WBB: Preview, Stanford v. West Virginia

[81alum]

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Following are my updated notes on the West Virginia team to start us off.

West Virginia emphasizes tenacious defense and is not afraid to foul.  This morning during their game with Texas the announcers laughed about the "Sumo wrestling" going on under the basket.  West Virginia commits 18 fouls a game which makes them 288th in the country in clean play.

The “Twin Towers”

For a dozen games or so they have been starting both of their centers in a 'Twin Towers" package that has helped them get a very large rebounding advantage over their opponents.  On offense, West Virginia tries to feed the ball to one of their two centers down low, much like we attempt to do with Nneka and Chiney.  I saw them get some easy baskets that way, although it does not work for them as consistently as it does for us.

Asya Bussie.  A 6'4" junior center.  She hits .536% of her fgs and leads the team with 12.2 ppg.  A weakness: she makes only 59% of her free throws.  She has 71 blocks on the season.  She gets 6.7 rpg.  Against Texas, she had 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Ayana Dunning. A 6'3" redshirt junior center.   One of the twin towers, along with Bussie.  She hits .495 for 8.2 ppg, but those numbers have been going up lately, since WV did not start her during the first part of the year--sort of like Joslyn Tinkle's numbers are on the rise for the same reason.  Having Bussey and Dunning in together over the last dozen games dramatically improved their team rebounding.  Against Texas she scored  7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.  Dunning picked up 4 fouls against Texas.

1-3 position

They rotate a lot of guards, which gives them a lot of energy to expend on quick defense.  The three forwards/guards they started against Texas included:

Jess Harlee.  A 6'1" sophomore forward.  Interesting that she leads her team in steals with 65.  Has made only one three this year, knocks down twos at .397.   She had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Texas.
   
Christal Caldwell.  A 5'9" redshirt sophomore guard.  Their second leading scorer with 11.1 ppg.  She makes .396 of her field goals but does not shoot that many threes.  She gets quite a few free throws so I am guessing she is more of a slasher.  She had a rough game against Texas, played just 13 minutes and scored 3 points. 

Linda Stepney.  A 5'7" freshman point guard from Norfolk, Virginia.  She shoots .342 for the year and averages 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds.  She has 87 assists to 63 turnovers–the second highest assists on the team.  She played 22 minutes and had 2 points and 2 assists against Texas.

Two players regularly come from the bench and not just to "spell" people, but often to make major contributions both offensively and defensively.  The two that made a big impact against Texas were:

Brooke Hampton.  A 5'9" sophomore point guard.  135 assists to 65 turnovers.  5.6 ppg.  Competent but not great from three points at .317.  While she is the leading point guard, for some reason she rarely starts, but plays behind Linda Stepney.   She came off the bench against Texas and played 22 minutes, scoring 7 points, with 4 assists to 3 turnovers.

Taylor Palmer.  A 5'9" sophomore guard–seems to be their three point specialist.  She takes way more threes than anyone else on the team and makes them at a .307 rate.  Third scorer at 10.7 ppg.  She had 19 points to lead WV against Texas, including 4-11 three pointers.  She came off the bench and played 25 minutes.

There were press reports that Sophomore point guard Brooke Hampton had been out with injury, but she played 22 minutes in the 1st round so obviously is back.

West Virginia took apart Texas with stifling defense in the first half, but they two teams played relatively evenly in the second half.  West Virginia got a much bigger % of its three point shots to fall in that game than usual (6-14 for 43%), which helped it considerably.

I'm hoping some of you with good eyes were able to see the game and can comment on the particulars of the West Virginia defense and how we should go about attacking it.

