[cardfan1996]

Ugly game. Our 3 leading scorers shot the ball horribly 10 for 34. But the defense was enough to win. Disappointed but still hopeful for the tournament.  Two years ago we really stunk it up on offense in the final four and the national championship and we still won.

I mostly agree though it is asking a lot to beat 4 or 5 good teams in the tournament this way. It just takes 1-2 players to get hot in a game to knock your out when you have to rely on defense this heavily. We will need some luck and better concentration/effort levels.

Last thought for the night: somebody earlier was asking what the rebounding problem was, and I would have said both the free for all at the bucket with the bigs and the guards not rebounding well on the scramble. But I am putting that now as 80/20 on the guards. Lepolo, Emma, and Jump combined for… 2 rebounds. Nivar at least had 4.  That is terrible. Period. And a full disaster in a game like this where the ball ended up loose all second half. USC guards had 17 in comparison.

I’ve said in prior threads that Lepolo, Hannah and Agnes do NOT rebound and it is usually horrible decision to play them together.

Lepolo just freezes and stares at balls coming her direction

Hannah is already running to the other end of the court even when the ball is coming directly at her

Agnes - who knows? She consistently goes after the offensive boards when she should be back in transition defense.

None of them block out.

And that is why I’ve been advocating for Nivar and Bosgana since November. It took an injury for Nivar to even get a chance and best believe, Stanford would have lost this game as well as Utah had Nivar not played. I don’t think I’m going to get Bosgana. Agnes gives Tara enough “fool’s gold” to keep her minutes and Bosgana gets none.

---

What was the strategy behind playing Prechtel for one minute in the first half?   Was that a pre-game planned decision or did Prechtel really mess up in a way I didn't recognize?

Again I was hoping Tara recognizing she was holding the team back would lead to an uptick in Ashten’s minutes. She is playing even less in favor of Betts and Fran.

[cardfan1996]

Ugly game. Our 3 leading scorers shot the ball horribly 10 for 34. But the defense was enough to win. Disappointed but still hopeful for the tournament.  Two years ago we really stunk it up on offense in the final four and the national championship and we still won.

I mostly agree though it is asking a lot to beat 4 or 5 good teams in the tournament this way. It just takes 1-2 players to get hot in a game to knock your out when you have to rely on defense this heavily. We will need some luck and better concentration/effort levels.

Last thought for the night: somebody earlier was asking what the rebounding problem was, and I would have said both the free for all at the bucket with the bigs and the guards not rebounding well on the scramble. But I am putting that now as 80/20 on the guards. Lepolo, Emma, and Jump combined for… 2 rebounds. Nivar at least had 4.  That is terrible. Period. And a full disaster in a game like this where the ball ended up loose all second half. USC guards had 17 in comparison.

I’ve said in prior threads that Lepolo, Hannah and Agnes do NOT rebound and it is usually horrible decision to play them together.

Lepolo just freezes and stares at balls coming her direction

Hannah is already running to the other end of the court even when the ball is coming directly at her

Agnes - who knows? She consistently goes after the offensive boards when she should be back in transition defense.

None of them block out.

And that is why I’ve been advocating for Nivar and Bosgana since November. It took an injury for Nivar to even get a chance and best believe, Stanford would have lost this game as well as Utah had Nivar not played. I don’t think I’m going to get Bosgana. Agnes gives Tara enough “fool’s gold” to keep her minutes and Bosgana gets none.

---

What was the strategy behind playing Prechtel for one minute in the first half?   Was that a pre-game planned decision or did Prechtel really mess up in a way I didn't recognize?

Again I was hoping Tara recognizing she was holding the team back would lead to an uptick in Ashten’s minutes. She is playing even less in favor of Betts and Fran.