Friday at OKC

[msujan]

Kelsey Plum of UW is going to be a handful but I think our guards can cover her well. Her 1000+ points this season is almost double our highest scorer's number - Tori with 565 - but if she's scoring, someone else is not. We need to go inside...and stay there. One good thing about playing UW is that we won't have to contend with OK's home crowd/home court advantage. I hope we have a good contingent of Bulldogs in attendance. Won't be able to make it there myself. I'm actually in the hospital, awaiting the group who's going to wheel me into surgery - #3 for my back. But I'll be watching from my recliner Friday!!

[I_Spy]

Yep, on the inside. If the posts work, everything else on the floor works. stay out of foul trouble and stop plum as much as they can. Should be someone's goal already - to stop KP

[Liverpooldawg]

My take on Plum: She will probably get a lot of points. The thing is to take away the supporting cast.

[starkvegasdawg]

Feed McCowan inside. Force them to show us they can stop her in the low post. I don't think that OT they have playing center can do it.

[Shooter McGavin]

My take on Plum: She will probably get a lot of points. The thing is to take away the supporting cast.

I agree and I have no doubt Coach Schaefer will come up with a better defensive strategy than Oklahoma did last night. Whether it was a combo of defensive break downs or just not having capable defenders, their defense was horrible. They over helped on Plum often and that left shooters not just open but WIDE open. That won't happen with us.

Washington doesn't have the depth we do either. It will be a tough game but I like our chances.

[blacklistedbully]

Its not just that simple. Plenty of teams have found out the hard way. Chantel Osahor is shooting .383 from 3 pt range, 44 of 115. Sports science did a feature on her. Her release time is exactly the same as Steph Curry, the NBA's fastest at .04 seconds. Her 3-pt % is much better than VV and almost as good as Blair Schaefer.

If you are not already on her outside the arc, you're not likely to have any chance to alter or block her shot. They also have 3 other girls who make an even higher % and have taken approximately 100 or more attempts (2 of which are over .400). Plum herself is shooting .429 on 261 attempts from 3.

This is not the kind of game where we can just stop one player. They have 4 players who make over a 3rd of their 3-point shots, and 5 who are shooting over .320, all of whom have taken anywhere from 92-261 attempts. They are an incredibly dangerous team. I always hate playing teams in a tourney than can get hot from 3 where you can't do much to stop them.

And with a player like Plum, you can bet, as the record-setting player she is, she is going to get the benefit of the doubt from refs. I could easily see us getting into foul trouble early with some questionable fouls called on us trying to defend Plum. We have been good at taking charges, but will Plum's rep get some of those charges called as blocks instead?

I'm concerned.

[smootness]

Its not just that simple. Plenty of teams have found out the hard way. Chantel Osahor is shooting .383 from 3 pt range, 44 of 115. Sports science did a feature on her. Her release time is exactly the same as Steph Curry, the NBA's fastest at .04 seconds. Her 3-pt % is much better than VV and almost as good as Blair Schaefer.

If you are not already on her outside the arc, you're not likely to have any chance to alter or block her shot. They also have 3 other girls who make an even higher % and have taken approximately 100 or more attempts (2 of which are over .400). Plum herself is shooting .429 on 261 attempts from 3.

This is not the kind of game where we can just stop one player. They have 4 players who make over a 3rd of their 3-point shots, and 5 who are shooting over .320, all of whom have taken anywhere from 92-261 attempts. They are an incredibly dangerous team. I always hate playing teams in a tourney than can get hot from 3 where you can't do much to stop them.

And with a player like Plum, you can bet, as the record-setting player she is, she is going to get the benefit of the doubt from refs. I could easily see us getting into foul trouble early with some questionable fouls called on us trying to defend Plum. We have been good at taking charges, but will Plum's rep get some of those charges called as blocks instead?

I'm concerned.

Just get out on them, don't give them space. It's definitely easier said than done, but we're one of the best defensive teams in the country. Dillingham, Schaefer, Vivians, etc. should be good enough to get out and at least make it uncomfortable for them.

I'm concerned in the sense that we could lose, but we're a 2 and they're a 3, so that should be a given. But we are more likely to win.

[blacklistedbully]

Just get out on them, don't give them space. It's definitely easier said than done, but we're one of the best defensive teams in the country. Dillingham, Schaefer, Vivians, etc. should be good enough to get out and at least make it uncomfortable for them.

