01-14-2012, 07:30 PM
Well, that was scary.
Not the score, or the game; Stanford went out to an 9-0 lead, only giving up two FTs 7 minutes into the game. But by that time, the big story of the game was underway.
About 5 minutes into the game, with the Cardinal dominating but shooting poorly, Nneka backed into the lane on defense - and stepped on Chiney's foot. She immediately went to the floor clutching her right ankle, and visions of (insert bad injury history here) danced before my eyes. She got up and limped off with help, and sat on the bench getting her leg retaped before heading into the locker room. Luckily the courtside announcer very quickly heard from the training staff that she would be back.
But you know what? Her leaving the floor in some ways opened things up for a more balanced offensive flow. Early in the game, Jos very definitely showed up to play - hitting a 3 and then a nice cutting layup from Chiney for Stanford's first five points. The guards' shots still weren't falling, but Stanford was slowly extending the lead.
Because Colorado was stifled by the Cardinal defense. The Buffaloes even more than Stanford are dependent on one big offensive threat, guard Chucky Jeffery. And she couldn't hit anything today; she ended up 1-10, but more importantly, as a team Colorado missed their first 11 shots and turned the ball over three times in their first 14 possessions as they seemed to be waiting for her to take over.
With Nneka off the floor, Colorado got their first points on an offensive rebound leading to a foul, and hit a couple of shots to eventually pull it back to 13-9. Then Nneka reentered, and while she didn't look close to 100%, she hit some jump shots but more importantly drew some defensive pressure and anchored Stanford's defense. The Cardinal proceeded to go on a 19-2 run to blow the game open, and it never got under 17 points after that.
Which gave Stanford the opportunity to work on a few things; I think they definitely weighted the offense to try to get looks for players not named Nneka, both for developmental purposes and to keep the load off her ankle. The most positive development? Jos' offensive aggression throughout, and Toni's relocating her shot in the second half.  And the team as a whole finding their FT strokes - 18-22 from the line.
Toni? 8-12 from the floor, and hit another 3. Chiney? 8-11 and 3-4 from FT line. Jos? 7-9, 2-3 on 3s and 4-4 FTs, matching her career high with 20. An 75-80% Nneka with 15. Great team defense throughout.
The big downside? Very little production from the bench, which at this point includes Lindy. She had 26 minutes, but was only 1-8 from the field, and missed her only 2 FTs. She did pass well, and played a big part in Stanford's great defense, but really needs to find her offensive game, at least to the point of presenting a viable threat - Amber is more of a threat to drive, and a stronger on-ball defender against smaller guards.
The bench as a whole? 2-15 from the field. A lot of energy, but not much direction. Sarah still being unable to fully utilize her height on defense without committing soft fouls. I did see more PT for Payne at the end of the game, so maybe we'll see if she can develop into the defender that Stanford needs - tall and quick on the perimeter.
But the story of this game was the defense - Colorado's two lead guards ended up 2-20 from the field. With Nneka hobbled, the inside play was closer than it might have been - she definitely was favoring her ankle, and Stanford ended up with only a 34-30 advantage on the boards (27 D/7 O for Stanford, 13 O/17 D for Colorado - one of the first games I can recall Stanford giving up more o-boards than they collected).
More interestingly, neither team ever went to a zone. Colorado got killed at the end of Thursday's game by C.al's zone, getting outscored by 24 over the last 7-8 minutes of the game, and in this game ended up 3-17 from 3 pt range. Stanford shot better in this game, 4-11, but has still shown themselves vulnerable to stretches of ice-cold outside shooting.
In any case, hoping Nneka gets time to heal up - WSU is a much more solid opponent than they have been, but neither they nor the Huskies should be a brobdingnagian problem at Maples next weekend heading into the brobdingnagian five-game middle of the season stretch - home v. C.al, away at ASU and Arizona, home vs. the LAs. Does anyone know how the new schedule is working for the Pac-12? ASU and Arizona don't come to Maples this year, and Stanford doesn't go to Washington.
