IPFW Game Day Thread

[bigticket1]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

It's a lack of mental toughness and concentration that continues to kill this team. The physical talent isn't that much different - the coaches told TV before the season started that this year's team was better going into the season than last year's ( I didn't believe that then,and still don't). You can tell the coaching staff is very frustrated,and it's because players keep making the same mental mistakes and lack of concentration over and over and over. Coaches can correct physical mistakes,but bad decision-making and mental mistakes are tough to change. It's obvious that the mental and physical toughness (and leadership) that Ketty and Maria provided has not been replaced.

[jackmd]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

Could not believe the lack of noise from the crowd when the Dons shot those 4 free throws late in overtime when the game was in doubt

The play of the team has a lot to do with the noise of the crowd. That said, the student crowd is pitiful at best.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

The play of the team has a lot to do with the noise of the crowd. That said, the student crowd is pitiful at best.

And yet the student crowd is still better than the rest of the crowd. Sadly enough.

[goon]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

And yet the student crowd is still better than the rest of the crowd. Sadly enough.

Either side really has nothing to brag about.

[1bunnies]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

The play of the team has a lot to do with the noise of the crowd. That said, the student crowd is pitiful at best.

I concur. You can include the cheerleaders as well. Cheerleaders are supposed to lead cheers, hence the title. For as much cheering as they actually do, we would be much better served by the band and the dance team. The cheerleaders look at each other with the deer in the headlights look and can't figure out what to do.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

I concur. You can include the cheerleaders as well. Cheerleaders are supposed to lead cheers, hence the title. For as much cheering as they actually do, we would be much better served by the band and the dance team. The cheerleaders look at each other with the deer in the headlights look and can't figure out what to do.

I've always felt the cheerleaders think that people are there to see them perform, like they had an agenda or something. They always acted like they were a show on the side of the game.

I once watched a group of them work on their stuff after the game and every time they completed it they looked into the crowd to see if anyone was watching. I'd be completely fine with getting rid of them, but that's just my opinion.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

For me it's becoming increasingly difficult to watch this team. 51 turnovers in this game and 38 fouls. Jacks had 28 of those turnovers. I really have grown to enjoy watching the women's game over the last several years as I think in many ways it's a more fundamental game, but this team shows little emotion and seems to keep making the same mistakes over and over. I don't care about the wins and losses, but the way the game is played. This team has some talent, but AJ, the players and the crowd don't seem to be able to find it on a consistent basis. The IFPW is a team that we would have absolutely trounced the last few years. AJ has a pattern if you make a mistake your coming out and sitting immediately. I don't know if you should allow the players to work through some of those mistakes or sulk on the bench.

[SturgisJeff]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

For me it's becoming increasingly difficult to watch this team. 51 turnovers in this game and 38 fouls. Jacks had 28 of those turnovers. I really have grown to enjoy watching the women's game over the last several years as I think in many ways it's a more fundamental game, but this team shows little emotion and seems to keep making the same mistakes over and over. I don't care about the wins and losses, but the way the game is played. This team has some talent, but AJ, the players and the crowd don't seem to be able to find it on a consistent basis. The IFPW is a team that we would have absolutely trounced the last few years. AJ has a pattern if you make a mistake your coming out and sitting immediately. I don't know if you should allow the players to work through some of those mistakes or sulk on the bench.

True enough especially the last. If Tara Heiser is the heir apparent to take over for Macie next year then AJ better start letting her play more than one minute a game. She came in, committed two turnovers on bad passes(due to lack of playing time) and had one steal and was yanked for the rest of the game. She isn't doing any worse than the rest of the team so play her. Would not surprise me to see her leave the team after this year. 99 minutes played in 10 games while everyone else is above 200 minutes played in 12 games including the injured girls.

[SoDakJack]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

True enough especially the last. If Tara Heiser is the heir apparent to take over for Macie next year then AJ better start letting her play more than one minute a game. She came in, committed two turnovers on bad passes(due to lack of playing time) and had one steal and was yanked for the rest of the game. She isn't doing any worse than the rest of the team so play her. Would not surprise me to see her leave the team after this year. 99 minutes played in 10 games while everyone else is above 200 minutes played in 12 games including the injured girls.

Perhaps it is a "chicken and the egg" situation. If she had performed better in her time during the game, perhaps she would get more minutes. But, she may not play better if she doesn't get the time...

It is a rough time for this program, but this just may build more character in the ladies than a season of 30 wins. Adversity is what makes a person stronger.

[jacks1]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

Perhaps it is a "chicken and the egg" situation. If she had performed better in her time during the game, perhaps she would get more minutes. But, she may not play better if she doesn't get the time...

It is a rough time for this program, but this just may build more character in the ladies than a season of 30 wins. Adversity is what makes a person stronger.

I certainly hope Gabby can handle the ball and/or pressure. As of now, we don't have a guard on the team that can handle the ball. Heck, most of our guards don't/can't even dribble with their heads up. How many times did #21 basically pick our guards' pocket on Sat when she was the only one applying pressure? Edit: I looked it up. It was 10 times.

