Monarchs Blog and Q&A

Bee staff writer Melody Gutierrez grew up in Twentynine Palms. At 14-years-old, she decided to combine her two passions -- sports and writing -- when she became a special assignments reporter for the Desert Trail, her hometown weekly newspaper. Melody headed to Northern California in 2000 to attend Chico State and has remained in the region ever since. She earned an internship with The Bee and subsequently became a staff writer in 2004 and has covered virtually every sport, starting with high schools, up through college and then the pros. Melody took over coverage of the Monarchs last season and chronicled the team's pursuit of a second straight league championship -- a quest that fell just short.

Melody welcomes your questions and will answer as many as she can as the season progresses.

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April 26, 2007

No offense, but what will Boucek do?

Question: What type of offensive system does Coach Boucek plan on using? At times last year, it was downright painful to watch us on the offensive end of the floor.

Thomas Johansen, Rocklin

Answer: Coach Jenny Boucek said she plans to add a few new things offensively in order to make the team less predictable, which is probably your complaint. She doesn't want any thing too complicated, but wants the team be more deliberate offensively. They've worked heavily this week in practices on setting screens that open up shots.

Boucek said she wants to add "more wrinkles in order to make shots easier."

Something tells me Nicole Powell will like Boucek's system when she returns from playing in Spain.

Question: Since we now have a new coach, do you think the Monarchs would keep the same rotation style of giving the bench really good minutes (around 15+ minutes) as opposed the other team's more traditional rotation of starters playing ~30 or more minutes?

Jason, Omaha, NE

Answer: That's certainly the plan. By all indications, the Monarchs will rely on the 9-10 player rotation you're used to seeing. It would be near impossible to run former coach John Whisenant's white line defense without a good mix of players coming on and off the court.

The other reason Monarchs new coach Jenny Boucek will look to her bench is because this is a very talented squad. It's hard to say who will win a starting role when the season starts. Ticha Penicheiro or Kristin Haynie at point guard?

Chelsea Newton or Kara Lawson at the two spot? What about Scholanda Robinson? She has looked so much improved in practices that I think she's making a good case to be a key contributor in the deep shooting guard position.

Robinson struggled last season with turnovers and had a reputation as a selfish player. She came out to camp this year in good spirits, great shape and has been pushing herself to improve daily. Even Yolanda Griffith has pinpointed Robinson as one of the most improved players from last season.

While two will be cut, here is the depth chart so far:

PG Penicheiro/Haynie

SG Lawson/Newton/Robinson/Bond

SF Powell/Smith/Atkinson

PF Walker/Brunson/Williams

C Griffith/Wilkins/Wells

Posted by Bill Bradley, April 26, 2007 06:06 PM

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