Initial thoughts on the WBB team

Last night for the first time we got see Nikki's squad and I was impressed. Few random thoughts other than Rickea and Jessika are really good.

1) Everyone is going to like watching Nikki's offensive strategy compared to Vic. It's night and day. Passes were much faster, crisper with a lot more off the ball movement. I want to see how allowing bigs to bring up the ball will look against better defenses but we get into our offense quickly.

2) Despite such a large change in offensive style we look pretty organized about where to be and where we want the ball to go. They looked really well coached as I expected us to look lost a good bit of the time because of the newness. Not the case for most of the game last night.

3) Very unselfish on offense. We still get our best players the most shots but it's coming in the flow of the offense and not forced.

4) Mingo-Young is playing much more confident and is really strong.

5) Y. Morris looks much much stronger than last year with better body control. She's going to be pretty useful.

6) Defensively we're not pressing as much but Nikki addressed that in her last presser saying because of roster numbers they are trying to not wear them out but ideally she's be pressing much more than we are.

7) We're really deep and there isn't a big drop off from starters to the bench for the guards especially (minus Rickea).

8) Defensively we look slightly worse than Vic's teams but I think some of that is Nikki has them playing tighter on the ball to try and force more TO's. Something to watch as we play better teams.


No idea how this will turn out but was a very impression initial showing into how Nikki coaches. The players seem to really enjoy playing for her.

nice

The defensive pressure that Vic demanded is what not only won us a lot of games but it allowed us to cruise to blow outs instead of battling for a win. I fear that missing that aspect will hurt us in the long run.

However, if the offense can click a little better it may not matter. And I’m sure playing for anyone other than Vic feels like a relaxing day at the spa.

Combo guard Knisha Godfrey (#40 ESPN class of 2021) is expected (announced graduating high school early, early enrollment at Miss. State) to join the team this month.. She can really hoop, appears to have a big upside defensively as well.https://youtu.be/bFdJkT5XRMY
Her toughness and defense reminds you of JaMya Ming-Young. Crossover dribble...impressive.

Also, Temple transfer point guard Ashley Jones recently commited to Miss. State. Haven't heard when she plans to arrive in Starkville. Reported that Miss. State will make her signing official this week. Explosive scoring point guard, AAC Newcomer of The Year this past season at Temple...she's really good.

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Originally Posted by jdelta02

Also, combo guard Knisha Godfrey (#40 ESPN class of 2021) is expected (announced graduating high school early, early enrollment at Miss. State) to join the team this month. She can really hoop, appears to have a big upside defensively as well.https://youtu.be/bFdJkT5XRMY

Her toughness and defense reminds you of JaMya Ming-Young. Crossover dribble...impressive

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Her video looks almost exactly like Mingo-Young's HS videos. Very, Very similar players.

I'm not to the point where I'm worried about the defense yet. We had slipped on the D side honestly a bit last year and the earlier years were really boosted by having T in the middle. Anyone else remember T's Sr season where teams would bring the C out to get her out of the paint and then get a ton of layups? (Oregon, Marquette).

We don't have an enforcer down there but I think in the end we won't see a big drop from last year on the defensive side. We may give up more points because we're allowing more possessions but that's due to a faster offense.

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Originally Posted by Irondawg

They looked really well coached

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One thing to watch for is that a lot of times (at least in basketball and baseball) teams that go from a very disciplined coach to a more player friendly coach initially have an improvement in performance, as they still retain the fundamentals and actually benefit a little bit from enjoyhing themselves more and playing a little more loose, and then if the new coach isn't as good on fundamentals, they start to backslide as they get further away in time from the better coaching.

Not saying to expect that; just saying that if the new coach is not as strong a coach on fundamentals, we may not really see evidence of it until next year.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

One thing to watch for is that a lot of times (at least in basketball and baseball) teams that go from a very disciplined coach to a more player friendly coach initially have an improvement in performance, as they still retain the fundamentals and actually benefit a little bit from enjoyhing themselves more and playing a little more loose, and then if the new coach isn't as good on fundamentals, they start to backslide as they get further away in time from the better coaching.

Not saying to expect that; just saying that if the new coach is not as strong a coach on fundamentals, we may not really see evidence of it until next year.

