We played worse last December at Stanford without Lauren

Lauren played until Mulkey pulled her out in the second half. Neither she nor Kalani were ready to play that afternoon.

Foul shots hurt badly, Egbo on the bench way too long, refs calling fouls one way, DiDi off her usual game, our shots were rushed, and SC was way on their game. Could play tomorrow with different outcome. Now that we don't have to be perfect, let's relax and play ball.

When we play teams with skilled bigs, Egbo will be overmatched most of the time. She can play the 5 occasionally, as a change of pace, but it's unfair to judge her again players who have more size. Everyone will be more comfortable with LC works her way back into the lineup, Degrate can back up LC, and Egbo can use her athleticism and, especially, size to greater advantage as a 4. This team will find its rhythm but it's going to take some time. This game was definitely a teaching moment. Just have to continue to improve.

Defense wins ball games. They did and we didn't. 52% and 35% respectively. Egbo cannot play defense using only her athleticism. 4 fouls in 14 minutes will not cut it. She is not much better on D than last year. Offensively she is an excellent rebounder and can score when she rebounds. As Kim has said, "as long as she produces on the O-side I can accept some taxes on the D-side. I guess that answers the question to why she played only 14 minutes. No offense, no defense, you sit by me. Why did Degrate only play 6 min.? They had 19 TOs and we had 17 pts of them. Lauren being absent does create problems, Boston would have been a load even for her. She does make everyone better and that is very relevant. So, why did we recruit Erin? Defend the BIGs and add a little offense. One last point which refers to their 35% defending, only Smith shot over 40% if you disregard Egbo's percent. We lost for numerous reasons. Improve, improve, improve. PS--love Blueeyed and setshot's posts and seldom disagree with either.

It was a great tournament really good competition. We played three games in three days without LC. Smith and Egbo are not LC and Brown...they never will be but they are great young talents still learning.

The mistakes are correctable and games like this reinforce what is being preached and taught. Some of you need to take a breath and realize it is November/December not February/March...

I am fine with being a fan and being upset and frustrated but get tired of the over the top negativity or the mean personal edged attacks on any of our young ladies.

We missed FT's several of our best players and leaders missed FT's some of our newer players missed FT's

Both our starting young Posts had issues with Foul trouble during the tournament.

EDG did not exactly light it up but she only played 6 minutes last night hard to show a lot in that short a time.

One of the reasons she only played 6 minutes is because Bickle played well and provided more of a spark at post. She also seemed to be able to play physical on Boston and got her in some foul trouble in the 3rd. Bickle though was never going to dominate or stop Boston..in the 4th you had Queen and Smith in foul trouble and undersized Bickle trying to stop Boston and to USC's credit they took advantage. Bickle has a real chance to contribute especially with Cox out and even though she missed a few shots you can tell that you want her taking those shots because she is a good shooter...she was 1-4 on threes which you can live with but the 1-4 on FT's was a killer...but she will get better and more confident. 1 turnover in 25 minutes was outstanding considering how often she touched the ball on every possession at the high post.

Juicy and Tea played 38 and 39 minutes respectively last night on the third day of three straight games...they combined to be 1-5 from three which I attribute to being tired more than anything else. I am not sure why Moon did not get more than 7 minutes and think JO could have played more than 2 minutes but it is what it is.

Tea had a rough game and I think part of it had to do with playing her old team and trying to do to much but she was 1-2 from three and 3-4 from the FT so we would normally take that...2-12 though from 2 point range is tough....she was attacking the paint trying to draw fouls and getting her shot blocked...that seemed to be the game plan but we were not getting the calls. 6 TO's is unacceptable with only three assists but when you play 39 minutes of your third game in three nights it gives rise to some ragged play. I have to trust that Kim sees something to leave her out there for 39 minutes even though she is struggling a bit...it was her three in the 4th that allowed us to get within 2 and give us a chance to make a run but we just went cold after that...

