WNIT Game 2: Gophers visit Cincinnati: (3-24-19)

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No, I don't think the coach needs to lay into them and I don't think that is Lindsay's style either. It's been a short bench all year, and losing Brunson just made it worse. Our fourth quarter pain has been problematic much of the year. They have played hard this season and I look forward to seeing them all one more time at the post season banquet on April 18 (more details should be available soon on the event).

And, with the five freshmen coming in and a healthy Hubbard next year should be a lot of fun. (And, maybe we'll then stop mentioning Marlene!).
 
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adamj95 said:
Offensive rebounds have killed the gophers.
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True. But in fairness, they had two fat bruisers pushing Bello around in the paint, preventing her from being her usual Uber-rebounding self.

The dilemma was that ideally we needed to play Lamke alongside Bello for most of the minutes, yet Cinci was too fast to go to a three-guard set for more than nominal minutes. In hindsight (now that we know that Pitts was not hitting efficiently) it might have been better to give Lamke more of Pitts minutes. But hey, you gotta go with your best shooter and live with the results.

Season summary: We were one (productive shooting) injured starting guard short to make it to the NCAAs like we otherwise should have and could have. And two starting guards short to make a WNIT run as long as it should have been.

When Youngblood said “look forward to a long WNIT run” I don’t think he knew that Brunson was injured.
 

In the post game Corbu said Jasmine made the trip to airport but was ill and sent back to campus. It was unclear if this was related to the nose injury.

It was interesting watching Destiny play the point from time to time today. She did have a rather nifty assist to Taiye later in the game.
 

Yes, surprised to see Destiny bringing the ball up the court a couple of times. She did fine at that.

If Brunson was ill, it could have been concussion symptoms. ...Or she may have just been ill.

I was glad to see Staples get some PT these last couple of games. She did fine...shot with confidence and didn't turn it over too much. Although, as someone previously mentioned , she turned down a wide open shot in the lane late in the game today.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
In the post game Corbu said Jasmine made the trip to airport but was ill and sent back to campus. It was unclear if this was related to the nose injury.

It was interesting watching Destiny play the point from time to time today. She did have a rather nifty assist to Taiye later in the game.
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Nifty is a great adjective for that bounce feed threading the needle to Taiye. Although Pitts may not be a natural at PG I thought those few times that she took the point were a good idea since it freed up Bell from the incessant double team.

If Brunson was ill, that’s a bit worrisome. It could be she is experiencing concussion symptoms along with the broken nose. That’s what happened to “Big” Rebecca Brunson (see Shades post on Big and Baby Brunson) near the end of the Lynx season. Possible concussion should not be taken lightly, and it was right to not put her on the plane.
 


In the second half, it appears that the Gophers were attempting a lot of three pointers that were bricks. Shot selection for what appeared to be a tired Gopher squad wasn't as good.

They'll regroup next year with Hubbard back and Brunson healthy infused with the Freshmen Powell, Sconiers, Ross, Cummings, and Scalia.

Yes, it is great to see Staples getting more playing time. She'll be back more confident and can contribute.
 

It was nice to see Staples find some rhythm and confidence after all the time off. That will be good for her going into next year (so I will concede this benefit of playing in the WNIT, whereas I posed an earlier argument for declining it).
 

Aesop70 said:
It was nice to see Staples find some rhythm and confidence after all the time off. That will be good for her going into next year (so I will concede this benefit of playing in the WNIT, whereas I posed an earlier argument for declining it).
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Staples ...
@ Cincinnati 2-5 40% threes, 1-1 100% twos in 37 min
vs UNI 4-6 66% threes, 1-2 50% twos in 33 min

Staples pre WNIT Tourney
12-45 26.7% threes, 12-35 34.3% twos

It was indeed good to see Staples play in the WNIT games, and she played very well, and that’t Great to give her confidence going into the next season. On threes, she improved from 26.7% pre-WNIT to 54.5% during WNIT play. That’s more than a doubling of her shooting percentage.

Not sure if that’s due to all the practice shots sh got in while not able to play, or maybe the coaches helping her fine tune her shot, or maybe just maturity. Or maybe Whay telling her “we need you to play well, because you’re the last able-bodied guard left.”
Maybe all of the above. In any event, she was a bright spot of the WNIT, along with Perez steady play (not sure if that was the first, or maybe second time she scored double digits but glad she went out on a high note).
 

CutDownTheNet said:
Staples ...
@ Cincinnati 2-5 40% threes, 1-1 100% twos in 37 min
vs UNI 4-6 66% threes, 1-2 50% twos in 33 min

Staples pre WNIT Tourney
12-45 26.7% threes, 12-35 34.3% twos

It was indeed good to see Staples play in the WNIT games, and she played very well, and that’t Great to give her confidence going into the next season. On threes, she improved from 26.7% pre-WNIT to 54.5% during WNIT play. That’s more than a doubling of her shooting percentage.

Not sure if that’s due to all the practice shots sh got in while not able to play, or maybe the coaches helping her fine tune her shot, or maybe just maturity. Or maybe Whay telling her “we need you to play well, because you’re the last able-bodied guard left.”
Maybe all of the above. In any event, she was a bright spot of the WNIT, along with Perez steady play (not sure if that was the first, or maybe second time she scored double digits but glad she went out on a high note).
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Or maybe playing through injury hurt her shooting %'s and then she finally got healthy prior to tournament play since she sat out like a month.
 



One other interesting (and rather remarkable) factoid, as noted in the game notes for WNIT game 2:

Destiny Pitts finished the season on a 29 in a row made free throw run.

That means she actually improved her already-good free-throw percentage in the last several games. She actually was ever-so-slightly behind Lamke in that stat earlier in the season.

One notable fact is that if all the starters shot free throws as efficiently as Pitts and Lamke, then I suspect we would have won an extra four or so games this year. Especially Bell, since she shoots so many. The funny thing is that Bell shoots about 80% on uncontested 15-foot jumpers, but not nearly so good on free throws. I’m of the opinion that those players that shoot a jumper better than a free throw should just shoot a jumper without crossing the free-throw line, instead of a free throw. I don’t think there’s any rule requiring one to be flat-footed for a free throw. The jumper trick would have improved free-throw shooting by (for instance) Keke Bell and Shack.
 

Agreed

whalenfan said:
Or maybe playing through injury hurt her shooting %'s and then she finally got healthy prior to tournament play since she sat out like a month.
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Agreed, Staples finally looked healthy against Northern Iowa and Cincinnati. Wish she had more opportunity to shoot in the 3rd and 4th quarters, might have made a difference.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Agreed, Staples finally looked healthy against Northern Iowa and Cincinnati. Wish she had more opportunity to shoot in the 3rd and 4th quarters, might have made a difference.
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She is a 4-Star out of HS for a reason and has a lot of upside.

I am excited for the Gophers next year!
 

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