A December to Remember
The Cardinal stuffed a break for finals, a holiday break, and six games — including an early PAC-12 opener against CAL — into December. The team ended up with five blowout wins, one lopsided loss, and several entries into the record books. Stanford had wins over San Diego State (85-44), University of Portland (81-52), UC Davis (92-52), CAL (78-51), and Morgan State (98-38). In all five of the wins, Stanford was up by double digits by halftime. In the lone loss at Gonzaga, the CARD trailed by four (41-45) at the half before suffering an 18 point defeat (78-96).
It is tempting to consider the Gonzaga loss an aberration, and perhaps it was. That game was played in Spokane less than 48 hours after the end of a game in San Diego — over 1000 miles away. Cameron Brink was ill, playing only 11 minutes in the early part of the first half (but still scoring 10 points and grabbing 6 rebounds). However, it does remind us that, at a minimum, Cam will be an essential piece for Stanford going forward into the dog fight that will be the PAC-12’s final season.
The final two games were against two Bear teams. On December 29th the team traveled to Cal for the PAC-12 opener against the Golden Bears. It was the 100th game between the two schools and a continuation of a rivalry that began college women’s basketball in the late 19th Century. Last year Cal had made the game in their house uncomfortably close. This year, not so much. Charmin Smith decided that if Stanford was going to beat the Bears, Talana Lepolo would need to do it. And, she did. The Bears sagged of Talana (as many teams have this year), daring her to shoot the three. She hit a career high six three pointers as part of a career high 20 point game — along with six assists, a nice stat line!!! Talana was joined in double figures by Iriafen and Brink, with five other players adding to the score. That situation underscores the importance of players taking their open shot when a better shot isn’t clearly available within the offense.
The last game of the preseason was on New Year’s Eve against a game but clearly overmatched Morgan State Bears team. Morgan State had a number of California players on their roster — so hopefully they enjoyed their trip home because they can’t have enjoyed the game. After Morgan State grabbed the opening tip and scored the first points, the game belonged to Stanford. Morgan State scored 15 points in the first quarter to trail 29-15. They scored six points in each of the next two quarters and only managed 11 in the fourth quarter while Stanford’s reserves scored 23. As with other teams who lack the height to keep up with Stanford’s interior players, Morgan State found themselves shut down and dominated.
Jump Sets the Record
One “December to remember” moment came when Hannah Jump entered the Stanford record book as the career three-point leader against. She hit her 312th shot from beyond the arc against UC Davis. At the first time out after her record setting shot, Hannah was congratulated in a video tribute from her former teammate Kiana Williams, the prior record holder. Of course, Hannah isn’t done yet — she is already up to 316. From now on, a new Stanford record gets set every time Hannah hits a three.
The Best Year Ever
For Tara this must be a bittersweet moment. She said at the outset that she wanted this to be the “best year ever,” and for the PAC-12, it may well be. After over 30 years of Tara working to build respect and national attention for West Coast basketball, it is finally here just as the PAC-12 is going away. Five PAC-12 teams - UCLA, Colorado, Stanford, USC, and Utah - are currently ranked in the top 15 nationally with two more -Washington and Oregon State - in the “other’s receiving votes” group. Eight PAC-12 teams have been in the top 25 at some point this season and most pundits expect seven or eight teams to make the NCAA Tournament.This certainly means that the competition in the conference will be intense. There will be no easy games.
What Have We learned from the Preseason?
With the preseason over and the PAC-12 juggernaut getting underway it seems reasonable to ask what have we learned from the preseason and what we still need to know. Not surprisingly, there aren’t really too many surprises. Before the season began, Tara told fans that she wanted to play with pace, shoot threes, and that our three freshmen would be valuable parts of the rotation. Check, check, and check.
Playing with Pace
This year’s team has been pushing it up the floor and running back hard on defense. The team’s current 85.8 average points per game, if maintained would be the highest scoring average since 2002! The CARD’s lowest scoring game for the season was a 74 point outing against defense minded Belmont on a neutral court. Now, it may be hard to keep that scoring level up against the higher level of competition that PAC-12 teams will likely represent, but it seems clear that Stanford will be running and running hard. Fully utilizing a ten player rotation helps with pace because players can count on getting a breather.
The continued development of Jzaniya Harriel and Chloe Clardy as backup points guards should take some pressure off of Lepolo - allowing her to run the floor with abandon. At this point, Harriel is holding a 2-to-one asist to turnover ratio along with 11 steals and 15 three pointers. Clardy’s points aren’t as prolific, but she is quick and tenacious on defense. Her 10 steals include that critical play against Duke.
Raining Threes
Not only does this team have the most prolific three point shooter in Stanford history in Hannah Jump, but also this year’s Cardinal has a roster full of players who can hit from three. Stanford is averaging 8.4 threes per game. Nine different players have hit from three in a game, with seven different players hitting threes in a single game against Indiana. Seven players have had games where they hit three or more shots from beyond the arc in a single game. We can expect to see the Cardinal continue to shoot from three as they force teams to “pick their poison,” either guard the three point line and let Cam and Kiki run wild or pack the paint and let the three point shooters go crazy.
The TREE-O’s
The three freshman are definitely an integral part of the Stanford rotation. Each has had a “star turn” where their contribution was critical to the team’s success and each has shown both serious skills and great “upside” potential. Nunu Agara’s strength around the rim allows her to “play bigger” than her 6’2” height, allowing her to help in the post rotation. Courtney Ogden is an offensive talent hitting 44% of her shots from the floor while holding a 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio.
Improvement in Returning Players
Cameron Brink has called Kiki Iriafen the most improved player in the country and that isn’t just hyperbole. Last year Kiki 6.7 points per game and 3.8 rebounds, this year she is averaging 16.4. points and 9.7 rebounds. Beyond that, she is playing with a level of confidence she simply didn’t display last year. If Kiki’s improvement wasn’t so dramatic, we would probably be talking about Elena Bosgana. Elena spent the summer playing with the Greek National Team and that experience shows. Always a good shooter, Elena has learned to be a passer as well - she has already recorded more assists this year (23) than she did in her first two seasons combined (21). Her defense has improved as well. The improvement of these juniors along with the addition of the freshmen is a big part of why Stanford has exceeded the preseason expectations of basketball pundits.
The Road Ahead
As we head into the rigors of the PAC-12 season it is clear that this is Cameron Brink’s team — but she has co-stars and coconspirators! The biggest question is — how will Stanford fare against talented teams with talented posts? The matchups against UCLA (Betts), USC (Marshal), and Utah (Pili) may be particularly challenging. Get ready.
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