WBB 2025-2026 season - Printable Version
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RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - CompSci87 - 11-28-2025
(11-28-2025, 07:49 PM)PalmTree Wrote: I'm a bit fascinated by the coaches putting Amborn in with less than a minute to go after not having played her at all this game, us shooting abyssmally from the field to that point and with WBB media just having put out a feature clip of her knocking down 3s. Oh well....
...and taking her back out again immediately.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BosCard - 11-28-2025
I thought we might have turned the corner but sadly last year's struggles continued. In tight games, Ogden, Leopolo and Stevenson panic and force the ball into Agara when she is defended by like 4 defenders and just turn the ball over. 12 turnovers amongst those 3.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - SkiBum80 - 11-28-2025
A Game like this reminds me of another Stanford team and era.
And not in a good way.
The men's Haasian era.
Where turnovers was almost always more than assists, usually far more.
As was our women's team tonight: 18 TO's to 10 Assists.
To me is a key indicator of a team off balance and without a great floor general/PG directing and leading the offense.
Just checked stats on Coach Smith's men's game tonight.
Almost exact switch of the women, where the men had the much more favorable stat of 17 Assists to 10 TO's.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - PalmTree - 11-28-2025
(11-28-2025, 07:58 PM)CompSci87 Wrote:(11-28-2025, 07:49 PM)PalmTree Wrote: I'm a bit fascinated by the coaches putting Amborn in with less than a minute to go after not having played her at all this game, us shooting abyssmally from the field to that point and with WBB media just having put out a feature clip of her knocking down 3s. Oh well....
...and taking her back out again immediately.
Oh wow - I missed that. Caramba!
Hoopy - hoopy - 11-28-2025
Same ineffective easy to defend offense.
So different watching Texas vs usc.
Where the offense was so focused to take advantage of each team’s strengths .
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - KenCard - 11-28-2025
(11-28-2025, 07:33 PM)PalmTree Wrote:(11-28-2025, 07:28 PM)Card10Fan Wrote: Mary Ashley Stevenson has been on the court way too much. She can't stop her player and is such a liability on offense. Very underwhelming performance so far for the Cardinal. I don't understand riding with the returners so much seems like the 3 freshman have hardly been out there. Coach Paye doesn't seem to be very good at those halftime speeches to get the team ready to come out blazing in the second half.
Lepolo's in the same row boat....
Offensively Mary Ashley Stevenson seems pretty much limited to free throws and the occasional mid-range. Throwing the ball into her inside usually results in a block, a turnover or a defensive foul -- unless she's wide open. I'd certainly like to see the team throw it inside to her much less than they even do no, but into Somfai and Eschmeyer each a lot more. That part of our offense would probably take a while to develop, but I think it would be worth it in the long run. Defensively Stevenson can rebound in spurts and guard those who are not quicker or not a lot taller than her.
(11-28-2025, 07:53 PM)Card10Fan Wrote:(11-28-2025, 07:49 PM)PalmTree Wrote: I'm a bit fascinated by the coaches putting Amborn in with less than a minute to go after not having played her at all this game, us shooting abyssmally from the field to that point and with WBB media just having put out a feature clip of her knocking down 3s. Oh well....
In what realm, does putting in a player with less than minute left who has yet to play ever really pay off in a game? There were multiple opportunities throughout the game for Amborn to get minutes to try to open up the interior. We don't have many good shooters. Amborn is one of them and should probably play more.
I like Amborn's game ----- offensively. She hasn't played much to get a good look, but clearly her defense has a long way to go. She gets beaten off the dribble quite a bit. I think she's also looked a bit lost on D, but would need to see more to confirm that opinion. I can see why she doesn't play much because of her D.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Jskass - 11-28-2025
Just based on box score, Clardy must start. Lepolo not. And agree let Eschmayer learn on job more as higher ceiling - and offensive threat than MAS. Otherwise back to Sniezek-K Johnson era of two players down offensively. Sounds like coaches messed up big time and need to adapt or hand reins elsewhere.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BosCard - 11-28-2025
Stevenson was on the court to play defense and rebound. Yes she got beat a few times one on one but she was generally in the right position to contest and get a rebound. In the first half Eschmeyer really struggled with screens/switches which lead to open layups for FGCU. I’m hopeful that Eschmeyer will get better at the team defense concepts and learn where she should be as I think she is a much better one one one defender than Stevenson. But she isn’t there yet.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Jskass - 11-28-2025
MAS and Lepolo on court together can never happen unless you want the Sniezek-KJohnson act II. If need MAS while AE learns then no Lepolo or you just forfeited the game by agreeing to play 3 on 5 on offense. Sorry if too blunt but this is a wake-up call.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - stopandpop - 11-28-2025
(11-28-2025, 11:10 PM)Jskass Wrote: Just based on box score, Clardy must start. Lepolo not. And agree let Eschmayer learn on job more as higher ceiling - and offensive threat than MAS. Otherwise back to Sniezek-K Johnson era of two players down offensively. Sounds like coaches messed up big time and need to adapt or hand reins elsewhere.
The season is still young, but it's quite obvious (after this loss to a team Stanford should have easily defeated) that: 1) the offense must go. Nunu and Chloe, the only players who produced, had to work so hard for their points as FGCU packed the interior exceptionally well. There just was no room. Things will only get worse in the coming days and weeks as the level of competition rises significantly. 2) Stanford looked inept, trying to defend FGCU's guards and forwards who were driving to the basket, with our defenders a step or two late, resulting in easy baskets including lay-ups. 3) Coach Paye's decision-making, playing Lepolo (34:56 minutes) and MAS (25:31 minutes) for a combined 4 points, and 9 turnovers. tells you all you need to know about her coaching and game management. Defensively, Lepolo and MAS could not defend their counterparts. 4) Agree about Eschmeyer who certainly needs to work on her game, but had Coach played her much longer than her 6:18 minutes and instructed her to stay near the basket (defensively), FGCU doesn't score 36 points in the paint and Stanford probably wins. If Tara was coaching this team, she would instruct Alex to move down on the low block and demand that the perimeter players give her the darn ball.
This loss was completely on Coach Paye. One must wonder if Tempe has dared to suggest another plan, moving forward.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - crackpot - 11-29-2025
It's so frustrating. This was supposed to be the easy game. Shouldn't take too much, but Paye gets scared and puts in lineups that aren't going to get it done. Meanwhile Nunu and Chloe work their butts off trying to score instead of having an easy game and being well-rested for an expected tougher time against CSU.
Tara went to the Princeton at a time that it made sense. Even now, against some teams, it might make sense. But when you don't have the right personnel on the floor, it's sooooo slooooow a snail could stop this team.
We have way too much talent on this team to even struggle against a team ESPN put us as having a 99% chance of beating.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - 2006alum - 11-29-2025
(11-29-2025, 12:03 PM)crackpot Wrote: It's so frustrating. This was supposed to be the easy game. Shouldn't take too much, but Paye gets scared and puts in lineups that aren't going to get it done. Meanwhile Nunu and Chloe work their butts off trying to score instead of having an easy game and being well-rested for an expected tougher time against CSU.
Tara went to the Princeton at a time that it made sense. Even now, against some teams, it might make sense. But when you don't have the right personnel on the floor, it's sooooo slooooow a snail could stop this team.
We have way too much talent on this team to even struggle against a team ESPN put us as having a 99% chance of beating.
Couldn't agree more. The Princeton was excellent when we had shooters who could hit from all over like Kiana, the Hulls, Jones, Jump, and even bigs like Cam and Prechtel that could knock it down from outside. We clearly don't have the three point shooting for that kind of offense but we have really mobile bigs and I feel like we should be running more pick and rolls/pops, plus high low plays. Our ability to get a big open inside is atrocious and that coupled with our outside shooting woes is taking away all of our strengths. We are fast, versatile, and mobile - push the pace, use screens, and don't run everything through Lepolo, who is great in passing a meteor in transition but then pretty much non-threatening once she's at the top of the key.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BillBradley - 11-29-2025
(11-28-2025, 11:53 PM)stopandpop Wrote:Completely agree with these points and the points made by others. Lepolo and MAS are backup quality players in our program. If anyone on this board has an argument to the contrary I'd love to hear it. We won't be able to compete with top tier teams if they are playing 50+ minutes. Both have low ceilings, so every minute they play in place of our freshmen is taking away from developing our more talented players. I was hoping this would be a game where they didn't play as much. Nope. 60 minutes for Lepolo and MAS against FGCU! And we still lost. Maybe the loss is good news as now the coaching staff doesn't even a leg to stand on when it comes to sticking with them.(11-28-2025, 11:10 PM)Jskass Wrote: Just based on box score, Clardy must start. Lepolo not. And agree let Eschmayer learn on job more as higher ceiling - and offensive threat than MAS. Otherwise back to Sniezek-K Johnson era of two players down offensively. Sounds like coaches messed up big time and need to adapt or hand reins elsewhere.
The season is still young, but it's quite obvious (after this loss to a team Stanford should have easily defeated) that: 1) the offense must go. Nunu and Chloe, the only players who produced, had to work so hard for their points as FGCU packed the interior exceptionally well. There just was no room. Things will only get worse in the coming days and weeks as the level of competition rises significantly. 2) Stanford looked inept, trying to defend FGCU's guards and forwards who were driving to the basket, with our defenders a step or two late, resulting in easy baskets including lay-ups. 3) Coach Paye's decision-making, playing Lepolo (34:56 minutes) and MAS (25:31 minutes) for a combined 4 points, and 9 turnovers. tells you all you need to know about her coaching and game management. Defensively, Lepolo and MAS could not defend their counterparts. 4) Agree about Eschmeyer who certainly needs to work on her game, but had Coach played her much longer than her 6:18 minutes and instructed her to stay near the basket (defensively), FGCU doesn't score 36 points in the paint and Stanford probably wins. If Tara was coaching this team, she would instruct Alex to move down on the low block and demand that the perimeter players give her the darn ball.
This loss was completely on Coach Paye. One must wonder if Tempe has dared to suggest another plan, moving forward.
