WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - Printable Version
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RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - 2006alum - 04-01-2019
Yes, big congrats and thank you to the team. They played unselfishly and cohesively all year, and you can tell how much they respect, admire, and appreciate each other. I'm thrilled we got back to the Elite Eight and for half a game absolutely took it to the defending national championships. We simply didn't have the personnel in the paint to eke it out for 40 minutes, and in the end, the law of averages overtook our exceptional effort.
Big kudos to Smith - she, like McPhee before her, transformed over her four years on the Farm, and is such an eloquent, captivating, thoughtful representative for our student athletes. I can't wait to see what she does next, and so glad she got All-American honors to wrap up her senior season. Given how little regard our senior class had as recruits, I'd say each of them developed well above expectations - a credit, as always, to Tara and her staff.
Carrington and Williams also took big steps forward this year - Williams, in particular, played the kind of game that suggests she's ready to be an All American next year. Absolutely terrific.
Looking forward to next year and to our incoming class - I think we're in for a few very special years ahead.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - chimera - 04-01-2019
Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. I do think the team made it as far as we could reasonably expect. Had our posts (Fingall and Dodson, who must not be 100% because she was much better before she got hurt and never quite got back into the same rhythm) been healthy, we would have had a great shot to win this one. Lexie Hull played well I thought, hit some threes, rebounded. We never got Smith the ball much in the second half, basically lost our post game. And yeah, the Dodson vs Coffee conundrum hurt. On offense, Dodson hurt us a lot because she struggled to finish and did not need to be guarded mid-range. Coffee helped more on offense but was not mobile enough when ND got going on drives to the rim.
Next year could be great, but I do worry about our inside game. If the "real" Dodson was the one we saw look good mid-season before the foot injury and if Fingall comes back healthy and able to play well, we are fine even if the frosh take time to adjust. Losing Smith hurts a lot. If Dodson has hit her ceiling (which I doubt but is possible) and/or Fingall is not back all the way, we will have to rely on frosh posts, which is never a great idea.
Congrats to the team for a fine season. I didn't think we were a top 4 team but one that could pull an upset if things went right. Things did not quite go right enough, but that doesn't detract from a very, very good season.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - mbdude - 04-01-2019
"Big kudos to Smith - she, like McPhee before her, transformed over her four years on the Farm, and is such an eloquent, captivating, thoughtful representative for our student athletes. I can't wait to see what she does next, and so glad she got All-American honors to wrap up her senior season. Given how little regard our senior class had as recruits, I'd say each of them developed well above expectations - a credit, as always, to Tara and her staff."
in her 4 years Alanna played in 142 of 143 available games - never missed a game due to injury or illness - pretty amazing. The only game she did not play in was her freshman year in NCAAs against ND - a coach's decision. I too will miss her - look fwd to seeing her in WNBA and on Australian national team
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - 81alum - 04-01-2019
My write-up is done at the top. For the sake of completeness, here is its conclusion:
Conclusion:
If anyone has asked me before the season whether I would be satisfied with winning the Pac 12 tourney, going 31-5 and making it to the elite 8, being the only team to beat Baylor and revenging Oregon--and doing all of this after losing Nadia and Marta--I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Tonight I went into this game principally being worried about being humiliated--and we certainly were not. It feels a lot better than our loss to Louisville last year.
But now we say good bye to Alanna Smith and Shannon Coffee, and possibly Marta Sniezek. This year's seniors, which originally included Alexa Romano, were not a highly rated recruiting class, nor did they blossom quickly. But they each had their moments, and Alanna made dramatic improvements each season. They helped our program get through something of a down spell, if you can call elite eight, final four, sweet sixteen, and elite eight a down spell. They all provided me with many hours of enjoyment and happiness as I watched them over the course of their four years, and I wish them all well.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - TheFarm07 - 04-01-2019
I'll join the chorus in congratulating the team, especially the seniors, on another great year, even with a loss tonight. We are so used to excellent seasons that stopping to consider a 31-5 season with an Elite 8 appearance is what 95% of the programs out there would want in a heartbeat.
Big shoutout to Alanna, Shannon, Marta and Alexa for adding their names and records to the history of Stanford women's basketball. I'm sure they will all thrive, whether in basketball or other pursuits in life.
The game was disappointing, but not unexpected. Like many of our recent postseason losses the last few years, Tara's coaching genius kept us in the game for a while, but in the end, the law of averages won out and we could not keep up with the firepower.
I am hopeful that our recruiting success will change our postseason fortune in the next few years. We kept up with the defending national champs and led for most of 3 quarters playing excellent defense. Imagine our success if we had their firepower on our disposal coupled with our defense and Tara's coaching mastermind. I am excited to see what Tara can do with the talent coming to the Farm the next few years.
