RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
martyup - 11-30-2022
I'm definately not feeling better now. Santa Clara has cut the lead to 8 in the 4th.
Brink can't blink without being called for a foul.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
CompSci87 - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:18 PM)mbdude Wrote: Why isn't Ashten playing
Looks like we've been going small with Belibi at the 5. I must say she's been a bright spot tonight.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
CompSci87 - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:23 PM)martyup Wrote: Brink can't blink without being called for a foul.
Some she had tonight were pointless reach-ins. Little to gain as a steal wasn't likely.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
CompSci87 - 11-30-2022
Kudos to Santa Clara. They ran their offense really well, generated good looks, and knocked down shots.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
martyup - 11-30-2022
We win 82-69.
Jump was 4-8 from 3. The rest of the team was 2-14.
SC shot 38% from 2 and 41% overall. That's good shooting.
We shot 27% from 3 and 44% overall. We took 9 more shots than SC.
We just missed too many layups in this game. I'm not sure why, but this is starting to be a thing with this team. Gotta fix that if they want to win a title.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
BostonCard - 11-30-2022
After a slow start, Jones ended up with a double-double.
BC
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
martyup - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:44 PM)BostonCard Wrote: After a slow start, Jones ended up with a double-double.
BC
Yes, and she was 2-2 from the charity stripe. She had 3 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
joemontes - 11-30-2022
I just don't like the way BETTS is being utilized right now,
especially in this game and even during the Hawaii trip,
given that she was, by far, the most efficient player
during the first 5 games.
I guess that's what happens when you have 4 upperclassmen
(BRINK, IRIAFEN, PRECHTEL,BELIBI) post players ahead of you
all of whom also deserve playing time.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
Card10Fan - 11-30-2022
I was at the game. It never really felt like we were going to lose, but Santa Clara hung around and would not let us pull away.
Offensively, we scored 80+ spread out evenly amongst many players. That was nice to see. Hannah Jump had another great game. Lepolo didn't play her best tonight. Brink was in foul trouble all game. Despite scoring well, it felt like our offense was not fluid. We missed a lot of easy shots and when we were in a scoring drought and needed an easy bucket. It didn't seem like we knew who we should get the ball to and where. Iriafen missed several close shots.
Defensively, was not a great performance. Santa Clara had great cutting, passing and perimeter shooting and there were many defensive breakdowns on our part. We did force at least two shot-clock violations however. Last game against Hawaii, we pressed a lot, forced turnovers, and had almost 20 transition points. We didn't do any of that tonight. We didn't turn them over or score in transition; we had 4 fast break points. I'm not really sure what our defensive identify is. I wish we would pick up full court more and be more disruptive defensively in trying to create turnovers and then turn that into offense. We have depth and could force the pace more IMO. Santa Clara should not be scoring more points in regulation than South Carolina did against us but they did tonight.
Will need to be better Sunday against Gonzaga. Santa Clara is not the 8th best team in their conference. They are much better and well coached. I think our team will be looking forward to a little break after Sundays game. We need some practice time to clean things up and continue to improve.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
M T - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:54 PM)joemontes Wrote: I just don't like the way BETTS is being utilized right now,
especially in this game and even during the Hawaii trip,
given that she was, by far, the most efficient player
during the first 5 games.
I guess you didn't get to watch the game.
It was fast-paced, lots of switching, lots of running. Betts came in for a play. She was near the hoop and apparently was needed to guard someone on the 3pt line who drained a wide open 3. She's way too slow for that. Betts was pulled immediately.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
qwerty49 - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:29 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: (11-30-2022, 09:23 PM)martyup Wrote: Brink can't blink without being called for a foul.
Some she had tonight were pointless reach-ins. Little to gain as a steal wasn't likely.
I actually think that in a game like this where we should win comfortably no matter who in the rotation we have out there, that Tara should just let Brink foul out early. Then make her watch those 5 clips. Maybe that might be a learning experience to avoid the silly reach-ins.
