What's Up, Ladies?

Here we are, at the midpoint of the PAC12 schedule, and the once promising season for the CU women's basketball team has spiraled down the toilet, counterclockwise if you're in Australia.  I'll be the first to say, I don't know how we've gotten to where we are, 2-7 in conference.  Which I suppose begs the question, why am I bothering to write this?  Because the internet lets me, that's why.  So without further ado, here's what I've seen going wrong and what the future holds.

1) The Refs
I've watched a lot of games this year, men's and women's, and I can say that as a rule, the refereeing in the women's day has tighter and less consistent than the men's.  I've heard multiple reasons for this, that the women's refs are less-experienced, there's fewer eyes on the game to keep them in check, whatever.  The point is some of the women's games have been just painful.  It's like with the emphasis on the hand checks, they've decided to call ALL the handchecks (and at times have decided that makes up for calling harder fouls).

Now, where does this come in to this team specifically?  CU is not adapting well.  There are times that I, as the properly biased fan I am, have thought the calls were going against us, but that's not the point.  We don't adjust well, and as a result are shooting an average of over 4.5 fewer FT than the opponent in conference.  You just look at that bad swing in Washington a couple weeks ago, it was an average of 16 fewer in those 2 games.

2) The Injuries
Classic excuse, right?  Well it's not just Jasmine Sborov and Lexy Kresl, starters who have missed big playing time.  Both the Wilsons are way too familiar with the medical staff at this point due to one thing or another (B-Wil perhaps due to her penchant for hitting the floor, A-Wil shoulder hasn't been right all year).  Huggins has missed games, Jen Reese had ANOTHER mask on for a while, Jamee Swan had a black eye.  It's been rough.  What do we do about that?  A buncha nothing.  Hope they're all healed by the PAC-12 tournament!

That's gonna leave a mark

3) 3-Point Shooting
We started the year with a bevy of shooters, Lexy, Huggy, Jaz, B-Wil (I love nicknames).  But with changing roles and injuries, it's gotten harder.  Lexy was needed ONLY for treys a couple years ago, now she has to take the point.  Huggins has fallen in to somewhat of a freshman slump (it's her first full year, some inconsistency is to be expected).  Those things turned in to the last two games without a made 3.  That hurts.

4) FINISH HER!
The women need to get their Mortal Kombat on.  They have consistently either a) gotten a nice lead and given in up or b) made the run they need when they're behind, but not get over the hump.  They need the killer instinct, that last push to demoralize the opponent and make them go away.  A 20-point lead to Iowa ended up being a 3 point win, 10 point lead with a couple minutes left against ranked Cal blown, up 2 with the shot clock off against ranked ASU.

Just imagine a Cal jersey on Sonya

5) Depth
Another one that, at the start of the season, I thought was a huge strength.  I thought we had scorers at every position 2-deep.  That has definitely faded as the year has gone on.  Hargis, who I really thought came on and was a contributor last year, has been somewhat of a Tunks-like liability at times.  The freshmen haven't made a lot of noise, though Haley Smith in the last 3 or 4 games has become a clutch jump-shooter, and has been rewarded with a starting spot.  This one comes down a lot to injuries again, but also we need role-players to step up.

6) Scoring Droughts
I don't have a lot to say about this, but every game seems to come with a 4 to 5-minute scoreless period.  It ain't good.  All the other things lead in to this, but they have GOT to execute and not allow the other team to get in it.

Who's gonna score?

7) The Road
Last, but not least, this team is playing Ricardo Patton ball, and failing to execute on the road at all.  The close losses to Stanford, Cal and ASU were all at home, followed by BIGGER losses to the also-rans up in Washington.  Seems like a mentality.  It's not like the women's crowds out there are providing a huge home-court advantage (though CU is once again 3rd in attendance in the PAC)

The Future
So, what can we expect from this team going forward?  For starters, I should note that while I'm writing this, I'm watching them take it to Utah, having doubled them up at the half.  A Utah team that beat them by 3 earlier this week.  And in doing so, have touched on several points from above.  Zoe Beard-Fails looks dominant down-low early on coming off the bench, Lexy is back in the lineup.  And when Utah tried to make a push, CU extended the lead.  Also, we made a couple treys already.  But I swear, I wrote that stuff down before this half!
This sounds like a ridiculous thing to say about a 2-7 team, but they are totally capable of winning the conference tournament.  We still rock the 2nd best team defense in the conference, we've seen what each of these young women are capable of, and until Cal's recent attempt were the closest game Stanford's gotten this season.  We played #5 Louisville to a 7-point game on the road.  This team CAN win, and I think they're capable of beating anyone in the conference. GO BUFFS!
Side note: I haven't seen Jamee Swan yet this game.  That better not be another unjury.  Update: Oh, there she is.  *shrug*
Additional note on the future: We lose the Wilsons and Hargis after this year, but pick up some true PGs.  Next year should be another chance to do some good things

Parting Thoughts: I should say something about the Broncos.  But I don't care.  So listen to this song I like: