[TheWildJacko]

Survive and advance. Oregon State is not a great team. We had 5+ minute stretches in BOTH the 2nd and 4th quarters with no field goals. While I want us to roll through this tourney, I worry that we are not playing our best basketball right now. Would a loss help us reset and refocus? We've been very mediocre now vs Oregon, Washington State, Washington, and today. 4 games in a row and we haven't scored 70 points in any of them. Our current level of play will not get us to a final 4.

Haley Jones was spectacular in the 2nd half. Anna Wilson played tremendous on both ends. Most everyone else, mehhh.

I, too, am worried as to how Stanford has suddenly been struggling lately, especially against the likes of WSU, Washington and Oregon State (without Taylor JONES).  It seems like they have suddenly played to the level of their opponents, and not have the killer instinct to dominate that they should have by now.  And the substitution patterns suddenly underutilize the likes of BELIBI and IRIAFEN who are their most efficient scorers, as well as their most dependable 3-point shooter Hannah JUMP who used to average 25+ minutes/game.  I hope they up their ante vs. Colorado tomorrow.

I agree with your assessment completely. When we were scoring so well a month ago, rotations seemed set and predictable. The last few games, not at all. Pretchtel checked in before Iriafen today in the first half, then didn't' see the floor in the second half at all. Fran has played less than 10 minutes in each of the last 4 games and we've struggled in each of those games.  Belibi, Iriafen, and Jump need to be on the court. We are better with them playing minutes.

What I didn't understand is why Jerome was the first big off the bench today.  We were up 19-2 when she came in with Hannah.  Fran was very effective the last time around vs. OSU, Prechtel brings some height against their 6-9 and 6-6 posts and Iriafen is much quicker than their bigs.  Alyssa is a great person and leader, but not much of an offensive threat or a defensive stopper.

I was wondering why she put Jerome in in the 2nd Q. My thought is that Tara thinks Jerome has earned the chance to play quality minutes outside of garbage time, based on her time and leadership role with the team, and Tara trusts the team to take care of business against opponents like OSU and Washington.

One nitpick—Jerome wasn’t the first big off the bench today. The play-by-play shows Fran coming in at the 3:49 mark in Q1 and out at 1:06 Q1, at which point Ashten enters the game. At the start of Q2, Ashten and Hannah sub out while Brink and Anna come back in. Alyssa and Hannah sub in for Haley and Anna at the 8:07 mark in Q2. So Jerome was the 3rd big off the bench, stayed in 5 minutes, and then subbed out with 3:28 remaining, having accumulated 0 points, 0 boards, 0 assists and 1 foul. So Tara gave her a chance when we were up big and then took her out after she didn’t produce.

[TheWildJacko]

Survive and advance. Oregon State is not a great team. We had 5+ minute stretches in BOTH the 2nd and 4th quarters with no field goals. While I want us to roll through this tourney, I worry that we are not playing our best basketball right now. Would a loss help us reset and refocus? We've been very mediocre now vs Oregon, Washington State, Washington, and today. 4 games in a row and we haven't scored 70 points in any of them. Our current level of play will not get us to a final 4.

Haley Jones was spectacular in the 2nd half. Anna Wilson played tremendous on both ends. Most everyone else, mehhh.

I, too, am worried as to how Stanford has suddenly been struggling lately, especially against the likes of WSU, Washington and Oregon State (without Taylor JONES).  It seems like they have suddenly played to the level of their opponents, and not have the killer instinct to dominate that they should have by now.  And the substitution patterns suddenly underutilize the likes of BELIBI and IRIAFEN who are their most efficient scorers, as well as their most dependable 3-point shooter Hannah JUMP who used to average 25+ minutes/game.  I hope they up their ante vs. Colorado tomorrow.

I agree with your assessment completely. When we were scoring so well a month ago, rotations seemed set and predictable. The last few games, not at all. Pretchtel checked in before Iriafen today in the first half, then didn't' see the floor in the second half at all. Fran has played less than 10 minutes in each of the last 4 games and we've struggled in each of those games.  Belibi, Iriafen, and Jump need to be on the court. We are better with them playing minutes.

What I didn't understand is why Jerome was the first big off the bench today.  We were up 19-2 when she came in with Hannah.  Fran was very effective the last time around vs. OSU, Prechtel brings some height against their 6-9 and 6-6 posts and Iriafen is much quicker than their bigs.  Alyssa is a great person and leader, but not much of an offensive threat or a defensive stopper.

I was wondering why she put Jerome in in the 2nd Q. My thought is that Tara thinks Jerome has earned the chance to play quality minutes outside of garbage time, based on her time and leadership role with the team, and Tara trusts the team to take care of business against opponents like OSU and Washington.

One nitpick—Jerome wasn’t the first big off the bench today. The play-by-play shows Fran coming in at the 3:49 mark in Q1 and out at 1:06 Q1, at which point Ashten enters the game. At the start of Q2, Ashten and Hannah sub out while Brink and Anna come back in. Alyssa and Hannah sub in for Haley and Anna at the 8:07 mark in Q2. So Jerome was the 3rd big off the bench, stayed in 5 minutes, and then subbed out with 3:28 remaining, having accumulated 0 points, 0 boards, 0 assists and 1 foul. So Tara gave her a chance when we were up big and then took her out after she didn’t produce.