[CompSci87]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

[CompSci87]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

[81alum]

.
that said, usc's time management at the end of the game was much stranger. why foul twice, then let the clock run down?  i suppose it's human for a coach to change her mind; but it's not a good look. much harder to understand than tara's use-clock strategy.

They had fouls to give, so their strategy was to try to get a steal on our inbounds play, and if they didn't, foul us so we would have to run another inbounds play.  We've been known to have some problems inbounding the ball, so they wanted to make us do it several times.  But they stopped when fouling us would have sent us to the line insteal of to an inbounds pass.  It was smart on their part.

[81alum]

.
that said, usc's time management at the end of the game was much stranger. why foul twice, then let the clock run down?  i suppose it's human for a coach to change her mind; but it's not a good look. much harder to understand than tara's use-clock strategy.

They had fouls to give, so their strategy was to try to get a steal on our inbounds play, and if they didn't, foul us so we would have to run another inbounds play.  We've been known to have some problems inbounding the ball, so they wanted to make us do it several times.  But they stopped when fouling us would have sent us to the line insteal of to an inbounds pass.  It was smart on their part.

[qwerty49]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

[qwerty49]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

[81alum]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

Hah!  And while USC has some quality players, they do not have a Jeanette Pohlen.  In fact, we do ;)  Do you suppose she said in the huddle: "Just make sure you leave them less than 4.4 seconds"?

[81alum]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

Hah!  And while USC has some quality players, they do not have a Jeanette Pohlen.  In fact, we do ;)  Do you suppose she said in the huddle: "Just make sure you leave them less than 4.4 seconds"?

[CompSci87]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

Hah!  And while USC has some quality players, they do not have a Jeanette Pohlen.  In fact, we do ;)  Do you suppose she said in the huddle: "Just make sure you leave them less than 4.4 seconds"?

Well... I love that memory as much as anyone. But it was from before you could advance the ball into the frontcourt with a timeout.

[CompSci87]

After the shot clock expiration there were only 3.6 seconds left on the game clock, right? And after a shot clock violation the ball has to be inbounded, giving the defense a chance to set up. So I can see it's a reasonable strategy to take the violation, ensuring there isn't a defensive rebound and fast break off a missed shot.

Even if that was the general strategy, I bet Tara would have been okay if Kiki had taken and made the wide open layup with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, since a 5-point lead is a lot safer than 3. But that could have been a hard decision to make under pressure.

Hey, everybody knows you need 4.4 seconds to score!

Hah!  And while USC has some quality players, they do not have a Jeanette Pohlen.  In fact, we do ;)  Do you suppose she said in the huddle: "Just make sure you leave them less than 4.4 seconds"?

Well... I love that memory as much as anyone. But it was from before you could advance the ball into the frontcourt with a timeout.

[jonnyss]

.
that said, usc's time management at the end of the game was much stranger. why foul twice, then let the clock run down?  i suppose it's human for a coach to change her mind; but it's not a good look. much harder to understand than tara's use-clock strategy.

They had fouls to give, so their strategy was to try to get a steal on our inbounds play, and if they didn't, foul us so we would have to run another inbounds play.  We've been known to have some problems inbounding the ball, so they wanted to make us do it several times.  But they stopped when fouling us would have sent us to the line insteal of to an inbounds pass.  It was smart on their part.

well that's certainly a possibility. imo whether it's smart depends on how often we miss a free throw vs how often we turn the ball over inbounding. i thought we had a much higher % of missed free throws than failed inbounds plays though there was that one 5-second call at the end of south carolina. to my mind you can't let the opponent run the clock down to 4 seconds unless you have arike ogunbowale on the team.

[jonnyss]

.
that said, usc's time management at the end of the game was much stranger. why foul twice, then let the clock run down?  i suppose it's human for a coach to change her mind; but it's not a good look. much harder to understand than tara's use-clock strategy.

They had fouls to give, so their strategy was to try to get a steal on our inbounds play, and if they didn't, foul us so we would have to run another inbounds play.  We've been known to have some problems inbounding the ball, so they wanted to make us do it several times.  But they stopped when fouling us would have sent us to the line insteal of to an inbounds pass.  It was smart on their part.

well that's certainly a possibility. imo whether it's smart depends on how often we miss a free throw vs how often we turn the ball over inbounding. i thought we had a much higher % of missed free throws than failed inbounds plays though there was that one 5-second call at the end of south carolina. to my mind you can't let the opponent run the clock down to 4 seconds unless you have arike ogunbowale on the team.

