I was at the game, and I thought the refereeing allowed the game to be very physical. This contributed to a low scoring game.
As was pointed out, Washington State made little effort to get O-boards on long shots but sent players back on defense as soon as a shot was off. They still managed 12 O-boards in the game, but they mainly succeeded in making us play in the half court offense for the whole night. We still managed 6 fast break points and 30 points in the paint in what became a plodding defensive battle.
I am becoming concerned about our offense. What WSU did last night is similar to what Oregon and Colorado did. In 3 of our last 4 games we have been held to 61-66 points. Those totals are way below our season averages. Against WSU, we went from 82 in the first game to 61 the second. With Oregon, we went from 80 in the first game to 66 in the second. I think all these teams have figured out a formula for messing up Stanford's "beautiful basketball." Dawn Staley and JR Payne and Jeff Walz have each said as much on more than one occasion. Not only are they taking away the transition offense, there are fewer and fewer back door cuts as they adjust to our offense and learn how to defend it.
What Brink said in the presser was revealing--that she is scouted to go right and so she has been working on her left handed shots. But she is also doubled.
Not having Lexie out there probably made the WSU defense a little easier. It is not that Jump is easy to defend--but Jump is less versatile an attacker and can be defended with a more average defender than Lexie can. Add to that the fact that with Wilson and Lacie we are putting two players on the floor that are not perceived by the opponent as strong offensive threats and we have an offense that can be defended one on one, with a defender peeling off to double Brink from time to time.
Brink I thought was not aggressive enough on several occasions when she got the ball on the left elbow and had a single defender to beat to drive to the basket. I was surprised that she just seemed to refuse to drive, but wound up passing. Whether this is because it would have meant going to her left or something else I don't know.
In short, my worry is that our offense loses effectiveness as the season progresses and other coaches and teams become more practiced in how to stop it, and see more film from teams that have been successful on defense against us. Our offense overwhelms many teams the first time we play them, but the second time seems to always be a slog. I worry about playing some of these teams a third time in the Pac 12 tournament or South Carolina a second time in the NCAAs. Repeated matchups do not seem to favor us.
As was pointed out, Washington State made little effort to get O-boards on long shots but sent players back on defense as soon as a shot was off. They still managed 12 O-boards in the game, but they mainly succeeded in making us play in the half court offense for the whole night. We still managed 6 fast break points and 30 points in the paint in what became a plodding defensive battle.
I am becoming concerned about our offense. What WSU did last night is similar to what Oregon and Colorado did. In 3 of our last 4 games we have been held to 61-66 points. Those totals are way below our season averages. Against WSU, we went from 82 in the first game to 61 the second. With Oregon, we went from 80 in the first game to 66 in the second. I think all these teams have figured out a formula for messing up Stanford's "beautiful basketball." Dawn Staley and JR Payne and Jeff Walz have each said as much on more than one occasion. Not only are they taking away the transition offense, there are fewer and fewer back door cuts as they adjust to our offense and learn how to defend it.
What Brink said in the presser was revealing--that she is scouted to go right and so she has been working on her left handed shots. But she is also doubled.
Not having Lexie out there probably made the WSU defense a little easier. It is not that Jump is easy to defend--but Jump is less versatile an attacker and can be defended with a more average defender than Lexie can. Add to that the fact that with Wilson and Lacie we are putting two players on the floor that are not perceived by the opponent as strong offensive threats and we have an offense that can be defended one on one, with a defender peeling off to double Brink from time to time.
Brink I thought was not aggressive enough on several occasions when she got the ball on the left elbow and had a single defender to beat to drive to the basket. I was surprised that she just seemed to refuse to drive, but wound up passing. Whether this is because it would have meant going to her left or something else I don't know.
In short, my worry is that our offense loses effectiveness as the season progresses and other coaches and teams become more practiced in how to stop it, and see more film from teams that have been successful on defense against us. Our offense overwhelms many teams the first time we play them, but the second time seems to always be a slog. I worry about playing some of these teams a third time in the Pac 12 tournament or South Carolina a second time in the NCAAs. Repeated matchups do not seem to favor us.