Brooks: Lappe Wants Next Season Good Start To Finish

[RSSBot]

Category: Women's Basketball

The 2011-12 CU women's basketball season was bookended by the precise brands of on-court confidence and success that second-year coach Linda Lappe envisioned. But not so much in the middle.

Originally posted by CUBuffs.com
Click here to view the article.

 

[Buffnik]

"One of my goals was making it to the NCAA Tournament if not by the second year, then certainly by the third and fourth year," she said. "Part of that is how we perform in the middle of the season. Everybody is ready to go at the beginning of the season (and) anybody can play at the end of the season if they're playing like it's their last game.

"The challenge becomes, can we play like it's one-and-done in January and February? Essentially, if you're trying to get to the NCAA Tournament, it is a one-and-done scenario. As a player and coach, you have to have that mindset; you have to put yourself into that. If you don't have it is one-and-done.

"Until players really understand that and can see it, it's hard to convey . . . every year you have freshmen - we played a lot of freshmen - and they don't quite understand that. I thought the returners understood it because they had done the same thing the year before. But that's going to be a huge challenge for us next year as we try to get into the NCAA Tournament. You can't have slipups in January and February. You have to beat people you should beat; you have to win home games you should win.

"You hope as players get older they realize that, and it becomes easier to play with that sense of urgency in January and February. I would hope that, but sometimes until you've actually been there it's hard to understand exactly what it takes and what kind of teams get to the NCAA Tournament. It's not by happenstance; there are steps along the way in order for that to become a reality."

P.S. We really need to caption the photo they used for the article.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

First the Pac-12, next the world MUAHAHAHAHA

 

[buffgal]

This year's team lost many of their conference games at home. You can't do that and make the NCAA tournament. Somehow they were better on the road in the conference than at home. Go figure.

Kresl came a long ways as did Reese before she got injured. Sborov was coming along. MPP needs to spend the entire off season shooting the ball so she can get her confidence back. Jeffrey needs to play more under control and not get frustrated with herself or her teammates when on the court. Coach has to sit her when she does that. Brenna has missed so much playing time, I wonder if she will ever be able to contribute. Hartig seemed to go backwards this year in my mind.

I hope the incoming players will be impact players.

 

[aik]

This year's team lost many of their conference games at home. You can't do that and make the NCAA tournament. Somehow they were better on the road in the conference than at home. Go figure.

Kresl came a long ways as did Reese before she got injured. Sborov was coming along. MPP needs to spend the entire off season shooting the ball so she can get her confidence back. Jeffrey needs to play more under control and not get frustrated with herself or her teammates when on the court. Coach has to sit her when she does that. Brenna has missed so much playing time, I wonder if she will ever be able to contribute. Hartig seemed to go backwards this year in my mind.

I hope the incoming players will be impact players.

Arielle, too. I was most excited to see if her game mirrored any of what we've seen from her brother. Disappointing, but I hope she can return and hasn't lost a step from where she was when she concluded her high school career.