I get that Cam and Haley are our all-americans and our leaders, but they both try to do too much sometimes.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
2006alum - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 10:11 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: I was at the game. It never really felt like we were going to lose, but Santa Clara hung around and would not let us pull away.
Offensively, we scored 80+ spread out evenly amongst many players. That was nice to see. Hannah Jump had another great game. Lepolo didn't play her best tonight. Brink was in foul trouble all game. Despite scoring well, it felt like our offense was not fluid. We missed a lot of easy shots and when we were in a scoring drought and needed an easy bucket. It didn't seem like we knew who we should get the ball to and where. Iriafen missed several close shots.
Defensively, was not a great performance. Santa Clara had great cutting, passing and perimeter shooting and there were many defensive breakdowns on our part. We did force at least two shot-clock violations however. Last game against Hawaii, we pressed a lot, forced turnovers, and had almost 20 transition points. We didn't do any of that tonight. We didn't turn them over or score in transition; we had 4 fast break points. I'm not really sure what our defensive identify is. I wish we would pick up full court more and be more disruptive defensively in trying to create turnovers and then turn that into offense. We have depth and could force the pace more IMO. Santa Clara should not be scoring more points in regulation than South Carolina did against us but they did tonight.
Will need to be better Sunday against Gonzaga. Santa Clara is not the 8th best team in their conference. They are much better and well coached. I think our team will be looking forward to a little break after Sundays game. We need some practice time to clean things up and continue to improve.
Amen to all of this. First game I had the chance to watch wire to wire and boy was it a sloppy affair. Felt like we left a lot of easy o-boards on the table, and had some really bad miscues on defense. And yes, all the missed shots and layups.
I feel like Jones has been phoning it in a lot this season. She just doesn't seem as crisp, focused, or effective as in prior seasons.
Jump is like the energizer bunny. Can't stop, won't stop. Love it.
Brink, Iriafen, and Belibi all looked great. Hard to blame Tara that Betts doesn't get more time when we have an endless plethora of amazing bigs.
Lepolo has great game IQ, power, and handle. But I feel like she declined several open shots. I'd like to see her looking for her own shots, not just others.
Would like to see more of Bosgana. She does a little bit of everything and I love her hustle. Same with Nivar. I feel like she would really benefit from more consistent time on the Court.
Wish Emma-Nopu could shoot the ball, because I love her defense and grit.
Prechtel remains something of an enigma to me. The best I can figure it out, she's better against bigger and more physical teams where she can bang down low on defense and create size mismatches outside on offense. But she didn't seem as effective against a smaller, crafter, speedier team.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
81alum - 11-30-2022
Positives:
1. We had only 8 turnovers for the game--which I believe is far and away our best of the year.
2. Jones got back on track. Her mid range jumper was dropping and that seems to energize the rest of her performance. 6/11 for 14 points was a nice game after a number of sub-par performances by her standards. And 11 rebounds gives her another double/double.
3. Even scoring. We had 5 players in double digits. That is a sign of excellence that rarely happens.
4. Lepolo, playing 39 minutes, had 6 assists to 2 turnovers. She continues to be our answer at point guard.
5. Bosgana showed she can play terrific defense on Santa Clara's best player, #34 Tess Heal. While Heal was able to pivot and go around virtually everyone else--including taller players--Bosgana stopped her several times and blocked her once.
6. The scouting report worked. Heal who was averaging 17 points was held to 6 on 3/11 shooting. #3 Basallo who had been shooting 42% from three was 0/6 from three with 0 points in the game.
7. Belibi had her best game so far this year. 12 points and 8 rebounds in only 13 minutes. Throw in a block, two steals, and 0 turnovers. Imagine tripling those totals if she had played the whole game.
8. Iriafan got her mid to long range jumper to drop, repeatedly. Thank goodness we have finally seen it in a game. If she can do that consistently she will be one of the best forwards in the Pac 12.
