The Mountain Just Got Steeper. Peoples Surgery?
The Mountain Just Got Steeper. Peoples Surgery?
Notre Dame's Anaya Peoples doubtful against Duke
By Anthony Anderson Tribune Correspondent 6 hrs ago
There a lot on the WNBA Contract at the LINK
https://www.ndinsider.com/basketball/womens/notre-dame-s-anaya-peoples-doubtful-against-duke/article_0405384c-9c20-5771-8565-cbba9437b47e.html
The Mountain Just Got Steeper. Peoples Surgery?
Notre Dame's Anaya Peoples doubtful against Duke
By Anthony Anderson Tribune Correspondent 6 hrs ago
SOUTH BEND — It was an unmistakably less emotional Muffet McGraw — even with word that a key player may be sidelined indefinitely — but a no-less self-blaming one Wednesday afternoon before practice.
“I mean, the buck stops here, right?” McGraw said when asked if she had perhaps come down too hard on herself three days earlier.
The Notre Dame women’s basketball coach turned teary-eyed with long pauses between short sentences during a postgame press conference following Sunday’s 90-56 home loss to No. 9-ranked North Carolina State, asserting “I gotta do better,” and vowing “I’m gonna find an answer, I’m gonna fix it.”
The Irish, on pace for the worst season in the program’s 43-year existence, are 6-11 overall, 1-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, heading into Thursday’s visit to Duke (8-8, 2-3).
“This is my team,” McGraw said Wednesday, “and I feel like, looking at it now, maybe we should’ve done a little more fundamental work during the season. We had so much to work on. I’m looking at, did we do this too much and this not enough?”
Her answers seemed to be yes and yes.
“I have control of a lot of things,” McGraw said. “I can’t put the ball in the basket for them, but I can get them that shot. Sometimes, we’re not even executing, so I think that is definitely my fault.”
Executing could become even more challenging against the Blue Devils.
McGraw said freshman Anaya Peoples is “doubtful” to play after the freshman guard and team rebounding leader injured her shoulder in the second quarter of Sunday’s loss.
“We’re gonna look at our options and see if surgery is required,” McGraw said, “and is it gonna be now or after the season?”
The coach said no timeline was set for making that decision.
“We haven’t sat down and figured it out yet with her to see what she wants to do,” McGraw said. “I think they’re going to try to rehab it and see.”
Peoples, who appeared in typically good spirits, and fellow freshman Sam Brunelle were the first two arriving players well before practice Wednesday. Peoples was dressed as if she might participate and was taking shots without any visible pain.
“She might (play Thursday),” McGraw said, “but I doubt it.”
On Sunday, the coach described Peoples — averaging 12.6 points to go with her team-pacing 8.1 rebounds — as “just relentless. She never quits, she goes after every ball. She never stops trying and I think she’s just kind of a workhorse, kind of a blue-collar player, and you have to have someone like that in the game.”
Now that may not be an option.
“We have a lot of things to compensate for without Anaya,” McGraw said Wednesday. “As I said (Sunday), she’s the one person we can’t afford to lose because she does so many things, rebounding especially and defending. (Minutes-wise), we’ll have to rely on (Danielle) Cosgrove and (Katie) Cole more, see what we can get out of them.”
While McGraw continued to put the brunt of the blame on herself, she added that her message to her players is to “control the things you can control.”
“Being willing to take a charge, diving on the floor for a loose ball, how quickly you get back on defense, positioning, those are things you control,” McGraw said. “Those are things I think we can do better.”
There a lot on the WNBA Contract at the LINK
https://www.ndinsider.com/basketball/womens/notre-dame-s-anaya-peoples-doubtful-against-duke/article_0405384c-9c20-5771-8565-cbba9437b47e.html