In Reply to: Re: Numbers - I think Close is making a mistake, wrt that posted by barrya on June 06, 2025 at 17:36:41
She did not try this last season.
I said "why not bring in young role player types that aren't HS superstars expecting to play?" "Bring in 5 good, not great, younger players." and "are there no players that are good starters on lower level D1 teams or even D2 teams that would want to transfer to UCLA to get a UCLA education and be on a Title contending team?"
That is the opposite of how she filled out the roster last season. The Freshmen were all super highly ranked players that would naturally expect to play or even star w/in their first two years. I'm saying this year, don't do that. But fill out the roster with younger players that don't have those lofty expectations.
You talked about money. I'm saying bring in portal players that were decent but not key players on lower level teams. Players that have court-time, have gotten the jitters out, but no one expects them to be a star. That's not going to cast much, if any money.
No offense to Lauren, but she is no Kareem or Walton, possibly the two best offensive centers in the history of the game. Consecutive national MVP winners. Even if she is, I never saw the Lakers or Bucks run an offense that was everyone stand around and throw the ball into Kareem every trip down the floor. (I'm too young to remember his UCLA days). I never say UCLA fun and offense that was everyone stand around and throw it in to Bill every time down the floor.
Even if throw it in to Lauren every time and if she fails to post up, throw it back out was the best game plan. Our perimeter players (aka, everyone but Lauren), will not get clean looks, just because the ball has gone into the post. It is clear when the post-up has failed, and the players just run back out and cover the perimeter when Lauren passes it out. At least do some things to get the perimeter players open. Throw it in, watch Lauren, and throw it out is lazy coaching. Get some movement to get some players open.
The proof is in the pudding. Against UConn Betts was 11-18 and we lost by 34. Against SoCaro Betts took two shots in the first half, we were up by 20 at the half. After the game, the player that Staley raved about? Aarnisalo.
Yes, feature Betts. But, we were a better team when the offense was more diverse. Don't make this "Happy says we should have Betts as the No.1 option." I've never said that. I'm saying the offense shouldn't be throw it in to Betts in the post on every single possession. And, primarily, when we do throw it in to Betts, get things moving on the perimeter. It is a million times easier for the defense to collapse on Betts when they know exactly where their mark will be when Betts throws it back out. How 'bout, when the players collapse on Betts, rather than four players on the perimeter spectating, one of those players sets a down screen so that the collapser can't get back to the perimeter. We didn't do that once all season. If you consistently get clean looks for other players, then they can't collapse on Betts with 3, sometimes 4 players.
We were a fantastic team last season. We should have been. We had 4 of the top 6 recruits in the rising Senior class: Betts, Gardiner, Barker, Kiki. That doesn't count Jacquez, Dugolic, Jones, Aarnisalo.
Anyway, I sure hope Close changes it up next season.