[81alum]

Tara shook things up a bit by starting Sara James in a three guard set.  The team responded with a comfortable win in which it dominated in just about every category.  UCLA kept it close for the first 11 minutes of the game, at which point it was 15-13 Stanford.  But our defense clamped down and UCLA went scoreless for five minutes.  Meanwhile Amber made two jumpers and a layup, and Chiney added two more baskets.    At that point Stanford was ahead by 12 points and it kept that margin or better for the rest of the game.

The crowd was smallish (3600) but seemed louder than the last two packed houses.  There were only a few UCLA fans there--quite a contrast from the Cal invasion.  Perhaps we Stanford fans were relieved to be having a seemingly easy game after suffering through the last two home games, and this inspired a bit more engagement.  But not only was Stanford leading the whole way,  there were many attractive and hustle plays to stir the fans and reward the faithful. 

Notable in the game:

--Joslyn Tinkle hit a three early in the game and three more of them in garbage time, going 4/4 from three point range, giving us an 86% three point completion rate.  That sounds surreal after our long range difficulties throughout the season. 

--Chiney had a double double with 25 points and 14 rebounds.  Better, she was 10/15 for a much improved percentage of her shots of late.  She was practicing her longer range jumpers before the game but mostly was scoring from in close as of old.

--Stanford broke the press nicely several times, though it sometimes looked labored and awkward. 

--The team had 27 made field goals on 17 assists.  Toni fired a pass to Chiney that brought oohs and ahs in the second half. 

--We out rebounded UCLA 36-25.  UCLA is certainly not Cal, but it did seem to me as if our bigs were going after rebounds with more intensity.

--Sara was 3/4 for 7 points in 17 minutes, and a number of outstanding hustle plays.  She acquitted herself well, although she did pick up 3 fouls.  At least one of them looked bogus to me.

--Amber's pull up jumper was excellent tonight.  She was 7/10 for 15 points and mostly only hit net.  She also had 5 steals.  Once she wrenched the ball right out of the hands of Markel Walker and took it the length of the court for a basket.

Toni seemed to play very well but her shot was a bit off.  She was just 1/7 shooting but she had 6 assists, including some pretty ones.  Amber, on the other hand, had only 1 assist and five turnovers.  Her passes were sometimes a little too hard and fast to handle.  But her shot was on.  It looked to me as if Toni was the better point guard and Amber the better shooting guard tonight.

The officiating was the opposite of what we had in the C.a.l. games.  There was a long stretch in the second half where they called a foul on every single possession.  We wound up with three players with 4 fouls each, but I would not conclude much from that other than referee inconsistency.

Overall, on defense we played well, holding UCLA to 31% shooting.  (They average 42%.)  UCLA is not known for three point shots, so holding them without one is not a surprise.  Aleesia Brewer--the transfer from Tennessee--was a handful.  When she got the ball close she had an unstoppable hook. 

What of Stanford's recent offensive woes?  There were many hopeful signs, but the truth is that without Joslyn's three treys when the game was beyond reach, we would have scored below our season average.  The offense, in other words, was better that it has been but not great.  It is not a well oiled machine so much as a bicycle with a few squeaks.  Bonnie hit a three and Toni hit a three, which are helpful signs.  And breaking the press and getting some people not named Chiney into double digits is certainly a positive development.  Passing was better.  But we did have 17 turnovers, and while UCLA was worse, 17 is too many.

[81alum]

Tara shook things up a bit by starting Sara James in a three guard set.  The team responded with a comfortable win in which it dominated in just about every category.  UCLA kept it close for the first 11 minutes of the game, at which point it was 15-13 Stanford.  But our defense clamped down and UCLA went scoreless for five minutes.  Meanwhile Amber made two jumpers and a layup, and Chiney added two more baskets.    At that point Stanford was ahead by 12 points and it kept that margin or better for the rest of the game.

The crowd was smallish (3600) but seemed louder than the last two packed houses.  There were only a few UCLA fans there--quite a contrast from the Cal invasion.  Perhaps we Stanford fans were relieved to be having a seemingly easy game after suffering through the last two home games, and this inspired a bit more engagement.  But not only was Stanford leading the whole way,  there were many attractive and hustle plays to stir the fans and reward the faithful. 

Notable in the game:

--Joslyn Tinkle hit a three early in the game and three more of them in garbage time, going 4/4 from three point range, giving us an 86% three point completion rate.  That sounds surreal after our long range difficulties throughout the season. 

--Chiney had a double double with 25 points and 14 rebounds.  Better, she was 10/15 for a much improved percentage of her shots of late.  She was practicing her longer range jumpers before the game but mostly was scoring from in close as of old.

--Stanford broke the press nicely several times, though it sometimes looked labored and awkward. 

