RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Michael]

Maybe I was expecting too much from our team. I know I was expecting too much from Hartford. This game was good, and exciting and Purdue had long moments of brilliance, but that first 10-12 minutes was rough and ugly from my perspective. Fahkara was totally out of synch, Erin could not catch the ball, or when she did, could not get it on the floor before the second step, and Lindsey was missing bunny after bunny. We were getting out rebounded and the only reason we were leading was our interior defense was tremendous. This is where I start my rant on Hartford and Rizzotti. Apparently she didn't scout Purdue much, as she determined the best chances for her small team was to post up and attack Purdue's middle. Despite Purdue playing a sagging zone and blocking, deflecting or stealing several shots and interior feeds, Hartford did not adjust their game plan. On the other end, they decided to double team Erin Lawless (reasonably good idea, that one could be justified) and Danielle Campbell (HUH???) basically leaving Lindsey unguarded once the ball went to either of the other two. If Lindsey doesn't miss 3-4 close in shots to start the game, this one would have been a route from the beginning. the first real coaching adjustment by Hartford came after Purdue was up something like 74-37 when Rizzotti sent out Jamie McCabe with about 12 minutes to go in the game. Up until that point, Hartford had only attempted a handfull of 3s, missing them all. McCabe sank 2 in short order and 4 over the course of the last 12 minutes. Now, if you know you have this kind of a gunner on your bench, and the other team is clogging the middle and slow to rotate out to the perimeter, I would think a competent coach would have tried this girl while the game was still in doubt. They never did adjust to Lindsey as a scoring threat as she had open slashes to the basket all night. I expected more from Rizzotti for all the hype she has gotten as an up and coming coach. I just didn't see much in the way of effective in game adjustments and Purdue was able to pick Hartford apart in the last 30 minutes of the game. In addition to Lindsey's inability to hit bunnys at the start of the game, and Erin's turnover woes, FahKara had a turnover bug to start the game as well. The complexion of the game changed when Fahkara reentered it and BOOM! WENT OFF! She had 8 points including 2 threes in a 14-0 run to finish the half. She had a nice steal off the dribble that led to her getting a layup and her disruption of Hartford's PG pretty much stopped their offense cold. After that, it was all over but the final score as Hartford just let us dismantle them without any effective adjustment to what we were doing to them.

Michael

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Michael

[desafiada6]

I too expected more from Rizzotti's team...I liked your analysis here and the extended one over on OGFP. FahKara just continues to improve, I'm really enjoying watching her mature from game to game, heck even 1st half to 2nd half. Erin certainly was working hard, she was bloodied, bruised, and mad after the game...and ready to get after it Wednesday. Free throws is definitely an area to work at, if your gonna take it inside and draw that foul, you have to (or should be able to) convert from the line.

Ah Michael, one thing to nit pick...it's LindsAy not LindsEy...I know you can get it right! LOL!

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BOILER UP!

[dtsnms]

Hmmm, second game, preseason tourney against a team she has had no reason to scout, and you expect Rizzotti to be a savior.

Oh well.

[desafiada6]

[Michael]

[4ever_bball_fan]

This will sound ridiculous, but maybe Coach Rizzo thinks her team will learn more about themselves when they get routed this early in the season, compared to it happening later in the year???

I am a person that believes that we learn as much, if not more, from our mistakes and humiliations as we do from being successful most of the time.

Plus, we don't know what Coach was telling the players...they might not have been able to accomplish what she was telling them in the first place.

I have to think some very good lessons were learned. And, if it is in a tournament, then it doesn't affect anything but ego. Coach Rizzo might not want all her cards on the table this early in the year...LOL...you know, like the Russian National Team does...LOL.

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The competitor with the will to win also has the will to work. John Wooden.

[IndyPurduefan]

[dtsnms]

Hartford is not a 3-point shooting team. Schaefer is the shooter. She was 1-5 from 3. McCabe only shoots 3s, doesn't do much else, so she's only good for about 10 minutes per game.

Witt had an awful game, and Etienne is a new PG. The strenght of Hartford is Hood and Beverly inside, but there's a reason why Wisdom-Hilton and Lawless are at Purdue, while they are at Hartford. This was an awful matchup for Hartford's posts.

You want to say Rizzotti didn't adjust? Okay, I didn't see the game. I will tell you that you can't win when you're "big 3" are 7-30 from the floor. for a total of 17 points. Against Dartmouth they scored 31 points.

And I will also add that Danielle Hood is off to an AWFUL start offensively, going 2-9 against Dartmouth and 2-12 against PU. This is a player who was first team All-conference and shot over 50% from the floor last year. If she shoots like that, Hartford is going nowhere fast.

[Michael]