[81alum]

Preliminary:

One of the most interesting home openers in recent years, chiefly because there are so many young players we don't yet know well or who are challenging for new roles, partly because Tara is installing a very different sort of offense than we have previously seen, and partly because we are coming off of two losses to elite teams that reinforced the need to improve and fast.  UC Riverside doesn't look very threatening on paper, but with our team in such major transition, every game is an adventure.  We played them in the 2010 tourney, and Jayne, Nneka, Kayla, Jeanette, and Ros buried them 79-47.

Overview:

Our team is shifting from an understandable "work in progress" to "where is the progress?"  Each game leaves me ratcheting down expectations for the year.  In this game, we scored the same number of points as we did against UConn.  The big stories: McPhee in an ankle boot, and Carrington's emerging leadership--leading with 13 points and an astonishing 22 rebounds.

Before the Game:

Tempie talked before the game and provided quite a lot of insight.  Asked about the new offense, she said it will be working when we see three things: 1) back door cuts, 2) drives up the "rails" meaning the sides of the paint, and 3) three point shots from the top of the key.  We ran this offense every so often last year, too, so we are not starting completely from scratch. 

Asked about Kaylee Johnson she indicated that she had the heart of a lion but was often playing through pain, and that it was rare when her body would let her return to her freshman form.  It sounds to me like the sort of situation we had with Sara James--probably not the same condition--but a similar dilemma. 

Asked about the mood of the team since the opening trip--she said it was a long quiet flight home, but that people had been working really hard in practice. 

Asked about whether we would recruit a true center, she indicated that the game was changing and that the era with very big players who camped out in the low blocks was coming to an end--the prototypical "bigs" now would tend to be a little shorter since they had to be able to shoot the three and drive from the perimeter. 

Asked about Marta shooting the three, she said that Marta knows she must do so and the fact that there were a couple of other point guards competing for time might encourage that.

Asked about Anna Wilson she said that Anna is doing very well, but that she is really a fifth freshman.  She was injured so much last year that she did not get a chance to run many drills.

Asked about Dodson, she noted that she had impressive physical skills but reminded her of a Great Dane puppy--still growing into her body and learning control.

Flow of the Game:

McPhee wore a boot which appears to be a follow up on her tweaked ankle going back to UCSD.  They are saving her for more important games, but her absence seemed to further discombobulate an already uncoordinated team.  Fingall was also out but there was no obvious reason. 

Tara started Sniezek, Romano, Carrington, Smith, and Johnson.  Johnson looked quite good in the first half, scoring 8 points on 4/6 shooting and snagging 10 rebounds.  Our offense looked decent--we scored 20 in the first quarter.  As the substitutions began our offense melted away.  In quarters 2 and 3 we scored 13 and 14 and Riverside tied us for those quarters.  Then a dreadful 4th in which we scored 6, making Riverside look like the UConn defense, and bringing Riverside to within 10. 

It did not seem like Riverside was doing anything very special other than clogging the paint and forcing us to shoot treys.  That meant a lot of sagging and double teaming Smith or Johnson whenever they got the ball in the paint.  That was a wise strategy given that we went 3/28 from downtown.  We simply must do better with our three point shooting or the UC Riverside strategy will become the norm and we will have a very difficult season.  Riverside was 1/21 from three point range, so perhaps it was an airborne infection.

Throughout the game there were precious few sparks, but Carrington looked like the best player on the court nearly the whole time.  However, she did have 6 of our whopping 19 turnovers, and those turnovers contributed mightily to our disjointed and lackluster performance.

While we shot 42% in the first half, it plummeted to 18% in the second, as Riverside figured out how to force us to take perimeter shots. 

Performances:

Carrington, 31 minutes, scored 13 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.  Wow.  But she was 0/8 from three point range and had those 6 turnovers.

Romano, 28 minutes, was 2/11 and 1/7 from three point range, with 2 assists, a turnover and a steal.  Pretty solid except the very poor shooting.

Sniezek, 27 minutes, never took a three point shot, but drove up the rails 4 times and was 0/4, but wound up making 6/6 free throws.  I don't think she has begun to correct her problem with long range shooting. 

