[81alum]

This is senior day and the last home game for Virginia after a tough loss to Cal on Thursday.  They are playing way beyond the scouting report.  Paris Clark is NOT a three point shooter, at 17% on the season.  She is draining them today.

Their "if this is 2025 it must be Virginia" Lattimore is 100% shooting.

[81alum]

This is senior day and the last home game for Virginia after a tough loss to Cal on Thursday.  They are playing way beyond the scouting report.  Paris Clark is NOT a three point shooter, at 17% on the season.  She is draining them today.

Their "if this is 2025 it must be Virginia" Lattimore is 100% shooting.

[petersalas]

I would have hope had the defense and offense not stayed at Virginia Tech. Seems like only the bodies made the trip to Virginia. 

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

[petersalas]

I would have hope had the defense and offense not stayed at Virginia Tech. Seems like only the bodies made the trip to Virginia. 

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

[81alum]

Per announcers:  Agara is "working her way back and is day to day" which I take to mean we can't necessarily count on her going forward.

---

The Virginia players are all smiling from ear to ear, they are astounded at their own shooting, can hardly believe it.

[81alum]

Per announcers:  Agara is "working her way back and is day to day" which I take to mean we can't necessarily count on her going forward.

---

The Virginia players are all smiling from ear to ear, they are astounded at their own shooting, can hardly believe it.

[Leftcoast]

So many uncontested threes allowed.  So few defensive close outs.  All the energy is on Virginia’s side.

I’m out.  I think I have a float valve to replace.

[Leftcoast]

So many uncontested threes allowed.  So few defensive close outs.  All the energy is on Virginia’s side.

I’m out.  I think I have a float valve to replace.

[81alum]

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

[81alum]

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

[petersalas]

At this point, just hold the ball for 30 seconds.. I’d rather see a turnover that way than just giving the ball to Virginia and allowing the wide open shots.. they’d probably score less that way.

[petersalas]

At this point, just hold the ball for 30 seconds.. I’d rather see a turnover that way than just giving the ball to Virginia and allowing the wide open shots.. they’d probably score less that way.

[MV72018]

There are wipeouts and then there's this game. What an embarrassment! How about that rousing 25-9 start? Unfortunately we had the 9. Talk about "having one's team ready"! We're only down by 25 at end of Q3. Way to keep it close! The men's team recently lost by over 30, but that was to a top-five Duke squad, not mediocre UVA. What will Kate have to say about this one in the post-game presser? Tara would praise the opponent for being "really good" and our team for playing hard and "competing."

---

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

[MV72018]

There are wipeouts and then there's this game. What an embarrassment! How about that rousing 25-9 start? Unfortunately we had the 9. Talk about "having one's team ready"! We're only down by 25 at end of Q3. Way to keep it close! The men's team recently lost by over 30, but that was to a top-five Duke squad, not mediocre UVA. What will Kate have to say about this one in the post-game presser? Tara would praise the opponent for being "really good" and our team for playing hard and "competing."

---

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

[JohnR34231]

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

Well, I try to be positive. Not real easy with this team sometimes. Not a bad idea though.
It is going to be a long road back. Hope KP is the person to lead us there.

---

There are wipeouts and then there's this game. What an embarrassment! How about that rousing 25-9 start? Unfortunately we had the 9. Talk about "having one's team ready"! We're only down by 25 at end of Q3. Way to keep it close! The men's team recently lost by over 30, but that was to a top-five Duke squad, not mediocre UVA. What will Kate have to say about this one in the post-game presser? Tara would praise the opponent for being "really good" and our team for playing hard and "competing."

---

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

Yeah, I always thought we could lose a game by 60 points and Tara would come up with something positive to say about the effort.
I guess that's good. I don't know.

[JohnR34231]

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

Well, I try to be positive. Not real easy with this team sometimes. Not a bad idea though.
It is going to be a long road back. Hope KP is the person to lead us there.

---

There are wipeouts and then there's this game. What an embarrassment! How about that rousing 25-9 start? Unfortunately we had the 9. Talk about "having one's team ready"! We're only down by 25 at end of Q3. Way to keep it close! The men's team recently lost by over 30, but that was to a top-five Duke squad, not mediocre UVA. What will Kate have to say about this one in the post-game presser? Tara would praise the opponent for being "really good" and our team for playing hard and "competing."

---

The Stanford players are not smiling, they are laboring, fumbling away rebounds they normally make, missing shots they normally make, trying almost too hard, thinking too hard.  They must be aware of the embarrassment they are putting on the court and it may be getting in their heads and compounding the problems.