[jackmd]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

AJ seems to be gripping and he is projecting that on the women. They seem afraid to make passes and take shots. Watch the timeouts, the other coaches cheer their team, show them a few things and get the players back on the court. AJ is taking the whole timeout, starts by chewing on the refs, then the players, then seems to be drawing up elaborate plays that seem to put players out of position and restrict free offensive flow and improvisation.

Now, this is coming from someone who isn't the least bit qualified to coach college basketball and this is critical of someone who clearly is qualified and successful at what he does.

I do think he is too quick to pull players after "mistakes". Sometimes you make "mistakes" when your aggressive, playing at full speed, and having fun. I think you make more "mistakes" when your too deliberate, afraid to be aggressive, and when you are too aware of your "mistakes". The season is over half way done, conference tourney is looming, this team has some figuring out to do.

[91jack]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

And yet the student crowd is still better than the rest of the crowd. Sadly enough.

I think the student crowd was better than the rest during the men's game not the womens. The student section was about twice as full during the 2nd game as the 1st. It was a weekend so they didn't get their late because of class. If you're going to show up, why not go to both games. I always expect the students to be louder that the other fans. If you watch major basketball on TV, it's always the student sections they show. I'm not saying the other fans shouldn't cheer but it's sad they have to carry the student section most of the time.
I said that I'd take Heiser out after her 2nd turnover, too. I would have brought her back later in the game though. Tara has had some good games but I don't know about this one. You can't judge anybody in 1 minute but nobody else had that type of turnover margin. Would she have played better with more minutes? Probably!
The question I have is about the end of the game. SDSU was up 1 point with 2 minutes left in the game and they played the stalling game. On 2 possessions in a row SDSU held the ball and ran the shot clock down. The ball got knocked out of bounds with 4 seconds left, they gave the ball to Jill and didn't get a good shot off. If they were up 5 or 7 points with 2 minutes, I'd understand. Jill isn't the player I'd give the ball to to create her own shot. I know she was supposed to get a open shot right away but that didn't happen either time. I know Jill was fouled on 1 of the plays but I still don't understand why you don't just run your offense and get a good shot.

[jackmd]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

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The question I have is about the end of the game. SDSU was up 1 point with 2 minutes left in the game and they played the stalling game. On 2 possessions in a row SDSU held the ball and ran the shot clock down. The ball got knocked out of bounds with 4 seconds left, they gave the ball to Jill and didn't get a good shot off. If they were up 5 or 7 points with 2 minutes, I'd understand. Jill isn't the player I'd give the ball to to create her own shot. I know she was supposed to get a open shot right away but that didn't happen either time. I know Jill was fouled on 1 of the plays but I still don't understand why you don't just run your offense and get a good shot.

Exactly, this team doesn't feel like they can make the plays to win so they are playing not to lose. There were 3 possessions while we had the lead late where we really didn't even get a shot and that was because we weren't looking to score. We were looking to run clock and then trying to draw a foul and get to the line. That isn't how you finish games off and we wouldn't have done that in previous years.

Watch the end of the game again. Every out-of-bounds AJ called a timeout and drew up something. A couple of times it worked the rest of the time it just allowed IPFW to rest and set their defense. I like having 4 or 5 set OB plays ready, call the play, get the ball, run the play and score. You don't need a timeout to set up an OB play.

[jackdaniel]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

I certainly hope Gabby can handle the ball and/or pressure. As of now, we don't have a guard on the team that can handle the ball. Heck, most of our guards don't/can't even dribble with their heads up. How many times did #21 basically pick our guards' pocket on Sat when she was the only one applying pressure? Edit: I looked it up. It was 10 times.

So,we've got a team with good scorers, who don't score enough because we can't keep the ball long enough to get a good shot off.......great!
They definitely make it hard on themselves to win a basketball game.

The scouts who evaluate future recruits have to evaluate everything a player does,negatively along with the positive.All these players were evaluated by someone who obviously over looked thier ball handling abilities.I will say this much though,it must be hard to judge how well a player will transition from HS to Div 1 basketball.The quality of the opposition is much better,as all scholarship Div 1 players are the creme of the crop HS players.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: IPFW Game Day Thread

The IFPW is a team that we would have absolutely trounced the last few years.

I'm not going to defend this year's team in regards to their play in a number of games...it's frustrating for me also. But this year is not last year, and the statement above fails the apples-oranges test. This IPFW team is not last year's team...They beat NDSU on the road, gave Oral Roberts a good game on the road, beat Oakland at home by a dozen, and are 13-5. And this year's team is not last year's team...we lost to NDSU at home, got beat worse at home by ORU, and will find out about Oakland tonight.

Kayla Drake is a transfer from Eastern Kentucky and she is a heck of a player, and especially tough on a team that has a penchant for poor passes and difficulties with pressing guards. We had 28 frustrating turnovers, but they had 23. We lost to them in OT. And with Stephanie Rosario (a transfer from UTEP) and Weinart, we could have used the services of Katie Lingle, who had started to play really tough inside, and Watayshek as well (seems like injuries have really juggled our line-up time and again).

If we could just figure out how to make short shots around the basket and take care of the ball better on passes against quick teams, and ball handling, we would have won a lot of games we lost this year. It certainly isn't as much fun to watch the team this year (we have definitely all become spoiled), but we're certainly going to continue to support OUR team and will be there tonight to see them beat Oakland.