On a side note, I really hope Maya works on finishing those layups. She has the athleticism to thrive with the best posts but her touch around the basket is definitely something that can be improved during the summer. I can't wait for next season to start and see how DiJonai and Nadia finish their college careers and see how Haley, Fran, Ashten and Hannah start theirs!
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - JJJ - 04-01-2019
(04-01-2019, 08:52 PM)81alum Wrote: My write-up is done at the top. For the sake of completeness, here is its conclusion:
Conclusion:
If anyone has asked me before the season whether I would be satisfied with winning the Pac 12 tourney, going 31-5 and making it to the elite 8, being the only team to beat Baylor and revenging Oregon--and doing all of this after losing Nadia and Marta--I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Tonight I went into this game principally being worried about being humiliated--and we certainly were not. It feels a lot better than our loss to Louisville last year.
But now we say good bye to Alanna Smith and Shannon Coffee, and possibly Marta Sniezek. This year's seniors, which originally included Alexa Romano, were not a highly rated recruiting class, nor did they blossom quickly. But they each had their moments, and Alanna made dramatic improvements each season. They helped our program get through something of a down spell, if you can call elite eight, final four, sweet sixteen, and elite eight a down spell. They all provided me with many hours of enjoyment and happiness as I watched them over the course of their four years, and I wish them all well.
+1000
What he said.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - 2006alum - 04-01-2019
(04-01-2019, 08:52 PM)81alum Wrote: If anyone has asked me before the season whether I would be satisfied with winning the Pac 12 tourney, going 31-5 and making it to the elite 8, being the only team to beat Baylor and revenging Oregon--and doing all of this after losing Nadia and Marta--I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Tonight I went into this game principally being worried about being humiliated--and we certainly were not. It feels a lot better than our loss to Louisville last year.
Well said, 81. This was definitely an "over" on what I would have hoped and predicted for our season. Thanks for all your write-ups this season - they were terrific for the rare game that was streamed and I couldn't catch, or to come back and read aspects of the game I hadn't noticed that you did.
...Now, what do I do with all this new-found free time until November?
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - CompSci87 - 04-01-2019
Lots of great posts. I watched on DVR delay, so couldn't comment live in the thread. I can only echo the congratulations on an excellent season for the team in spite of the injury woes. We surely will miss Alanna. Shannon too made great strides over her 4 years. Marta was an extra coach on the bench this year.
It's unreal that the season is over now. Hope to see some of you at the banquet.
Griffins78 - Griffins78 - 04-01-2019
And we are the only team that beat two of the teams in the Final Four, including the No. 1 overall. Wish ESPN would admit that.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - qwerty49 - 04-01-2019
I share VG’s question as to why our best on-ball defender, Wilson, wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the second half, where we really needed to be pit bulls and not let go.
Here’s the stat that knocks me down: we matched our first half scoring (33 and 35) —- but we let ND more than double theirs (26 to 58). We let them score 58 in the second half!
Our post defense just evaporated. Shredded like cheese. I feel like I need to check my wallet to see if it’s still there, or if some guy in a leprechaun hat is flashing my bling around Chicago tonight.
Well, a good season anyway, but when Fingall went down we all knew that was significant.
A great year for Smith, of course, but the most pleasant surprises for me were Carrington (my offensive MVP) and Wilson (easily the defensive MVP). Special mention to Williams who seemed to be the most clutch shooter.
Props to the coaching staff for some nice scouting, and for teaching the great team defense that took us further than our offense could.
RE: WBB: Notre Dame 84 Stanford 68 season ends - 81alum - 04-01-2019
(04-01-2019, 09:20 PM)qwerty49 Wrote: I share VG’s question as to why our best on-ball defender, Wilson, wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the second half, where we really needed to be pit bulls and not let go.What happened in the 2nd half was that Jackie Young discovered that she could easily score on our defense by curling around a screen, over and over and over, and we did not have an answer for it. She did a McPhee to us--scoring 19 points in the second half, 16 of them in a short stretch at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the the 4th. No one could stay with her around the screen, and we were not switching effectively on her. Sometimes she continued on to the basket for a layup, with Shannon playing the matador, and sometimes she stopped and pulled up for a short jumper that always seemed to go in.
Here’s the stat that knocks me down: we matched our first half scoring (33 and 35) —- but we let ND more than double theirs (26 to 58). We let them score 58 in the second half!
Our post defense just evaporated. Shredded like cheese. I feel like I need to check my wallet to see if it’s still there, or if some guy in a leprechaun hat is flashing my bling around Chicago tonight.
Once Young got her screening game going in the paint, then everything else about our defense seemed to collapse.
I think our best defender was usually on Ogunbowale who had just scored 35 points in her last game. Meanwhile, Young ran rampant.
4 of Notre Dame's starters are graduating. Young is a junior, so she could stay, but many think she would be drafted if she wants to leave a year early. They could send 5 players to the WNBA in one year. We will send 1. I'd say we did pretty well considering.