Juicy was Juicy consistent and attacking a lot more than normal...as she knew she needed to do. 5-14 overall but 0-3 on threes...she drove the ball and tried to draw contact as well but never shot a FT...4 assists and 0 TO's was outstanding. She had to be exhausted as well.

DiDi...something was up with her not sure what it was but she only played 34 minutes and was not in foul trouble...1-3 Fg's and 2-4 FT's...1 assist and 2 TO's made for a very unproductive and blah performance from our emotional leader...she also had trouble keeping up with the PG for USC and was not on her game defensively it seemed. tired or sick?

We will learn and grow...several areas to work on...and several areas to be pleased with even though they out rebounded us overall we got more offensive rebounds than they did 15 -11. We forced 19 TO's and only committed 9.

Smith played a huge game 18 points and 10 rebounds (7 OR). At her size she is not going to be as efficient as a Brown or Cox 9-22 shooting. She missed a lot of her jump shots and wound up scoring off put backs somehow she never got to the line though which seems to indicate she was settling for jump shots and not attacking the rim with her post moves...of course when you are 6' 2" it is not easy to attack when the other team has a 6' 5" active rim protector.

Weird to see that USC had 7 blocks and we had 0

We are a different style team this year we all need to get used to it. We do not have dominate size inside without Cox. We will have some up and down games. if our jump shots don't fall we will have to rely on defense to keep us in games. It will be a fun ride though and I hope we enjoy it and quit hitting the panic button every time we struggle a bit.

Our Lady Bears are top 4 type of team with LC...without her they are still a top 10 type team...

"I am fine with being a fan and being upset and frustrated but get tired of the over the top negativity or the mean personal edged attacks on any of our young ladies".

Eball, I am not going to let this go - NO ONE posts over the top negativity or mean personal attacks on any of the ladies. Just because someone posts something you disagree with or posts unfavorable observations about your favorite player it's far from a personal attack and your characterizing it as a personal attack is extremely inaccurate - its honest criticism that yes sometimes is hard to hear - sometimes the truth hurts - that's life. Every poster here wants these ladies to have success !!! No one posts to be mean or to degrade any lady.

Now as far as DiDI I posted after the Indiana game I saw her massaging her calf in the post game handshake line. She was wincing and I recall during timeouts in the 4th quarter she had a slight limp. She played last year with a hip injury and most people never even knew - Something was wrong with her but DiDI is a tough gamer and she won't quit - you have to shoot her like you do an injured horse to get her off the court.
You are right about Cooper she was trying to do to much - and she did not get a lot of calls - very disappointed in how Dee Cantor called this game.
It was not a coincidence that the four players that logged the most minutes in three days had off games - Cooper, Juicy, Smith and DiDi. Juicy going 0-3 on 3 balls that's legs but it was great to see her recognize that they over respected her 3 ball and left driving lanes to the rim open for her and she made them pay. Again she was fouled but no calls - she should have gone to the line 5 times by my count and 2 of those trips should have been and 1's. I have posted her several times how deceptively fast she is - she has that very quick first step and with one stride the defender is playing catch up.
Smith is a puzzle - 9-22 !!! That's not her - again it has to be the legs were gone - She was the victim of several no calls as well.
Bickle had her baptism in college basketball last night. Everyone needs to remember its been basically 2 years since she has played any meaningful minutes especially vs a top quality team. Still 1-4 from the 3 is not to her capability (25.0% - national avg. is 33.8% and good shooters like Katelin has shown in practice are closer to 40+%) and 1-4 from the foul line is unacceptable and she will be the first to say that. She rushed everything all night - I saw Coop telling her to slow down several times. Lets be honest here Boston abused her and got away with it because of no calls and wrong calls. But she played hard and she blocked out and had good position established under the bucket (until Boston hip wiped her and plowed her out of the way).
You are also right - Egbo and Smith are not Brown and Cox but no one is asking them to be. They both have the green light to do what they do - but things will go a lot better for them if they learn the fundamentals of posting, blocking out and position by a factor of 10.
Egbo getting only 6 minutes - honestly she looked like a deer caught in the headlights last night - timid, apprehensive, I hate to say intimidated but it is what it is - we needed a warrior and Bickle was and Egbo wasn't. She was recognized as All Tournament and she can take pride in that. But she has to learn from this.
All things considered it was a very good tournament - the ladies had a good trip as far as bonding and the teaching points from this game are exactly what is needed.
What I like best is even down 11 they NEVER lost confidence or focus and they fought back to within 2 - 3 points - all with LC sitting on the bench - I would not trade any of them for someone else - we are going to be fine.

