Today, 11:32 AM
Allow me to throw in my 2 cents.
As poorly as Stanford played in their exhibition win over Pacific, this was far worse. UC Santa Barbara controlled this game from the very beginning, creating mismatches on offense that led to multiple drives and layups. Yes, UCSB was quicker on both sides of the court. They created 20 Stanford turnovers to just 11 themselves. UCSB had 12 steals to Stanford's zero. Even with the antiquated offense, I saw confusion among Stanford's perimeter players who kept yelling instructions to others, all of which made Santa Barbara's defense even more effective.
I continue to be disappointed with Alex. She missed countless bunnies under the basket and should have scored 20. I have not seen Alex develop much since last season. With all her length and talent, she should be dominating. She is 'soft' putting up easy shots, and not making them. Having said that, I am perplexed at how Paye is using her. Early in the 2nd. half, Eschmeyer posted low and found herself relatively open. On three consecutive possessions, one pass from a teammate went way over her head; the next pass was too low and got intercepted; the third was too wide to the left; clearly 3 mistakes by her teammates, and yet Paye benched Alex and kept her out for a long time. On two occasions, I watched Paye lecturing Alex about something. For a coach who said (during ACC media day) that she was going to give her players more freedom, she is keeping Eschmeyer on a short leash while other players are making mistakes, but allowed to stay in the game. I have no idea what's going on.
If last night's fiasco was designed to be a 'teaching experience' for KP's players (and winning was not important, because it was an exhibition), I'll give Paye a pass on her strange substitutions at critical times during the game when Stanford got to within 4 points of UCSB. But if the goal was to win the game, KP was totally outcoached by Renee Jimenez.
As poorly as Stanford played in their exhibition win over Pacific, this was far worse. UC Santa Barbara controlled this game from the very beginning, creating mismatches on offense that led to multiple drives and layups. Yes, UCSB was quicker on both sides of the court. They created 20 Stanford turnovers to just 11 themselves. UCSB had 12 steals to Stanford's zero. Even with the antiquated offense, I saw confusion among Stanford's perimeter players who kept yelling instructions to others, all of which made Santa Barbara's defense even more effective.
I continue to be disappointed with Alex. She missed countless bunnies under the basket and should have scored 20. I have not seen Alex develop much since last season. With all her length and talent, she should be dominating. She is 'soft' putting up easy shots, and not making them. Having said that, I am perplexed at how Paye is using her. Early in the 2nd. half, Eschmeyer posted low and found herself relatively open. On three consecutive possessions, one pass from a teammate went way over her head; the next pass was too low and got intercepted; the third was too wide to the left; clearly 3 mistakes by her teammates, and yet Paye benched Alex and kept her out for a long time. On two occasions, I watched Paye lecturing Alex about something. For a coach who said (during ACC media day) that she was going to give her players more freedom, she is keeping Eschmeyer on a short leash while other players are making mistakes, but allowed to stay in the game. I have no idea what's going on.
If last night's fiasco was designed to be a 'teaching experience' for KP's players (and winning was not important, because it was an exhibition), I'll give Paye a pass on her strange substitutions at critical times during the game when Stanford got to within 4 points of UCSB. But if the goal was to win the game, KP was totally outcoached by Renee Jimenez.