More on the chalk talk:
Since Gonzaga, the two priorities have been teaching people to stay out of foul trouble, and improving our defense, especially against uncontested layups. My note: the two do go together some. When you are afraid of fouling you may not defend as closely as you should. Staying out of foul trouble allows you to defend better.
Bird acknowledged that we are a different team without our two posts on the floor, and that the back-up bigs need experience to come together with the team. My guess is that this is why Tara put Demetre and Agara out there for more than half the minutes today.
Many questions about next year and the travel arrangements. Bird thought we would probably have 5 trips east, each trip playing two teams. The team already sometimes flies on private planes and suggested that this would be in the offing to reduce travel wear and tear.
My takeaways from this game:
1) I eat my words about Davis not allowing high scoring games. Their defense was not the junk zone I remembered, but a fairly ineffective man. They did make it challenging to get the ball inside, but we are a different team when we hit threes, and we did, forcing them to loosen up inside.
2) The key to making this an easy win were those early made threes, especially since Lepolo went 2/2 and Bogana as well as Jump were on. We shot 50% of our threes, and so Davis had no defense. The credible threat to shooting threes is important not because we are going to score most of our points that way, but to force the defense to guard the perimeter and not sag off into the paint, freeing up room for Brink and Iriafen and drives.
3) How are we doing at reducing fouls? Not that well. Brink had 2 and Iriafen had 3, both playing a lot less than 40 minutes. Tara I am sure is upset at Brink's first foul, which she got poking at a ball at the perimeter and scrambling for the ball. In other words, Brink was overly aggressive more than 25 feet away from the basket. She seemed to acknowledge it and did not react with her usual astonishment when she was called. On the other hand, Brink did poke a ball away and took it coast-to-coast for a layup, so she is capable. But the risk/reward calculus probably indicates she should play more conservatively when defending so far away from the basket.
4) How is that defense coming along? Hard to know against this overmatched opponent, although Davis did get a fair number of layups and long time nemesis Turner nailed a bunch of very short step-back jumpers. A 40 point win is a 40 point win, but we did give up 8 made threes, which won't get it done against a more evenly matched team. Furthermore, the focus of our scouting report was no doubt Evanne Turner, and we gave her 17 points. She did play 36 minutes, so a lot of the time she was not being guarded by our starters. But still.
5) All 5 of our starters had good days on offense, I would say. Lepolo's threes really helped, and she had a couple of beautiful assists with no turnovers. Brink and Iriafen did what they always do when they can stay in a game. Bosgana had one of her better games, shooting well for 14 points but also rebounding and assisting. And of course Jump.
6) Agara and Demetre played reasonably well, with 10 points each. But the offense certainly was disjointed when neither Iriafen or Brink were in. It is not that Agara and Demetre cannot score, but rather they do not seem to keep the flow of the offense intact. I wish I could diagnose why, but both the stat sheet and the eye test agree on this point. I imagine they will steadily improve with practice and experience. Agara is a great talent around the rim and I predict very good things in her future.
7) Congratulations to Hannah Jump, Stanford's new 3 point leader. They played a nice message from Kianna Williams (the former leader) congratulating her, and then went to a recording of "Jump!" (is that Von Halen?)
8) Also thanks to Tara, for recording a tribute to Sandra Day O'Connor, that was played at the start of the game. Tara had an affinity for Stanford alum O'Connor, who was, like Tara, a pioneer for women's equality. Tara remembered visiting the Supreme Court with the 96 Olympic team, and Justice O'Connor took them upstairs in the Supreme Court building where there was a basketball court. As O'Connor put it, "the highest court in the land." Apparently O'Connor also played bridge with Tara's mom.
Since Gonzaga, the two priorities have been teaching people to stay out of foul trouble, and improving our defense, especially against uncontested layups. My note: the two do go together some. When you are afraid of fouling you may not defend as closely as you should. Staying out of foul trouble allows you to defend better.
Bird acknowledged that we are a different team without our two posts on the floor, and that the back-up bigs need experience to come together with the team. My guess is that this is why Tara put Demetre and Agara out there for more than half the minutes today.
Many questions about next year and the travel arrangements. Bird thought we would probably have 5 trips east, each trip playing two teams. The team already sometimes flies on private planes and suggested that this would be in the offing to reduce travel wear and tear.
My takeaways from this game:
1) I eat my words about Davis not allowing high scoring games. Their defense was not the junk zone I remembered, but a fairly ineffective man. They did make it challenging to get the ball inside, but we are a different team when we hit threes, and we did, forcing them to loosen up inside.
2) The key to making this an easy win were those early made threes, especially since Lepolo went 2/2 and Bogana as well as Jump were on. We shot 50% of our threes, and so Davis had no defense. The credible threat to shooting threes is important not because we are going to score most of our points that way, but to force the defense to guard the perimeter and not sag off into the paint, freeing up room for Brink and Iriafen and drives.
3) How are we doing at reducing fouls? Not that well. Brink had 2 and Iriafen had 3, both playing a lot less than 40 minutes. Tara I am sure is upset at Brink's first foul, which she got poking at a ball at the perimeter and scrambling for the ball. In other words, Brink was overly aggressive more than 25 feet away from the basket. She seemed to acknowledge it and did not react with her usual astonishment when she was called. On the other hand, Brink did poke a ball away and took it coast-to-coast for a layup, so she is capable. But the risk/reward calculus probably indicates she should play more conservatively when defending so far away from the basket.
4) How is that defense coming along? Hard to know against this overmatched opponent, although Davis did get a fair number of layups and long time nemesis Turner nailed a bunch of very short step-back jumpers. A 40 point win is a 40 point win, but we did give up 8 made threes, which won't get it done against a more evenly matched team. Furthermore, the focus of our scouting report was no doubt Evanne Turner, and we gave her 17 points. She did play 36 minutes, so a lot of the time she was not being guarded by our starters. But still.
5) All 5 of our starters had good days on offense, I would say. Lepolo's threes really helped, and she had a couple of beautiful assists with no turnovers. Brink and Iriafen did what they always do when they can stay in a game. Bosgana had one of her better games, shooting well for 14 points but also rebounding and assisting. And of course Jump.
6) Agara and Demetre played reasonably well, with 10 points each. But the offense certainly was disjointed when neither Iriafen or Brink were in. It is not that Agara and Demetre cannot score, but rather they do not seem to keep the flow of the offense intact. I wish I could diagnose why, but both the stat sheet and the eye test agree on this point. I imagine they will steadily improve with practice and experience. Agara is a great talent around the rim and I predict very good things in her future.
7) Congratulations to Hannah Jump, Stanford's new 3 point leader. They played a nice message from Kianna Williams (the former leader) congratulating her, and then went to a recording of "Jump!" (is that Von Halen?)
8) Also thanks to Tara, for recording a tribute to Sandra Day O'Connor, that was played at the start of the game. Tara had an affinity for Stanford alum O'Connor, who was, like Tara, a pioneer for women's equality. Tara remembered visiting the Supreme Court with the 96 Olympic team, and Justice O'Connor took them upstairs in the Supreme Court building where there was a basketball court. As O'Connor put it, "the highest court in the land." Apparently O'Connor also played bridge with Tara's mom.