[treetop11]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

[treetop11]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

[MV72018]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

Interesting, not a word about the coaches who prepare the team in detail to face an opponent whose strengths were presumably seen on tape.

[MV72018]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

Interesting, not a word about the coaches who prepare the team in detail to face an opponent whose strengths were presumably seen on tape.

[PVTree]

Once it was figured out that teams needed to guard Jump and defend the paint, giving us the mid-range jumpers, we had a hard time beating teams we could not dominate in the paint. Mississippi is one of those teams, and our season ended.

We lacked the penetrating guard who could drive to the basket. We also lack 3 point shooters who can get open. Jump is deadeye when shooting, but she is easily guarded. 

I'm hoping that now that Haley is gone, others will start looking to become scorers, and not defer to Brink as they did to Haley.

We knew Haley was high risk / high reward. She gave us more ups than downs, but some of those downs were instrumental in some of the losses, including tonight. 

It is a dismal way to end the season after having our hopes high at the start of the year. I'm hoping we can come back stronger next year for Brink's senior year.

[PVTree]

Once it was figured out that teams needed to guard Jump and defend the paint, giving us the mid-range jumpers, we had a hard time beating teams we could not dominate in the paint. Mississippi is one of those teams, and our season ended.

We lacked the penetrating guard who could drive to the basket. We also lack 3 point shooters who can get open. Jump is deadeye when shooting, but she is easily guarded. 

I'm hoping that now that Haley is gone, others will start looking to become scorers, and not defer to Brink as they did to Haley.

We knew Haley was high risk / high reward. She gave us more ups than downs, but some of those downs were instrumental in some of the losses, including tonight. 

It is a dismal way to end the season after having our hopes high at the start of the year. I'm hoping we can come back stronger next year for Brink's senior year.

[amytmueller]

Jump could not have passed to anyone, she was double-teamed in the corner.  But yes, she could have called a time out or tried to bounce the ball out of bounds off one of the defenders.

I don't know who else noticed this, but Cam actually signaled to the bench to be taken out twice in the second half.  Treetop11, you're right, she had an incredible night and always gives 100% every game.

Looking forward to seeing Cam and Betts playing together next year!  This year, they seemed to often sub for each other.

[amytmueller]

Jump could not have passed to anyone, she was double-teamed in the corner.  But yes, she could have called a time out or tried to bounce the ball out of bounds off one of the defenders.

I don't know who else noticed this, but Cam actually signaled to the bench to be taken out twice in the second half.  Treetop11, you're right, she had an incredible night and always gives 100% every game.

Looking forward to seeing Cam and Betts playing together next year!  This year, they seemed to often sub for each other.

[BillBradley]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

Couldn't have said it better. To build on a few of your points:
- So disappointed in our perimeter D. Especially in the first half. We should have come out and stepped on their throats. Instead we let them take open elbow jumper after jumper, without even a hand up. And the freshman that hit 3 threes in a row, no one was within 10 feet of her. Just ridiculous.
- Why on earth doesn't Tara use a couple of the timeouts to save a few possessions, including Nivar on the floor and Hannah being stuck in the corner. Instead, she saves them up to advance the ball late. I'd trade a few of those possessions for the 2 seconds it takes to dribble the ball to half court any day. 
- I am so sick of our team inexplicably choosing not to throw the ball into our 6' 4", 85% FT shooter, all-everything on the block when she has her player pinned and instead reversing it away from her. Lepolo on her own must have done that 3 or 4 times. People watching with me were getting so tired of me screaming "Give it to her!". The only person more frustrated than me was probably Cam herself. I could hear her screaming for the ball on the TV and pleading with her teammates to throw it to her. And I do put some of this on Tara. I've always been a fan of Tara, but since the USC loss she just hasn't made the adjustments that I would have expected from a coach of her caliber. I really am shocked and can't explain it. Massive overreaction in my book. I thought she did a great job (obviously) on the natty run and last year so it's not like she's a coach who has gone years without success. But this team has really limped in. But...as the head coach, you make the calls. With it comes the accolades when you win and the criticism when you lose. Whatever calls she made clearly were off this year.
- Let me get this straight...Kiki and Fran are struggling mightily. Not scoring, not defending, barely rebounding (actually Kiki with a big goosegg in her 5 mins). Might we give our 6' 3" forward Brooke Demetre a try? She can't be any worse on D or on the boards, and we know she can spread the court and feed the ball to Cam and she can get awfully hot...nah. Minute here, minute there, but that's it. Baffling to me. She could have completely altered that game.
- Feel badly for Haley. For all the great things she's done in a Stanford uniform, those last couple minutes should not have been how her career ended. 
- Cam...wow. She is a warrior. By the time she's done, she'll be the best ever to wear a Stanford uniform. She'll also have the most successful pro career out of all our players. 

