[81alum]

Now, let's see about the parameters with taking a less experienced, smaller team against Indiana tomorrow.  I would love to see a bit of Tara's genius on display.  I would have to give odds that we will lose, but a win would go a long ways to restoring a little magic and belief around here.

Well, Tara showed she has that magic after all.  She took a team that was devastated from three unexpected transfers and an uncharacteristic early round loss, and has built a new team with excellent chemistry and fully integrated three outstanding freshmen.  It worked well enough to dominate an elite team with more height and more experience and a higher ranking.  Sustaining this and improving on it will be the next challenge.  Teams with freshmen tend to be inconsistent, but we can put the whole theory to the test in a week when we play Duke. 

All in all, you cannot ask for more than this for the first truly competitive game of the season. 

Having been at the game, I will watch it in ESPN replay and offer some thoughts.  But I can summarize the chalk talk.

Katy Steding was more ebullient than usual.  I was hoping for Tempie but Katy was clearly in a better mood than those she hosted last year.  Maybe her mood reflects the changed team chemistry? 

She commented on that team chemistry.  Said they had put a lot of work into building team community, and the players seem to be genuinely happy for each other's successes.  Someone even asked if the team was better off without Betts, and of course Steding did not answer that.  But it is clear that this year's team--so far--is much tighter with each other than last year's team (my interpretation of her various remarks.)  For example, on many teams around the country, says Steding, freshmen who win a lot of playing time are resented by more experienced players.  Not so with this year's team.  I do have to say that I watched the bench a lot today, and "benergy" is back.  The players were cheering each other and seemed truly excited at each other's successes.

With regard to the three freshmen.  Agara is apparently a very warm, funny person off the court, but a "beast" on the court.  Steding said what I've been saying (now I feel smart!) that she has a superb ability to take it through traffic and get and-ones.  She has excellent hang-time, and we actually saw her do that in this game.  Steding compared her to Fran Belibi but an inch taller, and like Fran, Agara can dunk.

Ogden is a superb shooter--though she was uncharacteristically "off" tonight.  But Steding said she was an "outside-in" guard meaning she could shoot from outside but put it on the floor and drive.  Steding said she was impressed with her defense--it needs to come up to the college pace, but Steding really praised her defense.

Clardy will be a terrific point guard at some point in the future.  She shoots well and on defense she deflects.  I think Steding said she was a lefty?  Or was that Agara?  Someone who was there help me....

Steding talked about the Indiana offense going through Holmes and passing back out to open shooters.  We saw that today, and Indiana did get a sprinkling of open three point attempts.  Holmes was defensive player-of-the-year in the Big 10 last year, but her defense did not seem able to stop Iriafen or Brink. 

A question was asked about Iriafen's progression.  Steding said the new coaches Erica McCall and Tempie (returning) had worked with her especially on her footwork, so she could avoid travels.  Tonight she showed off that improvement, although she traveled once which probably should have been a jump ball instead.  In any case, whether Iriafen's own efforts or the better coaching or both--I think she is becoming a true star.

Steding also noted that Stanford was not able to use the portal very much.  I can't remember her specific words, but she made it clear that we rarely are going to be able to bring people in from the portal as other teams do.  This means that developing freshmen remains the key to our continued success--my note.  It looks pretty good this year with three capable freshmen who are already contributing.

That is what I can remember about the chalk talk...others might remember points I missed.  More on the game later once I re-watch it.

[81alum]

Now, let's see about the parameters with taking a less experienced, smaller team against Indiana tomorrow.  I would love to see a bit of Tara's genius on display.  I would have to give odds that we will lose, but a win would go a long ways to restoring a little magic and belief around here.

Well, Tara showed she has that magic after all.  She took a team that was devastated from three unexpected transfers and an uncharacteristic early round loss, and has built a new team with excellent chemistry and fully integrated three outstanding freshmen.  It worked well enough to dominate an elite team with more height and more experience and a higher ranking.  Sustaining this and improving on it will be the next challenge.  Teams with freshmen tend to be inconsistent, but we can put the whole theory to the test in a week when we play Duke. 

All in all, you cannot ask for more than this for the first truly competitive game of the season. 

Having been at the game, I will watch it in ESPN replay and offer some thoughts.  But I can summarize the chalk talk.

Katy Steding was more ebullient than usual.  I was hoping for Tempie but Katy was clearly in a better mood than those she hosted last year.  Maybe her mood reflects the changed team chemistry? 

She commented on that team chemistry.  Said they had put a lot of work into building team community, and the players seem to be genuinely happy for each other's successes.  Someone even asked if the team was better off without Betts, and of course Steding did not answer that.  But it is clear that this year's team--so far--is much tighter with each other than last year's team (my interpretation of her various remarks.)  For example, on many teams around the country, says Steding, freshmen who win a lot of playing time are resented by more experienced players.  Not so with this year's team.  I do have to say that I watched the bench a lot today, and "benergy" is back.  The players were cheering each other and seemed truly excited at each other's successes.

With regard to the three freshmen.  Agara is apparently a very warm, funny person off the court, but a "beast" on the court.  Steding said what I've been saying (now I feel smart!) that she has a superb ability to take it through traffic and get and-ones.  She has excellent hang-time, and we actually saw her do that in this game.  Steding compared her to Fran Belibi but an inch taller, and like Fran, Agara can dunk.

Ogden is a superb shooter--though she was uncharacteristically "off" tonight.  But Steding said she was an "outside-in" guard meaning she could shoot from outside but put it on the floor and drive.  Steding said she was impressed with her defense--it needs to come up to the college pace, but Steding really praised her defense.

Clardy will be a terrific point guard at some point in the future.  She shoots well and on defense she deflects.  I think Steding said she was a lefty?  Or was that Agara?  Someone who was there help me....

Steding talked about the Indiana offense going through Holmes and passing back out to open shooters.  We saw that today, and Indiana did get a sprinkling of open three point attempts.  Holmes was defensive player-of-the-year in the Big 10 last year, but her defense did not seem able to stop Iriafen or Brink. 

A question was asked about Iriafen's progression.  Steding said the new coaches Erica McCall and Tempie (returning) had worked with her especially on her footwork, so she could avoid travels.  Tonight she showed off that improvement, although she traveled once which probably should have been a jump ball instead.  In any case, whether Iriafen's own efforts or the better coaching or both--I think she is becoming a true star.

Steding also noted that Stanford was not able to use the portal very much.  I can't remember her specific words, but she made it clear that we rarely are going to be able to bring people in from the portal as other teams do.  This means that developing freshmen remains the key to our continued success--my note.  It looks pretty good this year with three capable freshmen who are already contributing.

That is what I can remember about the chalk talk...others might remember points I missed.  More on the game later once I re-watch it.