[BillBradley]

I would like to see a pity verbal to help us heal from this loss.

Juju? Olivia? Joyce? Kendall? Hidalgo or Briggs? Be our silver lining...

A "pity verbal"? What does that mean? 

IMO, a good way of dealing with a tough loss is to get as clear as possible about what went wrong and about what resources the team lacked so that those problems can be definitely corrected instead of repeated the next time. Stanford's recruiting strategy hasn't changed in decades, nor has its related in-game strategy: feed bigs and hoist treys. We always have serious problems with teams that play our wings tightly since we usually don't have wings who can take it to the hoop and finish or a point guard to break down the D at the point, force the perimeter D to help stop the driver, and dish to the wings for open looks. I doubt we'll change either recruiting or the strategy.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you are giving enough credit to the players we have recruited in the past few years who actually do possess those traits. You mention Lexie as one of the players, so we had her, you admit that. We also have Haley, who IMO is a very capable penetrator and finisher and has proven that through her years (and especially in last years FF). I wish she would have taken over yesterday and done more of that. Also, wouldn't you include Kiana as this type of player? She was quite good at breaking down her player and creating her own shot. So there's 3.

I think if you asked Tara, "wouldn't we be better if we had a bunch of incredibly quick guards who can create their own shot?" do you really think she would say "Nah, not interested in that type of player". She has gone after many players of this type, but that doesn't mean they all come. Plus, most of these players that you would be interested in (who do all the other stuff too like defend and rebound) are really the cream of the crop. It's not like there are scads of those players on the women's side like there are on the men's side. I can count on a couple of fingers the number of these types of players who are playing for the national championship. Destinee Henderson and Azzi Fudd, for example, are much more catch and shoot players than the type of player your are mentioning. Did UConn really have any baskets yesterday where they broke down our defense in one-on-one style? That's not Bueckers game either. Most of their action comes off screens. There are teams like Texas who are way quicker and more athletic and rely on one-on-one dribble penetration, but those teams are home watching.

[BillBradley]

I would like to see a pity verbal to help us heal from this loss.

Juju? Olivia? Joyce? Kendall? Hidalgo or Briggs? Be our silver lining...

A "pity verbal"? What does that mean? 

IMO, a good way of dealing with a tough loss is to get as clear as possible about what went wrong and about what resources the team lacked so that those problems can be definitely corrected instead of repeated the next time. Stanford's recruiting strategy hasn't changed in decades, nor has its related in-game strategy: feed bigs and hoist treys. We always have serious problems with teams that play our wings tightly since we usually don't have wings who can take it to the hoop and finish or a point guard to break down the D at the point, force the perimeter D to help stop the driver, and dish to the wings for open looks. I doubt we'll change either recruiting or the strategy.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you are giving enough credit to the players we have recruited in the past few years who actually do possess those traits. You mention Lexie as one of the players, so we had her, you admit that. We also have Haley, who IMO is a very capable penetrator and finisher and has proven that through her years (and especially in last years FF). I wish she would have taken over yesterday and done more of that. Also, wouldn't you include Kiana as this type of player? She was quite good at breaking down her player and creating her own shot. So there's 3.

I think if you asked Tara, "wouldn't we be better if we had a bunch of incredibly quick guards who can create their own shot?" do you really think she would say "Nah, not interested in that type of player". She has gone after many players of this type, but that doesn't mean they all come. Plus, most of these players that you would be interested in (who do all the other stuff too like defend and rebound) are really the cream of the crop. It's not like there are scads of those players on the women's side like there are on the men's side. I can count on a couple of fingers the number of these types of players who are playing for the national championship. Destinee Henderson and Azzi Fudd, for example, are much more catch and shoot players than the type of player your are mentioning. Did UConn really have any baskets yesterday where they broke down our defense in one-on-one style? That's not Bueckers game either. Most of their action comes off screens. There are teams like Texas who are way quicker and more athletic and rely on one-on-one dribble penetration, but those teams are home watching.