Winter Classic

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

I'm predicting two big wins tonight and tomorrow. I think this team won't implode and play angry as they didn't like the Tennessee result.

[1972Shocker]

I'm predicting two big wins tonight and tomorrow. I think this team won't implode and play angry as they didn't like the Tennessee result.

Shockers take on Louisiana - Monroe tonight at 7:00 and Winthrop on Saturday afternoon at 3:00. ULM is 4-2 but 3 of the wins have come against Non-D1 competition. Winthrop will probably be the tougher of the two opponents. The Eagles are 4-3 in D-1 games and have a home win over Auburn. They lost at Tennessee by 33 and they lost at Ohio State by 14. They are coming of a 75-60 win over Davidson.

Jody mentioned the Shocks need to work on becoming more consistent and I agree, especially on the offensive end of things. We have had 4 games where we had pretty solid across-the-board contributions -- Creighton, Clemson, Ohio Sate and Texas-Arlington. Not surprisingly those have been our most impressive games and all were wins. In the other 5 games against Eastern Washington, FGCU, ARPB, K-State and Tennessee only 2 or 3 players showed up offensively. We went 2 - 3 in those games and were not very impressive even in the wins.

Alex and Michaela have clearly been the most consistent offensive threats. Both have scored in double figures in 7 of 9 games. Alex is averaging 18.4 PPG in her double figure games and 8.0 PPG in her other 2 games. Michaela is averaging 15.9 PPG in her 7 double figure games but only 3.0 PPG in her other 2 games.

OTOH, Alie and Jamillah have been pretty inconsistent. Alie has scored in double figures in 3 games averaging 14.7 PPG in those games but is only averaging 3.2 PPG in her other 6 games. Alie probably can be taken away by opponents if they decide to because she is pretty much a one dimensional spot up shooter who generally can't create her own shot and rarely drives to the basket. Jamillah has averaged 17.0 PPG in the 4 games she has scored in double figures but only 5.0 PPG in her other 4 games. I have a feeling Jamillah will have a couple of good games this weekend. She certainly has a more varied offensive arsenal than Alie does.

Kelsey has actually been pretty consistent but it's just been at a lower level of production than I was anticipating coming into the season. She is averaging 6.3 PPG with a pretty tight standard deviation around that average. Her role seems to be one that is more distributor and facilitator than scorer. While Kelsey is our tallest player at 6-2 she is not overly physical and is not really an inside player nor a strong rebounder. She is currently 4th on the team in rebounding behind Alex, Jamillah and Michaela.

Our bench is basically non-existent. Kayla White, who started 5 games earlier in the season, has not played the last 2 games. Not sure if she has an injury or is just in Jody's doghouse at this point. Jaleesa Chapel has been playing more after being in the doghouse earlier in the year. 91.4% of our offense is coming from our starters. The bench's roles seems to be to provide short periods of rest for the starters around media timeouts and to absorb some minutes if foul trouble hits without making to many mistakes. I don't think they are expected to produce much, Jody just doesn't want them giving away too much.

Hopefully, our remaining 3 non-conference games including these 2 games this weekend and a December 28th game against a bad Sam Houston State team will give Jody a chance to utilize a bench a little more than she has been able to and get them some badly needed experience before the start of Valley play.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Shockers take on Louisiana - Monroe tonight at 7:00 and Winthrop on Saturday afternoon at 3:00. ULM is 4-2 but 3 of the wins have come against Non-D1 competition. Winthrop will probably be the tougher of the two opponents. The Eagles are 4-3 in D-1 games and have a home win over Auburn. They lost at Tennessee by 33 and they lost at Ohio State by 14. They are coming of a 75-60 win over Davidson.

Jody mentioned the Shocks need to work on becoming more consistent and I agree, especially on the offensive end of things. We have had 4 games where we had pretty solid across-the-board contributions -- Creighton, Clemson, Ohio Sate and Texas-Arlington. Not surprisingly those have been our most impressive games and all were wins. In the other 5 games against Eastern Washington, FGCU, ARPB, K-State and Tennessee only 2 or 3 players showed up offensively. We went 2 - 3 in those games and were not very impressive even in the wins.

