Indiana University Athletics
#IUWBB Completes First Practice of 2015-16
10/5/2015 7:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The second year of the Teri Moren era is underway.
Indiana women's basketball held its first practice Monday, welcoming four new players to a roster that returns four starters. The Hoosiers began the practice with a team meeting before a full-go practice to shake off the offseason rust.
It would be foolish for Moren to assess her team after its first official activity of the season, especially considering its Nov. 8 preseason opener against Slippery Rock is over a month away. But already, her staff has made it unquestionably clear: Defense will once again be the emphasis this year, but the offense needs to catch up.
"There's no question that the backbone of our program, while I'm here, will always be about our ability to defend and rebound the ball," Moren said. "But we've got to take advantage of the pieces we have to score the ball more effectively and more consistently."
Moren and her staff are in the process of reconstructing the Indiana offense from a fundamental standpoint. She studied some of the top women's programs around the country like Connecticut, Notre Dame and the Indiana Fever to try to implement some of what those teams do in IU's system.
Among other things, one of Moren's points of emphasis is to get sophomore forward Amanda Cahill in more scoring situations in the post. Cahill averaged 10.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season, but Moren expects her to have an even larger impact in the scoresheet in 2015-16.
"We decided as a staff that we have to find more ways to score the ball, and Amanda is a good example of that," Moren said. "We have to be less predictable than what we were last year in the Big Ten."
The starting five and the rest of the rotation will be sorted in the coming weeks. Moren will have options this season to play big or small, depending on the development of freshmen bigs Kym Royster and Danielle Williams, as well as returning starting center Jenn Anderson.
Moren expects her team to play with at a higher tempo this season, starting the break off the rebound and forcing teams to keep up.
"We have a lot of nice pieces," Moren said. "There's some newness to our offense, but there's also an excitement because we are trying to play at a faster pace."
Initial practices like Monday's consist mostly of teaching and implementing the team's system in 5-on-0 situatons, among other things. Moren wants her team running through plays and sets naturally without needing to slow down to think.
In practice, Moren reminded her players "There are no such things as short cuts." At this point in the season, it's an expectation that players come to practice eager to learn and ready to work.
Monday's practice was designed to tire the players by the end of practice to simulate games, and after a few growing pains, Moren said she was pleased with the way her players responded.
Moren left the gym happy with her team's first day of work. Day one mistakes like being out of position, forgetting an assignment or missing a shot are all correctable over time. Those are the natural mistakes the coaches will look to iron out in the coming weeks.
"We threw a lot of stuff at them, especially on offense today, to get them out of the gates quick, and I thought they responded well to that," Moren said. "It's a good place to start."
Indiana women's basketball held its first practice Monday, welcoming four new players to a roster that returns four starters. The Hoosiers began the practice with a team meeting before a full-go practice to shake off the offseason rust.
It would be foolish for Moren to assess her team after its first official activity of the season, especially considering its Nov. 8 preseason opener against Slippery Rock is over a month away. But already, her staff has made it unquestionably clear: Defense will once again be the emphasis this year, but the offense needs to catch up.
"There's no question that the backbone of our program, while I'm here, will always be about our ability to defend and rebound the ball," Moren said. "But we've got to take advantage of the pieces we have to score the ball more effectively and more consistently."
Moren and her staff are in the process of reconstructing the Indiana offense from a fundamental standpoint. She studied some of the top women's programs around the country like Connecticut, Notre Dame and the Indiana Fever to try to implement some of what those teams do in IU's system.
Among other things, one of Moren's points of emphasis is to get sophomore forward Amanda Cahill in more scoring situations in the post. Cahill averaged 10.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season, but Moren expects her to have an even larger impact in the scoresheet in 2015-16.
"We decided as a staff that we have to find more ways to score the ball, and Amanda is a good example of that," Moren said. "We have to be less predictable than what we were last year in the Big Ten."
The starting five and the rest of the rotation will be sorted in the coming weeks. Moren will have options this season to play big or small, depending on the development of freshmen bigs Kym Royster and Danielle Williams, as well as returning starting center Jenn Anderson.
Moren expects her team to play with at a higher tempo this season, starting the break off the rebound and forcing teams to keep up.
"We have a lot of nice pieces," Moren said. "There's some newness to our offense, but there's also an excitement because we are trying to play at a faster pace."
Initial practices like Monday's consist mostly of teaching and implementing the team's system in 5-on-0 situatons, among other things. Moren wants her team running through plays and sets naturally without needing to slow down to think.
In practice, Moren reminded her players "There are no such things as short cuts." At this point in the season, it's an expectation that players come to practice eager to learn and ready to work.
Monday's practice was designed to tire the players by the end of practice to simulate games, and after a few growing pains, Moren said she was pleased with the way her players responded.
Moren left the gym happy with her team's first day of work. Day one mistakes like being out of position, forgetting an assignment or missing a shot are all correctable over time. Those are the natural mistakes the coaches will look to iron out in the coming weeks.
"We threw a lot of stuff at them, especially on offense today, to get them out of the gates quick, and I thought they responded well to that," Moren said. "It's a good place to start."
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