[bl82]

-No minutes from Kiki, which was a little surprising to me after the ASU game. It seems like she's settling in as the sub for Brink because the games she has played the most (Tennessee, WSU, ASU) are the ones Brink has played in the least. Whereas Belibi and Prechtel seem to rotate both in sub for Brink but also with her. Interesting to see how Tara thinks about her chess pieces. 

FWLIW, Kiki was at the scorer's table at end of 1H (with less than a minute to go).  However, there was no stoppage, so she did not get into the game.  Still, your surprise point holds.  

One other point:  AZ had scouted Stanford's O pretty well (no surprise, the same is true for Cardinal coaching staff).  But where I noticed it in particular is when Ashten took her one shot.  She sets a screen near 3 point line and then steps out to receive and shoot.  While Prechtel is stepping out, the coaches are waving arms and yelling at defender to step out on Prechtel.  It was particularly noticeable because all Prechtel was standing shooting right in front of AZ bench.  Prechtel missed and was soon subbed back out.  [Again, hard to play with confidence on such a short leash - just an observation].

One final point:  Tara called one offensive play that was particularly beautiful, imo.  It was the one "over the top" pass from left side three line to Brink under the hoop for an easy bucket.  What was beautiful about that was the set up that cleared away any help defense.  IIRC, the formation started with ballhandler above top of the arc, and the other 4 players lined up in a "box" formation that you often see in in-bounds plays underneath.  While the ball handler dribbles to left side at arc, JVG (in low post right) sprints the left corner and the right high post player fills at top of the arc.  That left no one behind/below to help on over the top pass.  Brink sealed her defender and then once nice pass made, it was just catch and lay-in.

Really well conceived and executed play.

That was a great play and the replay confirmed how JVG pulled Ware with her into the corner (also a matchup we will take any day), leaving the low post wide open. Just as JVG was headed to the corner, Cam, at the high post, pivoted toward the basket, put her butt on the defender and threw her hand up for the ball. It was a perfect lob and Cam had the ball in the basket before Ware could get back near the hoop and contest the shot. If JVG had not already nailed a bunch of threes, I think Ware might have let her go and hedged her bet with Cam.

[bl82]

-No minutes from Kiki, which was a little surprising to me after the ASU game. It seems like she's settling in as the sub for Brink because the games she has played the most (Tennessee, WSU, ASU) are the ones Brink has played in the least. Whereas Belibi and Prechtel seem to rotate both in sub for Brink but also with her. Interesting to see how Tara thinks about her chess pieces. 

FWLIW, Kiki was at the scorer's table at end of 1H (with less than a minute to go).  However, there was no stoppage, so she did not get into the game.  Still, your surprise point holds.  

One other point:  AZ had scouted Stanford's O pretty well (no surprise, the same is true for Cardinal coaching staff).  But where I noticed it in particular is when Ashten took her one shot.  She sets a screen near 3 point line and then steps out to receive and shoot.  While Prechtel is stepping out, the coaches are waving arms and yelling at defender to step out on Prechtel.  It was particularly noticeable because all Prechtel was standing shooting right in front of AZ bench.  Prechtel missed and was soon subbed back out.  [Again, hard to play with confidence on such a short leash - just an observation].

One final point:  Tara called one offensive play that was particularly beautiful, imo.  It was the one "over the top" pass from left side three line to Brink under the hoop for an easy bucket.  What was beautiful about that was the set up that cleared away any help defense.  IIRC, the formation started with ballhandler above top of the arc, and the other 4 players lined up in a "box" formation that you often see in in-bounds plays underneath.  While the ball handler dribbles to left side at arc, JVG (in low post right) sprints the left corner and the right high post player fills at top of the arc.  That left no one behind/below to help on over the top pass.  Brink sealed her defender and then once nice pass made, it was just catch and lay-in.

Really well conceived and executed play.

That was a great play and the replay confirmed how JVG pulled Ware with her into the corner (also a matchup we will take any day), leaving the low post wide open. Just as JVG was headed to the corner, Cam, at the high post, pivoted toward the basket, put her butt on the defender and threw her hand up for the ball. It was a perfect lob and Cam had the ball in the basket before Ware could get back near the hoop and contest the shot. If JVG had not already nailed a bunch of threes, I think Ware might have let her go and hedged her bet with Cam.