GDT: Mississippi St Bulldogs vs SDSU Jackrabbits 6pm @ Frost Arena/Midco

[LetsGoRabbits]

i wont go on about it. i have said too much already now

but WOW Dru is g g g g g g g g GOOD! so smart and amazing vision! she does the little things right that are so fun to watch

i thought she looked WAY more comfortable on defense tonight against some crazy good athletes!! i am amazed how it can be SO OBVIOUS that she is hurt and still be this good!! i do feel sad that i never saw the NOT HURT version of this girl

[LetsGoRabbits]

one more (for now) thing

WOW Mississippi State is really athletic!!! really aggressive!!! and i think really good

they had a very athletic post who has averaged about 16 and 10 so far barely play. (did think for a game so physical some of her fouls were really light. bummer for her. obviously did not hurt the jacks chances to win. but did hurt our opportunity to play against a long athletic post) and they stayed competitive to the end

the freshman Powe was very impressive

anyway VERY FUN team to see and i suspect they win plenty of games. it is so cool that the girls can have this type of teams come into frost!!! such a bummer the guys cant

[OldHare]

Postgame statement by Coach Purcell;
Quoting Coach Purcell
Opening Statement
"It's a huge one. It could've been easy in my first year to push them off another year, but this is a special place. I think me and Kelly were talking about it; they've only lost seven games; you might have to fact-check me on that, but in 2017 it's like eight or nine or 10 games they've only lost. They don't lose here, and it's because of their crowd; it's a special environment for women's basketball. It's loud, they have the band right beside our bench, which is very unique so the huddles are everything. We put words up about being tough, but I was glad because when things went bad for us, because Ahlana is a big part and Jessica obviously, when they went out, other people had to take on other roles and they did. It's again I think a team that can make the sweet sixteen, elite eight this year."

[salemjack]

Presser highlight from AJ: Paige is weeks away, not months.

[98Jackfarmer]

Dru is amazing, no doubt about that. We need to start to fire the open look 3's though. There were multiple times we passed up the open look because we were scared/told not to/whatever, and they tried to make the extra pass and turned it over. I believe we have the shooters, use them. Not saying we have to throw up 30 a game but we have to start. JMO, and very uneducated at that, it just is frustrating to have a TO after a wide open look or two.
Because we are going to face defenses that will only slip up once or so, IMO.

[LetsGoRabbits]

Postgame statement by Coach Purcell;
Quoting Coach Purcell
Opening Statement
"It's a huge one. It could've been easy in my first year to push them off another year, but this is a special place. I think me and Kelly were talking about it; they've only lost seven games; you might have to fact-check me on that, but in 2017 it's like eight or nine or 10 games they've only lost. They don't lose here, and it's because of their crowd; it's a special environment for women's basketball. It's loud, they have the band right beside our bench, which is very unique so the huddles are everything. We put words up about being tough, but I was glad because when things went bad for us, because Ahlana is a big part and Jessica obviously, when they went out, other people had to take on other roles and they did. It's again I think a team that can make the sweet sixteen, elite eight this year."

nice to hear these things from so many opposing coaches!! nice from this coach who i am pretty sure is in his first HC job. at least in his first year at MSU after many years as an assistant. would be easy for him to feel pressure / want to get off to a good start / make excuses for a tough and close loss

i do not think it is inconceivable that he might have made comment about them getting hurt by fouls. i respect it very much that he did not!! obviously their stud being hampered all game with fouls mattered, but they were the team that created the aggressive and physical circumstances. so unlike dawn p whose teams played like aspiring NFL linebackers while she complained to the refs the whole game, he recognized that both teams got hurt by the officials in some way or another

i kind of already said it but again, it is awesome that WBB coaches want to and are able to put their teams i these situations. our program our girls and our coach have reached the point where they are nationally respected and the best teams in the country can come into brookings and not have to fear that losing will be considered a bad loss that hurts them come tournament time

going forward, EVERY miss. st win is a win for the jacks, but regardless of that, they were a fun team to watch and it would be easy to root for them and these comments by their coach make it easier still !!

[LetsGoRabbits]

Dru is amazing, no doubt about that. We need to start to fire the open look 3's though. There were multiple times we passed up the open look because we were scared/told not to/whatever, and they tried to make the extra pass and turned it over. I believe we have the shooters, use them. Not saying we have to throw up 30 a game but we have to start. JMO, and very uneducated at that, it just is frustrating to have a TO after a wide open look or two.

i definitely do not think that AJ encourages quite the same let it fly with confidence 3pt shooting that Hendo does, but i guess it is quite rare he is telling someone not to shoot. but i have no facts regarding this!!

that said we did just beat a good team while only making one 3 and i believe in wnit vs either alabama or ucla we also made only one or very few anyway. SO.... while this is a good weapon for us and making them definitely helps us, we absolutely do not have to shoot 3s to win, EVEN against good teams

the TOs tonight were definitely painful, but i do not think there is really any direct connection between passing up 3s and turning the ball over. simply for whatever reason there were times they chose not to shoot and also there were times we made some OTHER and ALSO bad decisions that led to turnovers

i think of the two, we FOR SURE want to cut down the TOs! that is a much more sure way to turn wins into losses!! two good things happen when you do not turn the ball over. first YOU have the ball and the bad guys do not. it is very very hard for the bad guys to score when they do not have the ball. second we are quite efficient offensively, so when we do not turn it over we very often get a good shot which leads to us making shots

considering paige, is out Dru is learning to play hurt, we have two freshman handling the ball plenty and another one playing a lot, and i could come up with more reasons, it is a bit expected to have some struggles, but i believe this team will only continue to get better at NOT turning the ball over

as far as the 3pt shooting i believe we were 1 for 8 tonight. i have not looked but i think timmie was 1 of 3 maybe 4 and i believe Myah 0 of 2?? i cannot even remember who shot the others but at the moment those are probably our best 3 pt shooters and maybe they are just a little off they will get it dialed in

i would expect PB wont exactly be in a hurry to put up a bunch of 3s until she gets into a little better rhythm- for crying out loud she was OH for 5 on FTs tonight. she is just struggling. still did some good things and still helps and plays hard!! had a nice little step out over their post from about 7 feet tonight. that was good to see!!! but she is struggling at the moment on offense. she will get it figured out and then she will go back to knocking down 3s. that is a big difference. she was one of our best shooters from 3 last year