The announcers are struggling to come up with something positive to say about Stanford.  "I really expected this to be a close game....."

Virginia at a season-high 10 treys.  Not something we would plan for.

So sad.  The last hope for the NCAAs is not slipping away....it is being crushed.  Well, I supposed we could sneak into the ACC tournament then win it.  That might be the only way back at this point.

One step ahead, one step back.  So inconsistent. 

I will look forward to a couple of great games at Maples, where we are a completely different team.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

Yeah, I always thought we could lose a game by 60 points and Tara would come up with something positive to say about the effort.
I guess that's good. I don't know.

[MV72018]

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

Well, I try to be positive. Not real easy with this team sometimes. Not a bad idea though.
It is going to be a long road back. Hope KP is the person to lead us there.

We've doubled that 14 point H1 gap in H2: now 83-54. Still time to widen the gap to 40!

[MV72018]

Well, we go into halftime down by 14.

So at least we have stopped the first quarter bleeding.

And 14 points is not an impossible margin to overcome.

So hope for the best in the second half.

Hope for the best? How about a power outage and a declared “no contest”…

Well, I try to be positive. Not real easy with this team sometimes. Not a bad idea though.
It is going to be a long road back. Hope KP is the person to lead us there.

We've doubled that 14 point H1 gap in H2: now 83-54. Still time to widen the gap to 40!

[76lsjumb]

Shoulda gone to the baseball game…

[76lsjumb]

Shoulda gone to the baseball game…

[BostonCard]

In honor of this game, I’m playing the old Dire Straits song “The Bug”.

https://youtu.be/GG5ghP8XLW8

Sometimes you’re the windshield; today we were the bug.

BC

[BostonCard]

In honor of this game, I’m playing the old Dire Straits song “The Bug”.

https://youtu.be/GG5ghP8XLW8

Sometimes you’re the windshield; today we were the bug.

BC

[81alum]

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

It very well could.  We are 12-3 at home.  We are 2-9 on the road.  Both the upcoming 2 games are against opponents that are not overpowering.  I am not going to predict two wins, but with emotions high for our own senior day it is possible we go out on a positive note.

At some point we are going to HAVE to think hard about the gross disparity between home games and away games and then I think we will conclude that the conference change has been much, much harder than all those optimists predicted.

All that said, I certainly am not feeling good right now.  I keep trying to talk myself into being interested in college sports, and step by step it feels as if that interest is being choked away.  Lattimore on her third school in three years just dominated us.

[81alum]

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

It very well could.  We are 12-3 at home.  We are 2-9 on the road.  Both the upcoming 2 games are against opponents that are not overpowering.  I am not going to predict two wins, but with emotions high for our own senior day it is possible we go out on a positive note.

At some point we are going to HAVE to think hard about the gross disparity between home games and away games and then I think we will conclude that the conference change has been much, much harder than all those optimists predicted.

All that said, I certainly am not feeling good right now.  I keep trying to talk myself into being interested in college sports, and step by step it feels as if that interest is being choked away.  Lattimore on her third school in three years just dominated us.

[JohnR34231]

It's amazing. In a fairly short period of time we have gone from a final four caliber team to this.
SMH.

[JohnR34231]

It's amazing. In a fairly short period of time we have gone from a final four caliber team to this.
SMH.

[petersalas]

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech. 

All this said, I remain optimistic and hopeful. It’s been a rough year and hope we get everyone back, of course minus graduating seniors, and I know brighter days are ahead.

Although, I did let the negativity and frustration get the best of me in my posts today.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

It very well could.  We are 12-3 at home.  We are 2-9 on the road.  Both the upcoming 2 games are against opponents that are not overpowering.  I am not going to predict two wins, but with emotions high for our own senior day it is possible we go out on a positive note.

At some point we are going to HAVE to think hard about the gross disparity between home games and away games and then I think we will conclude that the conference change has been much, much harder than all those optimists predicted.

[petersalas]

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech. 

All this said, I remain optimistic and hopeful. It’s been a rough year and hope we get everyone back, of course minus graduating seniors, and I know brighter days are ahead.

Although, I did let the negativity and frustration get the best of me in my posts today.

two "great games" upcoming at Maples? Please, that's not going to happen this year.

It very well could.  We are 12-3 at home.  We are 2-9 on the road.  Both the upcoming 2 games are against opponents that are not overpowering.  I am not going to predict two wins, but with emotions high for our own senior day it is possible we go out on a positive note.

At some point we are going to HAVE to think hard about the gross disparity between home games and away games and then I think we will conclude that the conference change has been much, much harder than all those optimists predicted.