[81alum]

If anyone would like to watch or re-watch the West Virginia Texas game, it is still available on ESPN3:

http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index?gameId=320770277&league=ncaaw#type/replay/sport/basketball/league/NCAAW/

[MT]

##	Player	gp-gs	min	avg	fg-fga	fg%	3fg-fga	3fg%	ft-fta	ft%	off	def	tot	avg	pf	dq	a	to	blk	stl	pts	avg
20	BUSSIE, Asya	33-33	1008	30.5	139-256	.543	0-0	.000	123-209	.589	95	125	220	6.7	75	1	28	90	71	40	401	12.2
02	PALMER, Taylor	33-19	860	26.1	125-380	.329	73-236	.309	36-52	.692	16	69	85	2.6	73	4	33	60	2	27	359	10.9
01	CALDWELL, Christal	33-26	872	26.4	135-344	.392	17-53	.321	71-107	.664	83	106	189	5.7	71	1	34	79	5	27	358	10.8
33	DUNNING, Ayana	33-19	738	22.4	100-202	.495	5-18	.278	64-82	.780	82	195	277	8.4	96	2	28	87	23	38	269	8.2
04	HAMPTON, Brooke	32-6	816	25.5	51-173	.295	33-103	.320	47-56	.839	10	41	51	1.6	41	0	139	68	3	30	182	5.7
14	HARLEE, Jessica	33-31	887	26.9	59-145	.407	1-29	.034	54-77	.701	62	118	180	5.5	82	4	65	68	19	65	173	5.2
22	STEPNEY, Linda	32-27	640	20.0	40-117	.342	12-24	.500	45-62	.726	15	52	67	2.1	69	0	87	63	2	28	137	4.3
03	BETHEL, Akilah	24-0	253	10.5	35-96	.365	8-34	.235	14-21	.667	16	31	47	2.0	30	0	23	28	9	23	92	3.8
05	FIELDS, Averee	21-0	216	10.3	26-55	.473	1-4	.250	15-27	.556	27	30	57	2.7	16	0	13	6	2	10	68	3.2
32	LEARY, Crystal	15-3	175	11.7	12-30	.400	0-0	.000	18-25	.720	21	24	45	3.0	30	1	0	11	1	11	42	2.8
35	BURTON, Natalie	22-1	135	6.1	15-29	.517	0-0	.000	3-8	.375	11	17	28	1.3	16	0	5	8	12	4	33	1.5
	Team										79	75	154		2			24
	Total..........	33	6600		737-1827	.403	150-501	.299	490-726	675	517	883	1400	42.4	601	13	455	592	149	303	2114	64.1
	Opponents......	33	6600		572-1761	.325	133-489	.272	420-605	694	415	705	1120	33.9	600	-	298	597	124	261	1697	51.4
	Stanford......	33	6626		948-2071	.458	179-570	.314	460-602	.764	496	976	1472	44.6	459	0	556	429	153	222	2535	76.8
	Opponents...	33	6625		668-1984	.337	130-542	.240	336-509	.660	420	686	1106	33.5	516	-	301	473	80	223	1802	54.6

7 player rotation.  2 players fouled out 4 times in 33 games, and another player had the most fouls (averaging 3 fouls/gm).  But this is the tournament and the officials will bend over backwards to avoid fouling someone out.
20% more fouls than Stanford for both WV and their opponents. (20% more FTA for each)
33% more turnovers (and almost as many more for their opponents).  Nearly 25% more steals.
10% fewer FGA than Stanford at a lower FG%.  Fewer 3FGA at a lower 3FG%.
74.2% of def rebound chances. 47.4% of off. rebound chances  (Stanford:  74.2% and 44.1%)
Nearly 20% fewer assists, but actually slightly more assists per FG.

It seems they play aggressive games (and apparently get fouls called on their opponents as well), resulting in better offensive rebound numbers, and leading to more chaotic games.  They had a stretch of 3 games in mid-Feb, where they beat RPIs #4, 13, 24.  They've lost to RPIs #3, 4, 11, 16, 19, 30, 78, 126,  164.

WV beat ND at ND by 2, but in their 2nd game, ND won by 28.  In the win by ND, one WV player (Harlee) fouled out in only 15 minutes of playing time and 2 pts. Two others had 4 fouls. ND had 2 players with 4 fouls.  WV shot 44% from 2 but only 1 of 13 from 3.  ND shot 42% from 2 but 7 of 16 from 3.  Off Rbd% was 39% while Def Rbd% was 69% (clearly out-rebounding ND).  WV had 22 turnovers (7 A) while ND had only 12 turnovers (13 A).

