WBB Open Practice Observations

WBB Open Practice Observations - Printable Version

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WBB Open Practice Observations - Jskass - 10-18-2015

Admittedly I was a few minutes late so didn't get to see it all, but essentially they scrimmaged against team including guys. I did not notice anything unusual --

1. McCall more aggressive
2. Alanna Smith is good and will contribute. She even made a 3 - could be interesting to have her with 2 other bigs (McCall and Kaylee Johnson or sometimes Kailee, who is catching up on her game after having injuries)
3. Brianna Roberson continues to be aggressive
4. Marta Sniezek's passing keeping game moving faster.

Those who weren't in the game at various points were taking shots, and they all worked on free throws. Kaylee Johnson seemed to be nervous on her free throws.

It also appeared that potentially Karlie and Brittany might get less playing time with intense guard competition -- and in the limited time I saw them play, neither amazed me with their offensive plays, but the sample size was very small, as we say in statistics.

Someone asked at the end who would start at PG and Tara said "one of them." She also emphasized that it's not where you start the season, it's where you end it -- and that everyone takes the Pac-12 preseason picks (us at #2 behind OSU) with a grain of salt because it's no longer home and away for every team. Therefore the tournament is a better indicator.

I'm sure others have keener observations than I had, and look forward to hearing them! BTW, were those the Samuelsons down behind the bench? Tara said we would look to schedule UConn in the future, but it just did not work out with the schedule this year because UConn wanted to come play UCLA.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - CompSci87 - 10-18-2015

Thanks for the report! I had meant to go, but forgot.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - 81alum - 10-18-2015

I was hoping for a report.Â Thanks!Â Karlie is listed as a forward now, so I think she and McPhee will be playing the 3.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - BobK - 10-18-2015

Yet uconn isn't playing ucla. ð³

Thanks for the report

Comments on the Mike player who played with the men or Seb who did likewise ?

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Jskass - 10-19-2015

didn't notice a Mike but Seb certainly looked like she was enjoying herself!

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Mike - 10-19-2015

To expand on yesterdays practice, the first seven or eight minutes of which I also missed

Scrimmage utilized three referees. They called fouls, and the fouled players took their foul shot(s). The clock was used and they seemed to play two 10-minute halves, with a 10-minute half-time, about 45-50 minutes in all.

During scrimmage, a buzzer went off on a regular (timed?) basis so that Tara could cycle different lineups in and out. There were quite a few different looks, but no matter who was in there, the team ran a constant fast break, smooth but under control. Very few 3s were taken. The ball was worked into the post and scoring was almost exclusively posts (mostly Erica) putting the ball into the basket on driving layups.

MARTA SNIEZEK played extensively, and only at PG. I didnt see her take any shots, but I did watch her shoot FTs on the side. She has a distinctly different way of shooting FTs that could maybe be improved upon, lets say. However, her PG play is confident and capable. She looks unafraid and in charge. She dribbles on the run with her shoulders slightly turned, like shes always about to throw the ball down court, which she did about half the time -- with accuracy, like a QB with touch.

BRIANA ROBERSON looked super at both PG and the 2, on offense and defense, even better than last year. She made a couple of baskets and looked ready to start.

ALEXA ROMANO played only at the 2, and only for a short time. During that time, though, she seemed to know where she should be and what she should be doing, and her athleticism and good physical conditioning was apparent. I didnt notice her shooting, but she looks capable of strong play, sort of like Bree in her first year, as opposed to Taylor Rooks last year.

KARLIE SAMUELSON played briefly, at the 2 and at the 3. She missed her only 3-point attempt.

ALANNA SMITH played only at the 3, and then only for two or three minutes at a time. Tara said afterward that she wasnt up-to-speed yet and was being rested as a precaution. Her presence at the 3 creates a 3-Bigs (63-65) lineup, but she looks comfortable there, swishing two 3-pointers, and she showed her athleticism by smoothly driving the baseline for a lay-up. You can see shes ready to play somewhere right now, be it the 3 or the 4. Note: Her 3s came on the move, and her set-up was quick and clean, but she uses a push shot that starts chest-high vs head-high, reminiscent of Kate Starbird. It makes you wonder whether it will be blocked during the season. However, I only remember seeing Kates shot blocked once, so maybe the coaches wont make Alanna fix her shot (just yet) if its not broken.