Johnson, 23 minutes, looked pretty good in the first half as reported above but not good in the second half.  She also gathered 4 fouls.

Jerome, 22 minutes, played a lot but had a mostly empty stat line.  Tara must see her as a competent defender.

Smith, 18 minutes, had 11 points and was 4/4 on her free throws.  She had 4 fouls which limited her time--a problem that has plagued her ever since coming to the Farm.  One hopes that this gets reduced this year since we can't afford her to be sitting on the bench.

Dodson, 17 minutes, did well.  She hit a couple of baskets, grabbed a couple of rebounds, and blocked a shot.

Williams, 14 minutes.  I think she got her first official college assist today.  In fact, she had 3 of them to 1 turnover, and she made 1 of 3 treys.

Wilson, 13 minutes.  It was nice to see her out there for extended blocks of time, but she went 0/4.


Conclusion:

Our rebounding was good, but missing our treys and turning the ball over 19 times does not bode well.    I know Tara will help them improve, but it needs to happen faster that it appears to be happening--or else we are going to lose a great many games.

[81alum]

Preliminary:

One of the most interesting home openers in recent years, chiefly because there are so many young players we don't yet know well or who are challenging for new roles, partly because Tara is installing a very different sort of offense than we have previously seen, and partly because we are coming off of two losses to elite teams that reinforced the need to improve and fast.  UC Riverside doesn't look very threatening on paper, but with our team in such major transition, every game is an adventure.  We played them in the 2010 tourney, and Jayne, Nneka, Kayla, Jeanette, and Ros buried them 79-47.

Overview:

Our team is shifting from an understandable "work in progress" to "where is the progress?"  Each game leaves me ratcheting down expectations for the year.  In this game, we scored the same number of points as we did against UConn.  The big stories: McPhee in an ankle boot, and Carrington's emerging leadership--leading with 13 points and an astonishing 22 rebounds.

Before the Game:

Tempie talked before the game and provided quite a lot of insight.  Asked about the new offense, she said it will be working when we see three things: 1) back door cuts, 2) drives up the "rails" meaning the sides of the paint, and 3) three point shots from the top of the key.  We ran this offense every so often last year, too, so we are not starting completely from scratch. 

Asked about Kaylee Johnson she indicated that she had the heart of a lion but was often playing through pain, and that it was rare when her body would let her return to her freshman form.  It sounds to me like the sort of situation we had with Sara James--probably not the same condition--but a similar dilemma. 

Asked about the mood of the team since the opening trip--she said it was a long quiet flight home, but that people had been working really hard in practice. 

Asked about whether we would recruit a true center, she indicated that the game was changing and that the era with very big players who camped out in the low blocks was coming to an end--the prototypical "bigs" now would tend to be a little shorter since they had to be able to shoot the three and drive from the perimeter. 

Asked about Marta shooting the three, she said that Marta knows she must do so and the fact that there were a couple of other point guards competing for time might encourage that.

Asked about Anna Wilson she said that Anna is doing very well, but that she is really a fifth freshman.  She was injured so much last year that she did not get a chance to run many drills.

Asked about Dodson, she noted that she had impressive physical skills but reminded her of a Great Dane puppy--still growing into her body and learning control.

Flow of the Game:

McPhee wore a boot which appears to be a follow up on her tweaked ankle going back to UCSD.  They are saving her for more important games, but her absence seemed to further discombobulate an already uncoordinated team.  Fingall was also out but there was no obvious reason. 

Tara started Sniezek, Romano, Carrington, Smith, and Johnson.  Johnson looked quite good in the first half, scoring 8 points on 4/6 shooting and snagging 10 rebounds.  Our offense looked decent--we scored 20 in the first quarter.  As the substitutions began our offense melted away.  In quarters 2 and 3 we scored 13 and 14 and Riverside tied us for those quarters.  Then a dreadful 4th in which we scored 6, making Riverside look like the UConn defense, and bringing Riverside to within 10. 

