Have you ever had something that was so meaningful to you that all you wanted was to share it with everyone? Something that’s really important in your life to the point where it feels like no one can truly know you until they experience it too?
That’s Illinois State women’s basketball for me. I love this team, and every time I watch them play I feel a certain joy that I wish I could transfer to the rest of the world.
On March 18, it happened. The Redbirds played in front of a crowd of 15,000 people, and another 292,000 watched them on TV. My whole being was overcome with emotion that day – a deep, almost overwhelming sense of pride. It was like when I was a kid and a friend would come over and I got to show them my favorite toy. Or in college when my high school buddies visited and stayed in my disgusting house that for some reason I was proud of at the time. There’s this thing – this thing that I love – and now you all get to see why. Nevermind the fact that almost all of those people were watching for Caitlin Clark. Who cares. They may not have tuned in for the same reasons I did, but they finally got to see the same things I’d been seeing all year whether they wanted to or not. So maybe Iowa won by 40. They do that sometimes. But anyone who was really watching still saw every single extraordinary attribute of this memorable Redbird team. Each one was on full display. I’d write about all of them, but I’d still be writing by the time next year’s tournament rolls around. So instead, here are three of my favorites.
Mary Crompton hunted shots early
I’m assuming Mary knows by now that the entirety of Redbird Nation wants her to shoot it every time she touches the ball. Either that or I’m super out of touch. That’s what I want at least, and I don’t care how deep she is or how closely guarded she is, nor do I care if it’s a catch-and-shoot or not. This might be recency bias talking, but I’m having a hard time remembering too many games where it felt like MC3 was shot-seeking this hard. Maybe on the road at Evansville this year. This isn’t a knock on her at all – it’s brutal having elite perimeter defenders glued to you for 40 minutes, not to mention how physical teams are with her off the ball. (Is it just me or does Mary get fouled like every time she cuts through the lane or sets a screen on screen-the-screener stuff?) Regardless, when teams don’t give you room to breathe on the catch, sometimes you just gotta do this. Or this. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was playing in her hometown, on national TV, in the NCAA Tournament, being guarded by her friend and former teammate. Maybe it also helped that not everyone on Iowa was as familiar with her scouting report as MVC opponents are (McKenna Warnock gave her way too much space in that second clip). Whatever it was, MC3 was launching from the tip. And that’s noteworthy for someone who hasn’t always gotten as many looks early in games during her career.
This was just the third game of Mary’s career with multiple unassisted 3s. She did start shooting more off the dribble this season – she took 34 dribble 3s this year after a total of 30 in her career before that. She even had a 3 blocked for the first time since November after 165 straight attempts without one, and that last one came just before the halftime buzzer so it barely counts.
As silly as it sounds, I wouldn’t mind one bit if Mary got a few more 3s blocked next season. That only happens if she’s putting up just about everything, which would still be a net positive. Another thing I started realizing about MC3 during this game: I think big situations might bring out the best in her. I have no data for that, but remember when she did all of this against Valpo in the final two minutes of overtime last year? And this 3 against UNI in the MVC championship felt like the moment the game turned for good. From clutch-time plays to big shots on a national stage, it’s clear that Mary’s never fazed by the moment. If anything, it’s the opposite. We get, presumably, one more season of the soon-to-be Illinois State career 3-point queen. Let’s enjoy the ride. Kate Bullman got a head start on her 2023 MVC DPOY campaign Even before the tournament matchups were announced, all I could think about was the most likely possibilities for who we’d get to see Kate guard. It was almost certainly going to be a No. 2 or No. 3 seed from the Midwest, which meant Iowa, Iowa State or Michigan. Caitlin Clark? Ashley Joens? Naz Hillmon? Seeing Kate matched up with an All-American was probably the single thing I was most excited for. When Iowa was the draw, I started to think about whether Kate would start on Clark or Czinano. She was gonna spend time on Clark for stretches no matter what, but I wasn’t sure if it would be an immediate game plan – like what they did with Del’Janae Williams – or something they went to situationally later on, more like what they did with Shay Frederick. After all, Czinano is an autobucket at the rim, which is Kate’s house, so she would've been excellent on that matchup too. (What a great problem to have.) I knew what I would do if it were up to me though: Kate on Clark right away. It’s generally a good thing that important decisions aren’t up to me, but I was pretty fired up when they came out with Kate on Clark. There was no question that’s where those 600,000+ eyes were gonna be, and all those people who had never heard of Kate Bullman were about to get an education. Of course, Clark scored right at her average of 27, dished 10 assists, and did this on Iowa’s first possession of the game.