ERICA MCCALL played extensively and has changed noticeably on the offensive end: She looked almost Chiney-like in her carriage and shot-making. She seems to want/demand the ball now, and instead of taking a 4- to 6-foot face up jumper, she immediately goes to the basket with a Chiney-like driving jump hook. Shes more confidently aggressive, and has improved her pre-drive footwork. She should draw more fouls with her new moves, as she did in this practice, and Im happy to say shes looks to have improved her 50% FT shooting from last year, as she swished all (3 or 4?) her FTs yesterday. If this practice is any indication of the season to come, Erica will be the new focal point of our offense.

Neither KAYLEE JOHNSON nor KAILEE JOHNSON exhibited much change from their play of last season. Though they were each in for a while, I dont recall inspired effort by either. A 50% FT shooter last year, Kaylee air balled the first of two FTs yesterday then missed the second badly as well. Kailee went 0 for 1 on 3s.

Not playing in the scrimmage: TESS PICKNELL, SHANNON COFFEE, ALEX GREEN and BRITTANY MCPHEE. Tara said after the game that Shannon had a slight foot problem that should be healed by Monday. She said that Alex (ACL) was expected to be ready to play in mid-December. Tara didnt say why Tess or Brittany didnt play. All four shot baskets on the sidelines during scrimmage, and none of the four hobbled in any discernable way.

LILI THOMPSON was not at practice. When questioned afterward during Q&A, Tara said that Lili was attending to a family matter.

The opposing practice team was all young men, with the exception of former Stanford WBB stand-out Sebnem Kimyacioglu and former freshman walk-on/now senior Kiran Lakhian. Sebnem played at the 2 for quite a while, but it was Kiran at PG who played more minutes than any other woman player yesterday. Kiran played well on both offense and defense, and Tara made a favorable comment about it after practice. Kiran went 1 of 2 on 3s, rebounded, got a couple of turnovers on defense, and took care of the ball without a turnover. She also looks ready to start at PG.

In a post practice Q&A, Tara began by Introducing Sebnem, then the entire staff, and finally the players, with a short complimentary comment about each. The first question asked of Tara was who will be the new starting PG. Tara said that it hadnt been decided, and that the battle was neck-and-neck among 5 players: Marta, Bri, Lili, Alexa and Kiran.

Someone then asked if Kiran was on scholarship. Tara answered by saying only that Kiran was a full member of the team and on the roster.

The next question was what new rule changes had been made. Ones that I can remember are:
1) The one-and-one is history. After 5 fouls, players now shoot two FTs. She said she isnt sure whether that will help or hurt Stanford. Well just have to see.
2) There will be two 10-minute quarters per half now, with a break after each.
3) Teams will be prohibited from calling time-outs in the last second or two if they are unable to advance the ball past half-court within 10 seconds of taking the ball in-bounds from back court.
4) In the last (two?) minutes of the fourth quarter, you can call time-out in the back court and then in-bound the ball in the fore court after the time out, similar to NBA rules.

Next came what offense are we going to run. Tara said that we have the people to run, and well do that. When the situation is half court, we will aggressively work it into the post and shoot. She doesnt want anyone to be afraid to shoot or be hesitant in doing so. Shell also mix a little triangle in now and then.

Someone then congratulated her on her 2-year contract extension, for which she expressed appreciation.

When questioned how we came to recruit Alanna, Tara said that Alannas dad had contacted her first, asking how Alanna should go about getting on the team. He was directed to Admissions to start, then told to make Alanna available for evaluation by Tara to see if she was good enough to make the team.

Someone asked whether it was true that we would press this year. Tara answered that she was strongly considering it. She believes we have the team to do so.

Lastly, it was pointed out that we have a new score board and 4 new video screens, one in each corner of the arena. However ALL the championship banners that were where the speakers now are have been removed, and she doesnt know where they will be hung when they reappear.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - 81alum - 10-19-2015

Thank you Mike!Â That is a superb report, filled with interesting insight.Â +1

I don't know whether to be concerned about Lili or not.Â I guess we will just have to wait and see.Â I hope she and her family are OK.

Great news about Erica.Â Another data-point confirming her growth and development.Â However, keep in mind that in the summer league last year Erica looked like Chiney, but things were quite different once the season began.Â Still, this sounds very encouraging that her offensive moves are developing.

