02-18-2013, 04:23 PM
On the quote of me: comical/humorous - I agree. Both the identity and the apparent player sarcasm were granted as fairly transparent for this audience.
The irony that kept me smiling was that despite the humor there was/is a truth at its heart. Too many players were sitting back and letting Chiney try to do it all, and that doesn't work against the toughest teams (before that, there was all Jayne and all Nneka .. all the time). I left my statement somewhat generic as an example that applies to many players. So it was not about one statement, but several and many observations of play needing improvement.
But there has been progress;Â almost gone are the 6-inch bounce passes to Chiney that would be better taken by the player as their own shot.
To be clear, part of the progress is getting out of older habits imposed on the players -- the coaches are now encouraging and pushing that in a much bigger way this year. There is more freedom to play their games.
Pederson - as another example, had the talent to score 30 many times over; and yet, I don't recall that she ever did at Stanford. Doing just enough to win against weaker teams doesn't prepare you individually or as a team to compete well against the tougher teams near season's end. [yes, a wonderful player that contributed in many other ways; but along the dimension of aggressive decisive scoring -- there was (and maybe still is) opportunity for significant growth.]
On Refs: hard to understand the rule application. Tess gets a flagrant, but kal in a more serious contact play only get a technical (after monitor review), and the elbowed player is called for the foul.
On Gray: yes, sad. some expect to find her back during NCAA tourney time.
The irony that kept me smiling was that despite the humor there was/is a truth at its heart. Too many players were sitting back and letting Chiney try to do it all, and that doesn't work against the toughest teams (before that, there was all Jayne and all Nneka .. all the time). I left my statement somewhat generic as an example that applies to many players. So it was not about one statement, but several and many observations of play needing improvement.
But there has been progress;Â almost gone are the 6-inch bounce passes to Chiney that would be better taken by the player as their own shot.
To be clear, part of the progress is getting out of older habits imposed on the players -- the coaches are now encouraging and pushing that in a much bigger way this year. There is more freedom to play their games.
Pederson - as another example, had the talent to score 30 many times over; and yet, I don't recall that she ever did at Stanford. Doing just enough to win against weaker teams doesn't prepare you individually or as a team to compete well against the tougher teams near season's end. [yes, a wonderful player that contributed in many other ways; but along the dimension of aggressive decisive scoring -- there was (and maybe still is) opportunity for significant growth.]
On Refs: hard to understand the rule application. Tess gets a flagrant, but kal in a more serious contact play only get a technical (after monitor review), and the elbowed player is called for the foul.
On Gray: yes, sad. some expect to find her back during NCAA tourney time.