Time to get over this one and look toward next year. Glad Hannah is coming back and hopefully the incoming frosh will give us some new options.

[BillBradley]

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

Couldn't have said it better. To build on a few of your points:
- So disappointed in our perimeter D. Especially in the first half. We should have come out and stepped on their throats. Instead we let them take open elbow jumper after jumper, without even a hand up. And the freshman that hit 3 threes in a row, no one was within 10 feet of her. Just ridiculous.
- Why on earth doesn't Tara use a couple of the timeouts to save a few possessions, including Nivar on the floor and Hannah being stuck in the corner. Instead, she saves them up to advance the ball late. I'd trade a few of those possessions for the 2 seconds it takes to dribble the ball to half court any day. 
- I am so sick of our team inexplicably choosing not to throw the ball into our 6' 4", 85% FT shooter, all-everything on the block when she has her player pinned and instead reversing it away from her. Lepolo on her own must have done that 3 or 4 times. People watching with me were getting so tired of me screaming "Give it to her!". The only person more frustrated than me was probably Cam herself. I could hear her screaming for the ball on the TV and pleading with her teammates to throw it to her. And I do put some of this on Tara. I've always been a fan of Tara, but since the USC loss she just hasn't made the adjustments that I would have expected from a coach of her caliber. I really am shocked and can't explain it. Massive overreaction in my book. I thought she did a great job (obviously) on the natty run and last year so it's not like she's a coach who has gone years without success. But this team has really limped in. But...as the head coach, you make the calls. With it comes the accolades when you win and the criticism when you lose. Whatever calls she made clearly were off this year.
- Let me get this straight...Kiki and Fran are struggling mightily. Not scoring, not defending, barely rebounding (actually Kiki with a big goosegg in her 5 mins). Might we give our 6' 3" forward Brooke Demetre a try? She can't be any worse on D or on the boards, and we know she can spread the court and feed the ball to Cam and she can get awfully hot...nah. Minute here, minute there, but that's it. Baffling to me. She could have completely altered that game.
- Feel badly for Haley. For all the great things she's done in a Stanford uniform, those last couple minutes should not have been how her career ended. 
- Cam...wow. She is a warrior. By the time she's done, she'll be the best ever to wear a Stanford uniform. She'll also have the most successful pro career out of all our players. 

Time to get over this one and look toward next year. Glad Hannah is coming back and hopefully the incoming frosh will give us some new options.

[81alum]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

[81alum]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

[GK3]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

Yes, Hats off to Brink.  She played a tremendous game, particularly under the circumstances.  Haley played tough but took far too many very high level of difficulty shots.  From my perspective there was far too much standing around on the part of our other players, little motion, no real effort to set good screens for Jump.  We made defending ourselves far too easy.  All this resulted in desperate passes that had little chance of success and more turnovers.  21 turnovers and only 8 assists illustrate our lack of movement and inability to get anyone open.
Yes, the refs allowed a lot of contact on Brink, but it has always seemed to me that if you are the star, the other team is always going to get away with more when defending you.  I thought they were a lot quicker than we were and their players often got a step on our defenders which led to reach in fouls and more mistakes.  Did we try a zone?
I do not think we were well prepared for this game, why I don't know.  We have had problems with quicker teams and by now should have some idea how to try and deal with it.  
What do we do next year?  Rely on Brink again, but we have to get Jump open and and get her the ball.  We also have to find some other scoring someplace and hopefully a system that allows us to better use our bigs and still defend against quicker teams.  Maybe it can't be done.

