Aijha Blackwell

4,869 Views | 34 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by BearTiger
fredbear
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Perhaps I'm paranoid from last years SMU game and all the new injuries in wbb this year, but I don't think I ever saw her come back in after she was limping on the court post collision. Any word on her. Anyone know if she was full strength at practice?
BUVA
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Hope she's OK!
BuinmyBlood
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fredbear said:

Perhaps I'm paranoid from last years SMU game and all the new injuries in wbb this year, but I don't think I ever saw her come back in after she was limping on the court post collision. Any word on her. Anyone know if she was full strength at practice?
Might want to pose that question to the premium board if you're a subscriber...
fredbear
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I'm a free loader only.
BuinmyBlood
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fredbear said:

I'm a free loader only.
I scanned the entire game late last night and even though Blackwell did not play in the fourth quarter it did not appear that she was injured at all, or unhappy in any way . She was jumping up-and-down when other players were scoring and so forth and was there at the end of the game seemingly with no ill effects. That is not to suggest that she might not have had a minor tweak of some type but I didn't see anything major going on there that I could detect.

The thing that surprised me a little bit was not giving Vasconcelos or Abraham any minutes at all. Of course CNC may be just defining her rotation as we approach the real start of the non-conference and conference season...
Wbbfan29
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Yea she looked fine. Lety needs alot of work but I really want to see more of Kyla. We are going to need our big people one of these games. Kyla was big in the win over texas last year. I hope both keep working hard so they can get playing time
ECBear
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She is participating on pre-game warmups and looks great.
Old300Bear
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Ajah played her tail off.
Wbbfan29
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Double-double and career high five steals !!
BU71
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Old300Bear said:

Ajah played her tail off.
Yes, we are getting an idea of what we missed last year.
ChapBear
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BuinmyBlood said:

fredbear said:

I'm a free loader only.

The thing that surprised me a little bit was not giving Vasconcelos or Abraham any minutes at all. Of course CNC may be just defining her rotation as we approach the real start of the non-conference and conference season...

Lety and Kyla played the last two minutes. Lety had a block and Kyla made one of two free throws.
blueeyedbear
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Lety made a free throw as well.
deemus
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Nice to see them both get points.
blueeyedbear
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deemus said:

Nice to see them both get points.
Glad to see Leti has worked on her free throw technique - Her very first free throw as a Bear I swear had a coating of snow in it when it finally came down on the rim.
mcleod66
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deemus said:

Nice to see them both get points.
Abraham missed her first free throw and made the second. However, it was waived off due to lane violation, and we were not given (hence, nor was she) the 1 point.
deemus
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Forgot about that wave-off
mcleod66
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deemus said:

Forgot about that wave-off
I was excited to see her in there, though! I think she's going to be great.
BearFan33
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Old300Bear said:

Ajah played her tail off.
She has a heck of a motor and so does LPB.
blueeyedbear
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BearFan33 said:

Old300Bear said:

Ajah played her tail off.
She has a heck of a motor and so does LPB.
And so does Jada and Dre and Bella and Yaya !!!
deemus
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Jada and Yaya are so quick! They are like honey badgers out there, all over the person they are defending.

ChapBear
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Jada was great on defense and I liked that she ended her semi slump by hitting that three pointer towards the end of the game. Yada is super quick and aggressive on offense and defense- she gives the person she is guarding hits. I love them both and NC did such a great job in reeling them in.
Dcheetah
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We did such a better job of blocking out this game. I really loved watching our blockouts and our rebounding.
Guard quickness helped out to . I do worry that when we have a much thicker big like Pili or A. Lee, we may have a harder time blocking out. Then we'll hopefully just run them to death!

Aijha was a force rebounding tonight and I hope this signals she is ready to get back to her SEC level rebounding domination. Still needs some touch around the rim and midrange but expect it will come.

Jada showed how awesome she can be as a shut down defender. She was all over Chance Gray and Chance is very good. Even with her missed shots, Jada made it difficult for Oregon to start their offense. She and Rori are going to have quite a contest. I do wish she would attack more when in open court and in our offense. She was great at that at Ky. I would like to see more attacking the basket in our standard offensive sets. We have multiple players that can do it. Also wish we would take wide open 3s when presented to one of our shooters because a number of times the shot we take is more difficult, lower percentage. However, I love the unselfishness and passing ability of this team. Will be very fun to watch them continue to grow. Hopefully we can have 1 or 2 bigs really step up to help.
setshot
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I really enjoy this site. The participants here are invariably positive and constructive in their critical evaluations, and astute, as well.

