Musings from Ames - I was at the game yesterday with son. Appears Iowa Bear was also one of the mighty few Green shirts in the crowd. Misc thoughts:
a)
Per Blueeyedbear "Buggs and Bella received a PHD lesson in D1 Basketball today and at times were schooled and other times held their own." Indeed. Buggs and Bella had the extremely difficult assignment of guarding 5th year Senior All American Ashley Joens, as Freshmen, on the road in front of a hostile crowd. They should be proud of their efforts, holding Joens to a 9-22 shooting night. Buggs and Bella worked hard, and were huge contributors. It was also fun to see them on the bench, getting coached up by Coaches Greene and Simmons, and by Edwards and Blackwell. It was as if you could see them growing and improving, Quarter by Quarter.
b) I would love to see them both become better shot blockers. As athletes, they were the two most impressive on the floor yesterday in terms of length and athleticism, and it feels like at times they attempt to take charges when they could go up and get the block. Kudos to Buggs for the left handed block and then volleyball spike out of bounds on Joens late in the 4th.
c) Free throws! We were 70% from the line, and made many key FT's in the 4th. Big.
d) Hilton Magic - it was a rowdy, loud, wonderful atmosphere at the Hilton. But those Cyclone fans ride the referees like a wet mule.
e) Bickle - seeing them play live, Bickle's presence and communication on the floor really jump out. When she's off the floor, we don't have nearly the same coordination, and a couple of times allowed wide open shots because we hadn't clearly understood the defensive assignments.
f) Iowa State shot 20% from 3 point range. It didn't feel like many of their 3 point shots were rushed or off balance, it just felt like an uncharacteristic bad shooting night.
g) Most fascinating play - Sarah's steal on the inbounds with 1:00 left in the 4th. After watching the play and seeing Coach Greene's reaction, we because convinced it was a called play to bait the entry pass to Joens. We were protecting Bickle with 4 fouls, so we kept her on the bench after the time out and had Caterina Ferreira guarding Joens. Joens posted, and Cat played behind her, offering a clean lane for a pass. Jaden was guarding Donarski on the inbounds, but instead of blocking the pass to the lane, Jaden positioned herself to block the pass to Fritz in the corner. Our seats gave us a clean line of Donarski's view, which looked like a freeway opened up to hit Joens posting Ferreira deep in the lane. But Sarah was hedging off Fritz, and eyeballing Donarski the entire time; Sarah broke as soon as she saw Donarski start to make the pass to Joens, and she got the steal. We called time out, and Coach Greene bolted off the bench to congratulate Cat and Sarah; the entire sequence made us believe we baited the pass to get the steal.
h) Sarah Andrews excellence - I hope we all appreciate the excellence we are watching with Sarah every night. She has rare offensive skills. All of the players in our 7 player rotation are capable of scoring, but for most of them it's conditional. They can score IF they receive the ball in certain spots, and IF they have their feet set, and IF they have a certain amount of space from the defender. Sarah needs none of that, she can just create. Donarski had the assignment last night, and Donarski is an excellent perimeter defender. She did a wonderful job of moving her feet and staying connected to Sarah last night. It was also clear the ISU defense was keyed on her; they were trapping her, going over screens, giving her very little space. It didn't matter. Sarah can get a good shot off with the tiniest amount of space. Sarah has become the bailout offensive option when the shot clock is winding down and we need somebody to do something quickly. Perhaps the greatest thing she's doing this year is showing excellent restraint, sharing the ball and creating assists for teammates, because she truly could become ball dominant and put up quality shots on nearly every possession because she's so skilled at creating. It's a pleasure to watch her continue to grow in both her skill and her judgment. She's my MVP vote for this team this year.
i) We're beat up - we have quite a chore with the OU game coming up quickly on Tuesday, because we're beat up and will have a busy trainer's room this week. Last night:
- Bickle, who has had ongoing back issues for two years, came up after a fall complaining of her strained back.
- Bella - sprained her wrist in a fall in the 1st quarter. Trainer taped it up and she played on with it wrapped, but it's likely to be tender this week.
- Ja'Mee - had two falls where she was slow to get up, one appeared to be an elbow injury, and once she fell on her hip.
- Sarah - injured her right shoulder on a fall late in the 4th.
It was a very physical game, but it didn't feel dirty. It felt like two highly competitive teams battling for a big Conference rival win; and talking to Cyclones fans it does feel like they view Baylor as their biggest rival in Women's BB. Our rotation players all played heavy minutes in an emotional game, and we're coming home with bumps and bruises. Hoping rehab went well today and we're ready for Tuesday night.
