Paddling Upstream

SACRAMENTO, Dec. 31 – The University of Portland Pilots and the Sacramento State Hornets squared-off for their respective last non-conference game. The Pilots came to the match after playing a soft schedule for a WCC team, but their record forecasted a potential win over the Hornets.

Consistent with their record, the Pilots played with authority right out of the gates, going up by as much as nineteen points after the first ten minutes of play. The factor that secured their win, though, was not this run. It was their composure at the line when the Hornets tried later to close the gap. During that time, Portland made over 90% of their free throws. Effortlessly.

The Hornets did not give up after the initial Pilot run, but spotting the opposition an early 19-point lead never makes life easy. Their best attempt to go ahead came early in the second half when they decreased the deficit to seven, but they just couldn’t take psychological control of the game: Their greatest strength, phenomenal shooting, never showed up, and they drove strong to the basket no more than two times during the entire contest.

The final warm up to the main conference schedule showed Portland taking control of the flow of the game, from start to finish. This ability will be critical, as WCC coaches have picked Portland to finish last. Sacramento, on the other hand, showed once again that they do very well when they are offensively aggressive. To win, they need to be aggressive for 40 minutes.

Next up, the Pilots begin play in the WCC; the Hornets in the Big Sky.

Victory at the Line

BOISE, Dec. 14 - The Boise State Women's Basketball Team hosts Sacramento State tomorrow afternoon. Both teams enter this contest having just played down to the wire. The Broncos recently lost a heartbreaker to Arizona, and the Hornets slid past Pacific in the final seconds. With these close contests still in mind, the Bronco-Hornet match-up is sure to be an emotionally charged game, placing composure at a premium.

Sacramento State has been shooting the lights out, especially from 3-point range. Their fundamentals have improved throughout every game, but turnovers--fueled by low-level anxiety--remain an Achilles’ heal. If the Hornets can transform their collective apprehensiveness into confident aggressiveness, they will handle the ball as well as they shoot. The result: an easy win.

Boise State, in contrast, enters the game undefeated at home and with a winning record. This certainly is evidence that they play composed when presented with home-court advantage. To win, their composure will need to be complimented by shooting that is on pace with the Hornets. More importantly, they will need to add to their productive offense a solid defense… and keep out of foul trouble.

On paper--by the numbers--shooting is even between these two teams. The game, then, will be won by the squad that is better able to earn time at the free-throw line. A sustained, aggressive posture on offense, and few mental mistakes on defense, will thus determine the champion.

Who's going to take it strong to the rim? Tune in and find out!

A Half-Court Game

SACRAMENTO, Dec. 10 – Sacramento State’s Women Basketball will square off against Pacific in the Hornet’s Nest at 7:00pm on Tuesday evening. These two teams have recently been on the losing side of several close games, but both created wins against San Jose State. This game is sure to go down to the wire, just as it did last year, when Pacific pulled ahead in the final stretch to win by seven.

The Tigers approach this game with a solid resume: close losses, but to good teams. By the numbers, they shoot as well as their opponents, and on average, they out rebound them. With these advantages, however, they have won only 3 of 8 games. Their weak spot -- evident most when they play defense -- is their composure.

In the other corner are the continually-improving Hornets. They shoot as good, if not better, than the teams they have faced thus far, and they move the ball with ease when they are focused on playing a team game. Their concern has been -- and in this game will continue to be -- figuring out how to produce a sustained, aggressive offensive front that is high on confident passing and shooting, and low on nervousness.

This game will be won when Sacramento State has the ball. If the Hornets play aggressively, then they will get the Tigers into foul trouble and end the game on top, as they did with San Jose State. On the flipside are the Tigers who, with sound defense, could capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes and put a halt to their losing streak.

Two losing streaks will enter the game; only one will leave. Who will it be? Tune in Tuesday!

Hornets Don Apprehensiveness as USF Cruises to a Win

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 5 – Wednesday evening saw the match-up of two great shooting teams, as the University of San Francisco Women’s Basketball team hosted the Sacramento State Hornets in San Francisco. The Dons were looking to add a win to surpass .500 on the year, while the Hornets needed a win to build much-needed confidence before the holiday season. With the shooting capability of these two teams being about equal, the decisive factors would be ball control and composure.

The game -- as close as it was in the first half -- ended when the second half began. The Dons came out aiming to share the ball and minimize mistakes, and it worked. A positive attitude, timely shooting, and fundamentally sound defense further squelched potential runs by the Hornets. Their minimal trips to the foul line showed the Dons lacked sustained aggressiveness on offense… but fortunately for them, it was not necessary.

This game, however, was never totally in the bag for the Dons. Fueled by consistent and frequent three-point shooting, the Hornets pieced together several small runs in the first half that found them holding the lead on two occasions. Compared to the Dons’, though, the Hornets took fewer risks and attacked less often when behind. Perhaps more importantly, whereas the Dons demonstrated a presence of lighthearted dominance on the court, the Hornets appeared nervous and apprehensive about their misfortunes.

