Anigwe went from 8.8 rebounds a game to 16.4 rebounds a game. Anyone who went to the live games will tell you she was an animal out there. No complaining to the officials. Total focus on the defensive side. I saw an interview with her and she said she dedicated this year to her family, team mates, coaches and friends. Maybe she was alluding to she was doing more for her self in the past. No doubt she loves her coach as expressed on senior Day. She had also mentioned , one of her friends said she was too upright on the defensive side so she tried to get lower. And that was true.

Also, during warmups, she didn't wear her warmup jersey. She barely had her shirttail tucked in. She was ready to rumble.

We were not a first half team. Today was a rare day when we were. But we were a third quarter team. Even in games we lost we came out after half time and played much better. Whether it was a pep talk by Lindsey, or a change in strategy, I don't know. Probably both. This goes against the grain in the what I remember the past. Then it seemed we didn't make any halftime adjustments and we would play worse.

Thomas was the worst at this. I remember in the UCLA where she scored 0 points the first half and 20 the second. And this was not a one game event.

We are now up to 4th in the Pac 12 in three point shooting. We have improved where we have 5 players who shoot over 30%. And yet there are still some people who believe we are not a good outside shooting team even though we were third in the conference last year. Having five good shooters with Anigwe is a good thing.

The schedule is so important. When you go thru OSU, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA it is Crying Time Again. But when you go thru Washington and WSU, it is happy times are here again.

For the past two years, our offense has drastically changed. Lindsey conferred with Steve Kerr and brought in a sort of modified Warrior offense. And yet no one noticed. It is head scratching.

The whole league is shooting better. It is the same in the NBA. Even the centers shoot well. And a center better be able to cover guards on the switch at the top of the key. Kristine does this very well. So when we sob about not getting such and such center. Ask if they are mobile. I personally wasn't blown away by the talent that we missed on that went to other teams. It will probably get better.

Thomas a better rebounder than you think. The diminutive one is the best rebounding guard we have and was at one point the third leading rebounder on the team. I haven't checked the last few games so that could have changed.

Reece Caldwell has also blossomed in the second half of the season -- credit to the Cal staff for getting the kind of production out of her that a) was expected coming out of high school, and b) hadn't been seen at the college level before.

I'll miss Recee as much as the other, better-known seniors. I think her intelligence and calm have played a big role in Cal's resurgence these past few weeks.

wvitbear said:

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Anigwe went from 8.8 rebounds a game to 16.4 rebounds a game.

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Anigwe has improved each year, but the huge rebounding bump has more to do with our personnel and how this team plays.

Rebounds per game, in 18 conference games...
2015-16
8.8 Anigwe
5.0 Range
4.7 Green
4.2 Cowling
3.8 Davidson
36.5 Team

2016-17
8.6 Anigwe
5.8 Davidson
4.4 Range
3.8 Cowling
35.6 Team

2017-18
8.8 Anigwe
7.1 Davidson
4.4 Cowling
3.2 West
37.1 Team

2018-19
18.1 Anigwe
3.4 Brown
3.1 Thomas
2.5 West
36.1 Team

30 rebounds is a great accomplishment, but it's not like she outfought others for 20 that nobody else could have gotten. In past seasons, we had multiple players competing for rebounds. This year we usually let KA take care of the boards. My impression is that we've played more zone this year, with Anigwe alone in the paint and others contesting outside shooters. Watching the whole game yesterday, about 20 of her rebounds were easy or uncontested. She had to work for perhaps 10 of them, using her exceptional skills to get 3 or 4 that most other posts would have missed.

I'm very glad KA got her numbers. It brings much national attention to her and this under-appreciated team, that will help her get well deserved post-season honors, and could even boost the committee's overall impression of Cal for seeding. Watching their postgame reactions, I don't think Lindsay or the team knew what she'd accomplished until the game ended. Anigwe easily could have played 4 more minutes in that game and boosted her stats further, but it all came within the team concept on Sunday, which makes the accomplishment even more impressive.

R90 said:

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wvitbear said:

---

Anigwe went from 8.8 rebounds a game to 16.4 rebounds a game.

---

Anigwe has improved each year, but the huge rebounding bump has more to do with our personnel and how this team plays.

Rebounds per game, in 18 conference games...
2015-16
8.8 Anigwe
5.0 Range
4.7 Green
4.2 Cowling
3.8 Davidson
36.5 Team

2016-17
8.6 Anigwe
5.8 Davidson
4.4 Range
3.8 Cowling
35.6 Team

2017-18
8.8 Anigwe
7.1 Davidson
4.4 Cowling
3.2 West
37.1 Team

2018-19
18.1 Anigwe
3.4 Brown
3.1 Thomas
2.5 West
36.1 Team

30 rebounds is a great accomplishment, but it's not like she outfought others for 20 that nobody else could have gotten. In past seasons, we had multiple players competing for rebounds. This year we usually let KA take care of the boards. My impression is that we've played more zone this year, with Anigwe alone in the paint and others contesting outside shooters. Watching the whole game yesterday, about 20 of her rebounds were easy or uncontested. She had to work for perhaps 10 of them, using her exceptional skills to get 3 or 4 that most other posts would have missed.

I'm very glad KA got her numbers. It brings much national attention to her and this under-appreciated team, that will help her get well deserved post-season honors, and could even boost the committee's overall impression of Cal for seeding. Watching their postgame reactions, I don't think Lindsay or the team knew what she'd accomplished until the game ended. Anigwe easily could have played 4 more minutes in that game and boosted her stats further, but it all came within the team concept on Sunday, which makes the accomplishment even more impressive.

