WBB: Stanford 97 Tennessee 80

[Roberton3]

One thing I found very encouraging was that against the press, the team didn't always settle for just getting the ball across halfcourt and then running the regular offense (as they often have in the past).  Several times last night, they broke the press and immediately passed the ball in to an open player (often Nneka) down low for an easy basket.  That kind of play is a key to beating a pressing defense.

[Roberton3]

One thing I found very encouraging was that against the press, the team didn't always settle for just getting the ball across halfcourt and then running the regular offense (as they often have in the past).  Several times last night, they broke the press and immediately passed the ball in to an open player (often Nneka) down low for an easy basket.  That kind of play is a key to beating a pressing defense.

[jimeade]

Great comments!  (VG especially.) I really don't have much to add. 

There were several things I was watching for that I will comment on.  I thought a 20 and 10 night from Nneka would be impressive.  Wow!  I thought Chiney would have trouble getting O-rebounds against their front line, and she did.  She was still a factor though.  Good D and 14 points.  I didn't know whether Taylor could guard anyone on that team, but she did.  I was very impressed.  Great to see Toni turn on the jets and make them pay for pressing.  Just a terrific win.

[jimeade]

Great comments!  (VG especially.) I really don't have much to add. 

There were several things I was watching for that I will comment on.  I thought a 20 and 10 night from Nneka would be impressive.  Wow!  I thought Chiney would have trouble getting O-rebounds against their front line, and she did.  She was still a factor though.  Good D and 14 points.  I didn't know whether Taylor could guard anyone on that team, but she did.  I was very impressed.  Great to see Toni turn on the jets and make them pay for pressing.  Just a terrific win.

[M T]

Did you notice Pat's quote on the game:  "They obviously had a great crowd in here"  A lot of people were at the game that probably weren't that familiar with the team, but the team gave them a lot to cheer about.

I can't remember a game that was as impressive as this one. (Perhaps that is a reflection on my memory!)  Tennessee is no slouch.  Those are some very fine players they have.  Good size, great athleticism.  But Stanford picked them apart.

Tennessee gambled to bottle up Stanford in the back court, and they often got burned.  I disagree with one ESPN announcer who thinks WBB should have a 10-second back court call.  I doubt she will watch this game, but I think this shows that having that rule would be like adding a rule that requires all shots to be made with one hand.  If you want to introduce rules that change the style of the game, that can be done, but great BB doesn't benefit from that rule.  (Before there was a shot clock, a 10-sec. back court limit seems like a reasonable rule.)

Have you ever seen a 61% shooting effort in the first half result in a 7 point deficit?  I can't recall that.  I would point that out to anyone who thinks Tennessee lost this game because it was at the end of a long road trip.  Maybe the final score should have been 2x 48-41 = 96-82 except for Tenn's 2nd half letdown.  Oh wait, that's almost what it was.

One thing I think is under-emphasized is how the O rebounds allow the 3-point shooters to take their shots.  Sometimes a shot is the only way to get the ball into Nneka.  We got 44% of the rebounds on our shots.  Tenn got 34% of the rebounds on their shots.

Some have knocked the foul by Lindy on the 3-pt shot.  I disagree.  It is a shame it was a foul, but it appears it was the shooter's foot that came forward and hit Lindy's leg.  The shooter's arm was untouched and I think Lindy got the ball.  If Lindy hadn't rushed her, she would have had a clear shot.  I think that defensive play was what Stanford was doing to try to reduce Tennessee's shooting percentage.  This one happened to be a foul.

The broadcast had a clip of Tara saying she was uncomfortable (I think that is her word) with a player averaging 25 points.  I suspect what Tara was thinking was that it is a problem if a team depends on one player for too large a percentage of their points.  5 starters would have to average 19 points to score 97 points.  If Stanford were scoring 72 points a game, then 25 points (~ 30%) might be too much to depend on one player.

In the past, I've seen Stanford teams depend too much on one player.  This has many effects.  One is that the other players look only to feed the star rather than playing for their own shot.  I have to say that I don't think that was the case against Tennessee.  It may have happened some (I can imagine Joslyn doing that, but I don't remember if she did that), but I am sure that Chiney didn't and Toni didn't.  I also don't think the 3-pt shooters were guilty of that.