PB will get it figured out. the freshman guards will find their groove. Timmer is gonna have plenty of good shooting games but probably some not great ones too, and Myah is gonna be more than fine so i dont expect we need to worry too much about the 3pt shooting, and i really think it is a completely separate issue from the turnovers tonight

finally maybe shooting in general is a little off at the moment. FTs were very bad tonight and that and the TOs were the biggest factors in keeping the game close. i also think the FTs will be fine. i am really surprised how much brooklyn is struggling!! did you see how comfortably she stepped out and hit from about FT distance on the wing tonight? she has the skill!! if i was coaching i would definitely encourage her NOT to begin with her legs so straight and stiff. that is NOT an athletic position to begin your shot from and i think is a good possibility as to why her FT attempts look so stiff overall. maybe that has always been her FT style i have no idea

i never cared what a kid shot looked like as long as they were successful but if her struggles continue i would definitely think about looking for a tweak and that seems like a good place to begin. she is a GREAT athlete so she should look like an athlete when she shoots not the tinman from Oz

anyway as long as she is struggling and it is her and kallie taking the majority of FT along with PB 0 for 5 we will get some bad nights at the stripe. i think Kallie has looked way way better this year. i was surprised how bad her last 3 FT attempt looked. her style is a bit stiff also (beyond the FTs tonight i think Kallie is looking better than ever, awesome!!). i very much believe that PB and everyone else will be fine

[bigticket1]

Presser highlight from AJ: Paige is weeks away, not months.

Starting with Media Day, I believe they have been saying sometime in December.

[bigticket1]

Thought the Jacks got a little too passive in the last 5 minutes. I get running the shot clock, but waiting till the last few seconds to scramble to get a shot up wasn't working. When we made our runs, it was by attacking the basket, and they made their runs when we turned it over and weren't getting shots up.

[LetsGoRabbits]

Starting with Media Day, I believe they have been saying sometime in December.

that is what i understood also. going to be interesting to see how the minutes breakdown. gotta think if they both get reasonably healthy that they would put Paige and Dru on the floor together and i imagine both of them can make that work, but i dont think Paige played much off guard / shooting guard last year

[jackdaniel]

Dru is amazing, no doubt about that. We need to start to fire the open look 3's though. There were multiple times we passed up the open look because we were scared/told not to/whatever, and they tried to make the extra pass and turned it over. I believe we have the shooters, use them. Not saying we have to throw up 30 a game but we have to start. JMO, and very uneducated at that, it just is frustrating to have a TO after a wide open look or two.
Because we are going to face defenses that will only slip up once or so, IMO.

I remember ...(intro into story time), but had to go back & look, thought it was her frosh season, but no, it was her soph season, one of our best 3 pt shooters ever in program history , Kristin Rotert started the 2008-2009 season 0 for 13, 0-4 against Mo, 0-2 against Wisc, 0-4 against Utah, 0-3 against OR . She came out of it and made 63 that season and had 58 her fresh season. So , I guess the point being that even the great ones can start slow but finish strong. She shared 3 pt duty mainly with Jill Young , another great, plus very competent shooters on the rest of the team, an AJ trademark in recruiting, so her shooting ability on another team not so loaded with 3 pt shooters could have been much more profound. I'm thinking we'll come out of this shooting slump eventually, then watch out.

[jackdaniel]

that is what i understood also. going to be interesting to see how the minutes breakdown. gotta think if they both get reasonably healthy that they would put Paige and Dru on the floor together and i imagine both of them can make that work, but i dont think Paige played much off guard / shooting guard last year

I would most definitely like to see that just to see the passes, it would be so fun to watch, or , we could give these two equal time sharing duty at the point to rest their warrior legs more throughout the long season. The end of the season is so important we need take precautions to make sure, as much as possible, that we have everyone available then, if that would truly help, no one knows for sure, but it sounds like a reasonable assumption. But, your idea is very, very intrguing , tempting , I'm sure, maybe a couple games hopefully in case we want to try it later and have some experience with it ? I'm sure the coaching staff will consider all options and come up with the best plan, or two.

[Jacked_Up]

Coach A.J. said at a fan luncheon in Sioux Falls that Paige should be back before the December holidays. Dru will be playing hurt all season. I got the impression that Ellie Colbeck probably will start at the point, until Paige is ready to go. Tori Nelson has been practicing at point guard and will play there when needed. Madison Mathiowetz, who started the season at the point, will focus on other guard positions. Among other tidbits, the coach said that 6-3 freshman Natalie Nielson will redshirt this season. She will be the only redshirt.

[jackdaniel]

Maybe they should make them play with those sliding mitts they use in baseball.

I'm just glad Jacks triumphed

They'd "lose their touch" though wouldn't they? ...j/k

[Jacked_Up]

It's hard to imagine the coach encouraging players to crank up contested three-point shots when they barely shot 50 pecernt from the free throw line against Mississippi State. With only slightly better shooting on free throws, the game would not have been close at the end. Hopefully outside shooting improves, and the team gets back to last year's level of excellence.