dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2214
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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 01-05-19 12:55 AM - Post#271146
Looking at the women's numbers so far, you'd initially say that things are looking pretty good: the defense has just been stifiling, the offense, while not the best PPG numbers in the recent run, is pretty close, and the victory margin at this point is 4 points higher than what any of the teams in the last few years have managed to put up.
However, then what you have to do is look up the teams they've played , and things don't look so good all of a sudden. Their schedule has been a lot worse than either Princeton or Harvard's, so one has to wonder how well this is going to hold up when we get to league play.
The positives so far:
1.) Ashley Russell, while still not the star I hoped she'd be when she was recruited, has definitely taken it up a couple of notches, having developed some new offensive moves, rebounding very well, and at about 2.5 A/TO.
2.) Eleah Parker has begun to take over where Stipanovich left off, ringing up 3.3 blocks a game and in general making it tough for people to penetrate or play in the post effectively.
3.) Michae Jones, after not being seen much last year, is playing solid minutes at guard.
4.) Princess Agahyere has also improved her inside moves and is chipping in a solid 9.4 a game.
5.) Mia Lakstigala and Kennedy Suttle, two of this year's freshmen, have both played quality minutes and , while not burning up the world yet, have allowed the starters to get some rest.
The disappointments:
1.) Parker has not really boosted her scoring totals to make up for the departure of Nwokedi yet. In fairness to her, this has something to do with the ability of other teams to sag down on her (more about that momentarily), but still, it's concerning.
2.) The three-point shooting has been dreadful. Of the returning players, only Russell has been able to keep up her average; Katie Kinum and Phoebe Sterba, who shot 42% and 38% from the arc last year, are down to 24% and 28% this year, and no one has really stepped up to fill the gap. This, obviously, makes it a lot harder to clear up the middle for Parker and Agahyere to really work.
3.) The free-throw shooting is even worse than the men's, at 61.2%, and like the men, it starts with the big person; Parker is shooting 54.5%, which is down from last year's already-not-great 61.2%.
So we now come into Princeton, whose stats look worse than reality due to playing a very good schedule and having missed two major players for long periods (Alarie and Taylor Baur, who just came back last game.) While not shooting 3's at an incredibly higher percentage than us, they are making two more a game, and threes are the one thing that our defense is somewhat vulnerable to on a regular basis. They also shoot almost 80% from the line (the one good thing there is that, as usual, Penn is one of the least-fouling teams in the country.) The other depressing news is that while this year's freshman class isn't as awesome as last year's was, they still have a guard (Grace Stone) who's been starting from day 1. In the meantime, Harvard, who's also played a better schedule than us, is making 9.5 threes a game, and just collected the league's best NC win last weekend by beating top-20 Cal in Berkeley, so things are not going to get easier as the league season progresses.
For this game in particular and the Ivies in general, I think a lot is going to come down to one person I haven't mentioned yet: our starting point guard, Kendall Grasela. Based on her playing time and what she showed last year, I predicted she would be the starter this year, and was right. So far, I've been very pleased with her unselfishness and excellent court vision; on the other hand, she sometimes gets flustered under pressure defense and doesn't always stay within herself, forcing passes that aren't actually there. She's got to be really clean and calm from here on out, because every team in the league is going to be in her face on a regular basis. I'd also like to see her shoot more when wide open (whether this is her problem or the coach's has been a subject for debate.) I also think that Jones and Suttle need to take more 3's when they're in there, to try to get someone hot and unclog the middle. Sterba finally looked good against Stetson, and I hope this continues, and Russell needs to keep building on what she's done offensively so far this year. Last, while you're not going to stop Alarie, I'd like them to throw people at her in waves and see if you can at least get her totals down or her fouls up; put Tori Crawford and Emily Anderson on her for a while to spell Parker in that regard. Parker needs to figure out how to defend her better, which did not happen last year.
Well, as usual, I think we can hold them down below their normal average, but we've got to figure out how to score consistently ourselves if we're going to turn last year around. I can't say I'm optimistic about that at this point, however. It's probably a good thing that unlike the men, the second game is later in the season (I don't know exactly how that happened, but I suspect gamesmanship on the part of one side or the other); they may need the extra time to grow to a point where they can get it done.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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Ancient Quaker
Masters Student
Posts: 648
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Women's Report: Looks are Deceiving
01-06-19 12:48 PM - Post#271520
In response to dperry
Great report, as usual, DP. Appreciate your attention to the women's program, which continues to be underappreciated my many (maybe most).
Re Kendall, I've been watching her play since she was about 10, and she has always had a pass-first orientation. All of her teams have benefited from it, as she has good court vision and skills. She can and will score when the situation (or Mike) dictates, but it just isn't her default mindset.
Her comfort level will increase as the season progresses, and I think you'll see some marginal increase in her offensive output.
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rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3052
Reg: 10-20-14
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01-08-19 10:15 AM - Post#271758
In response to Ancient Quaker
Per DP's preview, Kendall Grasela had a good game at Princeton with 7 points, 4 assists and only 2 turnovers. She also hit 5 of 6 FT, including 3 of 4 late in the fourth quarter.
Russell, surprisingly, had a bit of an off day, picking up 2 quick fouls, having 4 TO and going 1-4 from the line. The team's second leading scorer only had 3 points, but she did manage 6 rebounds (3 offensive).
Parker had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Aghayere had 12 points, although she 2-6 from the line.
DP is, as usual, correct on the team's FT issue. They only shot 57% on Saturday. Fortunately, Princeton only hit 65%. Alarie, who came into the game shooting 80% from the line, only made 9 of 15.
For her games at Stetson and Princeton, Sterba was named co-Ivy Player of the Week.
https://pennathletics.com/news/2019/1/7/womens- bas...
https://ivyleague.com/news/2019/1/7/career- bests-a...
She was also named PhillyCollegeSports.com Player of the Week.
http://www.phillycollegesports.com/2019/01/07/phil...
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JDP
Masters Student
Posts: 576
Reg: 11-23-04
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01-08-19 01:50 PM - Post#271774
In response to rbg
The other performance important to highlight is Princess’ afternoon ... she earned her second double-double of the season (12 points (3 more than average) - 12 rebound (6 more than average)). More important she set an agressive tone that helped propel Penn into the lead.
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2214
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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01-10-19 11:32 PM - Post#272044
In response to rbg
Also getting some love from the Big 5, and she's so bad, she’s nationwide. 
Granted, the latter award probably results partly from this being a somewhat slow week for the Power 5 teams, but still, this is also an indication that people are noticing the improvement in the Ivy’s quality, particularly considering that Columbia's Sienna Durr took freshman of the week as well.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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