My Notes of Sharon Versyp Show 12/30/2019

[DocRon]

Sharon Versyp Show for Monday 12/30/2019
(with Tim Newton)
My Notes - not verbatim but close. (And not necessarily my opinion)

1. Tim: Purdue You ‘re on a three game win streak, Coach. So there has been a lot of good things to see and hear. And it ended with a very impressive Big Ten win. Coach: Yeah, Our kids have been playing since June so this four day break (for Christmas) was great. We really needed to allow them that 4 days and 5 nights and they really got refreshed and all came back. Usually that first practice we had on the 26th is not pretty but ours was very good. It was a lot better than anticipated. Obviously you have got to get your breath back. You’re trying to get them up and down and focused. The leadership between Harris and Oden kind of set the tone.
2. Coach: We open up on the road all the time. Tim: Yeah - 7 of the last 8 on that “random schedule”. So it is really a short time. We came back on the 26th and we were here for 3-4 hours and then the next day (the 27th) we practiced for an hour and a half and then we flew there (Columbus) and shot there and then we played at noon (on the 28th). It was a tight turnaround. I was really proud of the focus and the effort because it’s tough just playing that first game after Christmas anyways.
3. Tim: When you open the Big Ten Schedule on the road and win you feel like you’re ahead of the pack now. Coach: Yeah, you feel like you stole one. You always want to win the games at home but the B1G from top to bottom — they showed a stat the other night that the B1G has 9 teams in the top 45 RPI rankings. That is more than any league in the country. So it right now is the toughest conference top to bottom. So when you can go on the road and get a win that’s stealing one. But now you’ve got to focus on the next one and the next one. Tim: Your RPI now is #13 and strength of schedule is #19.
4. Tim: So we want to get the only bummer from the last two weeks out of the way. (On Sunday 12/15) you lost to South Carolina 85-49 — a lopsided game. That was a game the way that they played they would have beaten anyone in the country. Coach: Absolutely. You go there after finals and you think you’re ready to play. But South Carolina has the #1 fan base in the country. They have like 11,000 fans - its like a men’s BB game. It was absolutely amazing - there’s no where like it in the country. I thought it was great for our kids to be in that environment because we have such a great home environment here but when 11,000 fans get going and the lights and when you shoot FTs they had 11,000 fans screaming at the top of their lungs. It was an incredible environment.
5. Coach: When you watch videos of South Carolina you see deficiencies but that night they did not have one. They were hitting everything. Kids who did not knock down shots before were knocking them down. They dominated in every area. They had not pressed before and they pressed against us. They did not want to guard all our sets so they used their athleticism and size to rush us which they did. They didn’t have any deficiencies but we kept fighting. They could have won the national championship playing like they did that night.
6. Tim: We wondered why their fans were still going crazy when we were at the FT line in the 2nd half and it was a lop-sided game. Then we found out that if the opposing team misses both of their free throws everyone in the stands gets a free chicken sandwich. When Purdue was at the line and they missed their first FT you can imagine there were a lot of excited people. But they were disappointed as you never did miss those two FTs. Coach: In South Carolina they did a great job. When Dawn got there they had free tickets, they gave $5 family passes, they grew that environment. They didn’t have a “valued ticket” for years. So they made the tickets “valued.” If people know they’re going to get a free chicken sandwich you are probably going to get more people. Our kids were like “Wow, what’s going on?” They did such a great job of building their environment over Dawn’s first five years.
7. Coach: But it was tough, no question. We had seen their deficiencies but they weren’t there that night. And we struggled - it didn’t matter what we did. And also, the SEC is a different league - they don’t call any fouls. Otherwise they would be calling a foul every second. So we didn’t get much from them. But you just have to plan on that all the time. We had to grow up quickly. We had a lot of “deer-in-the-headlights” moments but we had to get out of that and keep on fighting. We just ran into a “buzzkill.”
8. Tim: After you came back from South Carolina I think one of the things you had to do was to make sure the confidence level was still high. You can learn lessons from a game like that but you also can’t let a game like that destroy you. Coach: You can’t. And pretty much that next game we really got after it. We showed clips of a lot of different things and what we need to work on. We had extremely focused practices with focus on no one else but ourselves. We had extremely competitive practices - a lot of “blood, sweat and tears.” And obviously we had a great result that Wednesday (the 18h).
9. Tim: For the Western Kentucky game on the 18th, first of all you hd a lot of energy in the stands because you had all those elementary school students in the stands (Education Day). We also saw that you had been badly out rebounded in South Carolina and you turned the tables by double digits on your side against WKU. Coach: I thought that, along with Drake, was one of the best games we played. We really competed on the boards which we needed too. We really worked on boxing out and competing that way. We got clean boards which, if you get clean boards then we have a chance to run. If we’re bobbling the ball then we have to play half-court offense. I think that was the best transition game we had. We got a lot of layups. And we dominated on both ends of the floor.
