If we're still starting Molly in McKenna's absence, I'm struggling to see how we're going to defend Maryland. They run a 5 out style offense and are led in the scoring column by 3 versatile wings: 6'3'' Diamond Miller, 6'2'' Shyanne Sellers, and 6'0'' Abby Meyers.
If we play man defense, we'd probably put Kate on Miller, Molly on Sellers, and Gabbie on Meyers. But then we're giving up size and strength at every position. It would help tremendously match-up wise to put Caitlin on Sellers or Meyers instead of Molly, but we absolutely can't afford Caitlin picking up fouls trying to defend her. Even though Caitlin did guard Sellers last year, Sellers has taken a huge leap as a scorer and someone who can get to the FT line. So if we play man I feel like we'll need healthy doses of both Sydney and Hannah to give us more size on the wing.
I could see the triangle-and-2 working against Maryland's starting 5, as their only two shooters are Sellers and Meyers. But would this scheme be able to stop Miller from just driving to the basket at will? It worked well enough against OSU's McMahon who is a similar mold of player, but Miller is more mature and a craftier finisher. Another problem with the triangle-and-2 is they have a 46% 3 pointer shooter Brianne Alexander who comes off the bench and actually averages more minutes than their starting PG Elisa Pinzan, who isn't really a scoring threat.
All in all I think this is a game where we're gonna have to go to our 2-3 zone fairly early and hope for the best....
Curious to hear other thoughts on potential defensive schemes.