[M T]

The only stat I could find that I wouldn't rate Good or better was our turnovers.  Overall, Stanford's performance was really good.  Yes, it was against a 0-5 (conf) team, but still, it was good.

However, I think the failure of the 2nd guard to come back and help on the after-score inbounds happened more times than it should.  And, of course, I think Stanford players throw too many passes that are tipped.  Tara said they sometimes bring in male players that are bigger or quicker(?!), but for years, I've felt that Stanford guards' passing makes it appear that they train against weaker players, and then are intercepted too frequently by good players.

Did you notice that we won the last two games with larger margins than Cal did?  For what it is worth, margins of victory over WSU & UW:
Stanford (home): 13, 26
Cal (home): 6, 9
OSU (home): 18 (no Hristova), 12
Oregon (home): 33 (no Hristova), 11

The officials called a different game than I've seen before.  There were bad calls in favor of each team.  (For instance, a no-call on at travel at 3:32 in the 3rd;  the travel call at 0:37 in the 4th)

Re the FIngal foul, the contact was over BEFORE the ball got to the shooter.  Is the pass to a shooter part of the shooting motion???? The official's hand starts moving to make the call while the shooter is still dropping the ball down after catching it.  The official's call on the floor was "No basket".  How that got overturned, I can't imagine. 

It appears that the male sideline ref at the time ( with the longer sideburns,. I believe this is Kyle Bacon.) overruled the ref who called the foul, and then went to the monitor to judge whether it was a 3 or a 2 point shot.  (IT APPEARS THAT THE RULES DO NOT PERMIT USE OF THE REPLAY TO DETERMINE IF THE SHOT WAS BEFORE/AFTER THE FOUL.  The replay rule allows for fixing correctable errors, but the section on correctable errors only applies to errors due to misapplication of a rule, not a judgement call.)

Then that same ref called a travel on Alyssa, but the replay shows there was almost certainly no travel. The live feed gets blocked, but the replay a few seconds later shows that Alyssa lifted her pivot foot (which is legal) and it doesn't land until after the official blows his whistle.  You can easily see that she doesn't drag it as her toe is about 1" from the top of the key and it stays 1" from it.

And, to top it off, seconds later, with 0:13 on the clock, the ball goes out of bounds.  The same ref calls it out on Stanford, but you can see the UW player hit the ball as Kiana is trying to dribble it inward toward her, and cause the ball to spin clockwise and land in foul territory.  You get a clearer view of the UW player last touching the ball in the replay just before the PAC-12 logo fills the screen.

Guess who called the bogus charge on Alanna... You're right.  It was Kyle Bacon.

I wonder if Marta is sick.  She seemed to play tired, esp. when you look at her passes.  (The last pass of the 3rd Q was to the feet of Dijonai, which kept us from getting a decent shot.  At 7:41 in the 4th, she again throws a pass to the feet and behind, this time of Brittany for a TO, which was wrongly blamed on Brittany.  I also saw at least 3 unguarded 3s made where Marta left her player or failed to follow her player and instead went into the lane when there was no need for her in the lane.)

I was glad to see Brittany was not leaving her shots short tonight.  Yes, she missed a layup and an 8-foot jumper, and was only 3 of 9 in 2pt range, but the other 2pt misses were ones where she was bumped (ie, uncalled fouls) or blocked from behind.  There were 4 more shot attempts where the fouls were called, plus 3 assists. Of her two misses (vs 1 make) on 3pts, one was a guarded shot after an inbounds with 4 seconds on the shot clock.

At one point, the TV announcers said Stanford only had 7 assists on 14 shots (it was 5 on 11 in the first half).  We wound up with 16 assists on 25 baskets.  That means 11 assists on 14 second half baskets.

[M T]

The only stat I could find that I wouldn't rate Good or better was our turnovers.  Overall, Stanford's performance was really good.  Yes, it was against a 0-5 (conf) team, but still, it was good.

However, I think the failure of the 2nd guard to come back and help on the after-score inbounds happened more times than it should.  And, of course, I think Stanford players throw too many passes that are tipped.  Tara said they sometimes bring in male players that are bigger or quicker(?!), but for years, I've felt that Stanford guards' passing makes it appear that they train against weaker players, and then are intercepted too frequently by good players.

