[Viking_Guy]

Ooof.

Well, that was the worst performance I've seen out of the women's team in a long time.  As in pre-Nicole Powell days.  I've never seen the lack of passion and urgency from a Cardinal team that I saw in those last ten minutes.  Oh, and Geno is still a punk - having your starters in with 3 minutes left up 26?

UConn did play great defense, but as people have said, so did Stanford - I would've been happy pre-game with the Huskies scoring 61 points.

The game pointed out some of the things we always gripe about, and I'm at the point where I'm not sure it will ever change.

First, Stanford, for whatever reason, will never be great against the press - for the reason we've said again and again: when they break the press, they then don't punish it AT ALL by trying to take advantage of the defense being out of position.  Amber and Toni would break it, or get it to Chiney at half court, and then simply STOP.  It's as if the press break is COMPLETELY unconnected to any offensive plan, to the extent that Mikaela Ruef was the best driving option we had after breaking the press in the game yesterday.  Twice she got the ball in a 3 on 2 at the top of the arc after the press had been broken, and twice she put her head down and went to the basket (albeit the first time only after the crowd started yelling at her to do so midway through the second half).  UConn was never made to pay ANY price for having three of their defenders at halfcourt or beyond, or at least not consistently enough to force them to change.

Let me put it this way - when every time the press is broken I'm screaming "ATTACK THE BASKET" and whoever is handling the ball is doing a slow dribble and holding up a hand trying to signal in a play, something's wrong.

I don't know what it is, if Tara's perfectionism intimidates our guards into not wanting to play a more open style (or we can't recruit guards that are strong in that mode because they don't want to play for her), or they and the coaching staff honestly believe that our halfcourt offense is stronger 5 v 5 than a 3 on 2 break, but for decades it's been a weakness of Stanford teams (witness oh so many heart-breaking collapses against Tennessee over the years).  I don't know of a short term solution, other than perhaps running the press break through the bigs rather than the guards (I remember advocating for Jayne Appel standing at midcourt against the press, given her height and passing ability, to take the ball and then try to hit a cutting or driving guard or wing player in transition).  But even when Chiney got the ball as a press breaker, she would simply hold it high and wait for a handoff to a guard.  At which point we had 15 seconds left to run "offense."

And that offense?  Well, it appeared to me in the first half that Stanford didn't recognize what appeared to be essentially a 3-2 collapsing zone look.  The space was always on the baseline and in the corners, and yet every play was initiated from the top, and almost never made it to the corner at all - it was toss the ball around the perimeter, set one pick at the wing and have a guard either drive into the middle of five defenders or try to hit a low-percentage floater, or force the ball into Chiney 1 on 3.  Oh, and have that guard be trapped down low and give up transition opportunities to the Huskies.  I didn't see ONE kick to the corner off a drive in the first half, but more importantly I did see the two uninvolved wing players sort of standing out at the three point line on the wing rather than moving to the space in the corner.  What kick outs there were aimed at those wing players - who happened to be standing where the 2 other defenders could guard them, box them out and help out in the lane if necessary.

No baseline screens for shooters?  No stack plays with Chiney and Jos setting a double screen in the key and then rolling to different spots?  Nope, nothing except slow dribble, toss the ball around the perimeter, then try to pull off the men's team "offense."

To be honest, I think the team came close to getting booed by the home crowd yesterday.  If they hadn't been quite so dumbfounded, it might have happened.

I was hopeful about the officiating because Missy Barlow didn't trot out before the game... and to be fair, it looked like a late-round NCAA game in terms of officiating - anything that doesn't draw blood is allowed in the paint, but god help you if you breathe on a perimeter player who is "driving."  Which again always redounds to Stanford's disadvantage, because driving is never the team's default option.  Again to be fair, Stanford has tended to have stronger posts than perimeter players (again, wondering if stronger perimeter players don't want to play for Tara. Think about recruiting, especially recently - Stanford's top recruits have all been forwards and posts.  Appel.  Nneka.  Tinkle (although Sara James was higher-rated, I believe). Chiney.  This year, Allyson Beebe.  Next year, both top recruits are forwards, and the guards are not nearly as highly regarded).  But it was really disheartening to have Chiney getting hacked around and banged every time she went to the basket without drawing a foul, when the same level of body contact at the other end resulted in UConn taking FTs.

I guess it all comes down to "players who can create their own shots" - or in Stanford's case, "players plus offensive coaching and systems that can create good looks for them."  Kaleena Mosqueeda-Lewis and other UConn players were always a threat to drive, but also could hit the step-back three pointer.  Stanford's players tried to drive, but when the open three pointer is not really a threat, the drive is much easier to defend, either by the primary defender or by help from others.  Take away Chiney and Bonnie, and the rest of the team was 3-31 from the field.  9%.