[cardfan1996]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Oh there is so much more to say in this game and others about the seemingly illogical strategy in the halfcourt offense that makes Stanford easy to guard and has not improved. I haven’t even talked about the lack of movement generally by anyone (even though motion offense is premised on well, motion)

[cardfan1996]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Oh there is so much more to say in this game and others about the seemingly illogical strategy in the halfcourt offense that makes Stanford easy to guard and has not improved. I haven’t even talked about the lack of movement generally by anyone (even though motion offense is premised on well, motion)

[standfan]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Some good points cf1996.

The team is not consistently creating / taking the highest percentage shots available. 

I think adjustments can be made to get Haley lots of 10-15 foot jumpers. The teams needs a steady diet of those shots. I agree that Nivar and Bosgana should be getting more minutes.  But when E-N (44%) or Lepolo (38%) is in, she needs to shoot more open threes (and the rest of the team needs to crash the boards - the shooter can get back on D). Agnes now has the highest percentage (44% and it doesn't look like a fluke to me) on the team. (OTOH, Nivar's 3 point shooting is suspect at 26% - hopefully it improves.) Improved scoring from outside should create a little more room for Brink and Betts to operate inside. 

Haley's defense on 3 pt shooters does need to improve. Pressure the good shooters and rely on the inside defense if the shooter blows past her, at least until they show they can consistently hurt us with the drives.

[standfan]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Some good points cf1996.

The team is not consistently creating / taking the highest percentage shots available. 

I think adjustments can be made to get Haley lots of 10-15 foot jumpers. The teams needs a steady diet of those shots. I agree that Nivar and Bosgana should be getting more minutes.  But when E-N (44%) or Lepolo (38%) is in, she needs to shoot more open threes (and the rest of the team needs to crash the boards - the shooter can get back on D). Agnes now has the highest percentage (44% and it doesn't look like a fluke to me) on the team. (OTOH, Nivar's 3 point shooting is suspect at 26% - hopefully it improves.) Improved scoring from outside should create a little more room for Brink and Betts to operate inside. 

Haley's defense on 3 pt shooters does need to improve. Pressure the good shooters and rely on the inside defense if the shooter blows past her, at least until they show they can consistently hurt us with the drives.

[cardfan1996]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Some good points cf1996.

The team is not consistently creating / taking the highest percentage shots available. 

I think adjustments can be made to get Haley lots of 10-15 foot jumpers. The teams needs a steady diet of those shots. I agree that Nivar and Bosgana should be getting more minutes.  But when E-N (44%) or Lepolo (38%) is in, she needs to shoot more open threes (and the rest of the team needs to crash the boards - the shooter can get back on D). Agnes now has the highest percentage (44% and it doesn't look like a fluke to me) on the team. (OTOH, Nivar's 3 point shooting is suspect at 26% - hopefully it improves.) Improved scoring from outside should create a little more room for Brink and Betts to operate inside. 

Haley's defense on 3 pt shooters does need to improve. Pressure the good shooters and rely on the inside defense if the shooter blows past her, at least until they show they can consistently hurt us with the drives.

On your last point, you don’t think 3 consecutive makes by Kayla at the 3-pt line (3 of only 14 successful field goals by USC) shows a “consistent” ability hurt us? Again I go back to high school and junior high basketball. At the end of the game, and the other team desperately needs a 3, you guard EVERYONE, no matter their percentage.

Agnes and Lepolo have those percentages on very few attempts so how reliable are those percentages? Opponents still won’t guard them and they still stick to Hannah like Velcro. Throw out percentages, Will someone actually guard Agnes or Lepolo so Stanford can run offense? No

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

[cardfan1996]

Here is the question of the day (no prizes will be won):

If USC only had 14 field goals, how many of those fg were directly attributable to the poor defense of one Haley Jones?

I am not even counting her turnovers and inability to box out. Just on her poor defense alone (which includes “sCouTing rEport” defense not entirely her fault), I’d guess Haley is directly responsible for roughly half of those USC field goals. Someone chastised me awhile back for calling her perimeter defense “ridiculous” but she regularly is responsible for a good percentage of the other team’s points and field goals.


But here is the defensive play (intentionally or not) that preserved Stanford’s #1 seed for another week at least.

4th quarter, 59 seconds left. Haley is staring down Kayla who she surely had no intention of guarding closely even though Kayla hit three 3s up to this point in the game, all on Haley. Nivar asked her to switch on Sissoko, someone Haley begrudgingly (probably) knew she had to get out and guard. Maybe, like me, Nivar was having flashbacks of that S. Carolina game where it was statistically low probability that S.Carolina could beat Stanford with Stanford up by at least 2 possessions with only 40 seconds left. And Haley guarding no one in particular (and doubling no one in particular) gives up 3 consecutive open 3 pters (S.Carolina connects on one or two and is able to tie the game and send it into overtime) not to mention the numerous offensive rebounds by S.Carolina partially because Haley was nowhere near any offensive player to box them out.