I'm concerned in the sense that we could lose, but we're a 2 and they're a 3, so that should be a given. But we are more likely to win.

I think we're better, too....when both teams are at their best. I'm just saying it is nowhere close to being a game plan where we think we can just limit Plum, and I HATE facing a team that has shown they can get super hot from 3.

How many times have we seen great State teams get into a win-or-you're-out game against a team we would beat 9-outta-10 times, only to have that team get smokin' hot for our game only, and set school records against us?

My concern about UW isn't that I think they are better...it's that they look like the kind of team more capable of having, "one of those nights" against us from the 3.

[starkvegasdawg]

I think we're better, too....when both teams are at their best. I'm just saying it is nowhere close to being a game plan where we think we can just limit Plum, and I HATE facing a team that has shown they can get super hot from 3.

How many times have we seen great State teams get into a win-or-you're-out game against a team we would beat 9-outta-10 times, only to have that team get smokin' hot for our game only, and set school records against us?

My concern about UW isn't that I think they are better...it's that they look like the kind of team more capable of having, "one of those nights" against us from the 3.

Got to pound the ball down in the post offensively and fight for every defensive rebound. They are going to make their 3's, but when they miss we can't allow a second chance for them to reset and try again. Try to get their players in foul trouble. My fear is that VV is going to see this game as a challenge and jack up 18 three point attempts on her own and miss 17 of them.

[PSYCHO(thesis)DEFENSE]

Its not just that simple. Plenty of teams have found out the hard way. Chantel Osahor is shooting .383 from 3 pt range, 44 of 115. Sports science did a feature on her. Her release time is exactly the same as Steph Curry, the NBA's fastest at .04 seconds. Her 3-pt % is much better than VV and almost as good as Blair Schaefer.

If you are not already on her outside the arc, you're not likely to have any chance to alter or block her shot. They also have 3 other girls who make an even higher % and have taken approximately 100 or more attempts (2 of which are over .400). Plum herself is shooting .429 on 261 attempts from 3.

This is not the kind of game where we can just stop one player. They have 4 players who make over a 3rd of their 3-point shots, and 5 who are shooting over .320, all of whom have taken anywhere from 92-261 attempts. They are an incredibly dangerous team. I always hate playing teams in a tourney than can get hot from 3 where you can't do much to stop them.

And with a player like Plum, you can bet, as the record-setting player she is, she is going to get the benefit of the doubt from refs. I could easily see us getting into foul trouble early with some questionable fouls called on us trying to defend Plum. We have been good at taking charges, but will Plum's rep get some of those charges called as blocks instead?

I'm concerned.

After watching last night I definitely think the stop Plum stop UW narrative is an underestimation and over-simplification. The Osahor matchup is the one I'm most worried about, not as much from 3 but her taking McCowan & Okorie off the dribble. Very interesting point about her release time, though I think that is offset by her shooting almost completely flat-footed. If McCowan is w/i guarding distance I think she can get a hand on it.

I see everyone assuming that we put Dom on Plum since she's our best defender but my question is who does that leave William/ Holmes defending? I like putting Dom on Plum, but I think that necessitates giving Holmes a lot more minutes in order to match up size-wise with their 2 guards. William can manage the Romeo girl but she may get posted up by the other 2s in their lineup. I'm guessing they don't shoot that well every night, but they were making it rain on OU.

[Liverpooldawg]

Got to pound the ball down in the post offensively and fight for every defensive rebound. They are going to make their 3's, but when they miss we can't allow a second chance for them to reset and try again. Try to get their players in foul trouble. My fear is that VV is going to see this game as a challenge and jack up 18 three point attempts on her own and miss 17 of them.
She won't be allowed to do that. Have you watched the last two games?

[smootness]

Very interesting point about her release time, though I think that is offset by her shooting almost completely flat-footed.

Almost is an understatement haha. She is straight up completely flat-footed.

[Shooter McGavin]

After watching last night I definitely think the stop Plum stop UW narrative is an underestimation and over-simplification

It is and not a very feasible strategy. Plum is the leading scorer in NCAA history for a reason. Now you can take away the supporting cast which is what I think our strategy will be. We have a great on ball defender in Dom and and we rotate well on defense. Play that way and let the chips fall where they may with Plum.

What we can't do is leave the other shooters wide open like OU did. Plum made 6 3s and the big forward made 1. The other 11 makes were just spot ups from wide open shooters. We have to take that away.

[Jack Lambert]

What do UW have to do to stop us?