Yeesh. Every time I get hopeful about our team's progress, the next game proves to be a major regression. I didn't see the game, so I defer to those who did, but man, our shooting was bad. We have no excuse for shooting 31% against a team whose star player is 5'4". Romano was the only player who shot above 40%, and until this year, she was only getting junk minutes. Encouraging to see her progress, but it also says something about where we are as a team.
I am now perhaps beginning to understand Tara's enthusiasm for our team's prospects... in the future. Our upperclass leadership is not getting it done, and the underclassmen are the ones to be excited about. 81, I think we're hurting for Bird, Karlie, and Bri on offense as much as on defense. Consider this:
Sniezek played 29 minutes, took 2 (missed) shots, and ended with 0 points.
Johnson played 27 minutes and also took only 2 missed shots, and got total 1 point off a free throw (while missing 4 others).
Our leading scorer among non-injured players, Smith, went 8 for 24 and 2-7 for free throws in 35 minutes.
Think about what that means:
-Our three upperclassmen who played significant minutes prior to this season combined for 8 for 28, 3 for 12 from the line, and 19 total points.
-In 31 minutes Kiana Williams nearly matched (17 points) the output of Smith+Johnson+Sniezek in 91 minutes.
-If you count Wilson as a freshman (which she more or less is from the standpoint of playing experience), our frosh outscored the upperclassmen 37 to 25.
I cannot remember ever seeing stats like that from our upperclassmen, ever, in the decade and a half I've followed Stanford women's basketball. I know we're missing McPhee and Carrington (who herself is only a sophomore), but still. Sniezek, Johnson and Smith have all gotten significant meaningful playing time in final four type situations - they have no excuse for this in a home game against a non-P5 school.
If I were Tara, for Tennessee I would start Williams, Wilson, Romano (or Jerome if wanting to keep it all underclassmen), Fingall, and Dodson, simply to send a message to the upperclassmen. We're not going to win anyway, so she might as well use the game as a teachable moment.
I am now perhaps beginning to understand Tara's enthusiasm for our team's prospects... in the future. Our upperclass leadership is not getting it done, and the underclassmen are the ones to be excited about. 81, I think we're hurting for Bird, Karlie, and Bri on offense as much as on defense. Consider this:
Sniezek played 29 minutes, took 2 (missed) shots, and ended with 0 points.
Johnson played 27 minutes and also took only 2 missed shots, and got total 1 point off a free throw (while missing 4 others).
Our leading scorer among non-injured players, Smith, went 8 for 24 and 2-7 for free throws in 35 minutes.
Think about what that means:
-Our three upperclassmen who played significant minutes prior to this season combined for 8 for 28, 3 for 12 from the line, and 19 total points.
-In 31 minutes Kiana Williams nearly matched (17 points) the output of Smith+Johnson+Sniezek in 91 minutes.
-If you count Wilson as a freshman (which she more or less is from the standpoint of playing experience), our frosh outscored the upperclassmen 37 to 25.
I cannot remember ever seeing stats like that from our upperclassmen, ever, in the decade and a half I've followed Stanford women's basketball. I know we're missing McPhee and Carrington (who herself is only a sophomore), but still. Sniezek, Johnson and Smith have all gotten significant meaningful playing time in final four type situations - they have no excuse for this in a home game against a non-P5 school.
If I were Tara, for Tennessee I would start Williams, Wilson, Romano (or Jerome if wanting to keep it all underclassmen), Fingall, and Dodson, simply to send a message to the upperclassmen. We're not going to win anyway, so she might as well use the game as a teachable moment.