--The team had 27 made field goals on 17 assists.  Toni fired a pass to Chiney that brought oohs and ahs in the second half. 

--We out rebounded UCLA 36-25.  UCLA is certainly not Cal, but it did seem to me as if our bigs were going after rebounds with more intensity.

--Sara was 3/4 for 7 points in 17 minutes, and a number of outstanding hustle plays.  She acquitted herself well, although she did pick up 3 fouls.  At least one of them looked bogus to me.

--Amber's pull up jumper was excellent tonight.  She was 7/10 for 15 points and mostly only hit net.  She also had 5 steals.  Once she wrenched the ball right out of the hands of Markel Walker and took it the length of the court for a basket.

Toni seemed to play very well but her shot was a bit off.  She was just 1/7 shooting but she had 6 assists, including some pretty ones.  Amber, on the other hand, had only 1 assist and five turnovers.  Her passes were sometimes a little too hard and fast to handle.  But her shot was on.  It looked to me as if Toni was the better point guard and Amber the better shooting guard tonight.

The officiating was the opposite of what we had in the C.a.l. games.  There was a long stretch in the second half where they called a foul on every single possession.  We wound up with three players with 4 fouls each, but I would not conclude much from that other than referee inconsistency.

Overall, on defense we played well, holding UCLA to 31% shooting.  (They average 42%.)  UCLA is not known for three point shots, so holding them without one is not a surprise.  Aleesia Brewer--the transfer from Tennessee--was a handful.  When she got the ball close she had an unstoppable hook. 

What of Stanford's recent offensive woes?  There were many hopeful signs, but the truth is that without Joslyn's three treys when the game was beyond reach, we would have scored below our season average.  The offense, in other words, was better that it has been but not great.  It is not a well oiled machine so much as a bicycle with a few squeaks.  Bonnie hit a three and Toni hit a three, which are helpful signs.  And breaking the press and getting some people not named Chiney into double digits is certainly a positive development.  Passing was better.  But we did have 17 turnovers, and while UCLA was worse, 17 is too many.

[Viking_Guy]

81A-

Wrote this up in my own thread, but happy to move it here.

A few thoughts:

(1) I'm really not sure why UCLA was trying to play defense as it did.  It seemed like they wanted to go ball pressure player to player (for future reference, let's abbreviate that P2P), and not double Chiney.  They have a very good presser at PG Mariah Williams, who made life difficult for whomever was bringing the ball up for Stanford most of the night.  But you have to defend against the backcut, or the flash to the basket, or ... well, anything in the lane.  Stanford got good 1 v 1 looks inside for a lot of the evening, and Chiney took advantage: 10-15 FG, 5-6 FT, 25 pts, 13 boards, and a couple of nice assists to Sara James at the very beginning of the game from the high post or wing - where a lot of us think she should be spending more time.

The other thing you have to protect against when you're applying ball pressure is the drive off the pick, and tonight Amber Orrange feasted on it, hitting her nice pull-up 15-16 footer over and over again.  Don't know if she reads our comments, but her energy level in the first 10 minutes was definitely up.  Defensively, it helped that Mariah Williams, like a lot of guards we seem to be facing apart from UConn, apparently has no outside shot.  Amber was creating havoc by being a roving double-team, confident that she could recover quickly enough to deter Williams.  We may complain about people being hesitant to shoot, but Williams?  0-1, 0 pts in 20 minutes.

(2) Starters were Tinkle, Chiney, James, Kokenis and Orrange. Now that we know she's been fighting something, I watched Toni pretty closely.  She's definitely a notch slower, but to me, it seems more like a problem with her wrist or hand - she has a thumb wrap on, and a big knee brace.  That being said, she did okay tonight, although when Orrange left the floor midway through the second half with foul trouble, Stanford stagnated a bit because Toni seemed to be overdribbling.

Commentators were definitely playing up the hustle plays made by James, and there were some good ones.  But more than that, she just seems like one of those players that Stanford rarely has - the annoyingly effective player who doesn't have the flashiest moves or best athleticism but finds a way to contribute.  The kind of player you hate to see play against us - forearms up to block out so that Chiney could go get the rebound, trying to bang people on screens in the lane, and generally making a really effective nuisance of herself to the Bruins.

Chiney, played straight up for a lot of the night, ate up the Bruins defenders. But more than that, for a lot of the game she played defense on their best threat, forward Markel Walker, and made her look really bad.  Walker finished 2-11 with 8 pts and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes, and often seemed to be throwing up desperate shots - not desperation shots, because they weren't late in the shot clock, but wild improbably throw the ball at the basket attempts that rarely threatened the net.