Also I want to talk about these half time quotes: 

Gottlieb: “. . .and mainly we have to stop Stanford in transition. We feel like we can guard them in the half court but no one can really guard them when they are loose in transition.”

Tara: “Not excited about.” [in response to a question on shot selection] “We need to move the ball and good shots.”


Stanford has not fixed its half court offense to adjust to the scout of “face guard Hannah on the perimeter but guard no one else and drop everyone in the lane.” Not only will Haley penetrate on Lepolo’s side of the floor with Lepolo’s defender staring right at her in her driving lane but Cam will set picks so Haley’s only option is to penetrate on Lepolo’s side where her defender will be waiting because Lepolo is an unguarded player. Do you know how easy life would be for Haley if you put Hannah Jump on one side of the alignment and told everyone else to get to the other side and stay out of the way and have Haley exclusively drive on Hannah’s side and have Brink exclusively set screens to drive on Hannah’s side of the floor. The coaches refuse to even make this small adjustment and as a result, Haley’s offensive numbers are not great this year.

I’ve also seen Kiki and Cam in the USC game out beyond the 3pt line like anyone is guarding them there. Most “non-shooters” typically set screens for shooters. But they are just hanging out and are disregarded by the defense entirely so we are playing 4 on 5.

Then there is the biggest mystery of it all this game. Littleton is a mark on defense. Teams regularly ISO her and go after her. There was a reason she almost never played at S. Carolina and you can clearly see it wasn’t because of her offense as she is quite a good shooter. So imagine my surprise when I noticed who she guarded in our starting lineup and we maybe took advantage of that matchup twice.

And finally, Lepolo and Agnes and what I mean by both not passing the eye test for me and lack a basic understanding of the game and why I prefer Nivar and Bosgana. And why I am continually perplexed why Tara prefers to play them together with Hannah. So now you have 3 players on the perimeter (Hannah, Lepolo, Agnes) who have trouble moving without the ball and cannot create for themselves or others.

3rd quarter, 1:19

Agnes drives on an out of control closeout. Great. terrific. By high school basketball, you learn the dump off pass if a defender switches on you and off your teammate, a normal and natural and regular play is to bounce pass it to Fran for a layup. Nope. Agnes goes directly at a shotblocker not with a floater, not into their body to draw a foul, but a regular shot exposing the ball.

 4th quarter, 1:18

Lepolo inexplicably moves her defender into Haley’s driving path and settles 4 feet from Hannah so now Hannah’s defender (Adika) can guard 2 players. What did that off-ball movement by her accomplish except make Haley fumble the ball because Lepolo’s defender was digging in her driving lane and compress spacing on the floor and neutralize any benefit of spacing Hannah was providing on the left side.

Some good points cf1996.

The team is not consistently creating / taking the highest percentage shots available. 

I think adjustments can be made to get Haley lots of 10-15 foot jumpers. The teams needs a steady diet of those shots. I agree that Nivar and Bosgana should be getting more minutes.  But when E-N (44%) or Lepolo (38%) is in, she needs to shoot more open threes (and the rest of the team needs to crash the boards - the shooter can get back on D). Agnes now has the highest percentage (44% and it doesn't look like a fluke to me) on the team. (OTOH, Nivar's 3 point shooting is suspect at 26% - hopefully it improves.) Improved scoring from outside should create a little more room for Brink and Betts to operate inside. 

Haley's defense on 3 pt shooters does need to improve. Pressure the good shooters and rely on the inside defense if the shooter blows past her, at least until they show they can consistently hurt us with the drives.

On your last point, you don’t think 3 consecutive makes by Kayla at the 3-pt line (3 of only 14 successful field goals by USC) shows a “consistent” ability hurt us? Again I go back to high school and junior high basketball. At the end of the game, and the other team desperately needs a 3, you guard EVERYONE, no matter their percentage.

Agnes and Lepolo have those percentages on very few attempts so how reliable are those percentages? Opponents still won’t guard them and they still stick to Hannah like Velcro. Throw out percentages, Will someone actually guard Agnes or Lepolo so Stanford can run offense? No

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

[martyup]

Lepolo has attempted 47 three point shots and made 38.3% of them.

Agnes has attempted 36 three point shots and made 44.4% of them.

Brooke has attempted 79 three point shots and made 34.2% of them.

I hope opponents continue to not guard them beyond the arc.

---

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

Lepolo has 101 assists.  Agnes has 27 offensive rebounds.