Did you notice that we won the last two games with larger margins than Cal did?  For what it is worth, margins of victory over WSU & UW:
Stanford (home): 13, 26
Cal (home): 6, 9
OSU (home): 18 (no Hristova), 12
Oregon (home): 33 (no Hristova), 11

The officials called a different game than I've seen before.  There were bad calls in favor of each team.  (For instance, a no-call on at travel at 3:32 in the 3rd;  the travel call at 0:37 in the 4th)

Re the FIngal foul, the contact was over BEFORE the ball got to the shooter.  Is the pass to a shooter part of the shooting motion???? The official's hand starts moving to make the call while the shooter is still dropping the ball down after catching it.  The official's call on the floor was "No basket".  How that got overturned, I can't imagine. 

It appears that the male sideline ref at the time ( with the longer sideburns,. I believe this is Kyle Bacon.) overruled the ref who called the foul, and then went to the monitor to judge whether it was a 3 or a 2 point shot.  (IT APPEARS THAT THE RULES DO NOT PERMIT USE OF THE REPLAY TO DETERMINE IF THE SHOT WAS BEFORE/AFTER THE FOUL.  The replay rule allows for fixing correctable errors, but the section on correctable errors only applies to errors due to misapplication of a rule, not a judgement call.)

Then that same ref called a travel on Alyssa, but the replay shows there was almost certainly no travel. The live feed gets blocked, but the replay a few seconds later shows that Alyssa lifted her pivot foot (which is legal) and it doesn't land until after the official blows his whistle.  You can easily see that she doesn't drag it as her toe is about 1" from the top of the key and it stays 1" from it.

And, to top it off, seconds later, with 0:13 on the clock, the ball goes out of bounds.  The same ref calls it out on Stanford, but you can see the UW player hit the ball as Kiana is trying to dribble it inward toward her, and cause the ball to spin clockwise and land in foul territory.  You get a clearer view of the UW player last touching the ball in the replay just before the PAC-12 logo fills the screen.

Guess who called the bogus charge on Alanna... You're right.  It was Kyle Bacon.

I wonder if Marta is sick.  She seemed to play tired, esp. when you look at her passes.  (The last pass of the 3rd Q was to the feet of Dijonai, which kept us from getting a decent shot.  At 7:41 in the 4th, she again throws a pass to the feet and behind, this time of Brittany for a TO, which was wrongly blamed on Brittany.  I also saw at least 3 unguarded 3s made where Marta left her player or failed to follow her player and instead went into the lane when there was no need for her in the lane.)

I was glad to see Brittany was not leaving her shots short tonight.  Yes, she missed a layup and an 8-foot jumper, and was only 3 of 9 in 2pt range, but the other 2pt misses were ones where she was bumped (ie, uncalled fouls) or blocked from behind.  There were 4 more shot attempts where the fouls were called, plus 3 assists. Of her two misses (vs 1 make) on 3pts, one was a guarded shot after an inbounds with 4 seconds on the shot clock.

At one point, the TV announcers said Stanford only had 7 assists on 14 shots (it was 5 on 11 in the first half).  We wound up with 16 assists on 25 baskets.  That means 11 assists on 14 second half baskets.

[pepper1]

Some very encouraging developments during WA game: finally beat a zone, particularly the 3-2 variety when we exploited the baseline/low post; Dijonai's O is back; players other than Williams hit some nice threes; and Cardinal kept up D intensity for all four quarters.

It was also very encouraging to see Kaylee regaining the dominant, inspired rebounding mojo she had as a frosh in both the WSU and WA games.  She can be a real leader for the team.

Sitting in close proximity to WA bench, it was interesting to hear their coach during a couple breaks emphasize that they wanted to force the ball out of Marta's hands.  They did not have great success in doing this but made it an exhausting game for her with all the double team thrown at her and did cause some TOs.

As others have noted, the next two weekends will be crucial ones for the direction of the Cardinal season.  The Ducks appear to have clearly established themselves as the class of the Pac-12, but the next two weekends will determine where the Cardinal will fit in the pecking order behind them.  Go Cardinal!

[pepper1]

Some very encouraging developments during WA game: finally beat a zone, particularly the 3-2 variety when we exploited the baseline/low post; Dijonai's O is back; players other than Williams hit some nice threes; and Cardinal kept up D intensity for all four quarters.

It was also very encouraging to see Kaylee regaining the dominant, inspired rebounding mojo she had as a frosh in both the WSU and WA games.  She can be a real leader for the team.

