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**Shocker Fan** · December 21, 2010, 06:48 PM

:posterwu:
This reminds me of last years game against Kent State at Kent, Ohio. Shockers were young and not expected to win on Kent's court but came home with a win. Think Central Michigan's RPI this week was under 80. Would be a great win before going into the holiday break.

Hopefully Coach Adam's has this team learning how to play together and ready for a tough one tomorrow.

**1972Shocker** · December 22, 2010, 01:57 PM

Shocks getting boatraced by the Chippewas. They trail at halftime by a score of 41-21.

Could have been worse. Breanna Dawkins fouled a CMU player attempting a half court heave with 1 second remaining, but she was only able to make 1 of her 3 free throws.

:(

**1972Shocker** · December 22, 2010, 03:13 PM

Shocks put up 52 points in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, CMU put up 57 points in the 2nd half.

Final CMU 98 - Shocks 73.

Shocks close out a somewhat disappointing non-conference schedule with a somewhat disappointing result.

Hope all the Ladies enjoy their Christmas and clear their minds as they begin conference play after the Christmas break.

**1972Shocker** · December 22, 2010, 04:44 PM

Heather Robben and Alicia Sanchez simply played poorly today. They were a combined 3 - 24 (12.5%) from the field in a combined 57 minutes of play. Alicia also had 4 fouls and 5 turnovers in her 24 minutes and avoided an 0-10 day from the field with a late trey for her only points. Heather did knock down 5 of 6 free throws. The ol' Prouty ratings will not look too good from today's game.

The rest of the team was a respectable 24-54 (44.4%) from the field including 5-14 (35.7%) from behind the arc.

Heather and Alicia have struggled some this season adjusting to D-1 ball and from a year of inactivity in Alicia's case. Alicia in particular has not played well. I think HCJA was counting on these two Juniors to brings some perimeter firepower and maturity to a young team. Heather has done this on occassion, but Alicia has only rarely played well.

Both are playing more minutes than Morgan Boyd who actually has played pretty well this year. Not sure I'm seeing the reason behind that, but perhaps there is something with Morgan's defense or effort that HCJA is not totally pleased with. Morgan is probably the most improved player over a year ago so far. Nevertheless her playing time is down from 20 MPG last year to 16 MPG this year. I will say Morgan is fouling more this year and that may explain her reduced minutes.

Another player who has struggled this year is Jessica Diamond who finished last year as our go to player on offense. She played 15 minutes today and did not score taking only one shot. She did dish out 4 assists against 2 turnovers which is fine. I really expected Jessica to be right there with Haliegh in our offensive attack this year. It has not happened.

I'm not really sure where this team is heading this year. Could go either way.

**molly jabali** · December 22, 2010, 06:03 PM

1972shocker, i respect your opinion greatly. i was very critical of jane here, but i'm wondering if you see great hope for jody, either.i'll hang up and listen off the air.

**Hovpen** · December 22, 2010, 06:11 PM

No comment.

**1972Shocker** · December 22, 2010, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by molly jabali

1972shocker, i respect your opinion greatly. i was very critical of jane here, but i'm wondering if you see great hope for jody, either.i'll hang up and listen off the air.

Jody is a young coach (only one year of Head coaching experience when she was hired) and she still has a young team. I more or less totally discount a coaches first year depending on what was inherited. And in Jody's case it wasn't much. So I really see Jody in her second year. I think she deserves at least a couple of more years.

Nevertheless the excuse of being young should end this season. I am somewhat disappointed with this year so far. Perhaps I simply set my expectations higher than was reasonable for this team. Still I think the youth issue is a still valid for this year. I think next year will be the tell tale year.

I would like to see Jody more explicitly take some responsibility for her team's play. Even if the player's are not executing the game plan, or not playing hard, or not playing as a team or not buying in to the system the Coach should share in the responsibility for that. After all, part of being a good coach is to motivate your players to do those things.

They have really made a big effort to promote this team this year and I would have to say those efforts have pretty much failed. The bottom line is that until you put a good product on the floor and start winning consistently the fans are going to pretty much ignore you no matter how many free tickets you give away.

To make a long story short I think the jury is still out on whether Jody can turn this program around. However, I don't question her dedication, desire or effort.

**oldtimewomen's hoopcoach** · December 23, 2010, 09:46 AM

Jody is well orgaized and a task master. She is a novice coach; the community was banking on her Tennessee experience to build a program. Playing and coaching are two different animals. She needs to support the team by taking responsibility for poor play in the media. Don't blame the players, support your team in public, take care of business in practice and morale will pick up. The team looks tired and very down. Hopefully they are allowed to rest.

**1972Shocker** · December 23, 2010, 10:42 AM

I will say that I think the program is in better shape today than it was when Jody took over. Our winning record and 6th place MVC finish last year was the best in some time, we won a game in the MVC Tournament and we played in a post-season tournament (granted only because of the newly formed WBI).

I am not ready to say we have plateaued or stepped back this year. We still have a lot of season in front of us.

I still think we are a year away from being ready to compete for an MVC Championship. Next year we will have 3 Seniors, 4 Juniors and 1 Sophomore with solid experience. If we don't make our move next year, then I don't know when it's going to happen.

**1972Shocker** · December 23, 2010, 12:08 PM

Playing and coaching are two different animals.

That's true, and Coaching is probably more difficult than Playing.

She needs to support the team by taking responsibility for poor play in the media. Don't blame the players, support your team in public, take care of business in practice

Well said.

The team looks tired and very down.

Maybe, not sure about that. However, they may be pressing and forcing things too much. I do believe there needs to be balance between hard work and having fun. The best teams are those that seem to be relaxed and loose while still playing hard. Teams that are uptight tend to struggle. Young teams tend to be less relaxed than experienced teams. Finding the right formula and pushing the right buttons to produce a relaxed team that still plays very hard is obviously much easier said than done.

**The Mad Hatter** · December 23, 2010, 03:32 PM

There is the phrase sophomore slump for a reason. We are depending on a lot of underclassmen, plus only one of our upperclassmen (Lankster) has more than 1 previous year in the system.

Do I wish we were playing better? Absolutely. But you can't really gauge how a coach is doing until they have been able to have players develop over multiple years in their system.

Plus, I don't think you can overestimate the loss of Sheena, who would have provided a lot in the way of senior leadership and discipline.

**WstateU** · December 23, 2010, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter

Plus, I don't think you can overestimate the loss of Sheena, who would have provided a lot in the way of senior leadership and discipline.

Oh 'Sheena', please come back! :D

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