9. Oh, we won.
Negatives:
1. Santa Clara essentially played us even in quarters 1, 3, and 4.
2. We had no answer to Olivia Pollard, normally their 3rd scorer (now their 2nd), who went 5/11 from three point range and scored 19 on us.
3. While our offense was adequate, our defense struggled with the effective, quality screens (they were good ones, no moving screens) that Santa Clara set to generate open shots, and on 3-4 occasions we let open Santa Clara players come right up the middle down the paint for open layups while we were racing around trying to guard the jump shooters. In short, our defense looked somewhat discombobulated against this style of offense, and we have to know that other teams will use a similar style against us.
4. Brink collected 4 fouls and played only 19 minutes. The broken record just keeps repeating. Her first foul was a pretty egregious lack of judgment--reaching in against a smaller player on the perimeter for no particularly good reason. One of her later fouls she tried to block from way behind a player who had beaten her. While it is possible that one or two of her fouls might have been bad calls or close calls, those two were poor judgment, pure and simple--impulse control. We can only imagine how great she would be if she could stay on the floor for 40 minutes every game. Her presence on the floor counts for more than just the points she scores--she makes it easier for everyone else to score. She had 4 assists and a trey--both of which loosen things up for her teammates. We will not win a natty, and perhaps not get close, unless she can figure out how to stay on the floor for 30 minutes a game.
5. Our rebounding was lackluster at times. At the chalk talk we were told that our team was going to make this an emphasis, and while we had 5 more O-boards, our defensive rebounding was not particularly domineering--against a shorter team.
6. The "deepest team in the country" to quote the chalk talk did not seem very deep today. Only 7 players got double digit minutes, although Demetre at 9 almost did. Betts came in briefly and could not guard the line, Prechtel who got a lot of minutes in 2 of the games in Hawaii did not get much time, but for the most part it was the starters, Belibi, and Bosgana.
Conclusion:
The offense looked disjointed at times but it was more than adequate. I'll not criticize an offense that averages more than 20 points a quarter. The problem with this game was our defense, and it was probably very healthy that our trouble against a good screening offense was exposed against Santa Clara rather than against an elite team. In this game it only made it uncomfortably close--but if our defense does not improve it will cost us in future tournaments.
I think it is probable that our defensive problems were because we had very little time to prepare for this team--we got home on Monday, so basically one day. Given that no one else we have played screens so well or employs the pick and roll so well, one day was not adequate time to be ready for this. We know from the chalk talk that the coaches knew what was coming and had tried to prepare the team--but one day is not a lot of time to work with.
I think the answer to everyone's questions about why Tara used the players she did and didn't use other players is entirely related to our defense. One way or the other we were going to scratch out points, pretty or ugly. But it was not at all clear that our players had figured out how to prevent giving Santa Clara open looks. The substitutions we saw were defense-first substitutions. Hence no Betts. That is also why Bosgana got 17 minutes even though her shot was off. I'm sure that is why Tara felt she could not take Lepolo out--although she had Jones bring the ball up some to give Lepolo a sort of a rest at times.
Santa Clara did look like the team that had recently beaten Washington and South Dakota. It is learning how to run its offense very well, and I expect they are going to have a lot of success this year. We won, and we learned something important about what we need to improve. Not a bad outcome.
RE: WBB: Stanford vs. Santa Clara Wed 7pm -
M T - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 09:44 PM)BostonCard Wrote: After a slow start, Jones ended up with a double-double.
Weak defense again.
+/-: Lepolo (39min) 19, Brink (20min) 13, Jump (32min) 12, Belibi (12min) 11, Bosgana (17min) 9,
Jones (33min) 6
In the full 40 minutes, Stanford won by 13 points.
