[81alum]

So you take only those games and come up with those solutions, I certainly hope our coaches are not doing the same. Not to pick on Sara but what other games can you use to say she is the answer, be ause then you are looking at garbage time with a lot of turnovers and bad decision making, did she even play in the Uconn game? You say players like Taylor and Bonnie don't belong well rewatch Tenn and Uconn and Baylor and some big games last year. I seem to recall Sara being taken to the basket on many occasions. Jos is definitely in a slump, question is is she playing where she should be and that question has also been posed by about Chiney. Interesting that you turn it on the players well the loss goes on the coach who made no adjustments in this game and the Uconn game.

Remember the loss to Depaul!!!!

WAcard,

I didn't take MT's analysis quite the way you did.  I think his stats just give a different way of looking at the games to supplement what we see with our own eyes.  They give me a way of understanding how a player's time in the game might help defensively or whether a player who isn't scoring might be helping others to score.  It is a stat that accounts for assists, turnovers, rebounds--being in the right position at the right time, and all the "little things" that help to win games that otherwise don't show up on the standard stats sheet.  Every traditional stat (say for example assists/turnovers) have problems and can be misleading, and so can MT's point differential--but it gives us more to think about than the columns on the official stat sheets.

The conclusions he draws intrigue me whether or not they fully persuade me.  I already was thinking that Sara James could use some more game time for development, and that Amber was becoming less effective than she was last year--even before I saw his numbers.  Some traditional stats raise some of the same questions his stats raise.  Amber's assist/turnover ratio last year was 1.96, and this year it is 1.49.  My guess, though, is that most of Amber's slump is due to our opponent's defensive adjustments to a Nneka-less Stanford, so I am not quite so negative about her performance as MT is.  In any case, MTs numbers are no more invalid than traditional stats.

As for "only those games," I think MT has data for all the games.  I happened to pick those four because I was interested in comparing our two very best games with our two very worst ones.  I'd be happy with any other comparisons that give us some insight.

I did not see MT picking on Taylor or Bonnie especially.  His stats clearly show they have added a lot to the team in certain games, but they have been inconsistent.  There is a reason Tara has not been starting them.

The loss goes to the coach?  Well, yes, I will agree with you there.  But not just because of lack of adjustments--I think the coach needs to set the tone in advance that gives her players the self-confidence they need to play at their highest level.  Sometimes perfectionism accomplishes the reverse of its intended effect and makes players tentative and afraid of failure.  That looked to me to be the way Stanford played as soon as the game got tight after our 8-1 lead vanished.  Then again, Tara's honors and accolades are all well earned, and so any critique I might have of her coaching should be trusted just about as much as a plumber commenting on the work of a neurosurgeon. 

[81alum]

So you take only those games and come up with those solutions, I certainly hope our coaches are not doing the same. Not to pick on Sara but what other games can you use to say she is the answer, be ause then you are looking at garbage time with a lot of turnovers and bad decision making, did she even play in the Uconn game? You say players like Taylor and Bonnie don't belong well rewatch Tenn and Uconn and Baylor and some big games last year. I seem to recall Sara being taken to the basket on many occasions. Jos is definitely in a slump, question is is she playing where she should be and that question has also been posed by about Chiney. Interesting that you turn it on the players well the loss goes on the coach who made no adjustments in this game and the Uconn game.

Remember the loss to Depaul!!!!

WAcard,

I didn't take MT's analysis quite the way you did.  I think his stats just give a different way of looking at the games to supplement what we see with our own eyes.  They give me a way of understanding how a player's time in the game might help defensively or whether a player who isn't scoring might be helping others to score.  It is a stat that accounts for assists, turnovers, rebounds--being in the right position at the right time, and all the "little things" that help to win games that otherwise don't show up on the standard stats sheet.  Every traditional stat (say for example assists/turnovers) have problems and can be misleading, and so can MT's point differential--but it gives us more to think about than the columns on the official stat sheets.

The conclusions he draws intrigue me whether or not they fully persuade me.  I already was thinking that Sara James could use some more game time for development, and that Amber was becoming less effective than she was last year--even before I saw his numbers.  Some traditional stats raise some of the same questions his stats raise.  Amber's assist/turnover ratio last year was 1.96, and this year it is 1.49.  My guess, though, is that most of Amber's slump is due to our opponent's defensive adjustments to a Nneka-less Stanford, so I am not quite so negative about her performance as MT is.  In any case, MTs numbers are no more invalid than traditional stats.

As for "only those games," I think MT has data for all the games.  I happened to pick those four because I was interested in comparing our two very best games with our two very worst ones.  I'd be happy with any other comparisons that give us some insight.

I did not see MT picking on Taylor or Bonnie especially.  His stats clearly show they have added a lot to the team in certain games, but they have been inconsistent.  There is a reason Tara has not been starting them.

The loss goes to the coach?  Well, yes, I will agree with you there.  But not just because of lack of adjustments--I think the coach needs to set the tone in advance that gives her players the self-confidence they need to play at their highest level.  Sometimes perfectionism accomplishes the reverse of its intended effect and makes players tentative and afraid of failure.  That looked to me to be the way Stanford played as soon as the game got tight after our 8-1 lead vanished.  Then again, Tara's honors and accolades are all well earned, and so any critique I might have of her coaching should be trusted just about as much as a plumber commenting on the work of a neurosurgeon.