[chimera]

“This thread makes me a bit sad.”

You shouldn’t be but we all have different POVs. In sports, I like when people don’t see the world as I do and push back. It’s just basketball and we all have our different opinions. It’s not a cheer squad and I think everyone here wants the team to live up to and surpass their #2 ranking while a player as talented as Haley is still here. I’d love to be wrong about Lepolo and Agnes. I got enthusiastic push back on my quick judgment on Agnes after the Vanguard game too. I didn’t take offense or get the sads. Though not too much push back after San Diego. I lean heavily into first impressions and very rarely does something unpredictable happen. I am open to it.

“Nor do I see the point of complaining about what Tara may or may not do with the point guards . . .”

Why not? It’s just a fan board and like other fan boards the fun is in the speculation. Tara is not infallible and like most humans, she has her patterns - most are good, some are bad.

“As for Lepolo being a non-shooter or not, does anyone remember that last year we were worried about basically the same things - who would play point guard and if we played Lacie Hull and Wilson together would their lack of offense be a problem.”

Am I the only one that watched Tara’s postgame interview after the UConn loss? But beyond that, Lacie was never a reluctant shooter; she was just spending so much time learning a new position that she wasn’t able to focus on her strengths - 3pt shooting and lockdown defense (I’d argue she was a good as her sister on defense before last year but fell off a lot with split focus (still better than everyone else on perimeter defense except Lexie)). Sahil Bloom would say she and Anna were operating outside of their “zone of genius.”

 “She doesn't have to be a big scorer.”

Yes she does if other good coaches say, “Haley, Cam and Hannah will not beat me, so I will make sure that Lepolo and Agnes take every offensive shot.”

I don't have a problem with different opinions generally, but it bugs me when a player gets labeled in a negative way prematurely, so I tend to push back.  You've been on Lepolo from the start - the inverted thing and now the no offense thing. If you don't like her as a player, that's your prerogative. It seems to me you are looking to find fault with her.  If you think you can accurately judge how a freshman will develop based on one exhibition and one blow-out game, well I disagree strongly.  I can recall a whole lot of freshman who looked really bad early in their freshman seasons who became excellent players, some fairly quickly.  Will Lepolo be a decent scoring point guard?  I don't know.  I don't think there is any way to know one way or the other for fans, although if we saw practices we might have a better idea.  

As for Emma-Nnopu, I am not sold on her at the 2 either.  I am basing that on watching her for the past two seasons plus the Vanguard and SDSU games, but I am also allowing that it is very early and she may improve significantly.  She has a new role this season.  It is early.  Some players need time to settle in, some do not.  I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt early on, but of course YMMV.

Lacie Hull never averaged more than 5 points per game in her Stanford career and neither did Anna Wilson, despite both of them getting pretty big minutes and having plenty of opportunities to score more.  I loved both of them for their defense, grit, and overall hustle, but offensive juggernauts they were not.  So if we can start both of them together and make the F4 why exactly do we need to worry over what Lepolo might do on offense (especially when we really don't know what sort of offensive threat she may be now or may become)?  Why do we need to worry about 5'7" Lepolo getting "inverted" when we did not have to worry about 5'8" Kiana Williams for the same reason?

[chimera]

“This thread makes me a bit sad.”

You shouldn’t be but we all have different POVs. In sports, I like when people don’t see the world as I do and push back. It’s just basketball and we all have our different opinions. It’s not a cheer squad and I think everyone here wants the team to live up to and surpass their #2 ranking while a player as talented as Haley is still here. I’d love to be wrong about Lepolo and Agnes. I got enthusiastic push back on my quick judgment on Agnes after the Vanguard game too. I didn’t take offense or get the sads. Though not too much push back after San Diego. I lean heavily into first impressions and very rarely does something unpredictable happen. I am open to it.

“Nor do I see the point of complaining about what Tara may or may not do with the point guards . . .”

Why not? It’s just a fan board and like other fan boards the fun is in the speculation. Tara is not infallible and like most humans, she has her patterns - most are good, some are bad.

“As for Lepolo being a non-shooter or not, does anyone remember that last year we were worried about basically the same things - who would play point guard and if we played Lacie Hull and Wilson together would their lack of offense be a problem.”

Am I the only one that watched Tara’s postgame interview after the UConn loss? But beyond that, Lacie was never a reluctant shooter; she was just spending so much time learning a new position that she wasn’t able to focus on her strengths - 3pt shooting and lockdown defense (I’d argue she was a good as her sister on defense before last year but fell off a lot with split focus (still better than everyone else on perimeter defense except Lexie)). Sahil Bloom would say she and Anna were operating outside of their “zone of genius.”

 “She doesn't have to be a big scorer.”

Yes she does if other good coaches say, “Haley, Cam and Hannah will not beat me, so I will make sure that Lepolo and Agnes take every offensive shot.”

I don't have a problem with different opinions generally, but it bugs me when a player gets labeled in a negative way prematurely, so I tend to push back.  You've been on Lepolo from the start - the inverted thing and now the no offense thing. If you don't like her as a player, that's your prerogative. It seems to me you are looking to find fault with her.  If you think you can accurately judge how a freshman will develop based on one exhibition and one blow-out game, well I disagree strongly.  I can recall a whole lot of freshman who looked really bad early in their freshman seasons who became excellent players, some fairly quickly.  Will Lepolo be a decent scoring point guard?  I don't know.  I don't think there is any way to know one way or the other for fans, although if we saw practices we might have a better idea.  

As for Emma-Nnopu, I am not sold on her at the 2 either.  I am basing that on watching her for the past two seasons plus the Vanguard and SDSU games, but I am also allowing that it is very early and she may improve significantly.  She has a new role this season.  It is early.  Some players need time to settle in, some do not.  I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt early on, but of course YMMV.

Lacie Hull never averaged more than 5 points per game in her Stanford career and neither did Anna Wilson, despite both of them getting pretty big minutes and having plenty of opportunities to score more.  I loved both of them for their defense, grit, and overall hustle, but offensive juggernauts they were not.  So if we can start both of them together and make the F4 why exactly do we need to worry over what Lepolo might do on offense (especially when we really don't know what sort of offensive threat she may be now or may become)?  Why do we need to worry about 5'7" Lepolo getting "inverted" when we did not have to worry about 5'8" Kiana Williams for the same reason?