02-27-2014, 12:23 PM
My take - it brought to mind the phrase "Less than the sum of its parts." Which I think is about preparation and planning, and at least at this point less about execution.
A taste of the lowlights:
Dwight Powell spending most of the game on offense camped outside the three point line on offense (against a team whose entire front line was in foul trouble most of the game). And still managing to shoot 2 for 9 and miss a dunk.
At one point in the first half, Stanford had twice as many turnovers (8) as field goals (4). And it wasn't great defense by ASU, unless you mean simply sagging into the paint and picking off absolutely terrible bounce passes (as in, thrown from about 7 feet away with no space and bouncing at the post player's feet).
Chasson Randle fouling out by committing four fouls over the course of 6 minutes in the second half. The last because the Sun Devils were smart enough to run enough offense to get Jahii Carson isolated on him after several switches. Of course, this was after Randle missed two layups in a row in the dagger sequence for Stanford's hopes - Powell misses a FT that would've cut the lead to 9, and ASU gets an easy layup in transition. Randle reenters, misses a layup and gives up a layup to Carson because he doesn't want to foul him. Randle misses another layup, and ASU, realizing that Stanford is still switching screens, runs Carson off screens to get him isolated on Randle, who then fouls him and exits with 7 minutes left and the lead back out to 16.
All in all, the Sun Devils looked like a team, covering for each other on defense and moving the ball on offense. Stanford looked like a collection of variously talented players who occasionally worked together in pairs or trios but almost never seemed to be moving as a unit.
Brown's shooting performance was great, but he, like every other starter, turned the ball over (in a really quirky looking box score, all 5 starters had 3 turnovers apiece; no other player turned the ball over.)Â Lemons, Gage and others off the bench tried hard and did their best, but with Gage not shooting well, none of them is really an offensive threat, which means when we go to the bench, the offense gets even more predictable - ASU got a lot of offensive fouls called last night by simply waiting for Stanford to get late in the shot clock and launch themselves at the basket.
So, Stanford just lost the margin for error they gained by beating UCLA. They now need to win 2 out of their last 3, and I think at least 1 in the Pac-12 tourney - if they don't, they'll finish with 12 losses, and I think they'd need at least 22 wins to overcome that.
VG
A taste of the lowlights:
Dwight Powell spending most of the game on offense camped outside the three point line on offense (against a team whose entire front line was in foul trouble most of the game). And still managing to shoot 2 for 9 and miss a dunk.
At one point in the first half, Stanford had twice as many turnovers (8) as field goals (4). And it wasn't great defense by ASU, unless you mean simply sagging into the paint and picking off absolutely terrible bounce passes (as in, thrown from about 7 feet away with no space and bouncing at the post player's feet).
Chasson Randle fouling out by committing four fouls over the course of 6 minutes in the second half. The last because the Sun Devils were smart enough to run enough offense to get Jahii Carson isolated on him after several switches. Of course, this was after Randle missed two layups in a row in the dagger sequence for Stanford's hopes - Powell misses a FT that would've cut the lead to 9, and ASU gets an easy layup in transition. Randle reenters, misses a layup and gives up a layup to Carson because he doesn't want to foul him. Randle misses another layup, and ASU, realizing that Stanford is still switching screens, runs Carson off screens to get him isolated on Randle, who then fouls him and exits with 7 minutes left and the lead back out to 16.
All in all, the Sun Devils looked like a team, covering for each other on defense and moving the ball on offense. Stanford looked like a collection of variously talented players who occasionally worked together in pairs or trios but almost never seemed to be moving as a unit.
Brown's shooting performance was great, but he, like every other starter, turned the ball over (in a really quirky looking box score, all 5 starters had 3 turnovers apiece; no other player turned the ball over.)Â Lemons, Gage and others off the bench tried hard and did their best, but with Gage not shooting well, none of them is really an offensive threat, which means when we go to the bench, the offense gets even more predictable - ASU got a lot of offensive fouls called last night by simply waiting for Stanford to get late in the shot clock and launch themselves at the basket.
So, Stanford just lost the margin for error they gained by beating UCLA. They now need to win 2 out of their last 3, and I think at least 1 in the Pac-12 tourney - if they don't, they'll finish with 12 losses, and I think they'd need at least 22 wins to overcome that.
VG