Sunday, October 30, 2022

RED -WHITE and GREAT all over!

The scrimmage: RED and WHITE and GREAT ALL OVER!          

            

            Fans got their first look at the 2022-23 Stanford Women's Basketball team on Saturday, Oct. 29.  The team did not disappoint.  It was abundantly clear that this fifteen-woman team of four seniors (the Fab Four, the Funky Four, the Finals Four -- or just four winners?), two juniors, three or four sophomores (depending on where you count last year's Redshirt Jzanyia Harriel), and a boatload of freshmen have all the pieces needed to be National Champions.  All the returning players returned improved, and the freshman showed promise.  The biggest disappointment was due to the wrap on Fran Belibi's hand, that injury meant she didn't play despite being the "Red" captain for the Red - White scrimmage. 

            Before getting into a review of the various players' performances that will likely resemble most viewers' analysis, I want to comment on one interesting aspect of the women's game.  It is increasingly "position-less." Despite having two players on the watch list for the Lisa Leslie award for outstanding center (Belibi and Betts), Stanford only lists 6'7" Lauren Betts as a center.  Similarly, Haley Jones is on the small forward watch list, but Stanford lists her as a guard.  Many Pac-12 teams don't list any player as a center. With "bigs" like Cameron Brink running the floor like sprinters and hitting 3-point shots, the game has clearly changed.  

            In addition to the game changing, our coach has changed too.  The video of Tara dancing (or trying to) with Cam and Haley at the Pac-12 media day leaves long-time Tara watchers smiling and almost scratching our heads.  Maybe it's because the winningest coach in women's basketball is smart enough to know that you need to change when the players change, maybe it's that age has given Tara the wisdom to know that life should be joyful, or maybe it's just having nothing left to prove, but Tara has definitely "loosened up." We're waiting to see what dance moves she'll bust out when it's time to celebrate the completion of this year's season.  

 

            Now to the scrimmage....

 

The Upperclassmen


            Haley Jones, the "White" captain, demonstrated the court vision, smooth moves, tenacity, enthusiasm, and leadership that should make her a serious candidate for National Player of the Year.  Cameron Brink, the 2021-22 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, has only gotten better and her 3 pt. and midrange shots have become legitimate parts of her offensive repertoire. Both look to earn the All-American honors that preseason ratings have recorded.

            Senior Hannah Jump had a slow day from the 3-point line but scored often with improved confidence on pull up jumpers and drives to the basket. We look to see her put all the pieces together. Her regular 3-point drill after the scrimmage (she puts up what seems like a bazillion shots from all the spots on the floor) showed that her 3-point stroke is still on target so we can expect to see it when the season starts. Her fellow senior, 6-5 Ashton Prechtel was the same solid presence in the post and reliable 3-pt shooter that she has been throughout her career. Junior Agnes Emma-Nnopo, a feisty defender last year, showed that she can make life difficult for opposing guards coming up the floor. 


The Underclassmen


            Last year's freshmen demonstrated the improvement that a year's experience in the college game can be expected to provide, especially Kiki Iriafen.  Kiki is a candidate for Tara's designation as a player whose practice performance "is going to make me play her."  We can expect her minutes to be at least more than double last year's 6.5 minutes-per-game average despite Stanford's loaded group of "bigs." A more confident Brooke Demetre showed off the scoring prowess that she flashed several times last year (remember Florida Gulf Coast?) and showed defensive improvement. However, sophomores Demetre and Bosgana may have trouble finding substantial floor time this year given the talented group of upperclassmen ahead of them.

            That brings us to the five true freshman and one red-shirt freshman -- a highly anticipated group. Center Lauren Betts, the 6'7" high school player-of-the-year, played sparingly especially in the second half. When in the game she demonstrated smooth moves and a soft shooting touch. The rest of the freshman group are guards.  Talana Lepolo and Indya Nivar showed skills that reassured fans who have been worried about the point-guard role.  Lepolo's poise and command at the point made it hard to believe that she has not played a single official minute as a college player.  She showed good "handles," facilitated well, and knocked down her three-pointers when needed.  Nivar didn't show quite as much comfort at the point, but her quickness up the floor and offensive skills suggest that her future is very bright.  