It did not seem like Riverside was doing anything very special other than clogging the paint and forcing us to shoot treys.  That meant a lot of sagging and double teaming Smith or Johnson whenever they got the ball in the paint.  That was a wise strategy given that we went 3/28 from downtown.  We simply must do better with our three point shooting or the UC Riverside strategy will become the norm and we will have a very difficult season.  Riverside was 1/21 from three point range, so perhaps it was an airborne infection.

Throughout the game there were precious few sparks, but Carrington looked like the best player on the court nearly the whole time.  However, she did have 6 of our whopping 19 turnovers, and those turnovers contributed mightily to our disjointed and lackluster performance.

While we shot 42% in the first half, it plummeted to 18% in the second, as Riverside figured out how to force us to take perimeter shots. 

Performances:

Carrington, 31 minutes, scored 13 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.  Wow.  But she was 0/8 from three point range and had those 6 turnovers.

Romano, 28 minutes, was 2/11 and 1/7 from three point range, with 2 assists, a turnover and a steal.  Pretty solid except the very poor shooting.

Sniezek, 27 minutes, never took a three point shot, but drove up the rails 4 times and was 0/4, but wound up making 6/6 free throws.  I don't think she has begun to correct her problem with long range shooting. 

Johnson, 23 minutes, looked pretty good in the first half as reported above but not good in the second half.  She also gathered 4 fouls.

Jerome, 22 minutes, played a lot but had a mostly empty stat line.  Tara must see her as a competent defender.

Smith, 18 minutes, had 11 points and was 4/4 on her free throws.  She had 4 fouls which limited her time--a problem that has plagued her ever since coming to the Farm.  One hopes that this gets reduced this year since we can't afford her to be sitting on the bench.

Dodson, 17 minutes, did well.  She hit a couple of baskets, grabbed a couple of rebounds, and blocked a shot.

Williams, 14 minutes.  I think she got her first official college assist today.  In fact, she had 3 of them to 1 turnover, and she made 1 of 3 treys.

Wilson, 13 minutes.  It was nice to see her out there for extended blocks of time, but she went 0/4.


Conclusion:

Our rebounding was good, but missing our treys and turning the ball over 19 times does not bode well.    I know Tara will help them improve, but it needs to happen faster that it appears to be happening--or else we are going to lose a great many games.

[81alum]

I should have said that the game is on Pac 12 Live.

[81alum]

I should have said that the game is on Pac 12 Live.

[qwerty49]

Preliminary:

We played them in the 2010 tourney, and Jayne, Nneka, Kayla, Jeanette, and Ros buried them 79-47.

Just the thought of that lineup made me feel good, sigh.

[qwerty49]

Preliminary:

We played them in the 2010 tourney, and Jayne, Nneka, Kayla, Jeanette, and Ros buried them 79-47.

Just the thought of that lineup made me feel good, sigh.

[2006alum]

UConn smashed No. 20 ןɐɔ 82-47 and led 45-24 at the half. Guess we don't have to feel quite as bad about our own thrashing.  As with us, only one player in double figures, Anigwe with 14 points. All 5 UConn starters + Stevens in double digits.

[2006alum]

UConn smashed No. 20 ןɐɔ 82-47 and led 45-24 at the half. Guess we don't have to feel quite as bad about our own thrashing.  As with us, only one player in double figures, Anigwe with 14 points. All 5 UConn starters + Stevens in double digits.

[TheFarm07]

UConn smashed No. 20 ןɐɔ 82-47 and led 45-24 at the half. Guess we don't have to feel quite as bad about our own thrashing.  As with us, only one player in double figures, Anigwe with 14 points. All 5 UConn starters + Stevens in double digits.

Looking at the Huskies' schedule, I would be highly surprised if anyone gave UConn much of a challenge besides perhaps N.D. (though they are weakened without Turner inside) and perhaps at Texas during the regular season. The Longhorns have a lot of talent, but it remains to be seen whether they can channel itself as effectively as Geno does with his team.

