The Season Has Begun!
The Stanford Cardinal began the official 2025-26 season with two games in the first full week of November. The first game was against a University of North Carolina, Greensboro team that went 25-7 last year, ending their season in NCAA tournament, but lost most of their players to graduation and transfer. The second was against a fellow Bay Area team Santa Clara, a team with a new coach and a talented lineup that is expected to do well this season. The Stanford Women won both; defeating UNCG by 45 points and Santa Clara by 21. The first game was a romp, the second game was close until Stanford blew it open late in the 3rd quarter. As with the exhibition game the prior week, these games opened both a new season and a new era.
The New Era
For the first time in a quarter of a century the opening lineup for Stanford Women's Basketball included two freshmen, Hailee Swain and Lara Somfai. None of the current Cardinal players had been born when freshmen Nicole Powell and Susan King (now King Borchardt) took the court as starters for the 2000-2001 season opener. Although the presence of two freshmen in the opening lineup is in part a reflection of the Cardinal's hugely talented freshman class, it is also a reflection of the new realities in college hoops. Young players in search of social media followers and NIL money want the opportunity to learn in the game not just in practice. Some may be able to recognize that their development will be facilitated by the opportunity to work their way into the college game, but many including the most experienced want to play now. It is worth noting that the last time Stanford brought in a freshman class with this much talent, three players transferred to other schools after the season. Those three players were all playing in last year's NCAA Sweet 16.
It is hard to say how much Stanford's starting lineup reflects Coach Kate's awareness of the new world in college basketball and how much it simply reflects how darn good these freshmen are! Lara Somfai led the team in scoring against UNCG with 15 and collected 8 rebounds. She followed that up with her first career double-double against Santa Clara; scoring 15 points along with 13 rebounds. Our other freshman starter, Hailee Swain scored 12 in the season opener and 13 against Santa Clara. Hailee also led the team in "Plus/Minus" metric against UNCG. Fellow freshman Alex Eschmeyer also impressed in the two opening games. She scored 13 points against UNCG (along with 5 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal and ZERO turnovers), then followed that up with her first career double-double against Santa Clara. In addition to her 11 points and 12 rebounds, Alex contributed 4 blocks, 1 steal and again had ZERO turnovers! At this point the question is less, "why is Stanford starting two freshmen" and more "how long will it be before Stanford is starting three freshmen?" Of course, despite their obvious talent, it is clear that these three star freshmen are still learning the Stanford system. There have been a number of moments when the offense wasn't flowing like it can and players didn't quite know where they were supposed to be. But at this level of competition, talent can make up for what they don't know. Hopefully by the time that isn't true the youngsters will know where they need to be.
The "returners" are ready
As impressive as Stanford's freshmen are, the returning players are demonstrating that they worked hard over the summer. Last year's breakout player Nunu Agara scored double-digit points in both games. Nunu also flirted with double-digit rebounds and is doing a great job of taking care of the ball. Last year's offensive surprise, Chloe Clardy scored 12 points in each of the games, hitting 55% from three for the two games. Chloe also has an impressive 3.5/1 assist-to-turnover-ratio. Telana Lepolo IS BACK after missing almost all of last season with complications from her knee surgery from the prior year. Telana looks like she really hit the gym. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is a team high 4-1. Especially impressive was Telana's willingness to shoot when the team needed it. Against Santa Clara she went 4 of 6 from three-point land, helping to break open a tight game in the second half.
Mary Ashley Stevenson, Shay Ijwoye, and Courtney Ogden have had less time on the court but each has shown some positive moments. Kennedy Umeh has been injured and unable to play in the official games. Freshman Nora Ezike is also nursing an injury. Nora and fellow freshman Carly Amborn are both clearly still leaning the Stanford playbook -- a challenge for any newcomer. It is likely that eight or ten players will get the bulk of the minutes in anything like a close game. It's a long season and ultimately the CARD's success will likely depend on how well the entire team practices and plays -- basketball is, after all, a team sport.
Questions:
1. Stanford is looking great now, will the CARD still be undefeated when they play Tennessee Dec. 3?
Although in basketball any team can lose if they have a truly off night. However, this schedule, like many pre-season schedules gets harder as it goes along. The three games from Dec. 3 to Dec. 19 will be a real gauntlet and a real test of this year's squad. Tennessee is currently ranked in the top 10, CAL is our rival, and Washington is ranked 26 in the AP with 79 points to Stanford's 3....Although pre-season polls have a strong resemblance to tea-leaf reading, it does suggest that those games in December may be rough.
2. Which statistic will come down first -- Stanford's gaudy shooting percentages or Stanford's turnover numbers?
Through the first two games the CARD are shooting just over 49% from the floor and just under 49% from the three-point line. They are also turning the ball over an average of 13.5 times per game. Which number will come down first -- the shooting percentages or the number of turnovers?
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