This was the result of two poor recruiting classes. Our junior and senior classes just are not that strong. Not having a post player above 6 feet with experience this year was a problem.
*** IOWA STATE v. DAYTON ***
- Thread starter BenEClone
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This was the result of two poor recruiting classes. Our junior and senior classes just are not that strong. Not having a post player above 6 feet with experience this year was a problem.
I'm just glad neither Ricketts or Buckley are out with an ACL. You just don't know how a kid will come back from that. Instead, it's a fractured wrist and a stress injury, neither of which should be a long-term issue given enough recovery time.
Hope you are right on the foot injury. They have been very vague on what they shared. Hope is just an acute thing that heals 100% and not a chronic foot thing.
And the best part of the year for those of us who love baseball. That'll take me right up to the month before hoops begins once again.
4 years without a recruiting a serviceable let alone decent post player .... Yet coach will blame the seniors.... It was so telling watching Deanna defend those 6 4 girls today. She was giving them 8 inches on height and probably a foot on wingspan.
Or are you just liking that bright yellow skirt their coach Megan Gebbia is wearing? :spinny:
Kinda stands out from some of the frumpy wear of other coaches.
I get your point, but I think that's a bit harsh. Fallon has won games for us this season, and Baier was playing ok last season before her ACL. I'd consider both at least "servicable". If you are talking true center-type posts, then you might not be including Fallon given her obvious height issues.
Also, there were only three recruiting classes between Hallie and Bry/Claire, or again maybe you aren't considering Hallie a post.
I've got to say, I thought Bry played very well today. However, she's likely a 25-min per game type of player (at least right now) due to conditioning, so it'll be very good to get Ricketts back and Burkhall added.
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Hallie was never a post, just forced to play there. I always viewed her as a tall small forward. It was just too bad we didn't have a center her senior year.
Fernstrom has size and skills but she doesn't look to be in that great of shape. Hope she gets inspired by Minnesota'a Amanda Zahui B. She's from Minnesota so she will know the story. The new MN coach challenged Zahui B. to lose weight and work on her conditioning. She did and came back to the states 40 pounds lighter and in great shape and had a monster sophomore year.
With the new Iowa gal coming and Ricketts back we should be better size-wise. A Fernstrom in better shape could change that to a LOT better at post.
There is an awful lot of potential with this team for 2015-16. At least two of the questions for next season will be: can they stay healthy, and will they be motivated to work harder when the game doesn't come easily?
A better version of your second question might be: will they be motivated to work harder when the game is harder than they expected, or when they make the game harder than it should be?
This year's team seemed to prepare well for the games that were slated to be hard. For some of the "easier" games, they played to the level of the competition, or not quite, and then fell short.
If the PG position has a good solution, I'm very optimistic about next year's team.
I noted a few weeks ago that I'd be content to make the dance to keep the streak alive. Done. I like our returning and incoming talent - expect to dance next year.
Bre had nearly identical numbers as a freshman as Angie Welle. I would say that's pretty good company to be in.
We lost the easier games because the leadership was questionable at best. The reason Iowa is still playing is that their seniors are better than ours. I too am optimistic about next year's team.
I'm high on Bry, but I think that statement is a reach.
Welle as a freshman: 10.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 58.0% FG
Bry this season: 9.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 44.3% FG
Bry's FG% goes up to 51.3% if you only look at 2-pointers, but her ppg drops about a point and a half as well.
I was mainly responding to the post about lack of upperclassman poats. I like Fallon a lot, but I was really talking about true center type play. I didn't consider Hallie a post. And, yes, probably was harsh.
I just think we are being awfully hard on our seniors given the circumstances this year. Lose two key players, our bench is all frosh, everything had to go just right to win, and today we gave up 40 points to post players who took advantage of height/size advantage at the 4/5.
Let's celebrate they beat Texas an. Baylor and made the tourney.....I for one didn't know how this year would go.
Bry looks very offensively talented, but I would like to see her work on rebounding and moving her feet on defense.
I'll stand by my statement on Bre which stated "nearly" identical numbers. When you take into account the differential in minutes per game played the numbers grow closer. Welle played nearly 300 more minutes and only scored about 90 points more. The rebounding differential is there, but 6' 4" players were a rarity back then and are commonplace now. I def would say that Welle moved better, ran better, etc. The shooting percentage is different because of the three.
the bottom line really is this...she has great upside. She has some tools Welle never had. Has some things she needs to develop to be a great player...but the possibility is there just based of what we saw this year. Any post should aspire to have a career like Welle had. I hope Bre does.
the bottom line really is this...she has great upside. She has some tools Welle never had. Has some things she needs to develop to be a great player...but the possibility is there just based of what we saw this year. Any post should aspire to have a career like Welle had. I hope Bre does.
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I'm on the Bre/Bry bandwagon. D will come - O is already pretty good. When she caught the ball on the block, she made a high percentage shot - didn't put the ball on the floor. I thought we should have worked to that more this year.