Even though they also play Maryland, UCLA and South Carolina, I don't see any of those teams putting up much resistance. The Terrapins lost Slocum, UCLA lost its best 3-point shooters and UConn breezed past them even with Korver and Kornet by 15 in the tournament last March and South Carolina even with A'ja Wilson, lost pretty much everyone else to the WNBA.

[TheFarm07]

UConn smashed No. 20 ןɐɔ 82-47 and led 45-24 at the half. Guess we don't have to feel quite as bad about our own thrashing.  As with us, only one player in double figures, Anigwe with 14 points. All 5 UConn starters + Stevens in double digits.

Looking at the Huskies' schedule, I would be highly surprised if anyone gave UConn much of a challenge besides perhaps N.D. (though they are weakened without Turner inside) and perhaps at Texas during the regular season. The Longhorns have a lot of talent, but it remains to be seen whether they can channel itself as effectively as Geno does with his team.

Even though they also play Maryland, UCLA and South Carolina, I don't see any of those teams putting up much resistance. The Terrapins lost Slocum, UCLA lost its best 3-point shooters and UConn breezed past them even with Korver and Kornet by 15 in the tournament last March and South Carolina even with A'ja Wilson, lost pretty much everyone else to the WNBA.

[CompSci87]

Warmups just finished. Fingall and McPhee are both in the dreaded injury sweats.

[CompSci87]

Warmups just finished. Fingall and McPhee are both in the dreaded injury sweats.

[Lorcan]

Sneizek, Carrington, Romano, Johnson, and Smith the starters.

[Lorcan]

Sneizek, Carrington, Romano, Johnson, and Smith the starters.

[BostonCard]

20-6 after the first quarter.

BC

[BostonCard]

20-6 after the first quarter.

BC

[JJJ]

Pleased with Romano's play on O and D and the rainbow trey. Played the whole quarter?

[JJJ]

Pleased with Romano's play on O and D and the rainbow trey. Played the whole quarter?

[Lorcan]

Kaylee's having herself a nice game, it'll be nice to see if she keeps it up.

[Lorcan]

Kaylee's having herself a nice game, it'll be nice to see if she keeps it up.

[BostonCard]

At halftime it's 33-20.  Riverside actually outscored us 14-13 in the second quarter.

BC

[BostonCard]

At halftime it's 33-20.  Riverside actually outscored us 14-13 in the second quarter.

BC

[TheFarm07]

I started watching at the end of the first quarter and so far, I'm not impressed. Our offense is still very disjointed with way too many turnovers and silly shots. I like Carrington's aggression, but she also launched a couple of ill-advised NBA-range 3-point attempts. Every time we drive, it seems two Riverside players are ready for us and we are turning the ball over to get out of it or attempting a bad shot

[TheFarm07]

I started watching at the end of the first quarter and so far, I'm not impressed. Our offense is still very disjointed with way too many turnovers and silly shots. I like Carrington's aggression, but she also launched a couple of ill-advised NBA-range 3-point attempts. Every time we drive, it seems two Riverside players are ready for us and we are turning the ball over to get out of it or attempting a bad shot

[Lorcan]

Well, Carrington did get 22 rebounds, and Johnson had 10. We did shoot 80% from the line which is an improvement, so that's the bright side. The ugly side? Pretty much everything else. No one was hitting threes, everyone combined to shoot a putrid 30.2% from the floor.

[Lorcan]

Well, Carrington did get 22 rebounds, and Johnson had 10. We did shoot 80% from the line which is an improvement, so that's the bright side. The ugly side? Pretty much everything else. No one was hitting threes, everyone combined to shoot a putrid 30.2% from the floor.

[TheFarm07]

The good: we got the win as ugly as it was. Carrington's incredible 22(!) rebounds. That must be a record from a guard/wing player for us.

The bad: Everything else. We nearly let UC-Riverside back in the game at the end, where they cut it to 10. After a 20-6 first quarter, we were outscored 33-37 the rest of the way. 19 turnovers. 30% shooting overall, including an abyssmal 11% (3/28!) from 3-pt range. I do not know why we shot that many threes when it was obvious we weren't shooting the ball well, but I guess when your entire offense is struggling, you just hoist up long range jumpers  McPhee day-to-day with an injury didn't even play. Fingall with an injury.


