Corbin Verbals, Roosevelt Standings, Defense

#1 posting 9.8.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

CORBIN VERBALS
Jasmin Corbin of Millard West has verballed Creighton. The 5-6 guard averaged 11 ppg for the 24-2 Wildcats last season.
Corbin played with Pinnacle Bank Nebraska this past summer.
Corbin is the 4th player from the 2009 Nebraska class to verbal and 4th headed to a D1 program.

TRANSFER
Samirah Sa' id 6-0 post player has transferred to Minneapolis Roosevelt. Sa'id averaged 4.3 ppg at Minneapolis Washburn last season. The Millers were 11-16 last year.

SMITH'S POSTING UP
Illinois' Jenna Smith (Bloomington Kennedy) posts up for the last time this summer.

MEASURING DEFENSE
Rethinking Basketball looks at the MVP race in the WNBA and one factor they examine is how to measure defense.

FALL LEAGUE
Here are the standings at the Minneapolis Roosevelt fall League after week #2
1. Roosevelt 4-0
1. Hopkins 4-0
3. 43 Hoops 3-1
3. Burnsville 3-1
5. Rascals 2-2
6. St. Paul Central 1-1
7. South 1-3
8. Totino Grace 1-3
9. Columbia Heights 0-4
10. St. Paul Johnson 0-4

AAU TRYOUTS
Metro Stars 16U Black and White reminder for all who feel they are ready to take their game to the next level. Tryouts will be held on Sept 14 and 21st. Trying out for the Metro Stars is also a great way to play highly competitive basketball prior to the fall NCAA exposure weekend. It is recommended that you send in your registration form prior to tryouts. Tryout information is found on the Minnesota Metro Stars website.

Next up: tomorrow unless news breaks.

How to Measure Defense

#3 posting 8.6.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

DEFENSE
Rethinking Basketball looks at the all defensive team in the WNBA at the break. There are 7 different stat categories to measure defense.

OLYMPICS
The Americans beat Australia 71-67 in the FIBA Diamond Ball gold medal game. Former Lynx and Ohio State player Katie Smith had 6.

FEATURES
Kristi Smith of Iowa is setting the bar high for the upcoming year.

COACHING NEWS
Millette Green has been named assistant women's basketball coach at IUPUI.

Lisa Ryckbosch of UI Chicago has signed a contract extension out to the 2010-11 season.

Josh Carper has been named director of basketball operations for the Iowa State women's team.

SCHEDULES
New Mexico has released their non conference schedule.

Next up: The return of Seashells & Balloons

Olympians, Perfect Lynx, Defense Rules

#1 posting 6.1.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

OLYMPIANS
Nine players have been chosen for the USA women's basketball Olympic team. I linked Lynx player Seimone Augustus yesterday. Former Lynx (and former Ohio State player) Katie Smith is an Olympian. Here are the other seven. Three more will be named later.

PERFECT LYNX
The Lynx continue their unblemished start with a 94-83 win over defending champs Phoenix with their two Olympians. From the St. Paul Pioneer Press, StarTribune, and Arizona Republic.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Mike Kahn of Fox Sports looks at the defense in the NBA Conference championships. Former coach Chuck Daly is quoted "defense is primarily effort with the talent these guys bring to the table, and ultimately it's all about good, old-fashioned defensive pressure that shows which team wants it more."

BASKETBALL ON TRACK
Watertown-Mayer 8th grader Marissa Janning has qualified for the State Track and Field Meet next weekend by finishing 1st in both the 1600 and the 3200 at the section 4A track meet. Marissa plays AAU basketball for North Tartan 14U. She will miss this weekends Hardwood Classic Tournament in Woodbury

BASKETBALL & SOCCER
Jenny Ryan of Saginaw Nouvel led her soccer team to the State title in Michigan. She also led Nouvel to the basketball title this winter. Ryan has already verballed Michigan for basketball. From the Saginaw News.

ST. THOMAS TO BRAZIL
The University of St. Thomas' women's basketball team will be taking a trip to Brazil in August.

PARKERSBURG TORNADO
Here is a report from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader on the Parkersburg, Iowa tornado. It is a story about University of South Dakota football player Evan Capper. North Tartan Larson player and Iowa State recruit Chelsea Poppens was in the tornado's path.

Next up: later today with the championship results from the Battle of the Hardwood.

Teas & Defense

#5 posting 3.18.2008
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

TEAS AND DEFENSE

I have stated that I think there is no such thing as good defense, only poor offense skills. Now coach Teas has a response:

So, “there is no such thing as great defense. Good defense only exposes weak offensive skills” Seems this mantra you espouse rather fell apart this past weekend.

Cyonna West is not a great defender? I guess then Taylor Hill must have weak offensive skills. Gee I hope the army of D-1 recruiters does not find this out about her. The same thing could be said about the offensive skills lacking in Britney Chambers on Saturday night. Oh wait a minute; I think she broke the single game scoring record this weekend.

Come on KJA great defense was seen all over the place at the state tournament and many of us really enjoyed watching it. We watched the results of great coaching, great individual effort, and great team play on defense. Defense really helped Ada-Borup, Albany, Totino Grace and St. Paul Central win state titles year. I am fairly certain their coaches are happy a significant part of game prep was devoted to it.

For example Totino-Grace used body position, foot speed, active hands and great rebounding to frustrate all their opponents this past week. It appeared that their opponents, at the end of their games were demoralized by their inability to run their offensive system vs the TG pressure. Hats off to Totino-Grace, and Coach Shannon Hartinger, for their defense success and their state championship.

Coach Teas

To illustrate Coach Teas Remarks
Class, Champ, Dpp100, Dfloor %
A Ada-Bourp 59.18, .301
AA Albany 78.62, .379
AAA Totino-Grace 65.24, .308
AAAA St. Paul Central 87.05, .428

If we look at last week alone
A Ada-Bourp 63.56, .305
AA Albany 74.76, .364
AAA Totino-Grace 60.52, .284
AAAA St. Paul Central 74.76, .364
That translates to an improvement of +3.86/+.015 for Albany; +4.72/+.024 for Totino-Grace; and a whopping +12.29, +.064 for Central. Ada-Borup went up (barely) -4.38/-.004.
If you compare that with the defensive averages across their respective classes vs their state tournament performances.
A Ada-Borup +14.89/+.076
AA Albany +8.74/+.033
AAA Totino-Grace +18.74/+.101
AAAA St. Paul Central +5.83/+.037
All were better but TG led in both categories.

Next up: later today with the grab bag