03-21-2023, 03:22 PM
6) What will the coaches learn?
Whatever the personnel issues, there is also the system issue. Do we literally "go with the Flow" (I hope not) or can we customize something that works better with highly aggressive defenses? This is the kind of puzzle that Tara has been famous for solving in the past, and now that she and her coaches have time to reflect on what did not work, and life after Jones, I expect something new. What it is I don't know, but it clearly will depend on Brink's and Betts's roles on the team, and how to build around our greatest talents without becoming uni-dimensional.
So long as we are on the coaching angle, I wonder if there will be any coaching changes. The effectiveness of the assistant coaches is opaque to me, but changes have quite regularly happened, whether one goes off to launch a career elsewhere (Bobbie, Lindy) or for other reasons (Tempie.) I wonder, for example, if the current set of assistant coaches could be better balanced to complement the aging basketball matriarch at the head of the team--younger, less white, more emotional. That said, I am a big Kate Paye fan--she has one of the best minds in the game for game planning our defense against other teams, and has been something of an underappreciated semi-secret weapon.
7) Will we have a transfer or a last minute recruit?
Rumors of a transfer from Penn are in the air. Could we instead fill the final spot with a surprise freshman? That sometimes happens, usually with overseas recruits who were simply on no one's radar. Is there an Alanna Smith or Lili Thompson out there in the offing? I have no idea, but given that Stanford has slightly liberalized transfer rules it is entirely plausible that we might get a top Ivy Leaguer. I might look at the graduating senior starters from the Princeton team to see if any of them were contemplating grad school at Stanford.
8) How will the fans hold up?
Stanford had a somewhat low point in the early 2000s. It was as if that 1998 1st round loss marked the end of the highest expectations created by the two nattys early in the decade, and we went a lot of years before 2008 and the regional win over Maryland got us back on track. Maybe we have a road like that to travel before we get back to where we want to be, and maybe Tara won't be there at the end of it. Probably not if it takes us another 10 years. Maybe the NCAA changes will create greater and greater challenges for WBB and Stanford will be at an increasing disadvantage. Lots of maybes. But how will we fans hold up? Will we maintain our interest when we have only "one" All American, or potentially even none? Will we continue to form a supportive community which is part of the fun of being a fan, or will disappointment or bitterness begin to creep into our fandom and spoil our enjoyment? I will be back next year, and I will continue to gather with Cardboarders at every halftime to humanize my fellow posters and put faces to names. To experience the highs and lows of our love of Stanford WBB together, and not in isolation. It increases the joy and diminishes the pain.
Whatever the personnel issues, there is also the system issue. Do we literally "go with the Flow" (I hope not) or can we customize something that works better with highly aggressive defenses? This is the kind of puzzle that Tara has been famous for solving in the past, and now that she and her coaches have time to reflect on what did not work, and life after Jones, I expect something new. What it is I don't know, but it clearly will depend on Brink's and Betts's roles on the team, and how to build around our greatest talents without becoming uni-dimensional.
So long as we are on the coaching angle, I wonder if there will be any coaching changes. The effectiveness of the assistant coaches is opaque to me, but changes have quite regularly happened, whether one goes off to launch a career elsewhere (Bobbie, Lindy) or for other reasons (Tempie.) I wonder, for example, if the current set of assistant coaches could be better balanced to complement the aging basketball matriarch at the head of the team--younger, less white, more emotional. That said, I am a big Kate Paye fan--she has one of the best minds in the game for game planning our defense against other teams, and has been something of an underappreciated semi-secret weapon.
7) Will we have a transfer or a last minute recruit?
Rumors of a transfer from Penn are in the air. Could we instead fill the final spot with a surprise freshman? That sometimes happens, usually with overseas recruits who were simply on no one's radar. Is there an Alanna Smith or Lili Thompson out there in the offing? I have no idea, but given that Stanford has slightly liberalized transfer rules it is entirely plausible that we might get a top Ivy Leaguer. I might look at the graduating senior starters from the Princeton team to see if any of them were contemplating grad school at Stanford.
8) How will the fans hold up?
Stanford had a somewhat low point in the early 2000s. It was as if that 1998 1st round loss marked the end of the highest expectations created by the two nattys early in the decade, and we went a lot of years before 2008 and the regional win over Maryland got us back on track. Maybe we have a road like that to travel before we get back to where we want to be, and maybe Tara won't be there at the end of it. Probably not if it takes us another 10 years. Maybe the NCAA changes will create greater and greater challenges for WBB and Stanford will be at an increasing disadvantage. Lots of maybes. But how will we fans hold up? Will we maintain our interest when we have only "one" All American, or potentially even none? Will we continue to form a supportive community which is part of the fun of being a fan, or will disappointment or bitterness begin to creep into our fandom and spoil our enjoyment? I will be back next year, and I will continue to gather with Cardboarders at every halftime to humanize my fellow posters and put faces to names. To experience the highs and lows of our love of Stanford WBB together, and not in isolation. It increases the joy and diminishes the pain.