Alex and Michaela have clearly been the most consistent offensive threats. Both have scored in double figures in 7 of 9 games. Alex is averaging 18.4 PPG in her double figure games and 8.0 PPG in her other 2 games. Michaela is averaging 15.9 PPG in her 7 double figure games but only 3.0 PPG in her other 2 games.

OTOH, Alie and Jamillah have been pretty inconsistent. Alie has scored in double figures in 3 games averaging 14.7 PPG in those games but is only averaging 3.2 PPG in her other 6 games. Alie probably can be taken away by opponents if they decide to because she is pretty much a one dimensional spot up shooter who generally can't create her own shot and rarely drives to the basket. Jamillah has averaged 17.0 PPG in the 4 games she has scored in double figures but only 5.0 PPG in her other 4 games. I have a feeling Jamillah will have a couple of good games this weekend. She certainly has a more varied offensive arsenal than Alie does.

Kelsey has actually been pretty consistent but it's just been at a lower level of production than I was anticipating coming into the season. She is averaging 6.3 PPG with a pretty tight standard deviation around that average. Her role seems to be one that is more distributor and facilitator than scorer. While Kelsey is our tallest player at 6-2 she is not overly physical and is not really an inside player nor a strong rebounder. She is currently 4th on the team in rebounding behind Alex, Jamillah and Michaela.

Our bench is basically non-existent. Kayla White, who started 5 games earlier in the season, has not played the last 2 games. Not sure if she has an injury or is just in Jody's doghouse at this point. Jaleesa Chapel has been playing more after being in the doghouse earlier in the year. 91.4% of our offense is coming from our starters. The bench's roles seems to be to provide short periods of rest for the starters around media timeouts and to absorb some minutes if foul trouble hits without making to many mistakes. I don't think they are expected to produce much, Jody just doesn't want them giving away too much.

Hopefully, our remaining 3 non-conference games including these 2 games this weekend and a December 28th game against a bad Sam Houston State team will give Jody a chance to utilize a bench a little more than she has been able to and get them some badly needed experience before the start of Valley play.

Very good evaluation. I agree with Kelsey as a distributor, but I have watched Jody screaming at her to shoot when she passes out from the paint. She's probably our best passer, but needs to be more of a threat. She is shooting 60% on limited three pointers and can spread it out occasionally. J. Bonner seems to be in a funk. Too many turnovers and poor decisions. If we could go seven deep, we'd be in great shape. Presently we're 5.5 deep. Big minutes for the starters. Kelsey ha 39 minutes against Tennessee with those gimpy knees. We need to get them some rest while not dropping off. I still predict some nice wins heading into the Valley.

[Shox1979]

Jody has never been one to empty the bench, even during lopsided games. I'd love to see us go a little deeper every game, especially in the first game of back to back games. The starters went hard in Tennessee and with travel I'm sure their legs could use the help.
After a big win over K-state and a great effort this week I hope we don't come out flat. No way should anyone give us a game this weekend, but it depends on which Wichita State team shows up. We tend to play to the level of our opponent right now, which is great some nights... Not so much on others.

[1972Shocker]

If we could go seven deep, we'd be in great shape. Presently we're 5.5 deep.

It would be nice if we could go 9 deep. But you right were not even close to 7 at this point.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks 57 - Louisiana-Monroe 42. Not a very impressive effort or performance by the Shocks.

Alie Decker had a good night shooting the ball and Michaela was decent as well but fouled out with quite a bit of time left.

Alex had her poorest game of the season.

I don't think the Shocks would have beat too many Top 100 teams tonight.

[flyingMoose]

Shocks 57 - Louisiana-Monroe 42. Not a very impressive effort or performance by the Shocks.

Alie Decker had a good night shooting the ball and Michaela was decent as well but fouled out with quite a bit of time left.

