Oy with the turnovers already
Failure to take care of the ball is allowing the rest of the country to hang around with the top tier
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There’s certainly been more parity in women’s college basketball this year. Eight teams ranked in the AP top 15 this week have already amassed three or more losses this season. Even South Carolina, which remains the clear No. 1 team in the country, was knocked off by unranked Mizzou in the start of SEC play.
While South Carolina, Stanford and NC State still appear to be in a tier of their own, the gap between the top and everyone else appears to be more narrow than one might expect. In the case of the Gamecocks and the Cardinal, the common element that continues to allow other teams to hang around with them is the turnovers.
South Carolina and Stanford are both currently averaging over 15 turnovers per game, which results in them turning over the ball on approximately 17 percent of their possessions. While in the Gamecocks’ lone loss turnovers did not play a big role, not taking care of the ball has allowed teams like LSU and Arkansas to keep games within single digits against South Carolina during SEC play. For Stanford, turnovers were an expected problem from the get-go this season in the absence of Kiana Williams but haven’t really improved for the Cardinal with time. Stanford recorded 20 turnovers in two of their losses this season, and most recently recorded a season high 22 turnovers in a narrow win over Colorado in Pac-12 play.
These high turnover figures continue to leave the door open for teams to hang around with the top two teams in the nation - something which if not corrected leaves these teams at a higher risk of being upset in the NCAA tournament come March.
For Stanford, it often feels like an answer still hasn’t been found for the open point guard role that their senior leader filled last season. The Cardinal has taken a point guard by committee approach, and while the overall flow of their offense has improved throughout the season, turnovers continue to weigh down their offensive success.
The ball is perhaps too often in the hands of Haley Jones. As prolific of a scorer as Jones is, she’s also averaging over three turnovers per game which ranks amongst the bottom decile of players in the country. It will be interesting to see if the Cardinal pivots to having Jones play off the ball more, in favor of having the ball more frequently in the hands of Hannah Jump or Anna Wilson. Both players have proven more successful at taking care of the ball.
For South Carolina, turnovers have ebbed and flowed throughout the season. At times the offense looks like a well oiled machine, and at other times turnovers plague their offensive success. Some slack can be given to South Carolina’s overall numbers for the stretch of three games where the Gamecocks were without Destanni Henderson.
However, Henderson and Zia Cooke have struggled with turnovers throughout the season. While both have exhibited a lot of growth in their on court decision making this season, there are still stretches where that execution could be better. Cooke’s turnovers in particular seem to correlate with games where she is also struggling to knock down shots. She has recorded five games with four or more turnovers this season, and shot under 40 percent from the floor in all but one of them. It’s likely the look of South Carolina’s offense will improve is Cooke can shoot her way out of her current slump, and look more like the player we saw for the Gamecocks early on this season.
Both South Carolina and Stanford still have plenty of time before March to clean up the turnovers on the offensive end. If they can do so successfully, they should be on the road to Minneapolis - but if not, the path there will come with some more resistance.
Not to be rude, but if you watched Stanford, you would understand why Haley handles the ball so much. She is by far the best passer with the best vision and court awareness. She's also the only one capable of creating her own shot and shots for others off the bounce. She runs into trouble against smaller quicker guards tho. And Hannah Jump has zero ball handling ability so I don't know why you think she's an option. But I do agree, the turnovers are a concern.