Basketball Royalty -- the Stanford Cardinal and Steph Curry

            Coach VanDerveer reports that her father used to tell her, "You can't win the Kentucky Derby on a donkey." There is a lot we don't know yet about this team, but we do know that Tara has a team of blue-ribbon thoroughbreds.  This team is stacked -- from the seniors to the freshmen.  They defeated Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) 104 - 40.  In the process the CARD shot 55.9% overall, 47.8% from 3, and 73% at the charity stripe while holding CSUN to 25% overall and 21.1% from 3! 

            Emblematic of the broad spread of talent, the team's assist leader was senior Haley Jones (7), the three-point shooting leader was senior Hannah Jump (5), the rebounding leader was junior Cameron Brink (11), and the scoring leader was freshman Lauren Betts (18) -- while sophomores Kiki Iriafen and Brooke Demetre joined Jump, Brink, and Betts in double digit scoring! Junior Agnes Emma-Nnopu tied with her fellow junior Brink as the steals leaders.  It is easy to see why Tara says, "We don't have a star, we have a galaxy of stars." 

            The CSUN game introduced fans to one of those stars, as we got our first real view of the talent Lauren Betts brings -- her size, her moves, her amazing hands, and her soft shooting touch. Betts is a true center and brings back memories of the interior dominance Jane Appel brought to the Cardinal. She shared the lead in blocks (3) with Brink.  It was almost comical watching CSUN players turn away from one tree only to run into the other when the two were briefly in the game together during the first half. Betts scored 18 points in 13 minutes of play, mostly in the second half with fellow freshmen. As the season progresses, we can expect to see her spend more time on court with the starting unit.  The other encouraging aspect of her performance was her eagerness to learn -- she listened intently as coaches gave her suggestions for how to improve her positioning and her play. 

            After magical performances on opening night, the other freshmen came back to earth, solid but not astronomical.  Nivar went 0 for 4 from the floor while collecting five rebounds, three assists, a block, and one point on a free throw, while Lepolo had two assists and her first turnover while going 1 for 2 from the floor and hitting both her free throws.

 

            Basketball Royalty in the House

 

As with Monday's game, the CSUN team was totally overmatched.  Stanford again came out strong on offense and defense, winning every quarter decisively. The only issue for the night was the question of who was the best three-point shooter in the gym, Hannah Jump or Stephen Curry?  Steph watched much of the game with his wife Ayesha. This team must have reminded him of the Warrior's strength in numbers slogan. (He used his mother's season tickets next to her college roommate, Cameron Brink's mother.) Hannah Jump hit five threes, a bunch back-to-back, and while most of the world considers Steph the best, Tara says she would bet on Hannah in a three-point contest with Steph.  That's a contest it would be fun to watch!

 

            Joy on the Bench

            

            It is fun to watch this team's energetic and exciting play on the court -- it requires playing with real pace to hit 104 points in 40 minutes.  But the most enjoyable show may be watching the enthusiastic support for the players on the court from the players on the bench. They not only celebrated made threes, they stood up as the shots went up, then erupted when the shot went in!  This is clearly a team that is willing to pass up a good shot to get a great shot -- and the fact that they appear to genuinely revel in their teammates' success must make that easier.  They do seem to realize that this is a team sport - and they seem to be having as much fun playing it as a team as we are watching the team play.

 

            Things may get rougher from here

 

            This weekend brings the team's first road trips. Maples has been a comfortable nurturing space for the freshmen to get their college player initiation.  Friday night's game against the University of the Pacific, the team that Stanford defeated two years ago to make Tara the winningest coach in women’s basketball. The Pacific team will be well coached, and they won their first game, but they are not likely to present a serious challenge to the CARD even with the added stress of a road game.  Sunday's game in Portland against the University of Portland may present a bigger challenge.  But in reality, Stanford's first real test of anything other than their focus will be the game against defending national champion South Carolina on November 20.  This team is simply too talented and too well coached to lose to most teams as long as the players are focused and playing with intensity. The South Carolina contest will provide a real measure of this new version of the Cardinal.  

 

            More Questions         

 

1.  Will the officials ever stop allowing teams to pummel our "bigs" - especially Cameron Brink?

            Although the officials called almost three times as many fouls on CSUN as on the CARD and their 6'6'' center fouled out, (28 - 10), the CSUN number could easily have been doubled.  It's not that the officials did such a bad job, but with tall players it's hard to watch both the hacks on their arms and the banging against their bodies.  At least our players will be ready for the physical play in the tournament.

 

2.  What will it take to fill the stands?

            This is a repeat question -- but it really is frustrating to see so many empty seats at Maples for a game that isn't even on TV (beyond live stream).  There were more students in the stands than in past years, and it was a mid-week game conflicting with some classes.  Hopefully when the Pac-12 season starts more students will show up.  It would also be good to see more families -- especially with young girls in attendance.  This is a fun team to watch with very personable players, like all-world Haley Jones.

 

3.  What will college sports look like in the future?

            Stanford is somewhat of a unicorn in collegiate sports -- at school that competes meaningfully at the highest levels with genuine student athletes.  But as the pressure for billion-dollar media deals causes schools to send student athletes on semi-constant cross-country plane rides throughout the season and play games at crazy hours, will Stanford be able to continue running its sports program at a high level and in the interest of student athletes?  

4.  Is anybody reading this blog?

            Since this is a new FBC blog, it is hard to know if it is of interest.  If you have enjoyed it, please leave a comment and if you have ideas for improvements of items to cover, please suggest.  Thanks!!!