WBB—Bench is HORRIBLE
- Thread starter Evilchicken
- Start date
Don't need for them to be world beaters. Just need for them to develop confidence to plug them into a game here and there to provide rest. The only reason they are in the game together is that we were up nearly 40 points. It's a painful process to develop them for what you need. You may not see it, but Tac is improving. Last year she couldn't catch a pass without fumbling it or falling down. Now, she is catching the ball and she got an 'and 1. Her getting 9 FTs in a game is progress. She just has to step up and make more than 4 of them. However, FTs is an issue for our entire team. Okot is not much better at knocking down FTs right now. Maddie had a tough night shooting, but she had 6 assists and several of them were very nice looks leading to 3 point attempts. She is just fine especially plugging her in with the starting unit where she wouldn't be asked to score. Dauda has had a tough year, but she even made a 3. McDowell is a freshman that has been up and down. Her skillset is to defend and make open 3s. You are not going to be asking her to put the ball on the floor much playing the 3 or the 4. Yes, that bench group at the end was ugly, but that group needs the playing time to develop. Hopefully, we will have several more blowout games going forward so they can get better.
Double digit points, good rebound and assist numbers. Yes, we’d be better if Kitts and Watkins were healthy. Not our best team, but still one of the best 5 or so in the country. If only our other programs could get to that level. The new center from France will add a lot of depth. Still, we are beating good teams by 30, only concern will be against super elite teams.
They are young players learning their way what the hell do you expect? Let them continue to get game experience or watch another team
Tac and Dauda are mediocre at best, I agree. However, Mouse has been a solid contributor and her ability to penetrate and either finish or kick out is wonderful to watch. McDowell is contributing and I suspect will continue to improve. With Tourebize in the fold, anything we get from her this year is gravy but at 6'7", she does bring the ability to impact on defense and I suspect in the next 1 year+ she will be a very solid player. Cannot wait to get Chloe back and hopefully Watkins will return, though I have no clue if she will and if she does, what is her mental state like? This year our beloved Lady G's are definitely not what they normally are (on paper at least) but it just shows how spoiled we are with this program. Go Gamecocks!
Watkins is no longer injured. She chose to take the year off. She is not on the team.
I think you are just looking at shooting. You can win a basketball game in other ways besides shooting, and as much as all of us would wish that they shoot better, they beat a SEC 1st unit 17-13 in the quarter.
Again, hilarious people are nit picking our WBB program, which is still one of the best in the nation, while our men ‘s programs are the ones struggling. Girls may not win a natty or an SEC title, but they might. Can that be said for the men’s programs? Rhetorical question, obviously no need to answer it.
....and nitpicking the bench. The reason they are on the bench most times is because they are not your best players
I seem to recall that, during one of our earlier championship runs, two transfers that were mainly bench players had to take up the slack during the tournament for two starters who had been injured and they more than pulled their weight. I'm not sure that could happen right now.
....and that was pre-NIL in Women's Basketball. The days where you can have multiple starting level players on your bench is becoming a thing in the past. UConn won the National Championship last year. You probably can't name one memorable player off their bench. and what does the term "Pull their Weight" even mean in a basketball sense. Is it scoring? Rebounding? Running the Offense? What? Usually, that is determined by the coaching staff and most times coaches view players much differently than the fan base who tend to focus only on scoring.
I think a good key measure is whether the team is plus or minus in scoring margin while a bench person or persons is/are in there. Scoring margin can be gained or lost due to any basketball function.
....and that has been my point the entire time. Despite the wringing of the hands by some, the bench group won the final quarter against Arkansas 17-13. The issues were Tac missed 5 FTs and the bench group had a 0-11 stretch from the field in the 4th Quarter.
"The days where you can have multiple starting level players on your bench is becoming a thing in the past." I completely agree, I am not a big fan but I also understand the players only have a certain window of opportunity. But you are correct, a much different environment now.
Her statement about not playing this year says nothing about her injury. She is not even in school. (Wanting to get a diploma seems to have flown out the window for a lot of athletes.) She could be on the bench with Chloe and practicing with the team. I care about her, understand she is going through issues, and wish her well…but I am not sure, if I were Dawn, I would welcome her back for just one season. This will mean she will not have played for 2 seasons. She will definitely be rusty and other players have taken her place. Should they now take a back seat for Ashley?
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