01-04-2013, 10:13 PM
Stanford had a fairly comfortable win against a previously unbeaten team. The commentary by Ros Gold-Onwude on the Pac-12 network was particularly interesting, given that she had seemingly talked extensively with Tara after the UConn loss and had some thoughtful insight to that game.
Stanford played excellent defense again, which is becoming a hallmark of the team. The real question was whether Tara has found a way to fix the offense. Obviously, Colorado is not as good a defensive team as UConn, so the the answer so far is "mixed." Stanford had some nice plays and but is still not fluid and prolific at the offensive end. Chiney had her usual 20 point game, with 11 rebounds. Joslyn had a good first half, coming out of a terrible offensive slump for the whole month of December. She scored 13 points with 6 rebounds. But then she receded some in the second half. Amber's jump shot was back and she scored 11. Better, she had six assists. On the down side, Amber had 4 fouls, including some reach-ins. Ruef had 4 pretty assists, too--some of the high-low passing to Chiney that we have previously been missing. So, with 13 assists, 48% shooting, and 57 points there were signs the offense is improving.Â
On the negative side for the offense stand two stark facts. First, we had 18 turnovers, which is especially troubling given that Colorado did not press that much but still managed to rack up 13 steals. Our turnovers seem to have been spread out among nearly all players. Second, our three point shooting continues to be woeful at only 2-10. Joslyn made her first shot, which was a three, and Jasmine Camp made a three, but Bonnie missed 4 attempts. She, unfortunately, seems to be very streaky, and she was not "on" tonight.
The most notable personnel change that Tara made was to give Toni only 10 minutes. Toni took only 2 shots and had no points. This is the second game this year something like this has happened, and the first got us wondering. Jasmine Camp got 18 minutes, made 3 baskets and 7 points--but also 3 turnovers. To my eye, Amber played with a lot more movement and defensive intensity than last game, and she got 34 minutes.
Ros pointed out several interesting points. Stanford has used three different offenses this year. The Princeton offense was used to surprise and beat Baylor--an effort to get Griner to come out away from the basket. Pick and roll action was inserted to take advantage of Amber's midrange jumpshot. Tonight, Stanford opened up with the old triangle again. Tara, said Ros, regretted not sticking to the offense the team knew best against Connecticut. I translated that to mean that departing so much from the triangle was Tara's experiment this fall and it worked against Baylor but failed miserably against Connecticut.Â
Another interesting Ros observation about UConn. Chiney was discombobulated by defenders cheating to her right. This last week Chiney has practiced her left handed shots and she came out against Colorado and made several of them. She will be harder to defend if she continues to break that tendency--Chiney and Amber need to continue to work on breaking their tendencies if we are going to have a chance against the elite teams down the road.
All in all, a good start on the road to recovery, but we have a ways to go before we get to those Stanford triangles of a few years ago that routinely put up 80.
Stanford played excellent defense again, which is becoming a hallmark of the team. The real question was whether Tara has found a way to fix the offense. Obviously, Colorado is not as good a defensive team as UConn, so the the answer so far is "mixed." Stanford had some nice plays and but is still not fluid and prolific at the offensive end. Chiney had her usual 20 point game, with 11 rebounds. Joslyn had a good first half, coming out of a terrible offensive slump for the whole month of December. She scored 13 points with 6 rebounds. But then she receded some in the second half. Amber's jump shot was back and she scored 11. Better, she had six assists. On the down side, Amber had 4 fouls, including some reach-ins. Ruef had 4 pretty assists, too--some of the high-low passing to Chiney that we have previously been missing. So, with 13 assists, 48% shooting, and 57 points there were signs the offense is improving.Â
On the negative side for the offense stand two stark facts. First, we had 18 turnovers, which is especially troubling given that Colorado did not press that much but still managed to rack up 13 steals. Our turnovers seem to have been spread out among nearly all players. Second, our three point shooting continues to be woeful at only 2-10. Joslyn made her first shot, which was a three, and Jasmine Camp made a three, but Bonnie missed 4 attempts. She, unfortunately, seems to be very streaky, and she was not "on" tonight.
The most notable personnel change that Tara made was to give Toni only 10 minutes. Toni took only 2 shots and had no points. This is the second game this year something like this has happened, and the first got us wondering. Jasmine Camp got 18 minutes, made 3 baskets and 7 points--but also 3 turnovers. To my eye, Amber played with a lot more movement and defensive intensity than last game, and she got 34 minutes.
Ros pointed out several interesting points. Stanford has used three different offenses this year. The Princeton offense was used to surprise and beat Baylor--an effort to get Griner to come out away from the basket. Pick and roll action was inserted to take advantage of Amber's midrange jumpshot. Tonight, Stanford opened up with the old triangle again. Tara, said Ros, regretted not sticking to the offense the team knew best against Connecticut. I translated that to mean that departing so much from the triangle was Tara's experiment this fall and it worked against Baylor but failed miserably against Connecticut.Â
Another interesting Ros observation about UConn. Chiney was discombobulated by defenders cheating to her right. This last week Chiney has practiced her left handed shots and she came out against Colorado and made several of them. She will be harder to defend if she continues to break that tendency--Chiney and Amber need to continue to work on breaking their tendencies if we are going to have a chance against the elite teams down the road.
All in all, a good start on the road to recovery, but we have a ways to go before we get to those Stanford triangles of a few years ago that routinely put up 80.
