[BillBradley]

The coaches tried everything they had to stop Loyal McQueen. Both Ijiwoye and Clardy fouled out trying to guard her. McQueen drew 9 Stanford fouls, shot 12-14 from the line and added 6 assists to her 26 points. She was the difference in the game.

Conversely, Stanford's guards Ijiwoye, Clardy, Harriel and Heal contributed little offensively. 11 points among the 4 of them on 4-16 shooting with 3 assists and 5 turnovers. The ACC is a guard-heavy league. Many opponents have someone as good or better than McQueen. The guard play needs to improve quickly. The return of Talana Lepolo would help, but that does not appear to be happening.

You believe that the return of Lepolo would help? IMO, she's not fast or athletic enough to effectively defend against a speedy and athletic guard, and she doesn't score much on O. Hopefully there's a better answer somewhere on the roster, even if that individual requires an intense crash course on defending quick guards.

The crash course on defending quick guards has not shown positive results yet. Coach Paye has tried every combination of Harriel, Ijiwoye, Clardy and Heal. Stanford had no answer for Cal's guards or LSU's guards or SMU's guards. And 5 of the next 8 games are against ranked teams plus Florida State which is just outside the top 25. Dire straits indeed.

I don't know that things would be appreciably better with Lepolo. But I sure would like to have another experienced guard on the court. Lepolo has been strong enough to fight through screens. No one on the current roster seems to do that very well. Stanford seemed to switch on screens effectively sometimes yesterday but really broke down late in the game. I do agree that Lepolo would not add much to the offense.

It's all moot speculation on my part because there are no signs that she will be returning this season.

. 
Agree w/Spiny. Lepolo doesn't immediately turn us into a contender, but she's an upgrade over the others IMO. That's because she doesn't make the mistakes the others make. I can't believe some of the terrible decision making by these guards sometimes.  Some really bad shot selection and headscratching passes/turnovers. Clardy's end of game shot decisions were terrible IMO. Nunu and/or Demetre need to touch the ball most every possession. I'm not a big Lepolo fan and have often posted about her limitations, but she does get the ball to the right people in the right spots, and you can usually count on a good to great A:TO ratio. I think we win both the SMU and Clemson games with a healthy Lepolo in the lineup.

I've always thought Harriel and Clardy had high ceilings. Sometimes they look great, but sadly they just aren't reliable. I don't know what's happened to Harriel. Shay is more of a specialist to me. An energy/spark type player but pretty limited otherwise. Better defensively than offensively, but even then you can't really put her on great guards. 

To illustrate just how far we've sunk in the backcourt...compared to "average Stanford guards" (not talking Kiana, Haley, Hulls here...) from recent teams...who would you rather have: any of the current guards or either 1) Anna Wilson 2) Jana Van Gytenbeek 3) Indya Nivar?  None of those 3 were all league type players at Stanford. It's not even close.

Last note...I was not impressed with Clemson. Even with our limitations we should have won that game.

[BillBradley]

The coaches tried everything they had to stop Loyal McQueen. Both Ijiwoye and Clardy fouled out trying to guard her. McQueen drew 9 Stanford fouls, shot 12-14 from the line and added 6 assists to her 26 points. She was the difference in the game.

Conversely, Stanford's guards Ijiwoye, Clardy, Harriel and Heal contributed little offensively. 11 points among the 4 of them on 4-16 shooting with 3 assists and 5 turnovers. The ACC is a guard-heavy league. Many opponents have someone as good or better than McQueen. The guard play needs to improve quickly. The return of Talana Lepolo would help, but that does not appear to be happening.

You believe that the return of Lepolo would help? IMO, she's not fast or athletic enough to effectively defend against a speedy and athletic guard, and she doesn't score much on O. Hopefully there's a better answer somewhere on the roster, even if that individual requires an intense crash course on defending quick guards.

The crash course on defending quick guards has not shown positive results yet. Coach Paye has tried every combination of Harriel, Ijiwoye, Clardy and Heal. Stanford had no answer for Cal's guards or LSU's guards or SMU's guards. And 5 of the next 8 games are against ranked teams plus Florida State which is just outside the top 25. Dire straits indeed.

I don't know that things would be appreciably better with Lepolo. But I sure would like to have another experienced guard on the court. Lepolo has been strong enough to fight through screens. No one on the current roster seems to do that very well. Stanford seemed to switch on screens effectively sometimes yesterday but really broke down late in the game. I do agree that Lepolo would not add much to the offense.

It's all moot speculation on my part because there are no signs that she will be returning this season.

. 
Agree w/Spiny. Lepolo doesn't immediately turn us into a contender, but she's an upgrade over the others IMO. That's because she doesn't make the mistakes the others make. I can't believe some of the terrible decision making by these guards sometimes.  Some really bad shot selection and headscratching passes/turnovers. Clardy's end of game shot decisions were terrible IMO. Nunu and/or Demetre need to touch the ball most every possession. I'm not a big Lepolo fan and have often posted about her limitations, but she does get the ball to the right people in the right spots, and you can usually count on a good to great A:TO ratio. I think we win both the SMU and Clemson games with a healthy Lepolo in the lineup.

I've always thought Harriel and Clardy had high ceilings. Sometimes they look great, but sadly they just aren't reliable. I don't know what's happened to Harriel. Shay is more of a specialist to me. An energy/spark type player but pretty limited otherwise. Better defensively than offensively, but even then you can't really put her on great guards. 

To illustrate just how far we've sunk in the backcourt...compared to "average Stanford guards" (not talking Kiana, Haley, Hulls here...) from recent teams...who would you rather have: any of the current guards or either 1) Anna Wilson 2) Jana Van Gytenbeek 3) Indya Nivar?  None of those 3 were all league type players at Stanford. It's not even close.

Last note...I was not impressed with Clemson. Even with our limitations we should have won that game.