Lady’Backs try to get back on track vs. ‘Bama

BY RAINER SABIN Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/nwat/61276/

When the subject of the conversation turned to what life was like without senior post Lauren Ervin, Arkansas coach Tom Collen’s face offered a pained expression. Then a deep breath. Finally, there was a pause filled by silence.

See, everything was so much easier when Ervin was still available to play. The offense revolved around her. The plays went through her. She was the bedrock — a stabilizing force in the middle for the Lady Razorbacks.

But ever since Ervin tore her anterior cruciate ligament in a 76-54 loss to LSU last Thursday, Collen and his team feel like they have returned to square one.

“ Everything’s changing because we lost our cornerstone, ” said senior forward Sarah Pfeifer. “ Our starting lineup doesn’t have a true five in it anymore. That’s not predictable basketball. We’ll have some crazy lineups with three guards and a post or three posts. ”

As the Lady Razorbacks (15-2, 0-2 SEC ) prepare to face Alabama (8-9, 1-1 SEC ) in Tuscaloosa today, no tactic, offensive strategy or personnel move has been ruled out by Collen. He has to find a way to rally a team that lost its best player and is winless after two games in the SEC. Right now, he’s searching for answers to a problem he never envisioned he would have to tackle.

“ We just don’t have a ton of depth, ” Collen said. “ So, it’s hard to be creative. ”

In Arkansas’ 63-55 loss at Ole Miss, the Lady Razorbacks initially looked lost without Ervin on the floor. The offense sputtered and at times senior point guard Brittney Vaughn admitted she was lost.

“ I stood and held the ball for like 15 seconds and was like, ‘ What do I do ?’” Vaughn said. “ If anybody shouldn’t do that, it’s me. I felt like in the first half we were still thinking, ‘ Who is going to get the rebounds ? Who is going to score when the shot clock goes down ?’”

The shock that came after the extent of Ervin’s injury was revealed has since subsided. That has allowed Collen to collect his thoughts and come up with a contingency plan. Right now, though, the details remain sketchy. He wants the guards to become more heavily involved in producing the offense. He also would like to see the reserves make more of an impact. And as of Tuesday he hasn’t ruled out employing the press more often, despite the fact that certain players could be on the floor for 35 to 40 minutes.

At this point, Collen acknowledges he is willing to try just about anything to get the Lady Razorbacks back on track and revive a season that began with a promising 15-0 start.

“ What we have to do is to find a way to play to each player’s strengths, ” Collen said. “ When we had Lauren in, she was the focal point and people played off of her. Now, we don’t have her to play off of anymore. In an attempt to get everybody to step up, I need to find their comfort zones as individuals. ”

In essence, Collen wants to take apart the puzzle and put back together again. That’s fine with Pfeifer.

“ Even with the changes, we’ll figure it out, ” Pfeifer said. “ I have total confidence the coaching staff will figure out a way for us to have success. ”

It just might take a while to redraft a new plan.