WOW!

 The Exhibition

        

        Webster defines an exhibition as “a public showing (as of…athletic skill.)”  That is certainly what the Stanford Women’s Basketball team provided for fans on November 1.  The 2023-24 version of the Cardinal hit the century mark well before the end of the 3rd quarter, coasting to a 126 to 53 victory over Division 2 Dominican University that wasn’t as close as the final score suggests.  Every player on the team had the chance to display her skill for at least eight minutes and 60 of the teams 126 points were scored by bench players!  Of course, things will undoubtedly be harder for the Cardinal once the season begins and they play against Division 1 teams, but the display was impressive nonetheless. 

Expectations Confirmed

Celebrating the win

        We have expected Cameron Brink and Hannah Jump to be special — and they provided reassurance that we won’t be disappointed.  Despite taking a shot to the face and playing only 14 minutes, Cam scored 10 points, was perfect from the free throw line, had four blocks, and six rebounds, and two assists. Hannah Jump went 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and 5 of 6 overall with three assists, one steal, and zero turnovers in just under 13 minutes on the floor.

        All indications have been that this year’s Card team will make it rain three pointers and the exhibition continued that narrative.  Stanford shot 46% from 3 point range for the game.  Five different players: Jump, Elena Bosgana, Talana Lepolo, Jzaniya Harriel, and Courtney Ogden, hit over 50% of their three point attempts!  Of course, things will undoubtedly be harder for the Cardinal once the season begins and they play against Division 1 teams, but the display was impressive nonetheless.  

        For this game at least, free throws were not a problem.  Stanford players only missed two of their 17 opportunities at the charity stripe.  Given the number of games in recent years where missed free throws have been the difference between a win and a loss, this performance with comforting.

This is a talented team

        The pundits who have ranked the CARD 15th or 16th in the country suggest that beyond Brink and Jump, this team doesn’t have much.  This exhibition suggests otherwise.  There are a number of talented players on this team.  And, perhaps more importantly, the exhibition gave us a chance to see that this is a talented TEAM!  There was joy and evident camaraderie among the players — this group likes playing together.  The “senior” leaders are special — but the rest of the team is pretty darn good and may well be “special” by the time they are done.  That “rest of the team” includes last year’s surprise — point guard Talana Lepolo who started her college career with 11 assists and no turnovers.  Talana looked comfortable and ready to lead the team in her 13 minutes on the floor - scoring 5 points on 2 of 3 shooting, grabbing a rebound and making one assist while having zero turnovers.

The Next Leaders

        The junior class showed up and showed that they can be leaders.  Kiki Iriafin and Elena Bosgana led the team in scoring with 19 points each.  Kiki also had 14 rebounds for a nifty double-double despite playing less than 17 minutes.  In addition to scoring 19 points in her first career start, Elena Bosgana had five rebounds, four assists, and three steals! A very nice stat line — with the team leading four assists being perhaps the most impressive number — it’s an indication that this is a team where players are willing to share the ball. Brooke Demetre struggled with her shot, but pulled down 12 rebounds along with two assists and two steals, a nice way to help a team win when your shot isn’t falling.  The other “junior,” redshirt sophomore Jzaniya Harriel scored 13 points, 2 of 3 from beyond the arc, 5 of 8 overall, with 3 steals, two rebounds, and an assist.

Kiki Iriafen has reasons to smile

        The Tree-o’s are for real!  Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden both scored 16 points, right behind Kiki and Elena for the team lead.  Agara continues to impress with her strength inside — she isn’t going to get pushed around — but she also demonstrated some shooting touch from the middle of the lane.  Ogden had 10 rebounds to give her a double-double, but four of them came in one almost humorous sequence where she missed on four straight attempts at a “bunny” — persevering with rebounds until finally successful on the shot.  It seems very likely that Courtney will have a number of more legitimate double-double’s before her career is over. 

The third Tree-o, Chloe Clardy scored eight points on 2 of 5 shooting and a perfect 4 for 4 from the line.  Like Harriel, Chloe showed good point guard skills, providing some assurance that Talana won’t need to be an “iron-woman” this year. 

Ogden’s first chance to throw a victory ball!

Questions and maybe Answers

1. How will the team do against stronger opponents?

Last year’s edition of the Cardinal blew out less talented teams but often struggled against more evenly matched teams.  Those are the games where coaching, leadership, and chemistry make the difference.  We know Stanford has the coaching — but do we have the leadership and team chemistry.  It looks like it — but the final answer is a few months away….

2. How many times will multiple players hit double-doubles in the same game?

Last year Cam was almost a double-double machine, with a triple-double thrown in for good measure. On Wednesday Kiki and Courtney had double-doubles.  Several other players had stat lines that suggest a double-double is possible.  So — how often will there be multiple double-doubles for this team — proving that the CARD isn’t just Cam and the Cammets?

3.  Are we closer to knowing who is this year’s pleasant surprise? 

There are at least four players I could nominate — but let’s wait a while to say for sure….