Preview:
First, let me get my rant about scheduling over with. This game is the ONLY home game in the month of December, in fact the only home game between November 29 and January 9. The only home game in more than 5 weeks! And what do we get? We get a game played at noon on a workday. A game that will have deplorable attendance and no atmosphere. I already noted the lack of fans, or band, or cheers, at the three home games which were crammed into Thanksgiving week. And we can expect the same or worse tomorrow.
And while this game was a scheduling disaster, it is a continuation of the weakest at-home schedule for Stanford WBB--perhaps since the Tara era began. Here are the Massey ratings of the teams on our pre-season home schedule: 352, 69, 72, 155, 317, 227, 223, 94. In comparison, our three losses on the road were to teams rated 24, 2, and 30. And I confess I am personally upset that my season ticket includes this game which is played in the middle of a final exam I am giving and does not include Ohio State, which would have been the marquee game had it been at Maples.
Now the reasons for this overall scheduling debacle are obvious and I explained them in another thread--it has to do with our travel schedule after switching to the ACC and trying to get teams to come to Maples without the benefit of a home-and-away series. But even so. Just ugh.
OK, with that off my chest, let me give you the reasons why we should take this game seriously.
UTSA (University of Texas San Antonio) is the largest university in San Antonio at 35000 students, and is roughly the equivalent of a San Diego State. Their WBB team is off to an excellent 7-1 start, climbing up to 94 in the Massey ratings. That makes them the toughest competition at home since Gonzaga. Last season they were 18-15, went to the WNIT and won one game there.
UTSA has 5 players who have started nearly every game, but 10 players who play double digit minutes, so it looks a little like a tag-team operation. Only one of those 10 players scores in double digits and that is their superstar 21 ppg scorer Jordan Jenkins. Jenkings is a 5th year player (6'0" forward) who you might remember since she played at USC for two years before transferring. She is very talented but has had an injury-riddled career, but she seems to have become healthy just in time for us. She is making 53% of her shots, mostly (but not exclusively) from inside the arc. My hope is that Agara should be a good match for her--they look like they have a similar size and build.
UTSA also has one starter who is shooting 46% from three point range--although not that prolifically: she is 10/22. That player, Nina De Leon Negron, is the team's second leading scorer at 9.7 ppg. She is a 5'6" grad student who is on her third university. The rest of their starters are 5'8", 5'11", and 6'1". They do not seem like an especially short team, but while they have two 6'4" players on the roster, the players they actually put on the floor should match up with us.
It is hard for me to know much about their style of play. But at 7-1 they are doing some things well, obviously, and we are their marquee game. They will come into a deadened Maples environment with a lot of motivation and nothing to lose, and encouraged that Stanford does not seem as indomitable as when they put us on their schedule. We will get their best, whatever it may be.
First, let me get my rant about scheduling over with. This game is the ONLY home game in the month of December, in fact the only home game between November 29 and January 9. The only home game in more than 5 weeks! And what do we get? We get a game played at noon on a workday. A game that will have deplorable attendance and no atmosphere. I already noted the lack of fans, or band, or cheers, at the three home games which were crammed into Thanksgiving week. And we can expect the same or worse tomorrow.
And while this game was a scheduling disaster, it is a continuation of the weakest at-home schedule for Stanford WBB--perhaps since the Tara era began. Here are the Massey ratings of the teams on our pre-season home schedule: 352, 69, 72, 155, 317, 227, 223, 94. In comparison, our three losses on the road were to teams rated 24, 2, and 30. And I confess I am personally upset that my season ticket includes this game which is played in the middle of a final exam I am giving and does not include Ohio State, which would have been the marquee game had it been at Maples.
Now the reasons for this overall scheduling debacle are obvious and I explained them in another thread--it has to do with our travel schedule after switching to the ACC and trying to get teams to come to Maples without the benefit of a home-and-away series. But even so. Just ugh.
OK, with that off my chest, let me give you the reasons why we should take this game seriously.
UTSA (University of Texas San Antonio) is the largest university in San Antonio at 35000 students, and is roughly the equivalent of a San Diego State. Their WBB team is off to an excellent 7-1 start, climbing up to 94 in the Massey ratings. That makes them the toughest competition at home since Gonzaga. Last season they were 18-15, went to the WNIT and won one game there.
UTSA has 5 players who have started nearly every game, but 10 players who play double digit minutes, so it looks a little like a tag-team operation. Only one of those 10 players scores in double digits and that is their superstar 21 ppg scorer Jordan Jenkins. Jenkings is a 5th year player (6'0" forward) who you might remember since she played at USC for two years before transferring. She is very talented but has had an injury-riddled career, but she seems to have become healthy just in time for us. She is making 53% of her shots, mostly (but not exclusively) from inside the arc. My hope is that Agara should be a good match for her--they look like they have a similar size and build.
UTSA also has one starter who is shooting 46% from three point range--although not that prolifically: she is 10/22. That player, Nina De Leon Negron, is the team's second leading scorer at 9.7 ppg. She is a 5'6" grad student who is on her third university. The rest of their starters are 5'8", 5'11", and 6'1". They do not seem like an especially short team, but while they have two 6'4" players on the roster, the players they actually put on the floor should match up with us.
It is hard for me to know much about their style of play. But at 7-1 they are doing some things well, obviously, and we are their marquee game. They will come into a deadened Maples environment with a lot of motivation and nothing to lose, and encouraged that Stanford does not seem as indomitable as when they put us on their schedule. We will get their best, whatever it may be.