Hopes that we recover and put on a dominating performance quickly went by. Hopefully, the Sunday game against Bakersfield will be better. 81, I look forward to your recap and analysis on our woes.

[TheFarm07]

The good: we got the win as ugly as it was. Carrington's incredible 22(!) rebounds. That must be a record from a guard/wing player for us.

The bad: Everything else. We nearly let UC-Riverside back in the game at the end, where they cut it to 10. After a 20-6 first quarter, we were outscored 33-37 the rest of the way. 19 turnovers. 30% shooting overall, including an abyssmal 11% (3/28!) from 3-pt range. I do not know why we shot that many threes when it was obvious we weren't shooting the ball well, but I guess when your entire offense is struggling, you just hoist up long range jumpers  McPhee day-to-day with an injury didn't even play. Fingall with an injury.


Hopes that we recover and put on a dominating performance quickly went by. Hopefully, the Sunday game against Bakersfield will be better. 81, I look forward to your recap and analysis on our woes.

[mbdude]

3 for 28 on 3 ptrs.  No points last 4 minutes - similar droughts throughout game.  The shooting  that Tara touted has yet to show up.

Alanna needs to stay on the floor, need her offensive threat. As the announcers pointed out she is 1 of 2 people defenses will focus on - doubled team when she went low.

[mbdude]

3 for 28 on 3 ptrs.  No points last 4 minutes - similar droughts throughout game.  The shooting  that Tara touted has yet to show up.

Alanna needs to stay on the floor, need her offensive threat. As the announcers pointed out she is 1 of 2 people defenses will focus on - doubled team when she went low.

[TheFarm07]

3 for 28 on 3 ptrs.  No points last 4 minutes - similar droughts throughout game.  The shooting  that Tara touted has yet to show up.

Alanna needs to stay on the floor, need her offensive threat. As the announcers pointed out she is 1 of 2 people defenses will focus on - doubled team when she went low.

Unfortunately, she picked up fouls quickly, including 2 on consecutive possessions forcing her to the bench. Without McPhee, Alanna is our most seasoned scoring threat. But so far this season, she hasn't seemed confident and in-flow, like she did during our tourney run in March.

[TheFarm07]

3 for 28 on 3 ptrs.  No points last 4 minutes - similar droughts throughout game.  The shooting  that Tara touted has yet to show up.

Alanna needs to stay on the floor, need her offensive threat. As the announcers pointed out she is 1 of 2 people defenses will focus on - doubled team when she went low.

Unfortunately, she picked up fouls quickly, including 2 on consecutive possessions forcing her to the bench. Without McPhee, Alanna is our most seasoned scoring threat. But so far this season, she hasn't seemed confident and in-flow, like she did during our tourney run in March.

[81alum]

Write up is done (for now) at the top.

[81alum]

Write up is done (for now) at the top.

[chimera]

It's all been said above.  That was 2 hours of my life I would not wish to relive.  Carrington was the bright spot, especially the boards.  She did not shoot a good percentage when all was said and done, though.  And too many TOs by her, well, by everyone, really.  But she was our most aggressive and successful player on offense.  I think we will need to play better against Bakersfield or that could turn into a bit of trouble.  The offense is a struggle now.  We often had four players on the floor with very little playing experience (Romano, Carrington, Coffee, etc.) or frosh, with only one player I would call experienced. 

[chimera]

It's all been said above.  That was 2 hours of my life I would not wish to relive.  Carrington was the bright spot, especially the boards.  She did not shoot a good percentage when all was said and done, though.  And too many TOs by her, well, by everyone, really.  But she was our most aggressive and successful player on offense.  I think we will need to play better against Bakersfield or that could turn into a bit of trouble.  The offense is a struggle now.  We often had four players on the floor with very little playing experience (Romano, Carrington, Coffee, etc.) or frosh, with only one player I would call experienced. 

[2006alum]

Just skimmed the replay, mostly focusing on the first half. I'm not as discouraged after watching as I was when I first saw the box score, but largely because of how it played out on the court.

