[OCcardinal]

So, do you think Brink is playing more minutes because the games are closer, or are the games closer because she is playing more minutes?

Great question. It would take a far better basketball analyst than me to give you a good answer, but since this is a chat board I'll go ahead and share my view anyway.  I think playing Cam extended minutes is detrimental.  Here's some anecdotes that seem to support that view:

The two Pac 12 games in which Cam played the most minutes were also the two games with Stanford's worst scoring margins, USC and Oregon State.

USC
Cam's Minutes 35
Cam's +/- -2
Team Scoring Margin -9
Margin at end of 3Q -10
Margin Improvement in 4Q +1
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]26
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 19
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.73
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]10
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 5
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 0.5

Oregon State
Cam's Minutes 35


Cam's +/- -5
Team Scoring Margin +3
Margin at end of 3Q 0
Margin Improvement in 4Q +3
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]26
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 22
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.85
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]10
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 4
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 0.40

In both games Cam's efficiency rating dropped in the 4Q and in both games she ended up with a negative +/-.

Now compare that to the UCLA game, a game against a good team that was tight through Q3, but in which Cam played only 27 minutes:

UCLA
Cam's Minutes 27
Cam's +/- +20
Team Scoring Margin +13
Margin at end of 3Q +2
Margin Improvement in 4Q +11
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]18
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 9
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.5
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]9
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 16
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 1.78


As you can see Cam played only limited minutes through 3 quarters (18) and then she and the team were able to blow open the tight game in the 4th (a +2 margin became +11). Further, unlike the other two games above, Cam's efficiency in the 4Q grew (from 0.5 per min to a whopping 1.78 per minute). 

Obviously there are a lot of factors other than Cam's minutes that impact the outcome of games. But anecdotally, I am not seeing evidence that the team is better off in playing Cam extended minutes in tight games.  Of course a tight game can end up a blowout loss without Cam out there, so perhaps that is Tara's reasoning. Alternatively, perhaps Tara is getting Cam used to playing extended minutes so the 4Q declines will not occur in the future.

---

So, do you think Brink is playing more minutes because the games are closer, or are the games closer because she is playing more minutes?

I think it's also partly she has been better at staying out of foul trouble this year - so she is available for more minutes

Her foul rate is indeed much improved, but I think that is a limited factor. Last season, Cam averaged 25 minutes in the five regular season Pac 12 games in which she had 4 or 5 fouls and 21 minutes in the 10 games where she had 3 or fewer fouls. Granted, committing two quick fouls in the first half could get her benched for a while, but there were plenty of games where Cam played limited minutes without fouls being a factor at all.

[OCcardinal]

So, do you think Brink is playing more minutes because the games are closer, or are the games closer because she is playing more minutes?

Great question. It would take a far better basketball analyst than me to give you a good answer, but since this is a chat board I'll go ahead and share my view anyway.  I think playing Cam extended minutes is detrimental.  Here's some anecdotes that seem to support that view:

The two Pac 12 games in which Cam played the most minutes were also the two games with Stanford's worst scoring margins, USC and Oregon State.

USC
Cam's Minutes 35
Cam's +/- -2
Team Scoring Margin -9
Margin at end of 3Q -10
Margin Improvement in 4Q +1
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]26
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 19
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.73
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]10
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 5
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 0.5

Oregon State
Cam's Minutes 35


Cam's +/- -5
Team Scoring Margin +3
Margin at end of 3Q 0
Margin Improvement in 4Q +3
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]26
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 22
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.85
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]10
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 4
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 0.40

In both games Cam's efficiency rating dropped in the 4Q and in both games she ended up with a negative +/-.

Now compare that to the UCLA game, a game against a good team that was tight through Q3, but in which Cam played only 27 minutes:

UCLA
Cam's Minutes 27
Cam's +/- +20
Team Scoring Margin +13
Margin at end of 3Q +2
Margin Improvement in 4Q +11
[b]Cam's Minutes thru 3Q [/b]18
Cam's Efficiency thru 3Q 9
Cam's Efficiency per min thru 3Q 0.5
[b]Cam's Minutes in 4Q [/b]9
Cam's Efficiency in 4Q 16
Cam's Efficiency per min 4Q 1.78


As you can see Cam played only limited minutes through 3 quarters (18) and then she and the team were able to blow open the tight game in the 4th (a +2 margin became +11). Further, unlike the other two games above, Cam's efficiency in the 4Q grew (from 0.5 per min to a whopping 1.78 per minute). 

Obviously there are a lot of factors other than Cam's minutes that impact the outcome of games. But anecdotally, I am not seeing evidence that the team is better off in playing Cam extended minutes in tight games.  Of course a tight game can end up a blowout loss without Cam out there, so perhaps that is Tara's reasoning. Alternatively, perhaps Tara is getting Cam used to playing extended minutes so the 4Q declines will not occur in the future.

---

So, do you think Brink is playing more minutes because the games are closer, or are the games closer because she is playing more minutes?

I think it's also partly she has been better at staying out of foul trouble this year - so she is available for more minutes

Her foul rate is indeed much improved, but I think that is a limited factor. Last season, Cam averaged 25 minutes in the five regular season Pac 12 games in which she had 4 or 5 fouls and 21 minutes in the 10 games where she had 3 or fewer fouls. Granted, committing two quick fouls in the first half could get her benched for a while, but there were plenty of games where Cam played limited minutes without fouls being a factor at all.