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WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - Printable Version

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WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - 81alum - 11-02-2014

Wow!  The most significant revelation today was the debut of Kaylee Johnson, the Wyoming freshman--not to be confused with sophomore Kailee Johnson of Oregon.  First of all, Tara started her:

Starters:
Erica McCall
Kaylee Johnson
Taylor Greenfield
Lili Thompson
Amber Orrange

Kaylee seemed far more advanced than a frosh in all aspects of the game.  She had 16 rebounds--granted against a short and inferior team, but she positioned herself well.  When the three balls went up she was shoving her way inside to be ready for the put backs.  She boxed out and had a knack for being in the right place.  She cleaned up garbage under the basket and usually put it back in.  On defense, she was fast, altered shots, and was active and energetic.  Most important of all, she seems assertive and aggressive.  She was shouting to her teammates and seemed fearless when going for rebounds and tie-ups.  She finished with 5/6 and 12 points.  If she keeps progressing like this, I think we have our second big starter.

With regard to our other two frosh there is not much to say.  Brittany McPhee was the only player not to play.  Taylor Rooks played some minutes toward the end of the game and had two points and a rebound.  Taylor has a solid build--she looks muscular and big for her height and may eventually help us on defense, but I cannot say I learned much by watching her today. 

I was surprised to see Taylor Greenfield start.  Bonnie had been starting every game toward the end of last year and Taylor had been having a very rough time.  Today Taylor looked better.  She had 9 points and a couple of rebounds.  She made several good plays under the basket--she has always had the ability to do so and today she showed it.  When she went out at the 3, however, her main replacement was not Bonnie or one of the young wings but Karlie.  Karlie did extremely well, with 17 points and a couple of assists. Bonnie got some time but was just about the only player not to score.  She did not take many shots.  It sure looked to me as if Karlie will have the edge at the 3, given the glut of guards we have.  The new offense (more later) may have winners and losers.

Lili was spectacular again and led scoring with 26.  She scored from all over, but the new offense was full of pick and rolls and she got quite a few layups.  She could have scored much more but Tara kept giving the other guards chances.  Amber seemed to play well but she wound up with 2 points and only 1 assist.  Alex Green had 4 assists, Bri Roberson had 6 assists.  I wonder if adjusting to the new offense will be easier for them than for Amber, who has invested 3 years in learning how to run the triangle.

Erica McCall may not be Chiney, but she did a good impersonation against this weak foe.  Her 15 points and 10 rebounds certainly showed her maturation from a year ago.  She has the ability to be better yet, but I was pleased to see her get in and clean up garbage as well as make some moves under the basket.

Kailee Johnson (who the announcer kept pronouncing Kay-lee instead of Kie-lee, causing mayhem) played as well as she usually does, and had 8 points.  Nothing to criticize at all--but I had expected her to start and/or get more minutes than Kaylee--but I thought it was clear that today Kaylee was the more talented forward.

Tess came in at the end and looked much better than before.  When she got rebounds she kept them over her head rather than bringing them down to be tied up the way she invariably used to do.  She had a putback and 7 rebounds.  She seemed to be in better shape.  Realistically, she is not going to ever start for us, but she is beginning to look as if she could give us some good minutes from time to time.

The new offense looked sloppy at first, but it obviously worked out.  We regularly send two players down the floor early and pushed the tempo up the floor whenever we could.  But this was not the essence of it.  The half court consisted of an endless string of screens--pick and rolls.  The bigs would set a screen and as soon as the guard went around them the big would break for the basket with a hand up.  If the guard was open or could attack the basket fine, and if the guard was not open the next choice was to pass to the big who had just screened.  It was a flurry of activity and very different from the pass-the-ball-around-the-perimeter offense that so many criticized last year.  We were always trying to penetrate.

