Coming off a mid-week loss to Weber State, this Sunday matinee with Boise State amounted to nothing less than a must win for the Huskies if they have aspirations of a berth in the field of 64.
To say the performance in the first half was a vast improvement is to put it mildly.
Morton had a nice move leading to a free-throw line jumper to open the scoring.
McLellan continued her strong start with 4 early points.
It was apparent that Kingma's shooting woes from Weber State were a thing of the past with 5 straight points in an early Husky run.
I'm beginning to think that Michelle's best from the outside when she's not completely set. She hit a beautiful catch and shoot triple in the midst of the Husky run that put the game firmly in the Huskies control.
The Huskies were absolutely everywhere on defense in the opening minutes with steals and tips (Whitcomb ended with a game high 7). Kristi had a great tip that led to a Sami lay-in. UW owned the passing lanes and the Broncos never came up with a real answer to the press.
I'd be remiss in my recap of the first half if I didn't mention the bank-shot three at the buzzer that Augustavo hit. It was an unexpected surprise and it brought the Huskies off the bench to celebrate on their way to the locker room.
The 2nd half started with a flourish with a 3 from Sami, and +1 from Laura, and a Kingma trifecta.
After that came a lull, broken with some more nice work on the block from McLellan.
No question about it, the foot came off the gas in the 2nd half with the big lead. You can get away with that against and under-manned Bronco squad but come the Pac-10 season (not to mention UConn and K-State) a 30 point lead will get halved in a hurry if you're not careful.
That said, there were certainly positives aplenty in Sunday's contest. When the UW has the athletic advantage as they did against BSU, they have to press that advantage as much as possible. Quite simply, the Huskies have the ability to run and press teams to death and in order for them to be as succesful as they (and we) would like to be, this must be done.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Gonzaga
Well, what is there to say about this one.
The first half performance was while not exemplary was certainly adequate.
That said, what would ultimately be the Huskies undoing showed itself in the 1st period as Gonzaga was able to continue possesions with work on the offensive glass and frustrating the Huskies with the trap.
Laura McLellan showed little after effects from the injury and provided a big scoring punch on the block.
Holding a tournament team to 24 1st half points is a decent defensive effort, albeit one assisted by Gonzaga's ice cold shooting.
The opening stanza of the 2nd half showed very scattered and sloppy play from the Huskies and the first "Line Change" of the season in which the starters were replaced en masse when they allowed Gonzaga a 2nd chance on their opening possesion of the half.
Heidi had a nice night on the glass but she didn't get a lot of help in that area.
Down the stretch, the Bulldogs frustrated and flummoxed Washington with a 3/4 court press and 1/2 court trap that the Huskies seemingly had no answers for. While this Hooligan would have liked to have seen a few more fouls called as the Zag defenders were perhaps a bit over zealous with the traps and making contact with the trapee, the Huskies have to figure out how to break the press and the trap if they are to have success this season.
Ultimately, you aren't gonna win if you turn the ball over 30+ times and lose the rebounding battle to boot.
The first half performance was while not exemplary was certainly adequate.
That said, what would ultimately be the Huskies undoing showed itself in the 1st period as Gonzaga was able to continue possesions with work on the offensive glass and frustrating the Huskies with the trap.
Laura McLellan showed little after effects from the injury and provided a big scoring punch on the block.
Holding a tournament team to 24 1st half points is a decent defensive effort, albeit one assisted by Gonzaga's ice cold shooting.
The opening stanza of the 2nd half showed very scattered and sloppy play from the Huskies and the first "Line Change" of the season in which the starters were replaced en masse when they allowed Gonzaga a 2nd chance on their opening possesion of the half.
Heidi had a nice night on the glass but she didn't get a lot of help in that area.
Down the stretch, the Bulldogs frustrated and flummoxed Washington with a 3/4 court press and 1/2 court trap that the Huskies seemingly had no answers for. While this Hooligan would have liked to have seen a few more fouls called as the Zag defenders were perhaps a bit over zealous with the traps and making contact with the trapee, the Huskies have to figure out how to break the press and the trap if they are to have success this season.
Ultimately, you aren't gonna win if you turn the ball over 30+ times and lose the rebounding battle to boot.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Corban College
I realize it was against Corban College but that was what Husky Basketball should be and has the potential to be this year.
At the risk of saying I told you so, ladies and gentleman .... Kristi Kingma. The kid can flat out play. She's been called the secret weapon, but she's not gonna stay a secret very long. Get used to that pull-up jumper Husky fans, you'll see a lot of it for the next four years.
