Opening Rounds at Maples
GO KIKI GO!
Stanford followed a solid "tune up" opening round game against a tough and determined Norfolk State team with a heavyweight battle against Iowa State. Against Norfolk only won the opening quarter by two points, but the CARD won each of the following quarters by eight to ten points. All ten players in Stanford's normal rotation had contributions that showed up nicely on the stat sheet, with four CARD players scoring in double digits. It wasn't quite a "laugher," but the outcome was never seriously in doubt, only the margin of victory.
The Iowa State game was a different animal. Cardinal fans could not exhale until Brooke Demetre's two free-throw makes with 11 seconds to go. Kiki's two free-throws, her 40th and 41st points, with five seconds left to give Stanford a six-point lead sealed the outcome! The Cyclones are a freshman heavy team --and freshman heavy teams often "come on" in March as the freshmen mature. Iowa State was led by senior guard Emily Ryan, an All-Big 12 star, and freshman post Audi Crooks. Crooks, an Honorable Mention All-American, made a big splash on Friday night when she scored 40 points in Iowa State's opening round comeback against Maryland.
There were twelve ties and 18 lead changes during the game - the last lead change coming with 19 seconds remaining in overtime! Iowa State's largest lead, seven points, came at the end of the first quarter. Stanford's largest lead, six points, came at the end of overtime. Iowa State won the rebounding battle by 6 -- one of the rare times Stanford has been outrebounded and even rarer times when Stanford has won despite being outrebounded. Part of that was that Stanford won the battle of turnovers (Iowa 19 to Stanford's 11), points off turnovers, bench points, and assists.
Refusing to Lose!
Last year Stanford was challenged in Round Two and lost -- this year the CARD was challenged in Round Two and came out victorious. The difference was that this Stanford TEAM is a team that refused to lose. A big part of that was Kiki Iriafen -- Kiki had a massive game! She scored 41 points on shots from everywhere, she also grabbed 16 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and a steal -- and that doesn't include the number of times that Kiki kept the ball alive on rebounds and hit the floor on lose balls. So, certainly Kiki was the star, but this was a true team victory. Kiki scored 41 points but seven other Cardinal players accounted for the other 46, with only Hannah Jump hitting double figures. Numerous pundits have commented on the different feel about this year's team -- and it was evident in a number of ways. Perhaps one of the biggest was the willingness of Brooke Demetre to put up her game changing three pointers in the waning minutes of the 4th quarter and the last 20 seconds of overtime. Stanford players stayed together in a way that allowed players to take the open shots the offense gave them.
As special as the victory was -- there were also weaknesses exposed that will need to be addressed if the Cardinal is to not only "get out of Maples" but also get to Cleveland. Iowa State hit 63% of their three-point shots as Cardinal players went under ball screens and lost three-point shooters on switches. Stanford players can play good defense -- there were flashes of by every player. Agara's defense was big, especially the charge she drew on Iowa's Ryan. Demetre had some big moments that don't show up on the stat sheet -- like racing down court to prevent an Iowa's Bristow from making a layup on a steal. But, it will take more defense and more consistent defense to win at the next level.
Why is Kiki "the best player nobody is talking about?"
Kiki Iriafen's monster game carried Stanford into the Sweet 16. She was truly a warrior! But why were the pundits surprised? Kiki scored 30 points with 17 rebounds against Florida State and was named MOP of the Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas. She scored 36 points with 12 rebounds against Oregon State to help Tara become the winningest coach in college basketball -- with most of the basketball world watching.
So why can't the pundits talk about Kiki? The Sports Center Show after the game hardly mentioned Kiki -- you only learned that Kiki scored 41 points if you read the crawler under the video but they did tell us about Crooks 40 point game from Friday! If you go to the NCAA website they have highlights of Page Bueckers scoring 32 points and JuJu scoring 26 -- but the Stanford "highlights" on the video board is of Stanford's 1998 loss to Harvard! Is this East Coast bias? Is it that the pundits only have room for one Stanford star so they can't talk about the player who has led the Cardinal in scoring ALL YEAR LONG!!??!! Kiki has more double-doubles than Page Bueckers, she averages a double-double in rebounds and scoring. Kiki hits over 50% of her shots. Kiki Iriafen has put up numbers that deserve to be recognized with All-American accolades. Beyond her numbers, her physical play -- her ability to take a bump and finish through it -- her willingness to hit the deck for loose balls are all the attributes of an All-American. Hopefully that Cardinal can keep their run going in Portland -- giving the rest of the world more time to give Kiki the flowers she deserves.
The New "World" in Women's Hoops
This year's NCAA tournament feels different. For decades there was a clear line between the "cream" of the women's basketball world and the rest of the field. That was true in the PAC-12 and in the NCAA more broadly. The NCAA bracket generally had two opening rounds where the top seeds won by 25 to 50 points while middle seeds played close games to determine who got the chance to be routed next. Games didn't get interesting until the Sweet 16. Thus far in this year's Women's NCAA Tournament there have been four upsets- one in the first round when 6 Seed Louisville lost to Middle Tennessee State. Most of the Second-Round games were competitive, #7 Seed Duke beat #2 Seed Ohio State and two #4 seed host schools lost to #5 seeds. Iowa, UCLA, and NC State all had to battle to win - even when the higher seed won the game wasn't settled until the last quarter! Stanford's game went to overtime and wasn't settled until the last minute! more on this issue in later posts....
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