May Michelle remain on the floor! My observations based on very limited viewing of MS State’s offense: I think Michelle can front the 6’6” Bulldog as MS State’s guards are hesitant to lob it in there if it doesn’t look entirely open (unlike our guards who seem less careful with the rock). But, if their center gets it down low, she often goes right into the shooting motion; other times she’ll immediately find an open shooter. Significantly, I didn’t see her give any pump fakes or seek out contact, which may help Michelle avoid foul trouble. However if she is tempted to block every shot that may be ill advised. Instead, limit her catches inside.
I watched the linked video and had these thoughts:
1. their C is potentially a big problem as she seems to pass out immediately to shooters, and as you say catch and go immediately up which might catch our defenders off guard (e.g. leaning in and therefore called for a foul).
2. their C also can drive which is unusual for such a big C to be able to drive and score. That will be impossible to stop and again can get our centers in foul trouble.
3. their C seems to keep out of foul trouble herself. She only fouled out twice and only averaged about 3 fouls/game. My assumption is she is so big that she mostly just walls up and doesn't aggressively go for blocks much of the time.
4. she is long so it will be tough to lob over her, and I saw a couple of passes she hit while standing behind the post player. So if we can't lob over her and it will be hard to pass straight to Michelle when she plays behind, we will need to pass to Michelle on the move, or bounce pass it. This makes a big part of our offense a challenge.
5. I think we guard her cautiously and give her the 10-12 points. Michelle is too valuable to not have on the court due to foul trouble.
6. they also have a 6-5 center who gives them 12 good minutes.
7. their guards/wings are fast, drive and strong defenders.
8. they are deeper than us.
9. they sometimes collapse to prevent post scoring and drives, but are a vulnerable to 3s. That maybe a Cal advantage, but they might change their defensive strategy against us
10. Absolutely critical for Michelle and Marta to stay on the court, for Williams to have a good game including scoring, and for our shooters to do what they do. Hopefully Marta is a match up problem for them, but again sometimes they settle back into the paint on D and that could take out Marta's post scoring. If so, she will need to force the defense to react to her and then pass out to shooters.
I expect Noble and Gaby to get important minutes.
Overall this is a very good athletic team with size, although not a super shooting team.
Hopefully they're as bad at defending threes as Nick claims in the post. That will allow the splash sisters to get us a big lead and give some of the starters some rest.
Common opponents were Georgia Tech and Alabama. Cal went 2-0 both at home. Miss St went 0-2, losing at GT and Bama at home.
Excellent preview. Thank you! Go Bears! May our threes rain and reign, and may our defense be a productive pain!
May Michelle remain on the floor! My observations based on very limited viewing of MS State’s offense: I think Michelle can front the 6’6” Bulldog as MS State’s guards are hesitant to lob it in there if it doesn’t look entirely open (unlike our guards who seem less careful with the rock). But, if their center gets it down low, she often goes right into the shooting motion; other times she’ll immediately find an open shooter. Significantly, I didn’t see her give any pump fakes or seek out contact, which may help Michelle avoid foul trouble. However if she is tempted to block every shot that may be ill advised. Instead, limit her catches inside.
I watched the linked video and had these thoughts:
1. their C is potentially a big problem as she seems to pass out immediately to shooters, and as you say catch and go immediately up which might catch our defenders off guard (e.g. leaning in and therefore called for a foul).
2. their C also can drive which is unusual for such a big C to be able to drive and score. That will be impossible to stop and again can get our centers in foul trouble.
3. their C seems to keep out of foul trouble herself. She only fouled out twice and only averaged about 3 fouls/game. My assumption is she is so big that she mostly just walls up and doesn't aggressively go for blocks much of the time.
4. she is long so it will be tough to lob over her, and I saw a couple of passes she hit while standing behind the post player. So if we can't lob over her and it will be hard to pass straight to Michelle when she plays behind, we will need to pass to Michelle on the move, or bounce pass it. This makes a big part of our offense a challenge.
5. I think we guard her cautiously and give her the 10-12 points. Michelle is too valuable to not have on the court due to foul trouble.
6. they also have a 6-5 center who gives them 12 good minutes.
7. their guards/wings are fast, drive and strong defenders.
8. they are deeper than us.
9. they sometimes collapse to prevent post scoring and drives, but are a vulnerable to 3s. That maybe a Cal advantage, but they might change their defensive strategy against us
10. Absolutely critical for Michelle and Marta to stay on the court, for Williams to have a good game including scoring, and for our shooters to do what they do. Hopefully Marta is a match up problem for them, but again sometimes they settle back into the paint on D and that could take out Marta's post scoring. If so, she will need to force the defense to react to her and then pass out to shooters.
I expect Noble and Gaby to get important minutes.
Overall this is a very good athletic team with size, although not a super shooting team.
Cal needs to play their A game to win
Anyone coming to LA for the game, the Cal Alumni Association of Los Angeles is hosting a pre game function - RSVP here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdioSXzCCmLEpnqTdaY9CQjPLmoc_hAJVMIo9zYDb4kSqdQJA/viewform?mc_cid=7f0fd2b7d9&mc_eid=cb84acbf02
Go bears!
Go Bears!
I would love to see a big lead early so that Charmin can go deeper into the bench to rest the starters for a very tough game against $¢.
I don’t know. Mississippi State looked good against Ole Miss and was right in it into the fourth quarter.
Hopefully they're as bad at defending threes as Nick claims in the post. That will allow the splash sisters to get us a big lead and give some of the starters some rest.
Seems like a winnable game. The Bears are hyped and I predict they'll win comfortably. Then the shocker over U$C.
Is there a Bulldog-writer equivalent to Nick? Can we get one of these interviews? Love those re: football...
None that I've been able to find yet, sadly