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Certainly possible but in this case on offense we looked better coached. Floor spacing was better, movement without the ball was better, passing and passing angles were better - we looked really well coached there. Honestly last year our offense looked like a high school team a lot of the time. We're talented enough that we can score points in even a basic system. But this system at first glance appears to be more dynamic. We'll see how it holds up as the competition increases.

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Originally Posted by Johnson85

One thing to watch for is that a lot of times (at least in basketball and baseball) teams that go from a very disciplined coach to a more player friendly coach initially have an improvement in performance, as they still retain the fundamentals and actually benefit a little bit from enjoyhing themselves more and playing a little more loose, and then if the new coach isn't as good on fundamentals, they start to backslide as they get further away in time from the better coaching.

Not saying to expect that; just saying that if the new coach is not as strong a coach on fundamentals, we may not really see evidence of it until next year.

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In that case, let’s go on and win the natty this year, before the whole thing implodes in a year or two

Vic left her a gold mine, no doubt about it. Can't hurt to have three McDonald's All-Americans on the roster when you walk in the door. Nikki does deserve credit for keeping the roster largely in tact though, I know there was some initial concern, specifically with Jackson and Hayes.

We're extremely talented and should have a really good team. How good is really good? We shall see. The game at South Florida this weekend is a nice test, they just gave Baylor all they could handle. Be curious to see how this staff looks in their first game that is remotely loseable.

South Carolina women just got beat by NC State 54-46.

I was pleasantly surprised and came away pretty pumped about this year's team. My expectations just shot up several notches - Final 4 potential.

The transfers and young talent is outstanding and even looked midyear form already. Add that to our already talented roster and you really got something.

Someone said the new coach walked into a gold mine and that is true. Best move she ever made.

Jackson and Carter are a load. Carter is the best offensive big we have ever had. Good feet and great scorer/shooter. Jackson is a matchup nightmare.

Mingo Young has really improved and taken command of the guard spot.

Morris has greatly improved.

We moved the ball well, good shot selection.

Thompson is a great addition 3 point specialist that we need.

Cook and Hayes are as advertised. We are loaded and gearing up for another great run.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

The defensive pressure that Vic demanded is what not only won us a lot of games but it allowed us to cruise to blow outs instead of battling for a win. I fear that missing that aspect will hurt us in the long run.

However, if the offense can click a little better it may not matter. And I’m sure playing for anyone other than Vic feels like a relaxing day at the spa.

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Sometimes the press helped. Sometimes it didn't. A lot of the better teams burned us in transition because of the press.

Yes she did walk into a talented team, but if you listen to her press conferences she really knows the game of basketball, I have been impressed. Let's remember she played under Pat Summit, won an Olympic gold medal, played in the WNBA, was an assistant coach on South Carolina's National Championship team so she has the pedigree and resume. And don't worry about the Defense, thats her specialty, it will be there. She was a defensive player herself, she hangs her hat on that. We have a pretty tough game coming up against USF so we will learn alot more about our team soon.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

The defensive pressure that Vic demanded is what not only won us a lot of games but it allowed us to cruise to blow outs instead of battling for a win.

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Really? Since when is 106-51 beatdown considered 'battling for a win?'

Looked pretty good for 2nd game of the season and only 2nd as MSU HC!

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Originally Posted by Dawg2003

Sometimes the press helped. Sometimes it didn't. A lot of the better teams burned us in transition because of the press.

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For whatever reason we just weren't good enough defensively to run it super well the last couple of years. I don't remember having the same degree of issues on the two national runner-up teams.

I do think Vic had some tendencies were that were a little stubborn at times, as in he was going to do it whether we were good at it or not. The press is one example of that, his hatred for a zone defense is another example of it. Obviously the good far outweighed the bad with Vic though, and if Nikki comes close to matching what Vic accomplished then she will have done a really good job.

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Originally Posted by BiscuitEater

Really? Since when is 106-51 beatdown considered 'battling for a win?'

Looked pretty good for 2nd game of the season and only 2nd as MSU HC!

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Not sure you got the point of my post. I am a big fan of the new coach...just pointing out what was Vic’s strength. He no doubt had some weaknesses as well. Hopefully the table is set for us to take that next gigantic step.