01-14-2024, 05:49 PM
(01-14-2024, 03:06 PM)BillBradley Wrote: Well shoot. Nothing went our way today, but that's what a good team will do to you, especially on their court. Thoughts:
1) I thought it was a great environment and kudos to the Buffs. I don't think they played any sort of "dirty basketball" as some have posted re: past games with them. The won it fair and square, and really owned our guards. Give the game ball to Kendyll Wetta and Maddie Nolan. They did everything - defended like mad, steals, boards..Between the two of them - 24 points on 8-12 (4-6 from 3), 11 boards (as guards), 11 assists, 5 steals, sheesh. Throw in Sherrod's 13 points, 4 steals, 4 assists...dominant guard play from Colorado.
2) My least favorite layer in the P12 is now Char Whittaker. My goodness what a flop artist. She even tried to flop when Cam patted her on the back during a dead ball. Again, can any of you refs, please, any one of you, just call a flop warning? It would change everything.
3) Not really fair to diss on Cam after 12 pts, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks (could have sworn I saw 7+, never have understood the block stats sometimes), but it comes with the territory of being a superstar. She wasn't her typical energetic self and didn't have her head in the game given such 3 silly swipe fouls. It was a 4 point game when she hammered Formann. To me, it looked like she succumbed to the pressure of the game. Haven't seen that before from Cam and it really sent the wrong message to the team. That's when the game got away from us. It went to 49-37 in the next minute and a half.
4) Looked to me like the altitude + fatigue from the Utah game really took it's toll. We just looked tired and a step slow. Both Kiki and Cam missed a multiple easy layups and struggled to finish through contact.
5) So happy that Lepolo actually attacked the basket twice in the second half. She made the first shot. The second one was a little wild, but hey - at least she tried! Maybe she can find her confidence to do it more. She has the ability. Also wanted to mention that she had ZERO turnovers and played 39 minutes (after 40 at Utah). Warrior.
6) How about that Jaz? 24 minutes, 9 points, FIVE boards. And she battled. She has emerged as a real threat. At the moment, I have way more confidence with her on the floor than Bosgana. She obviously has to clean up the turnovers, but I'll tolerate a couple if she plays like that.
All in all a pretty valuable road trip. We got a win at Utah, learned a lot, and a bunch of other good stuff happened. Can't say I'm that surprised we lost at Colorado. Hope we meet in the P12 tourney. Maybe by then our guards will have matured enough to handle their pressure a bit better and we can exact some revenge.
Go Card!
Well damn. We got outplayed and I didn't think that the defense this year was dirty with the exception of Whittaker. (See below.) Agree that the game was lost at the guard position. Unfortunately, that is historically Stanford's weakness when faced with fast guards and swarming defenses. I do think that this group has the skill to grow and be much better against similar teams later in the year.
Cam being out of the game for as long as she was also hurt us because she wasn't able to be a major contributor and this team will only go as far as she takes us.
As for Whittaker, I completely agree. In addition to the thunder flops, I thought she should have been called for a flagrant 1 or 2 in the first half when she and Kiki fell in the paint. It looked to me like Whittaker fell after fairly rough but normal jostling. She then lifted her leg and purposely tripped Kiki as Kiki was trying to step over her. It was a classic Draymond kind of move and should have been treated the same. Whittaker had the audacity to act like she had been fouled. What a jerk.
Hopefully the team grows from this and handles other top ten matchups better. Looking forward to Tara breaking the record.
Cheers,
Pete F.