[2006alum]

Thanks 81. Interesting post, as always. This is totally uninformed, idle speculation but I know a number of Stanford athletes in other sports who have found so much to do and get involved in at Stanford that even though they won state championships in high school, they just can't keep that same level of focus/interest/dedication once at Stanford, especially when the work it takes to be nationally competitive in college is even greater than what they did in high school.

This seemed to be what happened to another promising 4 recruit of ours who never really emerged in college, Kailee Johnson. (not to be confused with Kaylee Johnson, who did power through a lot of injuries quite admirably and became a true leader for our team). Tara openly said that Kailee needed to decide if she wanted it enough, and that she could become much better if she did, and put in the work. But she didn't, instead stepping off the team before her senior year.

So, again, totally idle speculation, but I wonder if a less extreme version of the same phenomenon was true for Taylor, especially since she was never a top top recruit to begin with? Wasn't she a class president one of her years? I think it's totally possible the she just had other things to focus on at Stanford but by senior spring decided basketball was going to be it and gave it her all for her final games? That plus almost four years of experience could have given her that boost to bring her to another level for what was essentially 160 minutes of basketball. (the three tournament games plus our NCAA opener)

[2006alum]

Thanks 81. Interesting post, as always. This is totally uninformed, idle speculation but I know a number of Stanford athletes in other sports who have found so much to do and get involved in at Stanford that even though they won state championships in high school, they just can't keep that same level of focus/interest/dedication once at Stanford, especially when the work it takes to be nationally competitive in college is even greater than what they did in high school.

This seemed to be what happened to another promising 4 recruit of ours who never really emerged in college, Kailee Johnson. (not to be confused with Kaylee Johnson, who did power through a lot of injuries quite admirably and became a true leader for our team). Tara openly said that Kailee needed to decide if she wanted it enough, and that she could become much better if she did, and put in the work. But she didn't, instead stepping off the team before her senior year.

So, again, totally idle speculation, but I wonder if a less extreme version of the same phenomenon was true for Taylor, especially since she was never a top top recruit to begin with? Wasn't she a class president one of her years? I think it's totally possible the she just had other things to focus on at Stanford but by senior spring decided basketball was going to be it and gave it her all for her final games? That plus almost four years of experience could have given her that boost to bring her to another level for what was essentially 160 minutes of basketball. (the three tournament games plus our NCAA opener)