WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece

WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - Printable Version

+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece (/thread-16569.html)

Pages: 1 2

WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 81alum - 10-07-2018

Thanks to Jacob Rayburn for this illuminating piece:

https://stanford.rivals.com/news/stanford-has-exciting-potential-focused-rebounding-toughness

This is the time for optimism, of course, but it is still possible to glean some information from the interviews with the coaches.

A very large emphasis on rebounding this year.

The offense is staying the same and Kiana therefore is mastering it even more. The 3 and the 4 are identical positions in this offense and Moschkau is fitting in well in that slot. Dodson has gained confidence. Fingall was praised. The Hull twins haven't yet found their niche, it seems, but are impressing in different ways.

It sounds as if this Princeton inspired offense is going to use a lot of mobility from the 3 and 4 so that we are only going to need one immovable anchor at the 5. This would give us more opportunity to play more guards and wings at times.

I can tell you my question for the very first chalk talk: given that our Princeton-like offense encourages every other team to play zone, how have we been preparing to deal with zones? I do hope that in the second year of implementation, this offense will become adept at solving that basic problem.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 2006alum - 10-07-2018

Interesting updates. A few quick thoughts:

-Rebounding: Isn't this the inherent liability of the Princeton, esp. offensive rebounding? In other words, should we be surprised we struggled there last season? When you have four on the perimeter and a 2-3 zone defense, you're basically ensuring you're in a disadvantaged position to nab the rebound. I actually think our bigger problem last year was simply that we had essentially one sharpshooter (Williams), and she developed mid-season, so there were simply too many offensive rebounds to be grabbed in the first place. And some of the players who were our outsized (literally) rebounders, like McPhee and Carrington, didn't/haven't yet flourished in a Princeton offense because they are both at their best creating something in traffic, getting physical, and cutting through the lanes. Zone defenses, the natural response to the Princeton, tends to cut that off. I guess I just think the Triangle is a much better offense to run if you want strong o-board production, and the Princeton is better when you're smaller, faster, and have better outside shooting. The problem last year was that we often had the first two but almost never the third, and it was almost always Williams.

-Odd that Lacie has shown better shooting so far - wasn't Lexie the much higher ranked player and the leading scorer on her team last year? The comment about the college game being "more physical" doesn't surprise me - they both seem pretty slight to be playing anything beyond an outside 3 in the college game. I imagine they'll need some time to develop some more muscle if they want to be moving inside much.

-Perhaps most telling is the fact that there was nothing said about Marta at all. Now that we have Brown as another possible point, I've been wondering all off season how we'll balance time between Williams (a presumptive starter), Marta, and Brown (who I imagine will develop as the season progresses). And that's not to mention Wilson. Marta's offensive deficits may be somewhat mitigated by not having Johnson on the floor to create 3 vs. 5 offensive dynamics, but it still seems like lacking an outside shot when running a Princeton offense is a tremendous weakness for a point guard. Given how much competition there will be for the 3-4, I don't see how we start more than two of the three, and I could envision many lineups where we start Williams + some combo of Brown, Carrington, Smith, Dodson, Fingall, Jerome, and possibly the twins. Tara has historically always started seniors who have "done their time," but it wouldn't surprise me if Brown and Williams are both getting many more minutes by the latter half of the season unless something changes. (And it's too bad, because I love Marta's grit, physicality, and court vision.)

-Speaking of Jerome, nothing on her, either. It felt like she was getting solid sub minutes throughout the season last year, so I wonder what, if anything, the silence means? By contrast, Moschkau got almost only garbage minutes last year, so it's striking she was mentioned but Jerome was not. Do we know with these kinds of articles if the coaches talk about every player and the reporter just highlights a smattering of more interesting/unique comments, or do they generally report everything the coaches tell them?

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - BobK - 10-07-2018

Great comments but keep in mind with 15 players not all will be mentioned each time. In fact the biggest praise maybe not in the story hasn’t been mentioned and that’s Dodson doing so well

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 81alum - 10-10-2018

Jacob Rayburn is doing a lot of fine work.

https://stanford.rivals.com/news/jenna-brown-will-be-tough-to-stop-during-her-freshman-season

Expectations for Jenna Brown appear to be high. As a point guard, I think her integration into the starting lineup would be expected to take a while, but I bet she gets minutes in one way or the other from the beginning. She and Kiana would make a phenomenal tandem.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - CompSci87 - 10-10-2018

Jenna Brown is already blazing a new trail in one way. She's the first Stanford WBB player ever to wear #54.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - JJJ - 10-10-2018

(10-10-2018, 07:28 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: Jenna Brown is already blazing a new trail in one way. She's the first Stanford WBB player ever to wear #54.

Is there an explanation for why she chose that number?
Your comment sent me down a rabbit hole because I thought that was Dave Nussbaum's number (men, I know), but I couldn't confirm it. I did, however, find this '81-82 roster which was full of old familiar names.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/stanford/1982.html

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - TheFarm07 - 10-10-2018

Transcript from today's media day from the press conference with Tara, Kiana and DiJonai:

http://static.pac-12.com.s3.amazonaws.com/sports/basketball-w/pdf/18WBBMD/Stanford_2018_WBB.pdf

Interesting that Tara highlighted Lexie as the best rebounder in practice.