Lady Bears lost one game early last year, to a highly ranked opponent, without LC, and ended up winning it all. So, it is possible this year too. However, LC is clearly their gem piece. Without her, a serious run for another natty may not be in cards this year. Maybe not even the BigXII championship. Yes, I said it.

Sic'em

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYY. Queen has no idea what a 5 player is supposed to do !!! She does not block out, she does not fight for position, she is careless when a rebound does fall into her hands with her pass - if she manages to hold on to the ball.

I thought it was fixed - its not. I don't care if she scores double digit points - she is a triple liability under the basket. Well there is no doubt who is not starting when Lauren comes back - I am not even sure she will be first sub in - I'll take Moon and give up the 8" for someone who has some fight in her or Bickel with her basketball IQ any day of the week and twice on Sunday."

blueeyedbear...I like almost all your posts and appreciate you are a Lady Bear fan with some degree of knowledge about the game...I was shocked as I think some others were when you came down on Queen so strongly the other day...it just seemed out of character for you...you certainly did not back down when most of the posters called you to task over it. To me your post was a bit over the top especially since we won the game and if you watched the game or reviewed the stats you would see a kid who maybe did not block out once or twice but who did a lot of things well for us.

While you are not one of those I consider to be routinely negative and over the top... the above post did seem to be a personal attack aimed at Queen? How else would you describe it? Tough Love?

I don't know exactly what the rest of your post was about other than it was agreeing with me as to the points I was making? I appreciated the reminder about DiDi being perhaps injured as she clearly seemed off her game a bit.

The person I was mentioning only played 6 minutes was Erin DeGrate (EDG) not Queen so not sure we comparing apples to apples...I thought perhaps Kim should have played Erin a bit more than 6 minutes to contest Boston inside...however Bickle did a better job...it seems to me that Cox and Bickle are the two girls that get most of the run at the high post position...Smith plays more of a traditional Power forward on the wing and low block and Queen and EDG are primarily the 5 position type players.

I think we agree that the tournament was a good thing and even with a loss we had many teachable moments...let some players who we will need down the stretch get some good experience.

As far as personal attacks I will let you read and interpret but folks saying we made a mistake picking up EDG, or that Cooper is a bust and/or selfish make me mad....We have some really hard edged and mean spirited folks who seem to like to tear down kids or Kim on message boards from time to time. I will likely come to their defense even if I agree they may have had a bad game or done something stupid...I trust that Kim is teaching as are the other coaches and they know far more than I do...

Why no help side on their big? No one could handle her alone. Why not take it at her and draw fouls early?

