Another Win -- and hopefully another lesson learned

Basketball Is a Team Sport

 

            It is no secret that this year's Stanford team does not have any universally acknowledged superstars - none of the current players were rated in the top five of their recruiting class, none were preseason All Americans.   There is no player who can be expected to "put this team on her shoulders" and create victories against top teams. But this team does have a strong core of talented players, including McDonald's All Americans Brooke Demetre and Courtney Ogden and Jordan Brand Classic All Americans Nunu Agara and Chloe Clardy.  All the players who played high school ball in the US were highly rated by the various talent evaluators.  Many of the players have been on age-group National teams and Elena Bosgana is on the Greek National team. In a nutshell, basketball isn't tennis -- it’s a team sport and this team -- as a team -- has the pieces to compete with anybody.  The question is, can they play team basketball?

 

                  For this year's Cardinal, the challenge of playing as a team is made more difficult by the lack of experience in being a core group.  The 2024-25 team lost last year's top three scorers, top three rebounders, and three of last year's top assist makers. Of the returning players, only Talana Lepolo was the leader (assists) or in the top two (three pointers made) for any statistical category -- and Talana is still recovering from surgery to deal with last season's knee injury.  The task isn't about plugging one or two newcomers into an existing core nucleus -- it’s about virtually developing a new team.  Establishing team cohesion while continuing individual development is what the preseason needs to do.  Hopefully, on Monday night against Cal Poly this team took another step in that process.

 

                  Lacking the size to dominate in the paint, another obvious fact about this team is that its offense is going to come primarily from outside shooting and drives to the basket -- with a few well-chosen midrange jumpers in the mix. It is hard for opposing teams to prevent both.  Concentrating of running shooters off the three-point line usually opens perimeter.  The task for Stanford players is to recognize what's open and take advantage.  Good teams will make that task more difficult by switching up their defense -- sometimes doing one and sometimes doing the other rather than employing the same strategy all game.  

 

Monday Night

 

                  Although Stanford led wire-to-wire in the game against Cal Poly, it was a tale of two halves.  In the first half Stanford's offense didn't do a good job of moving the ball or taking advantage of what the defense allowed.  Offensive possessions were often marked by several players standing around while ball handlers tried to figure out what to do -- ending in rushed or poor shots. As a result, Stanford only led by eight points at the half. The game had the feel of one that could get "stolen."  In timeouts, normally positive Coach Paye was visibly and vocally angry with the team.  

                  In the second half, Stanford played like a team -- recognizing open driving lanes which then opened up three-point opportunities.  This more aggressive play resulted in Stanford dominating the scoring in the 3rd Quarter by 12 points and making the game into a rout in the 4th. The scoring was led by Brooke Demetre -- a senior starting to show her potential both as a player and a team leader.  Brooke is one of three Stanford players currently averaging double-digit points, along with fellow senior Elena Bosgana and Stanford's scoring leader, sophomore Nunu Agara.  

 

 

Questions:

 

1.  What will we see on Friday?

Against UC San Diego, another overmatched opponent, will Stanford demonstrate lessons learned from the Cal Poly game or will they revert? 

 

2. When will Stanford get respect?

Despite its long tradition of excellence, Stanford opened the season unranked while Iowa State, a team Stanford defeated in the NCAA tournament, opened the season ranked 8th.   Thus far this season Stanford has recorded blow-out wins against five teams, one 13-point win over a good UC-Davis team, and one loss to Big 10 Indiana.  After a brief entry into the Top 25 at 24, Stanford has fallen back into the realm of the unranked.  Iowa State has recorded blow-out wins over some of the teams they have played, a two-point win over two-and-four Drake, and a 12-point loss Missouri Valley Conference Northern Iowa.  Iowa State is currently ranked 15th.  As the season plays out, we'll see if the pundit world continues to sleep on Stanford.