On a side note, Tara as the avid water skiier!

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - CompSci87 - 10-11-2018

(10-10-2018, 08:20 PM)JJJ Wrote:
(10-10-2018, 07:28 PM)CompSci87 Wrote: Jenna Brown is already blazing a new trail in one way. She's the first Stanford WBB player ever to wear #54.

Is there an explanation for why she chose that number?

Not that I've heard. Googling a bit, I spotted some photos showing she wore 54 for her high school team, and also in the McDonald's All American game.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 2006alum - 10-11-2018

Interesting that Tara mentioned that although Williams would naturally rather play the 2 than the 1, she will be playing the 1 for now until Brown gets more situated in our offense. In theory, with a senior point guard (Sniezek), that wouldn't be a problem - Brown would have all year to learn. Does this mean Sniezek won't be starting? Given her overall strengths/weaknesses, she's much better as a 1 than a 2. But Tara basically didn't say anything about her at all.

I also wonder what it means that the 3 and 4 will be the same position. Are they both going to be wings ready to slide to the corners? And if so, is Smith going to be one of the 3/4 players rather than the 5 (which would presumably be Dodson and Fingall?)? IIRC, Smith came to Stanford having been used to playing the 3, so this might actually get her back to the position she's most comfortable with, and she's definitely an above average three-point shooter for someone her size. But I actually feel like she was very effective at the high post last year, so in that sense, I kind of hope she plays more of a 4 role. She's one of our few reliable shooters from the mid-court, and there were a few series of hi-low passes between her and Kayl last year that I thought helped solve some of our zone issues because Kayl could pass back out to Smith for an open mid-court jumper. But if she's out at the wing/corner, that option goes away.

(And incidentally, the other critical thing about having her or someone with size at the high post is to set screens, which will be especially important for getting physical driving players like Carrington inside to the basket. Unless we've dramatically improved our outside shooting over the summer, we'll still need an offense that allows our guards to get inside. Kayl didn't enough credit for how effective she was at doing this, and IIRC, Fingall struggled last year with a lot of moving screen fouls, so someone needs to be able to step into that role this season. Maybe, for some sets, that could be Coffee? She seems like the rare center who shoots the trey well and seems as comfortable outside as inside the box.)

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - Spike - 10-11-2018

Marta's out for many weeks with bad thumb.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 2006alum - 10-11-2018

Ah, not glad to hear about her injury, but I am at least relieved that that explains why there hasn't been any chatter about her. Hope she gets better soon! I can imagine that will necessitate Williams playing the one most of the time for our early games.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - Spiny_Norman - 10-11-2018

(10-10-2018, 08:20 PM)JJJ Wrote: Your comment sent me down a rabbit hole because I thought that was Dave Nussbaum's number (men, I know), but I couldn't confirm it.

JJJ, Dave Nussbaum is a good friend. I will be glad to tell him that someone still remembers big #54.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - BobK - 10-11-2018

I think Brown at the one Williams at the two. Given the conversation at the pac 12 media day I think that happens
Also Lacie some at the one.

Open Practice in 8 days we hope to learn more

Sad for Marta hope she comes back healthier. Yes healthier

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 2006alum - 10-11-2018

(10-11-2018, 02:22 PM)BobK Wrote: I think Brown at the one Williams at the two. Given the conversation at the pac 12 media day I think that happens

Maybe you saw something other than the interview with Tara, Williams, and Carrington, but in that interview Tara explicitly stated that Williams would start the year playing the one even though she'd naturally rather be a two? I agree with you that eventually they'll switch, but that was what Tara seemed to be saying unless I'm misunderstanding something?

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - JJJ - 10-11-2018

(10-11-2018, 09:07 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:
(10-10-2018, 08:20 PM)JJJ Wrote: Your comment sent me down a rabbit hole because I thought that was Dave Nussbaum's number (men, I know), but I couldn't confirm it.

JJJ, Dave Nussbaum is a good friend. I will be glad to tell him that someone still remembers big #54.

Do please tell him. And thank you for confirming that the brain still has some functioning parts.
RIP to Hans Wichary and Charles Hunt from that roster (as well as Andy Fischer a little later).

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - Jskass - 10-11-2018

having watched Jenna Brown play over the summer in the SF Pro-Am, I'm very enthusiastic about her at the 1 - even if not early in the season.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - BostonCard - 10-11-2018

Guess who came to visit today...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/StanfordWBB/status/1050543656740904965[/tweet]

I think they're out of eligibility, though.

BC

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 2006alum - 10-12-2018

Bos, whatever you quoted isn't seeming to come through, but I'm assuming you're referencing the Warriors' visit?

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - BobK - 10-12-2018

Comes thru fine with Curry and Durant.

RE: WBB: Cardinal Sports Report preseason piece - 81alum - 10-12-2018

(10-12-2018, 03:01 AM)2006alum Wrote: Bos, whatever you quoted isn't seeming to come through, but I'm assuming you're referencing the Warriors' visit?

It doesn't come through on Mozilla for me but did when I switched to Chrome. I find browser differences to be irritating.