Has This Young Team Grown Up?
The 2024-25 Stanford Women's Basketball team will end one of the longest holiday breaks in Stanford history with a very long road trip as ACC play starts in earnest. The Cardinal stands at 8-4, ranked 40th in the net, having lost all three of their games against ranked teams. The team currently has zero wins against teams ranked higher in the NET -- the tool used to help select teams for the NCAA tournament. That's the bad news.
The good news is that this is a young team -- and young teams have the potential to end the year a lot better than they were in the beginning of the season. Stanford has three players averaging over ten points per game, led by sophomore Nunu Agara at 17.3 and seniors Elena Bosgana and Brooke Demetre at a tad over 12. The team currently stands third in the country on 3-point percentage, not surprising since six players average 40% or better from three and two more are hitting above two-thirds of their threes.
Nunu Agara is having a bit of a breakout season. She currently leads the team not only in scoring average, but also in rebounds and assists! Unfortunately, Nunu also leads the team in turnovers -- partly due to offensive fouls that are scored as turnovers. Perhaps the most important aspect of Nunu's stats is her improvement over last year. Her scoring is up over 12 points from last year and her rebounding and assists are also improved.
The overall improvement from the sophomore class is quite encouraging. Chloe Clardy, a defensive star last year has significantly improved her offense. Despite not starting any games, Chloe is the team's fifth leading scorer, third in assists and averaging a respectable 44% from the floor. Her quick hands are still part of her game. Chloe is second on the team in steals. The other two members of the sophomore class, Courtney Ogden and transfer Mary Ashley (MA) Stevenson have great upside but haven't come close to their potential.
Point Guard?
Two years ago it looked like Stanford's point guard situation was settled when Talana Lepolo laid claim to the position after the third game in her freshman season. Talana began her career with 11 assists and zero turnovers off the bench in her first game. She was slowed last season by a nagging knee injury that showed up in her defense and required surgery in the off season. So far this season, Talana has been largely absent, playing in only five of Stanford's 12 games. In her absence other players are getting a chance to develop their point guard skills -- most notably Clardy, transfer Tess Heal, and freshman Shay Ijiwoye. Unfortunately, all three of these talented women need to DEVELOP their point guard skills - especially their skills in this movement heavy offense. Too often an offense predicated on ball movement seems stuck. It doesn't help that this year's Cardinal team lacks size -- that makes the task of passing into the post a lot more difficult. If freshman Kennedy Umeh can develop her conditioning and her comfort with college level defense assists may get easier -- but for now that is an if. One begins to wonder if we will see Talana this year -- or will she end up redshirting for the season?
The point guard position will be particularly important in the ACC, a conference that features quick guards and pressing defenses. So for Stanford has not done well when faced with pressing defenses -- hopefully they are learning but the lessons have been painful. Additionally, many ACC teams switch defenses frequently. That makes it even more important to have a point guard who can adjust the offense to the defensive changes.
Up NEXT
Stanford's next game is in Dallas against Southern Methodist University on Thursday evening. That contest will be followed by a game on Sunday morning in South Carolina against Clemson. Neither of those teams are among seven ACC teams above Stanford -- winning will be important.
Questions
1. How will we do in the ACC?
The ACC is a strong conference. As of December 29, there were seven ACC teams with a higher NET ranking than Stanford. This will be a rough conference season -- but the season record only matters in terms of making the NCAA field and getting a good seeding. It's how much the young team develops that will determine how this season ends.
2. How many Stanford WBB fans will step up to join Lifetime Cardinal?
In this strange new world of college athletics fan financial support matters. Will Stanford fans step up.
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