When Tyler Marsh took over, he brought receipts from Angel Reese’s AAU days. Whether it was letting her grab boards and run the break like a point forward, stretch out with some pick-and-pop mid-range jumpers, or dish from the elbow like she’s got eyes on the back of her head, Marsh made it clear: Reese wasn’t here to be labelled. And he wasn’t about to listen to the noise ignoring her strength and weakness just for the sake of hyperfixation. He wasn’t about to ignore the fact that she was already out-rebounding half the league. Because one just can’t teach her natural rebounding instincts. So, while he told her “the sky is the limit,” he didn’t ask her to clip her original wings to get there.

“Future of the Sky is in good hands. Young, tough & don’t give af about anybody’s opinions other than their own. Gotta respect it,” Marsh said, casually dismissing those still yelling “stat-padding”. And frankly, there might be no bigger Reese fan than Marsh himself. “I mean, you set a record in rebounding and, to me, it’s still amazing that people kind of undervalue and undersell just what that was for a rookie,” he said, clearly baffled that anyone could sleep on what she pulled off. At the end of the day, the blend of confidence and belief Marsh places in Reese might just be the trick. Because when someone reminds you you’re a star but still lets you play like you haven’t even scratched the surface? That’s when you shine brighter.

So, since the stat padding trend took a new name this year, Reese has let her game do the talking – dropping 28 points, 23 rebounds, and 16 assists in her last two games. Those are superstar numbers. And she was quick to give credit to head coach Tyler Marsh for helping her raise her game to another level. “I’ve kind of been a passer all my career,” Reese said after the game against the Connecticut Sun. “I came out of high school as the No. 1 wing and trying to get back to that, trying to get back to being super versatile. Tyler made that emphasis early on in the season. I didn’t understand it. I’m still figuring it out, but I have patience obviously. Tonight it came up big.”

It came up big, and that’s exactly what Lucy Rohden, reporter and sports creator, recently echoed on the Good Follow podcast. Beginning with how Reese finally understood Marsh’s demands and delivered in her all-around impact against the Connecticut Sun, Rohden said, “We saw that she had, what, 11 assists to six different players? Four other players for the Sky scored in double figures. Like, when Angel is able to just kind of like make her game a little more spread out—both literally in the sense of like doing more and actually spreading out on the court—it is amazing how she can just completely change the dynamic of the Sky”

Now, that’s absolutely true. Reese carried her training with Lisa Leslie and her Unrivaled experience over to the WNBA this season. And that’s exactly why she has been more ballsy on both ends of the floor, improving with each game. Turnovers still remain a concern, but with this duo, that shouldn’t be the case for long. And of course, Rohden brought in the rebounds aspect as well.

“Because with the way she rebounds, to be able to move the ball out like that, it’s just like it opens up an entire different level of offense for the Sky, which is something that they need,” Rohden said. Again, more than fair. Under Tyler Marsh’s guidance, the conversation has thankfully shifted from Twitter jokes to what actually matters: Reese’s real strengths and weaknesses on the court.

Let’s break it down. In her first 10 games this season, only 18 of Angel Reese’s 119 rebounds came from her own missed shots, not more than fifteen percent. And even if you completely removed those second-chance boards from her totals, she’d still sit comfortably in third place on the league’s rebounding leaderboard with less number of games than those ahead of ehr. So, accept it or not, Reese is simply dominating the glass, with or without the “mebounds.” And she keeps improving anyway. During her first five games, she was averaging around five of those self-rebound plays per outing. In the five games after that? That number dropped drastically to just 0.6.

But the biggest problem with these accusations isn’t that they are slightly off, but that they miss the actual issue. Reese has had a tougher time converting close-range shots this season, making just 38.2% of her attempts within five feet, noticeably less than her 44.5% mark last year. That dip is hard to ignore, especially when most frontcourt players in the league are finishing typically between 65% and 80%. If Reese can improve in that area, she’d likely be adding around five more points to her nightly total. It could completely elevate her impact on offense.

The good news? Marsh made sure she knew it. She watches film of her finishes daily and post-practice, she sits with position coach David Simon to correct old habits, like her instinct to pull the ball in low. These days, she’s also drilling rebound catches with her off-hand raised high, all while a development coach swats at her with a padded blocker. So, yes, soon enough, critics will be silenced for good and it will be just Angel Reese profitting off the “mebounds”.

‘Mebounds’: The Story Behind Angel Reese’s Viral Nickname

It’s only natural to wonder where a term like “mebounds” even came from. Just a month ago, no one was throwing that word around to mock Angel Reese for grabbing her own misses. But it’s a viral term now. And, if you’re curious about how it all started, don’t worry, we have got you covered!

Ngwa Numfor of The Athletic recently broke down the origins of the now-viral nickname. It was coined in an episode of the Club 520 podcast, hosted by former NBA All-Star Jeff Teague alongside “Bishop B Hen” Hendricks and DJ Wells.  Hendricks jokingly introduced the term “mebounds” to describe Angel Reese’s knack for grabbing her own missed shots. And since then, this term has gone viral.

But Reese took it as an opportunity, a classic move, and filed for a trademark for the term. “Whoever came up with the ‘mebounds’ thing, y’all ate that up because ‘mebounds,’ rebounds, ‘crebounds’ … anything that comes off that board, it’s mine,” she said in a recent TikTok video. “And a brand? That’s six figures right there.”

It’s refreshing to see a player face adversity and rise like a phoenix. Angel Reese has done a phenomenal job overcoming fan hatred, and it finally looks like she’s getting back to her best. Do you think her good run of form will continue? Let us know in the comments down below!