The Hornets clearly have the skill needed to compete with any team on their schedule. This is not an issue. In this game, though, they found themselves on the short end of lightheartedness, positivity, and collective spirit. On the flip side were the composed Dons, with fewer unforced errors: They answered every successful Hornet possession with increased focus and collective effort. In the end, turnovers and assists tell the story.

CONFIDENCE vs. confidence

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 3 -- Sacramento State Women’s Basketball will tip-off against the University of San Francisco at the War Memorial Gym in San Francisco this Wednesday evening. The Hornets recently defeated San Jose State and had a strong showing against Santa Clara, despite coming up short in the end. The Dons were recently on the other end of a close game and return home after a one-possession victory against Oregon State in Corvallis. On paper, the Dons have almost every advantage. With the Hornets’ increasing confidence, though, this contest could go either way.

The Hornets’ phenomenal shooting performance against Santa Clara tells the story: Their expectations are on the rise. Shooting percentages are a good measure of success, but they ultimately rely solely on individual players' actions. This is problematic because the game is played together -- in an intimate setting -- with five players deeply affecting one another. The Hornets have been playing as confident individuals; to win, they will need to play as a confident team.

The Dons have have displayed resiliency during the pre-conference schedule while splitting two Pac-10 road games. They are a savvy team able to protect and shoot the ball against great opponents. Their weakness is passing: As go the assists, so go the Dons.

The identity of a team changes everyday, especially in the context of stressful games. Sometimes players end up on the same page when these changes occur, and other times each player has a different idea of what the team is trying to accomplish. The pre-game task is thus one of making explicit the team's identity and mission.

Will the Hornets' goal to reduce turnovers be superior to the Dons’ effort to create shot opportunities for others? Tune in and find out!

Ducks Foul Out but Cats Out Fowled

MANHATTAN, Nov. 29 – The storyline Thursday night was talented youth versus veteran guile, as Oregon and Kansas State – two one-loss teams – squared off. Despite the month (November), both teams were looking to enhance their tournament resume with a quality win. A raucous crowd and numerous pro-prospects made the game destined to go the distance, even though the outcome was decided long before the blaring of the final overtime buzzer.

Oregon’s strategy of alternating man and zone schemes kept the deficit at around one possession for the majority of regulation time, despite strong Wildcat fan support. Then the Ducks took over. The catalyst came in the form of an intentional foul, as the Cats’ expectation of dominance came to light. From that point on, the Ducks were dominant, even though the game went to overtime. In overtime, it took the Ducks one possession to establish control. They never looked back.

The Wildcats had knock-out opportunities, but they couldn’t capitalize. They opened up a three-possession lead early in the game, but then lost it, and then later extended it to three possessions. This trend of building a three-possession lead continued in the second half: For thirty minutes, the Wildcats controlled nearly every facet of the game. Still, they couldn’t put Oregon away.

For its part, Oregon did a tremendous job of handling a hostile environment after the loss to St. Mary’s, adding a quality win to their resume in the process. But it took the emotional breakdown of a team to accomplish it. The Wildcats on the other hand proved that they can control a game against a top-twenty foe… as long as they focus on the now and not the previous possession.

Expect a stingy? Or Expect the Stinger!

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 27 – Thoughts create expectations. Expectations create behaviors. And behaviors create realities. That was the story in Sacramento Tuesday night, when the winless Spartans took on the winless Hornets. Something had to give; one team had to win. And the spoils eventually went to the Hornets, who managed to raise their expectations just high enough to eek out a sustained dominate posture in the game.

Sacramento State began their first dominate trend with about three minutes left in the first half. This was the first time the Hornets established that they were a better team, but only by a possession: 3 points or less. The Hornets’ control of the final three minutes of the first half set the expectation for the rest of the game. They managed to create a three-possession lead in the second half, but quickly saw it regress back to the collective expectation on the court: Hornets by three.

The Spartans didn’t go quietly. They generated a trend of dominance early in the game – and indeed throughout the majority of the first half – that elevated them to a sustained one-possession advantage, and even a two-possession advantage at times. But then disaster struck: Brittany Imaku, in foul trouble, was forced to sit, and the team went out of sync. With a handful of close losses still salient in their mind, dropping behind by a possession proved deadly for the Spartans, as the Hornets sustained their small lead by shooting adequately from the line in the final stretch.

The good news for the Hornets is that they earned their first victory of the season by believing that they could actually win a game. The arguable bad news is that this expectation was not self-derived. When the Spartans got into foul trouble, they became overly-aggressive, putting the Hornets at the line and thus in control of the game. The result: A subtle, but important, difference in dominance.