So, in the 33 minutes that Jones was in, Stanford won by 6 points (68-62, equivalent to 82.4 - 75.1 or 7.3 points differential for 40 minutes)
In the 7:24 that Jones was out, Stanford won by 7 points (14-7, equivalent to 75.7 - 37.8 or 37.8 points differential for 40 minutes)
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
treetop11 - 11-30-2022
Not impressed with our team tonight. D was bad and rebounding worse. Santa Clara looks well-coached and runs a good offense. And clearly they can shoot. Even though they had far too many open looks from 3, they still had to make them - which they did at a good clip. We cannot afford to lose the three point shooting contest with better teams. They also got a lot of easy buckets on us with lay ins and short shots. We missed too many shots from all parts of the court, but mainly the O problem was lack of movement and cutting. Overall, it looked like we took SC for granted and I didn't see much any intensity, either on D or O. This is two games in a row that we have undewhelmed.
You all know I 've always loved Jump. Once again, she showed why Tara gives her so many minutes. She's the most steady, consistent player on the team. Good to see her doing more ball handling and taking mid and short shots even though she missed most. Looked great at the line. What I really liked was that they played really good D and got a couple of key rebounds. She has worked to develop an all around game and seems like she continues to work hard.
Wasn't Lepolo's best game, but still played well. She needs to be a bit more decisive/confident on offense re: shooting and driving. One thing Tara needs to recognize and change is to give Lepolo more rest. She is getting heavy minutes and goes at a fast pace. We don't want her to burn out or get worn down when we go down the stretch in March and April. Harriel would be my choice for more minutes. She's the only other true PG, has a motor, plays good D, and has shown she can shoot. I don't like Jones playing the point exclusively although no problem with her running the point some. Nivar isn't a true point and she seems to have reverted to the mean for a frosh.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
81alum - 11-30-2022
(11-30-2022, 11:28 PM)treetop11 Wrote: Harriel would be my choice for more minutes. She's the only other true PG, has a motor, plays good D, and has shown she can shoot.
At a chalk talk the coach described Harriel as a more natural "2" who was playing point guard "because she wants more minutes." Doesn't mean she isn't doing well at the 1, but it does reflect what the coaches know and think about her role.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
chimera - 11-30-2022
I have mixed feelings about the game. Generally I thought our defense was not very good, not nearly as good as the team is capable of playing. Santa Clara screens a lot and screened well. I did not see a lot of moving screens from them. They were also hot from three, and made some tough shots inside. So good for them, playing well and shooting well. Our offense was ok, not terrible. Overall I think it was a bit of a trap game, just off the Hawaii trip with little practice time after a redeye coming home, and with a ranked Gonzaga team on Sunday. This is the sort of game a lesser Stanford team might have lost (see 2015 Santa Clara).
The team has played a lot of games. They need some time to sort out some stuff, which they will get soon with the break coming up.
Individually, Belibi had a nice game, as did Jump. Bosgana needs more time. She has really improved. She is aggressive but has learned to control that better and is not making the mistakes she did last season. She looks like she can keep up pretty well with smaller players on defense too. You need those X factor players, who liven up a stagnant game. I think she could be a good off the bench energy sub. Brink was fine aside from the fouls. Jones was good with a couple of turnovers maybe that she should have avoided.
I think Jones might have a bit of senioritis, basketball version. I've noticed it before with some of our previous star players. They get to be seniors and press a bit, try to do too much, then compensate by being too deferential sometimes. It's been a bit of a disjointed season start for her. When the games settle down into conference season and we aren't playing so many games I think she will settle back into her usual playing patterns. Ten games (eleven if you count the exhibition) in the first month is a lot. Team needs time to relax a bit and practice without so many games.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
cardfan1996 - 12-01-2022
It’ll be difficult (not impossible) to get to another Final Four with a point guard (Lepolo) that shoots 25% on completely unguarded 3s, and whose defender will always be a roamer. It completely distorts whatever you want to run on offense. Haley shooting less than 1% from 3-pt range as a 3 player probably doesn’t help. Tara brought Lepolo to postgame which means her level of production (39 minutes, 1-6, 6 asst, 2 turnovers) is what Tara is looking for. Why not 40 minutes? The transformation will be complete when Tara is personally out there during pre-game warmups counting Lepolo’s shot. Shooting percentages don’t really increase dramatically during the year. And if your release is broken, your shooting won’t improve until you fix it.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
M T - 12-01-2022
Anybody complaining about the 8 TOs or the 74% FT% ? Good for the team for those.