[GK3]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

Yes, Hats off to Brink.  She played a tremendous game, particularly under the circumstances.  Haley played tough but took far too many very high level of difficulty shots.  From my perspective there was far too much standing around on the part of our other players, little motion, no real effort to set good screens for Jump.  We made defending ourselves far too easy.  All this resulted in desperate passes that had little chance of success and more turnovers.  21 turnovers and only 8 assists illustrate our lack of movement and inability to get anyone open.
Yes, the refs allowed a lot of contact on Brink, but it has always seemed to me that if you are the star, the other team is always going to get away with more when defending you.  I thought they were a lot quicker than we were and their players often got a step on our defenders which led to reach in fouls and more mistakes.  Did we try a zone?
I do not think we were well prepared for this game, why I don't know.  We have had problems with quicker teams and by now should have some idea how to try and deal with it.  
What do we do next year?  Rely on Brink again, but we have to get Jump open and and get her the ball.  We also have to find some other scoring someplace and hopefully a system that allows us to better use our bigs and still defend against quicker teams.  Maybe it can't be done.

[cardboard=number_redacted]

Big Card supporters, so share everyone's disappointment.  Take what you want, leave the rest.   

1. Tara is an intellectual. She stubbornly refused to use the right defense in the right situation, until Ole Miss's freshman had torched us from the perimeter. Having played interior defense, It is proper to respect the drive, but c'mon. We have more size and height.  it takes lots of energy for bigs to block shots on the perimeter. Better to play with your legs, not your arms. Having to watch Cam, Fran, others who are stellar shock blockers duped, and duped again, made me wince.  Lepolo and Haley were no confidence votes on the P. The Agnes pick and rob leading to a Rebel 3 - left me pounding the armrest

2. Kate Paye's offensive scheme (?)  Speaks for itself.

3. Rest of coaching staff - either clueless or did not alert Tara to her biggest deficiency, for me, in inspiring team unity. Tara spent most of the last few games glaring, scolding. 

What happens in practice, we can only speculate. 

4. Lack of offensive balance; riding (2) freshman point guards and, let it be said, the profound lack of someone who doesn't fit the Tara mold, like, uh, Tiana Williams who could reverse the momentum of a game. lepolo looked like a deer in the headlights most of the time, and Nivar, who is further along, cannot figure to break down the Ole Miss zone. Guards need to pass and penetrate, not telegraph entry passes (Haley, you listening?)

Again, this is on the STAFF for drawing up a predictable game plan.

5. Losses - USC and Utah were warning signs. This team, from coaching, to its players, whether mentally or physically tired, was upset aching to happen.

6. The 'Tara' way:  This is a talented, smart group. Team did not play close to its individual talent, and appeared ridiculously outplayed  at times, as with other uber-talented Card teams that found a way to fold.  We know playing WBB for Stanford is one of the most intimidating challenges for a female athlete. Playing point guard for Tara is the most intimidating challenges in an already intimidating environment.  Ask Roz. 

You can make the case it's that way for any other big time time. But there's something in Tara's way that recoils from the dogfight. I would take a street fighter like Staley or Pat Summitt, at the height of her career over Tara.  Every day.  it's not being a 'Cally nice, smart girl' thing that other teams use to beat us, despite what the announcers say.  It's the lack of unity and imparting a message that does not reach players lick Prechtel, who was horribly underutilized this year, and Kiki, who will likely transfer, and why not?  Playing for Tara and this coaching mindset hasn't advanced their careers.  And that's when you know there's a fly in the ointment. 
 
Being a number one seed, as we see, if not all it's cracked up to be, men or women. I believe it's Tara's belief in sportsmanship, or rigidity, if you will, of not allowing players to say enough is enough (see Hollingshead) improvise, and which allows  tough, scrappy teams like Ole Miss to take advantage of our programming to eschew street ball for Taraball. 

