LADY RAIDER BB Exhibition #1 Bethel U., Sunday 2pm, 10/27/19
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What we have long waited for, Height and size, is there with Boothe. Maybe by conference play, she'll be ready. That's a guess and hope. I don't see Payne being a factor.
Rashika can't follow rules, at this point a wasted scholarship. I will be surprised if she ever sees the floor in a lady raider uniform. Two years of free school and nothing to show for it on the court. Booth has not played in 11/2 years nursing a bad knee when she gets things going I think everyone will be pleased.
Rellah had issues getting used to her knee brace and definitely got winded pretty quickly after about 3 or 4 minutes. She did show real flashes though. She has great court vision and can really pass the ball. I think Coach Insell's summary was pretty accurate. We had a lot of trying to learn how to play with each other. The only thing I was concerned with was post defense. Everyone doesn't have to be 6'5'' to play sound post defense. Bethel had a lot of people slashing to the inside with light effort from our side to stop them.
I still think that Courtney Whitson will wind up starting and playing a lot this year. I think by conference time, this team will be one of the top teams in the conference. I had hopes for more with Reshika and Eternati on the team as we would have quality depth inside to handle the height of Power 5 conferences. We could eventually be lethal with the three with both Rellah and Courtney being good three point shooters. Anastasia really had problems with cramps in one leg for most of the second half. Aislynn looked very good from the three and also slashing to the basket.
I still think that Courtney Whitson will wind up starting and playing a lot this year. I think by conference time, this team will be one of the top teams in the conference. I had hopes for more with Reshika and Eternati on the team as we would have quality depth inside to handle the height of Power 5 conferences. We could eventually be lethal with the three with both Rellah and Courtney being good three point shooters. Anastasia really had problems with cramps in one leg for most of the second half. Aislynn looked very good from the three and also slashing to the basket.
I had thought this could be that longed for break-out year based on the comments from the Lil' General and others (some on this board who had seen off-season workouts), primarily based on the "bigs" which would be available this year. Insell himself had said, and I paraphrase, "We've got four big girls and they can all play".
Now before the season even starts: 1. Willock has left the program, 2. Ra'Shika White is either injured or has a bad attitude (or both?), 3. A couple of posters have discredited any help from Payne which is not surprising considering her stats from UVA. 4. And Boothe is having trouble recovering from knee problems, is not in shape and with her body type obviously may never be more than a "spot" player.
So much for this being the year that Insell's promised national rankings and/or Great 8/Final Four season is finally realized.
Oh well, Charvarius Ward looked good in prime-time last night.
Now before the season even starts: 1. Willock has left the program, 2. Ra'Shika White is either injured or has a bad attitude (or both?), 3. A couple of posters have discredited any help from Payne which is not surprising considering her stats from UVA. 4. And Boothe is having trouble recovering from knee problems, is not in shape and with her body type obviously may never be more than a "spot" player.
So much for this being the year that Insell's promised national rankings and/or Great 8/Final Four season is finally realized.
Oh well, Charvarius Ward looked good in prime-time last night.
Ra'Shika is not playing because she had a bad injury for which she had surgery. She's got a bad attitude too?
I think the Bigs were a big part of why I thought we could have a break-out year. Rellah will be a big part of things by the first of the year, but Shakyna will be a moderate backup. She is tall and is much more agile than most of the bigs we have had in the past (except for Cheyenne). She is a fair offensive threat and a good defensive threat. Courtney Whitson, while only 6' will be an offensive threat in the mode of Alysia Clarke. She has lightning quick first steps that get her to the basket. Rebounding and defense will be an issue. Rellah will be forced to play down low more this year as she is physically imposing and quick also. Charity Savage seemed to be doing more of the rebounding and inside chores during the exhibition.
I would say do not judge the entire season based on one game.
I agree with that, but if you have seen almost 40 years worth of mens and womens teams, you can pretty well tell a top 10 nationwide team from a top 3 in the conference team. I am assuming that MTFNBY5 was saying this probably isn't going to be the team to take us to elite 8 this year and not that we will have a bad year. Before the injuries and departures, I thought that was possible on paper. Next year and the year following that could be real interesting though.
Also, I wanted to comment on Ra'Shika. No one that I have heard said she has a bad attitude. I do know in one of Insell's videos he commented that she went to one of the auxiallary gyms and was playing when she was told not to do that when the injury occurred. I am not sure someone playing a pick-up basketball game should be labeled with a bad attitude as I heard it was just going up for a layup and coming down normal. As always, I could be wrong......
Also, I wanted to comment on Ra'Shika. No one that I have heard said she has a bad attitude. I do know in one of Insell's videos he commented that she went to one of the auxiallary gyms and was playing when she was told not to do that when the injury occurred. I am not sure someone playing a pick-up basketball game should be labeled with a bad attitude as I heard it was just going up for a layup and coming down normal. As always, I could be wrong......
You are correct in that I was stating that a really "great" year had been implied by the coaching staff (and others) and because of the decimation of the highly-touted "bigs" this is no longer expected which is a pity. We could still have a very good year for the Insell coached mid-major program.
In TruBlueCop's defense (not that he needs me) I used his "can't follow rules" and came up with possible bad attitude in my previous post. I do agree with you that playing a pick-up game (and getting hurt) probably doesn't deserve his somewhat harsh criticism nor my implication of a possible bad attitude.
One additional point on this subject. Most of us who follow Blue Raider athletics know that MT has (had) 4 highly-touted "bigs" new to the team if not the program this year who most of us would not know if we met them on the street. I would have needed a scorecard when I first saw the LRs play either in person or on TV. It is therefore possible that a poster could confuse/conflate Willock (who apparently did have a bad attitude) with Ra'Shika White who made a bad decision, broke a (minor?) team rule and got hurt.
I am hoping for the best with this team but the past few years have dampened by expectations. Hopefully we are better athletically and can get up and down the court...and press when needed. In other words, get back to the way we played in CRI's first several years.
