Takeaways from Day 1 of SMS MLK Showcase

[Streak One]

Lincoln (Stockton) is good now and will continue to get better. They have two good sophomore guards in Tillman and Hendrix, can pressure the ball and shoot it. With St, Mary's-Stockton likely headed to Open, Lincoln could go on a run in a wide open D1 race.

Enterprise is down from last year. Kamira Sanders can score it, but doesn't do much outside of that. Tough to replace the senior players they graduated. Should still win section, but don't expect another NorCal run.

Mitty and Sacramento both had moments, but it was a physical game without much flow in the Monarchs' win. Mitty has a real good sophomore guard in Heleyna Hill, who was the difference in the win. I would have Mitty and SHC in the second tier to St. Ignatius in the WCAL. Sacramento is also young and has a good stable of guards who can drive. Aliceah Hernandez is a solid shooter. It will be interesting to see if the Dragons can blend the pieces together for another section run.

St. Mary's-Berkeley has played a tough schedule and lost to Narbonne on Saturday. The Panthers are young and have some young guards to watch including Villa. I also like Carolyn Gill. The key for the Panthers is Ma'Ane Mosley, who can carry a team at times but also settle into being a standard player.

Narbonne guard Lateica Smith (Seton Hall) is very good and worth going out to watch on Monday. They play Lincoln (Stockton),

St. Mary's-Stockton was dominant against a really good Sierra Canyon team in the first half. SC got it to single digits late, but the Rams controlled the bulk of the action. Like their win over SI, St. Mary's had a big advantage at the line led by Cayton. Sierra Smith also played well along with Kat Tudor. Sierra Canyon plays SI on Monday.

Mater Dei was very good with skill and size. Andee Velasco (LMU) is one of my favorites to watch. A talented player who has accepted a role and does it at a high level. Samuelson was very good as usual and junior post Ally Rosenblum has made goo strides. Not many weaknesses here.

Miramonte trailed 29-8 after the first quarter, but seemed to get more comfortable as the game went on. Plenty of attention was on Ionescu defensively, but she was able to have an impact drawing 10 fouls. The big thing was Miramonte wasn't able to get in the open floor for easy looks in transition.

McClatchy survived against Troy with a 44-41 win. Jordan Cruz (2017) played well in the second half to pace the Lions, who are still without Destiny Lee. This is a team that isn't close to the preseason expectations laid on them and struggled to get good offense much of the night. They were solid on D. McClatchy plays Pinewood on Monday and Troy faces Vanden.

 

[girlsbasketball1616]

Shasta is pretty good and already beat enterprise once. Enterprise will be challenged for section title.

 

[Paytc]

Too bad I couldn't make it out to see any of the games. It sounds like the SMS vs Sierra Canyon was a great second half?

MD proved the #1 ranking is for real. And SMS represented Northern Cal. Monday should provide a few more good games.





Paytc

 

[jazzpt55]

Andee Velasco totally agree players like that are what the game fun to watch
many many players should watch her play because that the way you play the
game.

 

[Box_out!]

My intial take away as soon as I walked in was the announcement of how many college programs were in attendance. Very impressed with the SMS coach making a mission to help the players get looks to move on to the next level, in particularly his players. That's definitely why elite players in NorCal have always flocked to SMS program over the years.

My assessment of SMS vs SC: was the first half SMS could possibly be the best team in the country. Totally over powered SC with speed and energy, up at the half 54-22, but the SMS weakness showed up at halftime. No sense of SC making an adjustment and pretty much dumb founded in the second half and clinged to a 8 point victory after being up by 32 points at halftime. SMS coach non adjustment throughout the second half, almost cost the team an extremly embarrassing loss of epic magnitude. From the stands it look pretty obvious, offensively SC had made the adjustment to beat the press, defensively clog the paint, force contested 3's, use timeouts to slow the pace and give there main players periodic rest during timeouts. SMS just kept pressing, almost press themselves out of the game.

 

[observer22]

UCLA commit Kennedy Burke of Sierra Canyon was very impressive in the loss to SMS. 2nd best player to Samuelson in the whole event, at least yesterday. I thought she looked better than Sabrina against a similarly dominant team. She kept them coming back against all odds. Nice player.

 

[Paytc]

jazzpt55,

I thought the experience of Andee Velasco and KLS would give them the advantage. Not to mention the size and ability of KLS to help break the press, shoot the 3 ball, or post up…. would provide a serious matchup problem for the smaller and less experienced Miramonte.

I didn't see the game but it sounds like it was only close at tip off? Not to knock Miramonte, because it gives them a measuring stick to work towards by seasons end.

