[81alum]

I'm inclined to think Tara recruits the best players she can regardless of position, and then tries to mold the offense around whoever she gets.  We sometime forget it is Stanford--and it is not football--meaning there are no allowances in WBB for players who can't meet the highest academic standards.  We can get great players, but we can't pick and choose them by position.  So in recent years she has hit the jackpot with big players and struck out on the elite guards (I would count Jones as a wing, personally)--Osborne, Rice, Watkins.  Apparently we came close in each case.  This has created an imbalance of talent on this team--a much stronger frontcourt than backcourt.

i generally agree with your point, but i believe (with some indirect evidence) that we did not strike out on osborne. it's my understanding that we had 5 great options for 4 spots (haley, fran, ashten, hannah, charisma) and chose the first 4.  charisma was my favorite player coming out of high school, and i posted several times that this choice would come back to bite us because we did not have a top point guard to replace kiana. i was asked to pipe down and did until now.

Interesting if true that it may have been our choice and not her choice.  I have no inside information--that would be BobK's province ;)  And in hindsight each of the funky four we got has been crucial to our success at one point or another, so second-guessing is hard.  What are Osborne's plans after this year?  Going pro?  Any interest in an MA? 

Recruiting seems so messy to me.  I've always wondered about the order of commitments and all the informal conversations that must take place (during the allowed time periods, of course.)  I know Tara has made commitments to players in the past that she has honored, even when someone "better" may have come available.  And I know she has held spaces open for some elite players who do not come, and by the time they do decide it is too late to use the slot on another elite player.  I suspect a lot of the "head-scratchers" in recruiting have to do with admissions, how quickly the elite player decides, and the patience of other players to wait while a "higher priority" target is deciding, the need to fill a slot with a very good player rather than risk it waiting for an elite player, etc.  I'd want nothing to do with that side of the game.

[81alum]

I'm inclined to think Tara recruits the best players she can regardless of position, and then tries to mold the offense around whoever she gets.  We sometime forget it is Stanford--and it is not football--meaning there are no allowances in WBB for players who can't meet the highest academic standards.  We can get great players, but we can't pick and choose them by position.  So in recent years she has hit the jackpot with big players and struck out on the elite guards (I would count Jones as a wing, personally)--Osborne, Rice, Watkins.  Apparently we came close in each case.  This has created an imbalance of talent on this team--a much stronger frontcourt than backcourt.

i generally agree with your point, but i believe (with some indirect evidence) that we did not strike out on osborne. it's my understanding that we had 5 great options for 4 spots (haley, fran, ashten, hannah, charisma) and chose the first 4.  charisma was my favorite player coming out of high school, and i posted several times that this choice would come back to bite us because we did not have a top point guard to replace kiana. i was asked to pipe down and did until now.

Interesting if true that it may have been our choice and not her choice.  I have no inside information--that would be BobK's province ;)  And in hindsight each of the funky four we got has been crucial to our success at one point or another, so second-guessing is hard.  What are Osborne's plans after this year?  Going pro?  Any interest in an MA? 

Recruiting seems so messy to me.  I've always wondered about the order of commitments and all the informal conversations that must take place (during the allowed time periods, of course.)  I know Tara has made commitments to players in the past that she has honored, even when someone "better" may have come available.  And I know she has held spaces open for some elite players who do not come, and by the time they do decide it is too late to use the slot on another elite player.  I suspect a lot of the "head-scratchers" in recruiting have to do with admissions, how quickly the elite player decides, and the patience of other players to wait while a "higher priority" target is deciding, the need to fill a slot with a very good player rather than risk it waiting for an elite player, etc.  I'd want nothing to do with that side of the game.