Detroit brought in the most exciting basketball coach the campus has seen since Dickie V when they recently signed Kate Achter. For a program that sorely needs a Kate Achter, it really can’t be overstated how game changing this is for them. Me in my living room when I found out: I would be lying if I said I’ve watched all 27,386 possessions of Achter’s head coaching career, but I’ve probably watched a higher number of them than most Detroit fans, so I thought I’d put together a quick primer on what the Titans should look like in the coming years. This is, of course, assuming that she brings her same identity and philosophy with her to this job. There’s always that small possibility that she completely overhauls her style just to make me look like I don’t know what I’m talking about (or maybe I already look like that?) DEFENSE We’ll start on this end of the floor because that’s where the Ramblers’ success started. During her time at Loyola, Achter basically turned their defense from DisneyLand into the dentist’s office in terms of how opponents probably viewed playing them. As far as style goes, it was a man defense that fit all the cliches about awesome defenses: hard nosed, gritty, etc. It didn’t prioritize turnovers, rather, it was all about being in help position and then rebounding position. The latter was the crown jewel. To me, one of the best examples of this came from maybe the best game Loyola played during Achter’s tenure there when they beat Missouri State by 18 on senior day last season. Riley Blackwell, who was usually a top sub but was in the starting lineup for this game as a senior, boxed out hard twice in a row on one of the Missouri Valley’s best offensive rebounders in Jennifer Ezeh (who had two inches on Blackwell). On the second one, she draws a foul, but the first one is my favorite: Riley essentially doesn’t care about getting the rebound herself, just as long as her team gets it and not Ezeh. Team success > individual stats is a mentality that starts at the top. It’s not possible to take away every single thing, so all great defenses have to choose what to give their opponent. For Achter’s defenses, that’s been postups. Only Creighton allowed a postup on a higher percentage of opponent possessions than Loyola during her six seasons there. Allowing those post looks worked because they defended them so well. Loyola was in the top 50 in FG% allowed on postups last season, in large part because Achter brought in plenty of post defenders that were anywhere from solid to excellent. When you have good post defenders, you don’t need to double as often, which allows the off-ball defenders to stay home on shooters or take away cutters. That strategy put Loyola in some pretty good company this past year.
OFFENSE I’m slightly less sure of what to expect on this side of the ball, because I think some of the specifics will probably depend on the strengths and weaknesses of the players that Achter brings in. There are, however, some overarching characteristics that seem like part of her brand. For starters, her offenses at Loyola were fairly ball screen heavy. They didn’t go after the offensive glass a ton, instead opting to get back on transition D (see the “elite defense” stuff above). They never minded dribble jumpers, and Loyola had some players who could hit them the last few years. I wasn’t following Bowling Green in high school, and pre-2010 film is tough to come by, so I technically have no clue if this is true, but my hunch is that Kate Achter the player was also pretty good at those dribble jumpers. (If you have a lot of time on your hands you can maybe find some grainy gems here.) Achter’s Loyola teams weren’t running teams; they relied on halfcourt execution. That plus the defense added up to a bunch of games in the 50s – the type of games I love and casual basketball fans don’t. Those offenses were also always extremely balanced. In fact, this past year they literally had an exact tie for their leading scorer against DI competition. It’s why – along with the slow pace – they always had players get snubbed for awards, which is … nevermind I’ll shut up now before I get in trouble. It’s a matter of when, not if, Kate Achter will turn Detroit around, but the “when” part is important to keep in mind. The Titans do not exactly have a recent history of success to build on, so it will take time.
Achter’s record in her first year at Loyola looked about like that too. By the end, she had taken the program to its first ever postseason and its best winning percentage since the 1980s. She has said she’d like this rebuild to be “hopefully a little bit faster” than the last one, and maybe it will be. Just don’t read anything into it if the 2022-23 Titans lose a lot of games. That won’t be the case for much longer. And lastly, Detroit fans, you are getting a class human being to lead your program, exactly the type of person you want taking over following a messy situation not too long ago (which is another aspect she has a track record of cleaning up). Kate Achter is an advocate for equality, she’s always been thoughtful and encouraging in my interactions with her, and she’s incredibly passionate. It’s a passion we praise male coaches/players for showing and it’s about time we do the same for women. The Horizon League is a solid league but a winnable one, especially if IUPUI drops off as it looks like they might. Buy stock now, because Detroit is going to be competing in this league real soon. Data from Her Hoop Stats and Synergy
1 Comment
Carl Banks
9/12/2022 06:26:12 am
Well....Good luck with this hire. Can't believe the athletic department didn't vet this lady. She's a whack job and had over a dozen players leave the last 4 years she was at Loyola. Good kids, not just disgruntled players. Nobody talks about these lunatic coaches. Why do schools keep hiring these unstable crazy coaches? This is gonna be a disaster.
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