Contrast in Coaching Styles in Women's Basketball

[aucat]

Today's games really showed contrasting coaching styles that also reminded me of Coach Binford's style. In the Tennessee-Texas game the Tennessee coach would often bring in wholesale substitutions, similar to what Coach Bin did this year. This approach appeared to be successful when Tennessee whipped Ohio State. However today Texas prevailed. It looked like the coach was trying to wear down Texas but it didn't seem to work. In fact, I'm no coach, but it appeared to me that when Tennessee made 5 for 5 substitutions in the second half, it disrupted their offensive flow.

Then I watched the UConn vs. Oklahoma game. COMPLETELY different approach by UConn Coach Geno. Paige Bueckers had a hot hand and if I'm not mistaken she NEVER came out until the very end after scoring 40 points. Geno has had many great players over the years and in the games I have watched, he left his best players in, even when they had huge leads. The only reason I bring this up is because I wonder if playing time had anything to do with the decision of Natalie and Marah to leave? During the season I never detected anything but the best team chemistry as Coach Bin made liberal substitutions because she had so much depth. But I just have to wonder, maybe Natalie and Marah want to play somewhere next year where they will play pretty much the entire game, like the best players do at UConn. Who knows? Maybe in time we will know.

[MSU01]

Unless the team was being wildly dishonest in the many interviews they all gave this year talking about how much fun they were having and how much they liked the coaches and their teammates, I tend to doubt that the transfers of Marah or Natalie had anything to do with dissatisfaction with the coaching staff or with playing time. The list of potential reasons why a player might choose to transfer is very lengthy and includes personal reasons that don't even have anything to do with basketball, so I doubt we'll ever know exactly what goes into the decisions of those who decide to leave vs those who stay.

[Joe Bobcat]

With Dykstra averaging about 26 minutes and Picton averaging about 16 minutes this year maybe those two are looking for more playing time. After all how often does a player look for less playing time? It's safe to say there's a whole lot more to it than that though.
One thing I noticed and seriously wondered about through Dykstra's entire career here is how often she looked like she was really struggling to catch her breath. So honestly I don't know how she would do playing longer stretches and more minutes overall. Pure speculation but maybe she is looking for a slower paced half court type of offense.

As a fan I'm disappointed to see them go now but good luck to them anyway. It's a tall order but my hope is that wherever their replacements come from those replacements are even better, at which time we can all say this was a blessing in disguise.

[Bobcat4Ever]

With Dykstra averaging about 26 minutes and Picton averaging about 16 minutes this year maybe those two are looking for more playing time. After all how often does a player look for less playing time? It's safe to say there's a whole lot more to it than that though.
One thing I noticed and seriously wondered about through Dykstra's entire career here is how often she looked like she was really struggling to catch her breath. So honestly I don't know how she would do playing longer stretches and more minutes overall. Pure speculation but maybe she is looking for a slower paced half court type of offense.

As a fan I'm disappointed to see them go now but good luck to them anyway. It's a tall order but my hope is that wherever their replacements come from those replacements are even better, at which time we can all say this was a blessing in disguise.

Interesting observation. Marah did grow up at about elevation 10. Interesting point. Usually the athletes here gain an advantage most other places, but maybe she never adapted to making the change from playing with the U-something Canadian teams in the summer.

[lutecat]

Traditional starter minutes would've meant Mara only averaged another 6 minutes a game. I wouldn't call that significant.

[Bobcat4Ever]

Traditional starter minutes would've meant Mara only averaged another 6 minutes a game. I wouldn't call that significant.

I agree. The best way to get a player to forget minutes is to let them score the ball, and win games!

[BobcatDel]

Today's games really showed contrasting coaching styles that also reminded me of Coach Binford's style. In the Tennessee-Texas game the Tennessee coach would often bring in wholesale substitutions, similar to what Coach Bin did this year. This approach appeared to be successful when Tennessee whipped Ohio State. However today Texas prevailed. It looked like the coach was trying to wear down Texas but it didn't seem to work. In fact, I'm no coach, but it appeared to me that when Tennessee made 5 for 5 substitutions in the second half, it disrupted their offensive flow.

Then I watched the UConn vs. Oklahoma game. COMPLETELY different approach by UConn Coach Geno. Paige Bueckers had a hot hand and if I'm not mistaken she NEVER came out until the very end after scoring 40 points. Geno has had many great players over the years and in the games I have watched, he left his best players in, even when they had huge leads. The only reason I bring this up is because I wonder if playing time had anything to do with the decision of Natalie and Marah to leave? During the season I never detected anything but the best team chemistry as Coach Bin made liberal substitutions because she had so much depth. But I just have to wonder, maybe Natalie and Marah want to play somewhere next year where they will play pretty much the entire game, like the best players do at UConn. Who knows? Maybe in time we will know.

I know you often cite Geno player management and I guess that means you would like to see Coach Binford play a tighter lineup….which of course would mean even more of the bench gets less playing time. It would be hard to sit more of the quality bench players we have than we do now… and I suspect we had more bench points this year than anyone in the league. I’ll never critique someone who wins 30 games.

For reference Bueckers played 35 min against Oklahoma. She played less than 30 minutes in some of the other blowout wins (only 22 min in one tourney game) so I don’t think you can make a blanket statement he plays Bueckers nearly the full game even with large leads. You can look at the stats as easy as I but Bueckers averaged 29.6 min over 35 games. UConn had 8 players that averaged over 15 min. What do you suppose the Bobcat numbers were….well….Esme Morales averaged 29.7 min and the Bobcats had 8 players that averaged over 15 mins for the 34 game season.

Again, you can pull UConn numbers as easy as I…but you will find in most seasons his stars average in that 30 min range. And there are seasons he manages a tighter 6 to 7 rotation. But then I recall one year their all world all American forward averaged only 28 min for the season.

Hannah obviously wasn’t getting on the court much so playing time was at issue there…..and I don’t know if minutes on the court were issues with Nat or Marah. Nat certainly would have gotten more minutes next year….


Edit Additions:

UCLA top player avg 29.8 min and 8 players avg over 15 min

South Carolina top player avg 25 min and 9 players avg over 15 min