In a 14pt loss to DePaul, WV lead 38-24 at the half.  Harlee only played 19 min with 4 fouls and 0 pts, but DP had one player foul and another with 4.  WV had 44% OR% and 79% DR% (an overwhelming margin).  WV had 18 TO (to DP's 9).  WV had 11 more FGA, but 3 fewer FG.  DP had nearly twice as many FTA (19 of 29, vs 12 of 15).  DP lit up the 2nd half, hitting 12 of 18 from 2 and 5 of 7 from 3. (No

Expect a physical game.  Hitting our FT will be critical.  Outside shooting would be useful.

[treefan]

Great report. Thanks.

I've watched them a few times, including their win at ND. My UConn fan friends said WVA played the game of their lives at ND, but reverted to ineffective O in the Big East tourney. We have experience playing ugly maul ball type teams (ASU and maybe OSu), but WVA is better on both sides of the ball. The area they are like as ASU is that they will risk fouling to get a steal or board. Have you watched how ASU slaps and pushes rebounders who are in position in the paint once a shoot is attempted? Expect the same physical play from WVA, but tougher.

One friend said that we can bang with them and they can't score, that we'd win by 15. He said don't get worried if it is 15-12 with 5 min to go in the first half. Just stayed focused and grind it out.

We must keep our TOs down, hit our FTs and keep O sisters out of foul trouble. Chiney got frustrated vs. ASU in the Pac 12 touney, so she needs to keep her cool and just do her thing! Obviously hitting threes helps.

Lastly, I think we wear teams down because we are in much better shape - thanks to Susan King Borchardt!

[81alum]

I noticed that Jess Harlee, while a forward, leads West Virginia in steals.  This quote confirms that she is their best defender.  Question is, who will they put her on?  If they play an aggressive man, then the towers will be on the O sisters, leaving Harlee on Tinkle.  I bet they will find a way to use her on Nneka or Chiney part of the time.

West Virginia forward Jessica Harlee was the unsung hero of the day, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. But perhaps more importantly, she used her size and long arms to stifle Texas' top scorer, guard Chassidy Fussell, who was 3-of-14 from the floor for eight points.

"Jess will play her role every time," West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. "She's our stopper when we need to make a stop."

Meanwhile, in the same article, the Tara quote makes it clear she is well aware of the West Virginia style:

"We're going to see a whole different level of physicality," VanDerveer said. "We'll see how we play against it."

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/tournament/2012/story/_/id/7703077/2012-ncaa-tournament-stanford-west-virginia-head-second-round-matchup

[stan01]

Hat off to your thorough commentary. 

[81alum]

Get ready for maul-ball.

"We'll come out and do what we do," said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. "I don't want to say we want an ugly game, but we want to make it physical as much as the referees will let us, to try to bang and get on the floor and get some loose balls and take some charges. We need to make it that type of game."

West Virginia forward Asya Bussie characterized her team's style as "aggressive."

"We need to find a way to get them out of their sets and mess with their flow, that's something we've been focusing on, just playing West Virginia defense," Bussie said.
...
Carey said his team's best-case scenario is to see Stanford's Ogwumike sisters get into foul trouble.

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/ncwexperts/id/7706127/2012-ncaa-tournament-hoop-styles-clash-wvu-stanford-tilt

Question:  Missy Barlow refereed the West-Virginia/Texas game.  Have we seen the last of her at this site, or is there a possibility that she might referee the Stanford/West Virginia game?

[treefan]

Get ready for maul-ball.

"We'll come out and do what we do," said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. "I don't want to say we want an ugly game, but we want to make it physical as much as the referees will let us, to try to bang and get on the floor and get some loose balls and take some charges. We need to make it that type of game."

West Virginia forward Asya Bussie characterized her team's style as "aggressive."

"We need to find a way to get them out of their sets and mess with their flow, that's something we've been focusing on, just playing West Virginia defense," Bussie said.
...
Carey said his team's best-case scenario is to see Stanford's Ogwumike sisters get into foul trouble.