10. Coach: WKU is a really, really good BB team. They can shoot outside. They have good post play. But you couldn’t really see that because of how we attacked them. We were working on “Hey, we’ve got to be competitive… every single person needs to make all of us better. And that resulted in some really good play on both ends of the floor. Tim: The final score was 67-50 and that’s one of the games where you held the opponent to 50 points or less. The offense can come and go - you never know if your shots are going to go in or not - but the defense has to be constant.
11. Coach: Absolutely. Everyone wants offense and we want it also. But you never know. When you go on the road you have to be 10 points better (to overcome home court advantage) and sometimes you’re not. So sometimes it will be a real low-scoring game. The officials want a high scoring game they’ll call a lot of fouls and then we get to the foul line. We score 67 pts and hold them to 50. A lot of our opponents have been scoring 80 pts and we hold them to 50. If we can get easy baskets that gives you confidence on the offensive end so we are not forcing the shots in half-court. It loosens things up and you get a lot more energy that way.
12. Tim: McLaughlin led you in that game with 17 pts and her last basket put her over 1000 points for her career. She became the 35th player in program history to hit that mark. We’ve talked about how she didn’t play much D in high school but now you see her do that. Coach: You are beginning to see that maybe she only scores 9 pts but she has 5 assists and maybe 3 steals. She is doing a great job keeping people out of the paint on the defensive end and being a floor leader. She sets other people up. She has matured so much in her BB IQ - what it takes and her communication. So when she’s scoring obviously we are going to be at a high level scoring, but she also does a lot of different things. Her scoring 1000 points… obviously we have guaranteed 17 games left but we are hoping for 20+ more games so she needs to score points for us for us to continue in the right direction.
13. Tim: The other thing I will say about Karissa is that seeing her off the court she is a great role model - as are so many members of your team. If you are looking for someone for your kids to emulate, she is a pretty good example. Coach: She walks the walk - she doesn’t just talk it. She is very genuine, very kind. Right after the game you see a ton of kids who want her autograph. She is always there to help anyone and do anything. She is strong in her faith. She is just a well-rounded individual. And again, she has really stepped up in her leadership. Because you’ve got to talk it, you’ve got to engage your teammates and make everybody better on the court.
14. Tim: You had one more game before the break against Bowling Green from the MAC (on 12/21). When we talked before the game in the locker room you said the kids all have their cars packed, their gas allotment or plane tickets in hand ready to leave for Christmas. You knew they are there physically but you hoped they were there mentally as well. And they needed to be against a pretty tough Bowling Green squad. Coach: Yes, it was a tough game no question. You look at our schedule and our RPI is #13 and SOS is #19. We put a schedule together so that those mid major are the top 3 in their conferences and have a chance to win their conferences.
15. Coach: With Bowling Green we knew they could shoot but we didn’t know they could shoot it that well. They started to hit if we were in their face or not in their face. We struggled a little bit and we had to score and shut them down. I was a tight game and we hadn’t played in one for awhile. We had to make sure we were hitting our FTs in the end. They (Bowling Green) were hot. If you miss your first couple of shots… but they made theirs and it can continue. Mid-major teams mark down in their calendar the games where they come into the arenas of the BCS teams and say “This is our NCAA tournament - this is the team we want to beat.” They are very well coached. We “grinded it out.” They got ahead a little bit but we came back and did some good things.
16. Tim: Yes. Robyn Fralick is tiring to turn Bowling Green around coming from Ashland University. She was there for 3 years as head coach and I had to do a double-take looking at her record. It was 104 wins and 3 losses. And still only one national championship. They were undefeated her second year but only lost one game her third year which was the national championship game. She’s trying to turn things around and she has a game that can score a lot of points. Coach: Yes. She has great coaching and discipline. Her players are all in their correct position. She has done a really good job. She will get BGSU back to where it was when Curt Miller was there. She made good adjustments. They shot better than I thought they would. We had to get out on them and then they started missing some.
17. Tim: Luckily for you, you had a couple of players especially early in that game that had the shooting range and one was Whilby. She scored 13 huge points off the bench and really kept you in the game in the first half. Coach: Really what you just said. Lyndsey being able to score 13 pts off the bench and Hardin making two threes. When you’re struggling in different areas, that’s where your bench needs to come in. You tell the bench “This is where you need to go in and give your gifts.” They needed to be able to do that because we weren’t getting our shots. They weren’t sure - “Should we guard her or should we back off because she is a driver.” She (Whilby) really, really helped us. When you have a bench that is growing and contributing. That allows other players to sit and watch who had been playing and see what they needed to do.
