[BillBradley]

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (compared to UCSB)

The Good
- Shooting improved dramatically (35% → 48%), despite tougher competition and playing away from home.
- Ijiwoye bounced back offensively (2 → 14 pts); Swain remained productive (23 → 21 pts).
- Sotelo improved her efficiency and cut turnovers from 5 to 2.
- Ezike showed some offensive promise (0 → 8 pts), shooting 4-of-8 against Arizona, although she fouled out
- Umeh also improved (1 → 4 pts) in limited minutes

The Bad
- Eschmeyer's production dropped sharply (13 → 5 pts; 9 → 4 rebounds).
- Tuhy's rebounding fell from 13 to 4, partly due to reduced minutes. The strong defensive ratings from her first two games also disappeared.
- Three-point shooting improved (17% → 25%) but remains a weakness.

The Ugly
- Turnovers exploded from 20 to 30, after already struggling against UCSB.
- Swain, Ijiwoye and de Vries combined for 15 turnovers.
- Just 8 assists against 30 turnovers, down from an already poor 9 assists against 20 turnovers.

Is there any reason for optimism?
- Stanford didn't face its first Power Four opponent until Game 5 in Paye's first season and Game 10 last year. This year, Arizona came in Game 1.
- That accelerated schedule coincided with the biggest roster turnover of Paye's tenure. Stanford returns just 26% of its scoring and 30% of its minutes, compared with 54% and 57% last season. Six of the 11 healthy players are newcomers, and there are no seniors.
- Last year's team also had a 30-turnover game against Tennessee but improved considerably afterward. (Though this Arizona team is no Tennessee.)
- Arizona's aggressive pressure exposed weaknesses early, but Stanford showed better offensive flow in the second half—at least until things unraveled again late.

So my verdict is TBD. There are legitimate reasons to expect improvement, particularly with so many new players learning to play together. But I have to admit, I was pretty discouraged watching that game.

I agree with much of what you said, but after starting so poorly, "improvement" should be a given.The question is, can we become competitive and make the tourney? Looking at KP's past 2 seasons, I don't think there's much chance of that.

[BillBradley]

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (compared to UCSB)

The Good
- Shooting improved dramatically (35% → 48%), despite tougher competition and playing away from home.
- Ijiwoye bounced back offensively (2 → 14 pts); Swain remained productive (23 → 21 pts).
- Sotelo improved her efficiency and cut turnovers from 5 to 2.
- Ezike showed some offensive promise (0 → 8 pts), shooting 4-of-8 against Arizona, although she fouled out
- Umeh also improved (1 → 4 pts) in limited minutes

The Bad
- Eschmeyer's production dropped sharply (13 → 5 pts; 9 → 4 rebounds).
- Tuhy's rebounding fell from 13 to 4, partly due to reduced minutes. The strong defensive ratings from her first two games also disappeared.
- Three-point shooting improved (17% → 25%) but remains a weakness.

The Ugly
- Turnovers exploded from 20 to 30, after already struggling against UCSB.
- Swain, Ijiwoye and de Vries combined for 15 turnovers.
- Just 8 assists against 30 turnovers, down from an already poor 9 assists against 20 turnovers.

Is there any reason for optimism?
- Stanford didn't face its first Power Four opponent until Game 5 in Paye's first season and Game 10 last year. This year, Arizona came in Game 1.
- That accelerated schedule coincided with the biggest roster turnover of Paye's tenure. Stanford returns just 26% of its scoring and 30% of its minutes, compared with 54% and 57% last season. Six of the 11 healthy players are newcomers, and there are no seniors.
- Last year's team also had a 30-turnover game against Tennessee but improved considerably afterward. (Though this Arizona team is no Tennessee.)
- Arizona's aggressive pressure exposed weaknesses early, but Stanford showed better offensive flow in the second half—at least until things unraveled again late.

So my verdict is TBD. There are legitimate reasons to expect improvement, particularly with so many new players learning to play together. But I have to admit, I was pretty discouraged watching that game.

I agree with much of what you said, but after starting so poorly, "improvement" should be a given.The question is, can we become competitive and make the tourney? Looking at KP's past 2 seasons, I don't think there's much chance of that.