[cardfan1996]

Slightly different take.

I am disappointed that we did not win last night and will not win the PAC-12 tourney title. But I am excited that we won the regular season championship (remember, we may have 8 teams in the Dance). And excited for the Big Dance.

I do think we are a Final Four team. And I think that now that we are out of the PAC, we will do well.

The PAC is an elite conference with several quality coaches who have been coaching against Stanford for years. They understand how Tara thinks and directs her team. And they have built their teams in ways that can compete with Stanford, the standard. Their theory is that if they can compete with Stanford, they can compete with anyone. Nice to be the standard they are aiming at. But that means that from time to time, they are going to beat us.

That said, with Jones and Brink, we have two All-American level players that other teams have to game plan around. And with Jump, we have one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, who is so good that other teams completely change their defense to shadow her. And her defense has improved to the point she is often guarding other teams' top guards.

I am comfortable going to battle with this nucleus of three.

Lepolo showed this weekend that she has recovered from her injury, and gotten her second freshman wind. She shows a better understanding of the gameplan. And her continued growth allows Jones to roam, which fits her skills better.

Personally, I would stay with the big lineup to start every game, starting Iriafen instead of Emma-Nnopu. I think that tells every team that they have to match us. Not the other way around. But Tara sometimes goes with those she trusts.

Speaking of Trust, that is proably the one area where I would like to see Tara expand this tournament season. She tends to rely heavily on those she trusts, sometimes to the point of failure (see Jones losing her sea legs in the last few games). She does indeed have that deep bench. But it is only good if you use it wisely. Play your people. Even, if you don't yet fully Trust them.

That is what sets Dawn Staley apart from Tara at this point. She trusts her bench players to play through mistakes and gain momentim through playing.

Tara needs to heed her own statement about getting out of the way of her team. She needs to loosen the reins a little on her other players.

That would allow her to take advantage of the multi-skilled Bosgana; the three point shooting presence of Prechtel in the post; the speed of Iriafen and Belibi on the wings; and the shooting ability of Harriel running the point behind Lepolo, allowing Nivar to scramble around with Emma-Nnopu causing havoc. And no, I didn't forget Betts just continuing to expand her presence game to game.  

Regardless of how Tara puts things together though, I am excited for what's to come this tournament season.

Let the dance begin.

I get your point but why would Tara not trust Ashten? Better still, why would she trust Agnes, Lepolo, Betts, Kiki . . .Fran, Hannah, but not Ashten?

Ashten has performed at a high level in pressure situations in way more consequential games than any of the above. She is known as the most clutch player by her teammates (according to their own poll).

Prechtel may fit in a different bucket. More like a better talented Alyssa Jerome from the past. She trusts her with the "break glass in case of emergency" approach. Tara knows what Prechtel can do, and sees that need in special circumstances, which may appear in the tournament. I think the issue normally with Prechtel is she is an outside-in post, whereas the team has switched to an inside-out approach. So, to take full advantage of her strengths on offense, requires the right mix of people on the court. Not sure Tara has figured out who that combo would be.

Prechtel is not Alyssa Jerome. Her credentials including Mickey D All-American and PAC-12 6th women of the year speak for themselves. Pretchel has performed at a high level and in more “consequential” games than Lepolo, Agnes, Fran, Hannah, Brooke, Betts and Demetre COMBINED IMO. We all have different definitions of consequential but she is widely regarded by the team as “clutch.” She is the only player I’ve seen truly frustrate Boston. And it would be extraordinarily unfair to “break the glass” and expect Ashten to “save” SWBB when she has had very little time on the floor with the starters.

Most of us agree “pound the post” is not working. Spacing is offense and offense is spacing. We can’t out-S.Carolina S.Carolina because their defense is next level suffocating and so is their rebounding. “Pound the post” is their specific identity and it works for them because of the skillset of the individual players. For instance, they have Zia Cooke. We have Hannah Jump. Zia Cooke can be a knock down shooter but mostly she drives to the basket, gets fouls and goes to the foul line, gets midrange jumpers and she can create for herself. Zia has struggled in some games but never gone scoreless. Hannah is a gifted shooter but you can face guard Hannah and take her completely out of a game. And I honestly can’t remember the last time Hannah went to the free throw line. And I think she went scoreless against UCLA yesterday and at Maples. You have to surround Hannah with players on the perimeter that can make plays for her because she cannot make plays for herself with the ball, not just other “shooters” that are far inferior to her as a shooter.