I have no reason to back down from what I posted. The OHHHHHH was in response to another poster who said Queen had a great game because she scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds and my point was that stats can be deceiving and not a true picture of what is transpiring on the court. Her stats built up on playing competition that was equal or smaller in height and most certainly had less athletic talent was hiding a problem and I was not the only one pointing it out.
Queen does not block out (even at the foul line), post up strong making herself a bigger target for entry passes or position herself on defense to alter entry passes or positioning herself to block and or rebound without reaching. Its not personal - Its seeing a deficiency that needs correcting, its wanting Queen to be the best she can be - It serves no good purpose and its cruel for her to believe that everything is just fine only to have reality fall heavy and crush her spirit like SC did. I saw the look on her face when she was on the floor - I have never seen that look from her before and I felt really bad for her and I do not want her to have that look ever again.
My main reason for concern was because these are bad habits learned in high school because she was so much better and taller then everyone else and these ingrained bad habits are very, very hard to change - could take year or so - She and Smith have to learn how to play the game at this level. I have no doubt they can do it but it starts now while they have time to adjust before tournament time. Yes they are not true post players but blocking out and position are fundamental basketball skills for every player from post to point guard.
To get off course let me illustrate what I mean by stats can hide an underlying problem - many years ago Baylor football was struggling - but looking to find something positive certain pundits looking through the stats said Baylor leads the nation in pass defense only giving up 128 YPG !!
The reason Baylor lead the nation in pass defense was because we gave up so much yardage on the ground there was no reason for teams to pass. Remember the ol Darrel Royal quote when asked why he went to the wishbone and not a passing offense - "3 things happen when you throw the ball and 2 of them are bad" Well a team I cant remember with a no name QB I cant remember either came into Baylor Stadium and threw for almost 400 yds. - the stats were hiding a problem - the secondary was not the best in the nation. That opened the flood gates for the next two games. You have to see the big picture.

Now you referenced comments directed at Cooper and Erin - OK you have me corrected there - those were not nice but I do not think they were hateful - might have even been some trolls upset that they transferred in here. No matter its a long season with ups and downs but I am betting there will be lot more ups then downs and both will have a say in that. Neither one is a bust - no matter what the SC sports writers are saying.
I was however disappointed in Erin vs SC we really needed for her to give Boston a taste of what she was dishing out. I have known Erin since she was in diapers and she has an edge to her much the same as LC does I do not know what happened but I do know Kim was not pleased and must have said something to her at half time because she was not showing her happy face like she normally is on the bench. Seemed to me she knew she was not going to play in the second half. Welcome to Baylor Erin - Much is expected of you when you put that uniform on.
Speaking of faces - I thought LC was gonna rip her boot off and run on the floor - she was red in the face and yelling after a couple of really suspect foul calls and if looks could kill.....

Sorry you felt my comments were over the top - I guess its the coach in me - you know what they say you can take the guy out of the trailer court but you cant take the trailer court out of the guy or was it gal ??!!??

We will always be good ! I appreciate your passion and love for the Ladies

Eball said:

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We will always be good ! I appreciate your passion and love for the Ladies

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Thank you and I have the same regard for you - keep sharing your thoughts and analysis - always interested in what you think

Just because one "thinks" it does not necessarily mean one has to post it.

Eball, you are off base with Blueeyed. She is right on about Egbo. I have been to numerous practices over the past 12 years and apparently you have not. Egbo is not a good defender. She does not respond properly to coaches instructions concerning her defense..footwork, blocking out just to name a couple. Blue has coached for quite some time and knows the game well. I too have played (at BU) coached and seen thousands of games. She has shown very little improvement on the D side. Offensively, she is an excellent rebounder and has improved her skill set. Kim even has said several times in interviews and luncheons that as long as Queen does what she can do on the O side, that Kim can overlook what she doesn't do on D. She tries to use her athleticism to defend and nothing else. Feet, feet, feet. If she does not improve she will have to learn the 4. I did not make this post to have Blue's 6, just to agree with she is correct on her posts as well as Setshot's and DFWBill's.

Big Bear said:

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Eball, you are off base with Blueeyed. She is right on about Egbo. I have been to numerous practices over the past 12 years and apparently you have not. Egbo is not a good defender. She does not respond properly to coaches instructions concerning her defense..footwork, blocking out just to name a couple. Blue has coached for quite some time and knows the game well. I too have played (at BU) coached and seen thousands of games. She has shown very little improvement on the D side. Offensively, she is an excellent rebounder and has improved her skill set. Kim even has said several times in interviews and luncheons that as long as Queen does what she can do on the O side, that Kim can overlook what she doesn't do on D. She tries to use her athleticism to defend and nothing else. Feet, feet, feet. If she does not improve she will have to learn the 4. I did not make this post to have Blue's 6, just to agree with she is correct on her posts as well as Setshot's and DFWBill's.