VG
Not the score, or the game; Stanford went out to an 9-0 lead, only giving up two FTs 7 minutes into the game. But by that time, the big story of the game was underway.
About 5 minutes into the game, with the Cardinal dominating but shooting poorly, Nneka backed into the lane on defense - and stepped on Chiney's foot. She immediately went to the floor clutching her right ankle, and visions of (insert bad injury history here) danced before my eyes. She got up and limped off with help, and sat on the bench getting her leg retaped before heading into the locker room. Luckily the courtside announcer very quickly heard from the training staff that she would be back.
But you know what? Her leaving the floor in some ways opened things up for a more balanced offensive flow. Early in the game, Jos very definitely showed up to play - hitting a 3 and then a nice cutting layup from Chiney for Stanford's first five points. The guards' shots still weren't falling, but Stanford was slowly extending the lead.
Because Colorado was stifled by the Cardinal defense. The Buffaloes even more than Stanford are dependent on one big offensive threat, guard Chucky Jeffery. And she couldn't hit anything today; she ended up 1-10, but more importantly, as a team Colorado missed their first 11 shots and turned the ball over three times in their first 14 possessions as they seemed to be waiting for her to take over.
With Nneka off the floor, Colorado got their first points on an offensive rebound leading to a foul, and hit a couple of shots to eventually pull it back to 13-9. Then Nneka reentered, and while she didn't look close to 100%, she hit some jump shots but more importantly drew some defensive pressure and anchored Stanford's defense. The Cardinal proceeded to go on a 19-2 run to blow the game open, and it never got under 17 points after that.
Which gave Stanford the opportunity to work on a few things; I think they definitely weighted the offense to try to get looks for players not named Nneka, both for developmental purposes and to keep the load off her ankle. The most positive development? Jos' offensive aggression throughout, and Toni's relocating her shot in the second half.  And the team as a whole finding their FT strokes - 18-22 from the line.
Toni? 8-12 from the floor, and hit another 3. Chiney? 8-11 and 3-4 from FT line. Jos? 7-9, 2-3 on 3s and 4-4 FTs, matching her career high with 20. An 75-80% Nneka with 15. Great team defense throughout.
The big downside? Very little production from the bench, which at this point includes Lindy. She had 26 minutes, but was only 1-8 from the field, and missed her only 2 FTs. She did pass well, and played a big part in Stanford's great defense, but really needs to find her offensive game, at least to the point of presenting a viable threat - Amber is more of a threat to drive, and a stronger on-ball defender against smaller guards.
The bench as a whole? 2-15 from the field. A lot of energy, but not much direction. Sarah still being unable to fully utilize her height on defense without committing soft fouls. I did see more PT for Payne at the end of the game, so maybe we'll see if she can develop into the defender that Stanford needs - tall and quick on the perimeter.
But the story of this game was the defense - Colorado's two lead guards ended up 2-20 from the field. With Nneka hobbled, the inside play was closer than it might have been - she definitely was favoring her ankle, and Stanford ended up with only a 34-30 advantage on the boards (27 D/7 O for Stanford, 13 O/17 D for Colorado - one of the first games I can recall Stanford giving up more o-boards than they collected).
More interestingly, neither team ever went to a zone. Colorado got killed at the end of Thursday's game by C.al's zone, getting outscored by 24 over the last 7-8 minutes of the game, and in this game ended up 3-17 from 3 pt range. Stanford shot better in this game, 4-11, but has still shown themselves vulnerable to stretches of ice-cold outside shooting.
In any case, hoping Nneka gets time to heal up - WSU is a much more solid opponent than they have been, but neither they nor the Huskies should be a brobdingnagian problem at Maples next weekend heading into the brobdingnagian five-game middle of the season stretch - home v. C.al, away at ASU and Arizona, home vs. the LAs. Does anyone know how the new schedule is working for the Pac-12? ASU and Arizona don't come to Maples this year, and Stanford doesn't go to Washington.
VG
