[stopandpop]

For all we know, the reason we lost to FGCU was the lack of a dedicated game thread. And no one can disprove that hypothesis - at least until 7 pm tonight. Here's hoping we ate our Wheaties this morning...

We still cannot disprove the hypothesis, so keep the game threads coming.

 BC

I'll start with the good news.  With about 5 minutes left in the game, and Stanford on the brink of letting the game slip away (as it had last night), everything changed.  I saw a Stanford team become tough and physical on defense (without fouling) and exceptionally determined to score every time they came down the court.  YES, it was still the troublesome offense Kate has them playing, but they were aggressive and they found a way to claw their way back in the game (15 straight points) and take the lead.  And then for Chloe to win it (from a drawn-up play- credit Kate), with a layup in the last 2 seconds.  Had Stanford played that way against FGCU, we would be 9-0.

But for 35 minutes, CSU controlled the game, defensively packing the middle with no space for Stanford to operate and then on offense, working their weave and finding mis-matches which  they exploited time and time again.

Two troublesome signs; Swain has become less and less a factor and I believe she's not comfortable playing in this offense.  Second;  Paye has Eschmeyer on a tighter and tighter leash for reasons I just don't understand. We saw Alex's potential in Stanford's first two games.  Coach Paye saw it; so did Stanford's other coaches- and then the leash got tight.  Her teammates didn't do Alex any favors tonight.  Twice she posted up and had sealed her defender and twice, someone throws a horrible pass- one gets intercepted and the other goes over her head and out of bounds. Does Kate really believe that Eschmeyer will learn and grow by sitting and watching from the bench?  I think not.  Sadly, we are seeing a replay of Tara and Lauren Betts.  We are a relatively small team without Eschmeyer in there and that lack of height and length will hurt this team as the season progresses.    I am now 90% sure Eschmeyer leaves after her freshman season.  

But I did love our fight in the 4th. quarter.

[stopandpop]

For all we know, the reason we lost to FGCU was the lack of a dedicated game thread. And no one can disprove that hypothesis - at least until 7 pm tonight. Here's hoping we ate our Wheaties this morning...

We still cannot disprove the hypothesis, so keep the game threads coming.

 BC

I'll start with the good news.  With about 5 minutes left in the game, and Stanford on the brink of letting the game slip away (as it had last night), everything changed.  I saw a Stanford team become tough and physical on defense (without fouling) and exceptionally determined to score every time they came down the court.  YES, it was still the troublesome offense Kate has them playing, but they were aggressive and they found a way to claw their way back in the game (15 straight points) and take the lead.  And then for Chloe to win it (from a drawn-up play- credit Kate), with a layup in the last 2 seconds.  Had Stanford played that way against FGCU, we would be 9-0.

But for 35 minutes, CSU controlled the game, defensively packing the middle with no space for Stanford to operate and then on offense, working their weave and finding mis-matches which  they exploited time and time again.

Two troublesome signs; Swain has become less and less a factor and I believe she's not comfortable playing in this offense.  Second;  Paye has Eschmeyer on a tighter and tighter leash for reasons I just don't understand. We saw Alex's potential in Stanford's first two games.  Coach Paye saw it; so did Stanford's other coaches- and then the leash got tight.  Her teammates didn't do Alex any favors tonight.  Twice she posted up and had sealed her defender and twice, someone throws a horrible pass- one gets intercepted and the other goes over her head and out of bounds. Does Kate really believe that Eschmeyer will learn and grow by sitting and watching from the bench?  I think not.  Sadly, we are seeing a replay of Tara and Lauren Betts.  We are a relatively small team without Eschmeyer in there and that lack of height and length will hurt this team as the season progresses.    I am now 90% sure Eschmeyer leaves after her freshman season.  

But I did love our fight in the 4th. quarter.