I'm sorry for the rant, I will try to keep this short, but something needs to change. I know this may not be a popular post, but it needs to be said. The women's basketball team is awesome. I go and support them all the time and will be one of the first to defend them. It is hard for me to criticize them, but I have reached a boiling point. With a team of this caliber, we should be easily able to progress through the Sweet 16. Between Kit, Maria and Laia, this team had so much potential to go deep. The players have proven to be extremely talented. Blowing out Ohio State truly proves this fact. So what needs to change? I have 3 major points I want to see changed for next season.
The biggest change is in coaching philosophy. I love coach Fernandez, but he has failed to coach well in the NCAA tournament. This is proven by the fact that despite having great players, he cannot get past the second round. Sure, the match-ups may have been difficult, but eventually there needs to be improvement. In addition, the philosophy is bad. Countless Buffalo players left open from all spots on the court (especially the 3 point area). Speaking of the 3-point defense, it has been atrocious all year and it finally showed against Buffalo today. We ranked dead-last in 3-point defense in the AAC. We are clearly exceptional offensively, but there needs to be a change in the defensive philosophy. Buffalo should not score 102 points against us. Buffalo is a far cry from UConn. If a non-biased basketball fan watched this game, they would probably think the Buffalo should have been the higher seed. They played tougher on defense, which was clearly the differentiating factor in this game. Jose, we gotta get better defensively.
The other big change is more ball movement. This team does not pass the ball enough. I mean take a look at UConn's formula. They pass the ball till they get an open player to shoot. It's not their entire offense, but they typically set up and keep on passing the ball around till the defense gets worn out and there is an open shooter. This also helps us in the way that the girls do not stand still while Laia is dribbling near half court.
The last big change, specifically for next year, Ferreira needs to learn a position and stick with it. She is trying to be a point guard, shooting guard, and a post player all in one. She has driven me to the point that every time she touches the ball, I want her to give the ball up immediately. Another unpopular position, but many times this year she was a liability. She needs to take this off-season and focus on one main attribute. She was 45th in scoring, 12th in rebounding, 31st in blocked shots, and 6th in steals (all AAC numbers). These stats tell me she is decent defensively, but she has major flaws on the offensive end of the ball.
In order to get a higher seeding, we have to start winning games in the tournament. This was a winnable game to prove that we were greatly under-seeded. Yet, we could not take advantage. All we did was prove the committee right. While playing a team like Mercer (switching Georgia's 4 seed with ours) would be much more favorable game for us, it seems that we constantly under-perform in the tournament.
This program deserves so much better. We are so lucky to have an entertaining women's basketball team here in Tampa, especially while the men's team is in year -2. The graduations of Maria and Laia will not make next year any easier. Thus, these changes are a must heading into next year.