Amber was good for much of the game, although there were lapses.  It helped that she didn't have a defensive responsibility for a lot of her time on the floor; don't know how much she was guarding Lemberger, who was a consistent threat, but Amber did end up with a lot of pokeaways, tips and outright steals, ending up with 5.  Of course, that was balanced by 5 turnovers, but against Williams and the rest of the Bruins pressing the perimeter, that's less horrible than it may seem.

Which leaves Joslyn.  For a lot of the game, she seemed to be the only one missing from the gameplan.  In terms of someone not playing hard and aggressively, I found her the poster child tonight - she had a lot of open looks at bunnies and hit the underside of the rim, gave up a couple of easy and-1 opportunities with slap at the ball fouls that did very little to deter the shot from going up, and in general looked as she has for the last month and a half.

And then she hit 4 three-pointers in a row.

The first, about 2 minutes into the second half, was pure.  Late in the shot clock from the right wing.  She missed a couple of short jumpers and putbacks, hit a nice layup off an assist from Sara, but then with a little under two minutes lefts, another long one rattled in (and I mean RATTLED, as in off iron high in the air, then twice more before settling through).  Feeling it, the next two times she launched with little hesitation, and nailed two more to give her 16 points and Stanford its final margin.

Bench: Ruef got some run, and had some nice defense and rebounding plays, as well as a couple of nice drive toward the basket and dishes to Chiney.  Made one of her own, but mainly in to bang with Alyssia Brewer, the latest UCLA massive power forward/center.  One play that I really was incensed by, even though it turned out well - middle of the second half, Brewer comes charging in after a offensive rebound and literally plants her elbow into the side of Chiney's head.  Stanford came away with the board, but no foul was called.


All in all, Stanford's defense, helped by yet another team unbalanced toward the inside and short game and really with limited outside options (basically Lemberger), held the Bruins to 31% shooting and about 30 points below their Pac-12 scoring average.  Continuing that defensive consistency.

Offensively, much better movement and flow helped by the Bruins chasing outside as hard as they did.  I would expect Michael Cooper's SC team to really pack it in and try to disrupt the flow as Kal did, by not leaving any room inside.

One thing more, in terms of offensive hesitancy on the part of Tinkle and Ruef.  A few times tonight, I saw an example of the issue I brought up earlier - their hesitancy to attack the basket after setting the pick.  UCLA was switching on the perimeter a lot, and several times, when Amber or Toni came off a pick by Joslyn or Michaela, the guard stayed with the pick player.  I saw them standing on the perimeter, with the ball at the top of the key, and the only player between them and the basket was a 5'6", maybe, guard in Williams.  Only later in the game, in the second half, did I see Michaela make a cut to the basket.  Would love to see both of them, when they get that switch, simply isolate and drive their defender down the lane to set up in the low block.  Especially against a team that was as reluctant to come out of P2P as UCLA seemed to be.


All in all, a nice bounceback win.  Hope they keep it rolling against the Toejams on Sunday.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

81A-

Wrote this up in my own thread, but happy to move it here.

A few thoughts:

(1) I'm really not sure why UCLA was trying to play defense as it did.  It seemed like they wanted to go ball pressure player to player (for future reference, let's abbreviate that P2P), and not double Chiney.  They have a very good presser at PG Mariah Williams, who made life difficult for whomever was bringing the ball up for Stanford most of the night.  But you have to defend against the backcut, or the flash to the basket, or ... well, anything in the lane.  Stanford got good 1 v 1 looks inside for a lot of the evening, and Chiney took advantage: 10-15 FG, 5-6 FT, 25 pts, 13 boards, and a couple of nice assists to Sara James at the very beginning of the game from the high post or wing - where a lot of us think she should be spending more time.

The other thing you have to protect against when you're applying ball pressure is the drive off the pick, and tonight Amber Orrange feasted on it, hitting her nice pull-up 15-16 footer over and over again.  Don't know if she reads our comments, but her energy level in the first 10 minutes was definitely up.  Defensively, it helped that Mariah Williams, like a lot of guards we seem to be facing apart from UConn, apparently has no outside shot.  Amber was creating havoc by being a roving double-team, confident that she could recover quickly enough to deter Williams.  We may complain about people being hesitant to shoot, but Williams?  0-1, 0 pts in 20 minutes.

(2) Starters were Tinkle, Chiney, James, Kokenis and Orrange. Now that we know she's been fighting something, I watched Toni pretty closely.  She's definitely a notch slower, but to me, it seems more like a problem with her wrist or hand - she has a thumb wrap on, and a big knee brace.  That being said, she did okay tonight, although when Orrange left the floor midway through the second half with foul trouble, Stanford stagnated a bit because Toni seemed to be overdribbling.

