Louisville dies by the 3

1,276 Views | 1 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by Lion82
GrizBear
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"You live by the 3, you die by the 3." Kim Mulkey

Miami 79, Louisville 73
Louisville 11 for 34 on threes.
Louisville 68 total shots - half their shots were threes.
setshot
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Griz, that is a neat saying of Kim Mulkey, and she who has never lived by the three, though her first national championship was to a some extent secured by that route, has died by the three at least four times in the NCAA Tournament in recent years (Louisville, Mississippi State, Oregon State, and Notre Dame.) More recently, West Virginia and Stanford have done major damage outside the arc in regular season play.

11 for 34 is nearly 48% when extrapolated to 2 point shots (for 33 of their 73 points). I suspect that their two point percentage was not better than that, since the remaining 40 points would have included free throws.

When Mulkey loses her twin towers after 2020, unless she can recruit replacements for them (Egbo and Smith are fine interior players, but will not have the same effect as Brown and Cox, two #1 nationally ranked post players back to back, both with great size and skill for the position. The Lady Bears will need to adjust to their skill players outside the paint. If she does not have enough very fine three point shooters on hand, she will have to recruit them. Trading twos for threes requires a lot of twos, and sometimes they are not going to be there. As we found out at Stanford, players also miss a lot of two point shots.

There used to be an old saying, "He's got a lot of book learning, but no common sense." My response to that, as a teacher for over forty years, was that in that case he would be in terrible shape without the book learning, because what passes for common sense is often not that common to begin with, and the book learning did not deprive him of it; if anything, when a person with common sense adds to it the learning that comes with reading, each enhances the other. It is not an either/or situation when it comes to learning situations.

It is not an either/or situation with shooting the basketball. Both weapons are accessible and both are necessary. Stephen Curry, for example, learned that teams would try to run him off the line, so he had to learn to finish in creative ways around the rim. His success at that made him the most successful at it in the NBA over the past two or three years in terms of percentages, which for a non-post player is unfathomable.

We had eight turnovers at Kansas State in the first half, seven of them when we tried to force the ball into tight windows in the paint. At the half Mulkey reminded them that the midrange and three point shots were available and they should take them. They had twelve turnovers in the second half, most of them by trying to force the ball into tight windows in the paint.

There is an almost robotic tendency in Lady Bear basketball to get the ball to the All American in the deep paint, whichever it is, and the freshmen do it with the non-All Americans. Cox plays the high post and is an excellent passer; when Brown comes out high she can both shoot and pass it with skill. We do not need to pass it into a player guarded by two players or almost behind the basket when she gets the ball and has no room to maneuver or put up a good shot - yet we pass it time and again.

Our interior game is a product of countless hours of practice doing it, and victory against 80 to 90 percent of the teams on the schedule is the result. But when we face a team that matches up in size to some extent, and pulls our posts out away from the basket at the offensive end, if they hit three point shots we have a difficult task and, on occasion, one that does not end well for us for whatever reason.

Mulkey has now resolved to take away the three from opponents, even if it means giving up points at an unprotected rim. That is a good strategy, and one that can easily be adjusted to the specific opponent. She has not put a cap on our three point shooters as far as I know, but only Landrum has shot as many as five threes in a game. She needs to put up more than that. She has great range and good form on her shot, and she should be able to exploit the sagging defenses, as should Ursin, another good shooter. Cox is pretty good from the top of the key, and that is a good shot for her. We rebound well on misses from the arc.

I like the fact that we are beginning to respond to how teams are defending us, but the turnovers are directly related to poor decision making about feeding the low post, both when and how to do it. Our posts need to move around more, set and reset, receive the ball and be prepared to immediately give it up to an open shooter, or reset and get the ball in a more favored position. They have been taught to do that, but both the passers and the post have to recognize and respond to the defense appropriately. Habits gained in practice have to be reevaluated when other teams find ways to take advantage of it, and our advance in the post season is related to that, in my view.
Lion82
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Kim is going to coach what she believes in and what she knows. Teams that lack talent and size have to shoot a lot of three point shots to try to stay in the game against elite teams with size.

Geno would probably say his offensive scheme has gotten 3 point shot heavy. I would be shocked if he didn't balance out his offense in the next few years.

I think Kim has made an effort to add shooters to the program. Juicy shoots the 3 well. Chou and Morris coukd too but they didn't stick. This year's team has balanced scoring and has several players capable of scoring 20+ points.

It would be horrible to see Kim switch to recruiting to a smaller lineup and play that 4 out dribble drive and kick out offense.

Sherry Coale is a perfect example of what happens when you don't coach what you know. Their offense is horrible to watch. Dribble dribble dribble.

Baylor's fantastic ability to score off assists is one of the most enjoyable things about watching them play.
WNIT in '23
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