St. Kate's Practice 10-15-13

Was over at St. Kate's on this Tuesday night for the opening night of practice for the Wildcats. I got there early to meet up with Head Coach Sean Pinkerton and Asst. Coach Tim Kjar who were both incredibly pumped and excited for the season to begin as was former St. Kate's standout Laura Kalbfell who was there to help out with the team. The first order of the evening has the team doing various warm-up exercises which consisted of a defensive slide and a zig-zag defensive slide and sprint. Afterwards, Pinkerton and Kjar have the squad do some of the smaller things that tend to get overlooked: walking on toes and then heels, quad stretching, butt-kicks, power skip and an interesting movement called carioca. The first drill done on this night is a 3-on-2 full-court drill with a "chaser"; i.e., three people start at the half court and a "chaser" comes from the sideline to join the three. The emphasis here appears to be simulating a fast break opportunity and getting the easy basket as quickly as possible. Afterward, Pinkerton is not happy with the lack of communication on defense and the lack of boxing out effectively as well and, as a result, the team is treated to a round of sprints. The next drill is termed "Indy Transition" whichis a full-court drill with one line of players under the basket and a line of players on each sideline. Pinkerton throws up a ball off the glass and the player under the basket grabs the rebound and the two other players from the sidelines join her for a dash down the court to simulate a transition opportunity. In this drill, Pinkerton has the players perform a variety of shots including jumpers from the wing, post layup running to the rim, pick and roll finish at the rim, and a pick and roll and pass to the point guard backside for the "3". The next drill is a drill called "star passing" where the team is divided into two groups under each basket. There, five players are positioned in a star-like formation where the players have to pass the ball across the lane and the fourth pass is followed by a lay-up. The next important drill that is done is called "Laker Passing" whereby you have three players going down the court as if it were a fast-break opportunity. However, at the shooting end, one of those three players becomes a defensive playersas they try to defend against the easy lay-up. Pinkerton isn't happy with the overall performance of the drill midway through and the team has more sprinting to do before the drill is resumed. Individual work for both the guards and wing/post players as well as full-court lay-ups and close-out shooting are performed before and interesting drill is performed: 8-person passing whereby a special weighted basketball is used and the emphasis here is crisp, concise passing. Next is an odd-number break where the defensive team is lined up on the foul lineand the offense (three players along with two "chasers" ) is lined up on the baseline. After four different types of drills are done for defensive work, the next notable drill involves 5-on-5 half-court work where the emphasis appears to be positioning. Afterward, Pinkerton has the team do a 5-0 "shell-type drill to show how the offense is supposed to move and how screens are supposed to be set. Pinkerton and Kjar finish up this night by having each member of the team shoot a free throw. If the person makes the free throw, the team applauds but if a member misses a free throw, they then have to run sprints. Outtakes: I sensed something at this practice that I had not experienced in my previous visits to opening St. Kate's practices - just a newfound enthusiasm and anticipation. Unlike last year, Pinkerton finally has some athleticism AND depth to work with although this athleticism is young and the depth/talent level is raw. Neither Pinkerton nor Kjar are under any illusions about turning around the St. Kate's program overnight. This is something that will take some time but they are definitely headed in the right direction and they are determined and enthusiastic about what the future holds for this program. The unquestioned leader on the floor for the Wildcats this year will be the lone senior on the team - Kristen Lee, who can excel on the perimeter as well as down low in the paint. What caught my eye, however, was the great new talent that has been infused into this group. Players such as Gabby Zehrer out of Totino-Grace who played one year at Colorado Christian College before coming back home to the Twin Cities will have an immediate impact on this team and she can feel comfortable at either the point or off-guard position. Another newcomer to keep your eye on is Abby Torgerson out of Anoka; a speedster who can make life miserable for opponents out on the perimeter. The other newcomer that caught my attention is Kennedy Jennings from Dallas Center (Grimes) in Iowa. Incredibly athletic and fast, Jennings will give this squad the kind of speed and athleticism this program simply hasn't had before. On something of a down note, the team did lose two members who will be missed down low in the paint but should be ready for next year: Mary Nuemann who tore her ACL this last summer in the Mid-town YWCA Summer League and Alexis Garcia who tore her ACL earlier this fall.