WBB 2023-2024 Season - Printable Version
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RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - BobK - 12-07-2023
Ahh so much here. But I decline to comment
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - JohnR34231 - 12-07-2023
(12-07-2023, 10:58 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote: An insightful article about Lauren Betts' transformation at UCLA. Her decision to transfer wasn't all about playing time.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2023-12-05/ucla-lauren-betts-feature
Quote:When players need to work on their basketball skills, they hit the gym. But at UCLA, when they need to work on their mental skills like Betts, they hit the “mind gym.” The program’s comprehensive mental conditioning regimen has been a secret to unlocking the sophomore center’s full potential after a disappointing freshman season crushed her confidence. . .
The program was a key point in Close’s recruiting pitch to Betts out of the transfer portal. “I knew that her potential was a 10,” Close said, “but I knew that her confidence was not a 10 yet.”
Quote:With her pick of colleges, Betts chose Stanford, lured by the program’s prestige and legendary coach Tara VanDerveer. But because of the pandemic, she was not able to visit the school before committing. She understood the transition to college would come with inevitable speed bumps, especially in a deep post position group, but it wasn’t just a diminished role on the court that didn’t meet the top prospect’s expectations.
“A lot of the things I would say that people assume that I knew, that’s not what I was told,” Betts said. “It’s tricky to really go into specifics. I wouldn’t say anything specific happened, but I would say it was a long period of just not what I wanted as a freshman. … I didn’t feel like I could see myself playing there for four years.”
The experience eroded Betts’ self-belief to the point that Close didn’t think Betts’ confidence would return to its peak until late December or January. Then she dominated in her UCLA debut with 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes as the Bruins crushed Purdue 92-49 in their season opener.
Close stresses that Betts is no average center. During the team’s summer conditioning tests that included on-court sprints and a mile run, Betts made all the time benchmarks for the guards. When the Bruins switched every screen against Purdue, Betts didn’t get beat on defense one time, Close said. For defensive inspiration, Close shows Betts clips of San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama. UCLA’s star center can be that type of defensive presence, the 13th-year coach believes. “She’s not one-dimensional,” Close said.
After her confidence was buoyed by her elite recruiting status and basketball success as a child, Betts is starting to believe her versatility can extend beyond the basketball court. At UCLA, her self-image doesn’t have to depend solely on how many points she scores or how many rebounds she grabs. Expanding her perspective has only helped improve her play.
Well, they say Stanford isn't for everyone, and I guess Betts is one of those people in that category.
Sounds like she is happier at Bruinland and if she is more power to her.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - OCcardinal - 12-07-2023
The difference seems primarily related to minutes to me. Per Herhoopstats:
At Stanford/At UCLA
MIN PER GAME 9.6/23.6
WS/40 0.30/0.28
OFF WS/40 0.21/0.22
DEF WS/40 0.09/0.06
PTS/40 24.4/27.4
REB/40 14.7/15.0
AST/40 2.0/1.7
STL/40 0.6/0.2
BLK/40 3.7/2.4
TO/40 2.0/3.4
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE 7/22
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - 81alum - 12-07-2023
Gonzaga, playing at Cal, has gone to overtime tied 65-65. Cal must have figured out how to defend them, holding them 30 points under what we did.
Gonzaga dominates in overtime and defeats Cal 78-70. They were helped by sinking 17 free throws, but they shot only 36%, 29% from three. Either our game with them was some sort of freak game, or Cal's defense is a whole lot better than it has been in the past.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - MV72018 - 12-08-2023
(12-07-2023, 10:06 PM)81alum Wrote: Gonzaga, playing at Cal, has gone to overtime tied 65-65. Cal must have figured out how to defend them, holding them 30 points under what we did.
Gonzaga dominates in overtime and defeats Cal 78-70. They were helped by sinking 17 free throws, but they shot only 36%, 29% from three. Either our game with them was some sort of freak game, or Cal's defense is a whole lot better than it has been in the past.
