Besides Cooper, Latham was the only relative bright spot in the game. She continued her recent of improved play and less fouling. I always love Samara's effort, but she continues to go through a period in which her assist:turnover ratio had dipped.
I agree with the common theme of the thread that we were due this kind of game given that we have not played horrible for an entire game. We have played several poor quarters and some poor halves but have always bounced back with inspired quarter or two. I think these uninspired games are even more likely toward the end of a season when you play in a very difficult conference. Even lower-level teams in the SEC such as MSU, Mizzou, and Florida make you play hard, or they will test you for at least part of a game. That is not to even mention the 7 SEC teams that are likely to host the NCAAs. The tendency to totally not show up for a game or two is even more present in the SEC men teams this year, which again is likely due to it being the strongest it ever been in terms of rankings.
What still troubles me is how many games the players start the game as if they have never met CKC. They run away from the boards rather than towards the boards, letting the other team get easy rebounds.
They almost always shoot several threes at first before they have gotten warmed up and in the flow. Many of these are taken without any passing. I still think a factor of this is that our players are not in the game long enough at the beginning to get in the flow of it. In all sports and exercise, there is a warmup period where your body and mind are getting used to it. It typically takes time to get into the flow. Think if every time you started an exercise that the moment you just are getting into the flow you had to stop it. This is even harder in basketball because there are so many skills that are a part of being in the flow. So, with those early platoon changes, which in many games this year are the quickest of the entire game (well under 2 minutes), our team stay stuck in the warmup phase as a new group is put in and they too are trying to get into the flow. Meanwhile, the other team can get the beyond the rusty warmup period and get into the flow. The results support this.
I actually totally like the platoon system and am a big supporter of CKC. I do think they need to come with some type of adjustment towards the beginning of the game, such as longer intervals at first or keeping a few players in who are starting to look like they are getting the flow and sub some others out that aren't. I trust she will find some solution, as the current approach is not optimal.
