Thank-you.....Excellent post!gljone said:
I missed the detail that is was Va Tech's senior day. So that probably gave their intensity a bump.
When Michelle only plays 13 minutes, Cal's chances for victory decrease immensely. Just the fact she's on the floor make opposing offenses know there's presence in the paint.
If she's not on the court, there's no fear factor and the opposing offense knows if they can get by the first defender, they have options.
Except for Kayla, I don't really see any of the other starters keeping their player in front of them consistently.
If I'm the opposing team and don't see Michelle on the court defensively? I feel like I'm getting a quality opportunity every time down the court.
Conversely, if I'm the opposing team and Michelle is not on the court, I know I can extend on Cal's shooters without having to pay for it in the paint (again on a consistent basis).
Not to put this defeat all on Michelle but her missing due to foul trouble puts this team in a bad position on both sides of the court.
And she had 8 points and 3 rebounds when she WAS on the court. Project that to 26 minutes and Cal wins the game.
Va Tech preview & prediction
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Last: 6 days ago by RedlessWardrobe
I also like your post. Me personally, I am a bit over the the "if's and but's" regarding Michelle. "Staying on the court" isn't just a mindset, it's a skillset. She has shown moments of greatness, and generally is a good player, no question, but I think she just isn't the elite player we want her to be. Not to be too micro about this, but her last foul was just awful movement and positioning on her part, let alone that she had 4 fouls and had to be adjusting accordingly.gljone said:
I missed the detail that is was Va Tech's senior day. So that probably gave their intensity a bump.
When Michelle only plays 13 minutes, Cal's chances for victory decrease immensely. Just the fact she's on the floor make opposing offenses know there's presence in the paint.
If she's not on the court, there's no fear factor and the opposing offense knows if they can get by the first defender, they have options.
Except for Kayla, I don't really see any of the other starters keeping their player in front of them consistently.
If I'm the opposing team and don't see Michelle on the court defensively? I feel like I'm getting a quality opportunity every time down the court.
Conversely, if I'm the opposing team and Michelle is not on the court, I know I can extend on Cal's shooters without having to pay for it in the paint (again on a consistent basis).
Not to put this defeat all on Michelle but her missing due to foul trouble puts this team in a bad position on both sides of the court.
And she had 8 points and 3 rebounds when she WAS on the court. Project that to 26 minutes and Cal wins the game.
I also am not trying to hang too much of this on her, and she seems like an incredible representative of the University of California.
A fifth year Onyiah has been exceedingly valuable and key to the team's success. It wasn't clear she was even coming back for this year.
I don't mean to take away from any of that, nor dispute any of that. Cal is a good team because she is in the starting line up. They would be a better team if she was able to avoid foul trouble.ncbears said:
A fifth year Onyiah has been exceedingly valuable and key to the team's success. It wasn't clear she was even coming back for this year.
Completely agree. My guess is we're all Michelle fans, (I know I am), she's an asset to the team. But she would be even a bigger asset and we would be even a better team if she could tweak her game in order to stay on the court. But at this point it doesn't appear any of that is going to change.mbBear said:I don't mean to take away from any of that, nor dispute any of that. Cal is a good team because she is in the starting line up. They would be a better team if she was able to avoid foul trouble.ncbears said:
A fifth year Onyiah has been exceedingly valuable and key to the team's success. It wasn't clear she was even coming back for this year.
^ or the head coach & staff make adaptive defensive scheme changes (collapsing defense, zone, no starting the offense thru onyiah via moving screens, etc.) to keep michelle on the court
the bears coaching is honestly beyond breaking bad, good people doing a really poor job of scheming/developing the only +1 athletic talent in the program
the bears coaching is honestly beyond breaking bad, good people doing a really poor job of scheming/developing the only +1 athletic talent in the program
Maybe we can agree that what you suggest can fix part of the problem. But sometimes it comes down to isolated plays when Michelle doesn't use enough discretion in determining that either fouling or even appearing to commit a foul just may not be worth it. I believe one of her fouls yesterday was in transistion (completely separate from a zone/man or offensive screen issue), and Michelle was called for the foul and it was a +1 on a made basket. Who knows for sure how often Charmin stresses to her to avoid stuff like that? All I'm saying is that some of this has to be on the player, it can't all be on the coach/coaching.Shocky1 said:
^ or the head coach & staff make adaptive defensive scheme changes (collapsing defense, zone, no starting the offense thru onyiah via moving screens, etc.) to keep michelle on the court
the bears coaching is honestly beyond breaking bad, good people doing a really poor job of scheming/developing the only +1 athletic talent in the program
charmin gets paid half a million dollars a year to develop talent, if she can't get the job done there are no excuses
michelle has been poorly developed by this staff utilizing any basketball metric which is an ominous sign for the future when next year's roster of rotational players with crooked azz shooting strokes presumably play more minutes without the program's only +1 athlete
but honestly knowlton & simon-o'neil are neither interested in the wbb results or selling tixs to haas pavillion and this year's uniquely FUN team of remarkable young women will scatter to the wind
adding somebody with nba experience who has worked with both steve kerr & mike montgomery along with skills development of seth curry's shooting stroke who is already familiar with the cal wbb program player personnel would be a fantastic off season addition
yeah talking about theo robertson...but the truth of the matter is that charmin is threatened by anybody with basketball knowledge that voices their opinions which is why this chronically sub 500 program has seen a revolving door of assistant coaches
this wuz the season to see special results & build the fanbase, neither one is happening at this point...the few fans that are happy with this season have bought into the ingrained culture that this is a losing program so actually having a winning season/making the ncca tournament gives them the delusional opinion that the head coach should be extended vs replaced
michelle has been poorly developed by this staff utilizing any basketball metric which is an ominous sign for the future when next year's roster of rotational players with crooked azz shooting strokes presumably play more minutes without the program's only +1 athlete
but honestly knowlton & simon-o'neil are neither interested in the wbb results or selling tixs to haas pavillion and this year's uniquely FUN team of remarkable young women will scatter to the wind
adding somebody with nba experience who has worked with both steve kerr & mike montgomery along with skills development of seth curry's shooting stroke who is already familiar with the cal wbb program player personnel would be a fantastic off season addition
yeah talking about theo robertson...but the truth of the matter is that charmin is threatened by anybody with basketball knowledge that voices their opinions which is why this chronically sub 500 program has seen a revolving door of assistant coaches
this wuz the season to see special results & build the fanbase, neither one is happening at this point...the few fans that are happy with this season have bought into the ingrained culture that this is a losing program so actually having a winning season/making the ncca tournament gives them the delusional opinion that the head coach should be extended vs replaced
^
So it's your opinion that In addition to Knowlton that Charmin should be let go?