One could say Stanford beat SCU mainly on FT, 14-6. SCU won the 3PT battle 39pts - 18pts. 2PT battle was Stanford 50pt - 24pt (38 - 24 in the paint).
SCU 15 fouls to Stanford's 11, but SCU had only 10 FTA to Stanford's 19.
8 TO vs 17 Assists. Good ratio.
5 players in double figures shows a balance, but not what should have been dominance.
17 Assists on 31 FG, not to Stanford's expectations.
25 2FG on 48 2FGA is not good.
16 of 31 on layups is not good. Of the 16 made layups, only 5 were consider as paint points. (I'm not sure why)
Rebounding: SCU did not concede rebounds. It was a bit like a Waring blender in there. I felt Stanford did better than usual in having Stanford players near the basket when we shot, but despite the height advantage, we slightly out-rebounded SCU: 74.3% DR 35.7% OR. (Note that 21 of SCU misses were 3FGA vs 15 SCU 2FGA misses, so rebounds were more often longer than usual.)
Not a dominating win as we hoped, but a good challenge to Stanford that I think will help the players understand what they must do.
I was impressed with (I think it was) Lepolo getting out of a 4 on 1 situation with the ball twice under a basket. I felt sure she'd be tied up.
One of the less than good defense by Jones was sometime in the 2nd half (I think about 2:30 left in Q3), the ball was on the opposite side and she wasn't guarding her player, but was instead waiting for something like a shot she could rebound. When the ball was moving, I think it was Bosgana that had to come guard Jones's player (inside the 3pt line), leaving her player open to go to the 3pt line on the baseline for an uncontested 3pt. (One could argue that Bosgana should have contradicted all her instincts to cover the open player closer to the basket and instead to guard the one that could get to the 3pt line. But I put the issue on Jones not guarding her player.) No rebound that time for Jones, and there was no one named Boston on the court.
Stanford was back to its defense of constant switching. They didn't play that against So. Carolina. It sometimes burned Stanford as you might expect.
I was worried SCU might hit a late 3pt shot to make it a 10-pt game. 82-69 sounds a lot better than 82-72.
Cardfan1996, Lepolo is shooting better than Jones at 3FG% and FG% and FT% plus more assists, more steals, fewer turnovers and fouls, and higher +/- in roughly the same number of minutes I wouldn't tout her for All-American status with her numbers, but IMO, one can say she's helping the team more so far than Jones.
RE: WBB: Stanford 82 -- Santa Clara 69 -
Jskass - 12-01-2022
Watched game and agree with all the comments - except I do think that Belibi was the right person and wish that she'd played more since the bigs' height advantage was not so beneficial (with Brink playing foularama and Iriafen not finishing as much as we know she can).
Also, on Brink's fouling tendency, I too was wondering during the game if sometimes Tara should just let her foul out but now am wondering the opposite: if in a game like this it would be more beneficial for Brink to get pulled and not play another minute the whole game? If that was good enough for Betts because she could not handle her defensive assignment, perhaps it would be even more effective for the All-American caliber player who will be so much better and contribute more once she can play 35 minutes a game. And she is a junior, so it is far time this is fixed. Yes, it is frustrating to see that Aliyah Boston can run over people and elbow Ashten Prechtel with immunity, but Brink will never get away with that because her fouls are more obvious given her build AND because they are obviously silly reach-in fouls. Fix this and everyone benefits greatly.