[WBB fan]

Lepolo's health is questionable??? I had not heard anything yet about this. Is she still experiencing knee irritation?

Kate and Tara before her have favored experienced players over rookies in terms of starting roles and minutes played. I think there is a trust factor with juniors and seniors, especially on the defensive end. It can take quite a while for frosh to adjust to defending and communicating with teammates off ball screens and playing one-on-one defense against players with elite skills. Frosh regularly get exposed on the defensive end.

The problem for Kate is that she does not have enough juniors and seniors to rely on, particularly if Lepolo is out. I can see a starting 5 of Agara, Stevenson, Ogden, Ijiwoye and Clardy. But after that, Stanford has 5 frosh, 2 sophomores (Umeh and Peterson) who barely played last year, and several end of bench players (Papadakis and Green). Kate is going to be forced to rely on young, unproven (but, we believe, gifted) players. I think she and the other coaches have to change their coaching style to adapt to the roster she has, not the one that she might be comfortable with. 

I remain an optimistic fan of Stanford WBB. But my head foresees another middle of the conference, near .500 finish.

You will indeed see another 'middle of the conference' record because the starting lineup you suggested was largely responsible for last season's performance.  Having said that, you may be right; that Kate prefers experience, but that experience (with the exception of Nunu and Chloe), will not move the team in the right direction and fans will be in for another long season.  Kate's goal: "We want to compete for national championships" doesn't happen without the super-talented freshmen.

tara would typically start the older players, then sub in the talented freshman - often fairly quickly. candice wiggins is one of the few freshmen i remember starting from day 1. jamila wideman started at point her freshman year, but i don't recall if she started the first game.

Pretty sure that Wideman started right from the beginning. Other frosh who started immediately or very early in frosh season -- In recent times, Lili Thompson, Talana Lepolo. In the more distant past, Rachel Hemmer, Ros Gold-Onwude, Nicole Powell, Kayla Pederson (Tara so of her, she never was a freshman), Haley Jones after she got healthy. Nneka didn't start until late in her Freshman year, but Chiney was starting before the conference season began. I think Kate Starbird also was starting from the beginning.

[WBB fan]

Lepolo's health is questionable??? I had not heard anything yet about this. Is she still experiencing knee irritation?

Kate and Tara before her have favored experienced players over rookies in terms of starting roles and minutes played. I think there is a trust factor with juniors and seniors, especially on the defensive end. It can take quite a while for frosh to adjust to defending and communicating with teammates off ball screens and playing one-on-one defense against players with elite skills. Frosh regularly get exposed on the defensive end.

The problem for Kate is that she does not have enough juniors and seniors to rely on, particularly if Lepolo is out. I can see a starting 5 of Agara, Stevenson, Ogden, Ijiwoye and Clardy. But after that, Stanford has 5 frosh, 2 sophomores (Umeh and Peterson) who barely played last year, and several end of bench players (Papadakis and Green). Kate is going to be forced to rely on young, unproven (but, we believe, gifted) players. I think she and the other coaches have to change their coaching style to adapt to the roster she has, not the one that she might be comfortable with. 

I remain an optimistic fan of Stanford WBB. But my head foresees another middle of the conference, near .500 finish.

You will indeed see another 'middle of the conference' record because the starting lineup you suggested was largely responsible for last season's performance.  Having said that, you may be right; that Kate prefers experience, but that experience (with the exception of Nunu and Chloe), will not move the team in the right direction and fans will be in for another long season.  Kate's goal: "We want to compete for national championships" doesn't happen without the super-talented freshmen.

tara would typically start the older players, then sub in the talented freshman - often fairly quickly. candice wiggins is one of the few freshmen i remember starting from day 1. jamila wideman started at point her freshman year, but i don't recall if she started the first game.

Pretty sure that Wideman started right from the beginning. Other frosh who started immediately or very early in frosh season -- In recent times, Lili Thompson, Talana Lepolo. In the more distant past, Rachel Hemmer, Ros Gold-Onwude, Nicole Powell, Kayla Pederson (Tara so of her, she never was a freshman), Haley Jones after she got healthy. Nneka didn't start until late in her Freshman year, but Chiney was starting before the conference season began. I think Kate Starbird also was starting from the beginning.