[Viking_Guy]

Actually was at the game.  The crowd had little to no impact, as Stanford took an early lead and kept it; it got down to 6 at halftime and 5 several times early in the second half, but as others mentioned, Stanford seemed to find a response.  Often at the free throw line, which inevitably deadens a crowd.

One thing not to underestimate: the officiating and its impact.  Stanford spent a whole lot of time at the line, even before the fouling fest that Monty tried at the end of the game.  The big beneficiary was Dwight Powell, who had a so-so game in almost every other phase except at the line.  He's one of the most frustrating players I've ever watched at Stanford: a 6'10" player who wants to play like a 6'4" shooting guard.  Falls away from contact a lot of the time, and tries to finish 3-4 feet away from the rim instead of at it.  Shot 5-17 from the field last night, and the majority of those shots were within 5 feet of the basket.  Countless running hook shots from 3 feet banging off the back iron.  Makes up for it with a whole lot of physical ability, though I wish he had better hands - he gets stripped too easily (last night, saw Cobb strip him by brushing down on the front of a ball Powell had solidly in both hands).

Let me put it this way: listening to John Platz during the ASU game, he talked about how Powell had improved and was getting to the line because he realized he should be driving into contact more often.  To which my response was, it took him until his senior year to recognize that?

Chasson Randle is really good, but still has a tendency to make silly mistakes - turning the ball over on a five-second call that allowed da Bares the second three-pointer that closed the first half lead from 12 to 6 in a matter of 40 seconds, an occasional silly foul that takes him out of the game (his fourth last night sat him down for 2-3 minutes that could have been crucial).  And I've always loved Josh Huestis' game.  And Robbie Lemons is giving more as a walk-on than could've been expected.

But last night was really more about the dysfunction of the opposition - it wasn't just the turnovers, it was that they turned the ball over on breakaways that would've pulled them closer in the early second half.  Or the missed front end of 1 and 1s.  Or the complete turn away from getting the ball to Kravish in the low post, where he absolutely destroyed Powell in the first few possessions of the game.  And it didn't help that they had a lot of open shots spin out, especially as Stanford was holding them off in the early second half.

The most glaring issue was da Bares' gameplan and execution - you beat Stanford by driving, forcing rotation and help defense to collapse in and then kicking the ball out to take advantage of a scrambling defense.  C.al would drive in, but then try to make interior passes through a crowded paint, and when they kicked out, the first option always seemed to be to drive inside again.  Late in the game, they scored again and again by spreading the floor and running a simple pick play at the top of the lane for Matthis (edit: sorry, Wallace), but it was too little and too late.

I guess cautiously optimistic is a good way to be right now - but cautious optimism is not a very high bar for a team starting 3 seniors and 2 juniors.  If they can win 2 of their final 4 on the road and 3 of 4 at home, I think they'll be on the right side of the bubble.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

Actually was at the game.  The crowd had little to no impact, as Stanford took an early lead and kept it; it got down to 6 at halftime and 5 several times early in the second half, but as others mentioned, Stanford seemed to find a response.  Often at the free throw line, which inevitably deadens a crowd.

One thing not to underestimate: the officiating and its impact.  Stanford spent a whole lot of time at the line, even before the fouling fest that Monty tried at the end of the game.  The big beneficiary was Dwight Powell, who had a so-so game in almost every other phase except at the line.  He's one of the most frustrating players I've ever watched at Stanford: a 6'10" player who wants to play like a 6'4" shooting guard.  Falls away from contact a lot of the time, and tries to finish 3-4 feet away from the rim instead of at it.  Shot 5-17 from the field last night, and the majority of those shots were within 5 feet of the basket.  Countless running hook shots from 3 feet banging off the back iron.  Makes up for it with a whole lot of physical ability, though I wish he had better hands - he gets stripped too easily (last night, saw Cobb strip him by brushing down on the front of a ball Powell had solidly in both hands).

Let me put it this way: listening to John Platz during the ASU game, he talked about how Powell had improved and was getting to the line because he realized he should be driving into contact more often.  To which my response was, it took him until his senior year to recognize that?

Chasson Randle is really good, but still has a tendency to make silly mistakes - turning the ball over on a five-second call that allowed da Bares the second three-pointer that closed the first half lead from 12 to 6 in a matter of 40 seconds, an occasional silly foul that takes him out of the game (his fourth last night sat him down for 2-3 minutes that could have been crucial).  And I've always loved Josh Huestis' game.  And Robbie Lemons is giving more as a walk-on than could've been expected.

But last night was really more about the dysfunction of the opposition - it wasn't just the turnovers, it was that they turned the ball over on breakaways that would've pulled them closer in the early second half.  Or the missed front end of 1 and 1s.  Or the complete turn away from getting the ball to Kravish in the low post, where he absolutely destroyed Powell in the first few possessions of the game.  And it didn't help that they had a lot of open shots spin out, especially as Stanford was holding them off in the early second half.

The most glaring issue was da Bares' gameplan and execution - you beat Stanford by driving, forcing rotation and help defense to collapse in and then kicking the ball out to take advantage of a scrambling defense.  C.al would drive in, but then try to make interior passes through a crowded paint, and when they kicked out, the first option always seemed to be to drive inside again.  Late in the game, they scored again and again by spreading the floor and running a simple pick play at the top of the lane for Matthis (edit: sorry, Wallace), but it was too little and too late.

I guess cautiously optimistic is a good way to be right now - but cautious optimism is not a very high bar for a team starting 3 seniors and 2 juniors.  If they can win 2 of their final 4 on the road and 3 of 4 at home, I think they'll be on the right side of the bubble.

VG