First Game - First Win

 Kiki Showed the Way

Iriafen gives postgame interview

        Stanford opened the official season with an 87 to 40 win over the University of Hawaii. This year’s edition of the Cardinal was dominant from the start — taking a 24 to 12 lead in the first quarter and never being seriously challenged after that.  None of the starting five played in the 4th quarter and the starters mostly sat on the bench for the whole second half.  

        

        The Card was led by Kiki Iriafen.  She demonstrated the talent and tenacity that has led us to believe she will be Stanford’s next shinning star in the Brink-Jump constellation.  She scored a career best (so far) 23 points, picking up a double-double with 13 rebounds while only playing 24 minutes.  Those 23 points were remarkably efficient; Kiki was 10 of 14 from the floor (over 71%) and 3 for 3 at the free throw line.  Although Stanford out rebounded Hawaii 60 to 18, rebounding was mostly a team effort with every member of the Cardinal snagging at least one rebound while Iriafen was the team’s only double digit rebounder. Kiki was joined in double figure scoring by freshman Nunu Agara with 18 points, Brooke Demetre with 12, and Elena Bosgana with 10.  

Expectations Confirmed

        The trends and expectations that started from the open practice continue to play out.  We expected the Cardinal to hit their free throws — they hit 19 of 20.  We expected the Card to shoot a lot of three pointers - 17 of the teams 66 shots (over 25%) were from three.  We expected that if teams guarded the three point line aggressively, the Card’s interior would make them pay - and they did.  Over 56% of Stanford’s 87 points were scored by the Cardinals three post players — Iriafen, Brink, and Agara.  Additionally, as defenders harassed her at the three point line, Hannah Jumped showed her versatility by hitting 60% on her drives to the basket. Finally, we expected the frosh TREE-OS to see a lot of action — and they did.  Of course, in this game everybody played at least four minutes and Stanford had 10 players rack up double digit minutes. Nonetheless, it is clear that for now Stanford is using a 10 player rotation with the freshmen fully embedded in that rotation.  

One Answer

        At this point it does appear that Nunu Agara is this year’s “pleasant surprise.”  She has looked poised and talented — appearing to be a solid third option in the paint.  Agara has strength and agile moves down low while also showing the ability to hit most shots she tries from within six to eight feet from the basket. Her 18 points are the most points scored by a freshman in a season opener since Candace Wiggins — and Tara says Nunu can hit from three! The other two freshmen have shown talent and flashes of brilliance, but they look like freshmen.  The flashes are often followed by freshman mistakes.  Agara has shown the sort of consistency that causes Tara to say of her, “she doesn’t look like a freshman, she looks like a basketball player.”

Questions

1. How will this team do against stronger opponents?

        Thus far we have seen Stanford play against two teams.  Dominican had some quick players, but they lacked the size to play against the Cardinal.  Hawaii had size — three players listed at 6’4” — but they weren’t quick enough to cause real problems.  None of Hawaii’s players reached double figure scoring and the Hawaii team shot below 24% overall and from three.  By contrast, six of the seven Stanford players who scored hit 50% or more of their shots.  So, we can be fairly confident that against teams that lack size or quickness, this year’s Cardinal will dominate.  But, the question remains, how will they do against teams with both size and quickness?  We should get our first answer to that question on Sunday when Stanford takes on 9th ranked Indiana at 2:00 pm.

2. Can the team stay healthy?

        The next question/concern is can this team stay healthy?  While last year’s team had so much (too much?) talent that they could truly have a “next player up” attitude towards injury or foul trouble, this year’s team probably doesn’t.  It was concerning to see Cameron Brink’s back being worked on from the bench after she asked to be substituted out in the second quarter.  She obviously wasn’t her normal self — missing six of her eight shots from the floor.  It was frightening to see Kiki Iriafen being helped off the floor from the bench — although she later confirmed that it was just a cramp.  It is hard to imagine this year’s team being successful without Brink, Iriafen or Jump.