Welcome Sierra Moore

[johnb]

Congrats to the player and the team. She seems like a good fit for us.

One tidbit from the article from the front page:
"Moore said she will receive an opportunity to play from the start. Duke uses a barometer that tests a player’s strength, stamina and skills during practice. If a player ranks toward the top of the team in overall score, they earn playing time.
Moore said Kaley Peters, a freshman who played in 35 games including eight starts last season, earned her time under the system." http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/sports/article_ccda24fa-8c0c-11e0-95b7-001cc4c03286.html

Does the coaching staff really award PT based on fitness? To even say it sounds disingenuous, at best, unless the scale is rigged so that "skills" can outweigh all else, and "skills" is ambiguous enough to heavily include "coach's preference."

[GopherBlue]

Does the coaching staff really award PT based on fitness? To even say it sounds disingenuous, at best, unless the scale is rigged so that "skills" can outweigh all else, and "skills" is ambiguous enough to heavily include "coach's preference."

This is actually a fantastic mechanism to motivate players to get and stay in shape. The key is to quantify fitness, and allow the players to gauge both their own fitness metrics and to compare to the other players (that is, post the results for all to see). Anson Dorrance, the UNC women's soccer coach, uses similar quantified fitness testing and allows the players to take the testing as frequently as they desire (self-motivated). With Dorrance I believe the motivators are positive and negative - players can earn playing time, but if they don't meet minimal standards they will not play. The results have been pretty good for his teams (20 national championships). This is the first I've heard of the Duke WBB program using this approach. I don't know the details, but ideally it is somehow individualized.

Of course skills, size, etc still play the major factor in playing time decisions. Otherwise, you'd have 5 walk-on starters from the cross-country team (and a freshman PG with 10%+ body fat would not see the floor).

[killerleft]

Welcome, Ms. Moore!

It is guaranteed that if you can play tough defense you can play at Duke!!

[roywhite]

Congrats to her and wish her well. She could be part of something special.

Lots of parallels between Coach P's first few years and Coach K's.
Weren't well known when hired (though, actually, Coach P had some success)
Both stress defense
Had some rough patches
Both were doubted about their recruiting ability, but began to get top-notch players

Now, can Coach P put it all together and challenge UConn and other traditional powers?
Seems to me the pieces are coming into place.

[uh_no]

[QUOTE=roywhite;505886
Now, can Coach P put it all together and challenge UConn and other traditional powers?
Seems to me the pieces are coming into place.[/QUOTE]

Well...it seems as if the Moore has left Uconn and moved to duke....that should count for a few Nattys over the next 4 years , no?