[cardfan1996]

Slightly different take.

I am disappointed that we did not win last night and will not win the PAC-12 tourney title. But I am excited that we won the regular season championship (remember, we may have 8 teams in the Dance). And excited for the Big Dance.

I do think we are a Final Four team. And I think that now that we are out of the PAC, we will do well.

The PAC is an elite conference with several quality coaches who have been coaching against Stanford for years. They understand how Tara thinks and directs her team. And they have built their teams in ways that can compete with Stanford, the standard. Their theory is that if they can compete with Stanford, they can compete with anyone. Nice to be the standard they are aiming at. But that means that from time to time, they are going to beat us.

That said, with Jones and Brink, we have two All-American level players that other teams have to game plan around. And with Jump, we have one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, who is so good that other teams completely change their defense to shadow her. And her defense has improved to the point she is often guarding other teams' top guards.

I am comfortable going to battle with this nucleus of three.

Lepolo showed this weekend that she has recovered from her injury, and gotten her second freshman wind. She shows a better understanding of the gameplan. And her continued growth allows Jones to roam, which fits her skills better.

Personally, I would stay with the big lineup to start every game, starting Iriafen instead of Emma-Nnopu. I think that tells every team that they have to match us. Not the other way around. But Tara sometimes goes with those she trusts.

Speaking of Trust, that is proably the one area where I would like to see Tara expand this tournament season. She tends to rely heavily on those she trusts, sometimes to the point of failure (see Jones losing her sea legs in the last few games). She does indeed have that deep bench. But it is only good if you use it wisely. Play your people. Even, if you don't yet fully Trust them.

That is what sets Dawn Staley apart from Tara at this point. She trusts her bench players to play through mistakes and gain momentim through playing.

Tara needs to heed her own statement about getting out of the way of her team. She needs to loosen the reins a little on her other players.

That would allow her to take advantage of the multi-skilled Bosgana; the three point shooting presence of Prechtel in the post; the speed of Iriafen and Belibi on the wings; and the shooting ability of Harriel running the point behind Lepolo, allowing Nivar to scramble around with Emma-Nnopu causing havoc. And no, I didn't forget Betts just continuing to expand her presence game to game.  

Regardless of how Tara puts things together though, I am excited for what's to come this tournament season.

Let the dance begin.

I get your point but why would Tara not trust Ashten? Better still, why would she trust Agnes, Lepolo, Betts, Kiki . . .Fran, Hannah, but not Ashten?

Ashten has performed at a high level in pressure situations in way more consequential games than any of the above. She is known as the most clutch player by her teammates (according to their own poll).

Prechtel may fit in a different bucket. More like a better talented Alyssa Jerome from the past. She trusts her with the "break glass in case of emergency" approach. Tara knows what Prechtel can do, and sees that need in special circumstances, which may appear in the tournament. I think the issue normally with Prechtel is she is an outside-in post, whereas the team has switched to an inside-out approach. So, to take full advantage of her strengths on offense, requires the right mix of people on the court. Not sure Tara has figured out who that combo would be.

Prechtel is not Alyssa Jerome. Her credentials including Mickey D All-American and PAC-12 6th women of the year speak for themselves. Pretchel has performed at a high level and in more “consequential” games than Lepolo, Agnes, Fran, Hannah, Brooke, Betts and Demetre COMBINED IMO. We all have different definitions of consequential but she is widely regarded by the team as “clutch.” She is the only player I’ve seen truly frustrate Boston. And it would be extraordinarily unfair to “break the glass” and expect Ashten to “save” SWBB when she has had very little time on the floor with the starters.

Most of us agree “pound the post” is not working. Spacing is offense and offense is spacing. We can’t out-S.Carolina S.Carolina because their defense is next level suffocating and so is their rebounding. “Pound the post” is their specific identity and it works for them because of the skillset of the individual players. For instance, they have Zia Cooke. We have Hannah Jump. Zia Cooke can be a knock down shooter but mostly she drives to the basket, gets fouls and goes to the foul line, gets midrange jumpers and she can create for herself. Zia has struggled in some games but never gone scoreless. Hannah is a gifted shooter but you can face guard Hannah and take her completely out of a game. And I honestly can’t remember the last time Hannah went to the free throw line. And I think she went scoreless against UCLA yesterday and at Maples. You have to surround Hannah with players on the perimeter that can make plays for her because she cannot make plays for herself with the ball, not just other “shooters” that are far inferior to her as a shooter.