Another problem is the team getting too dependent on one player, so the team becomes vulnerable to a few bad calls, or one injury or illness.  We've got a lot of other good players that this won't be an issue except in those very few critical games.  Nneka strength & athleticism lets her play the best in "Let 'em play" officiating.  Injury is another matter.  Nneka will rarely play more than 32 minutes again until near the end of the year.  That will hurt her scoring average (why don't they use points/40min for stats ??), but that's ok.

For several years, Stanford was blessed with a number of individual stars.  They passed around who got the most points in a game.  But that is a luxury few teams get.

I think our strength of schedule will hurt us again in rankings past the middle of the year.  Cal is looking pretty strong.  USC looked really good against Texas A&M.  Both are better than their win-loss numbers indicate.

Obviously, Stanford's vulnerability is in defense. We have let the best player of the other team get too many points.  We again were burned by that versus Tennessee.

I'm noticing a trend toward MORE offensive charges called if the defender is outside the new circle.  But I haven't seen enough games yet to be sure.

[M T]

Did you notice Pat's quote on the game:  "They obviously had a great crowd in here"  A lot of people were at the game that probably weren't that familiar with the team, but the team gave them a lot to cheer about.

I can't remember a game that was as impressive as this one. (Perhaps that is a reflection on my memory!)  Tennessee is no slouch.  Those are some very fine players they have.  Good size, great athleticism.  But Stanford picked them apart.

Tennessee gambled to bottle up Stanford in the back court, and they often got burned.  I disagree with one ESPN announcer who thinks WBB should have a 10-second back court call.  I doubt she will watch this game, but I think this shows that having that rule would be like adding a rule that requires all shots to be made with one hand.  If you want to introduce rules that change the style of the game, that can be done, but great BB doesn't benefit from that rule.  (Before there was a shot clock, a 10-sec. back court limit seems like a reasonable rule.)

Have you ever seen a 61% shooting effort in the first half result in a 7 point deficit?  I can't recall that.  I would point that out to anyone who thinks Tennessee lost this game because it was at the end of a long road trip.  Maybe the final score should have been 2x 48-41 = 96-82 except for Tenn's 2nd half letdown.  Oh wait, that's almost what it was.

One thing I think is under-emphasized is how the O rebounds allow the 3-point shooters to take their shots.  Sometimes a shot is the only way to get the ball into Nneka.  We got 44% of the rebounds on our shots.  Tenn got 34% of the rebounds on their shots.

Some have knocked the foul by Lindy on the 3-pt shot.  I disagree.  It is a shame it was a foul, but it appears it was the shooter's foot that came forward and hit Lindy's leg.  The shooter's arm was untouched and I think Lindy got the ball.  If Lindy hadn't rushed her, she would have had a clear shot.  I think that defensive play was what Stanford was doing to try to reduce Tennessee's shooting percentage.  This one happened to be a foul.

The broadcast had a clip of Tara saying she was uncomfortable (I think that is her word) with a player averaging 25 points.  I suspect what Tara was thinking was that it is a problem if a team depends on one player for too large a percentage of their points.  5 starters would have to average 19 points to score 97 points.  If Stanford were scoring 72 points a game, then 25 points (~ 30%) might be too much to depend on one player.

In the past, I've seen Stanford teams depend too much on one player.  This has many effects.  One is that the other players look only to feed the star rather than playing for their own shot.  I have to say that I don't think that was the case against Tennessee.  It may have happened some (I can imagine Joslyn doing that, but I don't remember if she did that), but I am sure that Chiney didn't and Toni didn't.  I also don't think the 3-pt shooters were guilty of that.

Another problem is the team getting too dependent on one player, so the team becomes vulnerable to a few bad calls, or one injury or illness.  We've got a lot of other good players that this won't be an issue except in those very few critical games.  Nneka strength & athleticism lets her play the best in "Let 'em play" officiating.  Injury is another matter.  Nneka will rarely play more than 32 minutes again until near the end of the year.  That will hurt her scoring average (why don't they use points/40min for stats ??), but that's ok.

