[Stanfanforever]

The tournament will decide this season.  Either we will redeem ourselves and get to the Final Four or more.  Or we will lose in the Sweet Sixteen and it will be a toilet bowl season relative to the potential of this team.

Agreed about the importance of the Big Dance now.  We just have to see how far our coming 2 seed can carry us.  I guess I would be content with the 2008 model when we knocked off #1 seed Maryland and made it all the way to the title game, but I worry about the 2013 model (loss to Georgia in the sweet 16).  

We have enormous talent on this team, but it has not completely come together and jelled all year.  It has been a very uncharacteristic year as far as improvement goes.  We now have 5 losses for the season, with the likelihood that we will wind up with six.  That is high for Stanford WBB, but is especially surprising with our current talent level.

Let's see if a little time for sober reflection and intense practice can give us a much better 2nd tourney than our first.

In all sincerity, I disagree that there is "enormous talent" on this team. Cam, Jump, and Jones, YES. But I don't see enormous talent beyond that. Jury is still out on Betts; she has great size but is slow and couldn't cover Boston-type opponents. Don't yet see much ability to shoot when she's further than 4-5 feet away. Btw, I agree with another poster that Cam is the only one on the team who plays with relentless intensity. SC is light years ahead of SU on that front. Teams reflects their coaches personalities. I venture to predict that the women's game is going to get progressively more intense and feisty over the next five years. It's not going to be (relatively) mellow, low-contact, and "polite" like it used to be. It's going to require teams that want to win to adapt to the new reality.

What a ridiculous opinion on Betts . 
Leads the team and it’s not close in points per minute and is obviously being under utilized . 
There are players being given consistent mins with 0 production . 
Boston is the exact type player Betts would excel against . Boston is not fast . 
To call her slow is ludicrous , fastest 6-7 Feb sie I’ve ever seen getting up and down the court .
Look at the Oregon big - that’s slow .
When do you actually ever see her scored on but we have players getting mins playing 0 defence. 
If you think a number one recruit will stick around being hugely unvalued you are crazy . 
It’s not like you can say she’s on a championship team anymore . 
99% of teams would love to have her and be glad to use her too .

Betts has improved a great deal since the beginning of the year on limited minutes. But Boston and Cardoso are not just big but quick and agile. As Mike Neighbors said, what makes S. Carolina special is “their bigs can guard your guards and their guards can guard your bigs.” I’ve seen both Boston and Cardoso chase down guards from behind and block them (Boston did so again today). Betts may very well get to their level in a couple of years (she will need to hire her own trainer to do so) but she is not going to be able to score on them or defend them this year. How do I know that? She struggled vs the bigger USC post and Utah’s unnamed and random big girls. Both were able to physically push her around and off her spot. Boston and Cardoso are at least twice as strong as any of those girls (an understatement to be sure) plus Cardoso looks Betts in the eye. There is no size mismatch Betts can exploit. S. Carolina won’t even need to bring a double or help (but I have yet to see them do so for any player they are defending - star or not). They just held Angel Reese, a prolific rebounder and Top 5 pick next year, to 14 pts and 4 rebounds playing her 1 on 1.

Not sure what games you are watching . 
Cardoso is a catch and layup role player at best who takes advantage of having a whole roster of threats around her plus I guarantee doesn’t look her in the eye as she has inflated her height like everyone else. 
To call her faster than Betts is ludicrous. 
You need to watch closer. 
When you say she “struggled” you mean missed a shot or two and played great D on them im guessing ? 
Boston is a great player and a unicorn but is about to be gone and with the some of our main players lack of production against better teams we won’t be facing her again .

[Stanfanforever]

The tournament will decide this season.  Either we will redeem ourselves and get to the Final Four or more.  Or we will lose in the Sweet Sixteen and it will be a toilet bowl season relative to the potential of this team.

Agreed about the importance of the Big Dance now.  We just have to see how far our coming 2 seed can carry us.  I guess I would be content with the 2008 model when we knocked off #1 seed Maryland and made it all the way to the title game, but I worry about the 2013 model (loss to Georgia in the sweet 16).  

We have enormous talent on this team, but it has not completely come together and jelled all year.  It has been a very uncharacteristic year as far as improvement goes.  We now have 5 losses for the season, with the likelihood that we will wind up with six.  That is high for Stanford WBB, but is especially surprising with our current talent level.

Let's see if a little time for sober reflection and intense practice can give us a much better 2nd tourney than our first.

In all sincerity, I disagree that there is "enormous talent" on this team. Cam, Jump, and Jones, YES. But I don't see enormous talent beyond that. Jury is still out on Betts; she has great size but is slow and couldn't cover Boston-type opponents. Don't yet see much ability to shoot when she's further than 4-5 feet away. Btw, I agree with another poster that Cam is the only one on the team who plays with relentless intensity. SC is light years ahead of SU on that front. Teams reflects their coaches personalities. I venture to predict that the women's game is going to get progressively more intense and feisty over the next five years. It's not going to be (relatively) mellow, low-contact, and "polite" like it used to be. It's going to require teams that want to win to adapt to the new reality.

What a ridiculous opinion on Betts . 
Leads the team and it’s not close in points per minute and is obviously being under utilized . 
There are players being given consistent mins with 0 production . 
Boston is the exact type player Betts would excel against . Boston is not fast . 
To call her slow is ludicrous , fastest 6-7 Feb sie I’ve ever seen getting up and down the court .
Look at the Oregon big - that’s slow .
When do you actually ever see her scored on but we have players getting mins playing 0 defence. 
If you think a number one recruit will stick around being hugely unvalued you are crazy . 
It’s not like you can say she’s on a championship team anymore . 
99% of teams would love to have her and be glad to use her too .

Betts has improved a great deal since the beginning of the year on limited minutes. But Boston and Cardoso are not just big but quick and agile. As Mike Neighbors said, what makes S. Carolina special is “their bigs can guard your guards and their guards can guard your bigs.” I’ve seen both Boston and Cardoso chase down guards from behind and block them (Boston did so again today). Betts may very well get to their level in a couple of years (she will need to hire her own trainer to do so) but she is not going to be able to score on them or defend them this year. How do I know that? She struggled vs the bigger USC post and Utah’s unnamed and random big girls. Both were able to physically push her around and off her spot. Boston and Cardoso are at least twice as strong as any of those girls (an understatement to be sure) plus Cardoso looks Betts in the eye. There is no size mismatch Betts can exploit. S. Carolina won’t even need to bring a double or help (but I have yet to see them do so for any player they are defending - star or not). They just held Angel Reese, a prolific rebounder and Top 5 pick next year, to 14 pts and 4 rebounds playing her 1 on 1.

Not sure what games you are watching . 
Cardoso is a catch and layup role player at best who takes advantage of having a whole roster of threats around her plus I guarantee doesn’t look her in the eye as she has inflated her height like everyone else. 
To call her faster than Betts is ludicrous. 
You need to watch closer. 
When you say she “struggled” you mean missed a shot or two and played great D on them im guessing ? 
Boston is a great player and a unicorn but is about to be gone and with the some of our main players lack of production against better teams we won’t be facing her again .