|
TJSweens -> RE: Gopher Basketball (Womens) (11/17/2014 10:11:33 AM)
|
Lost in the shuffle of the football team playing THE OSU, Pitino vs. Pitino and Gopher hockey is that Marlene Stollings and the women's team unveiled the new "Fury" offense. It appears to be as advertised even if Southeastern Louisiana isn't exactly Final Four material. Scoring 109 points en route to a 49 point victory is still pretty impressive. I can't remember a single game under Borton where 3 Gophers scored over 20 points, let alone the fact that none of them was Rachel Banham. She did just fine, scoring 18 pts with 4 reb and 6 asst and becoming the 4th player in Gopher history to top 2,000 points. She's a mere 274 pts behind Lindsey Whalen's record and will probably break it before mid-season.
The players love the system. Shae Kelley exercised her graduation loophole to leave Old Dominion and play her senior season for Stollings because she was so impressed with the system after playing against it for 2 years. She scored 21 pts with 10 reb. Kayla Hirt who everyone kind of forgot was a top 30 recruit because of her knee injuries and being in the same class as Banham scored 22 pts with 7 rebounds. The beat reporters for both fish wraps expect her to be the surprise player of the year in the Big Ten. Amanda Zahui B. displayed her new svelte look (dropped 40 lbs. in the off-season). Pre-season All Big Ten selection came off the bench due to a sore hamstring and contributed a mere 20 pts., 12 reb and 5 blocks in 22 minutes. Carley Wagner made her debut in the starting lineup with 6 pts, 5 reb and 4 asst in 25 min.
This is a refreshing change after years of Borton's plodding, clueless, walk the ball up, half court sets. This is a system top players will want play. I don't expect Stollings to loose the future Nia Coffees, Taylor Hills and Jenna Smiths and Rebecca Dahlman's year after after year like Borton did.
|
|
|
|