if anything is keeping you up at night this summer.
Reigning national champions. A returning roster that arguably boasts more talent than this year's team.
Let Kim Mulkey lose sleep worrying about how to get her team to finally play up to its potential.
This is a summer to cherish, not fret.
And I'm not going to mention it - if I did, I would have had to mention it 4 times last year.
I think I avoided ALL jinxs here.
the court at the same time and having them able to be more aggressive knowing that if one of them gets into foul trouble the bench, i.e. the other one is not bare.
always scare me. But I agree, with Turner and Shepard, backed up by Vaughn, Patterson and Cosgrove, we have great talent and the best “big” depth that I can remember. We will miss Koko, and watching her improve over the years was great. Early on turnovers were a curse for Koko, as were her slowly released passes (what I mean is that while her passing accuracy became very good to excellent, her passes were slow in being released, which could be nerve-wracking, at least for me).
I really most enjoyed last season was Koko's development, rise to the challenge and achievements during her senior year. That was just great to watch.
most of her bunnies, and had a fine and dependable short range jumper. Excellent at taking charges. Most important, she seemed like a really great young woman. Very proud of her.
exhibit A for not letting a lack of talent prevent her from achieving goals I never thought possible the first time I saw her play.
exhibit A for the ND coaching staff's ability to develop players
exhibit A for team first
and your last 2 sentences hit the bullseye
Why did she get outscored by Gulich in their NCAA tournament loss?
I'm don't necessarily believe Brown is better than McCowan. McCowan is a better rebounder and shot-blocker.
Regardless, both were beatable last year. Brown got outplayed in the tourney by a player, Gulich, who ND held to 10 pts, 9 rebounds.
The games ND has lost in recent years have not been to teams with massive centers like Brown or McCowan. UConn hasn't had a true center since Dolson. Louisville doesn't a have a true center. We've had more problems with versatile 6-2 and 6-3 players like Myisha Hines-Allen or Stanford's Erica McCall.
We have the starting center from our national championship team returning plus an All-American center returning from injury. Why should we be worried?
remember. She always played well against us.
I respect her game quite a bit.
Oh wait, we will have the best inside game in the country!
Baylor hasn't been to a Final Four since 2012, and it isn't like they haven't had talent.
BTW, how does a player who is 6'7" only have 50 blocks in a season, especially with the schedule they played? In the Stanford, Texas, and OSU games she had 2 blocks...total...for five games.
In 2016-17 Turner had 86. The year before that she had 88. As a freshman she had 89.
...if you're thinking about basketball, that is.
Breezy Bri will be the ultimate insurance policy for whatever defensive strategy and alignment MM chooses to go with: man, zone, match-up zone, press.
The blocks are great, of course, but her weak-side help and lateral quickness that can help protect against aircraft carrier-centers and light-on-their feet forwards.
The obvious and #1 pairing is with her buddy, Jess Shepard, but I can see her easily working with an agile forward like Danielle Paterson, as well as a four-guard lineup. And the idea of having she and Shep work with Mik Vaughn and Danielle Cosgrove-- both in practice and games -- for down the road is great.
With Bri and depth at the post/forward, MM can get aggressive on defense if she choose to: it will be fun to see hustlers like Marina and Abby Prohaska get in someone's grill or attack passing lanes knowing Bri is back there to allow them to take chances.
I'd say 90-95% of it is about her defense (granted that was a bit of a problem this year and defense is very important). However, she's not exactly a slouch on the offensive end, either.
Two years ago she was just 0.6 ppg behind Ogunbowale, the team's leading scorer, with 15.3 ppg (Turner's scoring). As a sophomore she led the team with 14.6 ppg. Even as a freshman, she averaged 13.8 ppg (2nd on the team).
It will be amazing to see what Turner can do fully healthy with a team returning so many players from a National Championship team.
to work on her shot and low post moves.
Since we finished on the highest of notes, it's easy to forget some weaknesses that surfaced over the course of the year. One was low post defense, both against strong low post scorers and against guards/wings who could fearlessly attack the basket if they got by our guards. Bri's return changes all of that.
recovered and picks up where she left off when she was injured. I'll be interested to see if Danielle Cosgrove can play low and high post positions. Danielle Patterson should improve her strength and find a place in the rotation. Will the arrival of her high school teammate Jordan Nixon help her to find some shots?
Yes! Oops, what is "Yes"? No one would pass the ball to Danielle last year. Now, that most likely was by design, but having a friendly face on the floor can't hurt Ms. Patterson's game. Muffet has gone out of her way to announce we will have a real point guard who will get a lot of practice. I assume she means Nixon. That's a great observation, MPG, and, hopefully, can only improve Danielle Patterson's confidence.
As you say, if Mikayla Vaughn gets fully recovered, she will be pushing the best front court in college basketball. She was simply spectacular in her introduction.