Post by CIC on Sept 11, 2003 13:28:20 GMT -5
Jackie,
Being a Central Indiana Conference fan, I took interest in your question about Jodi Howell. As you said, she won't have the same kind of help on the court as she did the last two years. Besides the obvious loss of Jackie Closser, Alexandria had several other VERY strong seniors like Rochelle Elbert and Amber Foster who did a lot of the unsung dirty work that helped Closser and Howell to shine. They will miss those seniors more than most people think.
In my opinion, the real question for Alexandria isn't "Will Jodi still be able to score" it's "Can Alexandria still play defense like they used to." Most teams were so focused on figuring out how to stop Jodi and Jackie that they forgot about the problem of breaking the super aggressive Tiger full court press. Alexandria scored a ton of points off of turnovers. Jodi and Jackie would trap the ball before the point could even make it to halfcourt while the rest of the team was always on the look out to pick off a long, crosscourt pass. Most teams were down by 15-20 points before they even knew what hit them.
With the loss of Closser and the other seniors, Alex's press won't be nearly as effective should they even choose to run it. At the same time, playing a half court game would give opposing defenses time to set up against Jodi.
For the past few years, John Howell has had the weapons to play a very single-minded game - ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. This year will probably be different. Other teams may be able to attack them. Still, Coach Howell is well aware of the task his team will be facing this year and he likely has several plans in mind to keep the Tigers in the win column.
Luckily for him, the CIC lost quite a few players to graduation so the conference won't be quite as strong as in years past. With Groover and Jones, Elwood could give Alex some trouble. Frankton and Madison-Grant should be better but neither team will have enough firepower to threaten Alex. Another CIC crown should be attainable but I wouldn't expect the Tigers to go undefeated again this year. They have to face a strong Shenandoah team as well as an up and coming Pendleton Heights team. Getting out of sectional is probably unlikely as well.
Being a Central Indiana Conference fan, I took interest in your question about Jodi Howell. As you said, she won't have the same kind of help on the court as she did the last two years. Besides the obvious loss of Jackie Closser, Alexandria had several other VERY strong seniors like Rochelle Elbert and Amber Foster who did a lot of the unsung dirty work that helped Closser and Howell to shine. They will miss those seniors more than most people think.
In my opinion, the real question for Alexandria isn't "Will Jodi still be able to score" it's "Can Alexandria still play defense like they used to." Most teams were so focused on figuring out how to stop Jodi and Jackie that they forgot about the problem of breaking the super aggressive Tiger full court press. Alexandria scored a ton of points off of turnovers. Jodi and Jackie would trap the ball before the point could even make it to halfcourt while the rest of the team was always on the look out to pick off a long, crosscourt pass. Most teams were down by 15-20 points before they even knew what hit them.
With the loss of Closser and the other seniors, Alex's press won't be nearly as effective should they even choose to run it. At the same time, playing a half court game would give opposing defenses time to set up against Jodi.
For the past few years, John Howell has had the weapons to play a very single-minded game - ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK. This year will probably be different. Other teams may be able to attack them. Still, Coach Howell is well aware of the task his team will be facing this year and he likely has several plans in mind to keep the Tigers in the win column.
Luckily for him, the CIC lost quite a few players to graduation so the conference won't be quite as strong as in years past. With Groover and Jones, Elwood could give Alex some trouble. Frankton and Madison-Grant should be better but neither team will have enough firepower to threaten Alex. Another CIC crown should be attainable but I wouldn't expect the Tigers to go undefeated again this year. They have to face a strong Shenandoah team as well as an up and coming Pendleton Heights team. Getting out of sectional is probably unlikely as well.