There is a slight tendency on this team to over-pass at times, but that is partly a response to the players becoming familiar with each other and partially due to an innate unselfishness that is at the heart of Coach Collen's system. I sometimes see them pass up shots and end up late in the shot clock taking a poorer shot than they had earlier. That is correctible and we will see less of that as the season goes along.

I was not enamored of the determination that two or three of the perimeter players had to dribble into the deep paint against Oregon, not usually wise when a team is playing a zone defense. It cost us a few turnovers, but that was offset a few times when players swarmed to the dribbler, who seized the opportunity to find an open teammate for an easy basket.

One of the things that I like about the Collen offensive system is the fact that the guards do not dribble nearly as much as they did in the previous offensive scheme, nor do they attempt to force passes into the paint. The ball movement is getting to be more crisp and determinative, and player positioning contributes to finding the open player. It may be that when we have a legitimate big threat in the post, that our system will change in that regard, but I like the ball movement that we now have -- a lot.

I often had the same discomforts with Mulkey's guards that I do with Scott Drew's, and that was the fact that they dribbled too much of the clock, rather than passing and moving. Drew has addressed that by installing a weave that includes three and even four of his players, with the post playing out high and setting screens. Collen uses a different approach but gets the same result by moving and cutting to the basket. Her post players are veterans who know how to swing the ball to the weak side, or find the baseline cutters, and even the younger players seem to have learned how to move the ball from side to side effectively. Collen has quite a few players who are comfortable posting up, and skilled with the ball when it finds them there. That is unusual for a college team, but highly desirable when it comes from so many different sources.

I like the fact that almost all the Baylor women are willingly taking the open three, and rarely does one force the shot unless the clock is running down. That is as true for the bench players as it is for the starters.
Sometimes the ball is not dropping, but they are confident that if they are not shooting well, that an open teammate can, and the ball moves efficiently to that position, inside or out.

It is a pleasure to watch this team move with and without the ball and to share responsibility at both ends of the floor. How they have bonded and learned to play together, coming as they do from so many other programs, is as gratifying as it is surprising. It is easy to be enthusiastic about this team.
RSBear
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Yaya has been the player that surprised me most. I had expectations for some of the other players but not really familiar with Yaya. She has a strong motor and can make good things happen. Can't wait to see her play throughout the season.
Adriacus Peratuun
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setshot said:

I really enjoy this site. The participants here are invariably positive and constructive in their critical evaluations, and astute, as well.

There is a slight tendency on this team to over-pass at times, but that is partly a response to the players becoming familiar with each other and partially due to an innate unselfishness that is at the heart of Coach Collen's system. I sometimes see them pass up shots and end up late in the shot clock taking a poorer shot than they had earlier. That is correctible and we will see less of that as the season goes along.

I was not enamored of the determination that two or three of the perimeter players had to dribble into the deep paint against Oregon, not usually wise when a team is playing a zone defense. It cost us a few turnovers, but that was offset a few times when players swarmed to the dribbler, who seized the opportunity to find an open teammate for an easy basket.

One of the things that I like about the Collen offensive system is the fact that the guards do not dribble nearly as much as they did in the previous offensive scheme, nor do they attempt to force passes into the paint. The ball movement is getting to be more crisp and determinative, and player positioning contributes to finding the open player. It may be that when we have a legitimate big threat in the post, that our system will change in that regard, but I like the ball movement that we now have -- a lot.

I often had the same discomforts with Mulkey's guards that I do with Scott Drew's, and that was the fact that they dribbled too much of the clock, rather than passing and moving. Drew has addressed that by installing a weave that includes three and even four of his players, with the post playing out high and setting screens. Collen uses a different approach but gets the same result by moving and cutting to the basket. Her post players are veterans who know how to swing the ball to the weak side, or find the baseline cutters, and even the younger players seem to have learned how to move the ball from side to side effectively. Collen has quite a few players who are comfortable posting up, and skilled with the ball when it finds them there. That is unusual for a college team, but highly desirable when it comes from so many different sources.