Where things stand: We wound up 7/21 on three point shots--Karlie and Lili were each the primary success stories from three point range.  Erica was 7/9 from inside, including on a wonderful fast break feed.  Naturally we cannot tell much about the competitiveness of this team when we were playing Vanguard, but a few questions are answered.  Erica McCall and Kaylee Johnson are developing into solid starting posts, Taylor and Karlie are probably going to compete for most of the time at wing, and Alex and Bri may push Amber in this new offense.  Oh, and the new offense is great fun to watch.

Atmosphere:  There wasn't any.  No band, an unfamiliar and ignorant announcer, and a turnout generously stated to be 2600.  Still, I wouldn't have missed this for anything, as Tara's secret plans begin to be revealed!


Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - BobK - 11-02-2014

Great report hated to miss the game. Got to watch great Stanford WVB win and the Fire Roman now 49ers lose.

A couple of points.  Bonnie and Kailee back from operations and being eased in I'm told from a good source.

McCall played just 20 minutes to get those stats.

McPhee with her recent injuured will be back soon. 

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - Jskass - 11-02-2014

Think they have given Kailee more minutes since McCall left the game after apparently rolling her ankle after an Amber drive. Kailee started to gain confidence as the game progressed (ditto for Karlie). Hope Bird's ankle is okay - she seemed to walk fine on it after returning from the training room.

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - 81alum - 11-02-2014

(11-02-2014, 06:25 PM)BobK link Wrote:Great report hated to miss the game. Got to watch great Stanford WVB win and the Fire Roman now 49ers lose.

A couple of points.  Bonnie and Kailee back from operations and being eased in I'm told from a good source.

McCall played just 20 minutes to get those stats.

McPhee with her recent injuured will be back soon.
Thanks for that info, Bob.  Yes, it makes a lot more sense now that I know Bonnie, Kailee, and McPhee are all coming back from injuries and that this limited them.

Will be interested to see what you think when you see Kaylee, though.  My impression is that the way she moves and her instincts put her talent level well ahead of any other post than McCall.  Naturally, she has a lot more to learn.  But even Chiney was a bit awkward her freshman year--there is going to be an even greater upside.  For that matter, Kaylee looks much better to me than Erica McCall looked at this point a year ago.  She could use a year of weight training, as could Brittany. 

Some interesting Tara quotes from a post-game presser:

Quote:“I think our guards are very fast, very quick and set the tone,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “That’s how we want to play. You don’t have to pace yourself because one person can go hard and then another. I call it tag team. We can put some different people in because our bigs are very fast, too, and run the floor really well.”

Quote:“We have a lot of work to do,” VanDerveer added on the new offense. “It’s very early and it’s very new, but I think people have bought in. It was a really good first game … (and) it’s not a one-person show. We had four in double-figures and they’re all going to get better. We are just scratching the surface of how good we can be.”

http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209745963&DB_OEM_ID=30600

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - CompSci87 - 11-02-2014

Merging my halftime post in from the WBB history thread...

***
We are seeing some nice fast breaks. 52-22 at halftime despite our 3-point shooters missing a lot of open looks.

Lili is our leading scorer with 17. Bird with 15 mostly on putbacks. A surprise: Kaylee Johnson got the start. She looks good. Has a lot of rebounds.

Another rare sighting: full court press.

I'm loving my new seat. Moved from row F, bench seat behind the concourse, to row D.

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - TheFarm07 - 11-02-2014

Thanks for that very detailed report.  I am curious and excited to see how the season will turn out.  We might not have a definite All-American, but it sounds like our offense is more dynamic, which is encouraging.

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - BobK - 11-02-2014

I forget what I post here and on the bootleg but I was steered to Watch Kaylee in Oregon the summer after her Jr year.  She had committed that week.  I loved her and was amazed I had never heard of her.  But given her isolated HS and isolated travel team I thought it would take her a year to adjust to college.  I' m so wrong. What a debut. 

Must recruiting sites didn't rank either Lili or Kaylee as top 100 players and of course exposure was one reason.    Keep that in mind about Romano and Coffee who will be signing next week , the 12th.  Tara and Amy can really recruit.