Alex had her poorest game of the season.

I don't think the Shocks would have beat too many Top 100 teams tonight.

Michaela had 16, Ali 14, Jamillah 11, Kelsey 9 and the field had 7. Once UL-M went to their 2-3 zone and later some 1-1-3, we struggled. The Warhawks got the margin down to nine after trailing by sixteen at the half. They started burning our press, we were ineffective in our 3-2 on a couple of trips down the court, and finally went back to our aggressive man defense towards the end.

Tomorrow's opponent, Winthrop, lost to George Mason in the earlier game.

[flyingMoose]

I just noticed that Nyla Milleson, the previous coach at Missouri State, is now the coach at George Mason.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Michaela had 16, Ali 14, Jamillah 11, Kelsey 9 and the field had 7. Once UL-M went to their 2-3 zone and later some 1-1-3, we struggled. The Warhawks got the margin down to nine after trailing by sixteen at the half. They started burning our press, we were ineffective in our 3-2 on a couple of trips down the court, and finally went back to our aggressive man defense towards the end.

Tomorrow's opponent, Winthrop, lost to George Mason in the earlier game.

I watched the post game interview. Jody was pleased with the starters, but very disappointed with the bench and said it has to change in a hurry. We need some depth or this will certainly bite us.

[flyingMoose]

I watched the post game interview. Jody was pleased with the starters, but very disappointed with the bench and said it has to change in a hurry. We need some depth or this will certainly bite us.

A rather "telling" story from the Eagle, echoing some of the same thoughts, but even more critical in some parts of the story - very ineffective offense against their zone, Alex effectively being a no-show for the game.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

A rather "telling" story from the Eagle, echoing some of the same thoughts, but even more critical in some parts of the story - very ineffective offense against their zone, Alex effectively being a no-show for the game.

I just heard they are still trying to get Diamond eligible. The kid from Texas can really play. I've seen her. She'd step right in and be a top level point guard. She gives Alex stiff competition. I don't know how this could be possible with the NCAA, but they are trying and should know by January.

[1972Shocker]

A rather "telling" story from the Eagle, echoing some of the same thoughts, but even more critical in some parts of the story - very ineffective offense against their zone, Alex effectively being a no-show for the game.

I have no problem with Taylor Eldridge telling it like it is. While expecting and hoping your bench performance is going to change is one thing, actually seeing that happen is something totally different. Not sure what Jody is seeing in practice that makes her think this will turn around for her. Jaleesa and Kayla look like players that should be able to contribute some decent minutes consistently but have not done that to this point.

The Shocks have 5 players logging 30+ minutes per game with Alex leading the way at 36 MPG. Hopefully, fatigue is not already having an impact. Probably just a bad game for Alex but this has to be a concern when looking towards the end of the season. Although we seem to say that every year so it is not really anything new.

The Shocks no doubt miss Michele Price big time. Unlike the men's game where you can look to the Jucos for help in filling holes, the Juco talent on the women's side is pretty thin and hit or miss (mostly miss from what I have seen). Brittany Martin appears to have been a decision to settle for the biggest body you could attract and hope for the best. Maybe Brittany will yet develop as a player (a long shot IMHO) but she is of very little help this year.

What is coming back to haunt the Shockers is player turnover. Personally, I think Marissa Preston was > Aundra Stovall and Briana Jones was > Brittany Martin. Also losing Ashley Ivy to grades and Anna Khmelevskaya to family health issues no doubt hurt this year's depth. Jody has never seemed inclined to go more than about 7 or 8 deep so these player losses have had a major impact on our depth this season.

The Shocks certainly hope to avoid injury to any of the starters. Also, foul trouble can be an issue. Jody tends to let her players play through foul trouble but that can be a little risky plus it takes away from a players normal level of aggression.

[The Mad Hatter]

Anyone know why JB isn't at the game?

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Anyone know why JB isn't at the game?

Discipline reasons.

[The Mad Hatter]

Yeah, I heard at halftime.