Sitting in close proximity to WA bench, it was interesting to hear their coach during a couple breaks emphasize that they wanted to force the ball out of Marta's hands.  They did not have great success in doing this but made it an exhausting game for her with all the double team thrown at her and did cause some TOs.

As others have noted, the next two weekends will be crucial ones for the direction of the Cardinal season.  The Ducks appear to have clearly established themselves as the class of the Pac-12, but the next two weekends will determine where the Cardinal will fit in the pecking order behind them.  Go Cardinal!

[BobK]

A very good win

One of the announcers was Clarendon who is an WNBA player and recent cal grad. She was outstanding

A poorly ref’d game and I seldom say that.

I think Tara knows the rules and she said several times live no basket

Anyone see the cal game where Anigwe is fouled by Brown?  Brown goes down Anigwe throws the ball on her face no call. WSU players and coaches livid.  Now that’s a bad call or in this case no call

[BobK]

A very good win

One of the announcers was Clarendon who is an WNBA player and recent cal grad. She was outstanding

A poorly ref’d game and I seldom say that.

I think Tara knows the rules and she said several times live no basket

Anyone see the cal game where Anigwe is fouled by Brown?  Brown goes down Anigwe throws the ball on her face no call. WSU players and coaches livid.  Now that’s a bad call or in this case no call

[Erika]

More on Kyle Bacon:

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/viewtopic.php?t=69865

[Erika]

More on Kyle Bacon:

http://www.egriz.com/grizboard/viewtopic.php?t=69865

[2006alum]

Yesterday was my first trip back to Maples since the Lopii era (crazy how fast time flies). All in all, I thought our team did well. Washington was really aggressive from start to finish, and they are a solid defensive team, so our ability to break their zone and get inside, while also hitting treys at a decent clip, bodes well for our development, because those are the two areas where we have struggled. Kayl and Smith were really solid around the basket, with Kayl just a rebounding beast in the paint. Although we had a lot of turnovers, and many were on some questionable passes, I thought we largely remained composed against their press and didn't rush our shots too much. Mostly I just couldn't believe how bad they were as a shooting team. It felt like about one out of ten of their jump shots went in, and those were mostly treys from their tiny point guard.

McPhee definitely seemed not 100% herself, and it may explain her equally so-so performance against WSU on Friday. She just seemed low energy, which a cold would explain. That said, agree that she and Carrington were superb guarding Melgoza. And even with a cold, McPhee still had a few brilliant moments. Near the end of the game, Melgoza stole the ball (I think from McPhee?) and blitzed down the court for a fast break. McPhee followed, stopped her, and stole the ball back for an easy fast break layup. That really got the crowd on their feet. There were one or two times I thought Williams lost track of her player, but otherwise our defense was really good from start to finish. (And Williams' block of a player who was at least 5 inches taller than her was really heroic!) It was also nice to see Carrington get out of her shooting slump. Her spark off the bench really helped solidify our lead in the second half, and she was finding other players really nicely for assists.

Refs were definitely questionable on a few plays. Being in the pavilion without the benefit of a replay or a proper explanation of what happened, we had no idea why the 5-point play was credited. The shot went off so long after the "foul" was committed that we didn't even realize a basket had been made because we thought the play was dead.

As for Sniezek, I think she may have tweaked her ankle (or some part of her lower body) midway through the first half. I noticed because our seats were right by the home tunnel, and when she came out after her first foul, she didn't go back in before half-time, and instead she was sitting on a high stool with her leg elevated back near the tunnel rather than with the rest of the bench. Lindy came over to talk to her for a while, and she seemed to walk rather gingerly on it when she got up to go to the locker room at the half. Fortunately she seemed ok and played much of the second half, but I thought she seemed more hesitant and less aggressive with her first step, and that may explain why. That said, given how much their tiny guards hounded her, and how generally physical they were, I thought she handled herself with a lot of composure. She didn't once allow herself to get trapped at the half-court, notwithstanding their double-teaming press on almost every in-bounded possession.

In terms of our frosh, apart from Williams, I was pretty happy with what I saw from Jerome in terms of court sense - she helped keep Washington from coming back when we started getting into foul trouble at the end of the second quarter (Fingall, Kayl, Sniezek and Carrington all had 2 fouls before the half). And Moschkau has a beauty of a three-point shot. I'm assuming the need to develop her defense is why Tara isn't playing her much, but once she settles in, she definitely looked like the second coming of Bonnie.

