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WBB 2025-2026 season - stopandpop - 04-10-2025

Fall practice is a long time from now, but I'm getting excited about next season with our three All-American freshmen along with two other quality players.  With only a few exceptions, freshmen typically have sat on the bench and gradually earned more minutes.  But I would love to see this lineup, early-on.

Point guard-Swain
Shooting guard-Clardy
Small forward-Agara
Power forward-Somfai
Post-Eschmeyer

What I like about this lineup is- size and power along the front line (especially with Nunu and Lara); quickness and athleticism at the guard positions; and scoring threats at every position; something Stanford did not have last season.  Whenever they do play, I hope Kate will not use a short leash and immediately bench any of the freshmen if they make a mistake.  You learn by playing through mistakes.  Alex must get stronger, but she already has good moves on the block and she can also step out and hit from range.

Your thoughts?

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BobK - 04-10-2025

Well they will begin practice late June.
I so miss many of the Frosh playing summer at Kezar
I hope Umeh break thru.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - M T - 04-10-2025

I think we should be prepared for another disappointing season next year, potentially worse than this year.  As I understand it, our conference home games will be against higher ranked teams, while our conference away games will be, well, away.  And, with so many new players, the team will be disjointed more than ever.

I would expect Lepolo will be the point guard to add some experience into the line up.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Nobadeer - 04-10-2025

Agree on avoiding the short leash. 

It always seemed to me that Tara had everyone other than the All Americans on quite a short leash, e.g., and I'm probably exaggerating a bit, but if you made two or three mistakes (physical or mental) in succession or within a few offensive/defensive possessions, Tara would summon another player to scramble to the scorer's table, kneeling and waiting for a stoppage in play to sub you out! Not a confidence builder. Less noticeable during the Pac8/10/12 seasons but disruptive and constricting during Final 4s.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - M T - 04-11-2025

Tara didn't keep anyone on a "short leash".  Some people here complained with that comment when their favorite player would be pulled out after making a foul.

But every player would get pulled after a foul.  There are a number of reasons for pulling a player after a foul. Some of those apply to other cases of poor judgement by a player.

That's not a short leash; that's decades of experience.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - 2006alum - 04-11-2025

(04-11-2025, 01:30 AM)M T Wrote:  Tara didn't keep anyone on a "short leash".  Some people here complained with that comment when their favorite player would be pulled out after making a foul.

But every player would get pulled after a foul.  There are a number of reasons for pulling a player after a foul.
  • The player is tired and getting sloppy or slow or out of the flow of the game.
  • The player is angry and does stupid things
  • A ref is paying attention to the player for some reason
  • The opponent may be angry and able to take advantage of the player
Some of those apply to other cases of poor judgement by a player.

That's not a short leash; that's decades of experience.
Amen. I also think another reason not listed: a player can afford one foul per quarter if they want to stay in the game to the end, so Tara pretty reliably pulled players when they hit their "foul per quarter" quota. Notice how infrequently players like Hannah or Lepolo get pulled - they're rarely at risk for fouling out over four quarters, so a single foul doesn't raise as much of that kind of concern.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Spiny_Norman - 04-11-2025

If the frosh do get a lot of minutes next season, there will be growing pains, especially on defense. It takes a lot of coaching and experience to prepare to defend high level college offenses. For example, players have to learn how to read screens and what to expect of their teammates. I have yet to see a college freshman who does this well right off the bat. And it's 50% of the game.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - bl82 - 04-11-2025

I too would like to see the fresh get a lot of minutes early to accelerate their development. I can see Swain and Somfai starting as soon as the first game. If Eschmeyer also earns that honor, let her start too.

In the past I’ve seen Tara emphasize more early minutes for the upperclassmen than the frosh, which has slowed their development. I don’t want Kate to take that same approach, though I realize the likes of Nunu, Chloe, Courtney, Shay, etc. are very much in the development stage as well. Hopefully Talana will be back to 100%, but I think she is much closer to her ceiling than the others, so maybe we have more flexibility with her time on the court during the pre-conference games.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BobK - 04-11-2025

We will have three Srs next season. Two have only played in blow outs plus Lepolo
Playing two of those three few minutes makes sense when they were all Frosh.
Our talent level for years has been outstanding. Playing a Frosh over a very skilled jr or sr made sense to me.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Nobadeer - 04-11-2025

To clarify the short leash, I was excluding fouls and focusing on non-foul mistakes. 

