WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - Printable Version
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WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-08-2016
Overview
Stanford overcame a very difficult start and began to pull away in the third quarter. While four players scored in double digits, I would single out McPhee for her 16 points, mostly scored with Erica and Karlee sitting in foul trouble.Â
Pre Game:
A critical game tonight to get our team back on track after the ASU debacle. We face a talented Utah team with a dominant center and well balanced play. Unfortunately, Pac12 Bay Area is broadcasting the C.al/Colorado game across the bay, that promises to be a much inferior competition, and is overlooking Stanford-Utah. I will come back to edit this into a summary when I get back from the game tonight. I am dying to hear what Tempie will say before the game--I think it is her turn to answer questions since Kate did so at the last home game, and they alternate. Tempie got stuck with this chore last year after the disastrous Tennessee trip, too, poor woman. I usually find Tempie more humorous and more charismatic, and Kate more professional and serious. Tempie is probably the perfect choice to deal with upset fans!
....and indeed, Tempie was as exactly as I expected. She was obviously chagrined and confessed it was difficult to come face a very full house of concerned fans before the game. She delivered some real insight. She said that Tara had alerted everyone that ASU's close defense would make jumpers and treys difficult but it would leave open layups. We even put extra work into our layups before the ASU game. But when the first few layups did not go in, the team seemed to lose confidence and mistake led to mistake. As I mentioned in another thread, we made 8 layups and missed 15 in that game. Tempie also noted that everyone was healthy and let us know that Marta would start at pointguard tonight. Bri and Lili are good point guards, she said, especially against average teams, but Marta has the potential to be a great point guard against top teams, so they were going to give her a try.
Flow of the Game
We got behind early in the first quarter when Lili began the game with several misses, and Utah exploited our help defense with backdoor cuts. We were behind 10-4 seven minutes into the game--4 points in seven minutes sure seemed like a repeat of ASU and was very depressing. Erica was stone cold again, and picked up a couple of fouls and wound up sitting out much of the first half. Karlie picked up two fouls in a minute and was replaced by McPhee, and McPhee turned our offense around, finishing with a trey and a couple of free throws to give us a 13-12 lead at the end of the quarter. Still, with Lili, Erica, and Karlie either not shooting well or out of action, it did not feel like this was going to be a very easy game.
Marta came out and was replaced with Bri after Marta made a couple of turnovers. Bri found her point guard touch, and in the second quarter she made some layups too. Alanna contributed a gorgeous reverse layup and McPhee chipped in some free throws. However, our defense was suspect, Emily Potter, the gifted 6'6" Utah center, was sometimes unstoppable with short jumpers, and Utah's three point shooting was excellent. We reached the half with a 30-28 point lead, and my concerns about Lili and Erica continued to grow--they were not scoring at Arizona and certainly not at ASU either, nor did they heat up offensively in the first half against Utah.
Fortunately, that changed in the second half. Lili came out and made her first two jumpers, and Erica a third. McPhee was still in and she quickly made two layups and two free throws. Erica began to get to the foul line and was excellent, hitting her first 5 in a row. Toward the end of the quarter Tara sent Karlie back in and I was sad to see McPhee sit, but Karlie had her stroke back and promptly drained two treys, and with just a few seconds left in the quarter intercepted a pass and took it to the basket and made the layup. It was 55-40, and while the game was not over, we clearly had broken the dam and restored our shooting confidence.
The fourth quarter was where Erica began to pick up most of her points, on a layup, jumper, and free throws. Perhaps our most outstanding work, though, was done to Emily Potter. She scored the Utes first basket in the second half, and then was completely shut down for the rest of the game, finishing with 9 points--about half of her average. She looked so good in the first half.Â
Performances
McPhee with 16 points--and those points were all when the game was on the line. She completely changed the complexion of the game when she came in. She was 2/5 from three point range, 6/6 from the line, and collected 5 rebounds. I still think she needs more minutes, but I would give the game ball to her.
McCall wound up with 11 points and broke out of her 2 1/2 game slump. But the points were not her most important contribution. She had 11 rebounds and 3 blocks--including a block of an Emily Potter shot. Those rebounds and blocks helped keep us in a tight game even before McCall started scoring.
Lili was cold in the first half, but also broke out in the second, winding up with 16 points, 2/4 from three, and 3 assists and only 1 turnover--a big improvement from the last few games. Last year she also was a second-half player much of the time. But I am pleased to see her success and hope it shakes her out of the slump for good.
