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ORU vs Denver


MrsSmith

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What's going on with the Women's team?  We couldn't make it to the game tonight.  We had only scored 18 at half.

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We lose to Denver who is now 5-16 by a final score of 47-45.  What happened to the team that was playing in December?  I did not listed to or view the game, but it appears in the last few games we have started to come apart like a $2.00 watch.

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1 hour ago, MrsSmith said:

What's going on with the Women's team?  We couldn't make it to the game tonight.  We had only scored 18 at half.

I've been asking that question (both to myself and out loud on this board) for a few games now, really going back to when we got destroyed by the South Dakotas at home a couple of weeks ago, and from what I've been able to figure out, which really isn't hard if you look at the bench during games and you watch us play, is that we have been bitten once again by the injury bug, and we have too few players that either have the skill or the will or the smarts or the experience to step up and make a shot or grab a rebound or get a stop on defense.  Take tonight for example:

There were 4 players not dressed when we started the game, and before the 1st half was over we had 2 more, Maria Martianez and Jordan Gilbert, that were sitting and not playing anymore.  I don't know what happened but Maria Martianez didn't play after the first 2 minutes.  I didn't see anything on her like a soft boot or anything that would indicate what she hurt, but I have to assume she was hurt and that's why she didn't return to the game.  I don't know what happened to Jordan but I did see her hopping around on the bench with a walking boot on.  She didn't play at all in the second half.  What's the deal with all of these injuries??? We were already without Lakota for this game and now these 2 too.  What a fantastic time for it to happen, what with us playing probably the second-worst team in the league, we really blew the chance to get a win that we definitely should've gotten.

So, in the 1st half we're without Maria after 2 minutes, and we're not hitting anything (thankfully they weren't either), and then KayKay picks up her 2nd foul, and then picks up her 3rd foul on the next possession reaching in on defense, and we're still in the 1st quarter!  I couldn't believe it.  So she's on the bench for the rest of the half, and then Jordan goes out and we're having to play 3 freshmen for extended minutes, and I don't really have anything nice to say about the freshmen.  Especially disappointed in one of them, who I thought would be much further along and contributing a whole heck of a lot more, especially this far into the season.

I also don't have anything nice to say about our rebounding, or lack thereof, especially defensively.  I don't know how many times Denver got offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions, but it was too many for any team to get.  They got 15 offensive rebounds, which gave them a bunch of extra possessions.  It was one reason why we only scored 45 points, but it was more on us as to why we only scored 45 points.

Not sure why we didn't play Montse Brotons more in the 2nd half, she has the size that we were missing with Maria out.  She also can go up and over her defender and has some nice moves in the paint and a nice half hook shot, and she used it late in the game to help us come back when we were down and struggling to find offense.

We didn't play smart, we didn't rebound well enough, and we obviously didn't make enough shots.  Sometimes shots don't fall, and sometimes you get outrebounded by teams with taller and stronger players, but not playing smart, that's never gonna fly in my book.

And more emotion please (other than looking frustrated when things don't go right).

I questioned why we didn't switch defenders or our defense in the 2nd half when one Pioneer player in particular started to heat up offensively.  She made the same move from the wing to the top of the key and used a pick to get herself open and drain jumpers on 3 straight possessions.  It was a crucial stretch when we were fighting to hold onto a lead, and I'm not sure why we didn't switch or bring help.  

Not sure about a lot of things.  Not sure if this team can pick itself up and win another game the rest of the season.  I'm honestly not sure we can if we have to go forward and play without our best players.  I just don't see any of the freshmen being able to replace what they provide for us.  I just don't see it.  Who's going to step up?  Will anyone?

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Easy answer. We are down to 4 healthy players. And, that may be a stretch. We suited 9 players last night, but 5 of them were hobbled to one degree or another. Maria played 2 minutes. Gilbert went out again. And, 3 others were basically playing on one leg.

We may not be able to field a team by the end of the year, at this point. And, I'm not joking.

