Unfortunately, the women's team is regressing. A lot of their recent mistakes were some of the same mistakes they were making when they were winning, but IMO three things have changed:
(1) This team not longer can break a press. In the first half of the season, they were bringing up as many as four players and the player in the center near the midcourt line (usually Schlegel) often ended up with the ball. Now it seems that the responsibility falls on Benjamin and one other person, which has resulted in too many errant passes and steals.
(2) Getting the ball to the post is no longer a priority. Instead, there's a lot of passing on the outside, and too much dribbling around with no real purpose. Need to get back to attacking the basket as they did earlier in the season.
(3) Walker seems to be checking out of the game in the second half. She did that last year, but early this season she seem engaged most of the time. Today she had no defensive rebounds in the second half. UIC had 19 offensive rebounds today--you can't win a close game conceding that much.
Barnes has a big challenge on his hands, and this is quite a test of his leadership. I hope he gets control of his team--still possible to have an outstanding season. They don't need to fix much to get back on track.