Commentators were definitely playing up the hustle plays made by James, and there were some good ones.  But more than that, she just seems like one of those players that Stanford rarely has - the annoyingly effective player who doesn't have the flashiest moves or best athleticism but finds a way to contribute.  The kind of player you hate to see play against us - forearms up to block out so that Chiney could go get the rebound, trying to bang people on screens in the lane, and generally making a really effective nuisance of herself to the Bruins.

Chiney, played straight up for a lot of the night, ate up the Bruins defenders. But more than that, for a lot of the game she played defense on their best threat, forward Markel Walker, and made her look really bad.  Walker finished 2-11 with 8 pts and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes, and often seemed to be throwing up desperate shots - not desperation shots, because they weren't late in the shot clock, but wild improbably throw the ball at the basket attempts that rarely threatened the net.

Amber was good for much of the game, although there were lapses.  It helped that she didn't have a defensive responsibility for a lot of her time on the floor; don't know how much she was guarding Lemberger, who was a consistent threat, but Amber did end up with a lot of pokeaways, tips and outright steals, ending up with 5.  Of course, that was balanced by 5 turnovers, but against Williams and the rest of the Bruins pressing the perimeter, that's less horrible than it may seem.

Which leaves Joslyn.  For a lot of the game, she seemed to be the only one missing from the gameplan.  In terms of someone not playing hard and aggressively, I found her the poster child tonight - she had a lot of open looks at bunnies and hit the underside of the rim, gave up a couple of easy and-1 opportunities with slap at the ball fouls that did very little to deter the shot from going up, and in general looked as she has for the last month and a half.

And then she hit 4 three-pointers in a row.

The first, about 2 minutes into the second half, was pure.  Late in the shot clock from the right wing.  She missed a couple of short jumpers and putbacks, hit a nice layup off an assist from Sara, but then with a little under two minutes lefts, another long one rattled in (and I mean RATTLED, as in off iron high in the air, then twice more before settling through).  Feeling it, the next two times she launched with little hesitation, and nailed two more to give her 16 points and Stanford its final margin.

Bench: Ruef got some run, and had some nice defense and rebounding plays, as well as a couple of nice drive toward the basket and dishes to Chiney.  Made one of her own, but mainly in to bang with Alyssia Brewer, the latest UCLA massive power forward/center.  One play that I really was incensed by, even though it turned out well - middle of the second half, Brewer comes charging in after a offensive rebound and literally plants her elbow into the side of Chiney's head.  Stanford came away with the board, but no foul was called.


All in all, Stanford's defense, helped by yet another team unbalanced toward the inside and short game and really with limited outside options (basically Lemberger), held the Bruins to 31% shooting and about 30 points below their Pac-12 scoring average.  Continuing that defensive consistency.

Offensively, much better movement and flow helped by the Bruins chasing outside as hard as they did.  I would expect Michael Cooper's SC team to really pack it in and try to disrupt the flow as Kal did, by not leaving any room inside.

One thing more, in terms of offensive hesitancy on the part of Tinkle and Ruef.  A few times tonight, I saw an example of the issue I brought up earlier - their hesitancy to attack the basket after setting the pick.  UCLA was switching on the perimeter a lot, and several times, when Amber or Toni came off a pick by Joslyn or Michaela, the guard stayed with the pick player.  I saw them standing on the perimeter, with the ball at the top of the key, and the only player between them and the basket was a 5'6", maybe, guard in Williams.  Only later in the game, in the second half, did I see Michaela make a cut to the basket.  Would love to see both of them, when they get that switch, simply isolate and drive their defender down the lane to set up in the low block.  Especially against a team that was as reluctant to come out of P2P as UCLA seemed to be.


All in all, a nice bounceback win.  Hope they keep it rolling against the Toejams on Sunday.

VG

[M T]

I'm sure the Stanford players were feeling better tonight. Probably so were the coaches.  Whatever was said, whatever was done during the week, the team showed up to play this week.  They deserve congratulations for their performance.

It's good to get a, well, I guess you could call it comfortable, win.  The game had highs that showed some possibilities for the team, but it also had its doldrums, showing we're not rid of the problems that have been plaguing us.  Overall, offense showed some sparkle, but defense again won the game for us.  We held a team averaging 72pt/game to 49.

The game started out with great energy by Stanford.  I hadn't expected the defensive effort at stealing the ball on double teams.  I guess if the officials were going to let C.al do it, then they may let us do it.  Unfortunately, Amber who played great early with ball-stealing defense, also had a number of early throw aways.  I'd have to review the video to confirm whether those were her fault (which I thought at the time) or perhaps a misunderstanding of what the receiver was going to do.

From about 9:30 to 6:30 in the first, Stanford had a 10-0 run to gain some separation, which it never relinquished.  We had a good start to the second half, scoring 11 points in the first 3 minutes, but then we stagnated and only scored 18 points in the next 15 minutes, but our defense kept them from gaining but 3 points on us.  Then we had the final shower of 3s to make the final separation.

