WBB Harvard 75, NU 50
- Thread starter Alvious
- Start date
I finally made it to a game, and it was this one.
These are some of my thoughts...
Walsh has dropped a noticeable amount of weight and it shows in her agility and hops. She is more aggressive than I've ever seen her. My comments on her earlier this season are out dated. Good for her!
Lau is coming along as a point guard and her shooting has improved over last year.
Daley is a decent defender and has a nice shot although it wasn't falling today.
Harter is much improved from last year.
Walton has potential and I like her ball handling, and her emoticon quiz was entertaining, but she doesn't look to be in B1G shape and needs to hit the weight room and improve her foot speed and agility.
I wasn't much impressed with the rest of the team. Williams had some moments, but she isn't where I'd want a senior transfer to be when she's taking minutes from our freshmen.
The biggest thing I noticed in the game was they still have no apparent defense beyond positioning for first contact. Harvard didn't shoot particularly well, but they had open looks all day, except for the first minute of the third quarter when the Cats overwhelmed them for a few possessions. Players didn't seem to know how to switch, how to communicate on switches, or who they should be guarding. And Harvard wasn't running anything complicated or quick.
I've seen this same defensive "scheme" for three years now, so I look to the coaching for having the team completely unprepared defensively. They tried a bit of zone and otherwise just kind of muddled around getting in each other's way and losing track of shooters constantly. Walsh did ok guarding the rim, but had little help and often had to chose whether to let the guard in front score or the forward behind.
Offensively, they were constantly hampered by their inability at breaking the press and, again, didn't seem to have anything resembling set plays designed to break it even tho Harvard ran full court against them most of the game. It looked a lot like pick up ball most of the time.
These are some of my thoughts...
Walsh has dropped a noticeable amount of weight and it shows in her agility and hops. She is more aggressive than I've ever seen her. My comments on her earlier this season are out dated. Good for her!
Lau is coming along as a point guard and her shooting has improved over last year.
Daley is a decent defender and has a nice shot although it wasn't falling today.
Harter is much improved from last year.
Walton has potential and I like her ball handling, and her emoticon quiz was entertaining, but she doesn't look to be in B1G shape and needs to hit the weight room and improve her foot speed and agility.
I wasn't much impressed with the rest of the team. Williams had some moments, but she isn't where I'd want a senior transfer to be when she's taking minutes from our freshmen.
The biggest thing I noticed in the game was they still have no apparent defense beyond positioning for first contact. Harvard didn't shoot particularly well, but they had open looks all day, except for the first minute of the third quarter when the Cats overwhelmed them for a few possessions. Players didn't seem to know how to switch, how to communicate on switches, or who they should be guarding. And Harvard wasn't running anything complicated or quick.
I've seen this same defensive "scheme" for three years now, so I look to the coaching for having the team completely unprepared defensively. They tried a bit of zone and otherwise just kind of muddled around getting in each other's way and losing track of shooters constantly. Walsh did ok guarding the rim, but had little help and often had to chose whether to let the guard in front score or the forward behind.
Offensively, they were constantly hampered by their inability at breaking the press and, again, didn't seem to have anything resembling set plays designed to break it even tho Harvard ran full court against them most of the game. It looked a lot like pick up ball most of the time.
I have only watched one game this year, but this seems to hit the mark. Joe is long past his expiration date and he should have retired after Burton left. Last year was the worst defensive team I have ever seen at NU and it seems this year isn’t any better. I can’t understand how they look so unprepared all the time. Nice man that you want to root for, but a change is long overdue.
Losing asst coach Kate Popovec after the 2022 season seems like it hurt just as much as losing Burton.
I'd wondered if something like this had happened. I don't follow the team closely other than trying to go to their games, but as we've all learned the assistant coaches can have major impacts on various areas of the game. From what I've seen, whether Joe retires or not he definitely needs to upgrade the staff under him if the Cats are going to improve at all going forward. The kids have heart, but they aren't superstars. They need solid coaching and a strong system to work for their victories.
