[Viking_Guy]

A couple of thoughts:

(1) Jos is fairly obviously under the weather; not a lot of lift in her legs, and tonight she sat for a lot of time, replaced by Taylor.  Actually, I like that lineup - Orrange, James, Greenfield, Ogwumike and Ruef - a lot; Taylor is a more fluid perimeter player than Jos, who is not much of a danger to drive.  Tinkle finished 1-9 from the field, and was so out of it late that she took an early long jumper only 12-13 seconds into the shot clock as Stanford was trying to run the clock out late, and enabled the transition bucket that let the Buffaloes cut the lead to ten and really gave them new life.  If she had taken the ball to the hoop, that would've been one thing, but a 12-foot jumper in that situation isn't a good shot.

(2) The defense was exactly what Ros said last night, and what I agreed was the best chance against Stanford: pressure the guards on the perimeter to prevent easy entry passes and open looks, and try to force the Cardinal to put the ball on the floor and drive.  In part, I think that's why Amber was so successful tonight; if she got around her player, no interior defender was willing to come off of Chiney to pick her up.  The ball pressure also took away good looks at 3 pointers (until Stanford actually started to set some perimeter picks in the second half).  The other thing I'd really love to see against that kind of defense?  How about some pick and roll with Chiney?

(3) The officiating was also one of the varieties of awful.  In this case, I think the officials saw that, calling the game as they intended to at the start, Colorado put Stanford in the bonus in the first ten minutes, and that they had only called one or two fouls on the Cardinal.  After that, the whistles seemed to tilt a bit, especially in the last ten minutes of the game, when they called five fouls in a row against Stanford that were not nearly as physical as the run of play under the Cardinal hoop.

(4) Ruef my unsung player of the game; the key run was powered by first Sara James' three, then Mikaela's two drives were 7 of the 9 point run that broke the game open, from 36-all to 45-36 Stanford.  Colorado never got back within 9 after that.

That was really the difference in the two halves; in the second, other people than Amber realized that Chiney's defender was never going to help out, afraid of the dump pass to her.  Sara and Mikaela both took advantage.

Add to that, the Buffaloes really tightened up, and turned into Chucky and the Chuckless.  They abandoned any semblance of team offense.  Holding them to 19 points in the second half is really impressive for Stanford's defense.

Now the Bruins.  We'll see, but (no matter what Cori Close said) that 2-3 zone that the Bruins threw out there today will probably make an appearance.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

A couple of thoughts:

(1) Jos is fairly obviously under the weather; not a lot of lift in her legs, and tonight she sat for a lot of time, replaced by Taylor.  Actually, I like that lineup - Orrange, James, Greenfield, Ogwumike and Ruef - a lot; Taylor is a more fluid perimeter player than Jos, who is not much of a danger to drive.  Tinkle finished 1-9 from the field, and was so out of it late that she took an early long jumper only 12-13 seconds into the shot clock as Stanford was trying to run the clock out late, and enabled the transition bucket that let the Buffaloes cut the lead to ten and really gave them new life.  If she had taken the ball to the hoop, that would've been one thing, but a 12-foot jumper in that situation isn't a good shot.

(2) The defense was exactly what Ros said last night, and what I agreed was the best chance against Stanford: pressure the guards on the perimeter to prevent easy entry passes and open looks, and try to force the Cardinal to put the ball on the floor and drive.  In part, I think that's why Amber was so successful tonight; if she got around her player, no interior defender was willing to come off of Chiney to pick her up.  The ball pressure also took away good looks at 3 pointers (until Stanford actually started to set some perimeter picks in the second half).  The other thing I'd really love to see against that kind of defense?  How about some pick and roll with Chiney?

(3) The officiating was also one of the varieties of awful.  In this case, I think the officials saw that, calling the game as they intended to at the start, Colorado put Stanford in the bonus in the first ten minutes, and that they had only called one or two fouls on the Cardinal.  After that, the whistles seemed to tilt a bit, especially in the last ten minutes of the game, when they called five fouls in a row against Stanford that were not nearly as physical as the run of play under the Cardinal hoop.

(4) Ruef my unsung player of the game; the key run was powered by first Sara James' three, then Mikaela's two drives were 7 of the 9 point run that broke the game open, from 36-all to 45-36 Stanford.  Colorado never got back within 9 after that.

That was really the difference in the two halves; in the second, other people than Amber realized that Chiney's defender was never going to help out, afraid of the dump pass to her.  Sara and Mikaela both took advantage.

Add to that, the Buffaloes really tightened up, and turned into Chucky and the Chuckless.  They abandoned any semblance of team offense.  Holding them to 19 points in the second half is really impressive for Stanford's defense.

Now the Bruins.  We'll see, but (no matter what Cori Close said) that 2-3 zone that the Bruins threw out there today will probably make an appearance.

VG