Karlie sat much of the first half with two fouls, but when she came in the third quarter and dropped eight points down in a couple of minutes work it really pushed the game almost beyond reach. 13 well earned points for her.
The rest of the players spread a few more points between them, and had some pretty shots, but no one else was close to double digits. But Bri had 8 assists and only 1 turnover. I'll take an 8:1 assist to turnover ratio anyday! I wonder if losing her starting spot fired her up. In any case, Bri was a much improved player tonight, and continued her good defense too.Â
As a team we overcame my biggest fear: rebounding. We outrebounded the Utes 36-30, we had 7 steals to their 3, 6 blocks to their 3, 17 assists to their 10, and we made 15 free throws to their 7. In short, we had the edge in all phases of the game.Â
Conclusion
We don't really know how good Utah is, so it is hard to know how much improvement this represents over the ASU disaster. Our offense in the first quarter reminded me of the ASU game, but fortunately we climbed out of that hole and played better and better as the game wore on. I think this game helped us regain our shooting confidence and hopefully Colorado will contribute to that cause as well. Then the acid test will come up north next week.
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - BobK - 01-08-2016
Keys were great D on Potter, McPhee's energy and scoring, Roberson's 8 assists.
16 for Lili and McPhee and a double double for McCall
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 76lsjumb - 01-08-2016
I still have the feeling that, if this team played each Stanford team from the past 20 years, it would likely lose 3/4 of those games, if not more. Yet we apparently remain in the Top Ten in RPI. Doesn't say much for the overall quality of the field this year...
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-08-2016
(01-08-2016, 10:55 PM)76lsjumb link Wrote:I still have the feeling that, if this team played each Stanford team from the past 20 years, it would likely lose 3/4 of those games, if not more. Yet we apparently remain in the Top Ten in RPI. Doesn't say much for the overall quality of the field this year...Probably. For twenty years we had Nicole Powell, then Candice Wiggins, then Jayne and Kayla and Jeanette, then Nneka and Chiney. I do believe that one or two of our current players may develop into an All-American, but at the moment we don't had any player equivalent to these WNBA players. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 really has gotten much, much better.Â
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-08-2016
I just saw that Ca.l outscored Colorado 9-0 in the second quarter of their game. 9 total points in an entire quarter of play. It must have been a thriller to watch.
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - TheFarm07 - 01-08-2016
(01-08-2016, 11:02 PM)81alum link Wrote:[quote author=76lsjumb link=topic=14340.msg151987#msg151987 date=1452318933]Probably. For twenty years we had Nicole Powell, then Candice Wiggins, then Jayne and Kayla and Jeanette, then Nneka and Chiney. I do believe that one or two of our current players may develop into an All-American, but at the moment we don't had any player equivalent to these WNBA players. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 really has gotten much, much better.
I still have the feeling that, if this team played each Stanford team from the past 20 years, it would likely lose 3/4 of those games, if not more. Yet we apparently remain in the Top Ten in RPI. Doesn't say much for the overall quality of the field this year...
[/quote]
Who do you think has the most potential to become All-Americans on the current roster during the course of their collegiate careers?
I think hands down that this year's version would be decimated by any one of the teams during our 5 consecutive Final Fours. Our current crop of post players are nowhere near the talent of Appel, Pedersen or the Ogwumike sisters. Those frontlines would dominate the boards and score pretty easily inside.
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - CTcard - 01-09-2016
(01-08-2016, 10:55 PM)76lsjumb link Wrote:Yet we apparently remain in the Top Ten in RPI. Doesn't say much for the overall quality of the field this year...
RPI is foremost a measure of strength of schedule.
It's 25% your record, 50% opponents' record, 25% opponents' opponents' record.
[With home/road weighting.]
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-09-2016
(01-08-2016, 11:22 PM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:[quote author=81alum link=topic=14340.msg151988#msg151988 date=1452319365]Probably. For twenty years we had Nicole Powell, then Candice Wiggins, then Jayne and Kayla and Jeanette, then Nneka and Chiney. I do believe that one or two of our current players may develop into an All-American, but at the moment we don't had any player equivalent to these WNBA players. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 really has gotten much, much better.
[quote author=76lsjumb link=topic=14340.msg151987#msg151987 date=1452318933]
I still have the feeling that, if this team played each Stanford team from the past 20 years, it would likely lose 3/4 of those games, if not more. Yet we apparently remain in the Top Ten in RPI. Doesn't say much for the overall quality of the field this year...