[martyup]

Lepolo has attempted 47 three point shots and made 38.3% of them.

Agnes has attempted 36 three point shots and made 44.4% of them.

Brooke has attempted 79 three point shots and made 34.2% of them.

I hope opponents continue to not guard them beyond the arc.

---

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

Lepolo has 101 assists.  Agnes has 27 offensive rebounds.

[cardfan1996]

Lepolo has attempted 47 three point shots and made 38.3% of them.

Agnes has attempted 36 three point shots and made 44.4% of them.

Brooke has attempted 79 three point shots and made 34.2% of them.

I hope opponents continue to not guard them beyond the arc.

---

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

Lepolo has 101 assists.  Agnes has 27 offensive rebounds.

Lepolo is the point guard so I’d hope she would have some assist but Stanford is an inside-out team and Lepolo can’t actually see passing windows. Our post have their hand out, no helpside defense, no ball pressure on Lepolo  because no one guards her, and she still can’t make a post entry pass.

Do you think Brooke immediately jumps up to come in and sub for her for Brooke’s lockdown defensive capability or is it because of Brooke’s ability to pass it in the post on time and on target whilst being tightly guarded?

Re: Agnes offensive boards. Sorry Stanford actually needs her to get back in transition defense. And more importantly, Stanford struggles to defensive rebound and they need Agnes, Lepolo and Hannah to actually box out and help. But they don’t. Without the valuable defensive rebound, Stanford can’t run its most productive offense - transition offense.

[cardfan1996]

Lepolo has attempted 47 three point shots and made 38.3% of them.

Agnes has attempted 36 three point shots and made 44.4% of them.

Brooke has attempted 79 three point shots and made 34.2% of them.

I hope opponents continue to not guard them beyond the arc.

---

Do Agnes and Lepolo have any other skillset to help the offense flow better? Also no.

Lepolo has 101 assists.  Agnes has 27 offensive rebounds.

Lepolo is the point guard so I’d hope she would have some assist but Stanford is an inside-out team and Lepolo can’t actually see passing windows. Our post have their hand out, no helpside defense, no ball pressure on Lepolo  because no one guards her, and she still can’t make a post entry pass.

Do you think Brooke immediately jumps up to come in and sub for her for Brooke’s lockdown defensive capability or is it because of Brooke’s ability to pass it in the post on time and on target whilst being tightly guarded?

Re: Agnes offensive boards. Sorry Stanford actually needs her to get back in transition defense. And more importantly, Stanford struggles to defensive rebound and they need Agnes, Lepolo and Hannah to actually box out and help. But they don’t. Without the valuable defensive rebound, Stanford can’t run its most productive offense - transition offense.

[mbdude]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

[mbdude]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

[cardfan1996]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

But teams still tightly guard Demetre because of her reputation as a shooter. People still guard Ashten because of her reputation as a shooter. Reputation matters.

[cardfan1996]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

But teams still tightly guard Demetre because of her reputation as a shooter. People still guard Ashten because of her reputation as a shooter. Reputation matters.

[mbdude]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

But teams still tightly guard Demetre because of her reputation as a shooter. People still guard Ashten because of her reputation as a shooter. Reputation matters.

Agree about Ashten and Demetre

[mbdude]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

But teams still tightly guard Demetre because of her reputation as a shooter. People still guard Ashten because of her reputation as a shooter. Reputation matters.

Agree about Ashten and Demetre

[M T]

Here is a question for our basketball rules experts.  Let's say Iriafen with 3 seconds on the shot clock just reaches up and taps the ball on the rim.  Does that reset the shot clock to 20 seconds?  Does she at least have to pretend it is a genuine shot?  Does the ball have to leave her hand?

My opinion is that the ball simply has to touch the rim for a reset, no measure of intent is necessary. That could set up a possibility for someone of Iriafen's stature to do just you suggested. (If you don’t get a good bounce, it could backfire). I’m sure we have some rules guys who will wade in and clarify this.

One of the conditions for resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds for the offense is
   "The shooting team is first to gain control of the ball in their frontcourt after an unsuccessful field-goal or free-throw attempt that contacts the ring or flange and remains live;"
   "A try for field goal is an attempt by a player to score two or three points by throwing or tapping the ball into their team's basket
   "A dunk is a try for goal that occurs when any player gains control of a ball that is neither in the cylinder nor on the ring and then attempts to drive, force or stuff the ball through the basket"  (I wish they had used 'throw' in the definition of a dunk, to match the definition of a try for field goal.)

The rule is not that the ball simply has to touch the rim.

