[81alum]

I

[quote="RuralFan" pid='341754' dateline='1642441938']
I wish our players would be more patient on offense.  When we settled into our half court offense and moved the ball around the court, we usually got a good shot at the basket.  I also would like to see us exploit mis-matches until they stop working.  Utah could not stop Brink in the paint.  She could have had 40 points in this game if we would have just kept feeding her the ball.

That only works against the non-Final Four level teams.  One of our biggest complaints most years is settling for a half court offense that can't get the ball inside by passing or cutting.  Pass it around the perimeter for 25 seconds hoping to get an acceptable 3pt shot.  I noted that Wilson reverted to not pushing the offense during transition but would pull back and wait for the half court offense to set up (like cement?).  Utah & Colorado aren't the quickest teams, so we were able to win.   But transition is Stanford's strongest part of the game.

Brink is really good, but there are other posts that can push her around.   She's also vulnerable to getting in foul trouble.   Personally, I do like the twin towers (with good mid-range & 3pt shooting).  Against shorter teams, it can be deadly.  Against quick teams, it may not work.

I think this last game pointed out one of Brink's strong points of keeping the ball high on rebounds & shots.  Without their post in, up high was pretty secure.

One other thing that showed up in the game were the court-width passes (almost baseball style) on offense.  I cringe thinking about them as they should be easy to intercept.  But I guess Utah was dropping off the player on the opposite side of the court so they could clog the passing lanes to the players near the ball.

As someone pointed out, it seemed that Utah was knowingly circling around, weaving through the lane in sequence to choose which defender was on what player.  Kinda like doing the combination on a lock.  Get Jones on one player, now Lexie, now Brink, then attack.  They weren't looking for a Stanford misplay as much as they were letting Stanford defend as intended, but winding up with too many mismatches. (Like the game of Twister, you wind up contorted.)  It seemed Stanford was slow to undo those switches.

And, yes, Jump made a terrible decision to shoot in the last minute.  I'd be surprised if she ever does that again.

I think the challenge with our offense is that the only player who is a threat to drive and finish is Jones.  The other players might drive but everyone knows they are looking to pass and so the defense is ready to play the passing lanes.  This is part of the reason why we have so many turnovers.  Lacie driving is definitely going to pass.  Or player x on the perimeter is definitely trying to feed Brink the ball so Brink’s defender is ready to push her or try and poke the ball away.  I hope Wilson becomes more comfortable driving because there is no reason she can’t do it more. She is certainly quick enough to get by defenders.  She is athletic and strong enough to finish with contact. And she is a good shooter if she has to hit the pull up.  I think confidence in shooting the ball is part of the issue.  I hope Tara is telling her to drive and shoot more because it would open up the offense for others.

Lexie has driven a lot this year.  She usually does a long arc from one side across the paint and curls back to the basket on the other.

[81alum]

I

[quote="RuralFan" pid='341754' dateline='1642441938']
I wish our players would be more patient on offense.  When we settled into our half court offense and moved the ball around the court, we usually got a good shot at the basket.  I also would like to see us exploit mis-matches until they stop working.  Utah could not stop Brink in the paint.  She could have had 40 points in this game if we would have just kept feeding her the ball.

That only works against the non-Final Four level teams.  One of our biggest complaints most years is settling for a half court offense that can't get the ball inside by passing or cutting.  Pass it around the perimeter for 25 seconds hoping to get an acceptable 3pt shot.  I noted that Wilson reverted to not pushing the offense during transition but would pull back and wait for the half court offense to set up (like cement?).  Utah & Colorado aren't the quickest teams, so we were able to win.   But transition is Stanford's strongest part of the game.

Brink is really good, but there are other posts that can push her around.   She's also vulnerable to getting in foul trouble.   Personally, I do like the twin towers (with good mid-range & 3pt shooting).  Against shorter teams, it can be deadly.  Against quick teams, it may not work.

I think this last game pointed out one of Brink's strong points of keeping the ball high on rebounds & shots.  Without their post in, up high was pretty secure.

One other thing that showed up in the game were the court-width passes (almost baseball style) on offense.  I cringe thinking about them as they should be easy to intercept.  But I guess Utah was dropping off the player on the opposite side of the court so they could clog the passing lanes to the players near the ball.

As someone pointed out, it seemed that Utah was knowingly circling around, weaving through the lane in sequence to choose which defender was on what player.  Kinda like doing the combination on a lock.  Get Jones on one player, now Lexie, now Brink, then attack.  They weren't looking for a Stanford misplay as much as they were letting Stanford defend as intended, but winding up with too many mismatches. (Like the game of Twister, you wind up contorted.)  It seemed Stanford was slow to undo those switches.

And, yes, Jump made a terrible decision to shoot in the last minute.  I'd be surprised if she ever does that again.

I think the challenge with our offense is that the only player who is a threat to drive and finish is Jones.  The other players might drive but everyone knows they are looking to pass and so the defense is ready to play the passing lanes.  This is part of the reason why we have so many turnovers.  Lacie driving is definitely going to pass.  Or player x on the perimeter is definitely trying to feed Brink the ball so Brink’s defender is ready to push her or try and poke the ball away.  I hope Wilson becomes more comfortable driving because there is no reason she can’t do it more. She is certainly quick enough to get by defenders.  She is athletic and strong enough to finish with contact. And she is a good shooter if she has to hit the pull up.  I think confidence in shooting the ball is part of the issue.  I hope Tara is telling her to drive and shoot more because it would open up the offense for others.

Lexie has driven a lot this year.  She usually does a long arc from one side across the paint and curls back to the basket on the other.