I like the fact that almost all the Baylor women are willingly taking the open three, and rarely does one force the shot unless the clock is running down. That is as true for the bench players as it is for the starters.
Sometimes the ball is not dropping, but they are confident that if they are not shooting well, that an open teammate can, and the ball moves efficiently to that position, inside or out.

It is a pleasure to watch this team move with and without the ball and to share responsibility at both ends of the floor. How they have bonded and learned to play together, coming as they do from so many other programs, is as gratifying as it is surprising. It is easy to be enthusiastic about this team.
CSD had to reinstitute the dribble weave because the team has no one [other than Grimes who is #11 in the rotation] who can routinely win off the dribble without some advantage. The dribble weave allows that slight downhill "shoulder ahead" advantage that we need.

As an aside, a big help on making the dribble weave more useful than it was in recent years is the new change to the charge/block call. Attack angles that were sure fire "charge" risks (attacking from the side) under the old rule are now much more workable. For a team like Baylor MBB that has a ton of attack off the dribble types, the rule change [along with the advantage created by the dribble weave] is HUGE.

FYI, agree that watching players dribble the air out of the ball is painful. 2019 Team USA U19 where Walz was coaching but also recruiting Hailey Van Lith [so he started her over Caitlin Clark and allowed her to dribble 20-25 times every half court set to "probe the D"] was painful to watch. Nalyssa Smith got fed up and quit. A. Boston, Q. Egbo, and C. Brink were basically screeners and rebounders. Other than P. Bueckers, it took a stick of dynamite to get the ball out of Van Lith's hands. And Walz was recruiting her so it never ended.

Seeing the current Baylor WBB team, its ball movement, and the impact that movement has on the D is great. Once they get as comfortable on Zone O as Man O, the team will soar. And that means Buggs getting comfortable at FT, FTE, and short corner jump shots.
BuinmyBlood
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ChapBear said:

BuinmyBlood said:

fredbear said:

I'm a free loader only.

The thing that surprised me a little bit was not giving Vasconcelos or Abraham any minutes at all. Of course CNC may be just defining her rotation as we approach the real start of the non-conference and conference season...

Lety and Kyla played the last two minutes. Lety had a block and Kyla made one of two free throws.
I was talking about the game prior to this one...
BU71
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Wbbfan29 said:

Yea she looked fine. Lety needs alot of work but I really want to see more of Kyla. We are going to need our big people one of these games. Kyla was big in the win over texas last year. I hope both keep working hard so they can get playing time
Sometimes tall players need more time to develop. To me Lety is still trying to adjust to the speed and physicality of D1 WBB. Last season CNC said that Kyla is stronger than Queen Egbo was at the same age. I thing it is telling that she added that she was "trying to get Kyla not to do some of the things she tried to get Queen not to do," I'd love to know the details of what she meant. In any case, I believe we will need contributions from one, preferably all, of our backup bigs late in the year to get to where we want to go.
mcleod66
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RSBear said:

Yaya has been the player that surprised me most. I had expectations for some of the other players but not really familiar with Yaya. She has a strong motor and can make good things happen. Can't wait to see her play throughout the season.
totally agree with this and have been SO impressed (and surprised) by Felder!
FFA0329
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AP, I agree 1,000% about the getting comfortable with zone offense as well as man offense. When that happens, watch out! I saw them work on that zone in real time in the Oregon game and also saw them adjust to the massive height as well. We look like not only a very good team, but a smart and well coached team as well. Those are good things looking to the rest of the year.
Eball
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Adriacus Peratuun said:

setshot said:

I really enjoy this site. The participants here are invariably positive and constructive in their critical evaluations, and astute, as well.

There is a slight tendency on this team to over-pass at times, but that is partly a response to the players becoming familiar with each other and partially due to an innate unselfishness that is at the heart of Coach Collen's system. I sometimes see them pass up shots and end up late in the shot clock taking a poorer shot than they had earlier. That is correctible and we will see less of that as the season goes along.

