UST Practice 10-24-16

Had to battle some heavy traffic on I-94 on Monday afternoon to make my way over to Schoenecker Arena on the campus of UST to take in the Monday evening practice session.  Was running just a bit late but managed to get into the Arena (thanks to senior guard Gabby Zehrer letting me in) as the Tommies were in the midst of various stretching and warm-up exercises.  Head Coach Ruth Sinn came over a short time later to say hello and hand me a practice itinerary and it wasn't long before Sinn had her squad hard at it in this fast-paced practice.

The theme that Sinn and her coaching staff have for this season is "Own The Moment" and the Tommies appear ready to do just that.  One of the first items that Sinn has her team perform is lane slides and this is one of the lesser known techniques that helps make the Tommies so incredibly tough on defense.  Another defensive drill that Sinn has her team work on is short and long closeouts in an effort to perfect those defensive techniques.  "We gave up too many '3's' " Sinn says and I have to wonder if she was referring to that NCAA Sweet Sixteen game at home last March against Wartburg where the Knights shot the lights out from behind the arc enroute to an upset win over UST that brought an abrupt end to the Tommies fantastic 2015-16 season.

An interesting drill is performed next called "Bradley Passing".  Here, the team is lined up along the lanes and they work on a variety of passes and the goal here appears to be to make as many accurate passes within a specified time frame.  The team next works on triangle passing and here the team gets into groups of three to work on ball movement and passing and Sinn wants the players to use a pivot move to gain an advantage.

Another interesting drill performed during this practice is "One More 'Schape' Shooting".  Here, the team gets into four groups.  One player does a lay-up and then passes the ball to a coach assisting the group.  Another player on the wing gets the ball and the player who made the lay-up has to defend her in a one-on-one situation.

Sinn has the team work on some more closeout drills and free throws as well and then it's time for a drill called "1 vs 1 - Hit & Get Blockout".  In this drill, an errant shot is put up and the sole defender has to block out a would-be offensive player and get the rebound.  The team yells "shot" when the ball is put up and then "chest" when the defender has grabbed the rebound.

Next is "3-Line Blockout".  This is basically a 3-on-3 drill with a twist.  Here, one of the coaches throws the ball to one of the players out on the wing who puts up an immediate shot with the emphasis on blocking out.

The next drill Sinn has some of her squad work on is "3 Player, 2-Ball Shooting"; a continuous shooting drill while Assistant Coach Brian Silk has the post players work on positioning and boxing out.  In the next drill session, Sinn has her guards work on transition breakdown while Silk and Assistant Coach A. C. Clouthier work with the posts and forwards on a variety of items.  Then Sinn seeks to put some of the concepts worked on to a test in 5-on-5 full-court work.  To wind up the evening, the team does some half-court work where the guards work on getting good passes into the post along with some 4-on-4 half-court work as well as free throws.

Outtakes:  Former Orono Head Coach Ellen Wiese comes aboard on Sinn's staff and her knowledge and experience is another asset to this loaded UST program.....Losing a great player and leader like Katie Stone to graduation is a big loss, of course, but the Tommies have three solid seniors ready to take on the leadership roles and it was easy to see that Paige Gernes, Kaitlin Langer and Zehrer will excel in this area......I asked Sinn afterward if that Wartburg loss still weighs heavily on her and the team's mind and she responded in the affirmative and added that "We're hungry."  Sinn is also high on her newcomers to the team saying that they're "long and athletic" and it was easy to see that in practice.  The Tommies will scrimmage against Southwest Minnesota State at home next week Wednesday and open the season with some challenging games - first at the McDaniel College Tip-Off Tournament on November 18-19 and will host WIAC perennial powerhouse UW-Stevens Point on November 27 before delving into MIAC play.  Additionally, the Tommies will play at the Bluffton Holiday Tournament right before the end of the year where they'll first take on another national powerhouse, Hope, on December 29.....Sinn was quick to acknowledge that they expect a strong challenge from GAC for MIAC honors but, IMHO, it will take a Herculean effort for anyone to dethrone the Tommies.