Here's a question - how many NCs would LSJU have won since 2000 if Geno were coach? Uconn has been to 11 final 4s since 2000, and I think they have won the NC each time. 22-0 W/L record.

LSJU has been to 9 final 4s since 2000 - with 1 NC, 2 runner ups, and 6 losses in the semi finals. 4-8 W/L record.

Have the UConn rosters been that much better?

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BosCard - 04-11-2025

(04-11-2025, 10:18 PM)Nobadeer Wrote:  To clarify the short leash, I was excluding fouls and focusing on non-foul mistakes. 

Here's a question - how many NCs would LSJU have won since 2000 if Geno were coach? Uconn has been to 11 final 4s since 2000, and I think they have won the NC each time. 22-0 W/L record.

LSJU has been to 9 final 4s since 2000 - with 1 NC, 2 runner ups, and 6 losses in the semi finals. 4-8 W/L record.

Have the UConn rosters been that much better?

Have UConn’s rosters been that much better?  Definitely definitely yes.  No doubt about it.  The better question is how many championships could Tara have won with Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart and the answer is a lot of them.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - DaBears17 - 04-12-2025

(04-11-2025, 10:18 PM)Nobadeer Wrote:  To clarify the short leash, I was excluding fouls and focusing on non-foul mistakes. 

Here's a question - how many NCs would LSJU have won since 2000 if Geno were coach? Uconn has been to 11 final 4s since 2000, and I think they have won the NC each time. 22-0 W/L record.

LSJU has been to 9 final 4s since 2000 - with 1 NC, 2 runner ups, and 6 losses in the semi finals. 4-8 W/L record.

Have the UConn rosters been that much better?

UConn has made it to the Final Four 20  times since 2000  and not won the National Championship 9 times.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Nobadeer - 04-12-2025

Indeed, thanks dabears and I am now recruiting a new research assistant :--)

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - stopandpop - 04-13-2025

(04-11-2025, 01:30 AM)M T Wrote:  Tara didn't keep anyone on a "short leash".  Some people here complained with that comment when their favorite player would be pulled out after making a foul.

But every player would get pulled after a foul.  There are a number of reasons for pulling a player after a foul.
  • The player is tired and getting sloppy or slow or out of the flow of the game.
  • The player is angry and does stupid things
  • A ref is paying attention to the player for some reason
  • The opponent may be angry and able to take advantage of the player
Some of those apply to other cases of poor judgement by a player.

That's not a short leash; that's decades of experience.

Sorry, but I disagree.  I never saw Tara pull Haley Jones during her freshman season, but I saw her pull others, and she certainly did that with Betts.
(04-11-2025, 11:39 AM)bl82 Wrote:  I too would like to see the fresh get a lot of minutes early to accelerate their development.  I can see Swain and Somfai starting as soon as the first game.  If Eschmeyer also earns that honor, let her start too. 

In the past I’ve seen Tara emphasize more early minutes for the upperclassmen than the frosh, which has slowed their development.  I don’t want Kate to take that same approach, though I realize the likes of Nunu, Chloe, Courtney, Shay, etc. are very much in the development stage as well.  Hopefully Talana will be back to 100%, but I think she is much closer to her ceiling than the others, so maybe we have more flexibility with her time on the court during the pre-conference games.

I couldn't agree more about Talana.  It will be interesting to see how and when Kate plays the three All American freshmen, who (in my mind) represent the future of Stanford women's basketball.   I thought Nunu improved significantly.  Chloe improved, but she was inconsistent.  Courtney seemed to come on near the end of the season.  Kennedy played so seldom and was prone to fouling that I don't really know where she is in the development stage.