            

Now it's time for our next batch of questions!

 

1. Can the Cardinal stay healthy?

            The tape on Fran Belibi's hand and the silence when Haley Jones headed to the locker room after a nasty fall served as a reminder that injuries can disrupt promising seasons.  Sedona Prince's recent college career ending injury and the season ending injuries to UConn's Bueckers and freshman Ice Brady will undoubtedly impact the trajectories of their teams.  We can expect that minor injuries and illness will result in players missing a game or two here and there -- our team has the depth to weather that.  The question is can Stanford manage to avoid the catastrophic injuries that result in crazy things like a number one seed losing to a sixteen seed....? Not many teams can lose a superstar and still end up holding that National Championship trophy.

 

2.  Can Stanford go undefeated in the Pac-12 two years in a row? 

            That is a hard trick to pull off even once and the Pac-12 teams have all gotten stronger.  But, can anybody beat the Cardinal?  By early March we will definitely have the answer. 

 

3.  How quickly will all the pieces fit together?

            As good as the team looked in the Red-White scrimmage, there are still some rough spots.  Will they be polished enough to give this team a win over South Carolina three weeks from now?  Lauren Betts has the tools of a true center, but will Lauren be ready to play against Aliyah Boston in her 6th college game? How about the freshman point guards? Of course,  November is only important because it gets a team ready for March and April...so perhaps the better question is will these early game help the team be better when it counts.

 

4.  Will Judea Watkins accept the crowd encouragement to "come to Stanford?'

            Okay, this may be a silly question while this year's team is just coming together, but it would ease the angst of fans dreading the departure of all-world Haley Jones to have the top recruit of 2022-23 available to plug the hole she will leave behind. Judea Watkins and her family were on the sidelines for the scrimmage and at one point the crowd raised a sustained chant, "Come to Stanford, JuJu." We hope she will.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

A TON of Exciting NEWS and some Questions

LOTS of news!  

 

First, the Red and White scrimmage is happening on Saturday, Oct. 29 - doors open at 11 am.  This will be our first chance to see the team ranked #2 in the country in preseason polls and, not surprisingly, picked as the team to beat in the PAC-12. 

 

Next. there is a new game on the schedule -- Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 6:pm with Cal State Northridge (CSUN) at Maples.  That gives the CARD back-to-back 6 pm games at Maples starting with their official season opener Monday, Nov. 7 against San Diego State.  (The 7 pm game Wed. Nov 2. game against Vanguard is an exhibition.)

 

In pre-season honors, two players -- Haley Jones and Cameron Brink have been named Pre-Season All Americans, with Haley being named a 1st team APA All American.  FOUR Stanford players have been named to the preseason watch list for positional awards.  Haley Jones is on the list for the 2023 Cheryl Miller Award given to the top small forward.  Cameron Brink is on the list for the 2023 Katrina McClain Award to the nation's top power forward.  Senior Fran Belibi was named to the 2023 Lisa Leslie Award list along with Freshman Lauren Betts, the WBCA High School Player of the Year for 2022.  That is a LOAD of recognition for the Cardinal players.  Additionally, Stanford Senior Hannah Jump has been identified by ESPN writers as one the the 10 players poised to have a breakout season (https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/34823666/women-college-basketball-top-breakout-players-2022-23).  WOW!

 

Overall, this year's Stanford team is LOADED!  Eight players of the 12 players who attended high school in the US were McDonalds All Americans with two (Haley and Lauren) being named High School Player of the year in their senior seasons!  It seems quite reasonable to think that history might repeat itself, the CARD following a National Championship with a Final Four appearance and then a second National Championship just like 1990 and 1992.  We'll see.  But, regardless, we can expect an exciting year of great basketball from a team and coaching staff that set the bar for student-athletes as student-athletes.

