[SkiBum80]

Haven't had time to write up impressions, but will say that under Rueck, OSU has almost always been a tough out for us, save for the peak Jones years (which were also their slump years). They are close to our mirror image as anyone in the Pac-12, and Scott scouts better than anyone else (other than us) in the Pac-12. Last night was indicate of how they defend: take away your plan A weapons and disrupt your set pieces. I expected a low scoring grind it out and that's exactly what we got. And just as in most games in the past, we have more talent and eventually the talent breaks through, and Tara is better at second half adjustments. But this was never going to be the game we had 5 scoring in double figures.

In one of the many interviews Tara mentioned Stanford used a play they hadn't practiced, something added in to take advantage of how OSU was guarding Kiki (if I understood what she meant correctly). I wonder if that was a halftime addition or even more impromptu.

Interesting. Kiki was designated Pac-12 player of the week: https://pac-12.com/videos/stanfords-kiki...ed-nextiva

If you watch her highlight reel, on three straight plays you see Lepolo go inside and then kick it back out to Iriafen, who was left undefended by Beers, who remained firmly planted in the paint. Two of those were her awesome three-pointers. I did notice from 2Q on, Lepolo was pushing to get inside, sometimes to score herself, and sometimes to kick it back out to others. It worked well, and I wish we did it more in general, but it was definitely especially effective given that Beers was not following Kiki back out and staying at the post. So I wonder if that's what Tara had in mind?

Could be it.  Rueck probably decided to let Iriafen be a jump shooter but to make it very hard for her around the basket.  On many of her jump shots, the OSU defenders just watched her shoot, from a distance, like they were instructed to let her.  Analytics taken a bit too far, probably. 

Then there was that other funny formation in which Lepolo had it out at the top of the key and all four other players were on the baseline.  I don't remember what that resulted in, but it was the first time I had seen us do that.

Everybody has focused so intently on Iriafen and how much she's improved since last year. And rightly so.
But I wanna throw some kudos to Lepolo too who I think has improved a lot just since beginning of season.
She has become a much more versatile give-the-team-what-it-needs player.
She has shown she can (at times) knock down the threes, and so should demand opponents to guard her outside.
She can drive and put it up, or drive and dish to a big inside if open, or drive and kick back outside for open long 2 or 3.
She's really upped her assists, and has found lots of ways to get them, and has minimized her turnovers.
Harriel has flashes of brilliance (and mental lapses) but Lepolo has really solidified what the point position needs for this team IMO.

[SkiBum80]

Haven't had time to write up impressions, but will say that under Rueck, OSU has almost always been a tough out for us, save for the peak Jones years (which were also their slump years). They are close to our mirror image as anyone in the Pac-12, and Scott scouts better than anyone else (other than us) in the Pac-12. Last night was indicate of how they defend: take away your plan A weapons and disrupt your set pieces. I expected a low scoring grind it out and that's exactly what we got. And just as in most games in the past, we have more talent and eventually the talent breaks through, and Tara is better at second half adjustments. But this was never going to be the game we had 5 scoring in double figures.

In one of the many interviews Tara mentioned Stanford used a play they hadn't practiced, something added in to take advantage of how OSU was guarding Kiki (if I understood what she meant correctly). I wonder if that was a halftime addition or even more impromptu.

Interesting. Kiki was designated Pac-12 player of the week: https://pac-12.com/videos/stanfords-kiki...ed-nextiva

If you watch her highlight reel, on three straight plays you see Lepolo go inside and then kick it back out to Iriafen, who was left undefended by Beers, who remained firmly planted in the paint. Two of those were her awesome three-pointers. I did notice from 2Q on, Lepolo was pushing to get inside, sometimes to score herself, and sometimes to kick it back out to others. It worked well, and I wish we did it more in general, but it was definitely especially effective given that Beers was not following Kiki back out and staying at the post. So I wonder if that's what Tara had in mind?

Could be it.  Rueck probably decided to let Iriafen be a jump shooter but to make it very hard for her around the basket.  On many of her jump shots, the OSU defenders just watched her shoot, from a distance, like they were instructed to let her.  Analytics taken a bit too far, probably. 

Then there was that other funny formation in which Lepolo had it out at the top of the key and all four other players were on the baseline.  I don't remember what that resulted in, but it was the first time I had seen us do that.

Everybody has focused so intently on Iriafen and how much she's improved since last year. And rightly so.
But I wanna throw some kudos to Lepolo too who I think has improved a lot just since beginning of season.
She has become a much more versatile give-the-team-what-it-needs player.
She has shown she can (at times) knock down the threes, and so should demand opponents to guard her outside.
She can drive and put it up, or drive and dish to a big inside if open, or drive and kick back outside for open long 2 or 3.
She's really upped her assists, and has found lots of ways to get them, and has minimized her turnovers.
Harriel has flashes of brilliance (and mental lapses) but Lepolo has really solidified what the point position needs for this team IMO.