For several years, Stanford was blessed with a number of individual stars.  They passed around who got the most points in a game.  But that is a luxury few teams get.

I think our strength of schedule will hurt us again in rankings past the middle of the year.  Cal is looking pretty strong.  USC looked really good against Texas A&M.  Both are better than their win-loss numbers indicate.

Obviously, Stanford's vulnerability is in defense. We have let the best player of the other team get too many points.  We again were burned by that versus Tennessee.

I'm noticing a trend toward MORE offensive charges called if the defender is outside the new circle.  But I haven't seen enough games yet to be sure.

[CompSci87]

The postgame interview with Tara, Nneka, and Toni is up. It's great to watch -- everyone is so articulate, animated, and funny:

[CompSci87]

The postgame interview with Tara, Nneka, and Toni is up. It's great to watch -- everyone is so articulate, animated, and funny:

[garvin]

For a worst-case theory of what happens when you build everything around one player, see the Stanford teams featuring Nicole Powell. No criticism of her -- she was great -- but, particularly on offense, everybody else just stood around and waited for Nicole to shoot, no matter how many defenders were clinging to her.

[garvin]

For a worst-case theory of what happens when you build everything around one player, see the Stanford teams featuring Nicole Powell. No criticism of her -- she was great -- but, particularly on offense, everybody else just stood around and waited for Nicole to shoot, no matter how many defenders were clinging to her.

[garvin]

Can anybody who was at the game describes the circumstances surrounding the technical against Tennessee for having six players on the floor? It happened during a commercial, so the broadcasters never really explained it.

[garvin]

Can anybody who was at the game describes the circumstances surrounding the technical against Tennessee for having six players on the floor? It happened during a commercial, so the broadcasters never really explained it.

[CompSci87]

I was at the game but didn't spot what was happening as it happened. I gather from other reports that there was a substitution during a timeout, but the player who was subbed out didn't realize she was subbed out and went back on the floor for the inbounds play. From my seat, I saw that they lined up for the inbound, then play did not start, and Tara was up yelling. Presumably she saw that there were 6 Tennessee players on the floor and was calling for the T. Some Stanford fans behind our bench were making the T signal. Shortly after, the PA announcer said there was a technical on Tennessee, but didn't say what for. Folks sitting near me didn't seem to know either. After another timeout, the PA announcer said what the technical was for and Bonnie shot the free throws.

[CompSci87]

I was at the game but didn't spot what was happening as it happened. I gather from other reports that there was a substitution during a timeout, but the player who was subbed out didn't realize she was subbed out and went back on the floor for the inbounds play. From my seat, I saw that they lined up for the inbound, then play did not start, and Tara was up yelling. Presumably she saw that there were 6 Tennessee players on the floor and was calling for the T. Some Stanford fans behind our bench were making the T signal. Shortly after, the PA announcer said there was a technical on Tennessee, but didn't say what for. Folks sitting near me didn't seem to know either. After another timeout, the PA announcer said what the technical was for and Bonnie shot the free throws.

[81alum]

Can anybody who was at the game describes the circumstances surrounding the technical against Tennessee for having six players on the floor? It happened during a commercial, so the broadcasters never really explained it.

A reporter asked that of Holly Warlick--the Tennessee assistant coach who took the aftergame press conference.  She said that it was a substitution error.  Glory went in for someone who was late in getting off the court.

By the way, for those of you who enjoyed watching the Stanford post game press conference, the Tennessee press conference was also interesting. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFs7joLDZ...e=youtu.be

The Tennessee folks were very somber but classy.  Warlick was effusive in her praise of Stanford, the fans' reception of Pat, and Nneka.  Glory Johnson was also effusive in her praise of Nneka.  Glory Johnson, who seemed a little teary eyed,  is very articulate and seems like a thoughtful person.  A reporter asked about Vicki Baugh's poor play, though, and I thought Warlick rather threw her under the bus.  The third person sitting up for Tennessee was Shekinna Stricklen, who just had a career best night, and I don't think a single question or comment asked about that.

[81alum]

Can anybody who was at the game describes the circumstances surrounding the technical against Tennessee for having six players on the floor? It happened during a commercial, so the broadcasters never really explained it.