But is that not perfect defense? And what about this one – look at where Kate’s hand is. Somehow Clark hit a three here. Based on how Synergy has the possessions tagged, Clark finished eight halfcourt possessions (shot or turnover) with Kate defending her. Those first two were the only ones she scored on. Eight is a small sample, but six stops out of eight is really really good when you’re chasing a Taurasian talent. The Valley is awesome, don’t get me wrong, and there are tons of great players and great defenders in this league. No disrespect to any of them. However, you can’t convince me that there are five who would have done a better job on Caitlin Clark in that game. I’m not sure there’s even one. JuJu went out the only way she knew how: as a superstar When I decided to write this, I thought about countless different angles I could take with this part. I could talk about how JuJu was one point away from the Illinois State single-game NCAA Tournament scoring mark and how her name will be on dozens of season and career leaderboards in the school’s record book as soon as they update it. I could talk about how most players take the biggest leap their sophomore and junior years, but JuJu’s work ethic and dedication allowed her to improve significantly in year five despite already being terrific. Maybe I could talk about where she stands in Redbird history, considering the legendary company her numbers put her in. Then again, I wasn’t alive to see OGs like Cathy Boswell or Charlotte Lewis or Cindy Kaufmann, and I wasn’t following the team yet during the Kristi Cirone era (life regret). Nah, I’ll let the old people figure that one out. Instead, I wanna talk about 2-point jumpers. I’m not much of an NBA guy. Actually, this upcoming time of year is usually the point where I remember the NBA exists. But I read this Ringer article earlier this year, more from an analytics perspective than an NBA perspective, and there’s one part that sticks with me every time I watch JuJu. “Stars still take midrange shots in bunches.” It’s true – the 3-point revolution has almost entirely eliminated long 2-pointers from role players’ arsenals, but big names like Kevin Durant or DeMar DeRozan still own that spot on the floor. That’s who JuJu is. She’s Polaris, a star among stars – a true ticket-selling player, to borrow a phrase from Debbie Antonelli. And JuJu owns the midrange at a level you almost never see. In fact, she was the only player in the country this year to make over half her shots from 10-15 feet on at least 2.5 attempts per game from there. I remember when JuJu first came here three years ago. I didn’t know too much about her, but I’ve always been a numbers guy, so when she started pulling up inside the arc my first instinct was to be mildly annoyed. (That probably makes it sound like us stats geeks are no fun at parties, which I’m sure is true, but anyway…) I have quite literally had to retrain my brain when it comes to JuJu shot selection. It took me a bit, but I definitely got there by the start of this season. To be honest, it’s almost been a full 180. That feeling I have when Mary catches the ball behind the arc (“please please please please please shoot the ball”) is the same feeling I get when JuJu has the ball in the midrange. Or just about anywhere really. Yet, after 271 midrange jumpers and nearly 1,000 shot attempts, JuJu ended her career with a tip of the cap to people like me: by hitting a three. JuJu, thank you for teaching me to always keep an open mind, and thank you for helping me – hopefully – become at least a little bit fun at parties.
Shout out to CBB analytics for having cool data that I used in this.
2 Comments
3/17/2023 08:54:56 am
Thank you so much for letting me express my feeling about your post.
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3/18/2023 09:34:18 am
That’s Illinois State women’s basketball for me. I love this team, and every time I watch them play I feel a certain joy that I wish I could transfer to the rest of the world. I truly appreciate your great post!
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