stu said:

---

BearBint said:

---

annarborbear said:

---

Just not quite the talent level this year to win these types of games.

---

Not yet. How I long for two more big, agile girls. (Puff, though, is starting to strut her stuff.)

---

We do have two freshie forwards coming in next season.

And I'm thrilled to see Puff developing before our eyes!

---

And another point guard.

polarbear said:

---

This is like a broken record, but most of the starters played almost the whole game and were exhausted by the end. Meanwhile only one bench player made any contribution at all. Is it going to be like this the rest of the season???

---

Likely so.

Charmin would love it if Claudia could contribute but so far it hasn't been happening. I think Grace McCallop, freshman guard, will likely get some minutes in conference play depending upon matchups.

Lola needs to shoot more when she's in there.

If Lulu's three-point percentage remains the same, Cal will struggle. And depth does appear to be an issue.

As for free throws, it's all mental. If you get players thinking about free throws too much -- bad or good -- they are much more likely to get worse than better. As I tell every player I have "Your body knows how to make a free throw. It's your mind that gets in the way."

They had a bit of the Valkyries energy going on and it was fun. However, when Chase is full and the Valkyries are on the court the noise is pretty overwhelming. Crowd loves it and I dutifully wear my ear plugs that allow me to hear the game and experience (some) of the energy.

That said, I do hope this becomes an annual event. Really great opportunity to cross-pollinate the WNBA fanbase with our college teams. I was very happy with the experience (aside from the loss of course).

ClayK said:

---

If Lulu's three-point percentage remains the same, Cal will struggle. And depth does appear to be an issue.

As for free throws, it's all mental. If you get players thinking about free throws too much -- bad or good -- they are much more likely to get worse than better. As I tell every player I have "Your body knows how to make a free throw. It's your mind that gets in the way."

---

One thing I noticed that was almost comical in how consistent it was: whenever a player rushed a free throw, it was a miss.

Seriously...on two occasions, Lulu rushed her shot so much that someone behind me yelled, "Take your time, Lulu!" She nailed the second one. All mental. All about routine.

My free throw speech focuses on two words: Rhythm and ritual.

The other thing I try to do is get the players to think about mechanical reasons they missed rather than self-talk about how bad they are or how bad they feel about missing. So instead of thinking "I suck at free throws," think "I missed left so I probably turned my shoulders. Keep my shoulders square this time."

I haven't been paying attention to USC - but saw the score of the loss to Michigan and see that USC is now 11-9 and further investigation (meaning going to USC's website) says it is 3-6 in conference.
I know there's no Juju - but I thought Gottlieb had recruited a lot of talent in addition to Juju.
Amazing how much better a coach Juju made Gottlieb

I'm a really good coach when I have really good players.