In Reply to: NO? posted by UCLART on March 30, 2024 at 14:06:08
we got outscored because they were the better team - 14-2 because we took chances and fouled a lot after the game was lost - last couple minutes.
Your question certainly is valid - I'm just talking about the margin. Most of those 14 points didn't matter - it was the first 8 or so that secured the game.
Awful and dumb move end of Q3 by our most experienced player - clearly lost focus on where the game was, soaw an opening - chance to get the ball in to Betts - and pulled a blank and started the play. Dumb. But don't think I've seen us do that much during the season. Many late quarter situations and we've held it okay for the final shot. But that was usually with the ball in Rice's hands, not Osborne's.
(I'm not refuting your points above, or Mike's. We sometimes handle the ball loosely and throw bad passes - of two types - 1) lazy, lack of intensity soft passes that are easily picked off, and 2) trying to do too much - throwing it too hard and too late - high risk passes (when we get into show time mode). Our shooters were too up and down - and I thought both Jones and Sontag wore down late in the season.
Rice has a lot to learn about playing with both aggression and control but I think she's a star. Jaquez will continue to grow. And Betts. Jones is an enigma.
Would love to see us pick up another post and we definitely need another guard who is a good shooter and can play defense to replace Charisma Osborne.
A key is if Bessoir returns and her mobility isn't too affected by her second ACL surgery. She steps into Dugalic's place - 6'4" and a pretty good outside shooter.
But yes, Cori does a lot of good things but she doesn't seem to lock in on the details, the fundamentals. We need to improve those to have a chance to get past the S16 - fully agree