[M T]

Scoring only 53 points, Stanford missed having 4 players in double figures because Bri missed a FT in the last minute.  What scoring there was, was evenly spread.

5 minutes into the game, down 11-4 (with TO by Karlie(2), Marta, & Kailee),  Tara sent in Bri, Alana, & Brittany for Marta, Kaylee, & Karlie.  Marta started but only played 7 minutes.  I guess Tara thought her net worth (ball distribution minus TO & lack of scoring) was less than Bri's for this game.

The number of short shots (incl. FT) early in the game seemed too large for it to be chance.  These are young ladies that are in great shape.  I don't buy that their shots would be short because they played a game two days earlier.  Jitters?  Stress?  I don't know.

Any thoughts of pity for C.al having only 7 players were crushed when one C.al player threw a vicious elbow.  Fortunately, on a night where they missed so many shots, it missed too (an "air elbow"?).  Do you think it is the Berkeley water?  Is it that coach that encourages elbows and balls thrown at faces?  Or maybe, that's the kind of recruit she has to settle for.

While others on this board see a team struggling on offense, when I watch the team, I see 100% effort at defense.  They really are doing a good job at that.  Tara's coaching & preparation really shows there.  Anyone else noticed they're doing a better job at blocking out & rebounding?  At the offensive end, they're not releasing as early as before.  Against C.al, we got 9/34 (26%) OR and 10/44 (77%) DR, giving a slight edge (103 vs 97) in combined rebounding percentages.  But Stanford didn't get as many blocks as usual.



Tickets were $20 for general admission.  I guess Stanford's been taking lessons from the Warriors.  If the game is televised, the level of ticket prices doesn't change the attendance much.    Between PAC-12 televising games, Tuesday night start-time, ticket prices, and the weak season, this rivalry game only had attendance of 3268 (about 44% of capacity).  Well, it wasn't the lowest attendance of the year (only 2858 for the Friday game against UW and a couple of others back in November).  Any one know if "attendance" counts sold tickets (including season tickets) or actual people who entered the door?  I would have guessed it was less than 44% occupied.

With no legit top-10 team in the Pac-12 this year

Yeah, the AP is just hot air.  No way do ASU & OSU deserve to be in the top 10, nor do UCLA & Stanford deserve to be in the top 15.  They're just not legit.  After all, when you're used to being top-4 every year, anything less is just not worthy of being top 10. 

---
On KZSU, the sports talk show followed the game.  I admit I rarely listen to it, but they started off talking about the WBB game that just ended.  Thank goodness the host had a guest that seemed like he may watch Stanford WBB.  Among the errors by the host were a comment about how Lili really was productive on the Washington trip last week, a question regarding how Stanford, now 3rd[sic] in the conference, was in a place it hadn't been in a long time, and a note that Stanford will play C.al on Friday at 7PM at Pauley Pavilion.  He did sound like he actually watches MBB, but when talking about their last game, he mis-spoke and said that Stanford shot 12% from the free-throw line. It led me to reflect about how difficult it must be to talk about a sport one doesn't watch.  He is just a student and still learning.  I'm sure I would be much worse!

[M T]

Scoring only 53 points, Stanford missed having 4 players in double figures because Bri missed a FT in the last minute.  What scoring there was, was evenly spread.

5 minutes into the game, down 11-4 (with TO by Karlie(2), Marta, & Kailee),  Tara sent in Bri, Alana, & Brittany for Marta, Kaylee, & Karlie.  Marta started but only played 7 minutes.  I guess Tara thought her net worth (ball distribution minus TO & lack of scoring) was less than Bri's for this game.

The number of short shots (incl. FT) early in the game seemed too large for it to be chance.  These are young ladies that are in great shape.  I don't buy that their shots would be short because they played a game two days earlier.  Jitters?  Stress?  I don't know.

Any thoughts of pity for C.al having only 7 players were crushed when one C.al player threw a vicious elbow.  Fortunately, on a night where they missed so many shots, it missed too (an "air elbow"?).  Do you think it is the Berkeley water?  Is it that coach that encourages elbows and balls thrown at faces?  Or maybe, that's the kind of recruit she has to settle for.

While others on this board see a team struggling on offense, when I watch the team, I see 100% effort at defense.  They really are doing a good job at that.  Tara's coaching & preparation really shows there.  Anyone else noticed they're doing a better job at blocking out & rebounding?  At the offensive end, they're not releasing as early as before.  Against C.al, we got 9/34 (26%) OR and 10/44 (77%) DR, giving a slight edge (103 vs 97) in combined rebounding percentages.  But Stanford didn't get as many blocks as usual.



Tickets were $20 for general admission.  I guess Stanford's been taking lessons from the Warriors.  If the game is televised, the level of ticket prices doesn't change the attendance much.    Between PAC-12 televising games, Tuesday night start-time, ticket prices, and the weak season, this rivalry game only had attendance of 3268 (about 44% of capacity).  Well, it wasn't the lowest attendance of the year (only 2858 for the Friday game against UW and a couple of others back in November).  Any one know if "attendance" counts sold tickets (including season tickets) or actual people who entered the door?  I would have guessed it was less than 44% occupied.

With no legit top-10 team in the Pac-12 this year

Yeah, the AP is just hot air.  No way do ASU & OSU deserve to be in the top 10, nor do UCLA & Stanford deserve to be in the top 15.  They're just not legit.  After all, when you're used to being top-4 every year, anything less is just not worthy of being top 10. 

---
On KZSU, the sports talk show followed the game.  I admit I rarely listen to it, but they started off talking about the WBB game that just ended.  Thank goodness the host had a guest that seemed like he may watch Stanford WBB.  Among the errors by the host were a comment about how Lili really was productive on the Washington trip last week, a question regarding how Stanford, now 3rd[sic] in the conference, was in a place it hadn't been in a long time, and a note that Stanford will play C.al on Friday at 7PM at Pauley Pavilion.  He did sound like he actually watches MBB, but when talking about their last game, he mis-spoke and said that Stanford shot 12% from the free-throw line. It led me to reflect about how difficult it must be to talk about a sport one doesn't watch.  He is just a student and still learning.  I'm sure I would be much worse!