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I don't think you read the posts or understand what I was concerned about it had nothing to do with what she said but how she said it. I think we both made our points and we are good.

Not sure she needs defending. I don't disagree that Queen has some areas of her game to work on. Blocking out and playing defense without fouling need to improve and I am sure they will under Kim. There are good things she does as well, as you and Kim mentioned. She is the second leading scorer and second leading rebounder on the team. She is shooting field goals at a higher % than Smith and averaging more rebounds. She needs to work on FT shooting.

All the girls have strengths and weaknesses they should work on improving weaknesses.

I am not sure why Queen draws so much concern from some posters. As I have mentioned often as good as smith and Queen are they are 6'2" and 6'3" not 6'4" and 6'7". It makes a difference. We can't expect sophomore Queen to be as good as Sr Brown was last year. She is already playing well and contributing to the team but she will and should get better. We don't need to give up on her.

blueeyedbear said:

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Bickle had her baptism in college basketball last night. Everyone needs to remember its been basically 2 years since she has played any meaningful minutes especially vs a top quality team. Still 1-4 from the 3 is not to her capability (25.0% - national avg. is 33.8% and good shooters like Katelin has shown in practice are closer to 40+%) and 1-4 from the foul line is unacceptable and she will be the first to say that. She rushed everything all night - I saw Coop telling her to slow down several times. Lets be honest here Boston abused her and got away with it because of no calls and wrong calls. But she played hard and she blocked out and had good position established under the bucket (until Boston hip wiped her and plowed her out of the way).

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Blue, I agree with most but not necessarily all of your comments (maybe I have the context wrong). Agree that the SC game was a baptism for Bickle coming off of injury 2 years ago and agree that some of her shots may have been rushed (not forced) and free throw shooting should have been better. But, I am believing that your comment on Boston "abusing" her was more regarding physical play versus scoring ops. From what I saw of the game, most of Boston's points were scored when Bickle wasn't guarding her. In fact, I was smiling a little bit when the 3rd quarter came around and Bickle vs. Boston was a mini UFC battle in the paint. I thought Bickle showed some JYD grit and although undersized in the matchup, battled extremely hard to make sure she FRONTED Boston, rather then play in back of her and let her get the easy inlet pass. And you are correct, I saw that Bickle made sure she was always in contact with Boston in order to fundamentally box her out from getting a rebound. You could see this physical style of play clearly frustrated Boston and she committed 3 quick fouls in that 3rd Q and had to sit the bench (that would have been a great time for our shooting to come alive and regain/build a lead). This was one time that the refs swallowed their whistles (maybe they too appreciated the hard work Bickle was doing on defense) and it was enjoyable to watch.

Lone Star said:

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blueeyedbear said:

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Bickle had her baptism in college basketball last night. Everyone needs to remember its been basically 2 years since she has played any meaningful minutes especially vs a top quality team. Still 1-4 from the 3 is not to her capability (25.0% - national avg. is 33.8% and good shooters like Katelin has shown in practice are closer to 40+%) and 1-4 from the foul line is unacceptable and she will be the first to say that. She rushed everything all night - I saw Coop telling her to slow down several times. Lets be honest here Boston abused her and got away with it because of no calls and wrong calls. But she played hard and she blocked out and had good position established under the bucket (until Boston hip wiped her and plowed her out of the way).

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Blue, I agree with most but not necessarily all of your comments (maybe I have the context wrong). Agree that the SC game was a baptism for Bickle coming off of injury 2 years ago and agree that some of her shots may have been rushed (not forced) and free throw shooting should have been better. But, I am believing that your comment on Boston "abusing" her was more regarding physical play versus scoring ops. From what I saw of the game, most of Boston's points were scored when Bickle wasn't guarding her. In fact, I was smiling a little bit when the 3rd quarter came around and Bickle vs. Boston was a mini UFC battle in the paint. I thought Bickle showed some JYD grit and although undersized in the matchup, battled extremely hard to make sure she FRONTED Boston, rather then play in back of her and let her get the easy inlet pass. And you are correct, I saw that Bickle made sure she was always in contact with Boston in order to fundamentally box her out from getting a rebound. You could see this physical style of play clearly frustrated Boston and she committed 3 quick fouls in that 3rd Q and had to sit the bench (that would have been a great time for our shooting to come alive and regain/build a lead). This was one time that the refs swallowed their whistles (maybe they too appreciated the hard work Bickle was doing on defense) and it was enjoyable to watch.