Tara did keep her starters in until the bitter end.  It was a risk, but I guess she had her reasons.  They didn't keep pulling away, until the last 2 minutes.

The most glaring good stat was the 6 of 7 for 3pt shots.  But we took just over half our normal 3pt shots.  We had 1/3 more FTA than normal, but shot our average FT%.  It was our most fouls (19) except for the 2nd C.al game.  Third most TO (1 behind So. Car. & Colo.).  A crowd favorite were the steals (9 vs avg of 5), leading to a maybe-season high 18 points off turnovers.  Our Turnovers minus their Steals was high (10 vs avg 6).  63% of our FG had assists for 3rd highest of the season.  OR% was good (44%) while DR% was average.
For our opponents, tonight's game had season low in FGA(51) and 3PTA(2) and 3PT(0).  They had 50% more than average FTA.  Their 19 fouls was the second most for the season.  Their 19 TO was a season high.  Their 17 Points Off Turnovers was third highest for the season.  It's the 4th time we've had 6 FBP (season high) made against us.  It was the second time the opponents have only gotten 4 points from their bench.    One third of UCLA's points came from free throws!

Amongst interesting things to note is that Stanford did quite well during the 3+ minutes that Chiney was on the bench.  Six of Amber's points came during that time.

		Play		Bench	Flr-Bnch
Player	Min	NetPts	NetP/G	NetP/G	NetP/G
Camp	11:03	2	7.24	33.16	-25.92
Greenfield	7:14	5	27.65	25.64	2.01
James	16:48	10	23.81	27.59	-3.78
Kokenis	33:21	22	26.39	24.06	2.33
Ogwumike	36:27	17	18.66	101.41	-82.75
Orrange	23:34	24	40.74	4.87	35.87
Payne	3:28	1	11.54	27.37	-15.83
Picknell	1:06	3	109.09	23.65	85.44
Ruef	28:47	20	27.79	21.40	6.40
Samuelson	8:25	4	19.01	27.86	-8.85
Tinkle	29:47	22	29.55	15.66	13.89

Chiney, played straight up for a lot of the night, ate up the Bruins defenders. But more than that, for a lot of the game she played defense on their best threat, forward Markel Walker, and made her look really bad.  Walker finished 2-11 with 8 pts and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes, and often seemed to be throwing up desperate shots - not desperation shots, because they weren't late in the shot clock, but wild improbably throw the ball at the basket attempts that rarely threatened the net.

This made me look at some specific stats on Walker.  5'10" Sara guarded 6'1" Walker when both were in, for a total of 13:05. So Chiney & others guarded her about 24 minutes.  Over the season, she averages 31 min/game
Walker's stats

vs Sara	Otherwise	Season Avg
13 min	24 min	30.8 min
0 of 2 FG	2 of 9FG	4.6 of 11.7 FG
1 of 2 FT	3 of 4FT	3.1 of 4.7 FT
1 Pt	7 Pt	12.6
2 DR, 0 OR	0 DR, 2 OR	5.1 DR, 2.9 OR
2 Fouls	1 Foul	2.4 fouls
0 Assist	2 Assist	5.4 assists
3 TO	2 TO	4.1 TO
1 Stl	1 Stl	3.4 Stl

It seems at least against this one 3" taller person, Sara did a good job of shutting her down.  It could be a reason to use her, if hustle isn't enough.

Amber certainly had sparkling moments tonight.  Beyond the assists & TO in the stats, from looking in detail at the first 10+ minutes of the game, I would unofficially give her a steal when her player was called for a walk, and a half of a TO when Sara had to dive on the ball.  I only saw one play where I noticed she wasn't guarding where she should have been (abt 13:04).  In all, she played much better tonight, even if her TO and steals balance, and she had only 1 assist.

[M T]

I'm sure the Stanford players were feeling better tonight. Probably so were the coaches.  Whatever was said, whatever was done during the week, the team showed up to play this week.  They deserve congratulations for their performance.

It's good to get a, well, I guess you could call it comfortable, win.  The game had highs that showed some possibilities for the team, but it also had its doldrums, showing we're not rid of the problems that have been plaguing us.  Overall, offense showed some sparkle, but defense again won the game for us.  We held a team averaging 72pt/game to 49.

The game started out with great energy by Stanford.  I hadn't expected the defensive effort at stealing the ball on double teams.  I guess if the officials were going to let C.al do it, then they may let us do it.  Unfortunately, Amber who played great early with ball-stealing defense, also had a number of early throw aways.  I'd have to review the video to confirm whether those were her fault (which I thought at the time) or perhaps a misunderstanding of what the receiver was going to do.