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/ncwexperts/id/7706127/2012-ncaa-tournament-hoop-styles-clash-wvu-stanford-tilt

Question:  Missy Barlow refereed the West-Virginia/Texas game.  Have we seen the last of her at this site, or is there a possibility that she might referee the Stanford/West Virginia game?

Actually, as bad as Missy is, she doesn't let maul ball occur. Imho, she calls more ticky tack vs. letting them play style. Where she is bad, and downright horrible, is making calls that aren't there, thus making the game about her vs. the game and players

[76lsjumb]

Question:  Missy Barlow refereed the West-Virginia/Texas game.  Have we seen the last of her at this site, or is there a possibility that she might referee the Stanford/West Virginia game?

81alum has nailed it.  All of the season stats are interesting, but, as soon as I saw Ms. Barlow was handling the WV/Texas game I had two thoughts:  One, I was instantly much more confident about our chances against Hampton, since she obviously wouldn't be reffing that game.  Two, I became much more worried about the next game, since she was clearly a potential ref candidate for our round two game.

How come, with sixteen possible sites, she was sent all the way across the country to OURS???     If it is a physical game [and, by all accounts, that's a virtual guarantee], it is also a virtual guarantee that, given an opportunity to do so [i.e., a close game], she will make calls -- probably underneath and probably involving the Sisters -- that are going to be wholly inexplicable and quite possibly determinative of the outcome of the game.

In another thread yesterday, someone observed that the questionable call on Chiney when she got hurt couldn't be blamed on Missy, since she handled the first game, not ours.  I beg to differ.  If she's even in the building, I'm willing to blame her for bad calls... 

[treefan]

No surprise, Tara prefers finesse style to physical style.

[MT]

What a shame that Creighton lost to St. John's.  On the final second shot, the shooter clearly traveled.  The last time the ball hits the ground in a dribble, her right foot is under her, swinging forward. 0.12 seconds (4 frames, real time) later, her right foot plants well in front of her body.  0.06 seconds later, she's got the ball in both hands with her right foot down under her.  0.06 seconds later she leaves the ground.  She then hopped into the land and landed on her right foot.  That is a travel.  She then put her left foot down and then shot.  The slower motion of the dribble and shot (when declaring her player of the game) shows her right hand on the ball while her right foot is still just in front of her head and stil on the ground.

It would have been impressive, if legal.  But it was clearly a travel.

Furthermore, the ball went through the basket at 0.8 seconds left (scoreboard clock, not TV clock).  The clock was stopped with 0.1 seconds left.  I believe the officials can (and, should) correct that timing error. 

Creighton was within a hop, skip, and jump of winning.

 

[MT]

If Stanford wins the tourney, next year we may STILL have the same East Coast comments about the PAC-12.

BUT, if UC East Bay can win one more, we'll hear fewer comments.  So, I say "Congrats and Good luck, 59ers" for Tuesday.

[DC]

The New York Knicks under Pat Riley weren't that good at basketball.  So Riley turned the game into thug ball, which was a great equalizer. 

[treefan]

If Stanford wins the tourney, next year we may STILL have the same East Coast comments about the PAC-12.

BUT, if UC East Bay can win one more, we'll hear fewer comments.  So, I say "Congrats and Good luck, 59ers" for Tuesday.

Agree with your points. Go The School near Oakland!

And back to Missy Barlow, it may have been deliberate by NCAA to send west coast refs in our sub regional.

[MT]

I looked to see if Melissa refed any games today.  It appears not, at least not yet.  I didn't see any overlaps between yesterday and today, but I didn't confirm there weren't any.  It makes sense if they don't do two days in a row. We don't necessarily get her on Monday night...  In fact, I think they'd move her to a different site.  Otherwise one team gets the same refs twice in a row.

I did notice that one of the refs in the Florida Gators vs Ohio State Buckeyes game (which the Gators won) was named Gator Parrish.  An unfortunate assignment, IMHO.

At least, Diana Depaul was assigned to the game between UTEP and Penn State game, not the DePaul-BYU game