PISCATAWAY, NJ – One of the interesting parts of arriving for team practices is to see the different approaches. Now, the individual coaches do their major work and game planning behind closed doors with no spectators in sight. The day before the tip off, all the teams are allotted a one hour practice . The practices are free of charge for fans and attended by fans and media.
At Rutgers, I had the opportunity to watch Rutgers and Virginia Commonwealth. The contrast in philosophy was evident as Rutgers mentor C. Vivian Stringer devoted a fair part of her 60 minutes to half court offense. The Scarlet Knights ran a lot of zone offense and after a play, Stringer took the time to make a point. Always in a teaching mode she took advantage of even the relaxed open workout to address and correct things on the floor. The sparse crowd cheered as Rutgers players buried a few beyond the arc. Ironically, it was an omen of things to come two nights later against Auburn.
VCU chose a series of purposeful drills lasting 5 to 7 minutes. Post moves, agility drills, catch and shoot and coming off a screen to receive a pass and shoot were among those filling the 60 minutes. Again, these practices are more to the fans but tailored by the coaches’ philosophies.
Tempo-free statistics show how strong Rutgers was in this sub regional. They defeated VCU 57-51 on Saturday and held the Colonial AA reps to .76 points per possession. A figure under .90 PPP is considered very good. In the 80-58 rout of Auburn on Monday evening, the Lady Tigers managed only a .79 PPP. Rutgers shot well against Auburn but this was decided by defense.
A crowd of just over 3,000 attended the second round contest. The decibel level made it sound like three times as that figure was present. Stringer will be the first to tell you buildings do not win games. But the veteran mentor will acknowledge that teams feed off the crowd energy on a run. And that is something Rutgers did all night/ Stringer also thanked the fans, “for being behind us and there when things were not going as well.” Those nights seem like ages removed.
DeWAnna Bonner poses a unique problem. Auburn’s SEC Player of the Year is listed as aguard. She’s 6-4. But she’s pencil thin and appears unable to handle punishment in the paint. Bonner scored a game high 26 points in the 85-49 first round rout over Lehigh. She paced Auburn with 17 points against Rutgers. She scores from three point range, can penetrate and will go into the lane. Despite her wiry build she pulled down over 8 boards per game to compliment her 21 ppg scoring. A unique player that did a little of everything for Nell Fortner’s club.