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - Jskass - 11-02-2014

Wanted to add on Kaylee Johnson that in addition to good instincts, being in the right place for rebounds, and smooth (very calm on those putbacks and shots), my husband noticed that she was often the first down to the end of the floor on defense. She seems to be quite a find, and consistent with what I'd read about her having strong work discipline. Will be great to see over time the evolution of Kaylee, McCall and Kailee playing together!

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - 81alum - 11-02-2014

(11-02-2014, 08:31 PM)Jskass link Wrote:Wanted to add on Kaylee Johnson that in addition to good instincts, being in the right place for rebounds, and smooth (very calm on those putbacks and shots), my husband noticed that she was often the first down to the end of the floor on defense. She seems to be quite a find, and consistent with what I'd read about her having strong work discipline. Will be great to see over time the evolution of Kaylee, McCall and Kailee playing together!
And next year we can add Alanna Smith to the mix!  And while losing Amber, Taylor Greenfield, Erica Payne, and Bonnie  will be sad, we already have capable replacements for all of those positions.  The capabilities of this team will improve steadily over the next two seasons. 

Right now marks our lowest ebb--we have a very young team which will steadily improve with conditioning, training, and experience and which will get another influx of talent next year.  The Connecticut game is going to be ugly, and we may have a few more losses than we are used to in November, December, and January.  But I think a lot of folks--the ones who picked C.al to beat us--are going to be in for a rude shock by March.  This may be a rare season when we like the Pac 12 tournament better than we like the regular season Pac 12 championship.

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - Yellowlab - 11-03-2014

Great to be back on Board! 

Another player "recovering" from off-season surgery is Lili.  She was clearly the best player on the court by far.

I was initially skeptical about Kaylee starting, and she looked frozen to the paint on her first O-board attempt, but she quickly set my mind to rest.  We can't get too excited about how players look against Vanguard, but she looked like a player.

Bird did indeed roll her ankle coming down on another player's foot on a rebound attempt.  Those things can be tricky, and we hope it isn't serious.  Although this was the kind of game that she can dominate, I'm still waiting to see how she fares against bigger posts.

Another player I am interested to see more of is Karlie.  She's very aggressive and very hard nosed.  She can also shoot lights out, although she started out slowly in this game.  I saw her doing a three point drill during open practice and I kept flashing back to watching Jeanette Pohlen.

This was one of the few times we could hear what Tara was calling out from the bench clear across the court! 

Re: WBB: Stanford 105 Vanguard 50 (exhibition) - chimera - 11-03-2014

Very sparse crowd.  OK what was Tara telling them to do?  ;) 

Even though Vanguard was short, they were fairly scrappy and well-coached.  At least our young bigs looked the part, even if the level of competition makes it hard to assess them.  They moved well after rebounds, hung onto the rebounds without getting the ball slapped away, made some semi-difficult put-backs, and ran the floor really well.  Kaylee Johnson has a bright future and a great opportunity.  She plays a position of need so she has to get playing time.  She was moving well on defense too and generally seemed comfortable.

All the guards looked really good.  Amber did not do a lot in limited minutes but that doesn't matter, we know what she can do.  Lili was excellent as a primary scorer.  She was able to find her shot easily in a variety of ways.  Roberson did well at the point, as did Alex Green at the 2.  We definitely have a glut of players who can play the wing - Greenfield, Karlie, Bonnie, any of the guards if Tara wants a three-guard look, and I believe both Rooks and McPhee.  Given the experience there, I'd be surprised to see much from Rooks or McPhee this season.  If they would have to be playing quite well to make it into the rotation. 

I liked the new offense.  Even this early, players were aggressive looking for their shot.  I did not see those horrible hesitations where they pass endlessly around the perimeter waiting for the defense to…fall asleep? get confused? let us shoot so they can get the darn ball back? that I dislike in the usual zone offense.  Not too many assists because people were making good individual moves a lot.  How many times did a guard or wing dribble around and end up at the rim within the half-court offense?Â