Tara's coaching legacy cannot be tarnished by this or any other loss.  But changes need to be made.

Fell bad for Cam but not so much rest of team. Tara knew riding Cam to the exclusion of (see balanced offense)  was going to come back to bite us. Ole Miss took advantage by hassling and pestering. Lack of Cardinal cohesion, some players just react to pressure differently, call it lack of desire, or mental fatigue, the Tara voodoo, after a fantastic and long run, has run its course. 

Time for regime change.

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

[cardboard=number_redacted]

Big Card supporters, so share everyone's disappointment.  Take what you want, leave the rest.   

1. Tara is an intellectual. She stubbornly refused to use the right defense in the right situation, until Ole Miss's freshman had torched us from the perimeter. Having played interior defense, It is proper to respect the drive, but c'mon. We have more size and height.  it takes lots of energy for bigs to block shots on the perimeter. Better to play with your legs, not your arms. Having to watch Cam, Fran, others who are stellar shock blockers duped, and duped again, made me wince.  Lepolo and Haley were no confidence votes on the P. The Agnes pick and rob leading to a Rebel 3 - left me pounding the armrest

2. Kate Paye's offensive scheme (?)  Speaks for itself.

3. Rest of coaching staff - either clueless or did not alert Tara to her biggest deficiency, for me, in inspiring team unity. Tara spent most of the last few games glaring, scolding. 

What happens in practice, we can only speculate. 

4. Lack of offensive balance; riding (2) freshman point guards and, let it be said, the profound lack of someone who doesn't fit the Tara mold, like, uh, Tiana Williams who could reverse the momentum of a game. lepolo looked like a deer in the headlights most of the time, and Nivar, who is further along, cannot figure to break down the Ole Miss zone. Guards need to pass and penetrate, not telegraph entry passes (Haley, you listening?)

Again, this is on the STAFF for drawing up a predictable game plan.

5. Losses - USC and Utah were warning signs. This team, from coaching, to its players, whether mentally or physically tired, was upset aching to happen.

6. The 'Tara' way:  This is a talented, smart group. Team did not play close to its individual talent, and appeared ridiculously outplayed  at times, as with other uber-talented Card teams that found a way to fold.  We know playing WBB for Stanford is one of the most intimidating challenges for a female athlete. Playing point guard for Tara is the most intimidating challenges in an already intimidating environment.  Ask Roz. 

You can make the case it's that way for any other big time time. But there's something in Tara's way that recoils from the dogfight. I would take a street fighter like Staley or Pat Summitt, at the height of her career over Tara.  Every day.  it's not being a 'Cally nice, smart girl' thing that other teams use to beat us, despite what the announcers say.  It's the lack of unity and imparting a message that does not reach players lick Prechtel, who was horribly underutilized this year, and Kiki, who will likely transfer, and why not?  Playing for Tara and this coaching mindset hasn't advanced their careers.  And that's when you know there's a fly in the ointment. 
 
Being a number one seed, as we see, if not all it's cracked up to be, men or women. I believe it's Tara's belief in sportsmanship, or rigidity, if you will, of not allowing players to say enough is enough (see Hollingshead) improvise, and which allows  tough, scrappy teams like Ole Miss to take advantage of our programming to eschew street ball for Taraball. 

Tara's coaching legacy cannot be tarnished by this or any other loss.  But changes need to be made.

Fell bad for Cam but not so much rest of team. Tara knew riding Cam to the exclusion of (see balanced offense)  was going to come back to bite us. Ole Miss took advantage by hassling and pestering. Lack of Cardinal cohesion, some players just react to pressure differently, call it lack of desire, or mental fatigue, the Tara voodoo, after a fantastic and long run, has run its course. 

Time for regime change.

To the game and to the season...

We have the game tied with the ball to inbounds and 40 seconds left. Offense gets tied up but Lepolo misses seeing a wide open Nivar close to the basket and Tara has to call another TO. Then with 28 seconds left, Jones throws it to Jump who is trapped in the corner. Haley could have passed to Lepolo instead. Then Jump panics; could have passed into Brink who had position or called a TO. Then dumb foul by Haley which basically sealed the game. 

