Preview: Oregon State
Stanford takes on Oregon State at Maples, at 2pm on Sunday. The game will be televised on Pac 12 networks.
I am writing this preview prior to the Friday game with Oregon. Depending on how that game turns out, the Oregon State game could be for the all-time record for coach's wins in basketball.
Oregon State is ranked 26 by AP and also the coaches. Massey has them at 21. NET has them at 38. That puts them in the top half of an extraordinarily good league—they have emerged as the best team in the Pac 12 not from California or the mountain states. They are 14-2. Their only two losses were on their road trip to the LA schools, and those two schools are formidable, especially at home. So other than USC and UCLA, no one has beaten Oregon State. On the other hand, Oregon State has not played top competition outside the Pac 12. Its best win was last weekend, beating Arizona in two overtimes at home.
Rueck teams are always defensively sound, and on offense they play disciplined, orchestrated plays. Oregon State is never a free-wheeling “hand the ball to Juju and see what happens” kind of team. Nearly every time down the court they are attempting to execute a designed play.
Oregon State gives 6 players more than 20 minutes a game and rotates in 5 more for 10 minutes or more a game—so they use a deep rotation.
Leading OSU in scoring is their excellent 6’4” forward sophomore Raegen Beers. Beers is averaging 20ppg and 12 rpg, in only 27 minutes. Stopping her inside is job one.
Beers is not the only inside presence we need to worry about, however. Not starting but getting the 3rd most minutes is Timea Gardiner, a 6’3” sophomore forward. She is scoring 8 ppg and 6 rpg, and unlike Beers she shoots treys—at 37%.
The starter Stanford fans will remember the best is 5’11” junior point guard Talia von Oelhoffen, with a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and scoring 11 ppg. TVO is a 34% three point shooter this year, but is a multi-level guard who does everything and does it well.
The remaining starters include AJ Marotte, Kelsey Rees, and Donovyn Hunter. Morotte and Hunter are guards in the 6’ range who shoot the three well, and Rees is a 6’5” junior forward from Australia who gives OSU even more height.
Between Rees, Beers, and Gardiner OSU thus has some of the best inside presence of anyone we have faced. Put those three in a Rueck system that emphasizes sound defense and we have the OSU recipe for success. All three of them have fewer fouls on the season than Brink or Iriafen--and they outnumber our bigs 3:2, so they could afford to spread the fouls around more than we can. Furthermore, OSU can shoot from outside, making their offense flexible.
Oregon State is deeper and taller than we are, overall, with a very experienced point guard and a coach who is probably second only to Tara in his meticulous planning. It is a challenging task ahead.
Stanford takes on Oregon State at Maples, at 2pm on Sunday. The game will be televised on Pac 12 networks.
I am writing this preview prior to the Friday game with Oregon. Depending on how that game turns out, the Oregon State game could be for the all-time record for coach's wins in basketball.
Oregon State is ranked 26 by AP and also the coaches. Massey has them at 21. NET has them at 38. That puts them in the top half of an extraordinarily good league—they have emerged as the best team in the Pac 12 not from California or the mountain states. They are 14-2. Their only two losses were on their road trip to the LA schools, and those two schools are formidable, especially at home. So other than USC and UCLA, no one has beaten Oregon State. On the other hand, Oregon State has not played top competition outside the Pac 12. Its best win was last weekend, beating Arizona in two overtimes at home.
Rueck teams are always defensively sound, and on offense they play disciplined, orchestrated plays. Oregon State is never a free-wheeling “hand the ball to Juju and see what happens” kind of team. Nearly every time down the court they are attempting to execute a designed play.
Oregon State gives 6 players more than 20 minutes a game and rotates in 5 more for 10 minutes or more a game—so they use a deep rotation.
Leading OSU in scoring is their excellent 6’4” forward sophomore Raegen Beers. Beers is averaging 20ppg and 12 rpg, in only 27 minutes. Stopping her inside is job one.
Beers is not the only inside presence we need to worry about, however. Not starting but getting the 3rd most minutes is Timea Gardiner, a 6’3” sophomore forward. She is scoring 8 ppg and 6 rpg, and unlike Beers she shoots treys—at 37%.
The starter Stanford fans will remember the best is 5’11” junior point guard Talia von Oelhoffen, with a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio and scoring 11 ppg. TVO is a 34% three point shooter this year, but is a multi-level guard who does everything and does it well.
The remaining starters include AJ Marotte, Kelsey Rees, and Donovyn Hunter. Morotte and Hunter are guards in the 6’ range who shoot the three well, and Rees is a 6’5” junior forward from Australia who gives OSU even more height.
Between Rees, Beers, and Gardiner OSU thus has some of the best inside presence of anyone we have faced. Put those three in a Rueck system that emphasizes sound defense and we have the OSU recipe for success. All three of them have fewer fouls on the season than Brink or Iriafen--and they outnumber our bigs 3:2, so they could afford to spread the fouls around more than we can. Furthermore, OSU can shoot from outside, making their offense flexible.
Oregon State is deeper and taller than we are, overall, with a very experienced point guard and a coach who is probably second only to Tara in his meticulous planning. It is a challenging task ahead.