I wonder what was meant by saying that Alanna was not up to speed yet?Â Very interesting that she was playing at the 3, though, which would explain why Karlie and McPhee got more limited time.Â There could be an embarrassment of riches at that position.Â Karlie and Brittany are excellent talents, though, and Tara has to figure out how to effectively use them.

I was hoping to see big improvements from Kailee this year now that she should be over her nagging injury.Â And Kaylee, as good as she was defensively, needs to develop offensively just as you indicated McCall has.Â Those are things to be looking for in the exhibitions and early games.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - TheFarm07 - 10-19-2015

Thank you as well!Â That's a great recap of the open practice.Â It raises optimism and a couple of concerns as well, but we'll see how it will all play out.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Mike - 10-19-2015

Thank you for your comments, 81Alum and The Farm07. I want to be clear that what I wrote was my day-old recollection of things, my personal observations, and especially when it comes to what Tara said, probably not verbatim quotes, although Im comfortable that the essence is there. That said, the context of what Tara said about Alanna not playing very much yesterday seemed to me to indicate she wasnt quite yet physically up to it. Now, that may be jet lag, a prior bout of flu, or mono. Who knows? But thats how I interpreted her statement. However, you could have fooled me. Alanna certainly seemed to have a lot of positive productive energy in the short periods during which she played. Shes definitely a 3/4-year starter.

I did come in a few minutes late, and during that time Brittany (and Tess) may have played, but Im reasonably certain she didnt get into the scrimmage after that point. Why? I dont know.

I remember the excitement surrounding Ericas play (frequent scoring) in the SF summer league last year, but thats pick-up, undisciplined BB. Her play yesterday was different, under coaches watchful eyes in a well-run practice. Shes changed quite a bit, and so has her shot repertoire. Also, her shots were going in! She looks and sounds like shes turned the corner and will be the new team leader and go-to scorer.

On the other hand, its very early and only a small sampling of play, but I was disappointed in both Kaylee and Kailee. Perhaps to show improved offensive effort, Kaylee took a driving semi-hook shot that she would not have attempted last year, but it did not look very polished, was not successful, and was not repeated. But if she can still rebound as she did as a freshman, that will be needed and get her lots of minutes and a place in the rotation. Kailees play was also OK, but similarly did not stand out. She seems to be a reaction rather than action person, and to still be looking for her niche on the team. Theres still time for her.

Lastly, I consider myself a good observer, and just as Ive said in a couple of other strings that Kirans manner of play reminds me of Jillian Harmon, and in this one that Alexa Romano reminds me of first-year Bri, watching Shannon Coffee shoot on the side, as well as what I saw in the sparse amount of video available from the summer league in SF, brings to mind Sarah Boothes game. IMHO, all three should be good enough to contribute regularly during the season, as opposed to riding the bench and only participating in practice, but then again Kiran got to play only about 10 minutes or less in four games total her first year (2 for 2 from 3-point land). I may trust what I see, but, of course, Im not a coach. I dont get to see practice every day, every week, so what do I know? And I realize there are only so many minutes to go around. Tara has said she could see playing 8-9-10 on a regular basis based on what shes observed so far, so the bench could still beckon for Tess, Alex, Kailee, Alexa and/or Kiran. We shall see.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - BobK - 10-19-2015

Thanks all.Â McPhee did play.Â Not sure when you arrived but others were there 10-10:30.Â
I doubt Kiran will play much but your report on her, Mike, jibes with others who saw all.

Remember Smith wasn't here all summer with the other Frosh.Â Yes she played all summer as we know but missed all that conditioning the other players went through this summer

As for Kiran on scholie? Well we have 13 now and as we have seen from the few other years when we had less than 15 Tara awards scholies.Â

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Jskass - 10-19-2015

Mike, that was great. I have a few additional comments:

1. Alanna - what I heard was that she has some fatigue (remember she was playing on the AUS team later into the summer) so my sense was that
Tara is just letting Alanna get some extra rest.
2. Lili - she is fine; a personal friend of the family was sitting behind me so during the scrimmage we spoke. Lili was away for the weekend visiting an ill relative.
3. agreed on the status of the other returning players (and I saw Kaylee miss more than 2 free throws badly). Other than McCall and Bri, I frankly didn't see much evidence of significant improvement in anyone, which was a bit disappointing. Am looking forward to seeing that jump in Kaylee Johnson to become more effective offensively. However, without seeing Brittany, it's hard to tell her status.
4. Freshmen -- their play was pretty consistent with their play during the summer at the SF ProAm. I will note here that the second time I saw Coffee play this summer, she looked much more confident and comfortable than earlier. While not in Jane Appel's league, with work I think Coffee can achieve better results than Sarah Boothe. Let's hope the foot heals and isn't a stress fracture.
5. On the rules, I thought Tara also mentioned a change to the results of a timeout when one is getting close to the 10 seconds to advance the ball midcourt: up until now if you were 8 or 9 seconds in and called a time-out, you got the 10 seconds reinstated when passing the ball back into court but this year it will remain at only 1-2 seconds until the violation.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - BobK - 10-19-2015

You heard right about the 10 second rule.

I should say that TOS had some great reviews also ð

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Mike - 10-19-2015

Thanks, Jskass. That makes a lot more sense about the 10-second rule change. I was missing a piece of it.

You know, Kaylee was just terrific last year as a freshman, a real find. I think, right now, she's probably outside her comfort zone working on the steps/shots/moves she must take and accomplish to advance/contribute offensive-wise. That will come with solid coaching, effort and patience. As long as she doesn't lose her fantastic rebounding touch while she's at it, all should end well for everyone concerned.

Kailee, on the other hand, may develop like Taylor Greenfield, and take a while to find out what her best area in helping the team is. There were lots of comments about Taylor on this board throughout her stay here, but boy did "Tournament Taylor" find her niche big time in her senior year to help us at the end of the season when we needed it. Kailee, also, may yet break out when we least expect and most need it.

The future is unknown. That's why season beginnings are full of hope and excitement. I can't wait for November.

Side note to Bob: ESPN has posted a fourth Stanford recruit for the 2017 class: three-star, 6'2" W, Estella Moschau from Wisconsin.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - BobK - 10-19-2015

Mike do you mean Moschkau is a 2017 prospect?Â Not a commit.Â Who are the other three ?Â
Man you both scared and excited me lol

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - 81alum - 10-19-2015

(10-19-2015, 05:48 PM)BobK link Wrote:Mike do you mean Moschkau is a 2017 prospect?Â Not a commit.Â Who are the other three ?Â
Man you both scared and excited me lol

He means there are now four 2017 prospects who list Stanford as a possible school they are interested in on their long lists of schools.Â Those are:

Kiana Williams, PG Wagner H.S. (TX)
Shalexxus Aaron, W Juanita H.S. (WA)
Tea Adams, PG Juanita H.S. (WA)
Estella Moschkau, W Edgewood H.S. (WI)

At this point, most of the 2017 prospects don't list any schools.Â You have watched the Washington kids play, no?Â

2017 is really, really heavy on point guards.Â Kiana Williams is the 23rd ranked prospect overall but only the 9th ranked point guard!Â She is interested in Stanford, C.al, A&M, Baylor, and a bunch of other schools.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - M T - 10-20-2015

(10-19-2015, 11:49 AM)garvin link Wrote:This is what comes of having standing committees on rules -- they get bored and say, hey. let's change something to remind everybody we're still alive. Not one of these will add a thing to the game, and at least one -- changing to quarters -- will make games drag on longer for no reason.

I often find that Garvin is actually quite astute.Â Or, at least, he says things I agree with, which must mean he is astute.

Recently, weren't basketball games lasting about 2:05?Â Now it will be even less likely to fit in 2 hours.Â Maybe this is the networks trying to mess up those of us who record the games.Â (Well, I've fixed them - I've got the TiVo that can record 6 things at once.Â But it is damn hard to watch 6 at once!)Â

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - Mike - 10-20-2015

Sorry to get you going, Bob. Bad choice of words: "prospect," not "recruit." Thanks, 81alum.

Re: WBB Open Practice Observations - BobK - 10-20-2015

Ahhhh.Â Thanks Mike and 81.Â Â Williams is for real but the only one I'm sure we are recruiting hard.Â Now 6-5 Shayley Harris a 2018 University Prep in Redding and JBS travel is a SophÂ to watch.Â