Take this "shooting practice" win with a huge grain of salt. Stanford showed it can shoot 3's when essentially unguarded. And Kate has gotten the team to move more on offense (necessitated in large part by the absence of an inside presence). But this rout revealed a number of issues that have to be addressed. Stanford is very vulnerable to dribble drives into the key. Just about every player shuffled next to the driver (instead of blocking her path), then fouled either with the body or with a feeble stab at the ball, even when the driver was out of control and likely to miss. And no one ever tried to help out. Stanford simply doesn't swarm or even help much when the opponent has the ball in the key. This was fine when they were backed up by a presence in the middle (i.e. Brink), but this is a very short team, with no dominating inside player. So they better practice running a zone to counteract bigger teams. The good news is that Harriel looks like the real deal this year. Setting aside her shooting prowess, she is calm, fully focused on offense and defense, and, unlike Lepolo, far less prone to simply start dribbling when she has the ball. Clardy, on the other hand, needs a lot of work on her passing -- both execution and decision making. Demetre needs to shake off her "Brink's disease," and stop making silly fouls. Until the freshman bigs get some seasoning, the team needs her on the floor. She was a non-entity this game. As for Nunu, keep working on that mid range or inside the key jumper, just as Kiki perfected last year. When faced with larger or taller players inside, she won't be able to pull off her inside game. Finally, Stevenson needs to become a force on the boards if she really wants to help this team. Judging by her manner on the bench, especially when Stanford was way ahead, Kate seems to get all of this as she was fired up until the end. So congrats to her on her first win.
I agree with your comment. while I think it’s ok to celebrate their play in this blowout, I think Kate, staff, and team understand there’s a lot of work to be done to be competitive, and they’re not resting on their laurels. Will add that watching them watch the ball drop after they box out (which they don’t do consistently enough) is tough to watch. Kate said in PC, they’ve been working on their defense since cal state LA, so it seems they’re addressing issues game to game. And they will progress as the season goes on. Go card
Take this "shooting practice" win with a huge grain of salt. Stanford showed it can shoot 3's when essentially unguarded. And Kate has gotten the team to move more on offense (necessitated in large part by the absence of an inside presence). But this rout revealed a number of issues that have to be addressed. Stanford is very vulnerable to dribble drives into the key. Just about every player shuffled next to the driver (instead of blocking her path), then fouled either with the body or with a feeble stab at the ball, even when the driver was out of control and likely to miss. And no one ever tried to help out. Stanford simply doesn't swarm or even help much when the opponent has the ball in the key. This was fine when they were backed up by a presence in the middle (i.e. Brink), but this is a very short team, with no dominating inside player. So they better practice running a zone to counteract bigger teams. The good news is that Harriel looks like the real deal this year. Setting aside her shooting prowess, she is calm, fully focused on offense and defense, and, unlike Lepolo, far less prone to simply start dribbling when she has the ball. Clardy, on the other hand, needs a lot of work on her passing -- both execution and decision making. Demetre needs to shake off her "Brink's disease," and stop making silly fouls. Until the freshman bigs get some seasoning, the team needs her on the floor. She was a non-entity this game. As for Nunu, keep working on that mid range or inside the key jumper, just as Kiki perfected last year. When faced with larger or taller players inside, she won't be able to pull off her inside game. Finally, Stevenson needs to become a force on the boards if she really wants to help this team. Judging by her manner on the bench, especially when Stanford was way ahead, Kate seems to get all of this as she was fired up until the end. So congrats to her on her first win.
I agree with your comment. while I think it’s ok to celebrate their play in this blowout, I think Kate, staff, and team understand there’s a lot of work to be done to be competitive, and they’re not resting on their laurels. Will add that watching them watch the ball drop after they box out (which they don’t do consistently enough) is tough to watch. Kate said in PC, they’ve been working on their defense since cal state LA, so it seems they’re addressing issues game to game. And they will progress as the season goes on. Go card