Few Thoughts on WBB game last night at Vandy

[R2Dawg]

First thank Carter, Wiggins and Matharu for the win. Without those three we have an embarrassing loss to Vandy. Boy dogged a bullet.

Carter's O game is way ahead of where T was as soph and maybe even junior. She is smooth. T has her on D and rebounding but Carter is a skilled big shooting the ball and nimble around the basket. She made one amazing up and under shot late in game. Carter kept us in game for 3 quarters by scoring.

Wiggins is a real good long player on both ends. Good finisher at the goal and quick enough to guard lots of players.

Matharu is just a gamer, scorer, instant O. Her production per minute is as good as anyone in nation.

Bibby and Hunter are out of synch with our team for some reason. We really do need their outside scoring though. Announcers even mentioned Hunter didn't miss a 3 in shoot arounds. Really perplexing what is going on there.

Taylor at point is good at times and bad others. R. Jackson looked terrible all night; really out of sorts.

Lastly, the other thing that saved us last night was Vic going to the zone in the 4th. 22-2 4th quarter run. Our girls can play some zone. We just are not good in man. You gotta do what you gotta do to win. I hope Vic adopts the zone some more because we are going to need it to win at the level we all want to.

[Political Hack]

Zone saved us. I think they only scored 2-4 points in the 4th. As I said in the game thread, I think it's just symptomatic of a young team. Lose a heart breaker to #1 and have to turn around with little break and play an experienced conference team on the road who can bang down low... that's a recipe for disaster. They locked it in during the 4th and took over when they needed to. To me, it was an "ugly win" but it's one of those games that forces your young eam to grow up too.

[Gutter Cobreh]

Two quick things to add to this:
1) How refreshing is it to see a coach acknowledge that an assistant essentially saw the need to switch to zone and was adamant it would work. Kudos to Jackson-Durrett for seeing it and kudos to Schaefer for listening and giving it a shot!!!

2) I don't know if we go zone the entire game, but having the ability to switch and being unpredictable would be huge. I believe the Vandy coach even alluded to this when they said post game that never in a million years did they anticipate Schaefer switching it up.

[R2Dawg]

Two quick things to add to this:
1) How refreshing is it to see a coach acknowledge that an assistant essentially saw the need to switch to zone and was adamant it would work. Kudos to Jackson-Durrett for seeing it and kudos to Schaefer for listening and giving it a shot!!!

2) I don't know if we go zone the entire game, but having the ability to switch and being unpredictable would be huge. I believe the Vandy coach even alluded to this when they said post game that never in a million years did they anticipate Schaefer switching it up.

Agree. I don't think you run anything all the time; too easy to prepare for and beat. Did not realize other coach brought it up; agree great from other coaches and Vic to listen. That is a true leader and winning team right there.

[StarkVegasSteve]

This team is going to have to play zone more than Vic is comfortable with. We're just not a good man to man team outside of Danberry. Bibby is a liability in man to man defense and your freshman are never going to be fully bought in to defense their first year. They'll get better though.

[Political Hack]

This team is going to have to play zone more than Vic is comfortable with. We're just not a good man to man team outside of Danberry. Bibby is a liability in man to man defense and your freshman are never going to be fully bought in to defense their first year. They'll get better though.

Struggling on defense in a man to man can impact a shooter big time too. I think that's what's going on with Bibby. After coming off an injury and playing more minutes than she's ever had to, I suspect it's taking a toll on her endurance.

[99jc]

This is Vic's best coaching job to date. This year will make him a better coach he is learning how to deal with a young team that with freshman that have more talent than some of the starters. I like Wiggins and Bibby in the zone together with Matharu, Jackson and Carter. Matharu is an absolute star in the making.

[jdelta02]

Matharu is the most explosive offensive player on the team. Also, ultra-quick hands on defense, had 4 steals last night. At this point, she would be my go to offensive scoring option....even over Danberry, Jackson, and Carter. Also, she has one the best crossover moves around, even tougher to stay in front of than Danberry.

Keep an eye out for this up and coming youngster

[R2Dawg]

Matharu is the most explosive offensive player on the team. Also, ultra-quick hands on defense, had 4 steals last night. At this point, she would be my go to offensive scoring option....even over Danberry, Jackson, and Carter. Also, she has one the best crossover moves around, even tougher to stay in front of than Danberry.

Keep an eye out for this up and coming youngster

Yep, no one can stay in front of her and to be so short she can sure finish near the goal. BTW, she also has a nice outside shot. I think anyone can see Matharu is a superstar in making, more than Jackson at this point. She reminds me a little of Tan White from years ago, pre Vic.

[NCMSTFAN]

The game that follows a tough emotional loss like we had against USC is usually a trap game so I'm glad we were able to get away with the win. I agree with most in the fact that Mathura is one of our best weapons right now. She is out playing some of the older girls.. but Danberry, Carter and Rickea are our best 3 players in my opinion. Danberry has just been so consistent for the last couple of years and she plays both ends of the floor, Carter is actually ahead of Big T right now in terms of talent as Sophomores, she just needs to work on foul trouble... She is so important for us because when she sits down we dont have much scoring in the post afterwards. Rickea has had her slumps but from a talent standpoint she has it all and has shown that.... Wiggins has had some pretty good outings also... I'm a little worried about Bibby and AEH. Bibby may still be recovering from her injury and we will need her shooting going down the stretch. AEH is hit or miss some nights, but we need both of these two going forward.. the young girls will be on their heels.

[jdelta02]

The 2 guards...
Matharu and Danberry
Currently the team's best 2 options offensively, big game players. When the team needs scoring...these two have shown the ability to deliver the most consistently, and at a very high level.

A big game player as a freshman, Rickea Jackson is a sensational talent, though continues to disappear for large stretches of games, also..needs to cut down on the turnovers. Jessika Carter will need to make better showings against the top teams, and the better post players. Feel that she can deliver in the big games, and against the much better players...but right now, she's not a top 2 scoring option in the really big games...tends to fade in these tougher post matchups, but showing flashes of coming out of that.