A reporter asked that of Holly Warlick--the Tennessee assistant coach who took the aftergame press conference.  She said that it was a substitution error.  Glory went in for someone who was late in getting off the court.

By the way, for those of you who enjoyed watching the Stanford post game press conference, the Tennessee press conference was also interesting. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFs7joLDZ...e=youtu.be

The Tennessee folks were very somber but classy.  Warlick was effusive in her praise of Stanford, the fans' reception of Pat, and Nneka.  Glory Johnson was also effusive in her praise of Nneka.  Glory Johnson, who seemed a little teary eyed,  is very articulate and seems like a thoughtful person.  A reporter asked about Vicki Baugh's poor play, though, and I thought Warlick rather threw her under the bus.  The third person sitting up for Tennessee was Shekinna Stricklen, who just had a career best night, and I don't think a single question or comment asked about that.

[jimeade]

Interesting observations.  I thought the get-Jayne-the-ball offense hurt Stanford when Jayne was hurting.  This team doesn't have that same feel.  I don't think they are forcing the ball to Nneka.  I just think she makes bad passes look good by being an incredible finisher. 

Chiney contributes with very few set plays called for her.  In today's game Nneka swatted the ball towards the Bakersfield basket on the opening tip, and Chiney went and got it for a lay-up.  That was obviously intentional, but most of Chiney's points from O-boards or good cuts to the basket.

I think Toni's aggressiveness will keep everyone involved offensively.  I think she's made the transition to the point, after struggling a bit early on.  She can penetrate and kick-out.  She can stop and pop, and she's finishing at the basket better than she has been.

Nneka has developed a deadly mid-range jump shot.  That has made her virtually impossible for anyone to guard.  If she can toast Glory Johnson like that, who can guard her?  It doesn't make Stanford a one person team, but it does mean that they have a player of the year candidate.

[jimeade]

Interesting observations.  I thought the get-Jayne-the-ball offense hurt Stanford when Jayne was hurting.  This team doesn't have that same feel.  I don't think they are forcing the ball to Nneka.  I just think she makes bad passes look good by being an incredible finisher. 

Chiney contributes with very few set plays called for her.  In today's game Nneka swatted the ball towards the Bakersfield basket on the opening tip, and Chiney went and got it for a lay-up.  That was obviously intentional, but most of Chiney's points from O-boards or good cuts to the basket.

I think Toni's aggressiveness will keep everyone involved offensively.  I think she's made the transition to the point, after struggling a bit early on.  She can penetrate and kick-out.  She can stop and pop, and she's finishing at the basket better than she has been.

Nneka has developed a deadly mid-range jump shot.  That has made her virtually impossible for anyone to guard.  If she can toast Glory Johnson like that, who can guard her?  It doesn't make Stanford a one person team, but it does mean that they have a player of the year candidate.

[Griffins78]

Terrific writeup MT. Well done!

Some have knocked the foul by Lindy on the 3-pt shot.  I disagree.  It is a shame it was a foul, but it appears it was the shooter's foot that came forward and hit Lindy's leg.  The shooter's arm was untouched and I think Lindy got the ball.  If Lindy hadn't rushed her, she would have had a clear shot.  I think that defensive play was what Stanford was doing to try to reduce Tennessee's shooting percentage.  This one happened to be a foul.

I agree. From Maples it looked like Meighan Simmons kicks (or kicked) her feet forward when she shot and clipped Lindy. Tennessee was moving the ball around well and Tara's orders were to defend the 3.

[Griffins78]

Terrific writeup MT. Well done!

Some have knocked the foul by Lindy on the 3-pt shot.  I disagree.  It is a shame it was a foul, but it appears it was the shooter's foot that came forward and hit Lindy's leg.  The shooter's arm was untouched and I think Lindy got the ball.  If Lindy hadn't rushed her, she would have had a clear shot.  I think that defensive play was what Stanford was doing to try to reduce Tennessee's shooting percentage.  This one happened to be a foul.

I agree. From Maples it looked like Meighan Simmons kicks (or kicked) her feet forward when she shot and clipped Lindy. Tennessee was moving the ball around well and Tara's orders were to defend the 3.