There's another plausible possibility: that our defense against Gonzaga was truly horrible, resulting in many more open looks and much high shooting percentages.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - M T - 12-08-2023
Yeah, right.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - 81alum - 12-08-2023
(12-08-2023, 08:44 AM)MV72018 Wrote:That is not "another" possibility. I agree with you that our defense against Gonzaga was horrible, but having a horrible defense against Gonzaga does not preclude my interest in how Cal was able to do 31 points better. I'd love to know what Cal did, partly so we can learn from it, and partly because we are about to play Cal. Washington State held Gonzaga to 72, Louisville to 70, so other teams did something on defense we did not do and I'd like to know why we weren't able to do as well and how they did it.(12-07-2023, 10:06 PM)81alum Wrote: Gonzaga, playing at Cal, has gone to overtime tied 65-65. Cal must have figured out how to defend them, holding them 30 points under what we did.
Gonzaga dominates in overtime and defeats Cal 78-70. They were helped by sinking 17 free throws, but they shot only 36%, 29% from three. Either our game with them was some sort of freak game, or Cal's defense is a whole lot better than it has been in the past.
There's another plausible possibility: that our defense against Gonzaga was truly horrible, resulting in many more open looks and much high shooting percentages.
I or others will certainly be asking the chalk talk coach about that defense. Hopefully it will be Tempie, who answers questions and is always good natured about it. She jokes that they always send her in after a loss. It almost looked like the whole team, and not just Brink, was playing sick. But that might be wishful thinking on our part. We have had problems with perimeter defense all year, and the absence of Brink and Iriafen gave us new problems with interior defense and rebounding. Having problems with exterior defense, interior defense, and rebounding--that is a very bad combo. That is more likely the explanation.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - mbdude - 12-08-2023
Gonzaga Cal replay on pac12 130 today (saturday)
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - M T - 12-08-2023
Including overtime, Gonzaga/Cal had 67/68 possessions while Stanford/Gonzaga had 67/68 possessions in 40 minutes, so if you look at the whole game in each case, you discount for the pace. So, it is an 18 point difference for the same number of possessions.
The stat that jumped out at me was that Gonzaga at Stanford is listed as 20/26 on layups for 44 points in the paint. (13/27 at Cal, 26 pts in the paint). That difference is, drum-roll please...., 18 points. (FTR, Stanford was 15/24, Cal was 11/21). Notice also that in each of those games, Gonzaga got more layups than their opponent.
That seems consistent with Stanford's limited minutes by the two players who would be in there guarding the rim (Brink 12min, Iriafen 24min).
I'm sure there's more (PIP is not the whole story), but this is a big chunk of it. Gonzaga was the home team versus Stanford while it was the visitor vs Cal. I believe that affects foul calls.
Washington State and Louisville were away games for Gonzaga. At Washington State, the game had OT and Gonzaga had 77 possessions. Gonzaga was 10/25 on layups (24 PIP), scoring a total of 72 pts. At Louisville, Gonzaga had 63 possessions and was 9/13 on layups (20 PIP), scoring a total of 70 pts.
Pretty clearly, Stanford's lack of interior defense was the major issue in the loss to Gonzaga.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - acerep - 12-09-2023
On a much more fun note, the Fast Break Club site, www.stanfordfbc.org, has a short video showing the players being visited by therapy dogs after practice. You can find it under the Twitter list or the Facebook list. Elena Bosgana's reaction is sure to make you smile.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - crackpot - 12-09-2023
Apologies if someone already posted this. Starting this season the NET rankins are being updated daily.
https://stats.ncaa.org/selection_rankings/nitty_gritties/34288
Stanford is currently #2. Gonzaga is at #12 (just behind UNLV, interestingly 'nuf)...
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - Jskass - 12-10-2023
Am at Mohegan Sun for WBB Hall of Fame Classic. UCLA rolled over FSU but lots of fouls. Betts clearly the go-to player though she is not called for her fouls. She and Dugalic quite a duo, though I noticed that often Cori deliberately had Betts and Rice in at the same time (and out too).
This team is so deep at guard it is ridiculous - had players w 2 fouls in first quarter or 3 at half and they kept rolling.
Favorite basket was a pass from 35 C Brown that got deflected by an FSU player into the UCLA basket.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - 81alum - 12-10-2023
(12-10-2023, 12:15 PM)Jskass Wrote: Am at Mohegan Sun for WBB Hall of Fame Classic. UCLA rolled over FSU but lots of fouls. Betts clearly the go-to player though she is not called for her fouls. She and Dugalic quite a duo, though I noticed that often Cori deliberately had Betts and Rice in at the same time (and out too).Also of interest today, South Carolina defeats Utah 78-69. Utah might have won except for a terrible first quarter when the went 16-27. Their play was certainly prettier ;)
This team is so deep at guard it is ridiculous - had players w 2 fouls in first quarter or 3 at half and they kept rolling.