First, it's worth remembering the context of tonight's game, the third of the season: There are 200 player minutes per game (40 minutes x 5 players on the floor), and last season Bird, Karlie, McPhee, Roberson, and Fingall combined for 131.3 of them, on average. And of our average 71.7 points scored per game last season, those 5 accounted for 50.9 of the points. That means tonight we were without 65% of our player time from last season and 71% of our scoring. Alanna and Kayl also had to sit for significant time in the second half due to foul trouble. Take them out, and we're up to 165.9/200 minutes (83%) and 63.8/71.7 points (89%).

In that context, our horrible second half performance makes more sense. It doesn't excuse some really terrible passing and bizarre shot selection choices, but it does explain a bit why it seemed like we were all over the map. Some plays were really pretty, like a memorable inside-outside pass from Carrington at the perimeter, to Alanna inside, to Williams for the open three from behind the arc. Dodson also had a couple of nice shots, Kayl had some of the best offensive moves I can remember seeing from her since her freshman year, and, of course, Carrington was our do-it-all go-to player this game. But with a shooting-averse Marta largely running an offense, there was simply no experienced and reliable scorer on our side of the floor at all when Alanna or Carrington swapped out. And when Alanna was on the floor, they sagged big and double-teamed her, which led to so many errant treys.

In that sense, I'm actually less worried about the turnovers than the terrible 3 point shooting, because with such a rotating cast of inexperienced personnel, at least some of the sloppiness was understandable. Romano had 28 minutes, Carrington 31, and Wilson 13. With the partial exception of Carrington, they were only playing junk minutes last year. Among our frosh, Jerome got 22, Dodson 17, and Williams 14. Yeah, what they did with those minutes wasn't all that much, but their freshmen year, Bird averaged 3.3 points per game, Karlie 2.4, and Bri 1.6. If you're not KLS, an Ogwumike, or Stewwie, it's going to take time to become a consistent offensive threat, so I think our expectations have to be somewhat tempered in that respect.

The three point shooting concerns me more because I don't think it's easy to coach your players into becoming great 3 point shooters, so there's only so much Tara & co. can do about that. We had a lot of open looks we didn't make. It felt a bit like Carrington was deliberately trying to shoot herself out of the 3 point slump, to no avail. Romano was also colder than she has been the last few games, going 1/7. Those two combined were 1/15. I liked that Marta was trying to take cuts to the basket and drew some good fouls to get on the board, but she just has to develop a credible 3-pt shot or defenses can sag and take away easy looks (and passes) inside.

I share 81's view that each game diminishes my short-term expectations for this team. I got some healthy scorn for exploring the possibility that we could start the season at 6-7, but honestly, does anyone think we could beat Baylor, OSU (again), or Tennessee based on last night's game? A very plausible loss to Gonzaga and that lands us at 6-6 starting conference play against UCLA. That projection changes if we get McPhee back, but even then, it'll be a push to beat even one of Baylor, OSU, or Tennessee.

Carrington's development has been a genuinely pleasing turn of events, and it's apparent that she's essential to our offense when McPhee is off the floor. But one or more other players are going to need to step up or we're going to be off to a very rocky start to conference play.

And a side-note: the announcers said Fingall got knocked around in practice and wasn't cleared to be on the floor yet, which made me think she might be in concussion protocol? Hopefully it's just precautionary and nothing more...

[2006alum]

Just skimmed the replay, mostly focusing on the first half. I'm not as discouraged after watching as I was when I first saw the box score, but largely because of how it played out on the court.

First, it's worth remembering the context of tonight's game, the third of the season: There are 200 player minutes per game (40 minutes x 5 players on the floor), and last season Bird, Karlie, McPhee, Roberson, and Fingall combined for 131.3 of them, on average. And of our average 71.7 points scored per game last season, those 5 accounted for 50.9 of the points. That means tonight we were without 65% of our player time from last season and 71% of our scoring. Alanna and Kayl also had to sit for significant time in the second half due to foul trouble. Take them out, and we're up to 165.9/200 minutes (83%) and 63.8/71.7 points (89%).