What I do like is Kate has options.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - M T - 04-13-2025

(04-13-2025, 05:04 PM)stopandpop Wrote:  Sorry, but I disagree.  I never saw Tara pull Haley Jones during her freshman season, but I saw her pull others, and she certainly did that with Betts.
2019-2020 season:  Just looking at fouls in a selection of games.  The stats are kinda strange. You have to look twice to figure out who committed the foul on whom.  Multiple player substitutions are impossible to figure out.

Tenn 78-51:  Q1 7:29 foul.  6:02 sub out;  Q4: 3:04 foul.  3:04 sub out (garbage time)
Ms St 67-62:  no fouls in 36 minutes
The other OSU  71-52 :  Q4 5:57 foul.  0:40 sub out (garbage time)
Tex 64-69: Jones had no fouls in (only) 17 minutes.
WSU 77-58 1/3/2020:  Q1 2:54 foul. 0:53 sub out;
Cal 73-40 1/10/2020:  Q3 9:30 foul. 5:38 foul
  I do not see her getting subbed out in Q3. She does not appear in the stats in Q4. (24:47 playing time).
Cal 79-65: Q3 9:19 foul. 3:06 foul  (Jones played 35:42)
Ore 55-87: Q3 5:23 foul.  2:30 sub out
OSU 61-58 (1/18/2020) : No fouls in 23 minutes.  She suffered a season-ending injury.

A small selection (9) of fouls, but in general it does appear Jones was somehow exempt from the rule that a foul triggers a substitution.

I still stand by what I said about decades of watching Tara's teams with many star players.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - liveoak - 04-13-2025

(04-13-2025, 07:28 PM)M T Wrote:  
(04-13-2025, 05:04 PM)stopandpop Wrote:  Sorry, but I disagree.  I never saw Tara pull Haley Jones during her freshman season, but I saw her pull others, and she certainly did that with Betts.
2019-2020 season:  Just looking at fouls in a selection of games.  The stats are kinda strange. You have to look twice to figure out who committed the foul on whom.  Multiple player substitutions are impossible to figure out.

Tenn 78-51:  Q1 7:29 foul.  6:02 sub out;  Q4: 3:04 foul.  3:04 sub out (garbage time)
Ms St 67-62:  no fouls in 36 minutes
The other OSU  71-52 :  Q4 5:57 foul.  0:40 sub out (garbage time)
Tex 64-69: Jones had no fouls in (only) 17 minutes.
WSU 77-58 1/3/2020:  Q1 2:54 foul. 0:53 sub out;
Cal 73-40 1/10/2020:  Q3 9:30 foul. 5:38 foul
  I do not see her getting subbed out in Q3. She does not appear in the stats in Q4. (24:47 playing time).
Cal 79-65: Q3 9:19 foul. 3:06 foul  (Jones played 35:42)
Ore 55-87: Q3 5:23 foul.  2:30 sub out
OSU 61-58 (1/18/2020) : No fouls in 23 minutes.  She suffered a season-ending injury.

A small selection (9) of fouls, but in general it does appear Jones was somehow exempt from the rule that a foul triggers a substitution.

I still stand by what I said about decades of watching Tara's teams with many star players.

I agree with MT - it's pretty standard for Tara (and Kate) to pull players when they commit a foul especially in the first and second quarters. I also agree that Haley got some special exemptions from this rule. I don't remember if Nicole Powell or Candace Wiggins got pulled like that, but almost all did.

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - oldalum - 04-14-2025

According to a Stat site I pulled up (of unknown veracity), Haley committed personal fouls at an average rate of 1.1 per game in her freshman year, rising steadily up to only 1.9 her senior year. In general, leaving her in after her first personal foul seems like a smart strategy. Even leaving her in after her second would usually be fine, too. Of course that may vary depending on specific game circumstances. Could it be that the coaches knew what they were doing when they excepted her from the conventional wisdom???  :)

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - Lorcan - 04-14-2025

Did anyone hear of potential opponents or schedule tidbits at the banquet?

