WBB Troy

[catscat]

I can't figure why when they drive under the basket are surrounded by 4 opponents and they think they have to throw up a shot.

I do really enjoy watching them play defense and when they are hitting their shots, but sometimes I just have to shake my head.

[tetoncat]

Watched several games I think team is a year away. They will create a lot of turnovers like tonight but, they have to shoot 30% at least from 3 to win vs good teams and I think we will struggle to do that too many times. Also need to really improve in free throws.

[aucat]

Meanwhile Natalie Picton had 24 points tonight. I hate NIL

[Helcat72]

Another reason is Addy Harris was 0fer on 3's and had only 8 pts. Troy was 17/22 on FT's. 7/12 on 3's. (It appeared they hit more than 7)
Cats were 8/12 on FT's Chirrick was 5/8, 2/8 on 3's. Maybe she'll figure out why she's so wide open all the time!

[lutecat]

Meanwhile Natalie Picton had 24 points tonight. I hate NIL

My understanding is this had nothing to do with NIL. It did but not in that Sac came in and offered her. I think she thought some things would materialize that didn’t. But she already had entered the portal so she had to leave.

I watched the first quarter of the Sac Davis game and I wonder how things are there. I know she scored alot but I saw alot of her not being passed the ball in that first quarter. And I didnt see much interaction between her and Benthe. Interesting that both of them played the entire game. 40 minutes plus the whole overtime.

[84CatGrad]

Meanwhile Natalie Picton had 24 points tonight. I hate NIL

Might be because they don't have many other options. She is averaging 35 minutes/game and also has more turnovers than steals, not good for a point guard. In fact the entire SacSt team has more turnovers than steals. I think Jamison Philip is more talented and will be a better player once her shots start dropping. Natalie will find tough sledding against us, especially if she has to play most of the game.

[arvcat2]

I had a dream….Chirrick had some semblance of a jump shot, buried free throws at an 85%+ rate, and had a sweet looking three-point shot (not a flat-footed push shot) but the dream was crushed because, with those additional skills, she was then playing for likes of UConn or UCLA straight out of high school. What a gamer and thrilled she’s a Bobcat!

[nevadacat]

I hope Coach Bin spends some time teaching what a sideline is. We had three turnovers by players standing on the line in the corner when receiving a pass. Should be able to take a quick peek to know where their feet are.

[84CatGrad]

I had a dream….Chirrick had some semblance of a jump shot, buried free throws at an 85%+ rate, and had a sweet looking three-point shot (not a flat-footed push shot) but the dream was crushed because, with those additional skills, she was then playing for likes of UConn or UCLA straight out of high school. What a gamer and thrilled she’s a Bobcat!

That dream may come true next year in the form of Madison O'Connor.

[BelgradeBobcat]

We were only one state away so we drove over to Troy, Alabama for the game. Troy has a very nice arena and a terrific women's basketball team. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of women's basketball fans-at least not on a Monday night. Everyone we interacted with was very nice.

Our team was way too amped up for some reason. That's great for defense, but not so much on offense. We had at least 10 possessions where we just stepped on the sideline or got called for traveling when starting a move. The coaches kept telling them to slow down a bit and relax, but we kept doing it well into the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, Troy had obviously done their homework as they knew who to sag off on and who guard closely-hence Chirrick and Philip with a lot of open outside looks. Philip wouldn't shoot it, but Chirrick did. Bunyan was well covered and won't shoot unless wide open. Harris was also guarded very closely all over the court. This was a night when we really needed the calming influence of an Esme Morales or even Dylan Philip. This team is so freshman and sophomore heavy that we're going to have some bad stretches.

Despite being our worst game in about 2 seasons, they almost got the lead late in the fourth quarter with a ferocious comeback. That was exciting and let us know that no deficit is too big for this team to overcome.

Troy is really good. Easily as good or better than UNLV. This was not a bad loss. I think maybe it was even necessary. The learning curve for this group is high. This team is so incredibly young.

On another note, we were getting the typical homer calls against us on the road. The traveling calls against us were correct, but Troy was getting away with doing some of the same stuff. Binford was on the refs like a rabid badger all night. I thought sure she'd get t'd up but never did. Troy's coach was working them hard too. It was fun to watch that drama play out.

[Bobcat4Ever]

I hope Coach Bin spends some time teaching what a sideline is. We had three turnovers by players standing on the line in the corner when receiving a pass. Should be able to take a quick peek to know where their feet are.

We’ve done this in other games, too. I’d love to see where this ranks on our unforced turnovers chart. It’s virtually always in front of the opponent’s bench. I’m sure there are some discouraging words over there. It’s totally fixable. It’s a narrow alley and since our players have only gotten taller with bigger feet …

[Bobcat4Ever]

Good write up, @BelgradeBobcat. Why don’t you just follow the team around? All the newspapers ever have is sort of a timeline of who was ahead and who made a comeback. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hungers for some meat on the bone!

Watching on ESPN+ I saw a lot of regressions to teams of the past — unforced turnovers, missed open layins, passing or shooting against triple teams, etc. But the one that really stood out was the lack of ball movement. Against UNLV they kept the ball moving at a very good pace. Against Troy the ball stopped after one or two passes. Was Troy’s defense that much better? They sagged off our outside shooters so far that it looked like there was room for ball reversals, skips etc. But the motion spent a lot of time just stopped.

The other thing that concerned me is that once again a team shot over 50% against us, just like UNLV. I can see where that’s a trade off and really shouldn’t have hurt us much with 30 turnovers created.

As always I’m impressed by their apparent enthusiasm for playing a very taxing style, and the depth. The announcers were just going nuts in the second half when Coach did a patented “line change”.

As I wrote, their youth was going to be exposed — but they’ll grow out of that, hopefully quickly.

Do you know anything about their travel schedule? All the missed shots and free throws looked like fatigue at times.

This is a great and entertaining team! I love being a Bobcat!