Bitter tast at the end of the season losing to Utah, Ucla, and now this one.

Too many turnovers, especially bad ones. Too many gimme missed shots. Too many acrobatic types shots around the basket that missed. Too weak rebounding. Too much Haley trying to force things rather than find open teammates.

When is Stanford going to learn that it needs to defend tightly on the perimeter (applies to MBB too) and not give so many open looks from three?

But in the end, we were what we knew we were; not strong enough at the guard positions to be championship caliber. On O, our guards cannot create and penetrate nor hit threes at any decent level. On D, they cannot pressure to force turnovers, bad shots, or rebound. 

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

[mbdude]

speaking to player development: Fran had 4 years to develop a 15 foot jumpshot, didnt happen - not even close.  not a great passer from free throw line. Same in some respects with Kiki - she appears to have lost confidence, lot of travelling, charge calls, missed bunnies. 

Putting a sub in for 1 or 2 minutes and then yanking them annoyed me to end, it seemed pointless - give them a chance.

[mbdude]

speaking to player development: Fran had 4 years to develop a 15 foot jumpshot, didnt happen - not even close.  not a great passer from free throw line. Same in some respects with Kiki - she appears to have lost confidence, lot of travelling, charge calls, missed bunnies. 

Putting a sub in for 1 or 2 minutes and then yanking them annoyed me to end, it seemed pointless - give them a chance.

[Card10Fan]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

[Card10Fan]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

[Hurlburt88]

and I/we have our answer to how difficult it would be to replace the HUlls and Anna . . .

[Hurlburt88]

and I/we have our answer to how difficult it would be to replace the HUlls and Anna . . .

[Bampa]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Tara has been a great coach for Stanford, but her decisions, preparations, and player rotations this year have left me dumbfounded.

[Bampa]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Tara has been a great coach for Stanford, but her decisions, preparations, and player rotations this year have left me dumbfounded.

[GK3]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Tara has been a great coach for Stanford, but her decisions, preparations, and player rotations this year have left me dumbfounded.

Did we play a zone at any time last night?  It seemed the logical defense, it would help protect our less athletic perimeter players since we had Brink to take care of anyone who drove inside.  I thought a zone would have placed a lot more pressure on Miss State.
Another thing we have to think about in the off season is when will Tara decide enough is enough and retire.  She is a legend and helped make Women's Basketball what it is today. But as with David Shaw, there comes a time for everyone when it is time to step down and move on to the next stage of life.  I am sure Tara would want to go out on a better note than last night's game.  
So we have proven we can lose with Brink, Jones and Jump.  Now Jones is gone. Are we going to losses to players moving on to the portal?

Shaw stayed on too long and was too stuck in his ways.  Unfortunately, Tara seems to be entering this same kind of environment.  I would love to see her come back next year and have a great season and go out on a positive note, but outside of Brink and Jump I don't see her having the personnel to make a long run next year either.

I don't want Tara to hang around so long she replicates Shaw endgame.  She deserves to go out on top with the glory that brings, but can it happen?

[GK3]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Tara has been a great coach for Stanford, but her decisions, preparations, and player rotations this year have left me dumbfounded.

Did we play a zone at any time last night?  It seemed the logical defense, it would help protect our less athletic perimeter players since we had Brink to take care of anyone who drove inside.  I thought a zone would have placed a lot more pressure on Miss State.
Another thing we have to think about in the off season is when will Tara decide enough is enough and retire.  She is a legend and helped make Women's Basketball what it is today. But as with David Shaw, there comes a time for everyone when it is time to step down and move on to the next stage of life.  I am sure Tara would want to go out on a better note than last night's game.  
So we have proven we can lose with Brink, Jones and Jump.  Now Jones is gone. Are we going to losses to players moving on to the portal?

