01-13-2013, 07:27 PM
On the officiating: it was simply difficult to figure out what was being called with any consistency. The amount of shoving and grabbing that Berkeley was allowed to get away with on their offensive boards (I can't believe how many times was Stanford called for fouls trying to hold defensive rebounding position underneath) was one thing, but the number of times much less contact was called a foul when Cal was on offense was remarkable.
But more generally:
Whatever offense we try to run, triangle, motion or pick and roll, we can't simply have 1 player as the end all threat. In each offense, it's a similar problem: no defender on the perimeter feels like they need to honor the drive as a threat, and off-ball defenders can count on shooters hesitating when the ball gets to them. Today, Cal overplayed the passing lanes, put pressure on the perimeter, and with the exception of some curls by Amber in the first half, never felt like they had to honor either the 3-point shot or to a lesser extent the drive.Â
Yes, Joslyn needs to be more offensive-minded; this offense may be able to support Ruef as a defensive and rebounding only person, but can't support that if Tinkle also decides she doesn't need to shoot. My general opinion? We shouldn't be playing Tinkle and Ruef at the same time, ESPECIALLY if Tara is going to be entirely unwilling to play Picknell as a sub (is she hurt? Because with Bonnie and Taylor getting shoved around underneath, I thought we could really use her). Bring in Sara James if she can go, or run Amber, Toni and Jasmine Camp in the backcourt at the same time.
But another part of that is set up: again, I saw a whole lot of Chiney down low alone, and everyone else standing out on the perimeter, catching a pass, and, instead of immediately passing again or shooting, assessing whether they could feed it into Chiney. If that was closed down, repeat. I think if we're going to run a pick and roll, the roller has to be Chiney, because neither Tinkle nor especially Ruef is going to quickly dive to the basket if the pick defender overplays the driver. More generally, we need to get Chiney away from the basket and try to clear some room in the lane; when she's in there, there are often 3 defenders within 3 feet of her. Again, because other teams aren't forced to honor other players as offensive options.
If I had the energy to type up a game report, I was going to title it "Nothing fails like success." As long as Stanford was winning, even if it was completely ugly like Tuesday, or South Carolina, the coaching staff is reluctant to change. It takes serious willpower to make changes when the team is being "successful," even if that success is not nearly at their potential. And they haven't really done it yet.
One other issue: I can see the dreaded "nice girls from Stanford" meme making a comeback. The team is getting outphysicaled, outbodied, almost every time out; how many times did a Stanford foul still allow the opposing player to get a shot up? Another reason why I would like to see something from Picknell. And in response to "she doesn't know or run the offense well," the obvious rejoinder is "What offense?" You're not going to win many games when you struggle to score 60 over and over again.
VG
But more generally:
Whatever offense we try to run, triangle, motion or pick and roll, we can't simply have 1 player as the end all threat. In each offense, it's a similar problem: no defender on the perimeter feels like they need to honor the drive as a threat, and off-ball defenders can count on shooters hesitating when the ball gets to them. Today, Cal overplayed the passing lanes, put pressure on the perimeter, and with the exception of some curls by Amber in the first half, never felt like they had to honor either the 3-point shot or to a lesser extent the drive.Â
Yes, Joslyn needs to be more offensive-minded; this offense may be able to support Ruef as a defensive and rebounding only person, but can't support that if Tinkle also decides she doesn't need to shoot. My general opinion? We shouldn't be playing Tinkle and Ruef at the same time, ESPECIALLY if Tara is going to be entirely unwilling to play Picknell as a sub (is she hurt? Because with Bonnie and Taylor getting shoved around underneath, I thought we could really use her). Bring in Sara James if she can go, or run Amber, Toni and Jasmine Camp in the backcourt at the same time.
But another part of that is set up: again, I saw a whole lot of Chiney down low alone, and everyone else standing out on the perimeter, catching a pass, and, instead of immediately passing again or shooting, assessing whether they could feed it into Chiney. If that was closed down, repeat. I think if we're going to run a pick and roll, the roller has to be Chiney, because neither Tinkle nor especially Ruef is going to quickly dive to the basket if the pick defender overplays the driver. More generally, we need to get Chiney away from the basket and try to clear some room in the lane; when she's in there, there are often 3 defenders within 3 feet of her. Again, because other teams aren't forced to honor other players as offensive options.
If I had the energy to type up a game report, I was going to title it "Nothing fails like success." As long as Stanford was winning, even if it was completely ugly like Tuesday, or South Carolina, the coaching staff is reluctant to change. It takes serious willpower to make changes when the team is being "successful," even if that success is not nearly at their potential. And they haven't really done it yet.
One other issue: I can see the dreaded "nice girls from Stanford" meme making a comeback. The team is getting outphysicaled, outbodied, almost every time out; how many times did a Stanford foul still allow the opposing player to get a shot up? Another reason why I would like to see something from Picknell. And in response to "she doesn't know or run the offense well," the obvious rejoinder is "What offense?" You're not going to win many games when you struggle to score 60 over and over again.
VG