I was afraid to put a line out on the SMS vs SC game. It sounds like coaching did have an impact? I think both teams have fine coaching. SC may have took too long to figure out how to beat the SMS pressure defense?


Paytc

 

[Willtalk]

Box_out- I don't know who you are nor do I question you integrity/honesty, but often our "in the heat of the game perceptions" do not always match the actual reality. I believe in this case a preconceived perspective influenced what you believe you saw. My take and assessment of the game was a lot different that yours but since I also had a video that I had recorded I took advantage of a reviewing to validate my perspective that the press had no to minimal effect in respect to SC comeback. There were no half time or in game adjustments made by the SC coach that effected the effectiveness of the press.

Any difference between might be a attributed to a diminished intensity on the players ( due to having a huge lead ) and an improvement in execution by the SC players. It wasn't like the SC team came out with a different game plan and started to break the press. Didn't happen. With 4:40 left in 3rd Quarter SMS still held a 31pt lead. Till 5:40 in the 4th they still held a 21pt lead. It eventually got down to 77-65 with only one score which could be attributed to a break of the press. Another was fast break off a turnover before the press was set up. Most of the scores by Sc were off put backs on offensive rebounds and the hit a series of 3 pointers. I believe seven in a row towards the end of the game, or at least seven out of eight.

My take was SMS got out of both their defensive and offensive rhythm due to a bit of complacency because of their large lead. SC also has some very good players. Kennedy Burk on that day looked like the best player in the tournament. It wasn't like SMS was stinking it up when the lead was cut. The SC players just upped their game while SMS let their level slip a bit but it was enough for SC to take advantage of. The video review seemed to validate that.

Games often follow flows of momentum, especially in basketball. When you lose it, it is often difficult to get back. As I too often mention- there are a plethora of variables involved in every game that can impact the outcome, beyond the usual perspectives of quality of players and coaching.

As to Miramonti vs MD- That was just a bad match-up for the Mats. They didn't have the players to match up with MD size inside to play with them half court. The only shot they had was to force turn overs via the press, but they just didn't have the speed or the athletes to carry that off as well. In retrospect BOD might have given MD a better game even if the Mats might be a better team than BOD. It's about match-ups.

One of the problems with a team being too reliant on one player to carry them offensively was displayed against MD. S. I. might be able to put up 35+ points against lesser teams but when faced with a team as talented as MD she will not be able to do even close to that. Especially when her shots aren't all dropping. This is why I believe that team balance is really important. Players might be able to " go off " and put up big numbers against a lot of high school competition but when they reach the next level the will not be able to do what they did in high school. Then they will have to learn to adjust their game to more of a team concept which for a lot of players will be difficult and absorb a lot their college career.

 

[mkbgdns]

question for anyone in attendance--did you see any tactical adjustments by M after the first quarter? I was surprised to see that the last three quarters were essentially a toss-up (13-12, 14-12, 10-14). Now it's likely that MD players lost their edge, having won the game in 8 minutes, and MD bench probably saw more action than they otherwise would, and possible that M made a collective mental adjustment, not visible to the eye. certainly the scoring tempo indicated that M was forced out of their game all the way, and their vulnerability in the paint is nothing new.

 

[Box_out!]

WT,
I enjoy your post and perhaps if you recording the game and watched it several times your analysis is correct but it real time it appeared the game was slipping away due to your exact analysis. Which I listed below.

"Any difference between might be a attributed to a diminished intensity on the (SMS) players.

Most of the scores by Sc were off put backs on offensive rebounds and the hit a series of 3 pointers. I believe seven in a row towards the end of the game, or at least seven out of eight.

Kennedy Burk on that day looked like the best player in the tournament."

I believe these were the exact adjustments made by SC coach in the second half. Subtle but effective.
1. Hit the offensive glass hard we have an advantage.
2. Vs a 2-2-1 trapping press, the corners are wide open and in second half there were shooters ready to shot in the corners.
3. Emphasize getting the ball to wide open 3 point shooters in the corners.
4. Using timeouts to give players rest and slow the pace.

SMS coach didn't adjust to your analysis:
1. My players look tired, no energy, no intensity, a step slow, slow to rebounds giving up offensive rebounds and put backs, defensively slow on all rotations giving up open 3's, offensively my players are out of sink, letting Burk appear to be the best player in the country, letting the opponents best player control the second half.

I put no blame on SMS players! If the SMS players are showing these signs the coach must recognize and adjust to help them.

Here are facts not analysis:
1. Up by 32 at halftime at home with 95% of the gym cheering for you.
2. Refs are hired by you as you are the host team. So most calls going your way.
3. Opponent traveling unusually far with only a handful of parents cheering.
4. SC makes a tremendous run to lose by 8.

