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WBB: Team summer round-up - Printable Version

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WBB: Team summer round-up - 81alum - 07-22-2013

Judy Richter over at the Fast Break Club has posted an informative round-up of summer information for the WBB team.  Well worth reading:

http://fbceventnews.blogspot.com/

The discussion of the Italy trip is interesting.  They will be playing some professional teams.  Because of the trip, they are allowed to practice for two hours a day for a couple of weeks prior to the trip.  This gives them a chance to get started on molding the team together much earlier than NCAA rules would normally allow--particularly important considering the very large group of frosh they have this year. 

I thought the tone of remarks that Judy got out of Amy about whether Toni would return was a bit ominous.  In the past, the coaches have refused to say what Toni's condition was out of respect for her privacy, but they did make some comments during last season like "she will play if she feels up to it."  But Amy was unwilling to make any comments at all. 

What is more disturbing, perhaps (given that some of us have accepted that Toni is probably done) is that Amy also would not comment on whether Aly Beebe would be playing in the fall.  I had simply assumed that after sitting out a year that Ally would certainly be ready, but that may be in question.  If Aly were fully recovered would Amy have refused comment?  On the other hand, Tara is famously closed-lip about such things as a matter of policy.

With Joslyn graduated, and especially if Aly is not 100%, then one would think there would be a lot of playing time for frosh forwards Erica McCall and Kailee Johnson.  From the scouting reports, Erica comes in very polished, with national and club experience.  Nneka and Chiney both played significant minutes their frosh years, although their full talent emerged more gradually as sophomores and juniors.  I would imagine we would see something like that for Erica, although it remains to be seen if her performance can be up to that level.  It also will depend some on how well Ruef seems to play, and how much further along Tess is this season than a year ago.

If Toni stays out and with Amber apparently locking down the pg spot, we might continue to see a lot of Sara James.  But to me it is the 2 and the 3 positions that remain the most fluid.  With regard to the 2 Sara's defense improved a great deal last year, but her offense was inconsistent.  Jasmine or Alex (in her first full healthy season) might well push for more playing time.  And then there is Karlie Samuelson, who is listed as a 5'11" forward.  She is apparently an even better three point shooter than her sister, but lacks her height.  She sounds like a classic shooting guard to me--provided she can defend, which is always a decisive factor for Tara.  Tara does not play sharpshooters if they become defensive liabilities--hence her reluctance to play Bonnie for more minutes unless the match-ups allow Bonnie to be effective on the defensive end.

Briana Roberson and Lili Thompson are the other two new players joining the team.  It will be fun to see what they can do.  They were a bit under-the-radar on the recruiting circuit, and so we know less about them than most frosh.



Re: WBB: Team summer round-up - needle - 07-22-2013

The report does say Toni is "working in physical therapy." Frankly, I'm surprised to even hear this, as I had assumed the door was pretty much shut on her BB career. It was disclosed last year that Toni had problems related to concussions.

Off the court, Toni is listed as one of four founders of an at least relatively new group at Stanford, Stanford Athletes and Allies Together. The group is promoting the message that "at Stanford, an athlete's performance is what counts, not one's sexual identity, gender identity, or gender preference," and I'm pleased to see Bernard Muir in the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SArCrXjVOr0

Re: WBB: Team summer round-up - 81alum - 07-22-2013

What a great video.  And what a contrast to places like Iowa State, where subtle homophobia has been used as a recruiting tool,

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?page=Mag15unhealthyclimate

or Baylor, which imposed a gag order on Britanny Griner not to talk about her sexuality

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/23/baylors-gag-order-athletes-sexuality-reveals-homophobia-still-prevalent-womens

or perhaps Connecticut--the rumors (discussed by Geno, of all people) are that Pat Summit apparently cancelled the series with them after believing Geno was using homophobia to influence a recruit.

http://www.winninghoops.com/pages/Breaking-News---Pat-Summits-Words-Reignite-Tennessee-Connecticut-Rivalry.php

Sad to learn that our alum Kate Starbird declined to enter coaching because she did not want to remain in the closet, and it seemed impossible to be openly gay and coach at the same time.
Quote:Some women, both at the college and professional level, decide to avoid the drama altogether. Kate Starbird, who spent nine years in the WNBA and Europe, is gay. And she wants no part of the closet. "I never considered coaching," she says. "I didn't want to live my life that way." These days, Starbird is a PhD candidate in technology, media and society at Colorado.

In short, these despicable practices elsewhere make me doubly appreciate Stanford athletics.  We are proving that it is possible to succeed while maintaining a high level of ethics, in sharp contrast to some of our biggest rivals. 

Re: WBB: Team summer round-up - CompSci87 - 07-23-2013

(07-23-2013, 08:28 AM)garvin link Wrote:What kind of physical therapy does one do for a concussion?

The report says that Toni is doing an internship in physical therapy, not that she is receiving physical therapy.

Re: WBB: Team summer round-up - needle - 07-23-2013

CompSci, that makes much more sense than my interpretation. Thanks.