[treefan]

But then I almost had a front row seat to a game I would hate to remember.  I understand why Tara wished the game had been televised.  But I think it would have shown weaknesses of Stanford, and probably hurt us in the polls (more than the close game to a currently unranked team).

agree.

I had thought this year's team would be nearly the quality of last year's team.  At this point, I don't think so.  We've got two great players, and a good player.  We've got several possibilities for the other two positions, but no one has stepped up.  Two weeks ago, I was in the 6th row at the Baylor-Texas game.  Right now, I don't think we'd have much of a chance against Baylor.

Sorry, but that is crazy to think we were going to be nearly as good as last year's team. It is very, very difficult to replace two players who played in every game in four years (minus one for Kayla) and their combined 27 pts and 11 boards. (and Pohlen's 96 threes!). We are young and not very deep in the backcourt because of injuries.

I will note that Melissa didn't make any particularly bad calls at the end of the 2nd half or overtime, when the calls could have clearly changed the outcome.

Disagree. Missy's egregious call on Chiney with about 2 min in the OT put Kal at the line, luckily they missed it.

What bothered me most about this game, and I feel I've seen it too often for Stanford over the years, is the comfortable lead being blown.  We were 14 points up with just over 8 minutes left. Tara seemed to attribute this to streaks in the game.  I feel that Tara's teams don't do a good job of lead management.  Below are Stanford possessions in the last 8 minutes of regulation (second time is seconds left in shot clock, as best I can estimate from play by play).  I've marked the plays (mostly early shots) that seem questionable to me, plus the 5 turnovers.  Mostly, these errors were made by very experienced players.  (And, of course, we shot only 20% during that time.)

agree.

[treefan]

But then I almost had a front row seat to a game I would hate to remember.  I understand why Tara wished the game had been televised.  But I think it would have shown weaknesses of Stanford, and probably hurt us in the polls (more than the close game to a currently unranked team).

agree.

I had thought this year's team would be nearly the quality of last year's team.  At this point, I don't think so.  We've got two great players, and a good player.  We've got several possibilities for the other two positions, but no one has stepped up.  Two weeks ago, I was in the 6th row at the Baylor-Texas game.  Right now, I don't think we'd have much of a chance against Baylor.

Sorry, but that is crazy to think we were going to be nearly as good as last year's team. It is very, very difficult to replace two players who played in every game in four years (minus one for Kayla) and their combined 27 pts and 11 boards. (and Pohlen's 96 threes!). We are young and not very deep in the backcourt because of injuries.

I will note that Melissa didn't make any particularly bad calls at the end of the 2nd half or overtime, when the calls could have clearly changed the outcome.

Disagree. Missy's egregious call on Chiney with about 2 min in the OT put Kal at the line, luckily they missed it.

What bothered me most about this game, and I feel I've seen it too often for Stanford over the years, is the comfortable lead being blown.  We were 14 points up with just over 8 minutes left. Tara seemed to attribute this to streaks in the game.  I feel that Tara's teams don't do a good job of lead management.  Below are Stanford possessions in the last 8 minutes of regulation (second time is seconds left in shot clock, as best I can estimate from play by play).  I've marked the plays (mostly early shots) that seem questionable to me, plus the 5 turnovers.  Mostly, these errors were made by very experienced players.  (And, of course, we shot only 20% during that time.)

agree.