My analysis maybe wrong only watching it live, yours maybe right by recording it and rewatching it but I would bet SMS coach wasn't happy with that second half. And if he had to do it all over again would do somethings different.

 

[Passionatedad]

Without a doubt probably the funniest post I've ever read. Did coach que get another name? Lol . Anyway box out a coach doesn't as just to his players not rotating or hustling by adjusting to their desire to perform . A young team has to learn to perform even when they don't feel like it . This was a good lesson for these young players to learn, especially when the game didn't really mean anything. They were fortunate to win even though they didn't play very well in the second half. You need to watch the game again SMS didn't get any more calls than sc . As a matter of fact Decosta was called for 3 horrific fouls and for SMS to win that game when she wasn't a factor , that is Hugh. Yes , SMS would beat anyone in the country if they played the way they did in the first half. SC played well in the second half and SMS has to learn to play for 4 qtrs. I think SC hit 4 or 5 straight threes. I do think if the coach felt that threatened he would have made the adjustments he thought was necessary. Remember SMS only has one senior even in their playing rotation and are ranked # 4 in the country. They are just fun to watch .

 

[Box_out!]

PD,
This was part of my 1st post.

"My intial take away as soon as I walked in was the announcement of how many college programs were in attendance. Very impressed with the SMS coach making a mission to help the players get looks to move on to the next level, in particularly his players. That's definitely why elite players in NorCal have always flocked to SMS program over the years."

I have the utmost respect for the SMS coach and all coaches who spend countless hours helping young women grow in a sport they love. Very honorable. That doesn't mean mistakes are not made by coaches in games.

We are both saying the samething. SMS didn't play very well in the second half.

You are blaming the players. (Which I never do) As you said the players are very young why blame them?
I feel the coach could of made adjustments. "To help the young team"

FYI not BD. I disagree with his analysis from time to time and especially him posting Tudor was getting all the shots by some conspiracy not to let Cayton flourish.
This post was edited on 1/18 8:10 PM by Box_out!

 

[Willtalk]

I think I need to clear up a misunderstanding that seems to have been gleaned from my previous post. I stated that it appeared that the defensive intensity let up a bit during the second half. I did not mean to imply that the players were not hustling. The hustled through out the game. The difference was also that SC just began to execute better with their passes and their shots were dropping ( almost all their three's). Burke hit a couple from way beyond NBA range. That has nothing to do with a lack of defense. It also seemed that some breaks started going their way as well. For example on one series one of their post players didn't get back on defense and when SC got an early shot missed rebound she was all by herself on their offensive end of the court. DeCosta as PD mentioned was this games choice for the gal who gets the bad calls. There always seems to be one player who gets more than her fair share. Her fifth call had her getting a rebound sandwiched between two SC posts with body contact from both sides yet she ended up with the ball and the foul. I don't know how a foul in that sort of scenario would even be physically possible. Any contact she might have put on anyone of the players was initiated and forced by the player on her other side. All three were closely jammed together going for the ball.

My point is that there were many converging factors that made that big lead evaporate, But in this game they never actually broke the press to get easy scores so that was not a factor. And no adjustment was necessary in that respect. SC made their biggest run at the end of the forth quarter and that was done with the help of those three pointers. The point was that the lead did hold up and it was still a win. Burke hit a game ending long 3 pointer that reduced the spread to eight. When I rewatched the game I realized that my initial perspective was also a bit off. The drop off in the defense was not as much as I thought it was watching the game live. Of course I was also videoing so my attention was diverted somewhat. The defense that they played in the early part of the game was very intense and resembled the way they played Vanden when they hung that big loss on them in the foundation game.The defense at the end was also very good. One has to give SC a lot of credit for playing really well and good execution. Oh SMS did play their bench they utilized ten players in the rotation. Box's post made it sound like they overplayed their starters.

I sat next to Marissa of "Pass the Ball" and she stated that this was the best she had ever seen Burke play. When we evaluate a teams play we often forget to factor how well the opposition is playing. Burke along with her teammates played a great second half just as SMS did the first.

 

[Box_out!]

Looking ahead to todays match ups. I'll be back to SMS today to watch a very entertaining SMS squad take on LJCD. My prediction SMS to talented with to much speed. SMS wins by a large margin.
What I think the game to watch is SC vs SI. I'm interested to see how SI will far vs a SC team in need of a win. My prediction a very tight game playoff intentsity. SI wins by a very slim margin. All in all just looking for some great entertainment this afternoon on a day off!