18. Tim: The Boilermakers knocked of Bowling Green 81-74. Harris had 23 points and Traylor a career best 19 points. We said a lot this year “as KT goes so goes the Boilermakers.” Coach: It’s true but its not just one player. We have to all be solid and consistent. That is all we’re talking about right now is consistency. But Traylor can just change the game because of her speed, her quickness, being a lefty and setting people up. She has done a great job in working at different areas of her game as we are seeing. She has been able to knock down her FT’s and her 3’s. And she is starting to pick up her D. All those things make an huge difference and that is a key for us, but again our point guard, our QB whatever… KT has to be really good every day and McLaughlin has to be good every day.
19. Tim: So then everyone went their separate ways for a few days. They got both physical and mental rest. You mentioned that with your Australian trip you have been going at it since the middle of summer and you just need some time away. Coach: You really do and even the week before we got back from South Carolina. We went after it intensely and after WKU on Wednesday they couldn’t move on Thursday so we had a practice where we showed some film and then we just watched a Christmas movie. We gave them some popcorn… just brainless. Then when everybody went home we always play that game (on Saturday) at noon so everyone can get going because we have people that live far away. And when they are off (on Christmas break) we just don’t communicate. They know when they need to be back. When they got back they just seemed fresher. They were happy. We get in a big circle and we go around and talk about what you did during the holiday - who you spent your time with. And that is how we kick it off. And we say, okay, that’s over and now this is “Chapter 3” - the Big Ten Season. We give them a pep talk of what we need to do now and then we had a really good practice. I think it is because we had that mental, physical and emotional break.
20. Tim: One of the things you have to do over the break is look at the weather map to make sure everyone is going to get back. Did you have any “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” stories on this one? Coach: No, we had good weather. It was 60° here on Christmas. But everyone had good weather. Diagne was the only one that got a delay. She landed like at 12:30 and got here by 2:30 so it wasn’t too bad. We lifted at 2 o’clock. I tell everyone to text me when they get home - like Makolo & her parents have a 14 hour drive to Canada and they got back at 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning. But everyone else was good to go, refreshed and a different look on their face.
21. Tim: You mentioned its a different chapter. The play in the B1G season is different. There’s a little different buzz. Coach: Yeah, it is totally different - a different intensity and different focus. In the B1G everyone knows what everyone else is doing. What we talked about going to Ohio State is that they have 5 freshman and they don’t know what this is about and we have 3 freshman and you don’t know what this is about. You try to have the upper classmen talk about it but you’ve got to walk it. The different type of experience… everyone has to bring it every day. There can’t be any negative energy. We’re working thru all of this - the preseason and non-conference to get this all out of the way. The roles - how they’re increasing - how they’re not increasing and what people can bring to the table. And what things we needed. And that is exactly what happened when we went to Ohio State. And now we have to keep bringing those things and we have to get better and better at peaking at the right time.
22. Tim: We got on the road on a quick plain ride to Columbus and we got to play at St. John’s Arena which for my money is a much better facility for WBB than where they usually play at Value City Arena where there were hockey games going on two nights in a row. For you, it brought back a lot of memories of some great basketball games against Ohio State. Coach: Yeah, as soon as we got there I said “Ladies, this is the best gym. This is a shooter’s gym. It brought back great memories. I walked around the hallways - I mean it’s old, old but I saw pictures of Tracey Hall & Nikita Lowry - played against them. Back in the day we had some great, great battles. I said “Ladies, this is a neutral site. They are used to playing in Value City - they never practice here. The fans will be against us so it is us agains the world but they are not used to playing here. It is a shooters’ gym and has a nice feel. Value City is like a professional feel. It worked to our advantage.
23. Tim: It was kind of a back and forth game early on. Coming out of the Christmas break you expect some mistakes early on and I don’t know if you would call it being tight but both teams looked a little bit rusty. But in the 2Q you had a 10 point lead and finished the first half with a 7 pt lead. But in the 3Q you blew it open and I thought your pressure - you went to a 2-2-1 - really threw them off. Coach: Yeah. We always talk about when you play a conference game everyone is tight for the first 3-5 minutes and it is kind of ugly. Everyone is trying to figure the other team out - their tendencies and all that. I thought we were in pretty good shape. We used 4 or 5 different defenses against them. They were young so we kept changing them up to prevent them from figuring out what we were doing. And at halftime, we said when there is a dead ball or free throw, get in our 2-2-1 and I told the “little ones”, Traylor and McLaughlin, to get really, really aggressive. And they did and keep attacking. And every time we were fouled we were setting up our press. And we kept getting to the FT line. And that is kind of a breather for us because it was like 4 times in a row they fouled us and we got to the line. And I think that really helped us generate all that energy. I thought Whilby did a tremendous job pressuring. She got that one huge steal just shooting the gap, We need those type of electric plays in order to keep us going. And our kids just were really feeling it. When you feel it your shots are going in, your D is going great, you are getting to the foul line. And as a player you can feel that.