[M T]

Here is a question for our basketball rules experts.  Let's say Iriafen with 3 seconds on the shot clock just reaches up and taps the ball on the rim.  Does that reset the shot clock to 20 seconds?  Does she at least have to pretend it is a genuine shot?  Does the ball have to leave her hand?

My opinion is that the ball simply has to touch the rim for a reset, no measure of intent is necessary. That could set up a possibility for someone of Iriafen's stature to do just you suggested. (If you don’t get a good bounce, it could backfire). I’m sure we have some rules guys who will wade in and clarify this.

One of the conditions for resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds for the offense is
   "The shooting team is first to gain control of the ball in their frontcourt after an unsuccessful field-goal or free-throw attempt that contacts the ring or flange and remains live;"
   "A try for field goal is an attempt by a player to score two or three points by throwing or tapping the ball into their team's basket
   "A dunk is a try for goal that occurs when any player gains control of a ball that is neither in the cylinder nor on the ring and then attempts to drive, force or stuff the ball through the basket"  (I wish they had used 'throw' in the definition of a dunk, to match the definition of a try for field goal.)

The rule is not that the ball simply has to touch the rim.

[BostonCard]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

No, that is not how it works.  They probably all had bad games where they went oh-for-something, and you wouldn't remove those games, either.  Part of having a shooting percentage in 30's to 40's is that sometimes you will get hot and hit 4 of 6 three pointers.  That is to be expected.  Shooting 33% does not mean that you attempt exactly three 3's (or six) and make exactly one (or two).

BC

---

[quote="martyup" pid='382806' dateline='1676926160']
Do you think Brooke immediately jumps up to come in and sub for her for Brooke’s lockdown defensive capability or is it because of Brooke’s ability to pass it in the post on time and on target whilst being tightly guarded?

Demetre has 33 assists to 14 turnovers in 374 minutes (3.5 assists/40 min, 1.5 turnovers/40 min, 2.4 assists/turnover)
Lepolo has 101 assists to 53 turnovers in 664 minutes (6.1 assists/40 min, 3.2 turnovers/40 min, 1.9 assists/turnover)

If Demetre were subbing in because of her ability to pass into the post on time and on target, you might expect that her assists per minute would be closer to Lepolos.  Alas, her assists are lower, as are her turnovers, which to me tells me that she is not there to handle the ball or to make the entry pass.

No, Demetre is in there to be a scorer.  Despite playing about 44% fewer minutes than Lepolo, Demetre has almost the same number of shots (103 vs. 105) and almost 70% more three point attempts (79 vs. 47).  Which makes sense, because Demetre is not a point guard, and is generally not subbed in for Lepolo, unless you count circumstances when Jones becomes the point guard and Demetre is brought in for added scoring.

BC

[BostonCard]

Lepolo, Agnes, demetre have each had 1 game where they were hot from 3. Remove that game,  Lepolo 33%, Agnes 33%, Demetre 30%.  Probably a more accurate picture

No, that is not how it works.  They probably all had bad games where they went oh-for-something, and you wouldn't remove those games, either.  Part of having a shooting percentage in 30's to 40's is that sometimes you will get hot and hit 4 of 6 three pointers.  That is to be expected.  Shooting 33% does not mean that you attempt exactly three 3's (or six) and make exactly one (or two).

BC

---

[quote="martyup" pid='382806' dateline='1676926160']
Do you think Brooke immediately jumps up to come in and sub for her for Brooke’s lockdown defensive capability or is it because of Brooke’s ability to pass it in the post on time and on target whilst being tightly guarded?

Demetre has 33 assists to 14 turnovers in 374 minutes (3.5 assists/40 min, 1.5 turnovers/40 min, 2.4 assists/turnover)
Lepolo has 101 assists to 53 turnovers in 664 minutes (6.1 assists/40 min, 3.2 turnovers/40 min, 1.9 assists/turnover)

If Demetre were subbing in because of her ability to pass into the post on time and on target, you might expect that her assists per minute would be closer to Lepolos.  Alas, her assists are lower, as are her turnovers, which to me tells me that she is not there to handle the ball or to make the entry pass.

No, Demetre is in there to be a scorer.  Despite playing about 44% fewer minutes than Lepolo, Demetre has almost the same number of shots (103 vs. 105) and almost 70% more three point attempts (79 vs. 47).  Which makes sense, because Demetre is not a point guard, and is generally not subbed in for Lepolo, unless you count circumstances when Jones becomes the point guard and Demetre is brought in for added scoring.

BC

[BostonCard]

Make that two games that Lepolo was hot from 3.

BC

[BostonCard]

Make that two games that Lepolo was hot from 3.

BC