I was not enamored of the determination that two or three of the perimeter players had to dribble into the deep paint against Oregon, not usually wise when a team is playing a zone defense. It cost us a few turnovers, but that was offset a few times when players swarmed to the dribbler, who seized the opportunity to find an open teammate for an easy basket.

One of the things that I like about the Collen offensive system is the fact that the guards do not dribble nearly as much as they did in the previous offensive scheme, nor do they attempt to force passes into the paint. The ball movement is getting to be more crisp and determinative, and player positioning contributes to finding the open player. It may be that when we have a legitimate big threat in the post, that our system will change in that regard, but I like the ball movement that we now have -- a lot.

I often had the same discomforts with Mulkey's guards that I do with Scott Drew's, and that was the fact that they dribbled too much of the clock, rather than passing and moving. Drew has addressed that by installing a weave that includes three and even four of his players, with the post playing out high and setting screens. Collen uses a different approach but gets the same result by moving and cutting to the basket. Her post players are veterans who know how to swing the ball to the weak side, or find the baseline cutters, and even the younger players seem to have learned how to move the ball from side to side effectively. Collen has quite a few players who are comfortable posting up, and skilled with the ball when it finds them there. That is unusual for a college team, but highly desirable when it comes from so many different sources.

I like the fact that almost all the Baylor women are willingly taking the open three, and rarely does one force the shot unless the clock is running down. That is as true for the bench players as it is for the starters.
Sometimes the ball is not dropping, but they are confident that if they are not shooting well, that an open teammate can, and the ball moves efficiently to that position, inside or out.

It is a pleasure to watch this team move with and without the ball and to share responsibility at both ends of the floor. How they have bonded and learned to play together, coming as they do from so many other programs, is as gratifying as it is surprising. It is easy to be enthusiastic about this team.
CSD had to reinstitute the dribble weave because the team has no one [other than Grimes who is #11 in the rotation] who can routinely win off the dribble without some advantage. The dribble weave allows that slight downhill "shoulder ahead" advantage that we need.

As an aside, a big help on making the dribble weave more useful than it was in recent years is the new change to the charge/block call. Attack angles that were sure fire "charge" risks (attacking from the side) under the old rule are now much more workable. For a team like Baylor MBB that has a ton of attack off the dribble types, the rule change [along with the advantage created by the dribble weave] is HUGE.

FYI, agree that watching players dribble the air out of the ball is painful. 2019 Team USA U19 where Walz was coaching but also recruiting Hailey Van Lith [so he started her over Caitlin Clark and allowed her to dribble 20-25 times every half court set to "probe the D"] was painful to watch. Nalyssa Smith got fed up and quit. A. Boston, Q. Egbo, and C. Brink were basically screeners and rebounders. Other than P. Bueckers, it took a stick of dynamite to get the ball out of Van Lith's hands. And Walz was recruiting her so it never ended.

Seeing the current Baylor WBB team, its ball movement, and the impact that movement has on the D is great. Once they get as comfortable on Zone O as Man O, the team will soar. And that means Buggs getting comfortable at FT, FTE, and short corner jump shots.
So when do we get our next National Championship?
Polarbear
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The quality of conversation on this board is elevated when Setshot and AP are consistently engaged.
Bearprof
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If this team continues to gel and can make productive use of their bench (and remaining injury-free), I think they are a dark horse to win it all. If Kyla and Lety can provide some productive minutes against teams with size in the post, this team has a lot of interchangeable parts from 1 through 4.
Eball
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Bearprof said:

If this team continues to gel and can make productive use of their bench (and remaining injury-free), I think they are a dark horse to win it all. If Kyla and Lety can provide some productive minutes against teams with size in the post, this team has a lot of interchangeable parts from 1 through 4.
I so hope you are right...one thing for sure we have a lot more talented teams period...I think there are a number of teams who could win it all if things break right for them. I will be thrilled if we can win the conference this year!
Bone Squad
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It's imperative that neither Texas or OU win the conference. I'm sickened Texas won it in football.
BearTiger
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You won't have to be sickened much longer, TX and OK taking their big bucks and massive tv exposure with them. No more Red River rivalry to showcase in Big 12.. And no Texas A&M and Mizzou. What really sickens is having to play against juggernauts Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, Colorado.
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