[MV72018]

I am really worried about turnovers and guard rebounding in this one. All guards combined had … 1 rebound vs. ISU. We have lived on our rebounding edge this year, but that has disappeared lately as last years team rebounding woes have come back in spades. We may be worried about NC St breaking on us and cede the offensive rebounding side of things like we did vs. USC in the PAC tournament final as well.

I thought the rebounding problems against USC were because we weren’t used to boxing out / rebounding with the junk defense we were using to stop Watkins.  We need Cam and Kiki playing 30 plus minutes to win.   Cam shooting and Kiki getting the o-board or vice versa is our formula for this game and all future games if we keep advancing.

At this juncture I regard Iriakin as far more of a scoring threat than Cam. Cam has no go-to shot that is reliable. Her O comes primarily from occasional short jumpers (like the opportunity Agara gave her by getting her the ball 10 feet away in the key against Iowa State), some putbacks, an occasional trey, and assorted spinning layups from the block, often becoming "and ones." I don't regard her turn-around one-footed shot as reliable at this point.

One key that I'd like to call attention to is the truly lackluster job our perimeter D does on closeouts. Our perimeter defenders get picked off screens and then don't recover in time to prevent open looks. Lepolo, Jump, and Bosgana are culpable in this regard. Look at the tape of the Iowa St. game and see how many open looks their guards had and where the defenders were when the shots were released. 

The reason I'm calling attention to that here is that NC State has a number of plays designed to get their perimeter shooters open looks, and not only by ball screens. They will even screen a defender so that the offensive player she was guarding can relocate ro the opposite side of the court, get a pass, and get off an open trey without a defender even being close. I hope I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised if Stanford was able to prevent many open trey looks against NC state. That could cost us. 

I've noticed one other disturbing trend: on many occasions an opposing player with the ball blows right past one of our guards because that defender didn't move her feet, was flat-footed, and almost stood motionless as the driver went by unimpeded a step or two ahead. Result? Cam or Kiki is the last line of defense and vulnerable to picking up an extra foul.

[MV72018]

I am really worried about turnovers and guard rebounding in this one. All guards combined had … 1 rebound vs. ISU. We have lived on our rebounding edge this year, but that has disappeared lately as last years team rebounding woes have come back in spades. We may be worried about NC St breaking on us and cede the offensive rebounding side of things like we did vs. USC in the PAC tournament final as well.

I thought the rebounding problems against USC were because we weren’t used to boxing out / rebounding with the junk defense we were using to stop Watkins.  We need Cam and Kiki playing 30 plus minutes to win.   Cam shooting and Kiki getting the o-board or vice versa is our formula for this game and all future games if we keep advancing.

At this juncture I regard Iriakin as far more of a scoring threat than Cam. Cam has no go-to shot that is reliable. Her O comes primarily from occasional short jumpers (like the opportunity Agara gave her by getting her the ball 10 feet away in the key against Iowa State), some putbacks, an occasional trey, and assorted spinning layups from the block, often becoming "and ones." I don't regard her turn-around one-footed shot as reliable at this point.

One key that I'd like to call attention to is the truly lackluster job our perimeter D does on closeouts. Our perimeter defenders get picked off screens and then don't recover in time to prevent open looks. Lepolo, Jump, and Bosgana are culpable in this regard. Look at the tape of the Iowa St. game and see how many open looks their guards had and where the defenders were when the shots were released. 

The reason I'm calling attention to that here is that NC State has a number of plays designed to get their perimeter shooters open looks, and not only by ball screens. They will even screen a defender so that the offensive player she was guarding can relocate ro the opposite side of the court, get a pass, and get off an open trey without a defender even being close. I hope I'm wrong, but I'd be surprised if Stanford was able to prevent many open trey looks against NC state. That could cost us. 

I've noticed one other disturbing trend: on many occasions an opposing player with the ball blows right past one of our guards because that defender didn't move her feet, was flat-footed, and almost stood motionless as the driver went by unimpeded a step or two ahead. Result? Cam or Kiki is the last line of defense and vulnerable to picking up an extra foul.