I wasn’t there, but as I was watching the live feed of Fury dismantling Brute Squad I was struck by a sense of déjà vu; I felt like I was watching Godiva. I’m not talking about Fury and Godiva’s dominance, I’m talking about a single little cut that is the backbone of both team’s offenses. It’s a cut I haven’t seen other teams (men’s or women’s) use. I remember watching Teens (Christine Dunlap) wreck people with this cut, getting wide open again and again and again, so it was a little weird to watch Fury doing the same thing.
The cut begins as a short in-cut from the middle of the field. (The set up differs a bit in Godiva’s vert and Fury’s ho.) The in-cut is angled just slightly to the inside-out lane. Then, at a point maybe eight yards off the disc, the cutter plants and goes almost horizontally to the open side. Wide open. Pretty typically, this cut is coming around 4-6 in the stall count, providing a nice secondary option up field before looking at the dump.
This cut raises so many questions for me. I used to think it was effective only because of the physical differences between the men’s and women’s game. I can’t imagine trying to make that cut on a Furious or Ring defender — they’d flatten you as you tried to come back across to the open side. The Condors ran a J-cut for years, but theirs was much longer and was designed to test the defenders determination. If you just gutted it out, you could shut it down. But if the effectiveness is because of the differences between men’s and women’s why aren’t more teams using this cut? Is it athleticism? Then why hasn’t Riot used it? Is it system? Why hasn’t anyone copied it? Is it talent? Everyone has players talented enough to make the cut and the throw is easy, it’s a 10 yard open side swing pass.
After talking to Tully Beatty, Matty Tsang, and watching the video I think I have the answers I need about Fury, but not about Godiva.
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