Thank you.  Good luck to Coach Burt and the DU women.

Down 4 at end of first quarter.

HIGHLY questionnable substitution taking out Brown 3 mins into the game and then alternating Brown and Hutcherson.  They need to be on the floor at the same time.

For us to be successful, Brown needs to be on the block, NOT at the top of the offense when Hutcherson is not in the game.

If we continue this strategy we will not be able to keep up with Richmond.  

Burt get your head on straight and realize you need Kiaku, Hutcherson and Brown on the floor if you want to win today.  Richmond has size, length and sharpshooters.

Attack with Kiaku and try to draw fouls against Richmond.

Down 8, 49-41 end of third.

It would have been a heck of a lot worse if not for feeding Brown and letting her go to work inside the paint.  Clearly, Richmond can't defend her on the block.  KEEP HER THERE!

WHY is Hucherson on the bench????  Faith Walker is going to be a very good player in her career, but she is a freshman and she can't guard the A10 player of the year.  That is setting her up for failure.  

Our lack of size leads to too many easy layups for Richmond.

Dukes up 2, 3:16 left in game.  

Richmond timeout.

Need size now, Richmond is going to go back to inside-out for an open look at 3 or score over our small guards.

 

Lost by 5.

Two big plays by Richmond made the difference.  A rebound and putback off a missed 3 and then a wide-open drive to the hoop for an easy layup, where they took advantage a freshman defender who instead of stepping in front of the driver, turned her head and followed her offensive player she was guarding that opend up the lane for an uncontested drive and score for Richmond.

This was a very winnable game but our end-game strategy was why we lost.  The fact that Kiaku and Hutcherson were not on the floor, in place of two freshmen, in the final minutes was why our coaching staff lost this game.  Hutcherson gives you size and experience and Kiaku gives you speed.  Hutcherson was not an offensive factor, today but thankfully we finally put Brown on the block and let her go to work.

We should have won this game by imposing our strength on Richmond.  With Brown dominating, and Kiaku's ability to drive the piant, we could have easily taken control and gotten Richmond into foul trouble. We had too much inexperience on the floor at the end of the game and it showed. 

We needed to attack the hoop, we didn't have a player on the floor who had the speed to drive right through the Richmond defense.  In the final minutes, we were lost on offense, passed the ball around the perimter and ended with empty possessions.  With 20 seconds left, we had a chance to tie, but wasted 28 secons passing the ball that led to a contested 3 by Brown as the shot clock was winding down.  It looked from replay that she was hit on the arm during the act of shooting, but a foul was not called.

This game was lost by our coaching staff's inability to put the right personnel on the floor.  If you don't believe me, go watch the game on-demand and listen to the two announcers and their commentary.  It will be very clear that Burt was outcoached today by a mile.

I applaud the effort by the players as they played their hearts out.  They deserved better from the coaching staff than they got today.  Our two freshmen played outstanding and helped get us back into this game, but in reality, we needed more size and experience on the floor during crunch time.

We may have played our way into the post-season WNIT based on this effort, but I would not be surprised if we don't get an invitation either.

Last edited by DU90 (3/07/2025 1:24 pm)