So it's your opinion that In addition to Knowlton that Charmin should be let go?
knowlton 100% needs to go (and that's gonna happen), charmin needs to be open to mentoring re: her rigidity not being able to communicate/relate to a key player like michelle & assistant coaches thru the years...she is recruiting true student athletes & does not need to be let go but status quo will bring about a 9-22 record next season
if marta decides to pass on her final year of eligibility (the house settlement nil dollars should be greater than anything a euro trash minor league could pay her plus she needs to work on her conditioning in order to be able to stop on a dime & not just run the **** over defenders) next year could be a real ****show unless the multiple crooked azz shooting strokes get fixed by someone like theo robertson
smith (with a stanford engineering degree) has to become less rigid & more in game adaptive, not scheming to protect michelle from michelle from herself in terms of foul trouble is pretty ******* obvious & certainly should be within the realm of a head coach making a half a million dollars a year despite years of losing records...zoning, collapsing defenders, not asking her to set invariably moving screens is basketball coaching 101
this year's decision to play fast has also been a dumb azz decision, the program's only +1 athlete is onyiah so playing slower with less turnovers should've been obvious to this staff...to their credit, the bears did slow down with less helter skelter offense vs the hokies and less turnovers
it's absolutely mind boggling how michelle leaves the court almost every game with foul trouble & NOBODY on the staff sits with her & has a quiet discussion re: the fouls/solutions to avoiding them...instead ugonne runs off the court to no eye contact & fist bumps from the entire staff, they have accepted & ingrained in the team's culture the foul problems
if marta decides to pass on her final year of eligibility (the house settlement nil dollars should be greater than anything a euro trash minor league could pay her plus she needs to work on her conditioning in order to be able to stop on a dime & not just run the **** over defenders) next year could be a real ****show unless the multiple crooked azz shooting strokes get fixed by someone like theo robertson
smith (with a stanford engineering degree) has to become less rigid & more in game adaptive, not scheming to protect michelle from michelle from herself in terms of foul trouble is pretty ******* obvious & certainly should be within the realm of a head coach making a half a million dollars a year despite years of losing records...zoning, collapsing defenders, not asking her to set invariably moving screens is basketball coaching 101
this year's decision to play fast has also been a dumb azz decision, the program's only +1 athlete is onyiah so playing slower with less turnovers should've been obvious to this staff...to their credit, the bears did slow down with less helter skelter offense vs the hokies and less turnovers
it's absolutely mind boggling how michelle leaves the court almost every game with foul trouble & NOBODY on the staff sits with her & has a quiet discussion re: the fouls/solutions to avoiding them...instead ugonne runs off the court to no eye contact & fist bumps from the entire staff, they have accepted & ingrained in the team's culture the foul problems
If Michelle could just stay away from the 'habit' fouls, that would probably be worth 2 fouls/game. The swipe downs are the main ones, in my opinion. Others are needless fouls in the back court. Those happen less often now but sometimes frustration sets in. She has to have the discipline to just get back on defense and just don't do it!
I guess it is difficult to not to want to try to block every shot. But there is value in simply changing the shot. She just needs to be in proper position and stand straight up with arms vertical...but inevitably, the arms swipe down and the whistle blows. Tough habit to crack. Happens to the best player.
Probably no magic now. Just have to try to not incur the silly ones.
And then just play her game (which has proven to be pretty damned good).
Like it or not, how Michelle plays these final two games and the conference tournament will most likely determine Cal's seeding.
I guess it is difficult to not to want to try to block every shot. But there is value in simply changing the shot. She just needs to be in proper position and stand straight up with arms vertical...but inevitably, the arms swipe down and the whistle blows. Tough habit to crack. Happens to the best player.
Probably no magic now. Just have to try to not incur the silly ones.
And then just play her game (which has proven to be pretty damned good).
Like it or not, how Michelle plays these final two games and the conference tournament will most likely determine Cal's seeding.
Absolutely agree. I've noticed in Gabby's limited playing time, she takes this approach and does it much better than Michelle.gljone said:
If Michelle could just stay away from the 'habit' fouls, that would probably be worth 2 fouls/game. The swipe downs are the main ones, in my opinion. Others are needless fouls in the back court. Those happen less often now but sometimes frustration sets in. She has to have the discipline to just get back on defense and just don't do it!
I guess it is difficult to not to want to try to block every shot. But there is value in simply changing the shot. She just needs to be in proper position and stand straight up with arms vertical...but inevitably, the arms swipe down and the whistle blows. Tough habit to crack. Happens to the best player.
Probably no magic now. Just have to try to not incur the silly ones.
And then just play her game (which has proven to be pretty damned good).
Like it or not, how Michelle plays these final two games and the conference tournament will most likely determine Cal's seeding.
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