After last night, we have Kaylan, Faith, Rachel, & Hillary as our only healthy players. I've never seen anything like this.

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Like Voice said, all of the injuries are really hard to believe.  I thought last year was bad, what with us down to 7 players for what seemed like the whole month of January, but at least during that terrible stretch we didn't have some of our best players out, aka our stat stuffers.  And during that stretch last season, players stepped up.  KayKay pushed her scoring up, she was good for 18-25 points per game; Ashley, who just missed the 2 games prior to last night herself with some kind of 'leg ailment,' also had some of her better scoring games during the stretch, and Faith was Faith.  Faith is still Faith, but KayKay and Ashley didn't step up last night.  How can your senior leader get herself into foul trouble in the first half like she did and then go out there and throw up bricks and end up with only 2 points in a game where we absolutely needed her to score for us.  If she hits her season scoring average we win.  If Ashley decides to shoot more and foul less, we probably win.

Getting back to the injuries, like Voice said, I haven't seen anything like this either.  I've seen teams lose key players and it's ruined their seasons, and that's what's happened, and that's what's happening to this team.  Last night was ridiculous, 2 more players go down, and Maria, one of our best players goes down only 2 minutes into the game.  I can't recall what happened to her, did anyone see what happened?  In the post game 'press conference' Misti talked about how we were down to 7 players at one point last season, and how she's asked herself if the players are being over trained, and she sounded confident in saying that she doesn't believe they have been.  She even tried to joke a little with Faith, who was the designated player that gets to sit next to Misti and listen to Misti talk pretty much the entire time, that Faith likely went through tougher practices in high school.  It still makes me wonder what's going on, is it really just bad luck over and over and over again?

She tried to stay as positive as she could, she talked about how proud she was of the team and how proud she was of how they are facing adversity.  She used the word adversity more than once to describe what's going on.  She wasn't critical, didn't single anyone out, said that all of the minutes that the freshmen are playing right now will absolutely help us down the road.  I wish I had even a smidgen of the optimism she has, whether it's real or coach-speak.

Sorry I can't give you a report on the injuries MrsSmith, I'm not on the inside in any way, shape or form, and the coaches rarely if ever release information on injuries.  I think it has to do with the fact that they have to be considerate of the laws regarding privacy and confidentiality (HIPAA?) when it comes to the health of the players.  It's obvious that we're in some deep doodoo if Lakota and/or Maria and/or Jordii can't come back at all, or can't come back any time soon.  I can't even imagine if all 3 of them are out at the same time for even one game more, let alone for an extended period of time.  You can almost hear the sound of a toilet bowl flushing as our season continues to be flushed down the drain.

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Besides Kaylan, Faith, Hillary, and Rachel...everyone is either out for the season or severely hobbled. I mean, you can't even really hold a practice.

We had several players LITERALLY hobbling up and down the court. And, if you count the hobbled ones, we still only had 7 bodies.

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I'm not going to disclose injury information. That's up to the coaches/athletic department, if they choose.

Let's just say...it's a lot worse than you can possibly imagine.

If we can finish the season at .500 it will be a herculean effort. Heck, it may not be out of the realm of possibility to have to recruit intramural players on campus, just to have enough warm bodies to put an ORU uniform on, before the season ends.

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11 minutes ago, oruvoice said:

Heck, it may not be out of the realm of possibility to have to recruit intramural players on campus, just to have enough warm bodies to put an ORU uniform on, before the season ends.

All of what you've said in your last 2 posts has confirmed my worst suspicions, and made me even more worried and concerned than I was before, so thanks.

And if it does come to recruiting on campus to fill the roster, I know of one former Oklahoma All-State basketball player that would be an excellent candidate, we would just need to go to our golf coach and ask if he would let her practice and suit up for us, even if it was for just a few games until her spring tournament season starts.  I don't know her personally, but I would venture that she might be okay with the idea.

And how much do we miss Holly Golden now, she at least would be a warm body that's actually played varsity high school basketball very recently.

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