Reluctantly, I must admit that the coaching this year has left a lot to be desired. There can be no excuse for last night’s loss. In the past few games, a rotation has been established as to who will play, but the combinations on the floor seem to be all wrong. This team is playing the three guards way too much and at the end of the game, they seem gassed. Precious is not playing enough. As the only true big, she needs more minutes. A combination of any two guards, Precious, Amaya and Fatou is almost never used. But this lineup could give the guards the rest they need.

Last night, GW decided to take Tess Myers out of the game as she is truly the team’s only three point shooter. They sold out, constantly denying her the ball. This five around, dribble drive offense leads to what 90 described - dribbling with no purpose and not looking for the shots, getting caught in undesirable spots. If teams are taking Tess away, the coaches have to set a system of staggered screens to get her shots. This offense does not do that and without Tess getting shots, more close losses will happen. Libby needs to start shooting the ball. Granted, due to her injuries, she is not the same player she was when she was all league. But Libby must look at the hoop more and let it fly. Megan plays hard, but she is a pass first guard. As an average shooter,  a floater would help her game. Play a bigger lineup more to help these guards.

Watching last night’s game reinforced the notion that there are too many coaches coaching. I counted six giving input to the team. That has to be confusing and taking away the cohesion. Dan Burt’s notion of coordinators is OK, but the team needs to have one voice leading them. Dan needs to take over. For huddles, listen to the coordinators and then go in and Dan delivers the messages. Too many cooks spoil the broth.   

The Dukes play the same game every game. Change defenses, vary the offense, set some screens, use a different press. This is the coaching needed now. Unfortunately, it is not happening.

Admittedly, you don't want to take a loss to an 0-8 team and at home; but GW is highly ranked nationally in defense, and although they have lost often in the A-10, recently, they have been very close to winning, losing a few games on the last possession.  I was not surprised that the game was very close, and that GW pulled out a win; although blowing a 7-point lead late in the game to a team that is not blessed with offensive talent is concerning.  Keep in mind that GW has always been a tough game for the Duquesne women.  Look at the history of the series and the results are overwhelmingly in favor of GW.  I believe I read that the Dukes shot around 24% for the game; so that spells doom in most cases.  

Last edited by levon1975 (2/11/2022 11:21 am)