Shaw stayed on too long and was too stuck in his ways.  Unfortunately, Tara seems to be entering this same kind of environment.  I would love to see her come back next year and have a great season and go out on a positive note, but outside of Brink and Jump I don't see her having the personnel to make a long run next year either.

I don't want Tara to hang around so long she replicates Shaw endgame.  She deserves to go out on top with the glory that brings, but can it happen?

[PVTree]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Not so sure about that. Clark and Bueckers will probably be in the same class. It will probably depend on who has the selection, and what their need is.

[PVTree]

Stanford has 8 McDonalds All Americans, 2 All-Americans on their roster
Ole Miss has 1 McDonalds All American

It's not a talent issue. I think the Tara strategy of try different combinations every game all season and see what sticks mentality clearly backfired. Roles still look unrefined yesterday. Other than Baylor failing to win the title BG's senior season (when Louisville upset them in the Sweet 16). I don't know if I can think of another team with as much talent as we have that has underachieved more. Brink is gonna be the #1 pick in next years draft and we have a lot of pieces to put around her (heck we are one of the few teams with 15 on the roster), yet we still couldn't figure out who could be a perimeter threat around her to space the floor and run the offense. Maybe, one of Tara's worst coaching seasons the past 15 years. 

I think of 2017 and how our roster was no where near as talented but our team was just so cohesive and overachieved. Exact opposite this year. Although I was not surprised, it was still so disappointing to see.

Not so sure about that. Clark and Bueckers will probably be in the same class. It will probably depend on who has the selection, and what their need is.

[bbm233]

and I/we have our answer to how difficult it would be to replace the HUlls and Anna . . .

Yes, if only Lacie had come back for a covid-year this team would have done so much better. Nobody on this team has the mentality to go get every last loose ball. Plus, Lacie can shoot the three. Would have been a different story yesterday with a Hull playing instead of one of the freshman guards.

Lack of grittiness (except for Cam) was exposed by USC, then Washington and UCLA. Even going back to the Gamecocks game, the team didn't have an answer when the going got tough.

Not optimistic about next year...

[bbm233]

and I/we have our answer to how difficult it would be to replace the HUlls and Anna . . .

Yes, if only Lacie had come back for a covid-year this team would have done so much better. Nobody on this team has the mentality to go get every last loose ball. Plus, Lacie can shoot the three. Would have been a different story yesterday with a Hull playing instead of one of the freshman guards.

Lack of grittiness (except for Cam) was exposed by USC, then Washington and UCLA. Even going back to the Gamecocks game, the team didn't have an answer when the going got tough.

Not optimistic about next year...

[Baez87]

Cardboard Wisdom…
As my wife and I were having coffee this morning while trying to salve our disappointment from the Cardinal's loss, we stumbled onto an article by Olympic gold medalist Oliver Fix. Fix's article entitled “Hawaii Was Hell Until Hooponopono Ke Ala,” described his struggle with defeat.
He shared that he was perplexed by the conditions of the world until he found a teacher of the Hawaiian wisdom tradition, Hooponopono Ke Ala (which translates into “make the path that is right, more right”).
Fix was taught that “Nothing is wrong — all is in right place, right time, right being (a concept that Hawaiians call "pono").
His teacher urged him to “Stop resisting what is." Adding that, "Blame, shame, resentment is all just drama or pilikia! Completely useless.”
Perhaps we can all salve our disappointment by venturing inward, rather than outward, in our search for solace.

[Baez87]

Cardboard Wisdom…
As my wife and I were having coffee this morning while trying to salve our disappointment from the Cardinal's loss, we stumbled onto an article by Olympic gold medalist Oliver Fix. Fix's article entitled “Hawaii Was Hell Until Hooponopono Ke Ala,” described his struggle with defeat.
He shared that he was perplexed by the conditions of the world until he found a teacher of the Hawaiian wisdom tradition, Hooponopono Ke Ala (which translates into “make the path that is right, more right”).
Fix was taught that “Nothing is wrong — all is in right place, right time, right being (a concept that Hawaiians call "pono").
His teacher urged him to “Stop resisting what is." Adding that, "Blame, shame, resentment is all just drama or pilikia! Completely useless.”
Perhaps we can all salve our disappointment by venturing inward, rather than outward, in our search for solace.