Yuck.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Ooof.

Well, that was the worst performance I've seen out of the women's team in a long time.  As in pre-Nicole Powell days.  I've never seen the lack of passion and urgency from a Cardinal team that I saw in those last ten minutes.  Oh, and Geno is still a punk - having your starters in with 3 minutes left up 26?

UConn did play great defense, but as people have said, so did Stanford - I would've been happy pre-game with the Huskies scoring 61 points.

The game pointed out some of the things we always gripe about, and I'm at the point where I'm not sure it will ever change.

First, Stanford, for whatever reason, will never be great against the press - for the reason we've said again and again: when they break the press, they then don't punish it AT ALL by trying to take advantage of the defense being out of position.  Amber and Toni would break it, or get it to Chiney at half court, and then simply STOP.  It's as if the press break is COMPLETELY unconnected to any offensive plan, to the extent that Mikaela Ruef was the best driving option we had after breaking the press in the game yesterday.  Twice she got the ball in a 3 on 2 at the top of the arc after the press had been broken, and twice she put her head down and went to the basket (albeit the first time only after the crowd started yelling at her to do so midway through the second half).  UConn was never made to pay ANY price for having three of their defenders at halfcourt or beyond, or at least not consistently enough to force them to change.

Let me put it this way - when every time the press is broken I'm screaming "ATTACK THE BASKET" and whoever is handling the ball is doing a slow dribble and holding up a hand trying to signal in a play, something's wrong.

I don't know what it is, if Tara's perfectionism intimidates our guards into not wanting to play a more open style (or we can't recruit guards that are strong in that mode because they don't want to play for her), or they and the coaching staff honestly believe that our halfcourt offense is stronger 5 v 5 than a 3 on 2 break, but for decades it's been a weakness of Stanford teams (witness oh so many heart-breaking collapses against Tennessee over the years).  I don't know of a short term solution, other than perhaps running the press break through the bigs rather than the guards (I remember advocating for Jayne Appel standing at midcourt against the press, given her height and passing ability, to take the ball and then try to hit a cutting or driving guard or wing player in transition).  But even when Chiney got the ball as a press breaker, she would simply hold it high and wait for a handoff to a guard.  At which point we had 15 seconds left to run "offense."

And that offense?  Well, it appeared to me in the first half that Stanford didn't recognize what appeared to be essentially a 3-2 collapsing zone look.  The space was always on the baseline and in the corners, and yet every play was initiated from the top, and almost never made it to the corner at all - it was toss the ball around the perimeter, set one pick at the wing and have a guard either drive into the middle of five defenders or try to hit a low-percentage floater, or force the ball into Chiney 1 on 3.  Oh, and have that guard be trapped down low and give up transition opportunities to the Huskies.  I didn't see ONE kick to the corner off a drive in the first half, but more importantly I did see the two uninvolved wing players sort of standing out at the three point line on the wing rather than moving to the space in the corner.  What kick outs there were aimed at those wing players - who happened to be standing where the 2 other defenders could guard them, box them out and help out in the lane if necessary.

No baseline screens for shooters?  No stack plays with Chiney and Jos setting a double screen in the key and then rolling to different spots?  Nope, nothing except slow dribble, toss the ball around the perimeter, then try to pull off the men's team "offense."

To be honest, I think the team came close to getting booed by the home crowd yesterday.  If they hadn't been quite so dumbfounded, it might have happened.

I was hopeful about the officiating because Missy Barlow didn't trot out before the game... and to be fair, it looked like a late-round NCAA game in terms of officiating - anything that doesn't draw blood is allowed in the paint, but god help you if you breathe on a perimeter player who is "driving."  Which again always redounds to Stanford's disadvantage, because driving is never the team's default option.  Again to be fair, Stanford has tended to have stronger posts than perimeter players (again, wondering if stronger perimeter players don't want to play for Tara. Think about recruiting, especially recently - Stanford's top recruits have all been forwards and posts.  Appel.  Nneka.  Tinkle (although Sara James was higher-rated, I believe). Chiney.  This year, Allyson Beebe.  Next year, both top recruits are forwards, and the guards are not nearly as highly regarded).  But it was really disheartening to have Chiney getting hacked around and banged every time she went to the basket without drawing a foul, when the same level of body contact at the other end resulted in UConn taking FTs.

I guess it all comes down to "players who can create their own shots" - or in Stanford's case, "players plus offensive coaching and systems that can create good looks for them."  Kaleena Mosqueeda-Lewis and other UConn players were always a threat to drive, but also could hit the step-back three pointer.  Stanford's players tried to drive, but when the open three pointer is not really a threat, the drive is much easier to defend, either by the primary defender or by help from others.  Take away Chiney and Bonnie, and the rest of the team was 3-31 from the field.  9%.

Yuck.

VG