Sunday, March 22, 2009

Post-Game Q&A With Charmin Smith

I chatted briefly with Cal assistant coach Charmin Smith last right about Cal’s first-round victory over Fresno State.

CalBears.com: Coming into the game, Fresno State has hit 10 or more three-pointers in 31 games, dating back to last season. But tonight, the Bears were very successful in keeping Fresno State treys to a minimum, was that the plan of attack?

Charmin Smith: That was definitely the game plan. They lead the nation in three-pointers made. We held them to four threes, which is well below their average. I thought that was a big key to the game – taking away their three-point shot.



CalBears.com: How did the team limit them from beyond the arc?

CS: We told our players not to sink defensively, to get stuck in the paint and now out in the perimeter. Then we used a lot of switching defense with switching one through four. At sometimes, we even had Devanei Hampton switching on the guards. It really took away the open looks. It gave up some penetration but we were willing to sacrifice that in order to take away the three.



CalBears.com: Enough about defensive, let’s talk about offensive. What worked best for the Bears tonight?

CS: Ashley Walker. She’s hard to stop. When we were stagnant at some points on offense, our guards stepped up and made a big three, which opened things up for Ashley

Walker. We know that Devanei Hampton will be a great force in games to come. It’s tough when you have a lot of smaller people running around there. She gets penalized for being so aggressive and physical, but that won’t always be the case.



CalBears.com: You were doing a victory dance when we first got to the locker room, what are you thinking right now?

CS: You always want to get that first win under your belt in the Tournament. We know that we’re a team that is supposed to move beyond the first round. We wanted to go ahead and do that and meet those expectations. We feel good now, but we’re not satisfied. We want keep going.


Thanks to Mollie McClure for the awesome action shots.
PS: I apologize for the wacky formatting, blogger's not allowing me to fix it.

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