[81alum]

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech.

I do agree that we would have struggled this year, compared with the past, even had the Pac 12 remained in existence. 

But to what do you attributed the greatest disparity between home games and away games in the history of Stanford WBB?

[81alum]

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech.

I do agree that we would have struggled this year, compared with the past, even had the Pac 12 remained in existence. 

But to what do you attributed the greatest disparity between home games and away games in the history of Stanford WBB?

[BostonCard]

Not just the women; if my math is correct, the men are 2-6 on the road in the ACC (and one of those wins was at Cal); they are 7-1 at home.

Women’s volleyball also had trouble in the East Coast, with all three of its conference losses on the road and an undefeated home record.  Best illustration is that we played Louisville three times (including at the NCAA tournament).  We lost the road matches 3-0 and 3-1, and won the home match 3-1.

Yes, a better team would have a better road record, but I think that a middle-of-the-ACC team is going to struggle when playing across the country and look better when the visitor has to fly across the country to play us.

BC

[BostonCard]

Not just the women; if my math is correct, the men are 2-6 on the road in the ACC (and one of those wins was at Cal); they are 7-1 at home.

Women’s volleyball also had trouble in the East Coast, with all three of its conference losses on the road and an undefeated home record.  Best illustration is that we played Louisville three times (including at the NCAA tournament).  We lost the road matches 3-0 and 3-1, and won the home match 3-1.

Yes, a better team would have a better road record, but I think that a middle-of-the-ACC team is going to struggle when playing across the country and look better when the visitor has to fly across the country to play us.

BC

[petersalas]

That’s a good question. I just see a much better effort at home, more energy, of course they are more comfortable at home than on the road. They had too many home games at the beginning of the season and they just never got comfortable at away games. I would have never set the schedule up the way the non conference schedule was set up. Also, the win they let slip away at LSU did something to the team that I don’t think they recovered from. And compound it with our seniors being too inconsistent and then the injuries… I say if the underclass players are playing better than our seniors, it’ll help them in the long run. It’s a sad way for our seniors to end their college careers though. 

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech.

I do agree that we would have struggled this year, compared with the past, even had the Pac 12 remained in existence. 

But to what do you attributed the greatest disparity between home games and away games in the history of Stanford WBB?

---

But they played that way at Cal, SMU, and Chase Center and those games were not cross country trips. I’ve seen the energy missing in a lot of games and we don’t have strong senior leadership. Maybe that’s the wrong way to say that.. I meant we don’t have consistent senior play this season and I’ve followed our team since 1997. 

Not just the women; if my math is correct, the men are 2-6 on the road in the ACC (and one of those wins was at Cal); they are 7-1 at home.

Women’s volleyball also had trouble in the East Coast, with all three of its conference losses on the road and an undefeated home record.  Best illustration is that we played Louisville three times (including at the NCAA tournament).  We lost the road matches 3-0 and 3-1, and won the home match 3-1.

Yes, a better team would have a better road record, but I think that a middle-of-the-ACC team is going to struggle when playing across the country and look better when the visitor has to fly across the country to play us.

BC

[petersalas]

That’s a good question. I just see a much better effort at home, more energy, of course they are more comfortable at home than on the road. They had too many home games at the beginning of the season and they just never got comfortable at away games. I would have never set the schedule up the way the non conference schedule was set up. Also, the win they let slip away at LSU did something to the team that I don’t think they recovered from. And compound it with our seniors being too inconsistent and then the injuries… I say if the underclass players are playing better than our seniors, it’ll help them in the long run. It’s a sad way for our seniors to end their college careers though. 

I usually agree with all your points, but disagree about the conference change. I think think we’d be facing the same thing in any other conference.. the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically. They play aggressive defense when they have dug a hole and have almost dug themselves out of the hole, but only one game resulted in a win and it was vs Virginia Tech.

I do agree that we would have struggled this year, compared with the past, even had the Pac 12 remained in existence. 

But to what do you attributed the greatest disparity between home games and away games in the history of Stanford WBB?

---

But they played that way at Cal, SMU, and Chase Center and those games were not cross country trips. I’ve seen the energy missing in a lot of games and we don’t have strong senior leadership. Maybe that’s the wrong way to say that.. I meant we don’t have consistent senior play this season and I’ve followed our team since 1997. 

Not just the women; if my math is correct, the men are 2-6 on the road in the ACC (and one of those wins was at Cal); they are 7-1 at home.

Women’s volleyball also had trouble in the East Coast, with all three of its conference losses on the road and an undefeated home record.  Best illustration is that we played Louisville three times (including at the NCAA tournament).  We lost the road matches 3-0 and 3-1, and won the home match 3-1.

