Women win 10th straight!!

[Falconfreak90]

66-58 over NIU, BG now 19-2, 10-0 MAC! Whoa...it just keeps getting better.

Falcons travel to Munice to take on Ball State Saturday.

GO FALCONS!! BEAT BSU!!

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Good to get the win and another pretty good crowd.


One thing that has been bothering me for about 6 games now:

When we settle for a lot of threes and long jumpers, we are an average basketball team. When we attack the basket with penetration and post touches, we are flat out DOMINANT. If we are going to have a truly special season, we need to keep that attacking mentality throughout the game, and not just for 5 minute spurts.

Look at tonight. We were dead even with a bad Northern team for 30 minutes of the game, and the only reason we were still in the game was great defense (as usual). When we started attacking first, and kicking out for an open three in the flow of the offense, we put the game away. 4-16 from 3, 20-40 from 2

Look at the Toledo game. We shot 18 threes in the first half and ended up being down by 15 early in the second. Then Kate started driving and we started working backdoors and cuts for wide open layups and we destroyed them in the second half.

Not trying to be negative -- just pointing out what I've been seeing. If we keep putting up these 4-16 and 6-25 3-pt nights, we'll get beat by a good team that plays well. If we can attack from the beginning, instead of after we've been frustrated for half the game, we'll be near impossible to beat.

[Falconfreak90]

Very valid point, J4H. I noticed that as well. With Ali, Liz, Amber...we should be attacking the hoop all day!

Just keep winning...

[bg_bball]

But at the same time, you need to understand Coach Miller's philosophy.

Our offense is set up to get those open looks from outside, and on a good night, those will fall. Is there more than 2 or 3 people on this team that you don't feel pretty comfortable shooting an open 3 with? That's how he wants us to play.

[svillefalcon]

But at the same time, you need to understand Coach Miller's philosophy.

Our offense is set up to get those open looks from outside, and on a good night, those will fall. Is there more than 2 or 3 people on this team that you don't feel pretty comfortable shooting an open 3 with? That's how he wants us to play.

where are ya ohiobobcat? come and talk smack on this section...see where that gets ya

[Jacobs4Heisman]

But at the same time, you need to understand Coach Miller's philosophy.

Our offense is set up to get those open looks from outside, and on a good night, those will fall. Is there more than 2 or 3 people on this team that you don't feel pretty comfortable shooting an open 3 with? That's how he wants us to play.

I do understand Coach's philosophy. He's been on record saying he likes us to take threes when they're open. The problem is, and this is a beef from Miller as well, we've been forcing and settling for threes for about 5 games now. If we drive and work the ball inside, we're still going to get a lot of looks at threes. But these will be threes that are more open and in rhythm. Those are the shots Miller wants the ladies to take.

My problem isn't with the 3-point shot. That's a vital part of our offense, and we have some great shooters. My problem is with how and when we've been shooting them. We've fallen in love with the three, and when we're off, like we have been most nights lately, we are very vulnerable.


A couple quotes from Miller:


After the Toledo game:

(What was your mindset going into halftime?)
"Well, the mindset was clearly that we were too perimeter-oriented. Toledo played a mixture of defenses. I think they really had us on our heels. We weren't getting points in the paint, we weren't getting to the foul line, and we were just settling for 3s. We took 18 3s in the first half. We took just nine in the second half, and we were in the upper 20s in points in the paint in the second half, compared to eight in the first half. We had to play more physical and get the ball inside, either by passing or with dribble penetration. If we could get the ball inside, we thought we could find some space in there, and (it would lead to) some good things. I also told them, if they wanted me to talk about Northern Illinois, we could move on. We didn't have to talk about the second half; we could start our scouting report on Northern right then. They were mad. For us to be 12 down, it has been a long time since anyone has taken it to us like that. So, we were confident that we could step up and make plays, but to Toledo's credit, they were playing great."


(You didn't want to be perimeter-oriented in the second half, but every three-pointer you made in the second half seemed like a dagger. Could you comment on the timeliness of those shots?)
"That's what we talked about. We didn't need to be trigger-happy; we needed to take 3s when we could get them. Casey McDowell hit two big 3s, and we ran that play late in the shot clock for Carin (Horne). Carin did not have a great game, but you can count on her making a big shot, and so we diagrammed that play in our huddle for Carin to take a 3. Again, I thought we took better 3s, open 3s, in-rhythm 3s, unlike the first half where we were very trigger-happy. I mean, we shot three 3s in one possession, boom-boom-boom, and even the kids on our bench were going crazy."


Liz Honegger
After the Northern Game:







"At halftime, we talked about (needing to) go to the basket. We were fading away from the basket, and no one was really taking it inside. (Coach Miller) talked about toughness; going to the rim, getting post-ups and finishing shots."

[Falconboy]

Good to get the win and another pretty good crowd.


One thing that has been bothering me for about 6 games now:

When we settle for a lot of threes and long jumpers, we are an average basketball team. When we attack the basket with penetration and post touches, we are flat out DOMINANT. If we are going to have a truly special season, we need to keep that attacking mentality throughout the game, and not just for 5 minute spurts.

Look at tonight. We were dead even with a bad Northern team for 30 minutes of the game, and the only reason we were still in the game was great defense (as usual). When we started attacking first, and kicking out for an open three in the flow of the offense, we put the game away. 4-16 from 3, 20-40 from 2

Look at the Toledo game. We shot 18 threes in the first half and ended up being down by 15 early in the second. Then Kate started driving and we started working backdoors and cuts for wide open layups and we destroyed them in the second half.

Not trying to be negative -- just pointing out what I've been seeing. If we keep putting up these 4-16 and 6-25 3-pt nights, we'll get beat by a good team that plays well. If we can attack from the beginning, instead of after we've been frustrated for half the game, we'll be near impossible to beat.

You're absolutly dead on J4H. We at times get too 3 happy and if we're not in the zone that day we are very flat. We need to keep up the balance of inside movment to open up more wide open 3's. I'd love to see more of that 3 forward linup we had with Honneger , Mann and Flynn in the game last night. It really opened things up for Flynn and Mann down low when you got 2 good 3pt shooters forwards and a post player down low. I'd like to see that lineup more often when warranted.

[HoustonFalcon]

I've found in my experience the last couple of years that no matter what you tell them, girls are going to take the three a lot more than you would like. We run a lot of 4 out and one in sets, and no matter how many times we tell the girls that they have to drive first, it never fails that they are going to pass it around the perimeter, and then let it fly. I don't know if this is the problem that some of you are talking about, but I have a feeling it is pretty similar. Two things happen to a team that makes them feel like they need to shoot more threes. 1) They have success early in the year, and feel that it is always going to be there, even when it's not and 2) They are driving to the basket, and the fouls aren't being called, so they decide to just stop driving and shoot the three, they don't want to take the beating for no good reason. Once a team that struggles for a half realizes what works, they do a better job of getting it closer to the basket and kicking out. It's just hard to get the girls to quick just "letting it fly" early on.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Thanks for the coaching insight. I'm just glad our team has been able to listen to the coaching staff for the halftime adjustments (Attack the friggin basket ) and come out with a purpose in the second half.