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - OCcardinal - 04-14-2025

(04-10-2025, 07:25 PM)stopandpop Wrote:  Fall practice is a long time from now, but I'm getting excited about next season with our three All-American freshmen along with two other quality players.  With only a few exceptions, freshmen typically have sat on the bench and gradually earned more minutes.  But I would love to see this lineup, early-on.

Point guard-Swain
Shooting guard-Clardy
Small forward-Agara
Power forward-Somfai
Post-Eschmeyer

What I like about this lineup is- size and power along the front line (especially with Nunu and Lara); quickness and athleticism at the guard positions; and scoring threats at every position; something Stanford did not have last season.  Whenever they do play, I hope Kate will not use a short leash and immediately bench any of the freshmen if they make a mistake.  You learn by playing through mistakes.  Alex must get stronger, but she already has good moves on the block and she can also step out and hit from range.

Your thoughts?
Having watched the McDonald's All American, Chipotle National Championship and Nike Hoops Summit games, here are my opinions (with a few stats thrown in):

1) Hailee Swain - She is the best scoring PG on our roster since Kiana Williams.  She was the leading scorer on the McDonald's All American West team, with the 3rd most points (13) of any Cardinal player ever in a McDAA game.  Whether she starts early or not will depend on how well the offense flows with her in there.  That would be hard to happen with 3 frosh on the floor.  Kiana didn't start her first game until 10 games in (and then started every game after that). I expect that the offense will flow better with Talana at point, at least to start.  Defense will also be a factor, but there, Hailee's 3 extra inches over Talana would be a plus for her.  Hailee struggled a bit in Nike Hoops (though still showed flashes of brilliance).  We'll see how consistent she is as a frosh.

2) Lara Somfai - I love her game and her mobility (despite being 6-4).  She looks like she can play anywhere from the 2 to 5 position.  And for that reason I think we'll see her in the starting lineup sooner than later.  It's impressive that she started both for the East in McDAA and the international team in Nike Hoops. She also was #2 in total minutes for the international team.  She can drive to the basket (scoring with either hand), shoot 3's and both post up against and defend bigs (I thought she did pretty well in Nike Hoops when she had to defend against Sienna Betts, who's the real deal).  Somfai looked very comfortable defending guards too.  She did commit a few fouls, but didn't seem overly foul prone.  Unfortunately, Lara did have some cold shooting spells, but hopefully that was just a consequence of offenses being disorganized in those all star games.  Lara already has a ton of experience against really good competition (including winning the Chipotle national championship), so that with her versatility could earn her a place in the starting lineup pretty quickly.  Cameron Brink didn't get her 1st start until 12 games into her Stanford career.  If Lara beats that it will be a very good sign.  As far as lineups with Lara, I honestly think any of these could work:

Small forward-Ogden
Power forward-Agara
Post-Somfai

Small forward-Somfai
Power forward-Agara
Post-Eschmeyer/Umeh

Small forward-Agara
Power forward-Somfai
Post-Eschmeyer/Umeh

And if we end up playing the giants at TCU:

Shooting guard-Somfai
Small forward-Agara
Power forward-Eschmeyer
Post-Umeh

3) Eschmeyer - In general I would say Alex needs some seasoning.  She didn't seem quite at the level of others in the McDAA and Nike Hoops games.  Her biggest weakness was defense.  She got a couple of blocks in McDAA, but I also saw other players get by her pretty easily, despite her 6-5 height.  (I'm not sure if she was overly concerned about fouling or not.)  She'll get there, but didn't seem like she was as close to being a starter for Stanford as the other two.  That's said, there's no Brink or Iriafen on the team right now, so she may get a shot earlier than I think.  Whenever she cracks the starting line up though, I predict she will be a very important part of Stanford's success.  

One last thing - Hailee and Lara both have particularly delightful personalities and they are surely going to be the heart and soul of this team in the coming years.  During the Nike Hoops broadcast the announcer said "That Stanford team's gonna be fun.”  And I 100% agree!

RE: WBB 2025-2026 season - BobK - 04-14-2025

Awesome post OC. Great analysis.