[stopandpop]

I think the landscape of women's basketball and what it takes to win has changed rapidly, especially in the last couple of years.  I think we are moving away from beautiful finesse basketball to a much more physical game dominated by talented physical players.  In a way, it's becoming more like the men's game.

I wonder if this change might present a challenge for Tara, who has almost always designed her offense around the finesse concept and with some exceptions, has recruited players who can play in that kind of system.

I wonder if a season like this might give Tara pause to consider recruiting more physical (talented) players coming out of HS; not necessarily an entire team, but one or two players of that mold for each recruiting year.  An alternative approach would be, recruiting tough gritty players in the mold of a Lexie Hull- not physically big, but hard as nails.

[stopandpop]

I think the landscape of women's basketball and what it takes to win has changed rapidly, especially in the last couple of years.  I think we are moving away from beautiful finesse basketball to a much more physical game dominated by talented physical players.  In a way, it's becoming more like the men's game.

I wonder if this change might present a challenge for Tara, who has almost always designed her offense around the finesse concept and with some exceptions, has recruited players who can play in that kind of system.

I wonder if a season like this might give Tara pause to consider recruiting more physical (talented) players coming out of HS; not necessarily an entire team, but one or two players of that mold for each recruiting year.  An alternative approach would be, recruiting tough gritty players in the mold of a Lexie Hull- not physically big, but hard as nails.

[TonyLima]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

Agree re the zebras. If I can have a personal moment, there’s some history I’d like to relate.

In the 1960’s and 70’s I was a brobdingnagian hockey fan. Bruins mostly because I lived in Boston. Then the overlords decided to promote fighting. I stopped watching and have never gone back (although I understand fighting has been significantly reduced).

Will the same thing happen to WBB? No idea, but I don’t like the trend. NCAA better figure out what to do about the rough play.

---

speaking to player development: Fran had 4 years to develop a 15 foot jumpshot, didnt happen - not even close.  not a great passer from free throw line. Same in some respects with Kiki - she appears to have lost confidence, lot of travelling, charge calls, missed bunnies. 

Putting a sub in for 1 or 2 minutes and then yanking them annoyed me to end, it seemed pointless - give them a chance.

How can a team run the Flow offense but not give players to get into the flow?

[TonyLima]

I'll leave this on a positive note. Hats off to Brink. What a warrior! She had to be weakened after being sick, and puts up 20, 13, and 7. And an amazing 10 of 10 from the line. She hasn't missed a FT since Feb.12, and has made at least 46 in a row (had 5 of 6 prior, don't know when she had her miss) and she has made 70 of her last 72 FT attempts since Jan.27 and 85% for the season. Take away her first 5 games of the season and she would have been 89%. Her spirit and fight were incredible. Without her, we get blown out by 25. She needs to rub off onthe rest of the team.

I agree with you about Brink.  To add to this observation I will say what everyone has been afraid to say for fear of "making excuses": the officiating allowed way, way too much contact under the basket.  Brink was shooting through a forest of hacking arms and pushing bodies.  In the first half, especially, there should have been many more fouls called on her defenders.  Her performance, given the hackathon and given her depleted state, was admirable.

Agree re the zebras. If I can have a personal moment, there’s some history I’d like to relate.

In the 1960’s and 70’s I was a brobdingnagian hockey fan. Bruins mostly because I lived in Boston. Then the overlords decided to promote fighting. I stopped watching and have never gone back (although I understand fighting has been significantly reduced).

Will the same thing happen to WBB? No idea, but I don’t like the trend. NCAA better figure out what to do about the rough play.

---

speaking to player development: Fran had 4 years to develop a 15 foot jumpshot, didnt happen - not even close.  not a great passer from free throw line. Same in some respects with Kiki - she appears to have lost confidence, lot of travelling, charge calls, missed bunnies. 

Putting a sub in for 1 or 2 minutes and then yanking them annoyed me to end, it seemed pointless - give them a chance.

