03-22-2023, 07:49 PM
I must admit that I don't follow WBB too closely. I did watch Stanford beat UCLA toward the end of the season, and thought then they might not be going very deep this year. It was hard to watch. I'm not sure at all what that says about UCLA, since that was just one game and I didn't watch UCLA in any other game or Stanford again until flipping over during a break in one of the MBB games. I can't say I was surprised they were struggling.
Basketball is still guard-driven, even if the guards are now more "position less" in today's game. Stanford lacked something there. Guards are not just for the perimeter - didn't see much slash and dish action or spreading out the floor. Lots of congestion and tough passes in to Brink. Do they run anything through a high post? Didn't really see much of that, but to be fair, my sum total of viewing recently can be counted in minutes.
Stanford WBB is a victim of its own success. I read they have been to 15 Final Fours. The "expected" number of titles if the Final Four teams are roughly equal is 3.75, so Stanford is no more than one title behind expectation, unless one thinks they should have been in more Final Fours.
Curious as to what all of UCONN's advantages are. Great coach for sure. Close to ESPN world HQ, so probably on TV a lot. Middle Connecticut is nice enough I suppose, but having cut through a bunch of times I'm not sure it is close enough to NYC or Boston to want to go to school there. Didn't they create all their advantages from scratch?
Don't forget that La Tech, ODU, and maybe some others were once powers, so it can all go away. Might as well enjoy being bummed about an R2 exit while you can. Thinking back to my ultimate frustration with Montgomery's constant early flameouts to lower seeds, time sure took care of that frustration....
Basketball is still guard-driven, even if the guards are now more "position less" in today's game. Stanford lacked something there. Guards are not just for the perimeter - didn't see much slash and dish action or spreading out the floor. Lots of congestion and tough passes in to Brink. Do they run anything through a high post? Didn't really see much of that, but to be fair, my sum total of viewing recently can be counted in minutes.
Stanford WBB is a victim of its own success. I read they have been to 15 Final Fours. The "expected" number of titles if the Final Four teams are roughly equal is 3.75, so Stanford is no more than one title behind expectation, unless one thinks they should have been in more Final Fours.
Curious as to what all of UCONN's advantages are. Great coach for sure. Close to ESPN world HQ, so probably on TV a lot. Middle Connecticut is nice enough I suppose, but having cut through a bunch of times I'm not sure it is close enough to NYC or Boston to want to go to school there. Didn't they create all their advantages from scratch?
Don't forget that La Tech, ODU, and maybe some others were once powers, so it can all go away. Might as well enjoy being bummed about an R2 exit while you can. Thinking back to my ultimate frustration with Montgomery's constant early flameouts to lower seeds, time sure took care of that frustration....