[Mudhead]

Part of the fun of such a new/young team is guessing who the starter/major contributors are going to be.  I’m going with 5 brand new starters next year.

PG - Heal - she is such a threat to drive that you need the ball in her hands to initiate the offense.   Lots of pick and roll action that she can drive, pass to a big or to an open shooter on the wing

SG - Harriel - three point shooter

SF - Ogden - hopefully fully healed so we can see her true potential as a scorer

PF - Demetre - three point shooter and mid range jump shooter.  Probably will get the mid range screens that Jump got last year

C - Stevenson - seems like she is physical and skilled driving to the rim/finishing and should have space to operate with Demetre at the three point line and Heal driving and dishing

BosCard
I like your lineup.  Having a point guard who can break down her defender and be effective driving to the basket creates a lot of additional pressure on the defense.  I am assuming that she has the vision to see people open up as she gets by her defender.

Of course having 2 big bigs holes that will not be able to be refilled exactly is a concern.
However, having a point guard who is a serious threat to drive and score or pull up and score, and will demand defenses come out to guard her, will be an improvement.

 Methinks we are burying Lepolo way too quickly. Before she hurt her knee, point guard was not a weakness for Stanford. She shot the three well enough to keep defenses honest, brought the ball up court well and quickly and distributed it well. Excellent defense unless she go matched against 6’ guards where her height was an issue.  As has been thoroughly examined, she did not take the ball to the goal well.

It’s rare you have a point guard who can do everything well. Very rare . You can ge someone who is so overpowering at a part of her game , ie Juju Watkins, that you don’t care about the weaknessses. But there aren’t many of those .

I will not be surprised to see Talana start and play a majority of PG time. Heal at off guard and point guard and Clardy some at point guard and used for aggressive defense. Of course anyone of these plus Harriel could develop enough in the off season to throw everything up in the air. 

I think Lepolo is a keeper.

I hope you are right.
I hope Lepolo proves me wrong.
And yes she had some amazing 3 point shooting games.
But how many of those were there, a couple, a few?
Seemed way more often than not she shot some clankers and then held off putting up much of any more.
And defenses often seemed to sag off of her to clog the paint for our bigs and / or double team anyone with the ball closer in.
Cause they just didn't respect her shot.
Also yes she had drives but more often than not just circled under the basket and brought it back out again.
On defense she was attempting to be tenacious but her knee probably slowed her down a step, and she was towered over by some of the top guards we played.
My points are not to run her down.
But rather to think that we may have better player(s) to carry the PG spot as starters.
I'm enthusiastic about some of our other players picking up more PG duty.
But again, I am speculating and well could be wrong and of course time will tell.

Good points all. If I wasn’t clear, I understand and agree with wanting a tall, strong guard who can get to the hole and create her own shot. If we get that, then Talana will see less time. So I’m not suggesting that she is a slam dunk to be the point guard.  

It’s also hard to tell if Kate will have Tara’s penchant to favor an experienced PG who can run the offense predictably over a better athlete who brings scoring ability and flash to the offense. It wouldn’t surprise me if steadiness and experience in a PG will be highly important in this year of a new leader and a new team. But I don’t know that.

In a similar vein, it will be interesting to watch how all parts of the lineup settle out. Elena Bosgana is another piece of the puzzle I wouldn’t rule out. She may be near her ceiling as a player but if she improves as much year to year as she did last year, it will be hard to keep her out of the lineup.

“May we live in interesting times.” We certainly will next year whether that be a curse or a blessing.

[Mudhead]

Part of the fun of such a new/young team is guessing who the starter/major contributors are going to be.  I’m going with 5 brand new starters next year.

PG - Heal - she is such a threat to drive that you need the ball in her hands to initiate the offense.   Lots of pick and roll action that she can drive, pass to a big or to an open shooter on the wing

SG - Harriel - three point shooter

SF - Ogden - hopefully fully healed so we can see her true potential as a scorer

PF - Demetre - three point shooter and mid range jump shooter.  Probably will get the mid range screens that Jump got last year

C - Stevenson - seems like she is physical and skilled driving to the rim/finishing and should have space to operate with Demetre at the three point line and Heal driving and dishing

BosCard
I like your lineup.  Having a point guard who can break down her defender and be effective driving to the basket creates a lot of additional pressure on the defense.  I am assuming that she has the vision to see people open up as she gets by her defender.

Of course having 2 big bigs holes that will not be able to be refilled exactly is a concern.
However, having a point guard who is a serious threat to drive and score or pull up and score, and will demand defenses come out to guard her, will be an improvement.

 Methinks we are burying Lepolo way too quickly. Before she hurt her knee, point guard was not a weakness for Stanford. She shot the three well enough to keep defenses honest, brought the ball up court well and quickly and distributed it well. Excellent defense unless she go matched against 6’ guards where her height was an issue.  As has been thoroughly examined, she did not take the ball to the goal well.

It’s rare you have a point guard who can do everything well. Very rare . You can ge someone who is so overpowering at a part of her game , ie Juju Watkins, that you don’t care about the weaknessses. But there aren’t many of those .

I will not be surprised to see Talana start and play a majority of PG time. Heal at off guard and point guard and Clardy some at point guard and used for aggressive defense. Of course anyone of these plus Harriel could develop enough in the off season to throw everything up in the air. 

I think Lepolo is a keeper.

I hope you are right.
I hope Lepolo proves me wrong.
And yes she had some amazing 3 point shooting games.
But how many of those were there, a couple, a few?
Seemed way more often than not she shot some clankers and then held off putting up much of any more.
And defenses often seemed to sag off of her to clog the paint for our bigs and / or double team anyone with the ball closer in.
Cause they just didn't respect her shot.
Also yes she had drives but more often than not just circled under the basket and brought it back out again.
On defense she was attempting to be tenacious but her knee probably slowed her down a step, and she was towered over by some of the top guards we played.
My points are not to run her down.
But rather to think that we may have better player(s) to carry the PG spot as starters.
I'm enthusiastic about some of our other players picking up more PG duty.
But again, I am speculating and well could be wrong and of course time will tell.

Good points all. If I wasn’t clear, I understand and agree with wanting a tall, strong guard who can get to the hole and create her own shot. If we get that, then Talana will see less time. So I’m not suggesting that she is a slam dunk to be the point guard.  

It’s also hard to tell if Kate will have Tara’s penchant to favor an experienced PG who can run the offense predictably over a better athlete who brings scoring ability and flash to the offense. It wouldn’t surprise me if steadiness and experience in a PG will be highly important in this year of a new leader and a new team. But I don’t know that.

In a similar vein, it will be interesting to watch how all parts of the lineup settle out. Elena Bosgana is another piece of the puzzle I wouldn’t rule out. She may be near her ceiling as a player but if she improves as much year to year as she did last year, it will be hard to keep her out of the lineup.

“May we live in interesting times.” We certainly will next year whether that be a curse or a blessing.