I've been beating this drum for months, and will do so one last time before the sun potentially sets on our season.
If CNC wants to have any chance of making the second weekend of this tournament, then she MUST give both Nebraska and Duke a healthy dose of Nelms and Deng.
Nelms is our toughest post player, spreads the floor better than KJ and Kyla, and the team simply plays better with her patrolling the paint. Just look at most any tape where the 3 post players were given equal minutes, and she played the best. It really wasn't close.
Should have been starting her since before conference, imo. Had CNC done so, we're likely co-champs, at worst.
If nothing else, CNC should have been giving her more minutes than Kyla. There is NO reason she shouldn't at least be the first post player off the bench at this point. She is a much greater threat to the opposing team than Kyla, and you have to take advantage of that.
As for Deng, you have got to use her to spread the floor. She has shown what she's capable of (first Texas Tech game), and we need her outside shooting.
I can live with her occasional struggles on defense, because she'll often make up for it on offense.
Besides, it's not like anyone else has proven to be head and shoulders above her on defense these last few games (to justify giving her limited minutes). Last time I checked, nearly all of our perimeter players have been getting cooked on defense.
At least Deng can help offset a rough day that the team might have on the defensive end.
To my final point, missing an open shot that is forced is different from missing a wide open shot that is within the flow of the offense.
Many of our misses haven't been those where we had 10 feet of space and had all day to set up and drink coffee. A lot of those misses (particularly those by Scott) have been where she was trying to make a play off the dribble and created just enough space to fire.
Sure, I guess you could say she's technically open at that moment, but it's not necessarily the best shot to take (especially if she's slightly off balance).
Now if we're missing a bunch of clean looks after effective use of ball rotation and screens, then that's a different story.
But how about we just play Nelms and Deng more to begin with, and help create those cleaner looks for everyone?
Doing so will take a lot of the pressure off Scott, and also make life easier for Buggs, Bella, and JVG.
Duke is going to be a problem, period. But if we at least use this strategy against Nebraska (playing Nelms and Deng), it'll give us some much needed prep ahead of our matchup against the Blue Devils (assuming we win today, of course).
I said before the season started that Nicki Collen needed to win either the Big XII regular season title, the Big XII tournament title, or make the Sweet 16 to keep the vultures from circling.
She's struck out on the first two, and if she goes to Durham and lays another egg, the calls to move on from her will only get louder.
If CNC wants to have any chance of making the second weekend of this tournament, then she MUST give both Nebraska and Duke a healthy dose of Nelms and Deng.
Nelms is our toughest post player, spreads the floor better than KJ and Kyla, and the team simply plays better with her patrolling the paint. Just look at most any tape where the 3 post players were given equal minutes, and she played the best. It really wasn't close.
Should have been starting her since before conference, imo. Had CNC done so, we're likely co-champs, at worst.
If nothing else, CNC should have been giving her more minutes than Kyla. There is NO reason she shouldn't at least be the first post player off the bench at this point. She is a much greater threat to the opposing team than Kyla, and you have to take advantage of that.
As for Deng, you have got to use her to spread the floor. She has shown what she's capable of (first Texas Tech game), and we need her outside shooting.
I can live with her occasional struggles on defense, because she'll often make up for it on offense.
Besides, it's not like anyone else has proven to be head and shoulders above her on defense these last few games (to justify giving her limited minutes). Last time I checked, nearly all of our perimeter players have been getting cooked on defense.
At least Deng can help offset a rough day that the team might have on the defensive end.
To my final point, missing an open shot that is forced is different from missing a wide open shot that is within the flow of the offense.
Many of our misses haven't been those where we had 10 feet of space and had all day to set up and drink coffee. A lot of those misses (particularly those by Scott) have been where she was trying to make a play off the dribble and created just enough space to fire.
Sure, I guess you could say she's technically open at that moment, but it's not necessarily the best shot to take (especially if she's slightly off balance).
Now if we're missing a bunch of clean looks after effective use of ball rotation and screens, then that's a different story.
But how about we just play Nelms and Deng more to begin with, and help create those cleaner looks for everyone?
Doing so will take a lot of the pressure off Scott, and also make life easier for Buggs, Bella, and JVG.
Duke is going to be a problem, period. But if we at least use this strategy against Nebraska (playing Nelms and Deng), it'll give us some much needed prep ahead of our matchup against the Blue Devils (assuming we win today, of course).
I said before the season started that Nicki Collen needed to win either the Big XII regular season title, the Big XII tournament title, or make the Sweet 16 to keep the vultures from circling.
She's struck out on the first two, and if she goes to Durham and lays another egg, the calls to move on from her will only get louder.