In that context, our horrible second half performance makes more sense. It doesn't excuse some really terrible passing and bizarre shot selection choices, but it does explain a bit why it seemed like we were all over the map. Some plays were really pretty, like a memorable inside-outside pass from Carrington at the perimeter, to Alanna inside, to Williams for the open three from behind the arc. Dodson also had a couple of nice shots, Kayl had some of the best offensive moves I can remember seeing from her since her freshman year, and, of course, Carrington was our do-it-all go-to player this game. But with a shooting-averse Marta largely running an offense, there was simply no experienced and reliable scorer on our side of the floor at all when Alanna or Carrington swapped out. And when Alanna was on the floor, they sagged big and double-teamed her, which led to so many errant treys.

In that sense, I'm actually less worried about the turnovers than the terrible 3 point shooting, because with such a rotating cast of inexperienced personnel, at least some of the sloppiness was understandable. Romano had 28 minutes, Carrington 31, and Wilson 13. With the partial exception of Carrington, they were only playing junk minutes last year. Among our frosh, Jerome got 22, Dodson 17, and Williams 14. Yeah, what they did with those minutes wasn't all that much, but their freshmen year, Bird averaged 3.3 points per game, Karlie 2.4, and Bri 1.6. If you're not KLS, an Ogwumike, or Stewwie, it's going to take time to become a consistent offensive threat, so I think our expectations have to be somewhat tempered in that respect.

The three point shooting concerns me more because I don't think it's easy to coach your players into becoming great 3 point shooters, so there's only so much Tara & co. can do about that. We had a lot of open looks we didn't make. It felt a bit like Carrington was deliberately trying to shoot herself out of the 3 point slump, to no avail. Romano was also colder than she has been the last few games, going 1/7. Those two combined were 1/15. I liked that Marta was trying to take cuts to the basket and drew some good fouls to get on the board, but she just has to develop a credible 3-pt shot or defenses can sag and take away easy looks (and passes) inside.

I share 81's view that each game diminishes my short-term expectations for this team. I got some healthy scorn for exploring the possibility that we could start the season at 6-7, but honestly, does anyone think we could beat Baylor, OSU (again), or Tennessee based on last night's game? A very plausible loss to Gonzaga and that lands us at 6-6 starting conference play against UCLA. That projection changes if we get McPhee back, but even then, it'll be a push to beat even one of Baylor, OSU, or Tennessee.

Carrington's development has been a genuinely pleasing turn of events, and it's apparent that she's essential to our offense when McPhee is off the floor. But one or more other players are going to need to step up or we're going to be off to a very rocky start to conference play.

And a side-note: the announcers said Fingall got knocked around in practice and wasn't cleared to be on the floor yet, which made me think she might be in concussion protocol? Hopefully it's just precautionary and nothing more...

[81alum]

Some quotes from the press:

"Week-to-week, day-to-day," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said of McPhee.

This is the worst news of all.  It sounds like Bryce Love.  Those niggling ankle issues can inhibit a player for a long time.  The "week-to-week" comment makes my heart sink.

"We have a young team who did some nice things but we have a lot of work to do," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They're learning and adjusting to new positions. It was important for us to find a way to win."

Well, this is what you have to say.  Tara is certainly not panicking, and she sounds philosophical about the situation, but "finding a way to win" against a mediocre Big West foe that lowly U SC just crushed is not where you expect Stanford to be.

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2017...ford-women

[81alum]

Some quotes from the press:

"Week-to-week, day-to-day," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said of McPhee.

This is the worst news of all.  It sounds like Bryce Love.  Those niggling ankle issues can inhibit a player for a long time.  The "week-to-week" comment makes my heart sink.

"We have a young team who did some nice things but we have a lot of work to do," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. "They're learning and adjusting to new positions. It was important for us to find a way to win."

Well, this is what you have to say.  Tara is certainly not panicking, and she sounds philosophical about the situation, but "finding a way to win" against a mediocre Big West foe that lowly U SC just crushed is not where you expect Stanford to be.

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2017...ford-women