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There were two possessions that I was referring to when I used the term abused. You are right I was referring to the physical play not the scoring differential between the two. As I said in another post Bickle was a warrior out there - She was called for a foul when if you watch the possession Boston was hip bumping her to move her over and Katelin did have her arm on her but it was clear as day that Boston had the initial bump (trying to be politically correct here) followed by a second "bump" and then Katelin kinda sorta grabbed her probably more in an effort to keep her balance then to fight back. If Dee Cantor had called the game like she used to Katelin would have put Boston on the bench in the 3rd quarter. You are absolutely right she frustrated Boston and that's what we needed from Queen and Erin - sorry folks but it just was not there.
I have heard CKM commenting that as long as Queen puts up offensive numbers she can live with her defensive liability - which is very strange coming from CKM but I think as we enter conferance play that acceptance is going to be re evaluated. I hope Katelin continues to show in pratice that she is deserving of minutes and she will get her free throws straightened out. As she gains experience at the D1 level eventually the game will slow down for her and from what I have seen in practice she can 3 ball - ball for ball with the Robertson gal from Oklahoma. Gonna be fun if she gets there. I think she is the best 3 baller since Emily Neiman was here.
A note about SC - They came out to out physical BU and that seems to be a tactic that teams are going to try and use vs BU this year - back to the crap TT and Louisville did vs Griner - Officials let it go and Brock who does the report on the officals needs to make the point strong that the unequal physical play has to called or someone is going to get hurt.

I remember in high school that we were never allowed to swim the day of or the day before a game. It just takes away so much energy. The girls were on a trip that included swimming and fun. They deserve a trip like this. But maybe the swimming events zapped some of their energy with three games in a row ?

SirBearALot said:

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I remember in high school that we were never allowed to swim the day of or the day before a game. It just takes away so much energy. The girls were on a trip that included swimming and fun. They deserve a trip like this. But maybe the swimming events zapped some of their energy with three games in a row ?

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Back in the day my first coaching job after BU I let the girls Ice Skate so they could have some fun and relax before the big game - Big mistake - killed their legs and no doubt in my mind it cost us the State Championship.

I'm not so sure that the swimming had anything to do with it as much as playing 3 opponents in 3 days in which the competition ramped up each day. I don't remember about past tournaments but this one certainly seemed to have a stronger then normal field then past tournaments this early in the season.

I

Lone Star said:

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I'm not so sure that the swimming had anything to do with it as much as playing 3 opponents in 3 days in which the competition ramped up each day. I don't remember about past tournaments but this one certainly seemed to have a stronger then normal field then past tournaments this early in the season.

I

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I have to say I agree - this was a loaded for bear of a tournament - Two really good teams in each bracket.
OK State got off to a terrible start but actually out scored Oregon the next three quarters - I thought all and all they acquitted themselves well - poor UT Arlington must have been wondering what did we get ourselves into ??? But they showed some grit and they wont see better opponents in their conference so I look for them to have a good season.
If there had been a day between each game - some outcomes might have been different. 3 games in 3 games against this quality of opponents - is a lot to ask - still I am proud of the effort BU showed.
The whole idea of scheduling this tournament was for CKM to see where her team is and how they handle adversity - Except for the last unexplainable 3 minutes I would say she know she has a team that acquitted itself very well considering LC was on the bench.

No doubt 3 games in 3 days was more than they usually have (exception Big12 tournament), but swimming uses some different muscles and tends to loosen up "tight" muscles. But, the girls deserve to have some fun at these tournaments. I am sure the other teams also had swimming as one of their activities off the court.