[2006alum]

Yesterday was my first trip back to Maples since the Lopii era (crazy how fast time flies). All in all, I thought our team did well. Washington was really aggressive from start to finish, and they are a solid defensive team, so our ability to break their zone and get inside, while also hitting treys at a decent clip, bodes well for our development, because those are the two areas where we have struggled. Kayl and Smith were really solid around the basket, with Kayl just a rebounding beast in the paint. Although we had a lot of turnovers, and many were on some questionable passes, I thought we largely remained composed against their press and didn't rush our shots too much. Mostly I just couldn't believe how bad they were as a shooting team. It felt like about one out of ten of their jump shots went in, and those were mostly treys from their tiny point guard.

McPhee definitely seemed not 100% herself, and it may explain her equally so-so performance against WSU on Friday. She just seemed low energy, which a cold would explain. That said, agree that she and Carrington were superb guarding Melgoza. And even with a cold, McPhee still had a few brilliant moments. Near the end of the game, Melgoza stole the ball (I think from McPhee?) and blitzed down the court for a fast break. McPhee followed, stopped her, and stole the ball back for an easy fast break layup. That really got the crowd on their feet. There were one or two times I thought Williams lost track of her player, but otherwise our defense was really good from start to finish. (And Williams' block of a player who was at least 5 inches taller than her was really heroic!) It was also nice to see Carrington get out of her shooting slump. Her spark off the bench really helped solidify our lead in the second half, and she was finding other players really nicely for assists.

Refs were definitely questionable on a few plays. Being in the pavilion without the benefit of a replay or a proper explanation of what happened, we had no idea why the 5-point play was credited. The shot went off so long after the "foul" was committed that we didn't even realize a basket had been made because we thought the play was dead.

As for Sniezek, I think she may have tweaked her ankle (or some part of her lower body) midway through the first half. I noticed because our seats were right by the home tunnel, and when she came out after her first foul, she didn't go back in before half-time, and instead she was sitting on a high stool with her leg elevated back near the tunnel rather than with the rest of the bench. Lindy came over to talk to her for a while, and she seemed to walk rather gingerly on it when she got up to go to the locker room at the half. Fortunately she seemed ok and played much of the second half, but I thought she seemed more hesitant and less aggressive with her first step, and that may explain why. That said, given how much their tiny guards hounded her, and how generally physical they were, I thought she handled herself with a lot of composure. She didn't once allow herself to get trapped at the half-court, notwithstanding their double-teaming press on almost every in-bounded possession.

In terms of our frosh, apart from Williams, I was pretty happy with what I saw from Jerome in terms of court sense - she helped keep Washington from coming back when we started getting into foul trouble at the end of the second quarter (Fingall, Kayl, Sniezek and Carrington all had 2 fouls before the half). And Moschkau has a beauty of a three-point shot. I'm assuming the need to develop her defense is why Tara isn't playing her much, but once she settles in, she definitely looked like the second coming of Bonnie.

[JJJ]

I believe at the beginning of the broadcast, they said Sniezek and Dodson had tweaked their ankles in the prior game but that Sniezek would be available to play for this game. Sorry, already erased the DVR so can't easily reconfirm.

[JJJ]

I believe at the beginning of the broadcast, they said Sniezek and Dodson had tweaked their ankles in the prior game but that Sniezek would be available to play for this game. Sorry, already erased the DVR so can't easily reconfirm.

[crackpot]

Anyone see the ןɐɔ game where Anigwe is fouled by Brown?  Brown goes down Anigwe throws the ball on her face no call. WSU players and coaches livid.  Now that’s a bad call or in this case no call

Is this the one that happened with 3:33 to go in the 2nd (About 44 minutes into the broadcast)? It was awful. They let that one go with a flagrant 1 - I can't believe she didn't at least get benched to cool down.

[crackpot]

Anyone see the ןɐɔ game where Anigwe is fouled by Brown?  Brown goes down Anigwe throws the ball on her face no call. WSU players and coaches livid.  Now that’s a bad call or in this case no call

Is this the one that happened with 3:33 to go in the 2nd (About 44 minutes into the broadcast)? It was awful. They let that one go with a flagrant 1 - I can't believe she didn't at least get benched to cool down.