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Amazing that she had 24%, 24%, 24% then 50% of the teams rebounds and the total pretty much remained the same. She has improved her rebounding but I think you are right in that it is designed for her to get the rebounds. Next game Kostourkova will probably play more than 17 minutes and it will be harder to get rebounds. We will still out rebounds them but not 50 to 22.

Happy as I am for K.A., it did occur to me that of course she would put up, and be encouraged to put up, such numbers against certain teams.

On the other hand, when Cal beat Stanford this season, she was about 25 and 25; 20 and 20 when they beat Cal. Not too shabby--and something to think about when contemplating the likely Cal-Stanford match-up this week (although the latter will presumably feel more rested). Even so...Stu, start dreaming again!

BearBint said:

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I'll miss Recee as much as the other, better-known seniors. I think her intelligence and calm have played a big role in Cal's resurgence these past few weeks.

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I am with you. really love Recee's game. She has showed up big time so many games in the second half of the season

she also has an electric personality and really seems like she is well liked by her teammates

HoopDreams said:

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BearBint said:

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I'll miss Recee as much as the other, better-known seniors. I think her intelligence and calm have played a big role in Cal's resurgence these past few weeks.

---

I am with you. really love Recee's game. She has showed up big time so many games in the second half of the season

she also has an electric personality and really seems like she is well liked by her teammates

---

She has spoken about earlier in the season, she struggled to know when to look for her offense. My read: she knew that with the offense built around Anigwe, there were only so many shots for guards, so she didn't want to take shots from others.

But then Cal went through a series of games where they had terrible droughts, unable to score. So she had to take it upon herself time and again to manufacture offense--step-back threes or hesitation dribble drives. It didn't always work. But then it did more often than not, as she got into a rhythm.

I do think her shot selection has now been more integrated into the offense, which is to Cal's betterment.

R90 said:

---

wvitbear said:

---

Anigwe went from 8.8 rebounds a game to 16.4 rebounds a game.

---

Anigwe has improved each year, but the huge rebounding bump has more to do with our personnel and how this team plays.

Rebounds per game, in 18 conference games...
2015-16
8.8 Anigwe
5.0 Range
4.7 Green
4.2 Cowling
3.8 Davidson
36.5 Team

2016-17
8.6 Anigwe
5.8 Davidson
4.4 Range
3.8 Cowling
35.6 Team

2017-18
8.8 Anigwe
7.1 Davidson
4.4 Cowling
3.2 West
37.1 Team

2018-19
18.1 Anigwe
3.4 Brown
3.1 Thomas
2.5 West
36.1 Team

30 rebounds is a great accomplishment, but it's not like she outfought others for 20 that nobody else could have gotten. In past seasons, we had multiple players competing for rebounds. This year we usually let KA take care of the boards. My impression is that we've played more zone this year, with Anigwe alone in the paint and others contesting outside shooters. Watching the whole game yesterday, about 20 of her rebounds were easy or uncontested. She had to work for perhaps 10 of them, using her exceptional skills to get 3 or 4 that most other posts would have missed.

I'm very glad KA got her numbers. It brings much national attention to her and this under-appreciated team, that will help her get well deserved post-season honors, and could even boost the committee's overall impression of Cal for seeding. Watching their postgame reactions, I don't think Lindsay or the team knew what she'd accomplished until the game ended. Anigwe easily could have played 4 more minutes in that game and boosted her stats further, but it all came within the team concept on Sunday, which makes the accomplishment even more impressive.

---

I agree that it was a bit of a perfect storm. Anigwe was probably going all out because it was the last game of the regular season. WSU prob knew it was at a disadvantage athletically and talent-wise, so it quickly went away from crashing on the offensive glass. So yes, many of her defensive rebounds were not contested.

But she also hauled down 10 on the offensive glass, and those of course are never easy. And those were the ones where her extraordinary effort really popped off the screen.

GO BEARS!

pearbear said:

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HoopDreams said:

---

BearBint said:

---

I'll miss Recee as much as the other, better-known seniors. I think her intelligence and calm have played a big role in Cal's resurgence these past few weeks.

---

I am with you. really love Recee's game. She has showed up big time so many games in the second half of the season

she also has an electric personality and really seems like she is well liked by her teammates

---

She has spoken about earlier in the season, she struggled to know when to look for her offense. My read: she knew that with the offense built around Anigwe, there were only so many shots for guards, so she didn't want to take shots from others.

But then Cal went through a series of games where they had terrible droughts, unable to score. So she had to take it upon herself time and again to manufacture offense--step-back threes or hesitation dribble drives. It didn't always work. But then it did more often than not, as she got into a rhythm.

I do think her shot selection has now been more integrated into the offense, which is to Cal's betterment.

---

Pretty much what I thought. When we are down you can see her saying to herself, the hell with the game plan, I'm going to shoot. Other players follow suit and we dig out of the hole and win.

We are such a good team when we incorporate other players into the offense.

GATC said:

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Pretty much what I thought. When we are down you can see her saying to herself, the hell with the game plan, I'm going to shoot. Other players follow suit and we dig out of the hole and win.

We are such a good team when we incorporate other players into the offense.

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In the Arizona game especially, Caldwell was the one she took over with her energy and drive to make the offense work. I wouldn't say she ever deviated from the game plan... she just worked harder in the 2nd half than everyone else, to make the plan work, which sparked the team.

All 5 of her assists in the ASU game came in the second half, and her scoring was split evenly, 10 of Cal's 25 points in the first half, and 10 of Cal's 44 in the 2nd half.

All 4 of her assists came in the 2nd half and overtime of the Arizona game. She was 0-3 from 3 in the first half, and 4-4 in the second half. She didn't shoot from the field in overtime.
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/playbyplay?gameId=401094267