From about 9:30 to 6:30 in the first, Stanford had a 10-0 run to gain some separation, which it never relinquished.  We had a good start to the second half, scoring 11 points in the first 3 minutes, but then we stagnated and only scored 18 points in the next 15 minutes, but our defense kept them from gaining but 3 points on us.  Then we had the final shower of 3s to make the final separation.

Tara did keep her starters in until the bitter end.  It was a risk, but I guess she had her reasons.  They didn't keep pulling away, until the last 2 minutes.

The most glaring good stat was the 6 of 7 for 3pt shots.  But we took just over half our normal 3pt shots.  We had 1/3 more FTA than normal, but shot our average FT%.  It was our most fouls (19) except for the 2nd C.al game.  Third most TO (1 behind So. Car. & Colo.).  A crowd favorite were the steals (9 vs avg of 5), leading to a maybe-season high 18 points off turnovers.  Our Turnovers minus their Steals was high (10 vs avg 6).  63% of our FG had assists for 3rd highest of the season.  OR% was good (44%) while DR% was average.
For our opponents, tonight's game had season low in FGA(51) and 3PTA(2) and 3PT(0).  They had 50% more than average FTA.  Their 19 fouls was the second most for the season.  Their 19 TO was a season high.  Their 17 Points Off Turnovers was third highest for the season.  It's the 4th time we've had 6 FBP (season high) made against us.  It was the second time the opponents have only gotten 4 points from their bench.    One third of UCLA's points came from free throws!

Amongst interesting things to note is that Stanford did quite well during the 3+ minutes that Chiney was on the bench.  Six of Amber's points came during that time.

		Play		Bench	Flr-Bnch
Player	Min	NetPts	NetP/G	NetP/G	NetP/G
Camp	11:03	2	7.24	33.16	-25.92
Greenfield	7:14	5	27.65	25.64	2.01
James	16:48	10	23.81	27.59	-3.78
Kokenis	33:21	22	26.39	24.06	2.33
Ogwumike	36:27	17	18.66	101.41	-82.75
Orrange	23:34	24	40.74	4.87	35.87
Payne	3:28	1	11.54	27.37	-15.83
Picknell	1:06	3	109.09	23.65	85.44
Ruef	28:47	20	27.79	21.40	6.40
Samuelson	8:25	4	19.01	27.86	-8.85
Tinkle	29:47	22	29.55	15.66	13.89

Chiney, played straight up for a lot of the night, ate up the Bruins defenders. But more than that, for a lot of the game she played defense on their best threat, forward Markel Walker, and made her look really bad.  Walker finished 2-11 with 8 pts and 4 rebounds in 37 minutes, and often seemed to be throwing up desperate shots - not desperation shots, because they weren't late in the shot clock, but wild improbably throw the ball at the basket attempts that rarely threatened the net.

This made me look at some specific stats on Walker.  5'10" Sara guarded 6'1" Walker when both were in, for a total of 13:05. So Chiney & others guarded her about 24 minutes.  Over the season, she averages 31 min/game
Walker's stats

vs Sara	Otherwise	Season Avg
13 min	24 min	30.8 min
0 of 2 FG	2 of 9FG	4.6 of 11.7 FG
1 of 2 FT	3 of 4FT	3.1 of 4.7 FT
1 Pt	7 Pt	12.6
2 DR, 0 OR	0 DR, 2 OR	5.1 DR, 2.9 OR
2 Fouls	1 Foul	2.4 fouls
0 Assist	2 Assist	5.4 assists
3 TO	2 TO	4.1 TO
1 Stl	1 Stl	3.4 Stl

It seems at least against this one 3" taller person, Sara did a good job of shutting her down.  It could be a reason to use her, if hustle isn't enough.

Amber certainly had sparkling moments tonight.  Beyond the assists & TO in the stats, from looking in detail at the first 10+ minutes of the game, I would unofficially give her a steal when her player was called for a walk, and a half of a TO when Sara had to dive on the ball.  I only saw one play where I noticed she wasn't guarding where she should have been (abt 13:04).  In all, she played much better tonight, even if her TO and steals balance, and she had only 1 assist.

[81alum]

VG--

Thanks for your great post.  Apologies about starting a new thread, it was late last night when I got back (I bicycle) and I must have been too bleary eyed to see a game thread had started.    Joslyn does remain a puzzlement to me.  If you remember in the cal loss she had that wonderful three point basket just after the expiration of the shot clock.  And tonight she had 3 of them when nothing was on the line.  She had the most radiant smile I think I've seen on her.

I wonder if she would benefit by some work with a sports psychologist.  She obviously has great shooting mechanics and all the physical ability necessary to be a great long range shooter.  But she needs some advice about how to do it when the game is close and it really matters.  It is almost as if she cares so much about her team, and is so unselfish,  that she won't pull the trigger and risk a miss unless she knows she can't do any harm.  And if she knows she can't hurt the team by missing, she makes it.

