General WBB Thread

[Class of '66 Old Fart 83,164]

Iowa already announcing Jan Jensen has been promoted from associate head coach at Iowa WBB to head coach

[TheWatShot 13,530]

32 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Timing is sketch.  Didn’t Iowa land a couple nice transfers?  

Maybe, but they lost a lot more than just Clark. Maybe Bluder has seen what they have coming back and isn't in the mood for a multi-year rebuild. 

[mamasa 15,089]

I don’t follow WNBA too closely- is the Fever’s coach the cause for their struggles? No idea of her pedigree but seems out coached in all the games I’ve watched 

[TheWatShot 13,530]

2 hours ago, mamasa said:

I don’t follow WNBA too closely- is the Fever’s coach the cause for their struggles? No idea of her pedigree but seems out coached in all the games I’ve watched 

I don't know anything about her, but the early returns haven't looked great. To be fair, the league gave them a brutal schedule to start things off. New York is a juggernaut and Connecticut isn't far behind. 

[TTT 834]

The Indiana Fever coaching staff is not in control of the team. Players play awkwardly for themselves and lack continuity and flow especially offensively.  (Rebounding and defense as well).  unable to finish in any kind of traffic. Boston is out of shape but an excellent analyst college game tv commentator.

Now, examples:  Clark misses out on at least on 4 or 5 assists per game because professional level players fumbling the ball and not catching her passes and not making buckets in traffic, coach seems stressed lecturing team and team is not committed and frustrated unsure of themselves, the bigs are not matching opponents talent level.  Another example Clark gets crushed on a screen while trying to guard while coming up court with 2 teammates in a position to call out screen for her to avoid.  Do teammates call out screen? No, crickets.

And Clark is getting very little help.  Time and time again Clark comes down as a trailer ready (for a patented 3 ball) and doesn’t get the ball in time and Mitchell or another player goes for a 3 ball or something else happens as turn over or missed shot.  This kind of play affects confidence, and sureness making unsure play.

Having said this play was slightly better today….slightly. C. Sides lecturing is a question to me whether deep down inside she lacks ability to coach this team and/or she is afraid…probably a little of both. 
Yes, season is young and Clark has not been with team that long but this team is not even close to being competitive. 
Conclusion:  Coaching strategy is going to adjust and change and if players don’t like it they can hit the door or the coach can hit the door in favor of a coach that knows how to instruct and implement command performances vs the unorganized system what is being witnessed.  An appropriate coach would be Curt Miller or not going to happen because of money but someone like Josh Shertz only on the women side that gives confidence….we are going to do this and this is our image….and that’s the way it’s going to be.

If things don’t change I expect Clark to eventually be with another team within a couple years.

Fever only won 13 games last year and that’s the way they got the number one pick…and record worse than that over last few seasons. Last two years Fever had first pick of draft.

[Stuhoo 78,425]

After three games, Clark is averaging 6.5 turnovers per game, and is shooting 30% fg, 27% 3pt. Will she get better? Yah—because when someone is putting up CJ Gunn numbers the only place to go is up.

I would worry about it being really hard for her to avoid personal issues—she’s always had a shitty attitude, but now the microscope is even more on her, she isn't allowed to mix into normal society, and the basketball isn’t a refuge where she’s successful.

What a high-money but suffocating situation. 

[OliviaPope40 6,361]

3 hours ago, mamasa said:

I don’t follow WNBA too closely- is the Fever’s coach the cause for their struggles? No idea of her pedigree but seems out coached in all the games I’ve watched 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christie_Sides

Her Wikipedia bio.

[TTT 834]

And Grace Berger not sure how much but Grace Berger should play a minimum of 10 minutes especially if you are going to lose anyway…I doubt if to many are out working her and at times she has made good plays but hardly ever is allowed enough time to get some rhythm.  I know it’s not the WNBA but Grace played well in Spain during WNBA off season.

The Indiana Fever with this whole coaching staff is a disconnected team.

 Glad to see Clark standing up for herself a little against the refs this latest game.

[TTT 834]

Maybe, Grace Berger can go out to Seattle and spend some time with Holmes for 2025 season.

[Loaded Chicken Sandwich 8,520]

People want to talk about Clark but not Boston? She's been bad.

[TheWatShot 13,530]

Didn't realize Stephanie White was coaching Connecticut now. She played for the Fever back in the day and did a phenomenal job coaching a nondescript Fever team to the Finals in 2015. Naturally she left for a higher-paying college job which she was later fired from,  then returned to the league to coach a different team while the Fever fired their next two coaches. 

[TheWatShot 13,530]

6 minutes ago, Loaded Chicken Sandwich said:

People want to talk about Clark but not Boston? She's been bad.

Saw some comments recently that she looks slower and out of shape compared to last season. I would have rather seen Clark shoot a logo 3 for the win than Boston trying to dribble through three defenders for the tie. 

[HinnyHoosier 4,621]

7 minutes ago, TheWatShot said:

Saw some comments recently that she looks slower and out of shape compared to last season. I would have rather seen Clark shoot a logo 3 for the win than Boston trying to dribble through three defenders for the tie. 

She has next to no confidence and it's all over her face. I saw today where she told a reporter she had to delete her social media due to all the criticism of her and the team.

[TheWatShot 13,530]

21 hours ago, HinnyHoosier said:

She has next to no confidence and it's all over her face. I saw today where she told a reporter she had to delete her social media due to all the criticism of her and the team.

Good for her. That was probably a smart thing to do. Most of the people attacking her probably didn't even know who she was until a month ago. 

 

The league really screwed the Fever with the schedule having 5 of the first 7 against title contenders. Hopefully the fans who have been at the games continue to show up. 

[mamasa 15,089]

Flying to Boston this morning- first person in line is Jeff Walz, Louisville’s WBB head coach. Nice to see he flies Southwest too lol

[Demo 19,175]

Finally hit me watching the Fever tonight that Caitlin Clark is Pete Maravich. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Everything about her game is that guy. How did I not see that when she was at Iowa? 

[Stuhoo 78,425]

57 minutes ago, Demo said:

Finally hit me watching the Fever tonight that Caitlin Clark is Pete Maravich. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Everything about her game is that guy. How did I not see that when she was at Iowa? 

Absolutely—been telling my Iowa relatives that for a year. 

Not really a winning player but super uniquely talented and fun to watch.

She’s Pistol with a pissy attitude. 

[J34 1,449]

3 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Absolutely—been telling my Iowa relatives that for a year. 

Not really a winning player but super uniquely talented and fun to watch.

She’s Pistol with a pissy attitude. 

Not a winning player? 

Back to back National Championship games.

The Fever won a total of 13 games last year, and with 15 games to go, they've already won 11 this year.

Career record at Iowa was like 109-30

Pissy attitude-yes

Not a winning player-way off

[TheWatShot 13,530]

Yeah, anyone who thinks Clark isn't a winning player is probably still holding some kind of grudge from her days at Iowa. It's actually only been about 5 months since our fans were heckling her in Assembly Hall. 

 

She had the first triple-double ever by a rookie, and did it against the best team in the league. She just set the single-game assists record, and did it while also scoring 24 points. Pretty amazing stuff. The Fever are horrific defensively and need to seriously address that in the offseason. 

[J34 1,449]

I believe she also broke the record for turnovers in a season, as well. To be fair.