03-26-2022, 12:33 AM
Observations:
We win by a much bigger marginjust with better officiating and making our FTs. Got to say that I agree with Bill Bradley and his comments all around. Teejers is an outlier regarding the refs. We certainly did NOT get the benefit and arguably we got hurt more by the refs. But besides some phatom foul calls on us as noted byu othe posters, what ticked me off most about the refs was their too often stoppage of play, too long of stoppages, and the number of fouls called on both teams - they made the game choppy. From a fan standpoint, I didn't like it and I think it hurt us in the 4th and benefited MD. I saw an article on ESPN about the mens tourney and complaints about crappy officials. Part of the problem are the rules and part is the level of officiating is weak.
Bill B. mentioned ow our slow down in the 4th hindered our O and that affects out D too. He's right and also about it being the right thing for Tara to do. When teams do that it always disrupts the O and get stagnant. And since we didn't have Cam, our "security blanket" in the post and soomeone to put max pressure on Reese was not there. However, had we made our FTs, the slow down would have been less of a problem. Made Fts would have kept a comfortable lead, made MD hurry up and take bad shots, perhaps make MD make other mistakes.
Anna pplayed fantastic D! Tara highlighted it in the press conference as a major key to our win. OTOH, Anna probably had one of her worst O games in a while. Besides missed shots and FTs, I think she need to be more aggressive on O and her decision-making was not as sharp. Also, I ahve marveled at her passing all year and she wasn't as good tonight. Still on balance, I'll take that D over the O anytime. Still I hope she is more of a threat on Sunday.
Lexie and others not named Brink seemed to be short often on their shots, especially in the first half. Maybe some opening region nerves or slightly off adjusting to the travel and new arena. Brink however was absolute swishes on her shots. Jump had an off game. She was rushing her shots trying to make an impact and mosst were off balance. I want to see her get that corrected and rain threes on Sunday. I would also like to see Lacie be more of a factor on O. It's good that she playes her role and doesn't try to do too much, but I would like to see a little more either from 3 pt., drives, or back door cuts.
We dominated in stats except in fouls, FTs, and TOs. Cut down the fouls and TOs and be at least a little better from the line, and we will win solidly over Texas.
Noted in the press conference that Tara and players pointed out the values of our depth, diverse talent/skills in that depth, and the chemistry of our players. These were things I discussed in a previous post and I was happy that they confidently think the same, especially the chemistry because fans can't really know that, only guess.
Finally, I was very impressed at how gracious and good sportsmanlike that the MD coach and players were in the press conference. Our players are well spoken and bright and the MD players were equally so. I developed a liking for the MD players and they definitely weren't dumb female jocks, they could easily fit in with our Stanford team with their intelligence and character from what I saw.
We win by a much bigger marginjust with better officiating and making our FTs. Got to say that I agree with Bill Bradley and his comments all around. Teejers is an outlier regarding the refs. We certainly did NOT get the benefit and arguably we got hurt more by the refs. But besides some phatom foul calls on us as noted byu othe posters, what ticked me off most about the refs was their too often stoppage of play, too long of stoppages, and the number of fouls called on both teams - they made the game choppy. From a fan standpoint, I didn't like it and I think it hurt us in the 4th and benefited MD. I saw an article on ESPN about the mens tourney and complaints about crappy officials. Part of the problem are the rules and part is the level of officiating is weak.
Bill B. mentioned ow our slow down in the 4th hindered our O and that affects out D too. He's right and also about it being the right thing for Tara to do. When teams do that it always disrupts the O and get stagnant. And since we didn't have Cam, our "security blanket" in the post and soomeone to put max pressure on Reese was not there. However, had we made our FTs, the slow down would have been less of a problem. Made Fts would have kept a comfortable lead, made MD hurry up and take bad shots, perhaps make MD make other mistakes.
Anna pplayed fantastic D! Tara highlighted it in the press conference as a major key to our win. OTOH, Anna probably had one of her worst O games in a while. Besides missed shots and FTs, I think she need to be more aggressive on O and her decision-making was not as sharp. Also, I ahve marveled at her passing all year and she wasn't as good tonight. Still on balance, I'll take that D over the O anytime. Still I hope she is more of a threat on Sunday.
Lexie and others not named Brink seemed to be short often on their shots, especially in the first half. Maybe some opening region nerves or slightly off adjusting to the travel and new arena. Brink however was absolute swishes on her shots. Jump had an off game. She was rushing her shots trying to make an impact and mosst were off balance. I want to see her get that corrected and rain threes on Sunday. I would also like to see Lacie be more of a factor on O. It's good that she playes her role and doesn't try to do too much, but I would like to see a little more either from 3 pt., drives, or back door cuts.
We dominated in stats except in fouls, FTs, and TOs. Cut down the fouls and TOs and be at least a little better from the line, and we will win solidly over Texas.
Noted in the press conference that Tara and players pointed out the values of our depth, diverse talent/skills in that depth, and the chemistry of our players. These were things I discussed in a previous post and I was happy that they confidently think the same, especially the chemistry because fans can't really know that, only guess.
Finally, I was very impressed at how gracious and good sportsmanlike that the MD coach and players were in the press conference. Our players are well spoken and bright and the MD players were equally so. I developed a liking for the MD players and they definitely weren't dumb female jocks, they could easily fit in with our Stanford team with their intelligence and character from what I saw.