[PalmTree]

I apologize for repeating some things others have said, but it's clear that Coach Paye's offense takes away Stanford's size, minimizes their superior talent and forces players to take more 3-pointers than they should.  The 2/18 3-point attempts on Friday was less the fault of the players, but rather the difficult situations they were put in. Some of Stanford's offensive challenges could have been alleviated a bit if players were being coached to set strong screens like WSU did, but the screens are weak and don't open up driving lanes like they should.

Stevenson plays her heart out every game.  She's a vocal leader on the court and makes few mistakes.  But Stevenson's presence and total lack of production last season was a big factor in why Stanford fared so poorly in ACC play.  Yes, Eschmeyer committed 3 turnovers, but in her limited 5 minutes in the first half, she made two power moves to the basket, once being fouled, yet finishing- something Stevenson is not capable of doing.  I am sure that Eschmeyer did not play at all in the 2nd. half because Kate worried that Alex would make more mistakes, and yet Swain committed 4 turnovers and she played 28:57 minutes.

Watching this unfold almost looked like a version of a Lauren Betts 2.0 and I am afraid that Kate might be repeating the mistake Tara made with Betts.  Kate has moved Eschmeyer to 3rd. string post and keeps Alex on a tight leash.  I hate to make this prediction, but unless things begin to change (where Eschmeyer not only gets more playing time (playing through mistakes, but Kate instructing her players to pass the ball inside to her), we may see a second talented post player go the way of the portal this Spring.  This would be especially troubling because at this point in her career, Alex Eschmeyer is more offensively developed than Lauren Betts ever was as a freshman.  I also predict that if that came to be, we would see Eschmeyer flourishing with another team and becoming a star, just like Betts has done with UCLA.

There is still time to prevent this from happening, but I don't know if Kate or her staff would consider adjusting the offense, establish a post presence and play inside/out.  I believe (doing that), would unleash Somfai and Nunu and Stanford would become formidable.

Yup - I'd like more, varied high-low sets as well.  IIRC, we ran variations pretty effectively while KP was playing too, with Whting, Kaplan, Starbird, Hemmer, Mulitauopele, et al available in the frontcourt/wings back then. I think our current roster talent has the potential to make it work.

[PalmTree]

I apologize for repeating some things others have said, but it's clear that Coach Paye's offense takes away Stanford's size, minimizes their superior talent and forces players to take more 3-pointers than they should.  The 2/18 3-point attempts on Friday was less the fault of the players, but rather the difficult situations they were put in. Some of Stanford's offensive challenges could have been alleviated a bit if players were being coached to set strong screens like WSU did, but the screens are weak and don't open up driving lanes like they should.

Stevenson plays her heart out every game.  She's a vocal leader on the court and makes few mistakes.  But Stevenson's presence and total lack of production last season was a big factor in why Stanford fared so poorly in ACC play.  Yes, Eschmeyer committed 3 turnovers, but in her limited 5 minutes in the first half, she made two power moves to the basket, once being fouled, yet finishing- something Stevenson is not capable of doing.  I am sure that Eschmeyer did not play at all in the 2nd. half because Kate worried that Alex would make more mistakes, and yet Swain committed 4 turnovers and she played 28:57 minutes.

Watching this unfold almost looked like a version of a Lauren Betts 2.0 and I am afraid that Kate might be repeating the mistake Tara made with Betts.  Kate has moved Eschmeyer to 3rd. string post and keeps Alex on a tight leash.  I hate to make this prediction, but unless things begin to change (where Eschmeyer not only gets more playing time (playing through mistakes, but Kate instructing her players to pass the ball inside to her), we may see a second talented post player go the way of the portal this Spring.  This would be especially troubling because at this point in her career, Alex Eschmeyer is more offensively developed than Lauren Betts ever was as a freshman.  I also predict that if that came to be, we would see Eschmeyer flourishing with another team and becoming a star, just like Betts has done with UCLA.

There is still time to prevent this from happening, but I don't know if Kate or her staff would consider adjusting the offense, establish a post presence and play inside/out.  I believe (doing that), would unleash Somfai and Nunu and Stanford would become formidable.

Yup - I'd like more, varied high-low sets as well.  IIRC, we ran variations pretty effectively while KP was playing too, with Whting, Kaplan, Starbird, Hemmer, Mulitauopele, et al available in the frontcourt/wings back then. I think our current roster talent has the potential to make it work.