3 hours ago
Tonight was a painful watch and after watching the first two scrimmages, I'm as pessimistic as Card10Fan for slightly different reasons.
First, the players I saw are not very quick or athletic (with the exception of Shay and Nora). If our post players are getting driven around and beaten to the hoop by guards from the Big West, the faster and quicker ACC guards will give us a lot of problems. This is a much less talented team than Stanford has had in a long time.
Second, this group of players hasn't played together very much and it shows. Stanford has 5 returners (including only 1 starter), 3 transfers from different programs, and four freshmen. The new players are used to different systems and it will take time for them to gel together. This was very obvious tonight, especially in the first half.
Third, this group isn't playing quickly. Santa Barbara played much more quickly than we did on offense., while we looked laborious with the ball - and that goes straight to the coaching.
During the first half, the offense looked disjointed. The second half was better but when we got close at the end, We reverted to the very simple "throw it into the post" offense from last year and Santa Barbara was able to defend it.
I think Coach Paye needs to realize the type of players she has and find a freer offense for them instead of the structured offense she's been using.
First, the players I saw are not very quick or athletic (with the exception of Shay and Nora). If our post players are getting driven around and beaten to the hoop by guards from the Big West, the faster and quicker ACC guards will give us a lot of problems. This is a much less talented team than Stanford has had in a long time.
Second, this group of players hasn't played together very much and it shows. Stanford has 5 returners (including only 1 starter), 3 transfers from different programs, and four freshmen. The new players are used to different systems and it will take time for them to gel together. This was very obvious tonight, especially in the first half.
Third, this group isn't playing quickly. Santa Barbara played much more quickly than we did on offense., while we looked laborious with the ball - and that goes straight to the coaching.
During the first half, the offense looked disjointed. The second half was better but when we got close at the end, We reverted to the very simple "throw it into the post" offense from last year and Santa Barbara was able to defend it.
I think Coach Paye needs to realize the type of players she has and find a freer offense for them instead of the structured offense she's been using.