I picked this team as an elite 8 team with at best a 50/50 chance for the Final Four, at the beginning of the season.
Ashten lost minutes to Brink her sophomore and junior year, but I've wondered why the pac-12 6th man of the year as a freshman isn't playing more minutes. Her defense and rebounding may have been somewhat suspect the last two years, but they are much improved this year-- and we need 3-point shooters.
Not sure what is up with the reluctance for mid-range jumpers. Demetre and Brink have hit them in past years.
Tara and her tight leashes on guards confounds me at times. Cissy Pierce didn't play a lot for Tara, but didn't she play as a pro for least 10 years? She isn't perfect, but she has the most victories in women's basketball. That is with her not getting credit for the team's 29 wins in 1995-1996 and Geno getting credit for 14 games he didn't coach.
Tara might be the 3rd best coach (depends on how long Dawn coaches), but I wonder how Tara taking a year off to coach the Olympic team affected Stanford's performance in the 1996 and 1997 final fours. I didn't start attending games until the 96-97 season, but how did Naomi Multitauaopele's injuries affect Stanford's performance in 1997 and 1998? Stanford got a championship in 2021 by two one-point victories, but if they score one more basket in the 1997 and 2011 national semifinals does Tara have two more championships? If JJ Hones plays her senior year does Stanford win in 2011? If Appel doesn't have a broken foot, Tara wins a championship in 2010. If Jamie Carey gets cleared by Stanford's doctors does she take Stanford to at least one more final four, instead of leading Texas to a final four in 2003?
Geno hasn't won a championship since 2016. What has kept his season this year from falling apart is he has two 5th year transfers who were player of the year in their previous conferences. Together they scored 39 of UConn's 84 points against Tennessee. One of them is Uconn's 2nd leading scorer, despite being the main focus of the defense.
Ashten lost minutes to Brink her sophomore and junior year, but I've wondered why the pac-12 6th man of the year as a freshman isn't playing more minutes. Her defense and rebounding may have been somewhat suspect the last two years, but they are much improved this year-- and we need 3-point shooters.
Not sure what is up with the reluctance for mid-range jumpers. Demetre and Brink have hit them in past years.
Tara and her tight leashes on guards confounds me at times. Cissy Pierce didn't play a lot for Tara, but didn't she play as a pro for least 10 years? She isn't perfect, but she has the most victories in women's basketball. That is with her not getting credit for the team's 29 wins in 1995-1996 and Geno getting credit for 14 games he didn't coach.
Tara might be the 3rd best coach (depends on how long Dawn coaches), but I wonder how Tara taking a year off to coach the Olympic team affected Stanford's performance in the 1996 and 1997 final fours. I didn't start attending games until the 96-97 season, but how did Naomi Multitauaopele's injuries affect Stanford's performance in 1997 and 1998? Stanford got a championship in 2021 by two one-point victories, but if they score one more basket in the 1997 and 2011 national semifinals does Tara have two more championships? If JJ Hones plays her senior year does Stanford win in 2011? If Appel doesn't have a broken foot, Tara wins a championship in 2010. If Jamie Carey gets cleared by Stanford's doctors does she take Stanford to at least one more final four, instead of leading Texas to a final four in 2003?
Geno hasn't won a championship since 2016. What has kept his season this year from falling apart is he has two 5th year transfers who were player of the year in their previous conferences. Together they scored 39 of UConn's 84 points against Tennessee. One of them is Uconn's 2nd leading scorer, despite being the main focus of the defense.