How can a team run the Flow offense but not give players to get into the flow?

[BostonCard]

A few thoughts:

Zone is probably the wrong defense for a team that shot 45% from 3.
The game was largely decided because we were out rebounded 44-39 and had 21 turnovers.  Except for our three point defense, we actually did ok on the defensive end, holding the Rebels to under 30% shooting (19/64).  The issue is that because of the 20 offensive rebounds and 21 Stanford turnovers, they had 12 more shots than we did (64-52).
Many of those turnovers happened specifically because we were trying to feed Brink.  You can't really fault the strategy; Brink was the best player on the floor, despite shooting an uncharacteristically low 5/13 (38%).  And on many of the misses, she grabbed her own rebound and scored or was fouled anyways.  Still, Ole Miss played very physically and it affected both our ability to get the ball to her effectively as well as her ability to finish.  I think it was a combination of some residual weakness from her GI bug and the refs "letting them play"; she definitely would have benefitted from a more tightly called game.
Ultimately, as a team we were vulnerable to physical defenses, and that's what we ran into last night.

Random thought: in our national title year two years ago, we were down quite a bit to Louisville (38-26 at the half), and Prechtel stepped up and sparked a comeback.  We then had one point wins against South Carolina and Arizona.  We could have come short in any of those games and lamented the disappointment.  Conversely, we could have been bailed out by a reach in foul against Ole Miss last night and held on for the improbable comeback.  At this level, many of the games hinge on a play here or a judgment call there, and the difference between a bitterly disappointing end of year and a triumphant championship is a knives edge.  This year, it wasn't meant to be.

BC

[BostonCard]

A few thoughts:

Zone is probably the wrong defense for a team that shot 45% from 3.
The game was largely decided because we were out rebounded 44-39 and had 21 turnovers.  Except for our three point defense, we actually did ok on the defensive end, holding the Rebels to under 30% shooting (19/64).  The issue is that because of the 20 offensive rebounds and 21 Stanford turnovers, they had 12 more shots than we did (64-52).
Many of those turnovers happened specifically because we were trying to feed Brink.  You can't really fault the strategy; Brink was the best player on the floor, despite shooting an uncharacteristically low 5/13 (38%).  And on many of the misses, she grabbed her own rebound and scored or was fouled anyways.  Still, Ole Miss played very physically and it affected both our ability to get the ball to her effectively as well as her ability to finish.  I think it was a combination of some residual weakness from her GI bug and the refs "letting them play"; she definitely would have benefitted from a more tightly called game.
Ultimately, as a team we were vulnerable to physical defenses, and that's what we ran into last night.

Random thought: in our national title year two years ago, we were down quite a bit to Louisville (38-26 at the half), and Prechtel stepped up and sparked a comeback.  We then had one point wins against South Carolina and Arizona.  We could have come short in any of those games and lamented the disappointment.  Conversely, we could have been bailed out by a reach in foul against Ole Miss last night and held on for the improbable comeback.  At this level, many of the games hinge on a play here or a judgment call there, and the difference between a bitterly disappointing end of year and a triumphant championship is a knives edge.  This year, it wasn't meant to be.

BC

[BillBradley]

I'll post this question in this thread vs. starting another...would the team have been better off with Jana at the helm this year? Older, more experienced, WAY better shooter so it would stretch the floor more, probably better at feeding the post, might have struggled bringing the ball up but not really sure. All in all, I think we would have been better and Lopolo/Nivar could have played backup minutes instead of being thrown into the fire. 

I've watched Baylor play a few times this year and she doesn't have much of a role. Really wish she would have stayed.

[BillBradley]

I'll post this question in this thread vs. starting another...would the team have been better off with Jana at the helm this year? Older, more experienced, WAY better shooter so it would stretch the floor more, probably better at feeding the post, might have struggled bringing the ball up but not really sure. All in all, I think we would have been better and Lopolo/Nivar could have played backup minutes instead of being thrown into the fire. 

I've watched Baylor play a few times this year and she doesn't have much of a role. Really wish she would have stayed.