In the past, we haven't had options at PG other than Lepolo and last year MAS had to play post minutes. But now this is simply not true. IMO, we should be playing Swain, Clardy, Ogden, Nunu, Somfai. Alex should rotate in first for Somfai/Nunu. Lepolo can come into backup Swain for ~8 minutes a game. Chloe and Nunu should barely come off the court. Holding off for now on Ogden and how we would rotate at the three. Maybe MAS as a big and move Nunu to the 3. Haven't seen Amborn enough. Speaking of which (and I admit I didn't see the game), but from others' comments...if we couldn't make any perimeter shots and they were leaving us open, how do we not roll out our (likely) best shooter? All it takes sometimes is to hit a few outside shots to energize the team and open things up.
Our coaching creativity is very concerning. KP was unable to adjust real time to beat FGCU. Oftentimes in big upsets, there's some anomaly. Like the underdog shot out of their minds. Looking at the box score, FGCU didn't even play that great. They were 5-20 from 3, committed 16 turnovers and we outrebounded them 43 to 28. And we still lost. If we weren't having trouble rebounding, then what's the reason to play MAS? Did we try anything? Go big? Play zone? Pack it in and make them hit shots? Go small and speed it up?
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BosCard - 11-29-2025
The brobdingnagian problem with the Princeton offense and the way Coach Paye runs it is that it assumes everyone is an equal scoring threat and so everyone does the same thing and you try and find the open player. The problem is that MAS at the high post trying to feed a pass into a cutting Lepolo has a 0% chance of scoring and a 100% chance of turning into a layup for the other team.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - stanford22 - 11-29-2025
Anyone know where Kennedy Uhmeh is? She has not been on the bench the past two games.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - chimera - 11-29-2025
Some excellent thoughts in this thread. This loss is just so, so bad, just absolutely the worst. Should have won by 30+. We couldn't score and we couldn't defend a team that lost to some other middling teams. This now feels to me like what happened when Pat Summitt retired at TN. They promoted someone who had been a long time assistant who would carry on what Summitt did. That did not work well. Kate Paye cannot be Tara 2.0. Tara is a HOF coach. Kate Paye is not. She can't just do what has been done.
To me defense is sort of the canary in the coal mine. You don't need to be a star to play great defense. A team needs focus, grit, good schemes, great communication, etc. to play good defense. That is coaching. I thought things were looking up in that regard but this game shows that to be a lie. The offense needs to change. Clearly we don't have the shooters to make things work against good teams (or in this case against a not very good team). If they can't beat a team like FGCU at a close by neutral site, how will they do on the road in the ACC?
I am very glad I am no longer emotionally invested in college sports. We pay hundreds of thousands to players and millions to coaches for this? Hey this is pro sports now. If you **** the bed, we can call you out. Sorry, but that is how I now feel. If players can say pay me or I go, I can say play better or I stop watching. Plenty of other things to watch, plenty of great books to read, plenty of great conversation not about sports to have.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - stopandpop - 11-30-2025
(11-29-2025, 12:22 PM)2006alum Wrote:(11-29-2025, 12:03 PM)crackpot Wrote: It's so frustrating. This was supposed to be the easy game. Shouldn't take too much, but Paye gets scared and puts in lineups that aren't going to get it done. Meanwhile Nunu and Chloe work their butts off trying to score instead of having an easy game and being well-rested for an expected tougher time against CSU.
Tara went to the Princeton at a time that it made sense. Even now, against some teams, it might make sense. But when you don't have the right personnel on the floor, it's sooooo slooooow a snail could stop this team.
We have way too much talent on this team to even struggle against a team ESPN put us as having a 99% chance of beating.
Couldn't agree more. The Princeton was excellent when we had shooters who could hit from all over like Kiana, the Hulls, Jones, Jump, and even bigs like Cam and Prechtel that could knock it down from outside. We clearly don't have the three point shooting for that kind of offense but we have really mobile bigs and I feel like we should be running more pick and rolls/pops, plus high low plays. Our ability to get a big open inside is atrocious and that coupled with our outside shooting woes is taking away all of our strengths. We are fast, versatile, and mobile - push the pace, use screens, and don't run everything through Lepolo, who is great in passing a meteor in transition but then pretty much non-threatening once she's at the top of the key.
EXACTLY! We'll never know the answer, but I continue to wonder whether Assoc. HC Tempie sees the problem offense the way many of us do and what kind of influence might she have in getting Coach Paye to reevaluate things.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - crackpot - 12-01-2025
Don't forget to sign up for Tara's Continuing Ed class today. It will be great!
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - martyup - 12-01-2025
(12-01-2025, 01:08 PM)crackpot Wrote: Don't forget to sign up for Tara's Continuing Ed class today. It will be great!
I wonder if KP will sign up.
RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - crackpot - 12-01-2025
(12-01-2025, 01:41 PM)martyup Wrote:(12-01-2025, 01:08 PM)crackpot Wrote: Don't forget to sign up for Tara's Continuing Ed class today. It will be great!
I wonder if KP will sign up.
LOL.
Or she could be like her bro and show up anyway.