Sakuno has a spine

Sakuno is much more of a normal girl and much less of a ditzy jellyfish, in the manga. She takes Echizen's advice and immediately starts applying what she can. She does /not/ run out onto the court and interfere when he's injured. She bounces and smiles on the sidelines and isn't nearly as self-effacing.

What the hell did the ani-writers think they were doing?

Aside from stuffing her into the girl-who-doesn't-understand-sports role, of course, that being the opposite of the girl-who-does-understand-sports, in a sports series, which, as we have repeatedly observed, tenipuri is really not. *sighs*