Preview:
Stanford, coming off a remarkable win over Le Moyne--in which we set a school record with 18 treys--now takes on a team that will be a little closer to us in skill and size. That would be our old Pac 12 opponent WSU. Granted, WSU has never won a game against Stanford in scores of tries, but sooner or later it will happen, and I always hope it will be later.
We last played WSU on February 11 in Pullman, a game we won 73-58. But throw out anything we might have learned from that game. Our roster is radically different. We no longer have Jump, Brink, and Iriafen, and WSU has lost Murakatete--remember that confrontation? WSU returns most of its starters, however, including 6'2" Canadian Tara Wallack, 5'8" Italian guard Elenora Villa, and sparkplug guard 5'9" Astera Tuhina.
WSU opened against a terrific neighboring team--Eastern Washington, and narrowly won in overtime. Eastern Washington also took Gonzaga to overtime last year, and is a perennial top mid level team, so this is a good win for WSU. Wallack had 22 points, mostly inside, and seem to have taken a step up since last season. Tuhina and Villa also were in double digits, as was freshman guard Charlotte Abraham--from France, just about completing the United Nations distribution of the team.
WSU is not a big team, but then again neither are we. Demetre will need to defend Wallack, and we will need several good defensive guards to contain Tuhina, Villa, and Abraham. The chess match really begins, and it will be fascinating to see how Kate deploys her chess pieces. Kate has been the mastermind behind the defensive scouting reports for years, so this will be a familiar challenge.
Stanford, coming off a remarkable win over Le Moyne--in which we set a school record with 18 treys--now takes on a team that will be a little closer to us in skill and size. That would be our old Pac 12 opponent WSU. Granted, WSU has never won a game against Stanford in scores of tries, but sooner or later it will happen, and I always hope it will be later.
We last played WSU on February 11 in Pullman, a game we won 73-58. But throw out anything we might have learned from that game. Our roster is radically different. We no longer have Jump, Brink, and Iriafen, and WSU has lost Murakatete--remember that confrontation? WSU returns most of its starters, however, including 6'2" Canadian Tara Wallack, 5'8" Italian guard Elenora Villa, and sparkplug guard 5'9" Astera Tuhina.
WSU opened against a terrific neighboring team--Eastern Washington, and narrowly won in overtime. Eastern Washington also took Gonzaga to overtime last year, and is a perennial top mid level team, so this is a good win for WSU. Wallack had 22 points, mostly inside, and seem to have taken a step up since last season. Tuhina and Villa also were in double digits, as was freshman guard Charlotte Abraham--from France, just about completing the United Nations distribution of the team.
WSU is not a big team, but then again neither are we. Demetre will need to defend Wallack, and we will need several good defensive guards to contain Tuhina, Villa, and Abraham. The chess match really begins, and it will be fascinating to see how Kate deploys her chess pieces. Kate has been the mastermind behind the defensive scouting reports for years, so this will be a familiar challenge.