 

As we gear up for this sensational season, there are some questions we are waiting to have answered:


1.  Who will play point-guard?

            Most pundits note that Stanford's biggest weakness last year was at point-guard against quick, physical, athletic teams - and that was with Anna Wilson backing up Lacy Hull.  Haley Jones can do it, of course.  Haley has proven that she can play almost every position on the floor -- making Coach Tara's comparison of her to Magic Johnson quite appropriate.  But, playing at the point limits other aspects of Haley's game and many believe the Cardinal will be stronger if one of the three true-freshmen or our redshirt-freshman is able to step up and play the point.  Given how reluctant Coach VanDerveer has been to start a freshman at point-guard, it will take something for her to turn over the direction of this star-studded team to an untested player.  However, at the Pac-12 media day Tara was very complementary of her potential point guards -- calling Telana Lepolo one of the best freshman point guards she has seen and mentioning the excellent play Indy Nivar, who played on USA Basketball's gold medal winning U18 team this summer. Tara also said good things about red-shirt freshman Jzaniya Harriel and Carto Valley native freshman Lauren Green.  So, by tournament time, who will be getting the major minutes at the point?

 

2.  Which sophomore will be the most improved -- and will she match the Jeanette Pohlen standard?

            Tara has often said that the biggest changes often come between a player's freshman and sophomore seasons.  Those who have been around a while will remember the way Jeanette Pohlen came back for her sophomore season with almost unrecognizable changes to her body and her game after a grueling summer of workouts.  There are rumors that Kiki Irafen made impressive progress over the summer (we've seen the videos of her two-handed dunks) and Brooke Demetre is also said to have made real progress -- but where do their improvements rank on the "Pohlen scale"?

 

3. What will the offense look like on a team with 5 players listed at 6'3'' or above (and that doesn't even include Lisa Leslie Center Award nominee Fran Belibi)?

            For the last few years Tara has often used a three-guard or even a four-guard offense.  But, given all the talent among her tall trees it seems likely that the Stanford offense will be some version of Fear the TREES! How that will mesh with a Princeton offense may have the Cardinal watching Warriors tapes...Part of the answer may revolve around how quickly Lauren Betts makes the adjustment to the college game and how smoothly she and Cameron Brink are able to work together. Fasten your seat belts for this high flying team.

 

4. Will Hannah Jump set any 3-pt records? 

            With 183 career 3 pointers, Hannah would need to obliterate the single season 96 made 3-pointers record jointly held by Jeanette Pohlen and Karlie Samuelson to get even close to Kianna Williams' 311 career record.  But, merely equaling that single season record would move her up to third, behind only Kianna and Candice Wiggins....

 

5.  What other single season or career records might fall this year?  

            Because there was no NCAA tournament their freshman year- meaning as many as six fewer games -- (and we have no 5th year seniors taking a COVID year), it is unlikely that any records for career totals will be set this year.  There could easily be a lot of single season records falling - and possibly some career percentage records.  But, let's face it, for Stanford players team success and not individual records are the goal -- those individual records only matter if they were in the service of the CARDINAL doing well -- and hopefully they will. The sustained excellence of this program is amazing.

 

6.  Will this finally be the year that Stanford Women's Basketball gets the home game sell-outs it deserves?

            It is somewhere between ridiculous and crazy that virtually the only sell-out crowds the defending National Champion Stanford team played in front of last year were in other team's arenas! Now, some of that may have been about COVID -- after all people in the Bay Area took COVID seriously.  And, some of it may have been about the crazy schedule that TV games create (8 pm on Friday nights, 5 and 6 on weeknights) -- but Stanford's amazing coaching staff and fabulous student-athletes deserve a packed house of fans.  Let's all commit to getting to the games and bringing friends!  See you at Maples.

This TEAM Refuses to Lose!

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