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WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - Printable Version

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WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - 81alum - 11-07-2015

Atmosphere

We had our first chance to see this year's team in game action today, and the last chance to see them at home until after we play some tough road games and return in 2 weeks.  The first meaningful home game will be on Big Game day, and the time of the WBB game will be determined after the TV gods determine the time of the football game.  What a twisted sports world it is.

The new scoreboard was certainly flashy and it allowed us to watch McCaffrey complete his halfback pass while we were waiting for the basketball game to begin.  As with the stadium, the video screen has taken over virtually the whole scoreboard, leaving no room for useful information except for the score.  The other info comes up on the four corner screens that have replaced the banners.  There were complaints that these corner screens were small and cryptic, and they were.  And there were even more complaints that there are no plans to put the banners anywhere.  Meanwhile, the atmosphere was pretty good for such a measly crowd on a football day.  The band and dollies and hard core fans were present.

All in all, it was intriguing to see the four new players in action and to see if our experienced players had improved.  However, several of us observing thought the vastly inferior Academy of Art team played with a lot more heart than we did.  These exhibitions tend to be absolute blowouts, but Academy of Art actually led for parts of the 1st quarter.  Once Tara pulled our scoring stars Erica McCall and Karlie Samuelson in the second half, we stopped extending the lead.  Our defense looked suspect at times.  All in all, this game did not inspire me to think our team was close to being ready to face a top 20 George Washington, let alone Gonzaga at their house in Spokane next weekend.  We looked very, very rough around the edges.  Let's hope everyone else does too.

Lili had a foot in a boot.  Tara said later it was precautionary and it was hoped she would be back by next week.  Starting were McCall, Kaylee Johnson, Samuelson, Bri Roberson, and frosh Marta Sniezek at point guard.

Evaluating the team

Erica McCall is indeed much improved on offense.  She has several moves around and under the basket now.  She scored 19 points in 17 minutes.  However, this was against a much shorter, over matched team, and there were several occasions when it took her 2 or 3 offensive rebounds to get it in the hoop.  Against Pac 12 competition, which will be at least equal in height to McCall, she cannot necessarily count on having so many chances.  I saw her shooting 10 footers in practice with ease--I eagerly await seeing her do that in a game.

Our other major scorer was Karlie Samuelson, who as I suspected, is indeed playing the 3.  She looks like she will be starter there all year if she keeps up her three point shooting.  Academy of Art played a frenetic zone, and this left Karlie open on the wing quite often.  She was 3/9 but also 6/6 free throws, and she grabbed a rebound from her own missed trey and laid it in, for a total of 17 points in 26 minutes.

Kaylee and Kailee looked to me to be very much like they were last year.  Kaylee continues to rebound well--she had 9 in 19 minutes, but neither of them have fluid finishing moves under the basket.  I had hoped that they might add a lot to their offense over the summer, as McCall seems to have been able to do, but if they did it was not obvious during this scrimmage.

Alanna Smith played well at times.  She made two nifty moves down the middle of the key for lay-ins, but was incorrectly called for an offensive foul on one of them.  She wound up 5/11 for 12 points in 22 minutes, with a couple of blocks too.  She did miss all 3 of her trey attempts.  It seems obvious to me that she is going to be needed for point production this year.  After the game Tara said that Alanna has been sick and is a little behind in training.  She will be used at both the 3 and the 4, which means she is learning twice as much as a typical frosh and it will take some time to learn both those positions well.  Tara seemed to be circumspect in what she said, leading me to believe that she wants Alanna to have some adjustment time before throwing her to the wolves.  But my assumption that she would have time both at the 4 and the 3 was confirmed.

The only frosh that Tara started was pg Marta Sniezek, who we also met after the game.  A very bright and articulate young woman, and Tara was effusive about her, suggesting that she may be the best pure point guard to come to Stanford.  Tara and Amy both said that Marta loves to push the pace and is an excellent passer--and this will work very well with our bigs who can all run.  Marta had 4 assists and 2 turnovers, and her shooting was off today, hitting just 1/9.  Tara remarked that her shooting has been extremely good in practice. 

Kiran Lakhian actually played point guard for 15 minutes in the second half and looked very good, with 4 assists and no turnovers, 1/1 shooting, and 4 rebounds to boot.  Apparently she is the third point guard, said Tara, and I wound up thinking that this is a fascinating story in the making--given she has not been on the team for two years.

In other play, Bri Roberson looked like her old self, contributing 9 points and a couple of assists.  Britt McPhee has also been ill, and Tara kept her to 8 minutes, so it was hard to tell much about her.  I thought Alexa Romano played good defense--her body type and movement reminds me of Sara James.  Shannon Coffee, who was also introduced, played only 6 minutes but had a very nice basket and a block.  She looked pretty good to me--not sure why the limited minutes.  Tess looked like Tess, and got many cheers when she scored a basket. 

Conclusion

Looking this over, all the frosh showed me they have contributions they can make, and probably this year.  The team is still learning how to play as a team.  There were some great flashes of potential, but this is very much a work in progress.  I can only hope they come back to us with a couple of wins at Davis and Gonzaga, but I would not be surprised at almost anything.  But also keep in mind that our best player did not play today, and so it is rather hard to judge where we are right now.





Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - TheFarm07 - 11-07-2015

That's disappointing that there were no improvements from anyone beyond McCall and worrying that Lili is injured. Hopefully they will pick up the effort when the regular season starts next weekend

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - Jskass - 11-07-2015

I thought Kailee was looking good and moving much better than when she had foot issues, though that makes her still at least a year behind McCall developmentally. And Bri Roberson has definitely improved. I suspect by mid- season we will also see a lot of Alanna. Kaylee Johnson is still great defensively but hasn't developed offensive moves yet and Alanna wants to score and they will need her points.

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - BobK - 11-07-2015

Katlie and Lili are the Captains
I see no resemblance Sara to Romano.  😄
I thought Karlie looked great.  She had always  been good but much better.
We were not very aggressive team wise
Loved Smith. Far more athletic than I would have guessed and very aggressive.  She has been behind as she was sick earlier.

Always fun to compare notes at the game with 81 alum

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - TheFarm07 - 11-07-2015

Always very appreciative of the detailed recaps, especially being on the East Coast with no TV coverage for the vast majority of games.

Excited for the start of the season and to see how the team does this year

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - Jskass - 11-07-2015

Yes, Karlie was aggressive on both offense and defense and made some sparkling highlight reel plays.

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - chimera - 11-07-2015

I loved Marta's passing and ability to run the offense already.  She really passes well on the break.  Her own offense is not there yet and her three point shot did not look that good but if she can be the facilitator she already seems to be, she will really help.  I think one key to this year is having point guard play that allows Lili to focus on scoring without having to help much at the point.  Between Bri and Marta we look to be in good shape at the point.  Kiran is a very pleasant surprise.  She looked really good at the open practice playing on the scout team and looked good in the game today. 

Also really liked Smith.  If this is her game after being a sick and getting a bit behind I can't wait to see when she is totally healthy and in sync.  She could turn out to be very, very good for us, a real scorer with variety to her game and great size. 

Romano seemed fine.  She did not stand out but she also did overall ok.  I was not as impressed with Coffee as I had hoped to be after seeing her over the summer in the pro am.  She hardly played and got in after Tess, who by the way, looked a bit improved.  Coffee had a foot issue for a while so maybe she is just behind right now. 

Karlie looked good.  She did her job as a three point bomber and also made a lot of hustle plays.  Bri did not have a good shooting day but Tara said she has been consistently lighting it up in practice. 

Agree on McCall - looked much better on offense but has to finish better.  I think she can and will.  Just feels to me like she has taken a step up in play that will stick.  Also agree that both Johnsons look about the same as last year.  I had hoped for more from them.  Only one game though so I don't want to judge too harshly.  McPhee  was relatively quiet but understandable if she has been ill all week.  High hopes for her too.

The team overall was sloppy in the first half and did not play good defense.  The three point shooting was poor aside from Karlie.  Getting Lili back will help a lot with that.  I am worried about the early schedule, especially if Lili is out for a couple of games.  We should beat Davis even without her, but at Gonzaga and then a ranked GW team at home, those could easily be L's if we don't play very well.  Every game will have to be a total team effort with more focus and intensity than today.  I don't see any superstars out there who can bail out the team when they are sluggish.  Everyone has to contribute.

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - 81alum - 11-07-2015

(11-07-2015, 08:22 PM)BobK link Wrote:I see no resemblance Sara to Romano.  😄
Well, they are both 5'10" :)  I think there was something about the way she used her arms when covering her opponent that made me remember Sara.  Not quite sure how to describe it.

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - CompSci87 - 11-08-2015

My impression of Romano was: very young looking. Might need a year to be physically ready to contribute much.

Kailee looked much more aggressive and confident than I've seen before, though she missed some shots.

It was great to see Karlie hit 100% on free throws. Hopefully last year's free throw woes for her are far behind her now.

Marta was impressive at passing upcourt to push the pace. Will need to work on her shot so teams can't sag off her in the half court.

I liked what little we saw of Coffee. Seems to have good hands and quick reactions for her size.

Alanna was as good as I expected after having seen her with the Australian national team.

It was great to see Kiran Lakhian back with the team and contributing. She must have done a lot of work on her own to come back improved after a couple of years off the team.

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - BobK - 11-08-2015

Great point about Karlie and FT shooting

81 alum with a great line 😄

I'll be at the Davis game.  Anyone else?

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - BobK - 11-08-2015

About that scrimmage vs UTEP read the end of the recap

http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=749999&SPID=127029&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=210459290

Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - 81alum - 11-08-2015

(11-08-2015, 03:55 PM)BobK link Wrote:About that scrimmage vs UTEP read the end of the recap

http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=749999&SPID=127029&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=210459290
Thanks, Bob!  Who would have known....That prior scrimmage sounds more like an actual game than we were led to believe.

Quote:SCRIMMAGE » Saturday was Stanford’s second warmup prior to the regular season, but the first open to the public. On October 31, the Cardinal beat UTEP in a closed scrimmage, 83-63. McCall and Samuelson led Stanford in scoring against the Miners, each pouring in 19. Alanna Smith went 5-of-7 from the floor and scored 14 while Briana Roberson added 11. Kaylee Johnson and McCall each had eight rebounds and Marta Sniezek led the team with six assists. Stanford shot 44.4 percent from the floor (24-of-54) and went 7-of-18 from deep (38.9 percent).


Re: WBB: Stanford 81 Academy of Art 48 (exh) - fullmetal - 11-10-2015

I gotta set something up for their game in Austin next month...