24. Tim: The best sight in any sport is to see your opponent’s fans leaving early and hear a really quiet crowd. You kept the crowd really our of it in the 3rd & 4th Q. Coach: That’s what we talked about - to keep the crowd out of it and keep them as quiet as possible. Of course they did some good things and had some runs, but you got to come back down and be settled. We got a little erratic in the 4Q trying to make some plays where we could have just kept steady but we kept the lead up. I thought the 3rd Q and beginning of the 4th was absolutely amazing. That is where we built our 18-19-20 pt lead. Then we just stayed after it and didn’t back down.
25. Tim: For the second game in a row Traylor led with 15 pts. Harris and Oden had 12. You had balanced scoring and contributions from a lot of people - you played 11 different players. Everybody gave you a little bit on the floor. Coach: Yes. Makolo came in and played some good D. She had a beautiful teardrop at the end of 3Q. Everyone else was shocked but I watched her play for 3 years in Canada and I know how she can play. Everyone contributed - Diagne, Grant, Woltman - all did really nice things. Hardin got in. That really helps Traylor and McLaughlin rest up. Grant did some good things. Whilby played exceptionally well. Our depth has to keep growing. Just that rotation - Farquhar comes out and (?) comes in. You get another big in for Harris. We didn’t get in foul trouble but we got to sub when WE wanted to sub. We weren’t forced to do it and everyone who came in did what they needed to do for their team. And that is why we played so well.
26. Tim: Boilermakers back on home court this weekend. Wisconsin coming in on Tuesday at 4PM and then Rutgers on Sunday. Wisconsin played Rutgers in their opener and lead for almost the whole game by as much as 15 pts. Then all of a sudden in the 3Q the Rutgers press came on. Coach: Yeah, Rutgers pressed them some in the first half but it wasn’t as aggressive. As the game went on it got more aggressive. You can make adjustments as a coach but a press is a press. They are long and athletic - you just can’t back down. Wisconsin gave up 3 or 4 turnovers in a row. Rutgers also had a couple of steals but blew it and Wisconsin had some opportunities and looked like they might hold on (but didn’t losing 61-64).
27. Coach: Wisconsin played a 2-3 zone (against Rutgers) but you’ll see man against us a majority of the time - that’s what they did last year. Their offensive rebounding is really, really good. Their best players are their post players (Lewis - honorable mention B1G team last year and Laszewski whose dad Jay played for the Badgers in the 80s.) Their guard is like a small forward and she just crashed the boards all the time. And they all can shoot the three. So you got to be able to defend outside; you got to be able to defend inside. Got to stay out of foul trouble and boxing out will be a really, really big thing. We’ve got to be able to exploit any of their weaknesses. In the half court they double teamed Harris in the first half last year but didn’t in the second half. We’ve got to be able to see where there are openings for skip passes etc. They try to make you take outside shots.They kind of play a gap D where they are not overplaying you too much. We obviously worked on a lot of those things but we’ve improved collectively as a team so we are looking forward to the matchup.
28. Tim: On Sunday when Rutgers comes in it will be a different type of animal, a different type of system who will be quick, fast and aggressive. Coach: Yeah, Rutgers is always that style. You want to slow them up and they will be trying to speed you up. Wisconsin had a good game plan and we will do something similar. You want to play zone against them. They have to top scorer in the B1g on their team (Arella Guirantes). She can get thru on the zone or on man - she is pretty talented. It always comes down to dealing with their athleticism which we prepared for by playing South Carolina, playing Arizona State and others on our non-conference schedule.
29. Tim: This week’s game plan - keep on doing what you are doing. Coach: Yes, but it comes down to being consistent. Harris and Oden - our seniors - have to be the leaders. They have to rally the troupes every single day. They did that at Ohio State where I saw a big jump in leadership. Not like they were not before but they became more serious. Again, everybody has to be ready. You cannot not be ready at this point. This is a great opportunity being on a break from school so they don’t have to do anything but play basketball. Those are the big things. But we have to continue to dominate on rebounding, We have to get better about taking care of the basketball - we talk about it all the time. That is going to come up and bite us. We have to continue to get the the FT line. We have to hit FTs like we did against tOSU. We didn’t do very well before that. We have to stay out of foul trouble. We all need to continue to develop. What I liked about the Ohio State game was everyone shared the ball… it was inside-outside, we rotated the ball, we were just clicking. It was nice to watch.
30. Tim: A quick note of congratulations to Madison Layden who is signed for 2020 became the all-time scoring leader in Howard County passing the record of Tiffany Longworth who went on to play at PSU. So congratulations. We’ll see her next year.
31. Coach: Happy New Year’s everybody.

 

[pufan73]

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