I've been silent all season....

It has been a difficult season for Rutgers Women's Basketball, my team of choice. I have grown up going to Rutgers games, my first one was Wicks & Sticks era. Over the years I have watched good years and bad years. But every team over ever season had pride and passion while wearing the Rutgers uniform. This year is a little different....I just don't see the pride on their faces or in their play.

So many people have been asking for Coach Stringer's head on a platter. I have read the message boards that speculate that perhaps the coach has lost her touch. Who are we, Henry VIII? Do we just start chopping heads off if we become "tired" of someone? We'll let's try this take: it's not the kids, it's not the coaches. In my humble opinion, it's the adults who influenced the younger players on the team. This can be parents and/or coaches. Why do I say this? Simple: For all of their lives they have been told how wonderful they are and how they are the best players on the team. They are given the ball not only in clutch situations but all of the time, on every possession. When their teammates get the ball, they would pass to them and they would shoot. They did not have to play defense because there was no competition to what they could do offensively. Who can forget a recent transfer's mother's comments, "My daughter is trying to get the the WNBA and you can't go to the league sitting on the bench." Hmmmmmmm.

This type of "greatness bestowed on these athletes" did not translate to the Stringer Philosophy. The classic style of Coach Stringer is defense. Logically this makes sense, at least to this writer. If you don't stop your opponent from scoring, then it does not matter what you do on the offensive end. This is where the problem comes in: the younger players did not play defense to the level college requires to be a successful team. They do not know the fundamentals enough to let them flow naturally so they can learn the defensive sets. Certainly there has to be offense to win games and perhaps Coach should reevaluate some of the offensive sets but let's be honest, defense helps set you up to win a game. Look in the past at Rutgers successes, their big wins on their run to the 2007 National Championship game were won with their defense. In each game they held their opponent well under their season average. Duke was averaging nearly 90 points a game that season and they scored 52 points in that game. They held LSU to 35 points, in the entire game!

I think that this season has had a share of missed opportunities along with missed defensive assignments. I have not seen so many back door passes and easy layups scored against a Rutgers defense. And the "55" press? Forget about it! I think I've only seen it work once? And we were beaten deep several times on the press against Syracuse, that NEVER happens. What has happened is that the kids don't understand the value of solid defense. In other words: they have not bought into the Stringer Philosophy. Practices probably consist of constant defense because that is the philosophy. Then when they work on offense it is stressed as important but the players are so focused on defense that they can not think offensively. Who's fault? You can't blame the kids because they have been influenced by adults. The adults who were part of their lives are those that may not have instilled the value of teamwork, hard work and dedication. Personally I think that some of our younger athletes seem out of shape. Something I have not seen on a Rutgers team. It also seems that fundamentals are lost, and that makes it so hard when you are a college athlete. Who has time to learn many defensive and offensive sets as well as basic fast break techniques?

I do hope that the kids buy into the Stringer Philosophy because it has worked in the past. Defense leads to offense....steals lead to fast breaks which leads to points. Until the players get that and get the Stringer Philosophy then they will not have pride wearing the Rutgers uniform.