Yes, a better team would have a better road record, but I think that a middle-of-the-ACC team is going to struggle when playing across the country and look better when the visitor has to fly across the country to play us.

BC

[81alum]

the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically.

There is truth in your observation, in my opinion.  Today, however, I think the problem was more coaching than lack of effort by the team.  I am beginning to think that Kate Paye "overcoaches" some.  She has always been our best scout and in the past was the assistant coach who came up with the most amazing ways to take away the opponent's best player.

Perhaps she is relying too much on the scout, now.  "Too clever by half."  For example, today the strategy was to control Virginia's very best player, Kymora Johnson.  Johnson is a speedy little guard who normally is barely adequate from three point range but makes most of her points on drives.  So we clogged the paint to cut down on those drives and force her to the outside.   Where she promptly hit six treys.  Paying too much to her tendencies simply made her a much better player from the outside.

The second major threat was the hired gun Latisha Lattimore.  Lattimore was 20/64 from three point range, so pushing her outside made sense.  But she made 3/4 from outside.  In a sense, our strategy succeeded--we got her to take shots that we thought were not in her wheelhouse.  But she made them.

At a recent chalk talk I thought that Heather Oesterle said something revealing.  "We need to get more athletic" she said about recruiting.  In other words, the Pac 12 was filled with "skill players" who could shoot the ball accurately, who were very coachable, who knew their assignments and played a team sport very well.  But the ACC is filled with "athletes" who are on average quicker, faster, and more agile than the Pac 12 was.  This requires a different style of team than the Pac 12 needed.  What I fear is that it requires a style of team that is much more difficult for Stanford to recruit than in the past.  

I think we got our first taste of this before the league change, when a bunch of gifted athletes at Mississippi State who had hardly played together for a year beat us unexpectedly in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.  Now it seems like every week is another Mississippi State.

[81alum]

the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically.

There is truth in your observation, in my opinion.  Today, however, I think the problem was more coaching than lack of effort by the team.  I am beginning to think that Kate Paye "overcoaches" some.  She has always been our best scout and in the past was the assistant coach who came up with the most amazing ways to take away the opponent's best player.

Perhaps she is relying too much on the scout, now.  "Too clever by half."  For example, today the strategy was to control Virginia's very best player, Kymora Johnson.  Johnson is a speedy little guard who normally is barely adequate from three point range but makes most of her points on drives.  So we clogged the paint to cut down on those drives and force her to the outside.   Where she promptly hit six treys.  Paying too much to her tendencies simply made her a much better player from the outside.

The second major threat was the hired gun Latisha Lattimore.  Lattimore was 20/64 from three point range, so pushing her outside made sense.  But she made 3/4 from outside.  In a sense, our strategy succeeded--we got her to take shots that we thought were not in her wheelhouse.  But she made them.

At a recent chalk talk I thought that Heather Oesterle said something revealing.  "We need to get more athletic" she said about recruiting.  In other words, the Pac 12 was filled with "skill players" who could shoot the ball accurately, who were very coachable, who knew their assignments and played a team sport very well.  But the ACC is filled with "athletes" who are on average quicker, faster, and more agile than the Pac 12 was.  This requires a different style of team than the Pac 12 needed.  What I fear is that it requires a style of team that is much more difficult for Stanford to recruit than in the past.  

I think we got our first taste of this before the league change, when a bunch of gifted athletes at Mississippi State who had hardly played together for a year beat us unexpectedly in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.  Now it seems like every week is another Mississippi State.

[M T]

In ACC conference WBB games involving a team that was 2 or 3 time zones away from home
   West Coast games, Home team  9-3
   Central & Eastern time zone games,  Home team 11-5

for a combined, 20-8 winning record for the home team.

For the conference as a whole, the Home team record is  77-67.
Removing the 2+ time zone games, the Home record is 57-59.

Unless the schedules were rather stacked against both Stanford and Cal (sending the weak teams west, while the strong teams minimized any trips west), the discrepancy in the benefit of playing near home versus playing far from home seems pretty strong. 57-59 or 20-8

(I am NOT saying it is the time zone difference that matters, but that may be part of it.  I personally think it is travel issues (time plus physical and mental aspects).)

I would love to see the numbers for other sports, MBB, WVB, etc, across all teams in the ACC conference that had to travel 2+ time zones.

[M T]

In ACC conference WBB games involving a team that was 2 or 3 time zones away from home
   West Coast games, Home team  9-3
   Central & Eastern time zone games,  Home team 11-5

for a combined, 20-8 winning record for the home team.