Mollie Williams also had some nice moments and showed some really good athleticism. That said, Mollie passing out of the paint in the 2nd half led to our first track Coach J-ism of the year "2 Feet in the paint, shoot the ball".
While Kingma was the star of the show on Monday night, the player of the week for the 2 exhibition games goes to Mackenzie Argens. Off the knee injury and not completely 100 %, those are 2 darn impressive performances. The steal and crossover for a breakaway lay-in late in the 1st half is just ridiculous for a post player to be able to pull off. Here's hoping we see some more of that this season. The importance of Argens and McNeill staying healthy and productive can not be stated enough. It is absolutely crucial for the Huskies to have sucess this season. Mackenzie also showed great hustle on a number of occasions, the first of which led directly to a Kingma bucket.
Rozier showed some wheels getting all the way to the cup for a lay-in. I like the athleticism she brings to the PG spot but the speed is only going to be an advantage against certain opponents as Stanford, ASU & Cal all have guards that can run with that kind of speed. That said, I like the different options we've got at the point and they each bring something to the table.
I thought the pressure on D was vastly improved and in particular, thought Sarah Morton did a notable job with on-ball pressure. She also showed off a sweet step-through move on a drive to put 2 points on the board. I know the step-through is a traditional post move but from a PG? Wow.
While we're on the subject of the PGs, I thought Nicole Romeo played a darn good ballgame. She absolutely skied to make a save on an errant pass in the 2nd half. How she got up for that one and came down in control without getting undercut showed great court sense in my humble opinion. I've gone 2 sentences about Romeo and not mentioned shooting. Both triples she hit were from Down Under. I had a good look at both of them and she was a good foot behind the men's line when she put those shots up and both of them resulted in nothing but the bottom of the net. As nice a weapon as it is, the value of Nicole being able to hit that shot from the PG position at the top of the key is that when she's triggering the offense, the defense has to stay honest and guard her out there or she'll take the shot. That extra foot out opens another foot inside the arc in which the offense can use.
What's scary to me (in a good way), is that as good as Kingma, Williams and Romeo looked, according to the recruiting "experts" Liz Lay is better. Given what we've seen from Kingma (who I think will make the All-Pac 10 Freshman team), how good is Liz Lay? If she can get healthy, and we get solid play from the post, things could be a lot of fun this season. If you put Kingma, Whitcomb, Lay on the floor with a post and one of the PGs it's gonna be very interesting to see who the defense keys on. One thing's for sure, it could lead to a lot of easy buckets for the posts because it is exceedingly difficult to contain 3 high caliber players and not leave a gaping hole somewhere. For certain teams in the conference, that task will prove to be impossible.
My first note for the start of the 2nd half was simply "someone made Sami mad" because all of sudden, she was everywhere, knocking down a J from the corner and making a nice drive on the offensive end and being absolutely everywhere on D. Sami absolutely is showing that she can be a go-to player. In games last year and from what we've seen from Kristi so far, they both have the ability and talent to just take over a game.
In any case, I think we're in for a lot of fun this season.
Until Sunday,
The Head Hooligan
At the risk of saying I told you so, ladies and gentleman .... Kristi Kingma. The kid can flat out play. She's been called the secret weapon, but she's not gonna stay a secret very long. Get used to that pull-up jumper Husky fans, you'll see a lot of it for the next four years.
Mollie Williams also had some nice moments and showed some really good athleticism. That said, Mollie passing out of the paint in the 2nd half led to our first track Coach J-ism of the year "2 Feet in the paint, shoot the ball".
While Kingma was the star of the show on Monday night, the player of the week for the 2 exhibition games goes to Mackenzie Argens. Off the knee injury and not completely 100 %, those are 2 darn impressive performances. The steal and crossover for a breakaway lay-in late in the 1st half is just ridiculous for a post player to be able to pull off. Here's hoping we see some more of that this season. The importance of Argens and McNeill staying healthy and productive can not be stated enough. It is absolutely crucial for the Huskies to have sucess this season. Mackenzie also showed great hustle on a number of occasions, the first of which led directly to a Kingma bucket.
Rozier showed some wheels getting all the way to the cup for a lay-in. I like the athleticism she brings to the PG spot but the speed is only going to be an advantage against certain opponents as Stanford, ASU & Cal all have guards that can run with that kind of speed. That said, I like the different options we've got at the point and they each bring something to the table.
I thought the pressure on D was vastly improved and in particular, thought Sarah Morton did a notable job with on-ball pressure. She also showed off a sweet step-through move on a drive to put 2 points on the board. I know the step-through is a traditional post move but from a PG? Wow.