MT--

So we won by 26 points, but from your stats I take it that during the 37 minutes that Chiney was in we netted only 17?  That we netted 9 points in the 3 minutes she was out?  Was that simply Amber's best run of the day?

[81alum]

VG--

Thanks for your great post.  Apologies about starting a new thread, it was late last night when I got back (I bicycle) and I must have been too bleary eyed to see a game thread had started.    Joslyn does remain a puzzlement to me.  If you remember in the cal loss she had that wonderful three point basket just after the expiration of the shot clock.  And tonight she had 3 of them when nothing was on the line.  She had the most radiant smile I think I've seen on her.

I wonder if she would benefit by some work with a sports psychologist.  She obviously has great shooting mechanics and all the physical ability necessary to be a great long range shooter.  But she needs some advice about how to do it when the game is close and it really matters.  It is almost as if she cares so much about her team, and is so unselfish,  that she won't pull the trigger and risk a miss unless she knows she can't do any harm.  And if she knows she can't hurt the team by missing, she makes it.

MT--

So we won by 26 points, but from your stats I take it that during the 37 minutes that Chiney was in we netted only 17?  That we netted 9 points in the 3 minutes she was out?  Was that simply Amber's best run of the day?

[pepper1]

More good narrative from 81 and VG both!  Only a few things to add: (1) I thought the backdoor & back-screen plays they clearly set up for Sara at the beginning of the game, as well as other set plays involving players other than Chiney, were concerted efforts to get more of the team involved in the offense & to buy Chiney some space -- I hope the Cardinal continue this effort; (2) Especially in the second half, it was interesting to see how the Cardinal used Chiney extensively in a ball distribution role at the top of the key, leading to a number of easy baskets when either she or another player cut off a high post screen -- like VG, I like strategies that move Chiney off the low post & take advantage of her mobility/agility; (3) Agree that Jos seemed more floor-bound than usual but post-game interview indicated she had tweaked her ankle earlier in the week in practice ... still her ability to contribute more offensively (as she did early in the season) will be critically necessary if the Cardinal are to be any sort of threat in March; (4) rebounding showed a lot more consistent effort than in the Kal game last week, but it certainly helped that there was no one like Brandon on the court (who put up Rodman-esque rebound numbers on Thursday vs SC) ... after having the luxury of being a dominant rebounding team for the last several seasons, the Cardinal will need to continue to focus on this part of their game this season & could certainly use a second O-rebound presence to support Chiney (Jos being the logical candidate); and (5) I would just note a very peculiar officiating approach last night where the group inexplicably started calling any "touch" foul they could spot early in the second half, slowing the game a near halt (as 81 alludes to) ... it was as if they had received half-time instructions to start blowing their whistles like crazy ... didn't impact the outcome of the game but it was just strange.

After SC gave Kal a tougher-than-expected game on Thursday, it looks like Sunday may be an interesting game too, as we see what additional strategies Tara and staff have for breathing more vitality into the Cardinal O.  Last night's game certainly had a number of steps in the right direction.

[pepper1]

More good narrative from 81 and VG both!  Only a few things to add: (1) I thought the backdoor & back-screen plays they clearly set up for Sara at the beginning of the game, as well as other set plays involving players other than Chiney, were concerted efforts to get more of the team involved in the offense & to buy Chiney some space -- I hope the Cardinal continue this effort; (2) Especially in the second half, it was interesting to see how the Cardinal used Chiney extensively in a ball distribution role at the top of the key, leading to a number of easy baskets when either she or another player cut off a high post screen -- like VG, I like strategies that move Chiney off the low post & take advantage of her mobility/agility; (3) Agree that Jos seemed more floor-bound than usual but post-game interview indicated she had tweaked her ankle earlier in the week in practice ... still her ability to contribute more offensively (as she did early in the season) will be critically necessary if the Cardinal are to be any sort of threat in March; (4) rebounding showed a lot more consistent effort than in the Kal game last week, but it certainly helped that there was no one like Brandon on the court (who put up Rodman-esque rebound numbers on Thursday vs SC) ... after having the luxury of being a dominant rebounding team for the last several seasons, the Cardinal will need to continue to focus on this part of their game this season & could certainly use a second O-rebound presence to support Chiney (Jos being the logical candidate); and (5) I would just note a very peculiar officiating approach last night where the group inexplicably started calling any "touch" foul they could spot early in the second half, slowing the game a near halt (as 81 alludes to) ... it was as if they had received half-time instructions to start blowing their whistles like crazy ... didn't impact the outcome of the game but it was just strange.

After SC gave Kal a tougher-than-expected game on Thursday, it looks like Sunday may be an interesting game too, as we see what additional strategies Tara and staff have for breathing more vitality into the Cardinal O.  Last night's game certainly had a number of steps in the right direction.