For the conference as a whole, the Home team record is  77-67.
Removing the 2+ time zone games, the Home record is 57-59.

Unless the schedules were rather stacked against both Stanford and Cal (sending the weak teams west, while the strong teams minimized any trips west), the discrepancy in the benefit of playing near home versus playing far from home seems pretty strong. 57-59 or 20-8

(I am NOT saying it is the time zone difference that matters, but that may be part of it.  I personally think it is travel issues (time plus physical and mental aspects).)

I would love to see the numbers for other sports, MBB, WVB, etc, across all teams in the ACC conference that had to travel 2+ time zones.

[petersalas]

Ole Miss.. I do agree with you but time after time I barely see a hand up, a body on someone or even anyone in range of an opposing player. Granted that’s not the answer to it all.. I see next season going a much better way.. this is just not a start we wanted to see. 

the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically.

There is truth in your observation, in my opinion.  Today, however, I think the problem was more coaching than lack of effort by the team.  I am beginning to think that Kate Paye "overcoaches" some.  She has always been our best scout and in the past was the assistant coach who came up with the most amazing ways to take away the opponent's best player.

Perhaps she is relying too much on the scout, now.  "Too clever by half."  For example, today the strategy was to control Virginia's very best player, Kymora Johnson.  Johnson is a speedy little guard who normally is barely adequate from three point range but makes most of her points on drives.  So we clogged the paint to cut down on those drives and force her to the outside.   Where she promptly hit six treys.  Paying too much to her tendencies simply made her a much better player from the outside.

The second major threat was the hired gun Latisha Lattimore.  Lattimore was 20/64 from three point range, so pushing her outside made sense.  But she made 3/4 from outside.  In a sense, our strategy succeeded--we got her to take shots that we thought were not in her wheelhouse.  But she made them.

At a recent chalk talk I thought that Heather Oesterle said something revealing.  "We need to get more athletic" she said about recruiting.  In other words, the Pac 12 was filled with "skill players" who could shoot the ball accurately, who were very coachable, who knew their assignments and played a team sport very well.  But the ACC is filled with "athletes" who are on average quicker, faster, and more agile than the Pac 12 was.  This requires a different style of team than the Pac 12 needed.  What I fear is that it requires a style of team that is much more difficult for Stanford to recruit than in the past.  

I think we got our first taste of this before the league change, when a bunch of gifted athletes at Mississippi State who had hardly played together for a year beat us unexpectedly in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.  Now it seems like every week is another Mississippi State.

[petersalas]

Ole Miss.. I do agree with you but time after time I barely see a hand up, a body on someone or even anyone in range of an opposing player. Granted that’s not the answer to it all.. I see next season going a much better way.. this is just not a start we wanted to see. 

the biggest thing and reason for all these losses is the lack of energy to start games. Especially on the defensive end. This team plays no defense.. or they play some defense sporadically.

There is truth in your observation, in my opinion.  Today, however, I think the problem was more coaching than lack of effort by the team.  I am beginning to think that Kate Paye "overcoaches" some.  She has always been our best scout and in the past was the assistant coach who came up with the most amazing ways to take away the opponent's best player.

Perhaps she is relying too much on the scout, now.  "Too clever by half."  For example, today the strategy was to control Virginia's very best player, Kymora Johnson.  Johnson is a speedy little guard who normally is barely adequate from three point range but makes most of her points on drives.  So we clogged the paint to cut down on those drives and force her to the outside.   Where she promptly hit six treys.  Paying too much to her tendencies simply made her a much better player from the outside.

The second major threat was the hired gun Latisha Lattimore.  Lattimore was 20/64 from three point range, so pushing her outside made sense.  But she made 3/4 from outside.  In a sense, our strategy succeeded--we got her to take shots that we thought were not in her wheelhouse.  But she made them.

At a recent chalk talk I thought that Heather Oesterle said something revealing.  "We need to get more athletic" she said about recruiting.  In other words, the Pac 12 was filled with "skill players" who could shoot the ball accurately, who were very coachable, who knew their assignments and played a team sport very well.  But the ACC is filled with "athletes" who are on average quicker, faster, and more agile than the Pac 12 was.  This requires a different style of team than the Pac 12 needed.  What I fear is that it requires a style of team that is much more difficult for Stanford to recruit than in the past.  

I think we got our first taste of this before the league change, when a bunch of gifted athletes at Mississippi State who had hardly played together for a year beat us unexpectedly in the 2nd round of the NCAAs.  Now it seems like every week is another Mississippi State.