I just finished the game and have several questions/comments:
1. What was Kelly’s injury? If it wasn’t an injury on her shooting hand then what the heck is going on? She missed every single wide open three and clutch midrange that she took it felt like.
2. Why didn’t Hull or Henderson play more (or at all)? They are athletic enough to stick with smaller/quicker players and have height that might have disrupted some of those jumpers.
3. Something feels disjointed about this team and it feels like having Nivar as the “leader” might be it. When your leader can’t hit free throws, can’t hit an outside shot, and misses layups pretty frequently that is an issue.
We needed Kelly to be the floor leader and she is flat out struggling.
1. She had her knee scoped in the offseason, so possibly some cartilage damage or a partial ligament tear or similar. Your spring can absolutely affect your jump shot. She shot 33% on 2pt shots this game, so not great. 0-3 on 3's. Made her FTs.
2. Henderson's efficiency numbers are through the roof, especially recently. when she plays she delivers on offense. It is harder to gauge defense in limited play against good competition, but to my eye she is always at least tenacious. I can only assume practice looks different or the team defense assignments are missed, because on paper, offensively, she should be playing. The issue is, how much less do you play Nivar, Harris and Brooks; they are competing for the same minutes if you assume Toomey/Thomas have the 5 locked down and Kelly/Aarnisalo/Grant have the 1 and 2 locked down, though I suppose Nivar could play more 2 and we go bigger... if Henderson/Brooks/ can adequately guard a perimeter player at the 3. Hull is great and would get significant minutes on most any other ACC team, may even start for a few. But we have extreme depth at her position. I think she is just a bit behind Harris/Nivar/Brooks/Henderson and is competing with Queiroz it seems for scraps.
3. Nivar is the best player on this team right now, and that is because defense is 1/2 the game. 2nd in the ACC in steals by a wide margin, 9th nationally. and she is disruptive beyond steals. Leads the team in assists. Tied for the team lead in points, though we have 5 players between 10 and 12 points so no separation there. Her effective FG% is strong (I think takes that she cannot hit the 3 [35% this year] and misses too many bunnies [53% from 2pt range] are outdated). She helps create and finish transition play, which when going, is our best offense. She is our best rebounder from the perimeter (though I would like to see what Henderson can do more). She is less impressive in the half court offense admittedly. And she has too many turnovers by taking risks. Yes, she stinks at FTs. In terms of being a team leader or a team star: no she is not a clear cut tippy top ACC player. But she is the best we have. This is a team many great ACC caliber players, but we have no star player, especially with Kelly struggling (as you pointed out). I cannot speak to Nivar's leadership skills, but I have no reason to think this smart, confident, articulate senior is not pulling her weight. She looks like a leader to me, but I am not on the bench nor in practice.
In this game specifically we effectively played a 7 woman rotation through regulation, and that was with a ton of foul trouble and certain players not having their "A" game it seemed. Thomas and Henderson combined for maybe 4 minutes total outside of that. I do not agree with that decision. For most of the year, we have gone 10 deep even in the few contested games. I think more than 10 is unrealistic and unnecessary, but this should not be a 7 woman rotation. We suddenly started losing the rebounding battle and forced less turnovers late in this game. Coincidence?