[/quote]
Who do you think has the most potential to become All-Americans on the current roster during the course of their collegiate careers?
I think hands down that this year's version would be decimated by any one of the teams during our 5 consecutive Final Fours. Our current crop of post players are nowhere near the talent of Appel, Pedersen or the Ogwumike sisters. Those frontlines would dominate the boards and score pretty easily inside.
[/quote]
First, with regard to our bigs vs. the bigs since the Appel era began, I would agree. There is still a lot of room for our posts to develop, and perhaps they will improve before their collegiate careers are over, but at the moment I think you are correct to say that our post play is not up to where it was in the last 10 years--not sure I would go back 20 though. I remember Brooke before Appel, and Brooke could be very inconsistent, having great games and poor games. (That seems to be the issue with hook shots. You are either "on" or you are not.) Think 2004-5 when our posts were Brooke, Sebnem Kimyacioglu, and T'Nae Thiel. That year it was Candice who gave us a great season, not the posts. Sebnem and T'Nae each averaged 5 points, and Brooke 13. Brooke had different strengths than Erica, but I'm not sure that she was a better athlete, shot blocker, or rebounder, and her scoring was not that much better than Erica's. It would at least be a tough choice to make between those two. So Tara has coached her way through seasons like this one before.
Then keep in mind that Erica was ranked 11, Kailee 20, and Kaylee 30 by ESPN coming out of their respective high school classes. Erica was heavily recruited by Geno. I do think that they have more upside potential. I think Erica did in fact do a remarkable job improving her body and skillset over the last summer, and I just think she has been in a bit of a slump the last few games. If her jumper starts going down more consistently, she is going to be nearly unstoppable. But that is a big "if."
Who could become an All-American? I boldly predicted Alanna before she arrived, and I still think that is possible. Kate has said "the sky is the limit" with her. She has the size and skillset to do it--she could become an unstoppable 3, which she is trying to transition to. We will know whether it will happen over the next year. Jeanette was a good guard but not of that caliber during her freshman year, and as Kate describes it, Jeanette remade her body and skillset between her freshman and sophomore year with incredible amounts of strength training and basketball drills. And she is still playing in the WNBA. Alanna could do that, too. The coaches have said that Marta could be the best point guard Stanford has ever had--and there have been some All Americans there, but not for a long time. (Candice was forced into playing point guard but that was never her natural position.) So far, I don't see it. She gets too aggressive with her passes and forces things, and as the coaches have pointed out, she needs to be a strong scoring threat to be able to suck the defense to her and open up passing lanes to her teammates. But she is very young, and we should know more when she comes back for her sophomore year. We might know more by later this season.
While players can develop late, like Ruef, I can't think of anyone who developed late and then became an All American. Rather, the All Americans show at least flashes of brilliance during the freshman year and then a transformation by the beginning of the sophomore year. I was hoping for Kaylee and Brittany for this year. I still think they both have much more potential and will improve, but I'm unsure of the lofty heights. Alanna and perhaps Marta are the best bets.
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-09-2016
Significant quotes from the media this morning:
Quote:The Cardinal, looking more like the team that struggled Monday in the loss to Arizona State, missed six of their first eight shots and turned the ball over three times as Utah built a 10-4 edge.http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/01/08/thompson-finds-her-groove-in-stanfords-hoops-win-over-utah
Stanford, sparked by McPhee off the bench, responded with a 9-2 run to finish the first quarter. McPhee scored the final five points of the period.
Quote:Paige Crozon led the Utes (10-4, 2-1) with 16 points, but Emily Potter, Utahs 6-foot-6 post, was limited to nine points eight under her average by Stanfords double-teaming defense.http://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/No-9-Stanford-women-defeat-Utah-72-52-in-Pac-12-6747325.php
If shes one-on-one, shell score, VanDerveer said. So we were sending a double on every play where she got it. On two of them, she made passes for layups, so we didnt double correctly. But then I think we figured it out. People were anxious to double; they left the wrong people at the wrong time.
She credited Kailee Johnson, who played a game-high 37 minutes, with a big role in containing Potter. We couldnt take her out, VanDerveer said. She was so smart at doubling and helping us defensively.
