WBB: Stanford 61 Arizona 68 - Printable Version
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RE: WBB: Stanford 61 Arizona 68 - BillBradley - 02-26-2024
(02-26-2024, 08:14 AM)81alum Wrote:Oregon State was the game where Tara broke the all time wins record. Lots of energy in the building that night, sold out crowd, planned celebration, refs on our side, etc.(02-25-2024, 12:41 PM)BillBradley Wrote: I think posters are drastically understimating how difficult it is to instantly play without your superstar and be effective. Look at what happened when UCLA played without Betts. Or imagine how bad Iowa would be if they had to start playing without Clark. It's not so much that the remaining players aren't talented enough. It's about all the other stuff that goes into the making of a high performing team. On defense, for example...Our guards have practiced all season on a defensive system where the guards go over every screen, forcing dribble penetration right into Cam. On top of her blocks, Cam contests so many more shots! All that just goes away without her in there. That's just one example of it not being just about everyone's individual talent - it's how it's all connected.Much truth to this. Certainly the losses to Gonzaga, Colorado, and now Arizona feel as if they fit this pattern and confirm your analysis. But Brink played 37 minutes against USC, and we defeated UCLA Oregon State without Brink at all, so there are a couple of counter examples to indicate that the team can win against tough competition without Brink and can also lose with her.
My point is that Cam's presence is everything for this team. It dictates how the players have come to play together on the court, and they can't be expected to instantly "be that other type of player" (even one they used to be). It would take weeks to change everything around, not a few days. I know a lot of posters get caught up in the recruiting rankings. To paraphrase..."we are sooo much better than Arizona because we have players ranked much higher than them, so we should have beaten them even without Cam. Why didn't player X score more? What is player Y even doing out there?". It's not remotely close to being the right way to look at it. The other players' worlds are upside down on the court. There's a ton of role confusion, lack of leadership...even simple things like who talks in the huddle.
Anyway, I'm not overreacting to the loss. It doesn't surprise me one bit that we lost without her. We've lost 4 games all year: At Gonzaga (Cam sick), at Colorado (Top 5 team in the country, at their place, Cam in foul trouble), home vs. USC (to one of the greatest shooting performances ever in womens college hoops by Juju), and now to Arizona (Cam sick).
I think we fans probably thought (subconsciously at least) that if we could beat UCLA Oregon State without Brink that Arizona would not be a problem. And we thought wrong.
Completely agree...there's no guarantee we win if Cam plays and no certainty we lose if she doesn't. But if I'm a Vegas handicapper, I'm probably moving that line around 10-15 points to reflect her play. Massey's system, which doesn't take into account injury, had us as a 12 point favorite vs. Arizona. Without Cam, I'd say it was close to an even money game, and we laid an egg in the 4th quarter and lost.
FWIW, Massey has us as 8 point favorites at Oregon State, again without taking injuries into account. Assuming Cam plays and Beers doesn't (or is limited), we should be heavy favorites.
RE: WBB: Stanford 61 Arizona 68 - Leftcoast - 02-27-2024
Folks commented earlier on the mysterious disappearance of Arizona's top player, Kailyn Gilbert.
Yesterday the other shoe dropped and Gilbert is no longer with UofA basketball. The article below contains some pretty blunt quotes (at least by Head Coach standards) from Arizona coach Adia Barnes. "Addition by subtraction" and "rot on the bench" both jump out.
This is the second high profile loss for the Wildcats with the other being the early season withdrawal of previous top recruit, Maya Nnaji, to focus on her medical studies.
https://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball/2024/2/26/24084298/arizona-womens-basketball-kailyn-gilbert-no-longer-with-team-adia-barnes
RE: WBB: Stanford 61 Arizona 68 - acerep - 02-27-2024
My report on the weekend games is on the Fast Break Club site, www.stanfordfbc.org.