Favorite basket was a pass from 35 C Brown that got deflected by an FSU player into the UCLA basket.
Meanwhile, Washington is taking it to Washington State. Perhaps Washington is the new power in the north--we saw hints of that last year. .
Washington is leading the nation in defense, and is 9-0, though unranked. Leger-Walker was held scoreless until the last minute of the 3rd quarter. They are looking like the formidable team that beat us in Seattle last year.
Washington led by 20 at the half, but WSU came back and narrowed it to a 2 point game before falling further behind in the last minute and losing 60-55. They did it without starter Elle Ladine, who was out sick. Ladine gave us fits last year. Washington is becoming a formidable opponent. We will see them Jan 7 at Maples.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - Jskass - 12-10-2023
In the Utah-South Carolina game, Pili made Cardoso look pedestrian. I met Pili’s Mom in the restroom and when I complimented her on her daughter’s soft touch and shot she attributed it to her husband.
And we left before the end of the UConn-UNC game. Cheered for Nivar and glad she started hitting shots in the 3rd quarter but could not tolerate the obnoxious UConn fans any longer.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - WBB fan - 12-10-2023
I'm not sure whether these thoughts belong here or in the recruiting thread, but I'm going for here. Watching how Betts seems to be blooming at UCLA, I find myself wondering if that could have an impact on Stanford recruiting, possible recruits saying to themselves, well, she's doing really, really well at UCLA, but didn't see that the previous year at Stanford. Was it something out of kilter at Stanford? Something better for her at UCLA, and would I also feel the same way? Maybe I don't want to go to Stanford because of whatever it was -- don't know what the problem was, but it was something, etc.
I'm not suggesting that such thinking would be right. There are many reasons, most of which we aren't privy to, that explain the difference in Betts' between the two years. But I do think that this is a possible line of thinking for at least some possible recruits.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - Jskass - 12-10-2023
Bottom line is she wasn’t going to get substantial playing time w an All American ahead of her and now she is the primary center so gets the time - plus the sophomore jump.
Pili is the one who is in much better shape and plays much better now at Utah than at USC.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - old spanish trail - 12-10-2023
Agree, she wasn't going to be featured at Stanford until NEXT YEAR. That satisfaction, plus the NIL that comes with featured player explains alot. And, maybe she had an unfriendly frosh roommate, or didn't find a clique other than the WBB team, or... Who knows? Remember she carried a sign "Stanford Hates Fun" in that "movement" last year. She's going to be excellent and I wish she were at Stanford, and we don't have the same height among our bigs when it would be especially helpful, but them's the breaks.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - jonnyss - 12-10-2023
i was not a fan of cori close, but i am liking what i'm hearing now. sounds like their sports psychology is quite sophisticated, with several tracks - visualization and other peak performance methods plus addressing distress openly and transparently. both close and betts are saying betts came to ucla discouraged, even depressed. both close and betts talk about facing that and overcoming it. i don't think that's one of stanford's strengths. any player's emotional problem is private, therefore hard to tell how well it is addressed, if at all.
(and before anyone says such information is medically privileged and cannot be discussed publicly, hipaa says such information is owned by the player, who can discuss it, or not, and can give permission for the coaches to address it publicly, or not).
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - Jskass - 12-10-2023
As Cam has opened about her stresses. But probably easier to open publicly when you’re feeling confident that you can handle them.
RE: WBB 2023-2024 Season - 81alum - 12-11-2023
Those of you who are alums may understand how stressful it is for MANY freshmen at Stanford. I remember Fred giving us a pep talk at orientation to combat the "imposter syndrome." For those of us who did not come from elite high schools, it is overwhelming to go from being the biggest fish in a little pond to being a minnow in an ocean of talent. And that is true even before one starts the conversation about athletics.
It takes time to adjust, particularly for kids who are more child-like and less adult-like at that age. People mature at different rates and there are some who are just not ready for everything Stanford has to offer, and in fact feel overwhelmed by it.
I have no insight into the particular stories of Betts and Nivar, but it is understandable that a sports-board would interpret their actions solely in terms of their basketball experiences and opportunities. But that might not be the case. Or it might only be partly the case.
The good news is that the vast majority of Stanford freshmen DO adjust and wind up having the best four years of their lives. But not all.