12-18-2013, 01:50 AM
Geez, you'd think that this group would only be satisfied if every starter scored 20 points each (no one with as few as 19, of course), 7 rebounds each, and kept the opponents to 20 points, making no fouls and no turnovers, and no missed free throws.
New Mexico was simply outmatched & Stanford destroyed them. Chiney had 23 points when she was pulled after 10:08 minutes of play. At that point, Stanford was up 25-7. While Stanford didn't have as overwhelming a defense after this, Stanford extended the lead to 36-14 before Chiney came back in 7 minutes later. (While it might have been fun to see a Wilt Chamberlain game by Chiney, Tara would never allow it, and I agree with that.)
As for our offense, remove Chiney from the stats, and we shot 43%. Not bad if you remove your star, and you play 13 players.  One can say that Lili & Sara & Mikaela weren't great at offense... But remember, NM only had 7 points at the 10 minute mark. That to me is more telling than the 25 points of offense.Â
We got 62% of the rebounds at our defensive end and 36% at the offensive end -- so we basically broke even on rebounding. Not as good as we should be. I happened to watch the rebounding and it was uneven but not as bad as some may think. There were a lot of long NM rebounds when we had players in position for rebounds.Â
Yes, it is easy for teams with an outstanding player to sit around and stare. We've had that "problem", which most schools would die for.Â
I've been a Stanford WBB fan for a very long time. I've seen the best, and the promising. I think this team has real promise, and I mean for this year. The new players are coming along well. We may not get up to the levels of offense we've had in the past, but our defense is among our best.
UConn was simply too much, and too early, for this team. Tennessee will be a good test, but still early. Even if we were to lose to Tennessee, I believe we'll have a long season. We just might have a second chance against UConn in Nashville, and we may be the best chance to stop another UConn undefeated season, unless Louisville steps up. (ND is not on their regular season schedule.)
Tennessee beat Texas at home by 14. Stanford beat Texas in that central Texas cavern by 9. That's a wash. Against Stanford, Texas started 1 Sr, 2 Jr, 2 So, while Stanford started 1 RSr, 1 Sr, 1 Jr, 2 Fr. The Stanford set has probably improved more than Texas.
Tennessee has had 3 wins by 10 pts or less: 67-57 at Middle Tennessee (7-3), 87-76 vs Georgia Tech (7-2), 76-67 vs UVa (4-5). Besides the 19-pt loss to UConn, Stanford's next weakest game was the 9 point win at Texas (then the 12 point win at Boston College).
And, of course, I note that while Stanford lost by 19 at UConn, UConn beat #2 Duke at Duke by 22. In other away games, UConn beat #8 MD by 17 and #13 Penn State by 19. Not a good scale, but it does help to put that loss in perspective.  (P.S., Don't forget Kal is playing UConn on Sunday morning 10AM on ESPN. Set your DVR.)
New Mexico was simply outmatched & Stanford destroyed them. Chiney had 23 points when she was pulled after 10:08 minutes of play. At that point, Stanford was up 25-7. While Stanford didn't have as overwhelming a defense after this, Stanford extended the lead to 36-14 before Chiney came back in 7 minutes later. (While it might have been fun to see a Wilt Chamberlain game by Chiney, Tara would never allow it, and I agree with that.)
As for our offense, remove Chiney from the stats, and we shot 43%. Not bad if you remove your star, and you play 13 players.  One can say that Lili & Sara & Mikaela weren't great at offense... But remember, NM only had 7 points at the 10 minute mark. That to me is more telling than the 25 points of offense.Â
We got 62% of the rebounds at our defensive end and 36% at the offensive end -- so we basically broke even on rebounding. Not as good as we should be. I happened to watch the rebounding and it was uneven but not as bad as some may think. There were a lot of long NM rebounds when we had players in position for rebounds.Â
Yes, it is easy for teams with an outstanding player to sit around and stare. We've had that "problem", which most schools would die for.Â
I've been a Stanford WBB fan for a very long time. I've seen the best, and the promising. I think this team has real promise, and I mean for this year. The new players are coming along well. We may not get up to the levels of offense we've had in the past, but our defense is among our best.
UConn was simply too much, and too early, for this team. Tennessee will be a good test, but still early. Even if we were to lose to Tennessee, I believe we'll have a long season. We just might have a second chance against UConn in Nashville, and we may be the best chance to stop another UConn undefeated season, unless Louisville steps up. (ND is not on their regular season schedule.)
Tennessee beat Texas at home by 14. Stanford beat Texas in that central Texas cavern by 9. That's a wash. Against Stanford, Texas started 1 Sr, 2 Jr, 2 So, while Stanford started 1 RSr, 1 Sr, 1 Jr, 2 Fr. The Stanford set has probably improved more than Texas.
Tennessee has had 3 wins by 10 pts or less: 67-57 at Middle Tennessee (7-3), 87-76 vs Georgia Tech (7-2), 76-67 vs UVa (4-5). Besides the 19-pt loss to UConn, Stanford's next weakest game was the 9 point win at Texas (then the 12 point win at Boston College).
And, of course, I note that while Stanford lost by 19 at UConn, UConn beat #2 Duke at Duke by 22. In other away games, UConn beat #8 MD by 17 and #13 Penn State by 19. Not a good scale, but it does help to put that loss in perspective.  (P.S., Don't forget Kal is playing UConn on Sunday morning 10AM on ESPN. Set your DVR.)