[Viking_Guy]

One more add on the positive side - I again saw the press break I like, one guard and two bigs in the back court, then a guard on the wing in the offensive end.  In this case, that was Sara, who hit a big in stride for a great transition bucket.  Later in the game, it was Jos out there, and she was late with the feed to a cutting Erica Payne in garbage time. The thing I like is that the guards are more natural in the final assist role, and seem more likely to try to take advantage at the end of the break.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

One more add on the positive side - I again saw the press break I like, one guard and two bigs in the back court, then a guard on the wing in the offensive end.  In this case, that was Sara, who hit a big in stride for a great transition bucket.  Later in the game, it was Jos out there, and she was late with the feed to a cutting Erica Payne in garbage time. The thing I like is that the guards are more natural in the final assist role, and seem more likely to try to take advantage at the end of the break.

VG

[M T]

So we won by 26 points, but from your stats I take it that during the 37 minutes that Chiney was in we netted only 17?  That we netted 9 points in the 3 minutes she was out?  Was that simply Amber's best run of the day?

In the 36:27 that Chiney was in, the scoring was 64-47 (+17 for Stanford).  In the 3:33 that she was out, the scoring was 11-2 (+9 for Stanford; 6 by Amber, 2 by Mikaela, 3 by Jos (at the end of the game)).

At 10:16, Amber came in the game when Chiney goes out. 
In the first possesion, Amber comes down the court, goes directly to the top of the key and shoots & makes a long 2.  We are in OK position to rebound if she had missed.
Next, she comes down, (it looks like she started to take a shot from where she hit the last one, but then she gets guarded) passes to Toni who feeds Mikaela at the block, who hesitates & then turns down the center of the lane and banks it in.  We are in good position for the rebound.
Next, Toni dribbles the length of the court & is fouled as she goes down the lane.  Amber gets the inbound on the wing. The other players have cleared out of the lane and Amber curls around and down the lane for a layup.  We are not in position for a rebound.
Next, Amber brings the ball down, goes to one side & takes advantage of a Mikaela screen to curl back near the top of the key & hits a shot from there.  We are in a weak position for a rebound.
Next, Amber brings the ball down, comes to the top of the key, and leads a flashing Jos by too much.  Turnover.
Chiney comes back in.  But continuing...
The next possession is a more typical possession for us with a good bit of passing, trying to get the ball to a good shot.  Chiney scores.
Next Amber steals the ball at the foul line and pushes the break and gets the layup.  We had a very good position for the rebound.

That's 8 of Amber's 15 points.  In that segment, it almost seems she prefers playing without having to bother with passing.

[M T]

So we won by 26 points, but from your stats I take it that during the 37 minutes that Chiney was in we netted only 17?  That we netted 9 points in the 3 minutes she was out?  Was that simply Amber's best run of the day?

In the 36:27 that Chiney was in, the scoring was 64-47 (+17 for Stanford).  In the 3:33 that she was out, the scoring was 11-2 (+9 for Stanford; 6 by Amber, 2 by Mikaela, 3 by Jos (at the end of the game)).

At 10:16, Amber came in the game when Chiney goes out. 
In the first possesion, Amber comes down the court, goes directly to the top of the key and shoots & makes a long 2.  We are in OK position to rebound if she had missed.
Next, she comes down, (it looks like she started to take a shot from where she hit the last one, but then she gets guarded) passes to Toni who feeds Mikaela at the block, who hesitates & then turns down the center of the lane and banks it in.  We are in good position for the rebound.
Next, Toni dribbles the length of the court & is fouled as she goes down the lane.  Amber gets the inbound on the wing. The other players have cleared out of the lane and Amber curls around and down the lane for a layup.  We are not in position for a rebound.
Next, Amber brings the ball down, goes to one side & takes advantage of a Mikaela screen to curl back near the top of the key & hits a shot from there.  We are in a weak position for a rebound.
Next, Amber brings the ball down, comes to the top of the key, and leads a flashing Jos by too much.  Turnover.
Chiney comes back in.  But continuing...
The next possession is a more typical possession for us with a good bit of passing, trying to get the ball to a good shot.  Chiney scores.
Next Amber steals the ball at the foul line and pushes the break and gets the layup.  We had a very good position for the rebound.

That's 8 of Amber's 15 points.  In that segment, it almost seems she prefers playing without having to bother with passing.

[TheWildJacko]

Great analyses! Thanks! One question: what is FBP?

[TheWildJacko]

Great analyses! Thanks! One question: what is FBP?

[pauloalto]

...  what is FBP?

Fast Break Points, maybe?

[pauloalto]

...  what is FBP?

Fast Break Points, maybe?