[AndyCardinal03]

I watched the first half last night before heading to bed here on the East Coast, my first chance to see this year's team in any fashion. I found lots to be excited about up and down the roster, with the usual early-season caveats applied. (I don't know if you all remember, but we were feeling pretty good about last year's team through early December, up to and including that heartbreaking loss in OT to LSU.)

One of my biggest takeaways from this game and the exhibition is that we're starting the season with a clearly defined 9-player rotation, and that includes 3 freshmen, 2 of whom are starters. All of that feels like a big departure from the last few Tara years. And, like others, I'm pretty excited to see Swain, Somfai, & Eschmeyer take on such big roles from the start. That feels like a welcome evolution in Stanford Women's Basketball and an area we've been lagging behind other top programs, especially since we lost Lauren Betts. 

All three players are way more physically talented than the players we've recruited in recent years. Swain is a strong and agile guard who wants to take the ball to the hoop. Eschmeyer is a 6'5" lefty who has a nice array of post moves already and can step out and hit a three - amazing! Somfai looks like she has the most well-rounded game of the 3, with the ability to shoot, dribble drive, distribute & post up, and - at least based on this one game - she looks comfortable being a late shot clock shot-taker/creator, which is something we haven't had in a long time (besides one season of Kiki?). I don't know if they're going to hold up defensively against better teams - is Somfai quick enough, can Eschmeyer move from the perimeter to the rim without reaching and fouling, can Swain keep smaller guards in front? We'll have to wait on those answer until we see better opponents. 

When you pair those 3 with Nunu and Clardy, both of whom are above average conference players, now we have a core. Rebounding looks like it's going to be a strength of this team, which was maybe the biggest loss of the Stanford identity for last season's team. Clardy and Nunu are both good rebounders for their size, and MAS is all about that when she's out there. She was great last night, but I think she's the type of player who looks good against the Greensboro's of the world; I do like her as the 8th/9th person on the roster. I continue to be a Talana doubter; she had one really good contribution last night, which is that she passes the ball well (quickly & accurately) from the backcourt to the front court. But she's not a great half-court point guard because she reduces the spacing on the floor and is not great with entry passes & I think she's a below average defender even when fully healthy. I would much prefer to see Clardy and Swain start together, but if Clardy gets more minutes, then it's not a big issue and will probably sort itself out over the course of the season. 

I think there's a lot of potential here and more depth than I expected (Ogden is a fine glue player, which is less than we expected when we recruited her, but still valuable). If we have some injuries - like last year - we might be able to keep our heads above water. Do we think Umeh is a little banged up, or just not worthy of seeing time on the floor? 

The early season schedule is pretty soft, so hopefully by the time we get to January this team is ready to execute good half court offense and quality late-game decision-making - that's the stuff that a young team is going to struggle with against quality opposition and on the road, and what I think will ultimately decide whether we finish in the top half of the conference or not.

[AndyCardinal03]

I watched the first half last night before heading to bed here on the East Coast, my first chance to see this year's team in any fashion. I found lots to be excited about up and down the roster, with the usual early-season caveats applied. (I don't know if you all remember, but we were feeling pretty good about last year's team through early December, up to and including that heartbreaking loss in OT to LSU.)

One of my biggest takeaways from this game and the exhibition is that we're starting the season with a clearly defined 9-player rotation, and that includes 3 freshmen, 2 of whom are starters. All of that feels like a big departure from the last few Tara years. And, like others, I'm pretty excited to see Swain, Somfai, & Eschmeyer take on such big roles from the start. That feels like a welcome evolution in Stanford Women's Basketball and an area we've been lagging behind other top programs, especially since we lost Lauren Betts. 

All three players are way more physically talented than the players we've recruited in recent years. Swain is a strong and agile guard who wants to take the ball to the hoop. Eschmeyer is a 6'5" lefty who has a nice array of post moves already and can step out and hit a three - amazing! Somfai looks like she has the most well-rounded game of the 3, with the ability to shoot, dribble drive, distribute & post up, and - at least based on this one game - she looks comfortable being a late shot clock shot-taker/creator, which is something we haven't had in a long time (besides one season of Kiki?). I don't know if they're going to hold up defensively against better teams - is Somfai quick enough, can Eschmeyer move from the perimeter to the rim without reaching and fouling, can Swain keep smaller guards in front? We'll have to wait on those answer until we see better opponents. 

When you pair those 3 with Nunu and Clardy, both of whom are above average conference players, now we have a core. Rebounding looks like it's going to be a strength of this team, which was maybe the biggest loss of the Stanford identity for last season's team. Clardy and Nunu are both good rebounders for their size, and MAS is all about that when she's out there. She was great last night, but I think she's the type of player who looks good against the Greensboro's of the world; I do like her as the 8th/9th person on the roster. I continue to be a Talana doubter; she had one really good contribution last night, which is that she passes the ball well (quickly & accurately) from the backcourt to the front court. But she's not a great half-court point guard because she reduces the spacing on the floor and is not great with entry passes & I think she's a below average defender even when fully healthy. I would much prefer to see Clardy and Swain start together, but if Clardy gets more minutes, then it's not a big issue and will probably sort itself out over the course of the season. 

I think there's a lot of potential here and more depth than I expected (Ogden is a fine glue player, which is less than we expected when we recruited her, but still valuable). If we have some injuries - like last year - we might be able to keep our heads above water. Do we think Umeh is a little banged up, or just not worthy of seeing time on the floor? 

The early season schedule is pretty soft, so hopefully by the time we get to January this team is ready to execute good half court offense and quality late-game decision-making - that's the stuff that a young team is going to struggle with against quality opposition and on the road, and what I think will ultimately decide whether we finish in the top half of the conference or not.