In Reply to: My broken record semi-rant posted by TheHappyBurgermeister on February 21, 2025 at 07:41:02
I hear you, HB. But to me it's more complicated than that. Just about every coach who has a dominant center wants their team to run their offense inside out. With Lew Alcindor (Kareem) or Bill Walton, you want to run Kareem or Walton around away from the basket and try to compete with the others man to man on a more level playing field? I would not.
Question to me isn't getting the ball inside to Lauren but rather HOW we get it in to her (hopefully not forcing it and making dangerous passes) and also what the OTHER players are doing when the ball goes in there.
Lauren does have a habit of allowing the double and triple teams to come at her while she looks to find an open teammate to pass it out. Sometimes she waits too long. But it means she is looking for better options when she is being swarmed. So running another player off a screen at an angle off the top of the key - Rice? Jaquez? Dugalic? Gardiner? Jones? there are lots of options - might be an effective approach.
Keeping teammates moving when the ball goes inside is the idea.
But outstanding and deep as our roster is, Lauren Betts is the difference maker that sets this team in the small group atop the pack and when it's playing well on top of that group. She's a very good player. So is Barker. So are some others. But Lauren is 6'7" and they are not. She scored 22 points last night, single handedly was keeping us ahead in the game, especially on a night when nobody's jump shots were falling - 1 three pointer until Rice and then Dugalic hit them in the last quarter.
No coach is going to give up that edge, that advantage, to diversify an offense especially when no one else is scoring. And that happens. Gabriela's shot hasn't been falling of late; Angela's scoring is a bit down also; Aarnisalo hasn't been scoring like she did earlier in the year; Jones has an on/off switch and when it's off it's 'way off. But Lauren Betts is always on. One- and two-footers give you an enormous advantage.
I don't think it's going to change.
Moving more without the ball,designing plays for the quick pass out or starting plays from outside seeing if that will ease the crowd around Betts - do all of that. But this team's best shot at a national championship is exploiting their best weapons - that's riding Betts and getting Rice to apply the coup de gras while the rest of our stars get to show their brilliance as the opportunities arise.
I do believe there are some teams out there that could beat us. If the other shots aren't falling leaving them open to swarm Betts inside - that top group can beat us on a given night like that. SC demonstrated it. There are players capable of rising up and beating anyone and they're very hard to stop. UConn has a cadre who are outstanding and great coaching too. South Carolina has already played us, on our own floor, they aren't going to be awed if they get a rematch. Notre Dame beat SC in Galen. There are some great teams. We may not win the NC (I think we'll be even better next year though). But we're in the hunt and the reason is Lauren Betts.