After 1 qtr MM15 SI 12
MM 35 SI 28 at half
This post was edited on 3/17 7:45 PM by Ol' Brick Layer
MM 35 SI 28 at half
This post was edited on 3/17 7:45 PM by Ol' Brick Layer
MM v SI
- Thread starter Ol' Brick Layer
- Start date
With 4:56 to go in the 3rd- MM 41 SI 30
#10 out with 3 fouls d switches to 2-3 zone
This post was edited on 3/17 8:01 PM by Ol' Brick Layer
#10 out with 3 fouls d switches to 2-3 zone
This post was edited on 3/17 8:01 PM by Ol' Brick Layer
Both teams looked tired and out of sync. MM's edge was probably 50/50 better preparation and home court advantage.
Section and Norcal playoffs make the season too damn long. It should already be over.
Section and Norcal playoffs make the season too damn long. It should already be over.
MM had a sudden (1:30) 8-0 run to begin 4th, to stretch an 8 point margin to 16. thereafter, they played to slow game, milk clock, spread w Ionescu killing time dribbling. #10 may have had 1:1 matchup, but everybody else was sagging, doubling if Ionescu got within scoring range. I admire SI's old school player-to-player defense,and their bigs gave them strong interior defense, blocks. SI was deliberate against M's press, going for bunt single instead of home run, but burned a lot of clock in the back court, leaving them little time to work post. Interesting, while M got some turnovers, press worked primarily to slow SI down (its usual function to force tempo). I'm only familiar with M's players, and they didn't seem fatigued. I'm curious about your opinion re. better preparation. for the second straight game, Louie stepped up to punish SI if they paid too much attention to Ionescu. M's defensive rebounding also improved for the second straight game.
This post was edited on 3/18 1:55 AM by mkbgdns
This post was edited on 3/18 1:55 AM by mkbgdns
It did look like two mentally tired teams were playing Tuesday. It's a long season, and the pressure just gets more and more intense as the playoffs move forward.
That said, the better team won, as SI didn't take advantage of its size, for whatever reason, as the Irish couldn't seem to get close to the rim. Miramonte did a much better job attacking the basket and even though Ionescu did not shoot well, she did everything else. SI had composure issues at times, and it seemed as though some of their top players spent a lot of time on the bench, even though they weren't in foul trouble.
They also had a lot of what seemed to be unnecessary turnovers. Miramonte supplies pressure, granted, but it appeared that a lot of passes that could have been made weren't, and those errors really kept SI from getting any momentum.
Credit must go to Elle Louie, who came up with big scoring nights against O'Dowd and now SI, and also is one of the team's best defenders. Clair Steele is small, plucky and clutch, and Ionescu is great, so Louie sometimes gets lost in the shadows, but she made a huge three last night and played another excellent all-around game.
That said, the better team won, as SI didn't take advantage of its size, for whatever reason, as the Irish couldn't seem to get close to the rim. Miramonte did a much better job attacking the basket and even though Ionescu did not shoot well, she did everything else. SI had composure issues at times, and it seemed as though some of their top players spent a lot of time on the bench, even though they weren't in foul trouble.
They also had a lot of what seemed to be unnecessary turnovers. Miramonte supplies pressure, granted, but it appeared that a lot of passes that could have been made weren't, and those errors really kept SI from getting any momentum.
Credit must go to Elle Louie, who came up with big scoring nights against O'Dowd and now SI, and also is one of the team's best defenders. Clair Steele is small, plucky and clutch, and Ionescu is great, so Louie sometimes gets lost in the shadows, but she made a huge three last night and played another excellent all-around game.
Regarding preparation, by this point in the season a team should have its press breakers down cold. But SI looked like they were improvising a different plan every possession. And not very effectively. When they did break through the press, they almost never attacked the basket, just backed it out and let MM set up its half court defense. SI looked similarly confused trying to run half court offense. Could not count how many times SI players ignored good scoring opportunities to kick the ball out or force an unnecessary pass. Fatigue, lack of confidence, inadequate preparation - hard to tell sometimes where one factor starts and another begins.
hard to tell sometimes where one factor starts and another begins.
Not so hard, it begins with coaching.
Not so hard, it begins with coaching.
Everyone likes to blame the coach. Even me. Except of course when it's my team in difficulty. I think Mike Mulkerrins is a pretty good coach. Maybe focused too much this time on trying to shut down Ionescu vs. figuring out where SI's points were going to come from. You also can never be sure what was discussed in the huddle vs. what was executed on the floor.
I think you also have to consider that SI was a senior heavy team, with tons of serious training and competition going back to elementary school. They had some great coaches including the late and lamented Oscar Jimenez. Heck, four of them played on Kelly Sopak's top Cal Stars team just a few months ago. In the end, the players play the game and SI certainly had more than enough veteran talent and knowledge to get the job done.
I think you also have to consider that SI was a senior heavy team, with tons of serious training and competition going back to elementary school. They had some great coaches including the late and lamented Oscar Jimenez. Heck, four of them played on Kelly Sopak's top Cal Stars team just a few months ago. In the end, the players play the game and SI certainly had more than enough veteran talent and knowledge to get the job done.
Everybody runs and runs in practice, and almost all coaches vow that their team will be the best-conditioned -- yet there are always games in which one team gets more tired than the other.
The longer I do this, the more I'm convinced that the fatigue is more mental than physical. After all, we're dealing with teenage athletes who are working hard physically on a consistent basis (and have done so for years), so physical fatigue seems to me to be either just how that particular girl's body works, or the manifestation of mental fatigue.
Miramonte, among other teams, wears people down mentally with not only the press, but with constantly shifting defenses, a constantly moving attack that requires all defenders to work all the time, and the desire to attack the basket whenever possible and as quickly as possible. This, again like many other teams, never allows the opponent any time when there's not some kind of mental pressure being applied, and that takes its toll.
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