Cal was extremely aggressive and physical in the 1st Quarter, and I'm really grateful they were. That 1Q was intense, with bodies banging and scrapping and diving for loose balls. Cal was excellent at blocking out for rebounds; there were several possessions when they had 3 or more of our players firmly blocked out from crashing the offensive boards. A few things:
a) We really need officials to call fouls in our games to keep it clean. I don't think the officials in the Cal game were perfect, but they did respond to the overaggressive play and cleaned it up with foul calls, especially in the 1st half. Everyone remembers Griner getting swarmed and assaulted by Louisville in 2013, and with the double teams Kalani and Lauren are sure to see in this tourney, we'll see even more physical play as we advance. We need the refs to keep it honest.
b) The intensity and emotion of the 1Q on Monday night is the kind of intensity and emotion we should expect in a Final Four game. I've been a little concerned that our Conference games didn't give us enough of that high intensity level. Cal brought it, which was wonderful, and we responded. We can't allow a team to catch us flat footed, which I think was a factor at Stanford in December.
c) We sometimes fail to block out for rebounds, It's especially noticeable with Kalani. I feel that often we rely on our size and athleticism to secure rebounds, and we forget about putting a butt into an opponent's midsection to create space and help our effort. Cal was fantastic at blocking out, at least in the 1st half when the game was still a contest, and it was a much needed reminder for us to clean up those fundamentals. They matter against the elite teams.
Thank you, Cal, for your effort on Monday, and for giving us those experiences which should help us down the road.
a) We really need officials to call fouls in our games to keep it clean. I don't think the officials in the Cal game were perfect, but they did respond to the overaggressive play and cleaned it up with foul calls, especially in the 1st half. Everyone remembers Griner getting swarmed and assaulted by Louisville in 2013, and with the double teams Kalani and Lauren are sure to see in this tourney, we'll see even more physical play as we advance. We need the refs to keep it honest.
b) The intensity and emotion of the 1Q on Monday night is the kind of intensity and emotion we should expect in a Final Four game. I've been a little concerned that our Conference games didn't give us enough of that high intensity level. Cal brought it, which was wonderful, and we responded. We can't allow a team to catch us flat footed, which I think was a factor at Stanford in December.
c) We sometimes fail to block out for rebounds, It's especially noticeable with Kalani. I feel that often we rely on our size and athleticism to secure rebounds, and we forget about putting a butt into an opponent's midsection to create space and help our effort. Cal was fantastic at blocking out, at least in the 1st half when the game was still a contest, and it was a much needed reminder for us to clean up those fundamentals. They matter against the elite teams.
Thank you, Cal, for your effort on Monday, and for giving us those experiences which should help us down the road.