This begins to explain why Kailee is getting so many minutes despite the fact that Kaylee normally gets more points and rebounds. Tara likes Kailee's defense, and gives her the credit for containing Potter. It also explains those defensive breakdowns in the first half where a Utah player cut back door for an easy layup.
Quote:The Cardinal showed their relentlessness on the court, using that (ASU) loss as a learning lesson, said Briana Roberson, who came off the bench to dish a career-high eight assists. I dont think we sulked or, as Tara would say, threw ourselves a pity party.
Roberson had three steals and just one turnover in 32 minutes. She could go another game easily, VanDerveer said. Shes not tired. Shes in great shape.
Quote:Thompson, the team's leading scorer, made 7 of her previous 32 shots (21.9 percent) before hitting 7-of-16 against the Utes. She missed 16 consecutive 3-pointers, dating to the first quarter of the Cal State Bakersfield game, before hitting two in a row in the fourth quarter Friday night.http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2016/01/08/thompson-finds-her-groove-in-stanfords-hoops-win-over-utah
Tara, Bri, and Brit at the press conference here:
https://soundcloud.com/gostanford/1815-no-9-stanford-72-utah-52-tara-vanderveer-bri-roberson-brittany-mcpheem4a?DB_OEM_ID=30600
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - BobK - 01-09-2016
Jim Harbaugh ha e the pre game speech and said don't be intimidated. We weren't. Tara and Jim are good friends. Great to see him.
Seb was never a post. ð³she is a lawyer though
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - 81alum - 01-09-2016
(01-09-2016, 10:30 AM)BobK link Wrote:Jim Harbaugh ha e the pre game speech and said don't be intimidated. We weren't. Tara and Jim are good friends. Great to see him.I thought I heard that Harbaugh was in the building. Very nice.
Seb was never a post. ð³she is a lawyer though
I thought Seb was a guard, but she was listed as a 5'11" forward.Â
http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=30600&ATCLID=208087594
Since she was such a great outside shooter she must have been playing the 3. Wiggins, Smith, and Suminski started the whole year, and the two remaining slots cycled around between Sebnem, Susan Borchardt, and T'Nai. Candice was a freshman that year and still led the team with 17.5 ppg. It was Brooke's first year at Stanford, after a year at Duke and a redshirt year. That year we were 32-3, losing at Tennessee, at Oregon, and to Michigan State in the regional finals and thus just missing a final four appearance. Comparing today's team to that team, I'd say that Lili as a junior is not quite up to Candice as a freshman, although the scoring averages come close. Erica as a junior probably brings as much to the team as Brooke did, or perhaps not quite as much. But the rest of this year's team seems to me to be a considerably stronger supporting cast than the rest of the 2004-5 team. In terms of talent, I don't see why this team should not reach the 2004-5 level of play. That would be nice, but we have already lost as many games as that team did. Well, I won't complain if we don't lose again until the elite 8!
YRe: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - Erika - 01-09-2016
Watching the game...this may be common knowledge but an Apple TV unit enables one to watch any program that can be streamed over an iPad or iPhone on a TV (using AirPlay) as long as they are on the same wireless network. Living in Seattlte it is so nice not to depend on local programming.
As always the analysis here is wonderful. Thank you all.
Re: WBB Stanford 72 Utah 52 - TheFarm07 - 01-09-2016
(01-09-2016, 06:53 AM)81alum link Wrote:Then keep in mind that Erica was ranked 11, Kailee 20, and Kaylee 30 by ESPN coming out of their respective high school classes. Erica was heavily recruited by Geno. I do think that they have more upside potential. I think Erica did in fact do a remarkable job improving her body and skillset over the last summer, and I just think she has been in a bit of a slump the last few games. If her jumper starts going down more consistently, she is going to be nearly unstoppable. But that is a big "if."
If Erica continues to improve over the remainder of the season and the off-season, how good do you think she can be her senior year next year?
As you said, there's potential in many of our players, all of them might not become All-Americans, but if each of them improves by 25% by next season and considering we only lose Picknell, Green and Lakhian, all bench players, do you think we can be a top-5 team by the time November rolls around?
Also, it will be interesting since we only lose bench players after this season, how Tara will incorporate next year's freshman class into the rotation, since after next year, we'll be replacing a lot of starters (Erica, Karlie, Bri, Kailee) and we'll need players to step into starting roles in the 2017-18 season. But that's thinking way ahead, we still have the majority of conference play and the postseason to watch first.