While we're on the subject of the PGs, I thought Nicole Romeo played a darn good ballgame. She absolutely skied to make a save on an errant pass in the 2nd half. How she got up for that one and came down in control without getting undercut showed great court sense in my humble opinion. I've gone 2 sentences about Romeo and not mentioned shooting. Both triples she hit were from Down Under. I had a good look at both of them and she was a good foot behind the men's line when she put those shots up and both of them resulted in nothing but the bottom of the net. As nice a weapon as it is, the value of Nicole being able to hit that shot from the PG position at the top of the key is that when she's triggering the offense, the defense has to stay honest and guard her out there or she'll take the shot. That extra foot out opens another foot inside the arc in which the offense can use.
What's scary to me (in a good way), is that as good as Kingma, Williams and Romeo looked, according to the recruiting "experts" Liz Lay is better. Given what we've seen from Kingma (who I think will make the All-Pac 10 Freshman team), how good is Liz Lay? If she can get healthy, and we get solid play from the post, things could be a lot of fun this season. If you put Kingma, Whitcomb, Lay on the floor with a post and one of the PGs it's gonna be very interesting to see who the defense keys on. One thing's for sure, it could lead to a lot of easy buckets for the posts because it is exceedingly difficult to contain 3 high caliber players and not leave a gaping hole somewhere. For certain teams in the conference, that task will prove to be impossible.
My first note for the start of the 2nd half was simply "someone made Sami mad" because all of sudden, she was everywhere, knocking down a J from the corner and making a nice drive on the offensive end and being absolutely everywhere on D. Sami absolutely is showing that she can be a go-to player. In games last year and from what we've seen from Kristi so far, they both have the ability and talent to just take over a game.
In any case, I think we're in for a lot of fun this season.
Until Sunday,
The Head Hooligan
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Love & Basketball
Yeesh, not often you see an exhibition go to OT.
Pre-game observations:
Mosiman appears to have gone after it in conditioning in a big way.
Morton has added muscle to her base which will be helpful in the physical Pac-10.
A nice start, Young looks to be very active & athletic hitting a nice floater to open the scoring. A nice sequence of ball movement led to Mollie William's first Husky points.
And then it got UGLY. Shot's bouncing off the rims like popcorn. The Huskies were getting good looks, but nothing seemed to be falling. Of most concern was the fact that the Huskies frustration led to defensive lapses that exacerbated the problem.
Argens broke the drought with 4 quick points on consecutive posessions.
Barlow is very active defensively and seems to have an instinctual understanding of perimeter defense and how to use her athleticism and long frame to full advantage.
Augustavo seems to have found her shot again, amazing what a healthy wrist will do in that regard.
Pressure on the defensive end went up late in the half and in some ways it did as advertised in leading to offense.
The 2nd half was a vast improvement offensively but L&B was able to maintain their lead until late in the contest.
Heidi had a great game and if Mackenzie can build on her performance, the Huskies prospects in the post will be in pretty good shape.
The PG play was at best scattered and is an issue that must be addressed if the Huskies are to have success in the 08-09 campaign. From my vantage point, the offense seemed to run best with Mosiman at the point.
Hopefully, the execution on both sides of the floor will show significant improvement against Corban tomorrow night.
Pre-game observations:
Mosiman appears to have gone after it in conditioning in a big way.
Morton has added muscle to her base which will be helpful in the physical Pac-10.
A nice start, Young looks to be very active & athletic hitting a nice floater to open the scoring. A nice sequence of ball movement led to Mollie William's first Husky points.
And then it got UGLY. Shot's bouncing off the rims like popcorn. The Huskies were getting good looks, but nothing seemed to be falling. Of most concern was the fact that the Huskies frustration led to defensive lapses that exacerbated the problem.
Argens broke the drought with 4 quick points on consecutive posessions.
Barlow is very active defensively and seems to have an instinctual understanding of perimeter defense and how to use her athleticism and long frame to full advantage.
Augustavo seems to have found her shot again, amazing what a healthy wrist will do in that regard.
Pressure on the defensive end went up late in the half and in some ways it did as advertised in leading to offense.
The 2nd half was a vast improvement offensively but L&B was able to maintain their lead until late in the contest.
Heidi had a great game and if Mackenzie can build on her performance, the Huskies prospects in the post will be in pretty good shape.
The PG play was at best scattered and is an issue that must be addressed if the Huskies are to have success in the 08-09 campaign. From my vantage point, the offense seemed to run best with Mosiman at the point.
Hopefully, the execution on both sides of the floor will show significant improvement against Corban tomorrow night.
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