LADY RAIDER BB Middle Tennessee vs Michigan (Battle 4 Atlantis), 4PM, Saturday, November 18, 2023
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
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Wolverines to Head to Bahamas for Battle 4 Atlantis - University of Michigan Athletics
The University of Michigan women's basketball team (2-0) travels to the Bahamas to participate in the three-day Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 18-20) at Atlantis Pa...
Middle Tennessee to open Battle 4 Atlantis against Michigan - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Middle Tennessee women's basketball will open the Bad Boy Mowers Women's Battle 4 Atlantis against Michigan on Saturday afternoon in Imperial
goblueraiders.com
No surprise but, despite no Bahamas Bowl for the football team, McPhee has worked in his free trip home by tagging along with the basketball team this week.
What a horrendous first half. Very poor decision making, missed layups, not even trying to throw the ball in the post. Baffling. Not even a size or talent difference (in fact, have a size advantage -- yet being outrebounded by TWELVE!), just effort and basketball IQ absolutely in the negatives right now. I think the ladies can come back from this but it's going to be tough.
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Everyone outside of Boldyreva should be self reflecting on this terrible performance. The most frustrating part of this game is how it wasn't really due to Michigan... most of this was self inflicted. Granted, they did play great defense, but that doesn't cause thrown away balls left and right and airballs every other shot. This looked and felt like an NCAA tournament game and it's the same result
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I think he played 3 bench players and sparingly. That is going to be a problem when we play 2 more games in the next 2 days.
There are a lot of pieces but there's a lot of roughness right now. It's not helpful when you have players who go 1-12 (Wheeler) and 2-9 (Gregory) who are basically never subbed out. The lack of using the bench is a major issue as we have known for a while but it becomes especially clear when your opponent is rotating players in left and right. How can we see how the ones on the bench would play in a game when they can't even play?
Final: South Dakota 83-71. We play DePaul tomorrow at 6:30pm CT/7:30pm ET. Their tallest player is a bench F who plays only a few minutes per game, she's 6'3" -- all others are 6'1" or shorter. We better be ready to rebound the dang ball tomorrow.
Some good comments from Coach after the game... I agree with everything he said here.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"We let the second quarter get away from us. We did some things but just mishandled the ball and went away from our offense. The last two games we played two really good teams (Princeton and Michigan). Don't get me wrong, but we are as responsible for getting beat as the other team is. They did what they had to do, but we did not step up when we needed it. Against a team like that we have to step up, but we didn't. We started running and executing our offense with Anastasiia (Boldyreva) in the second half and cut it to six points, then we missed a defensive assignment and Michigan hit a three. If we get a stop there and come back down, maybe it's a different ball game. We had the momentum and their guard stepped in and did what she had to do."
"They have a really good team. Give Michigan credit. They did what they had to do, but still… we're a lot better basketball team than we showed. That is why we play the competition we play. We could play other teams and get a win, but how much better are you going to get doing that? Right now we just saw what our weaknesses are. Now it's up to our coaching staff to go take those weaknesses and make them our strengths.
Thoughts from Head Coach Rick Insell
"We let the second quarter get away from us. We did some things but just mishandled the ball and went away from our offense. The last two games we played two really good teams (Princeton and Michigan). Don't get me wrong, but we are as responsible for getting beat as the other team is. They did what they had to do, but we did not step up when we needed it. Against a team like that we have to step up, but we didn't. We started running and executing our offense with Anastasiia (Boldyreva) in the second half and cut it to six points, then we missed a defensive assignment and Michigan hit a three. If we get a stop there and come back down, maybe it's a different ball game. We had the momentum and their guard stepped in and did what she had to do."
"They have a really good team. Give Michigan credit. They did what they had to do, but still… we're a lot better basketball team than we showed. That is why we play the competition we play. We could play other teams and get a win, but how much better are you going to get doing that? Right now we just saw what our weaknesses are. Now it's up to our coaching staff to go take those weaknesses and make them our strengths.
This will probably be met with skepticism, but in my opinion Boldyreva is growing beyond what she can ultimately become here at Middle Tennessee. The rest of the players & coaching staff here are now holding her back from the national spotlight she can attain.
We don't have players capable of consistently shooting 35% or better from 3 point range to augment & help her out against elite competition. Heck most nights against good teams we shoot less than 30% from 3. I hate it for MT, but with coaches stubbornness towards using bench players to improve depth this team is going nowhere fast. The only consistent thing about MT women's basketball is coach still thinks his high school philosophy of a 6-7 player rotation works well in modern times. This is just a recipe for failure. As MT's best talent Boldyreva could be a star in the right setting, but she's running out of time. As a junior & with only a year left she should find a quality coach & school with players to match the talent she has to offer. She would be a perfect addition at a school like a "Louisville" where she could blossom & make a national name for herself in the short time she has left. As long as CRI is coaching MT here her efforts & skill will go to waste at the collegiate level.
We don't have players capable of consistently shooting 35% or better from 3 point range to augment & help her out against elite competition. Heck most nights against good teams we shoot less than 30% from 3. I hate it for MT, but with coaches stubbornness towards using bench players to improve depth this team is going nowhere fast. The only consistent thing about MT women's basketball is coach still thinks his high school philosophy of a 6-7 player rotation works well in modern times. This is just a recipe for failure. As MT's best talent Boldyreva could be a star in the right setting, but she's running out of time. As a junior & with only a year left she should find a quality coach & school with players to match the talent she has to offer. She would be a perfect addition at a school like a "Louisville" where she could blossom & make a national name for herself in the short time she has left. As long as CRI is coaching MT here her efforts & skill will go to waste at the collegiate level.
I dunno. I think a lot of the issues with shooting and offensive failures early this year have been a result of not running the offense which, when you have a 6'6" powerful C like Anastasiia, will open up the 3 point shooters who aren't going to go 1-12 or 2-9 all that often if they're wide open.
