationals in Colorado Springs, Colo. from May 6-7.

The squad will play at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Center (OPTC). USA Basketball 2023 3X Nationals will award a women's and men's champion while the weekend will also serve as an evaluation process by the USA Basketball 3x3 selection committee to determine which players will be selected to play for various 2023 3x3 national teams.

The weekend will consist of preliminary and medal round matchups as each team will be seeded based on preliminary records before entering tournament play.

In her first season as a Hoosier, Oregon transfer guard Parrish averaged 12 points and 5.8 rebounds earning a starting spot for the majority of the season after graduate student guard Grace Berger was out for nine games with a right knee injury.

Minnesota transfer guard Scalia averaged 9.5 points and three rebounds per contest while earning 14 starts on the season. She came in off the bench every remaining game and was considered by Indiana head coach Teri Moren to be a sixth starter

Coming in off the bench freshman guard Lexus Bargesser played 29 games averaging 7.8 minutes and shooting 58.1 percent from the floor. Freshman forward Meister played in 31 games including one start in the first round of the NCAA Tournament versus Tennessee Tech. Meister shot 63 percent from the field and 73.9 percent from the charity stripe.
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www.thedailyhoosier.com

Former IU women’s basketball star Sara Scalia announces she’s signed to play in Italy

Former IU sharpshooter Sara Scalia announced on Wednesday morning she’ll extend her playing career overseas. The Minnesota product will play in Italy for Magnolia Campobasso for the 2024-25 s…
www.thedailyhoosier.com www.thedailyhoosier.com

Former IU sharpshooter Sara Scalia announced on Wednesday morning she’ll extend her playing career overseas.

The Minnesota product will play in Italy for Magnolia Campobasso for the 2024-25 season. Scalia broke the news on her X account.
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Good for her! We need Braun to step up and have an efficient year like Scalia did this year….
 

Roland Brooks said:
Good for her! We need Braun to step up and have an efficient year like Scalia did this year….
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FWIW, Scalia’s Covid extra year was mixed. Much better against non-BIG opponents, and really bad from 2 against BIG opponents (under 40%, bottom 15% in the league). But a good year from 3.
 


Just too slow and not athletic enough to play in the W. Indy was able to hide her poor defense with good def rotations. Euro leagues are a better fit for spot three point shooters. Wish her luck.
 

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